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ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Live: Israel bombing of Gaza continues despite UN warnings that territory is ‘uninhabitable’
Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continued on Saturday despite UN warnings that the Palestinian territory has become “uninhabitable” after three months of fighting that threatens to engulf the wider region. Israeli strikes were reported on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge from the fighting. Follow our liveblog for the latest developments.

Issued on: 06/01/2024 – 07:02

2 min
A picture taken from Rafah on January 5, 2024 shows smoke billowing over Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment.
A picture taken from Rafah on January 5, 2024 shows smoke billowing over Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment. © AFP
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FRANCE 24
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Summary:
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Friday that Gaza has become “uninhabitable” and reiterated warnings that “a public health disaster is unfolding” in the enclave. “Gaza has simply become uninhabitable. Its people are witnessing daily threats to their very existence – while the world watches on,” Griffiths said in a statement.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey on Friday to begin his fourth Middle East tour since the Israel-Hamas war began. Over the next week Blinken will travel to Istanbul, Crete, Amman, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, the West Bank, Cairo and Al-‘Ula in Saudi Arabia.
Israeli officials say 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel, among them 695 Israeli civilians including 36 children. At least 22,600 people have been killed and 57,910 wounded in Israel’s ensuing assault on the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.
EN DIRECT
Dernière mise à jour: 15 minutes ago
il y a 16 minutes
Hezbollah says fires at north Israel army base after Hamas deputy killing
Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired Saturday more than 60 rockets at an Israeli military base, the group said, describing the barrage as a response to the killing of Hamas’s deputy leader in Beirut.

“As part of the initial response to the crime of assassinating the great leader Sheikh Saleh al-Arouri … the Islamic resistance (Hezbollah) targeted the Meron air control base with 62 various types of missiles,” the Iran-backed group said in a statement.

PARTAGER
il y a 17 minutes
Heavy fire from Lebanon targets northern Israel, IDF says
Heavy fire from Lebanon targeted northern Israel on Saturday, the Israeli military said, adding it had responded by striking a “terrorist cell” that took part in the launches.

Shortly after rocket sirens sounded across northern Israel, the military said that “approximately 40 launches from Lebanon toward the area of Meron in northern Israel were identified”.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

“A short while after, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) struck a terrorist cell that took part in the launches,” it said.

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il y a 23 minutes
Turkish justice minister says 15 suspects jailed ahead of trial for spying for Israel
A court in Istanbul has ordered 15 of 34 people detained on suspicion of spying for Israel be held in prison awaiting trial, Turkey’s justice minister said late Friday.

The suspects were arrested Tuesday for allegedly planning to carry out activities that included “reconnaissance” and “pursuing, assaulting and kidnapping” foreign nationals living in Turkey.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said in a social media post that 26 suspects were referred to the court on a charge of committing “political or military espionage” on behalf of Israeli intelligence. Eleven were released under judicial control conditions and eight were awaiting deportation.

Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad is said to have recruited Palestinians and Syrian nationals inside Turkey as part of the operation against foreigners living in Turkey, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The agency cited a prosecution document as saying the operation targeted “Palestinian nationals and their families … within the scope of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.

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il y a 2 heures
Israel bombs Gaza as UN warns territory ‘uninhabitable’
Israel bombed Gaza on Saturday as the United Nations warned the Palestinian territory has become “uninhabitable” after three months of fighting that threatens to engulf the wider region.

AFP correspondents reported Israeli strikes early Saturday on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter from the fighting.

Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, with the UN warning of a deepening humanitarian crisis as famine looms and disease spreads.

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Yesterday’s key developments
In a televised address on Friday, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Lebanon’s security was at stake if the Shiite militia group failed to respond to Israel’s suspected assassination of Hamas deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut and called a response “inevitable”. Lebanon has filed a complaint to the UN Security Council over the Israel’s suspected role in the killing, as well as Israel’s use of Lebanese airspace to bomb Syria.
Thousands rallied in support of Gaza in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa on Friday, chanting anti-US and anti-Israeli slogans. The Iran-backed rebels have organised weekly protests in Sanaa since the war began, but Friday’s demonstration was the “largest” so far, spokesman Mohammad Abdel Salam said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey on Friday as part of his fourth Middle East tour since the Israel-Hamas war began and amid mounting fears the Israel-Hamas conflict will become a regional war.
About casualty figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry:
Gaza’s health ministry collects data from the enclave’s hospitals and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

The health ministry does not report how Palestinians were killed, whether from Israeli airstrikes and artillery barrages or errant Palestinian rocket fire. It describes all casualties as victims of “Israeli aggression”.

The ministry also does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Throughout four wars and numerous skirmishes between Israel and Hamas, UN agencies have cited the Hamas-run health ministry’s death tolls in regular reports. The International Committee of the Red Cross and Palestinian Red Crescent also use the numbers.

In the aftermath of war, the UN humanitarian office has published final death tolls based on its own research into medical records. The UN’s counts have largely been consistent with the Gaza health ministry’s, with small discrepancies.

For more on the Gaza health ministry’s tolls, click here.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP, Reuters)