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AS IT HAPPENED
US launches strikes in Syria and Iraq in response to deadly drone attack
The US military on Friday said it launched air strikes on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias in apparent retaliation for the deadly drone strike that killed three US soldiers in Jordan on Sunday. Syrian state media said that “American aggression” on multiple sites had resulted in casualties. Read our liveblog to see how all the day’s events unfolded.
Issued on: 02/02/2024 – 04:14
2 min
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden watch as an Army carry team moves the flag-draped transfer case containing the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga., du
US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden attend the transfer of remains of three US soldiers killed in last week’s drone attack in Jordan at Dover Air Force Base on February 2, 2024. AP – Alex Brandon
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FRANCE 24
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Summary:
The US military on Friday said it launched air strikes on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias in apparent retaliation for the deadly drone strike that killed three US soldiers in Jordan on Sunday
The United Nations said Friday it estimates that at least 17,000 children in the Gaza Strip have been left unaccompanied or separated nearly four months into the war.
Hamas’s health ministry in Gaza said 105 people were killed overnight from Thursday to Friday, while the group’s press office reported raids and shelling around Khan Younis – southern Gaza’s main city and the recent epicentre of hostilities.
Hamas officials said Friday that the group is studying a proposed ceasefire deal that would include prolonged pauses in fighting in Gaza and swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but at the same time appeared to rule out some of its key components. The multi-stage proposal that officials from Egypt, Israel, Qatar and the United States put forth this week does not include a permanent ceasefire.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 27,131 people have been killed and 66,287 wounded in Israeli strikes on the enclave since October 7. Israeli officials say about 1,140 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel. Militant fighters took some 250 hostages during the attack and 132 are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
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8 hours ago
This concludes our liveblog for February 2, 2024. For more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, click here.
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8 hours ago
Biden says US strikes against Iran-linked targets to ‘continue’
President Joe Biden has said US strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria — in retaliation for a drone bombing that recently killed three US soldiers — will “continue”.
“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” Biden said in a statement. “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”
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8 hours ago
US military says it struck Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces, affiliated militia groups in Iraq and Syria
The US military on Friday said it conducted air strikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds force and affiliated militia groups, Reuters reports.
The military said it struck facilities including command and control operations, intelligence centres, rockets and missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicle storages.
The military said it struck more than 85 targets.
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9 hours ago
Syrian state media says ‘American aggression’ on desert sites and along borders has caused casualties, injuries
Syrian state media said on Friday that an “American aggression” on number of sites on Syria’s desert areas and the Syrian and Iraqi border resulted in a number of casualties and injuries.
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9 hours ago
US launches air strikes on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for deadly drone strike in Jordan, officials tell AP
The US military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan last weekend, officials told The Associated Press.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations not yet made public.
President Joe Biden and other top US leaders have been warning for days that Washington would strike back at the militias, and they made it clear that it wouldn’t be just one hit, but a “tiered response” over time.
The initial strikes by manned and unmanned aircraft were hitting command and control headquarters, ammunition storage and other facilities. They came hours after Biden and top defence leaders joined grieving families to watch as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the US during a somber ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
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9 hours ago
Six pro-Iran fighters killed in strikes in eastern Syria ‘likely carried out by US’, says war monitor
Six pro-Iran fighters were killed in strikes in eastern Syria likely carried out by the United States on Friday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.
“Six pro-Iranian fighters, including at least three non-Syrians, have been killed” in strikes near Al-Mayadeen, in Syria’s east, the monitor said, with Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman saying the strikes were “likely carried out by the US”.
Washington had warned of “multiple actions” against Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria after a drone attack by Iraq-based militants on Sunday killed three US soldiers – the first American military losses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war – in Jordan.
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10 hours ago
Hamas demanding the release of Marwan Barghouti, ‘who could bring together rival Palestinian groups’
Hamas is demanding the release of Marwan Barghouti, the former leader of a militant faction of Fatah who has been imprisoned in Israel for some 20 years, as part of a potential deal to free Israeli hostages in exchange for more aid to Gaza and a pause in fighting in the Israel-Hamas war.
FRANCE 24’s Claire Paccalin explains that Barghouti is “very much seen as a possible future leader of the Palestinian Authority … the man who could bring together rival Palestinian groups”.
Read more: Can Marwan Barghouti, the ‘Palestinian Mandela’, bring peace to Gaza?
