That's it for today's live coverage of the Gaza war and its effects on Lebanon and the region. We'll be back tomorrow with more news updates and analysis. Thanks for joining us and goodnight!
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel of "sabotaging" ongoing truce negotiations in the Gaza Strip with its pre-dawn raid of northern Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital yesterday, AFP reports.
The attack by Israeli forces "illustrates their efforts to sow chaos and perpetuate violence. It also reveals a desire to sabotage the negotiations underway in Doha," he said in a statement.
A woman cross-stitches a watermelon motif, a symbol of Palestinian resitance, onto a kuffiyeh at the Inaash center in Beirut. Jan. 9, 2024. (Credit: João Sousa/L'Orient Today)
Tatreez is a traditional Palestinian craft passed down through the generations, usually from woman to woman. Historically, it’s also been an important form of expression during challenging times, each geometric motif representing a specific region of Palestine or part of its traditional life.
Sobhiye Krayem, 70 years old, lives in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp just outside of Saida. She has taught tatreez in many different places over the course of her life. For her, Palestinian resistance against Israel is not necessarily only done with arms but through art as well. She still wears tatreez clothing when showing exhibitions of her work.
The director of the Spanish charity, Proactiva Open Arms, that delivered 200 tonnes of food aid to Gaza this week said he is determined to keep the deliveries going despite the significant danger to his team from Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, Reuters reports.
He also urged other "more powerful, wealthy states and organizations" to do the same using a new maritime corridor from Cyprus to the devastated enclave, under Israeli blockade.
Oscar Camps, who was onboard the salvage vessel that left Cyprus on March 12 for a 200-mile (320 kilometer) voyage across the eastern Mediterranean to Gaza, said it took seven hours to move a barge roped to the ship to a jetty made from destroyed buildings and rubble for it to be unloaded in rough seas.
His team had been warned by Israel it could not guarantee their security, he said, and those unloading aid onto land were within "hundreds, tens, of meters" of bombardments.
The United States is "deeply concerned" about a UN report which suggests a famine could be imminent in Gaza, Haaretz reports.
Speaking on an Air Force One aircraft, the White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, called for Israel to allow "unimpeded access" for aid into the enclave, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.
Earlier, the UN said that Israel's severe restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the possible use of starvation as a weapon could "amount to a war crime," cited by AFP.
Social media researchers have uncovered an Israeli digital operation aimed at influencing young English-speaking people's opinions of the Gaza war, Haaretz reports. The majority of its targets were young American Democrats.
The campaign, discovered by an Israeli online watchdog, Fake Reporter, involved creating fake news websites, as well as hundreds of fake social media accounts, in an attempt to advance "Israeli interests" by amplifying claims made by the Israeli government. The claims were focus on the Israeli allegations that that members of the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, were involved in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 Hamas.
At the core of the campaign, researchers found three main fake "news sites" and more than 500 avatars created across X, Facebook, and Instagram, that were used to amplify the "reports" posted on these sites.
An update on the situation at the Lebanese-Israeli border:
• Hezbollah announced that at 3:30 p.m., its fighters targeted Israeli troops in the "Tayhat Hill,” located opposite the Lebanese village of of Mais al-Jabal, Marjayoun district.
• The party also said it attacked an Israeli logistics vehicle carrying soldiers in the same area at 3:35 p.m., causing "casualties and injuries."
• Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a third attack at 4:30 p.m. against an Israeli military force deployed south of the Israeli site of Biranit.
• Israeli warplanes bombed the area between the villages of Adaisseh and Rab al-Thalathine and the southern outskirts of Mais al-Jabal, in Marjayoun district, L’Orient Today’s correspondent in the South reports, citing local residents.
• Israeli warplanes also targeted the village of Naqoura, hitting a house, as well as the outskirts of Kfar Hammam and Rashaya al-Fawqar, in Hasbaya district, residents told our correspondent.
