Israel war on Gaza updates: South Gaza attacks to continue – Defence chief
Gallant says Israel’s attacks on the area, which have included bombing of refugee camps, will continue
- Israeli defence minister Gallant says military operations in south Gaza, which in the past have induced bombing of refugee camps and ‘safe zones’, will continue.
- Gaza’s Ministry of Health says 125 people are killed and 318 injured in a 24-hour period.
- Israeli defence minister Gallant says military operations in south Gaza, which in the past have induced bombing of refugee camps and ‘safe zones’, will continue.
- Gaza’s Ministry of Health says 125 people are killed and 318 injured in a 24-hour period.
- Thousands of people gather for senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri’s funeral in Beirut.
- At least 22,438 people have been killed and at least 57,614 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll from the October 7 attack on Israel stands at 1,139.
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To learn more about Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s proposed plan for post-war Gaza, read our story here.
You can also watch Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett ask the White House tough questions on escalating tensions in the Red Sea.
Here’s what happened today
We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s main developments:
- Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has introduced a “day after” plan for Gaza, under which civil administration of the strip would be passed along to unnamed local “Palestinian players”, and Israel would retain the ability to carry out military activities.
- US official Amos Hochstein met with Gallant and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss tensions on the border with Lebanon, where Israel continues to hint at the possibility of further military escalation.
- Heavy Israeli strikes have killed more than 125 Palestinians in the last 24 hours throughout Gaza, where medical groups report that the health system is teetering on the brink of collapse, with ICUs at 250 percent capacity. Southern areas such as Khan Younis and Rafah have been the focus of heavy bombardment.
- Houthis continue to carry out attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, with the US Navy reporting a failed attack by a drone boat packed with explosives earlier in the day.
- Thousands gathered for the funeral of slain Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, days after he was killed in a suspected targeted assassination by Israel in the Lebanese capital.
Israeli post-war plan contrary to US vision
Israel’s plan for post-war administration in Gaza could be seen as a “nonstarter” for the United States, as Israel insists that a revamped Palestinian Authority (PA) will play no role in the enclave following the end of the war, Al Jazeera correspondent Mike Hanna said.
“It’s completely contrary to what the Americans envisage as their so-called ‘day after’ concept,” Hanna said.
“The Americans have based their ideas on the fact that the PA would take over control or administration of Gaza,” he said.
“Now, in this plan that the Israeli cabinet is going to be discussing, outlined by the defence minister, it is absolutely clear that the PA will not have anything to do with Gaza’s administration,” he added.
“As far as the US is concerned, in terms of its published positions on this, this is an absolute nonstarter.”
Israeli defence minister presents outline of framework plan for post-war Gaza
Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant [released] an initial and preliminary framework for the first time with some ideas for what the Israelis are hoping to do when the war ends.
The first part of those points was that Hamas is not going to be in control at all in the Gaza Strip and that the Israelis are not going to have any sort of power over civilian life in Gaza.
In fact, it will be some sort of Palestinian entity that controls civilian life since the residents of Gaza are Palestinian.
However, he said there were conditions on this: That whatever entity comes in to take power cannot be hostile towards Israel.
Something else he mentioned was there won’t be any Israeli civilian life [in Gaza], referring to illegal settlements.
But, he did say that the Israelis reserve the right for operational freedom militarily, meaning they can go in and out of Gaza whenever they please, similar to what we see happening in the occupied West Bank on a daily basis.
On the issue of rebuilding, reconstruction and rehabilitation of Gaza post-war, he said that a coalition of international actors, like Arab states, European states and other Western allies, will be in charge.
On the issue of the border, he said that Israel will be overseeing the border with intense supervision.
Remember, Gaza has been under an intense Israeli blockade, not just from the [land] borders but also via air and sea.
So the Israelis are perhaps still hoping to keep that by looking and inspecting everything that comes in and out of Gaza post-war.
LISTEN: Israel, Palestine, BDS, and the right to boycott in the US
In the US, the history of the boycott as a protest movement dates back at least as far as the Boston Tea Party. Yet today, many states have legislation designed to penalise those boycotting. What does Israel have to do with the right to protest in the United States?
Listen to the latest episode of Al Jazeera’s The Take podcast, interviewing filmmaker Julia Bacha, here:
WATCH: Al Jazeera challenges White House on escalation of tensions in the Red Sea
Israel continues to hint at military solution to Lebanese border
Israeli officials have continued to hint at a possible military solution to ongoing tensions on the border with Lebanon.
Speaking with US envoy Amos Hochstein, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that the country is “at a junction” with a “short window” for finding a diplomatic solution.
Gallant stressed that the roughly 80,000 Israelis who have been evacuated from northern towns amid back-and-forth shelling with armed groups in southern Lebanon must be able to safely return home.
Thursday death toll in Khan Younis rises to 32: Wafa
Israeli attacks have targeted Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, throughout the day.
