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The United States says it struck more than 85 Iran-linked targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for an attack that killed American soldiers.
Here’s how things are going on Saturday, February 3, 2024:
Regional tensions
- The US military says it struck more than 85 Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the deaths of three US soldiers in a drone attack in Jordan.
- The overnight air raids killed at least 18 Iran-aligned fighters, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The death toll could not be independently verified, and U.S. officials said only that the attack caused casualties.
- The White House said it informed Iraq before carrying out its air raids inside the country. The Iraqi military called the attack a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” adding that it could “result in disastrous consequences for Iraq and the region.”
Human impact and fighting
- Almost all of Gaza’s 1.2 million children need mental health support, UNICEF said.
- The agency also said that around 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families during the conflict.
- More than a million displaced Palestinians fear another Israeli military attack after Israel’s defense minister vowed to attack Rafah, an area once described as a “safe zone”.
- The United Nations said 112 Palestinians were killed and 148 injured between Thursday and Friday afternoon in Gaza.
- Palestinian officials said at least 27,131 people have been killed and 66,287 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel following the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.
Diplomacy
- Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Beirut, said the multi-step proposal presented this week by officials from Qatar, Egypt, Israel and the United States is unacceptable because it does not include a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel, the occupied West Bank, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar, and is expected to push for the release of captives held in Gaza and a pause in hostilities.
- The German Foreign Minister has warned Israel against planning a military offensive in Rafah, the dpa news agency reported.
- The United States announced new sanctions and charges against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
- Some 800 European and American officials have written a letter to their governments denouncing Israel’s war on Gaza as “one of the worst human catastrophes of this century.”
Occupied West Bank
- Two Palestinians in their 20s were hospitalized after being beaten by Israeli forces during a raid near the occupied West Bank town of Jenin, the Wafa news agency reported.
- Israeli raids were also reported in the Balata refugee camp east of Nablus, in the towns of Rujib and Burqa in Nablus governorate, in the town of Tubas, northeast of Nablus, in the villages of Beit Tamar and al-Aruj, located east of Bethlehem.