Haaretz reported that two members of the Israeli security forces were wounded in a shooting attack at the “Gush Etzion” Junction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. According to the report, the shooter was shot and killed.
This latest incident comes amid an increasingly violent time in the occupied West Bank, as the Israeli army conducts regular raids of Palestinian communities, often throughout the night. Over the last month, there have been several stabbing and shooting incidents in which Palestinians, some of them as young as 15 years old, have attacked soldiers and checkpoints across occupied areas.
Updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:
• Israeli bombardments targeted the Dabakeh area, north-east of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal, as well as the Kroum Mrah area, east of the village, according to our correspondent in the South.
• Hezbollah announced that at 2:40 p.m., its fighters targeted a deployment of Israeli soldiers stationed at the army site of Malikiyeh, located opposite the Lebanese village of Aitaroun, in Bint Jbeil district.
• Some 15 rockets and mortar shells were launched from southern Lebanon in the direction of the Manara and Goma junction regions in northern Israel, the Israeli army said, cited by Haaretz. Hezbollah has yet to comment on the attack.
A week ago, in Beirut's southern suburbs, a rare meeting was held between Hamas and Houthi officials.
Anonymous sources told L’Orient-Le Jour that Hezbollah was the one that organized this “coordination” meeting, ahead of another meeting held in the capital last week between Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas’ deputy in Gaza Khalil al-Hayya.
According to his subsequent press release, Nasrallah and the Palestinian delegation discussed “the latest developments on the ground in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the multiple fronts of support [southern Lebanon and Yemen]."
👉 Read Salah Hijazi’s piece: “Beirut, capital of the “Axis of Resistance?”
The Ministry of Health in Gaza says that patients and medical staff at al-Shifa Hospital, under siege by the Israeli army since yesterday morning, have not gone two days without a breaking their fast with the morning meal, Al Jazeera reports.
According to the health ministry, people in the hospital lack water and food as a result of the Israeli operations on the hospital. The army claims that during the raid, it has killed 20 fighters and detained over 200 people for interrogation. Among those 200 were Al Jazeera’s own team of journalists stationed there. Thousands of people had taken refuge in the complex.
“The Ministry of Health calls on all international institutions to stop the crimes against patients, wounded and medical staff in the hospital,” the Gazan Health Ministry said, cited by Al Jazeera.
Updates from the Lebanese-Israeli border:
• Israeli artillery fire targeted the outskirts of Mais al-Jabal, Marjayoun district, residents told our correspondent in the South.
• Hezbollah announced that at 2:40 p.m., its fighters targeted a deployment of Israeli soldiers stationed at the army site of “Birket Richa,” located opposite the Lebanese border village of Boustan. Earlier, a security source had told our correspondent that rockets were indeed fired from southern Lebanon towards that site.
In the last hour in southern Lebanon:
- The Israeli army launched airstrikes on the village of Marwahin (Sour), according to a security source.
- The Israeli army shelled the outskirts of Naqoura and Tayr Harfa (Sour), according to local residents.
Emmanuel Macron had to justify himself at length on Tuesday morning to a resident of the Castellane housing estate in Marseille (south of France), who accused him of practicing "double standards" in his actions in Ukraine and Gaza, AFP reported.
"We've given Ukraine all the means it needs to defend its rights. Today, what are we doing for Palestine, Mr. Macron?" protested this resident, Ahmed Said, accusing him of "pouring water into the sand" with France's humanitarian action.
"We do with the means that are ours, which are those of diplomacy, of humanitarian action," replied Macron, on a surprise visit to France's second-largest city on the occasion of a large-scale operation to dismantle drug trafficking.
"We don't have the means to carry out a [military] operation in Gaza," he stressed, assuring us that he would "do everything" to prevent an Israeli operation in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing in Israel during the Hamas offensive on Oct. 7 has announced that its strategic advisor, Daniel Cogan, is ending his collaboration, one month after taking up his post.
