EXPLANER
Drone strike in Lebanon killed senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri – here are the latest updates.
Here’s how things are going on Wednesday January 3, 2024:
Latest updates:
- The Israeli army launched attacks against Syria and Lebanon. He announced the X On Tuesday, he attacked Syrian military infrastructure and Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure.”
- A drone strike hit a Hamas office in Dahiyeh, Hezbollah’s stronghold in Beirut, on Tuesday, killing six people, including a senior Hamas official, Saleh al-Arouri, the official Lebanese news agency reported.
- United States Central Command (CENTCOM) issued the X that on Tuesday evening, “Iran-backed Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen towards the southern Red Sea.”
- Although several commercial vessels reported their impact on surrounding waters, none reported damage.
- The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting to discuss peace and security regarding Houthi attacks in the Red Sea on Wednesday at 3 p.m. New York time (8 p.m. GMT).
#FrPrez | The Security Council will hold a meeting on maintaining international peace and security, particularly on Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
🗓️ Wednesday January 3 – 3 p.m.
📺UNWebTV pic.twitter.com/cxZeSZraco— France at the UN 🇫🇷🇺🇳 (@franceonu) January 2, 2024
Human impact and combat:
- The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the outbreak of violence on October 7 now stands at 22,185, Gaza’s health ministry said Tuesday. At least 57,000 people were injured.
- The UN humanitarian affairs agency, OCHA, reported more demolitions of Palestinian structures. The latest destruction took place on Tuesday in the At-Tur neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem.
Demolition reported today in At Tur, #EastJerusalem, #West Bankbusy #Palestinian territory
Demolition and Relocation Statistics: pic.twitter.com/9pIrgzbmi3
– OCHA TPO (Palestine) (@ochaopt) January 2, 2024
Diplomacy:
- Israel has not officially responded to al-Arouri’s assassination, but Netanyahu adviser Mark Regev told US media outlet MSNBC that Israel does not take responsibility for the attack.
- He added: “Whoever did it must be clear: this was not an attack on the Lebanese state. »
- “We must avoid a conflict between Israel and Lebanon,” Nicolas de Rivière, current president of the UN Security Council and French envoy to the UN, told Tel Aviv Tribune.
- US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller rejected statements by Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir regarding the resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza.
- “Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land,” said a statement released Tuesday.
- Israel is not “another star on the American flag,” Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir said after the release of the US State Department statement.
- The head of the Gaza team of the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, Gemma Connell, has condemned the Israeli attack on the Red Crescent-run El Amal municipal hospital in Khan Younis, which killed at least five people, including a five-day-old child.
- She said “there is no safe space in Gaza and the world should be ashamed.”
- WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus echoed Connell’s sentiments regarding the bombing. “Today’s bombings are unacceptable,” he said.
- In a statement released on Tuesday, Malaysia supported South Africa’s appeal to the International Court of Justice against Israel.
- The court hearings are scheduled for January 11 and 12 in The Hague.
Raids in the West Bank
- Israel continues its raids in several areas of the occupied West Bank.
- Israeli military vehicles infiltrate the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem and bulldozers destroy infrastructure, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hamdah Salhut reported from occupied East Jerusalem.
- They also surrounded the hospital in Tulkarem governorate and prevented the Tel Aviv Tribune Arab team from covering the raid.
- There is another Israeli raid on Nablus, where violent clashes have been reported. In Qalqilya, the army arrests several Palestinians, Salhut reported.
- Since October 7, 324 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank, Salhut reported.