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AS IT HAPPENED
Hostage families storm Knesset as Netanyahu says ‘no real offer’ by Hamas
Relatives of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza stormed a meeting at the Israeli parliament on Monday, calling on lawmakers to do more to release their loved ones. Earlier, Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pushed back after speculation that a new release of Gaza hostages was in the works, citing the lack of a “real” offer by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. At least 50 people have been killed and 100 wounded in Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis since Sunday night, according to health officials in the Hamas-led enclave. Read our live blog to see how all the day’s events unfolded.
Issued on: 22/01/2024 – 04:15
Modified: 22/01/2024 – 14:11
2 min
Relatives of Israelis who have been held hostage by Hamas militants since October 7 storm a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem on January 22, 2024.
Relatives of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip storm a parliamentary committee session demanding that the lawmakers do more to try to free their loved ones, in Jerusalem, on January 22, 2024. © Steven Scheer, Reuters
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Summary:
A group of relatives of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian gunmen in Gaza stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem on Monday, demanding that the lawmakers do more to try to free their loved ones.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu pushed back against media speculation that a new Gaza truce was in the works, telling relatives of hostages held by Hamas that the Palestinian militant group has not made any solid offer.
Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers held talks with their Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, arguing that the creation of a Palestinian state was the only credible way to achieve peace in the Middle East.
At least 50 Palestinians have been killed and 100 wounded in Israeli military strikes on Gaza’s main southern city of Khan Younis since Sunday night, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told Reuters on Monday.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 25,295 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and 63,000 have been injured in Israeli strikes on the enclave since October 7. Israeli officials say 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel. Militant fighters took some 240 hostages during the attack and 136 are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
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2 hours ago
2 hours ago
Gaza activists urge voters to write ‘ceasefire’ on US primary ballots
Peace activists are urging US voters considering candidates for November’s presidential election to instead write “ceasefire” on their ballots in protest over Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Vote Ceasefire” — a coalition of local anti-war groups — says the effort allows Americans to give voice to their anger at the Democratic president over the mounting toll of civilian deaths in Gaza as Israel responds to the deadly October 7 Hamas attacks.
Voters in New Hampshire will pick their preferred candidate in either the Democratic or Republican nominating contests on Tuesday but the push is aimed at progressives wishing to put the White House on notice.
“For the last three months, as the world has watched the war in Gaza continue to worsen, the Biden administration has refused all demands to call for a ceasefire and to end US support for Israel,” the campaign posted on X, formerly Twitter.
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4 hours ago
US, UK confirm new strikes against Yemen’s Houthis in joint statement
The United States and British forces carried out a fresh round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, three US officials said on Monday, the latest move against the Iran-aligned group over its targeting of Red Sea shipping.
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have claimed their attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians under attack from Israel in Gaza.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not say how many targets were hit. In the past, the United States and British forces have mainly hit Houthi missiles and radar sites.
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4 hours ago
Yemen’s Houthis say hit US ship, Washington denies attack
Britain and the United States have carried out strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the news agency of the Houthi rebels said Tuesday, after the group claimed to have hit a US military cargo ship.
The official Saba news agency said that “American-British forces are launching raids on the capital of Sanaa” and several other parts of Yemen, while Houthi TV outlet al-Masirah said four strikes targeted the Al-Dailami military base north of the capital, which is under rebel control.
Earlier on Monday, Houthi rebels claimed they had hit a US military cargo ship off the coast of Yemen — although the United States denied an attack had taken place.
The Iran-backed rebel group “led a military operation targeting the American military cargo ship Ocean Jazz in the Gulf of Aden”, near the Red Sea, with missiles, said Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree.
Asked about the claim, a US defence official told AFP: “We’re not seeing that at all on our end and believe that statement to be untrue.”
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5 hours ago
US, British militaries team up again to bomb Houthi sites in Yemen
The United States and British forces have carried out a fresh round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, US officials say, the latest move against the Iran-aligned group over its targeting of Red Sea shipping.
The US and UK used warship- and submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets to take out Houthi missile storage sites and launchers, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing mission.
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5 hours ago
Israel says 200 soldiers killed in Gaza ground operation
The Israeli military says 200 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of its ground operations in the Hamas-ruled territory.
“The number of fallen soldiers in Gaza since October 27 is 200,” an army spokesperson told AFP.
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6 hours ago
EU pushes for Palestinian statehood, rejecting Netanyahu’s insistence that it’s off the table
European Union foreign ministers have argued that the creation of a Palestinian state is the only credible way to achieve peace in the Middle East, expressing concern about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s clear rejection of the idea.
“The declarations of Benjamin Netanyahu are worrying. There will be a need for a Palestinian state with security guarantees for all,” French Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Séjourné told reporters in Brussels, where ministers met to discuss the war in Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Palestinian counterpart Riad Malki were also in Belgium’s capital for the talks.