Some of the latest attacks include an air strike on an apartment in the al-Amal area, killing one Palestinian, local sources told the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Another person was killed in an Israeli air attack on a home in al-Qararah.
Rafah house attack death toll rises to five
Local journalists had earlier said that the Israeli attack on a residential home in the Jinaynah area of Rafah had killed at least one person, but local sources and the Palestinian news agency Wafa now say that has risen to five civilians.
Verified video from Abu Youssef Al Najjar Hospital shows bodies wrapped in shrouds being laid in front of the building, including at least one child.
The attack targeted the home of the Abu Sinjar family.
US strike on Iraqi army-affiliated al-Saidi angers Iraq
While General Pat Ryder did confirm that the US was behind the strike that killed Mushtaq al-Saidi, a leader of what he described as “Iran-backed” forces, he left out many key details, says Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane.
“We believe that al-Saidi was part of the popular mobilisation forces, which comes under the umbrella of the Iraqi army. General Ryder wouldn’t go so far as to say, ‘Yes he was part of the Iraqi army’. He would only link him to Iranian-backed militia groups,” Culhane said.
Ryder also didn’t say if the US had informed the Iraqi government about the strike, only calling it “a necessary and proportionate action against this particular individual who was personally involved in the planning and execution of attacks against American personnel”.
The Iraqi prime minister expressed “extreme anger” about this strike, Culhane said, and there have been growing calls for US troops to be kicked out of Iraq, which Pentagon officials are downplaying.
Assassinations will not break resistance: Hamas’s Khaled Meshaal
In a speech eulogising al-Arouri, Meshaal – the former chief of the Palestinian group who now leads its diaspora office – stresses that killing senior Hamas officials does not stop the resistance against the Israeli occupation.
“Israel has assassinated dozens – hundreds and thousands – from our people’s leaders throughout the past decades, from all the groups,” he said, citing the killing of Hamas’s founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin in 2004.
“And what was the result? Every time a leader fell, another leader rose up. The martyrdom of one leader produces other leaders on the same road and with the same conviction and the same persistence. This is a great people that does not break.”
Dead, injured arrive at Rafah hospital after Israel bombs house
At least one person has been killed in an Israeli attack on a home in Rafah.
Videos verified by Al Jazeera show bloodied children, including a toddler, being treated without anaesthetic at Abu Youssef Al Najjar Hospital in Rafah, after a residential house in the Jinaynah neighbourhood was hit in an Israeli strike. A verified video also showed one body wrapped in a blanket being brought to the hospital.
The attack hit the home of the Abu Sinjar family, according to local journalist Shehab Younis.
Israel to send top diplomat back to Spain
The Israeli government has said that it will send the country’s envoy to Spain back to Madrid after being previously recalled following remarks by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez that questioned the legality of Israel’s war in Gaza.
In an interview on Spanish television, Sanchez said that he had “serious doubts” Israel was complying with international law during its assault. Former Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen criticised the “outrageous remarks” at the time.
Israeli military chief of staff forms team to investigate October 7 failures: Reports
Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi’s team is made up of former military officials who will investigate the army’s failure to stop Hamas’s attack on October 7, according to Israeli media outlets Ynet and the Times of Israel.
The reports said that the team’s members will include the former chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz, former head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Aharon Zeevi-Farkash, and former Southern Command chief Sami Turgeman.
Netanyahu to US official: Israel wants ‘fundamental change’ on Lebanon border
The Israeli prime minister met with US special envoy Amos Hochstein in Tel Aviv and told him that “Israel is committed to bringing about a fundamental change on its border with Lebanon”, Netanyahu’s office said.
Washington has been stressing the need to prevent the conflict from expanding.
Israel and Hezbollah have engaged in daily cross-border exchanges of fire since the war in Gaza broke out, leading to the evacuation of communities on both sides of the border.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu told US envoy Hochstein that following the murderous assault of October 7, Israel is more determined, daring and united than ever,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
It added that those among Israel’s neighbours “who do not currently understand this will yet do so very well, in the south, in the north and in all other arenas”.
Yesterday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the group is “not afraid” of confronting Israel, pledging to fight a war with “no limits” and “no rules” if Israel attacks Lebanon.
Heavy bombing rocks Rafah in southern Gaza
Rescue workers are searching through the rubble after an Israeli air raid in Rafah, as “extremely loud” blasts reverberate throughout the strip amid heavy bombardment.
“This air strike had flattened a residential building. A number of Palestinians have been injured according to initial reports from the location,” Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum reported from Rafah in southern Gaza. “Rescue operations continue as there are still more people under the rubble of the attacked house in the middle and central areas of Rafah.”
Abu Azzoum reported that at least 31 Palestinians have also been killed by an Israeli assault in Khan Younis since the beginning of the day.
