EXPLANER
Bombings of Gaza and raids in the West Bank have intensified – here are the latest.
Here’s how things look on Tuesday, January 2, 2024:
Latest updates
- Israel’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, said Israel would not boycott South Africa’s lawsuit at the International Court of Justice.
- Israel’s Supreme Court has struck down a highly controversial law passed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in July, aimed at curbing the power of the country’s High Court.
- Gaza authorities today at 7:00 a.m. local time (05:00 GMT) released a list of 127 Egyptian and Omani nationals authorized to cross the Rafah crossing with Egypt.
- The Gaza Ministry of Health today released a list of 19 people approved for medical evacuation from Gaza via the Rafah crossing with Egypt. These include children and patients with serious illnesses, including cancer.
- The UN agency OCHA reported the first case of demolition of Palestinian properties in 2024, in al-Maniya in Bethlehem. As of 2023, 1,119 structures have been demolished in the West Bank.
Demolitions reported today, January 1, 2024, in Al Maniya, #Bethlehem, #West Bankbusy #Palestinian territory.
The year 2023 ended with the demolition of 1,119 structures and the displacement of 2,210 people. #West Bank.
All the statistics here: pic.twitter.com/Q3Wx3ptphN
– OCHA TPO (Palestine) (@ochaopt) January 1, 2024
- The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change has denied an Israeli report claiming that Blair would take the lead in resettling Gaza refugees in Arab and other countries.
- “No such discussion took place. Tony Blair would not have such a discussion either, the idea is false in principle. Gazans should be able to stay and live in Gaza,” the institute wrote on X.
Israel’s Channel 12 report linking Tony Blair to a discussion of a “role” in the “voluntary resettlement of Gaza residents” to Arab and other countries is a lie. The story was published without any contact with Tony Blair or his team. No such discussion took place. And it wouldn’t be either…
– Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (@InstituteGC) January 1, 2024
Human impact and fighting
- Abdul Rahman al-Bahsh, 23, who had been in prison since May 2022, was pronounced dead by the Israeli Prison Service, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Nida Ibrahim reported from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
- He is the seventh prisoner to die in an Israeli prison since violence erupted on October 7.
- Israeli airstrikes reportedly hit several neighborhoods in Khan Younis, south of Gaza.
- The Israeli army is reportedly bombing the Maghazi refugee camp and the Rafah coast.
- At least 21 people were killed and dozens injured following bombings in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
- At least 15 of these deaths occurred in the Magazhi refugee camp. Six people were killed in the Bir al-Naja area of Jabalia, Wafa added.
- The official Syrian news agency (SANA) reported that Israel carried out airstrikes early Tuesday morning, causing material damage on the outskirts of the city of Damascus.
- Wafa also reported that the Jerusalem governorate publishes an annual report detailing violations committed against Jerusalem residents by the Israeli government and army.
- According to the report, in 2023, 51 residents were killed and around 3,081 arrested. The report said 55,158 settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque “with strong protection from heavily armed special occupation forces.”
Raids in the West Bank
- The Israeli army prevented ambulances and medical personnel from reaching a Palestinian injured during a raid in the town of Qalqilya, Tel Aviv Tribune correspondent Hamdah Salhut reports.
- Medical staff were reportedly fired upon while trying to reach the injured Palestinian in Qalqilya, where clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers broke out during the raid.
- Wafa reports that on Monday evening, Israeli forces seized a house and turned its roof into an observation point in the town of al-Khader in Bethlehem.