The EU is the world’s top provider of aid to the Palestinians but holds little leverage over Israel, despite being its biggest trading partner. The 27 member countries are also deeply divided in their approach. But as the death toll in Gaza mounts, so do calls for a halt to the fighting.
The European ministers had wanted to hear about Israel’s plans for the future.
“Which are the other solutions they have in mind?” asked EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who chaired the meeting. “To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill them off?”
Katz appeared reluctant to respond. He showed the ministers two videos: one about the creation of an artificial island off the coast of Gaza, the other a project for a rail linking the Middle East and India.
“I think the minister could have made better use of his time and focused on the deaths in Gaza,” Borrell said. Asked about persuading Katz of the merits of a two-state solution, Borrell conceded that “we weren’t able to get him to change his mind, but we weren’t expecting that.”
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6 hours ago
Israel proposes 2-month fighting pause for release of all hostages, Axios reports
Israel has given Hamas a proposal through Qatari and Egyptian mediators that includes up to two
months of a pause in the fighting as part of a multi-phase deal, Axios reported on Monday.
The deal would include the release of all remaining hostages held in Gaza, the report added citing two Israeli officials.
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6 hours ago
Israeli hostage relatives storm Knesset session, violence spirals in West Bank
Dozens of family members of hostages held by Hamas stormed a committee meeting in Israel’s parliament Monday, demanding a deal to win their loved ones’ release.
FRANCE 24’s senior reporter Catherine Norris Trent brings us the latest from Jerusalem and discusses the spiralling violence in the occupied West Bank.
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7 hours ago
France hopes Gaza medicines will reach ‘every hostage’, says defence minister
French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu has said he hopes medicines delivered to Gaza will reach “every hostage”, nearly a week after the aid shipment arrived in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.
“We trust all parties to ensure that these medicines arrive safely… at the destination of every hostage,” Lecornu told AFP on a visit to Israel. “It’s our duty to do it,” he added after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Medicines for hostages and humanitarian aid for civilians entered Gaza on Wednesday, under a deal mediated by Qatar and France. Forty-five hostages were expected to receive medication according to the agreement between Israel and Hamas.
France said last week the drugs would be sent to a hospital in Rafah where they would be handed over to the Red Cross and divided into batches before being transferred to the hostages.
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8 hours ago
Israel needs to protect innocent people in Gaza hospitals, White House says
The White House on Monday said Israel has an obligation under international law to protect innocent people in Gaza hospitals as much as possible even as it pursues its campaign against Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“We know that Hamas deliberately uses places like hospitals to store weapons, house their fighters, even to some degree, for command and control. So that places a special need on the Israeli Defense Forces, but also a special burden,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told a news
briefing.
Kirby said Israel had a right to defend itself but added: “We expect them to do so in accordance with international law and to protect innocent people in hospitals, medical staff and patients as well, as much as possible.”
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9 hours ago
Israel says three soldiers killed in southern Gaza
The Israeli military says three of its soldiers were killed today in southern Gaza amid fierce fighting in the city of Khan Younis, where residents said tanks had surrounded a hospital and university where thousands of displaced people were sheltering.
Khan Younis has been a recent focus of Israeli forces, who are convinced top Hamas commanders are holed up there.
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9 hours ago
Phone and Internet down in Gaza in 10th blackout of the war
The Gaza Strip has once again been plunged into a communications blackout, the Palestinian telecoms provider Paltel has said, with Internet and phone services down for the tenth time since the start of the war.
Communication services had partially returned on Friday after a blackout lasting more than a week – the longest since October 7.
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10 hours ago
US, UK unveil news sanctions against ‘Hamas financiers’
Britain and the United States have unveiled new asset freezes and travel bans on Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) figures, in their latest coordinated asset freezes and travel bans aimed at regional militants.
Five “key figures” and an entity said to be involved in the leadership and financial networks of Hamas and PIJ were targeted, the British government said.
The measures “will help to cut off the flow of funding that supports these terrorist groups, including from Iran”, it added.
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10 hours ago
Israeli fire into south Lebanon has killed 200 since start of Gaza war
The number of people killed by Israeli fire into south Lebanon since the start of the war in Gaza has risen to 200, according to an AFP tally.
Since the outbreak of war between Hamas and Israel on October 7, the Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed a near-daily exchange of fire between Israel’s army and Lebanon’s Shiite movement Hezbollah, an ally of Gaza-based Hamas.
On Monday, Hezbollah announced that two of its fighters had been killed “on the road to Jerusalem” — the phrase the group has been using to refer to militants killed by Israeli fire since hostilities began.
Most of the 200 killed were fighters, with 146 of them belonging to Hezbollah, according to an AFP count of death notices issued by the group.
Israeli fire has also killed at least 25 civilians, including three journalists and two rescuers in addition to a Lebanese soldier.
