More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel, according to Gaza health authorities, which do not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry says women and children were more than half the fatalities.
Here's the latest:
Israel says it intercepted a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels
JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile fired toward the country by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, setting off sirens on Monday across the Jordan Valley and the occupied West Bank. There were no reports of injuries from Magen David Adom, Israel’s rescue service.
The Houthis have been firing drones and missiles at Israel for almost a year, and the frequency has increased to near-daily attacks over the past month — attacks the Houthis say won't stop until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has carried out multiple waves of intense strikes in recent weeks in Yemen in response to the missile attacks. The latest launch raises the likelihood of further Israeli retaliation. The U.S. and partner forces have also launched multiple rounds of airstrikes against the Houthis.
Palestinians plant olive trees to honor Jimmy Carter
TULKAREM, West Bank — In memory of late U.S. President Jimmy Carter, a grove of 250 young olive trees was planted Monday in the occupied West Bank by Palestinian activists and residents, who described Carter as a staunch advocate for the Palestinian cause.
The former president's legacy is “rooted" among Palestinians and across the world, said Abbas Melhem, executive manager of the Palestinian Farmers Union, because Carter was one of the few world leaders who “stood firmly supporting the struggle of the Palestinians for independence and for freedom.”
Under clear winter skies, Palestinian kids helped a handful of adults place the trees into newly dug holes. Melhem said the 10 dunam (2.5 acre) grove in the city of Tulkarem, titled "Freedom Farm," would be fenced in to protect it from animals or extremist Jewish settlers, who have attacked Palestinian olive trees in the past.
The advocacy group for farmers in the West Bank launched the project in collaboration with U.S.-based nonprofit Treedom for Palestine.
Carter, who died last month at the age of 100, brokered the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978. In his later years, he was highly critical of Israel's rule over the Palestinians, saying that the situation in the West Bank amounted to apartheid.
“I think planting olive trees that live at least 100 years old like him is a very suitable way to honor his life and his legacy,” said George Zeidan, the Carter Center's Director in Israel and Palestine.
Israeli strikes across northern Gaza kill at least 14 people, including a family of 5
CAIRO — At least 14 Palestinians, including a family of five people, were killed in three separate Israeli airstrikes Monday in northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said.
One strike hit a group of people in the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City, killing at least seven people including two children, the health ministry’s emergency service said.
Two more people were killed in Jabaliya al-Balad area in northern Gaza, it said. Another five people were wounded in the strike, it said.
A third strike hit Salaheddin school, which shelters displaced families in the western part of Gaza City. The strike killed two parents and their three children, according to the Al-Ahly hospital which received the casualties.
The Israeli military did not have an immediate comment on the strikes but blames Hamas for civilian casualties, saying the militants operate in residential areas or other civilian locations.
An Israeli woman dies weeks after being wounded by rocket fire from Lebanon
JERUSALEM — A 75-year-old Israeli woman who was injured by rocket fire from Lebanon seven weeks ago has died of her wounds, local officials said.
Tamar Edri, a resident of the northern city of Nahariya, was critically injured when a rocket hit her home late on November 25, just over a day before the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel took hold, the city’s municipality said in a statement. Two other people were injured in the barrage that killed Edri, which followed over two months of near daily attacks on the city.
On November 27 a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon went into effect. It has largely held since then despite violations by both sides.
Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, the day after the deadly Hamas attack into Israel that ignited the ongoing war in Gaza. Since then, Israeli air and ground assaults killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and Hezbollah rockets killed 77 people in Israel, most of them civilians.
Lebanon’s new prime minister is set to be Nawaf Salam, head of the ICJ
BEIRUT — The prominent Lebanese diplomat and judge Nawaf Salam has won majority support from legislators, paving the way for him to become Lebanon’s new prime minister.
Salam is currently serving as the head of the International Court of Justice and his nomination was made by Western-backed groups as well as independents in the Lebanese parliament. Salam is backed by Saudi Arabia and western countries.
Monday's nomination of Salam during binding consultations with President Joseph Aoun is a major blow to Hezbollah, which is also a powerful political party, after its militant wing was weakened by a 14-month war with Israel.
By Monday afternoon, Salam had received the support of 73 members of parliament out of the 128-member legislature, meaning he will be summoned by the president to form a new Cabinet.
Salam faces a difficult mission. Lebanon is forging ahead after a shaky truce ended the Israel-Hezbollah war, and Salam must also work to get the small nation out of its historic five-year economic meltdown.
Salam's nomination and army commander Aoun's selection as president last week are likely to lead to flow of funds from Western and oil-rich Arab nations to Lebanon to help in the reconstruction process.
Progress is being made in Gaza ceasefire talks, says White House national security adviser
WASHINGTON — White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that progress has been made in the Israel-Hamas hostage and ceasefire talks and “there is a distinct possibility that we can get this deal done just before President Biden leaves office.”