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10 hours ago
Yemen’s Houthis say they targeted Israeli city hours after Israeli military said it intercepted a missile from Red Sea area
Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthi rebel movement said on Friday it fired ballistic missiles at targets in the Israeli city of Eilat and threatened to keep up military operations until Israel ended its war in Gaza.
The Israeli military earlier said its “Arrow” aerial defence system had intercepted a surface-to-surface missile in the Red Sea area on Friday.
The Houthis have launched a series of attacks on shipping and other targets in the Red Sea area in what they describe as acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.
“The Yemeni armed forces will not hesitate to carry out further military operations against the Zionist enemy on land and at sea until the cessation of aggression and lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip,” the Houthis’ military spokesperson said, referring to Israel.
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10 hours ago
Blinken to return to Middle East to press proposal for hostage releases, pause in Gaza war
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to the Middle East next week on a new crisis trip to press a proposal for the release of Israeli hostages in return for a pause in the war in Gaza, the State Department said Friday.
On his fifth crisis trip to the Middle East, Blinken will visit Qatar and Egypt – the mediators of the proposal –as well as Israel and the West Bank and Saudi Arabia, the State Department said.
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11 hours ago
UK FM Cameron says he told Israel’s Netanyahu to ‘start talking about the things a Palestinian state could be’
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to “start talking about the things a Palestinian state could be rather than the things it can’t be”, reiterating British support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The Israel-Hamas war has put renewed focus on a two-state solution, still seen by many countries including the US as the path to peace even though the negotiating process has been moribund for years.
In an interview with Lebanese broadcaster LBCI aired on Friday, Cameron said part of British policy is to say there will be a time when Britain would look to recognise a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations.
“That can’t be at the start of the process. The process needs to get going. But it doesn’t have to be at the end of the process,” he said.
Netanyahu has voiced opposition to Palestinian sovereignty, saying he will not compromise on full Israeli security control west of Jordan and that this stands contrary to a Palestinian state.
Cameron, speaking during a visit to Lebanon as part of a regional tour, said Netanyahu had “not ruled out comprehensively a two-state solution”.
“My message to him was start talking about the things that a Palestinian state could be rather than the things it can’t be. So that’s what we should be working towards,” he said.
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12 hours ago
US says draft Security Council resolution demanding ceasefire in Gaza could ‘derail’ in-progress talks
The US ambassador to the UN said on Friday that a draft Security Council resolution put forward by Algeria could jeopardize “sensitive negotiations” aimed at brokering a pause in fighting in Gaza.
Algeria shared the draft with the 15-member council on Wednesday. It would demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“This draft resolution could put sensitive negotiations in jeopardy – derailing the exhaustive, ongoing diplomatic efforts to secure the release of hostages, and secure an extended pause that Palestinian civilians and aid workers so desperately need,” UN ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters.
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12 hours ago
France’s foreign minister set for Mideast trip aimed at reviving Israeli-Palestinian political dialogue
France’s Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné is set to travel to the Middle East on Saturday to test ideas about reviving an Israeli-Palestinian political process after the Gaza war.
“There will be a discussion with his regional counterparts, especially Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, to see how to restart a political perspective in the region,” deputy foreign ministry spokesperson Christophe Lemoine told reporters in a news briefing.
Séjourné’s itinerary includes stops in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon, where he will also continue French efforts to defuse tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
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12 hours ago
Canada looking into imposing sanctions on ‘extremist’ West Bank settlers, says PM Trudeau
Canada is looking to impose sanctions on “extremist” settlers in the West Bank, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday, a day after US President issued an executive order against four Israeli men accused of being involved in violence in the occupied territory.
“Violence in the West Bank is absolutely unacceptable and puts at risk peace, stability in the region and the path towards the two-state solution that is absolutely essential,” Trudeau told reporters in Waterloo, Ontario.
Trudeau’s comments add to signs of the West’s growing displeasure with the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Britain, the EU and more than a dozen partner countries including Australia and Canada have called on Israel to take immediate and concrete steps to tackle settler violence in the West Bank.
Trudeau has consistently said Israel has the right to defend itself after the Hamas-led assault, but has gradually hardened his tone as the civilian death toll in Gaza has mounted.
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13 hours ago
‘It looks like an earthquake hit’ Khan Younis; field hospitals ‘can’t keep up’ in Rafah
The United Nations humanitarian office on Friday voiced concern about fighting in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, where the UN Satellite Center said more than 10,000 structures have been damaged according to its latest data.
“It looks like an earthquake hit the area,” said Karim al-Fakaawi, speaking to Reuters in Khan Younis on Thursday. “There are no signs of life or of the houses. All the houses are on top of each other.”