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10 hours ago
Iran ‘directly involved’ in Houthi ship attacks, says US Navy commander
Iran is “very directly involved” in ship attacks that Yemen’s Houthi rebels have carried out during Israel’s war against Hamas, the US Navy’s top Mideast commander has told AP.
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, stopped short of saying Tehran directed individual attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
However, Cooper acknowledged that attacks associated with Iran have expanded from previously threatening just the Persian Gulf and its Strait of Hormuz into waters across the wider Middle East.
“Clearly, the Houthi actions, probably in terms of their attacks on merchant shipping, are the most significant that we’ve seen in two generations,”he told the AP in a telephone interview. “The facts simply are that they’re attacking the international community; thus, the international response I think you’ve seen.”
In the video below, FRANCE’s Wassim Nasr looks at the strategic role played by the Houthis in the wider Mideast conflict.
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11 hours ago
Gaza hostage relatives burst into Israeli parliament session
Relatives of Israelis held hostage by Palestinian gunmen in Gaza have stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem, demanding that lawmakers do more to try to free their loved ones.
The action by about 20 people signalled growing domestic dissent in the fourth month of the Gaza war against Hamas.
One woman held up pictures of three family members who were among the 253 people seized in the cross-border Hamas rampage of Oct. 7 that triggered the worst fighting in decades.
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12 hours ago
Israeli forces storm Khan Younis hospital, Gaza official says
Israeli forces, advancing deep into western Khan Younis, stormed one hospital and placed another under siege on Monday, cutting the wounded off from trauma care, Palestinian officials have said.
Troops advanced for the first time into the al-Mawasi district near the Mediterranean Coast, west of Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza. There, they stormed the Al-Khair hospital and were arresting medical staff, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al Qidra told Reuters.
There was no immediate word from Israel on the situation at the hospital. The military spokesperson’s office had no comment.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said tanks had also surrounded another Khan Younis hospital, al-Amal, headquarters of the rescue agency, which had lost contact with its staff there.
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13 hours ago
Saudi Arabia says it won’t recognise Israel without a path to a Palestinian state
Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat has said the kingdom will not normalise relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction without a credible path to a Palestinian state — a nonstarter for Israel’s current government.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s remarks in an interview with CNN broadcast late Sunday were some of the most direct yet from Saudi officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has rejected Palestinian statehood and described plans for open-ended military control over Gaza.
The dispute over Gaza’s future pits Israel against its top ally, the United States, as well as much of the international community, and poses a major obstacle to any plans for postwar governance or reconstruction of the impoverished coastal enclave that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians.
Read more: Discord over two-state solution opens rift between the US and Israel
Before the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel that triggered the war, the US had been trying to broker a landmark agreement in which Saudi Arabia would normalise relations with Israel in exchange for US security guarantees, aid in establishing a civilian nuclear programme and progress towards resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In September, Netanyahu had said Israel was on “the cusp” of such a deal.
In the CNN interview recorded at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the host asked Prince Faisal: “Are you saying unequivocally that if there is not a credible and irreversible path to a Palestinian state, there will not be normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel?”
“That’s the only way we’re going to get a benefit,” Prince Faisal replied. “So, yes.”
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14 hours ago
Hamas has not made a ‘real proposal’ for truce, Netanyahu says to relatives of Gaza hostages
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appeared to push back on Monday against media speculation that a new Gaza truce was in the works, telling relatives of hostages held by Hamas that the Palestinian militant group has not made any solid offer.
“There is no real proposal by Hamas. It’s not true. I am saying this as clearly as I can because there are so many incorrect statements which are certainly agonising for you,” Netanyahu’s office quoted him as telling the group.
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15 hours ago
At least 50 Palestinians killed in Khan Younis since Sunday night, says Gaza health ministry spokesman
At least 50 Palestinians were killed and 100 wounded in Israeli military strikes on Khan Younis since Sunday night, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra told Reuters on Monday.
“We believe that many victims are trapped under the rubble and in areas the occupation forces had invaded where the medical teams are unable to reach to them,” Al-Qidra added, implying that the number of fatalities could go higher.
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Yesterday’s key developments:
Two US Navy SEALs who went missing during an operation to seize Iranian weapons bound for Yemen’s Houthi rebels have been declared dead after a 10-day search failed to locate them, the US military said Sunday.
In his speech at the opening of a summit of the G77+China in the Ugandan capital Kampala, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Israeli military operations in Gaza have “spread mass destruction and killed civilians on a scale unprecedented during my time as secretary general”, adding that it was “heartbreaking and utterly unacceptable”.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said there can be no normalisation of ties with Israel without a path to a credible and irreversible Palestinian state, in a CNN interview that aired on Sunday.
Israel’s cabinet approved a plan for frozen Palestinian tax funds to be held by a third-party country, and reserved the right to decide when the money will be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday’s strike targeting the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Syria spy chief in Damascus, which Tehran blamed on Israel, killed 12 people in an updated toll.
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 AFP, AP, Reuters)