“We’ve been close before and haven’t gotten across the finish line,” said Sullivan, speaking at an event in Washington hosted by Bloomberg News. “Can we get to a final agreement, and then can we begin implementing it in the coming days? It’s there for the taking. So the question is, now, can we all collectively seize the moment and make this happen?”
Sullivan added that he spoke on Monday morning with Qatar’s prime minister, Israeli negotiators and White House Middle East adviser Brett McGurk, who is in Doha for the talks, about the ongoing negotiations.
Israel confirms a Gaza hospital director is at a notorious military prison in the West Bank
JERUSALEM — An Israeli rights group says Hossam Abu Safiya, the director of a north Gaza hospital who had disappeared since he was taken by Israeli troops during a raid two weeks ago, is being held in a notorious Israeli military prison in the occupied West Bank.
The group, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, said the Israeli military confirmed in an email that Abu Safiya is at Ofer Prison. A lawyer for Abu Safiya’s family was told that he will not be allowed to see him until Jan. 29, said a spokesman for PHRI, Ran Yaron, told The Associated Press. The military had previously refused to comment when asked by the AP about Abu Safiya’s location.
Colleagues and family have expressed fears over the safety of Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, after troops seized him and dozens of others during a Dec. 27 raid on the hospital. Former detainees have reported harsh conditions at Ofer Prison, including beatings, minimal food rations and refusals of medical care.
A prominent Palestinian surgeon detained in a hospital raid in December 2023 died in Ofer Prison the following April.
The military has said Abu Safiya is being investigated on suspicion of cooperating with or working for Hamas. It claims that Hamas fighters were using the hospital as a refuge and base amid Israel’s months-long offensive in surrounding areas of north Gaza. It says it detained 240 Hamas and Islamic Jihad members from the hospital in the raid, although it has provided no evidence.
Staff deny the claims, and the Gaza Health Ministry says at least 60 medical staff were among those detained. Colleagues say the 51-year-old Abu Safiya kept Kamal Adwan Hospital operating even as Israeli troops besieged it for around 85 days starting in October.
He became known for his frequent videos, pleading for international help as Israeli fire hit the hospital multiple times during the siege. One of his sons was killed by an Israeli drone strike during the siege, and Abu Safiya was wounded by shrapnel from another strike.
Naji Abbas, of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, said the refusal to allow a lawyer to meet Abu Safiya “raises serious concerns about the treatment he is enduring in detention.”
A woman protests against Israel at a campaign event in Germany
BIELEFELD, Germany — A woman protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza has briefly disrupted an election campaign event by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, standing up and smearing her face and hood with a blood-colored substance.
Germany is a staunch ally of Israel. Scholz responded to the disruption on Monday by saying: “The answer is that it was a terrible terrorist attack by Hamas on Israeli citizens over a year ago. It is right that the state of Israel can defend itself against this attack.”
He said that Germany has always been clear in its support for a two-state solution and that international law must be adhered to.
The woman was escorted out of the hall in the western city of Bielefeld, shouting “genocide,” “Free Palestine” and “Over 200 dead journalists.”
Potential obstacles to a Israel-Hamas agreement
Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect talks for more than a year aimed at ending the war in Gaza and returning scores of militant-held hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
There has been intensive mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.
But the talks have repeatedly stalled over several key issues. They include details of the exchange, whether the ceasefire would be permanent and the withdrawal of Israeli forces. The war has ground on as each side has accused the other of backtracking.
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— By Joseph Krauss.
Progress made in ceasefire talks and hostage release, officials say
CAIRO — U.S. and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but a deal hasn't been reached yet, officials said Monday.
Three officials acknowledged that progress has been made and said the coming days would be critical for ending more than 15 months of fighting that has destabilized the Middle East. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the talks.
One of the three officials and a Hamas official said that there were still a number of hurdles to clear. On several occasions over the past year, U.S. officials have said that they were on the verge of reaching a deal, only to have the talks stall.
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— By Victoria Eastwood and Samy Magdy in Cairo, and Josef Federman in Jerusalem.
UAE delegation in Lebanon for embassy talks
BEIRUT — The state news agency of the United Arab Emirates says a high-level delegation from the oil-rich nation is in Beirut to undertake all necessary arrangements to reopen the UAE Embassy in Lebanon.
Monday’s move came days after Lebanon’s army commander, Gen. Joseph Aoun, was elected president ending a 26-month vacuum in the country’s top job.
The UAE withdrew its diplomats from Lebanon in October 2021 in protest to comments by a Lebanese Cabinet minister about the war in Yemen.
Aoun spoke by telephone with the president of the UAE over the weekend who told him the embassy will resume work in Beirut, according to Aoun’s office. His election is likely to improve Lebanon’s cold relations with oil-rich gulf Arab nations. Ties have been tense for years because of Iran’s influence in the small Mediterranean nation.
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