"Daniel did his job wonderfully in our eyes and contributed to the departure of the Israeli delegation [in Doha], in order to reach an agreement closer than ever. The forum is led by the families' representatives and always will be, the role of the assistance teams is to help them do everything in their power to bring back the 134 [remaining] hostages," the forum said in a statement.
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Israeli forces "killed more than 50 armed Palestinians and arrested 180 suspected militants" of Hamas in a raid on al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said, quoted by Reuters.
The raid on Gaza's largest hospital began before dawn on Monday, with the Israeli army accusing Hamas of using the compound to hide fighters and plan attacks. At least one soldier was killed by Palestinian fire inside the hospital compound, the army added.
Israel's severe restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the possible use of starvation as a weapon could "amount to a war crime," the UN has said, quoted by AFP.
"The extent of the restrictions imposed by Israel on the entry of aid into Gaza, as well as the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of warfare, which constitutes a war crime," said Jeremy Laurence, a spokesman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the UN's regular briefing in Geneva.
"We are not close to a cease-fire agreement in Gaza, but we remain hopeful," said a spokesman for Qatar's Foreign Ministry, quoted by Reuters.
"The next major objective of the negotiations is to send a counter-proposal to Hamas," he added.
"As the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) celebrates the 46th anniversary of its founding, its leadership once again urges all parties involved to lay down their arms, resume respect for UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and move towards a political and diplomatic solution," the UN force said in a statement.
General Aroldo Lazaro, Commander-in-Chief of UNIFIL, said that Resolution 1701 "has been defied, but remains important and necessary as it always has been", adding that the 10,000 or so peacekeepers "are continuing their missions to monitor and reduce escalation." He recalled that more than 330 members of UNIFIL, both military and civilian, had died since its creation.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the emirate was "cautiously optimistic" about talks on a possible truce in Gaza and that "technical" negotiations were continuing, Reuters reported.
Mossad chief David Barnea returned to Israel early Tuesday morning from Qatar, where hostage-taking and cease-fire negotiations are taking place in Gaza.
The rest of the Israeli delegation remained in Doha to continue negotiations.
Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati says the truce that is in the works in Gaza "despite high-tempered threats" will include regional countries and would result in long-term stability.
At the beginning of a cabinet session, Mikati said that his government would "keep working on a truce that would stop the destructive war and genocide and would result in the return of southern residents to their villages." He also said that he trusts that the "truce that is being worked on in Gaza despite the high-tempered threats which Israeli is making, would include regional countries and would result in long-term stability."
At least 31,819 Palestinians have been killed and 73,934 wounded since Oct. 7, said the Palestinian enclave's Ministry of Health.
Some 93 Palestinians have been killed and 142 wounded in the last 24 hours, the ministry added.
Israel reportedly attacked a Hezbollah arms depot in the Damascus region on Monday evening, Haaretz reported, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
According to the observatory's director, Rami Abdulrahman, the attacked site is located in the Qalamoun Mountains region, around 15 kilometers from the border between Syria and Lebanon. According to him, the arms depot was completely destroyed and, at this stage, it is not known whether there were any casualties.
On Tuesday night, a Syrian army source said that Israel had attacked several targets on the outskirts of the Syrian capital and that the Syrian army had intercepted some of the missiles.
Morning Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon:
- The Israeli army shelled the area of Wadi al-Slouqi (Marjayoun) at around 5:30 a.m., residents of the village told L'Orient Today.
- The Israeli army launched an airstrike on a house in the border village of Adaisseh (Marjayoun) with no reported casualties yet, residents of the village told L'Orient Today.
Former President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Monday that any Jewish person who votes for the Democrats "hates their religion" and hates "anything to do with Israel."
The candidate for the next presidential election was speaking during a podcast hosted by Sebastian Gorka, his former White House aide, the content of which was relayed by CNN. He was asked about criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the Biden administration and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
These comments prompted reactions from the White House, President Joe Biden's campaign team and American Jewish leaders. The vast majority of American Jews vote Democrat, but Trump has often accused them of disloyalty, perpetuating what critics see as anti-Semitic rhetoric.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his upcoming trip to the Middle East had several objectives, including the conclusion of a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas and the release of hostages, Reuters reports.