Red Crescent says Israel targets family home of medic, at least two dead
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has said Israeli forces attacked, in the Maghazi camp, the family home of Anwar Abu Holi, who serves as the director of the Central Gaza Ambulance Center.
The PRCS said it pulled two bodies from the building and rescued five injured people “while many others remain under the rubble”.
🚨The PRCS: The occupation targets colleague Anwar Abu Holi’s family home the Director of the Central #Gaza Ambulance Center, in Al-Maghazi camp in central Gaza. 📍This has resulted in several injuries and casualties. Our teams managed to evacuate two martyrs and five injuries…
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 4, 2024
Photos: Israeli attacks continue on Gaza
Israel’s post-war plan a ‘colonial fantasy’
“At the end of this war, the most savage war conducted in the 21st century against a civilian population, there’s no end to occupation, there’s no end to siege, and it’s in complete violation of Palestinian right to self-determination,” Bashir Abu-Manneh, a professor of post-colonial literature at the University of Kent, told Al Jazeera when asked about the Israeli defence minister’s proposed “day after” plan in Gaza.
“So you have to wonder about how realistic this is, and whether this is just another Israeli colonial fantasy, or an American way of rehashing the old Oslo formula that has failed for the last 25 years.
“The Israelis don’t want the PA [Palestinian Authority] back into Gaza. They also don’t want Hamas, so what they’re looking for is alternatives.”
Pentagon confirms killing Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi official
US Defense Department spokesperson Pat Ryder says US forces took “necessary and proportionate action” against Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, known as Abu Taqwa, a leader in Harakat al-Nujaba, a faction in the Iran-backed Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces, PMFs).
The attack killed Abu Taqwa and one of his associates, according to Ryder.
Operating under a coalition dubbed the Islamic Resistance, Iran-linked groups have targeted US bases in Iraq and Syria since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
Ryder told reporters that Abu Taqwa was involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American troops.
“It’s important to note that the strike was taken in self-defence that no civilians were harmed and that no infrastructure or facilities were struck,” he added without providing further details.
Israel says three missing since October 7 are hostage in Gaza
The Israeli military has said that three Israelis who were initially counted as missing following the October 7 Hamas attack are being held captive in Gaza.
“Three citizens who were considered missing are now recognised as hostages and their families have been informed,” military spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters.
US says it has not ‘seen anything’ to compel change in support for Israel
US law does not allow the transfer of weapons to countries engaged in human rights abuses.
Israel has been accused by leading rights groups of targeting civilian infrastructure in Gaza, as it has displaced more than 80 percent of the territory’s population. Israeli leaders have also openly called for the collective punishment of the territory, and UN experts have warned that Palestinians are at a “grave risk of genocide” because of the war.
But White House national security spokesperson John Kirby says Washington has not conducted a formal assessment into possible Israeli abuses and will not alter its push to supply Israel with bombs and weapons for the war.
“I would just tell you that we have not seen anything that would convince us that we need to take a different approach in terms of trying to help Israel defend itself,” Kirby told reporters.
‘Palestinians are struggling day and night’
Reporting from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum says Palestinians in the territory are facing an increasingly dire humanitarian situation as Israel further displaces and squeezes the population into smaller areas.
“Palestinians are struggling day and night in order to get the basic necessities and [are] living in very drastic conditions in makeshift tents after losing their houses,” Abu Azzoum said.
He added that with more evacuation orders for people to head south, things are getting worse.
“More tents are being set up in the southern part of Gaza – in Rafah in particular,” Abu Azzoum said. “More suffering is awaiting Palestinians if the situation inside Gaza does not change.”
People want the violence to end, so they can return to their homes, he said, “or at least to receive a sufficient amount of humanitarian supplies”.
British MP calls on foreign secretary to condemn comments by Israeli ambassador
UK Labour Party MP Afzal Khan has penned a letter calling on Foreign Secretary David Cameron to condemn comments from Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely, who recently said that “every school, every mosque, every second house has access to tunnels and ammunition” in Gaza.
Asked whether this amounted to a call for the total destruction of Gaza, Hotovely replied “Do you have another solution?”
“This is a clear call for the genocide of Palestinians,” Khan said in a social media post.
“I’ve written to the Foreign Secretary, calling on him to condemn this and to take the strongest possible action against the Ambassador.”
The Israeli Ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely, has encouraged the full destruction of Gaza. This is a clear call for the genocide of Palestinians.
I've written to the Foreign Secretary, calling on him to condemn this and to take the strongest possible action against the Ambassador 👇 pic.twitter.com/qksXFkC4JM
— Afzal Khan MP (@Afzal4Gorton) January 4, 2024
Far-right minister Smotrich criticises Gallant’s plan
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s minister of finance, says that Gallant’s newly-announced plan for the day after the war was a repetition of the situation in Gaza before October 7.
Instead, Smotrich advocates what he calls “voluntary migration” – which many Palestinians and rights group see as forced displacement – and the renewal of illegal settlements in the enclave.