More people are fleeing further south to the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where more than half of the Palestinian territory’s 2.3 million people are already sheltering in dire conditions.
“The water is not clean, we struggle to use it,” said Yahia al-Najjar, who was displaced from the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza’s north. “The children are catching diseases and spreading it to others. There are field hospitals and they can’t keep up.”
Click on the video to watch the report.
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13 hours ago
Proposal for new Israel-Hamas truce includes three-phase plan incorporating hostage releases, more Gaza aid
As families of Israeli hostages continue to demonstrate in Tel Aviv to pressure Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government to prioritise their loved ones’ release over his objective of eliminating the Palestinian militant group Hamas, a new truce deal between the warring parties is on the table.
FRANCE 24’s Eliza Herbert breaks down an initial proposal that includes a three-phase plan.
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14 hours ago
More than 22,000 structures in Gaza have been destroyed, says UN satellite center
The United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT) on Friday said its latest analysis of available imagery indicates that more than 22,000 structures in Gaza have been identified as destroyed in the nearly four-month-old Israel-Hamas war.
UNOSAT also said that 69,000 structures in Gaza – nearly one-third of all structures in the Palestinian territory – have been at least moderately damaged in the conflict, a figure that includes the destroyed structures.
The center said its latest assessment was based on high-resolution satellite imagery collected on January 6-7, and was compared against similar imagery received on six other occasions since May.
It said the governorates of Gaza and Khan Younis sustained the most significant increase in damage compared to the previous look on November 26. More than 10,000 structures were damaged in each area.
“The satellite imagery analysis conducted by UNOSAT underscores the widespread destruction and the affected population’s need for support,” the satellite center said.
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14 hours ago
Israeli military says it intercepted missile fired at Israeli territory in the Red Sea area
The Israeli military said its “Arrow” aerial defence system successfully intercepted a surface-to-surface missile fired at Israeli territory on Friday in the area of the Red Sea.
The military statement did not provide details on the origin of the launch.
Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have launched wave after wave of exploding drones and missiles at commercial vessels in the Red Sea since November 19, in what they say is a response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
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17 hours ago
Hamas says it’s studying Gaza ceasefire proposal but appears to rule out key provisions
Hamas officials said that the group is studying a proposed ceasefire deal that would include prolonged pauses in fighting in Gaza and swaps of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but at the same time appeared to rule out some of its key components.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Beirut, said the group remains committed to its initial demands for a permanent ceasefire. Hamdan also said the group seeks the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners being held for acts related to the conflict with Israel, including those serving life sentences. He mentioned two by name, including Marwan Barghouti, a popular Palestinian uprising leader seen as a unifying figure.
Hamdan’s comments on the prisoners were the most detailed demands yet to be raised by the group in public.
The insistence on large-scale prisoner releases and on an end to the fighting in Gaza put the group at odds with the multi-stage proposal that officials from Egypt, Israel, Qatar and the United States put forth this week. The proposal does not include a permanent ceasefire.
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17 hours ago
Brussels summons Israeli ambassador after Belgian development agency in Gaza is bombed
Belgium summoned the Israeli ambassador after a Belgian development agency building in Gaza City was bombed, Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said. It was not clear when the building was bombed. The spokesperson said Belgium had found out about it on Thursday evening and suspected it had happened on Wednesday.
“Attacks on civilian infrastructure breach the principles of international humanitarian law. All parties must adhere to it,” she posted on the social media platform X.
The Belgian Ministry for Development Cooperation said it was not aware of any civilian casualties and that the building, which was shared with Handicap International, should have been empty at the time of the bombing. A ministry spokesperson added that the Israeli ambassador had promised an investigation.
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18 hours ago
Gaza health ministry says 27,131 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes since Oct 7
At least 27,131 Palestinians have been killed and 66,287 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Some 112 Palestinians were killed and 148 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
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Yesterday’s key developments:
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Thursday that his country could officially recognise a Palestinian state after a cease-fire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years long talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution.
American broadcaster CBS reported that the US has approved plans to strike Iranian targets in Iraq and Syria.
The US imposed sanctions on four Jewish settlers over violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded by saying there was “no need” for such measures.
Israel said it had killed 10,000 Hamas fighters and wounded as many in the four-month war. Israel also claimed to have dismantled the Hamas brigade in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.
Two anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, likely towards the M/V KOI ship in the Red Sea, the US Central Command said in a statement.
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)