The visit will also aim to "discuss the right architecture for a lasting regional peace," he said at a press conference during a visit to Manila.
According to AFP, he also said that the entire population of Gaza is suffering from "severe food insecurity," citing UN data.
The United States struck drones, anti-ship missile systems and weapons storage containers belonging to Houthi rebels in Yemen on Monday, the US Middle East Military Command (CENTCOM) announced, quoted by AFP.
US forces "destroyed seven anti-ship missiles, three drones, and three weapons storage containers in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen," according to a message published by CENTCOM on X. The drones and missile systems posed "an imminent threat" to American merchant ships and warships, CENTCOM says, as it does with every American strike.
Last night, an Israeli artillery bombardment targeted the area around the town of Jibbayn (Sour) after 9 p.m.
Northern Gaza also witnessed heavy fighting and shelling on Monday, around and inside al-Shifa Hospital, the territory's most important hospital in the heart of Gaza City, which the army had stormed on Nov. 15 before withdrawing.
The Israeli army claimed to have killed dozens of Palestinian fighters on Monday and to have arrested "more than 200" in the operation.
The Al-Jazeera news channel reported that its local correspondent had also been arrested on Monday. Washington has asked Israel for information about the arrest, according to Reuters. The journalist was eventually released later that night.
The major humanitarian catastrophe caused by the war and the growing famine in the north of the besieged territory is causing growing concern.
One in two Gazans, or more than 1.1 million people, are facing a "catastrophic" food situation, particularly in the north, warned UN agencies and the World Health Organization on Monday.
Gaza has become an "open-air graveyard," said the European Union's head of foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, on Monday, adding that "famine [was] being used as a weapon of war."
Despite international pressure, Israel is preparing for a ground operation in Rafah, a city where, according to the UN, nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded, most of them displaced. Early on Tuesday, the Gazan Ministry of Health reported 78 deaths during the evening and night in Gaza, including 15 in a Rafah residence.
A major ground offensive there would be "a mistake," said US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, assuring that Israel would not launch an operation until discussions on the subject were held "in the next few days."
President Joe Biden asked for an Israeli delegation to be sent to Washington to discuss "ways of targeting Hamas without conducting a vast ground offensive at Rafah," he wrote on X.
One of the stumbling blocks in the talks is the status of the hostages and the identity of the Palestinian prisoners to be released. Some 130 of the hostages taken on Oct. 7 are still being held in Gaza, 32 of whom are thought to be dead, according to Israel, which is demanding that Hamas provide a precise list of hostages still alive.
However, the Palestinian Islamist movement says it does not know who is "alive or dead" among the hostages, and for its part is asking to be allowed to decide on the identity of the main Palestinian prisoners to be released.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under pressure both from the hostages' families, who are urging him to accept an agreement, and from far-right members of his government, who are hostile to the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners.
Israel announced on Friday that it would be sending a delegation to Doha, without specifying a date, following what appears to be a shift in Hamas's position, with the latter saying it was ready for a six-week truce after having long called for a definitive cease-fire.
"We have accepted that there will be a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip before any exchange, and after the first stage, a total withdrawal," said Hamas official Osama Hamdan on Monday. "During the first stage, there will be a total halt to military operations," he added, referring to talks that could last "several days."
The head of Israeli intelligence, the Prime Minister of Qatar and Egyptian officials were due to meet in Doha on Monday to discuss a possible cease-fire agreement, a source close to the negotiations told AFP.
According to the US website Axios, "positive" discussions did take place, and Israeli negotiators will remain in Doha to continue "detailed" talks with Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
For its part, the US State Department announced on Tuesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would be visiting Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and Egypt on Thursday in the hope of breaking the deadlock.
Make sure to check out the Morning Brief so that you can be caught up with what has been happening.
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Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza and its regional and global impacts.
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