On the 92nd day of the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the Israeli occupation army continued its bombing of the center and south of the Gaza Strip, resulting in the death of a number of martyrs, while the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades were able to carry out new operations that inflicted additional losses on the occupation in soldiers and equipment.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades – the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) – announced that its fighters eliminated an Israeli force of 8 soldiers from zero range after setting them up in a tight ambush in the center of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis.
It also announced “the detonation of an anti-personnel device in a Zionist force inside a building in Khuza’a, east of Khan Yunis,” leaving its members dead and wounded, according to Al-Qassam.
In turn, the Al-Quds Brigades announced that they bombed military concentrations in the station area (central Khan Yunis) with heavy-caliber mortar shells. It also announced its bombardment of Sderot, Niram, and the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip with a missile salvo.
A high-ranking officer was killed
For its part, the Israeli army announced the killing of the deputy training commander of the Israeli Nahal Brigade during the battles in the northern Gaza Strip. He was an officer with the rank of major and was promoted to lieutenant colonel after his death.
Palestinian news platforms said that the dead man was the son-in-law of the former coordinator of the activities of the occupation authorities in the West Bank, Yoav Mordechai.
Thus, the announced death toll in the Israeli army, including officers and soldiers, rises to 510 since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, including about 180 killed since the start of the ground attack on Gaza.
The last officer killed in the occupation army during the battles in northern Gaza was the son-in-law of the former coordinator of the activities of the occupation government in the West Bank, Yoav Mordechai. pic.twitter.com/ehHJaMRdIR
– Al-Qastal News (@AlQastalps) January 6, 2024
A new tally of martyrs
For its part, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced, on Saturday, that the death toll of Palestinian martyrs as a result of the ongoing Israeli war since the seventh of last October had risen to 22,722 martyrs, while 58,166 people were injured.
The ministry said – in a statement – that “the Israeli occupation forces committed 12 massacres against families, claiming 122 martyrs and 256 injuries during the past 24 hours.”
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that 10 Palestinians were martyred in the targeting of a gathering near the Saraya Junction, west of Gaza City.
Borrell issues a warning from Lebanon
For his part, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell stressed, during his visit to Lebanon on Saturday, the need to avoid regional escalation.
Borrell stated, after his meeting with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib, that he saw “a worrying intense exchange of fire across the Blue Line,” in reference to the line dividing Lebanon and Israel.
The European official stated that he told Israel that “no one will win if a regional conflict breaks out,” stressing the need to avoid dragging Lebanon into such a conflict.
During the same visit, Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent said that Borrell met with a Hezbollah delegation headed by Muhammad Raad.
The occupation intensifies its incursions into the West Bank
On the other hand, Palestinians were shot and others were arrested – today, Saturday – during new incursions carried out by the Israeli occupation army in the occupied West Bank, which included violent clashes with resistance fighters, most notably in the towns of Balaa and Anabta, east of Tulkarm, and in Qalqilya and Jenin in the northern West Bank.
The occupation forces also raided the Old City and its surroundings in the city of Nablus. The raids and arrests also included the towns of Qatana and Al-Qubaiba, northwest of occupied Jerusalem.
In Hebron, south of the West Bank, Israeli incursions targeted the town of Bani Naim, the city of Dura, and the Al-Samoud Hill area in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron.
Picture messages of captured Israeli soldiers
Tel Aviv Tribune broadcast scenes it obtained of Israeli soldiers who were prisoners of the Palestinian resistance before the Israeli army killed them in Shujaiya, east of Gaza City, including their appeals to their government to work to stop the war and release them.
Blinken begins his visit to the region in Türkiye
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan received US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is on his fourth tour in the region since the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood.
The meeting took place in the presence of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the head of the intelligence service, Ibrahim Kalin, and the US ambassador to Ankara, Jeffrey Flake.
Bloomberg News website quoted a senior American official, accompanying Blinken on his trip, as saying that Washington is seeking to mobilize Ankara’s support for plans to govern Gaza after the war.
The same source added that Blinken will convey a message to the region that Washington will respond to attacks targeting its interests, adding that America expects the Arab partners to convey the message that Blinken carries to Iran.
Israel launches Operation Indigo
The American network NBC News quoted sources confirming that Israel is behind the assassination of Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of the Hamas movement, noting that Tel Aviv is planning to carry out a series of assassinations over several years.
The network reported that Israel did not officially claim responsibility for the assassination of Al-Arouri, but this operation may be the first step in an assassination campaign in response to the attack of last October 7, in reference to the Al-Aqsa Flood operation launched by the Palestinian resistance against the occupation.
The network quoted Israeli officials as saying that the intelligence services formed a joint mission under the name “Indigo” to pursue Hamas leaders and cadres in several countries.
Initial response from Hezbollah
Lebanese Hezbollah reported that it fired 62 missiles at the Israeli Meron air control base as part of what it described as the initial response to the assassination of Al-Arouri in the southern suburb of Beirut, which is the largest missile salvo since the start of the border exchange of fire on the eighth of last October.
The party confirmed that it caused direct casualties by targeting the Israeli military base, explaining that the Meron base is the only management, monitoring and air control center in northern Israel and there is no major alternative to it.
The Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, reiterated yesterday, Friday, that the response to the assassination of Al-Arouri is “inevitably coming,” and that the party’s fighters on the border will be the ones who will respond.
New targeting by Iraq of American forces in Syria
The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” announced that it had attacked, with drones, the Al-Tanf and Al-Shaddadi bases deep in Syria, stressing that it would continue “to destroy enemy strongholds,” according to a statement it published.
This comes amid American fears of the outbreak of a wide-ranging regional conflict as a result of the Israeli war on Gaza. An American official said – the day before yesterday, Thursday – that American forces in the Middle East have been subjected to about 115 attacks since last October 17.
An American drone attack – Thursday – led to the killing of Talib Ali Al-Saidi, a leader in the Al-Nujaba movement, which is affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces factions.