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Yemen’s Houthi rebels introduced a bomb-carrying drone into a U. S. shipment on Wednesday, officials said, the second such attack in recent days on U. S. -connected shipments following U. S. -led moves against the Houthis.
In Gaza, a shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages held by Palestinian militant group Hamas entered the territory late Wednesday, Qatar’s foreign ministry said. The Gulf nation and France worked out a deal between Israel and Hamas to deliver medicine to both the hostages and for Palestinians.
More than 100 days after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, Palestinian militants continue to put up fierce resistance in the besieged enclave. The standoff shows no signs of ending and has stoked tensions across the Middle East with a dizzying series. of movements and counterattacks in the last few days.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza stands at 24,285, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday. In Israel, about 1,200 more people were killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war and in which about 250 more people were taken hostage by militants.
Currently:
— How the imaginary of the watermelon as a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinians has spread throughout the world.
— U.S. pledges new sanctions over Houthi attacks will minimize harm to Yemen’s hungry millions.
— A freed Israeli hostage relives the horrors of captivity. She fears for her husband, who is detained in Gaza.
— U. S. senators reject Bernie Sanders’ efforts to stop the war between Israel and Hamas. Voting is a developing malaise.
— A chaotic wave of retaliation in the Middle East is fueling fears of a wider regional war.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s the latest:
UNTREATED INJURIES, HOSPITALS overwhelmed as Gaza’s health system collapses
UNITED NATIONS — People are dying every day from untreated injuries in Gaza’s overwhelmed remaining hospitals as the territory’s health care system collapses, a U.N. health emergency expert says.
The World Health Organization’s Sean Casey, who left Gaza recently after five weeks of trying to get more staff and supplies to the 16 partially functioning hospitals, told a U.N. news conference Wednesday about the health emergency he witnessed which deteriorated during his time in the territory.
At Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City, “I saw patients lying in the pews, waiting to die in a hospital with no fuel, no electricity, no water, very few medical supplies and a handful of people. The staff left to take care of them,” he said.
Shifa Hospital north of Gaza City, once the territory’s main hospital with 700 beds, has been reduced to treating emergency trauma sufferers and is believed to be filled with tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes and are now living in operating theatres. , hallways and stairwells, he said.
“Literally five or six doctors or nurses” take care of a bunch of people who suffer trauma every day, mostly, Casey said, and there were “so many patients on the floor that you can move slightly without stepping on someone’s hands or feet. “
Last week, Casey said, he visited the Nasser medical complex, the main hospital further south in Khan Younis, which is at 200% of its bed capacity with only 30% of its staff, so “patients are everywhere, in the corridors, on the floor.”
He said a cease-fire is what’s needed, first and foremost, to help some 60,000 injured people and several hundred new arrivals every day. To address the crisis, he said, access to hospitals and health facilities in safety and security is also essential — and medical supplies need to be delivered to facilities where there is adequate staff and electricity to help the thousands in need.
SHIPMENT OF MEDICINE FOR ISRAELI HOSTAGES ENTERS GAZA STRIP, QATAR SAYS
CAIRO (AP) — A spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said medicine intended for dozens of hostages held by Hamas had arrived in the Gaza Strip.
The medicine arrived to Gaza Wednesday as part of a France- and Qatar-mediated deal that was the first agreement between Israel and Hamas since a truce in late November that freed dozens of captives, mostly women and children. For every box that arrives for a hostage, 1,000 boxes will arrive to Palestinians in Gaza, a senior Hamas official said.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari specified whether the aid had been distributed.
More than 100 captives remain, as well as several elderly men. An organization representing the hostages says about a third of those held in captivity suffer from chronic illnesses that require medical attention.
IRAN DECLARES THE ATTACKS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA WERE IN SELF-DEFENSE
UNITED NATIONS – Iran has told the United Nations that it exercised its right to self-defense by using measures “directed against the bases and services of terrorist teams in Syria and Iraq. “
Iran’s U.N. Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani reiterated his government’s “inherent rights, as recognized by international law, to safeguard its sovereignty, national security, and its citizens against any threats or attacks.”
“This commitment reflects Iran’s determination to protect its interests and peace and security within its borders,” he said in letters to the U. N. Security Council and U. N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, received Wednesday via The Associated Press.
He said the counterterrorism operations were carried out in reaction to two bombings on Jan. 3 against a commemoration of the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, which he said killed more than 100 civilians and wounded many others. The Islamic State extremist group, Soleimani’s enemy on the battlefield, claimed responsibility for the attack the next day.
Iravani said ballistic missile attacks in the early hours on Jan. 16 targeted facilities of the Islamic State and al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region and in northeast Syria.
In addition, he said, Iran targeted a facility in Irbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region used by “anti-Iranian terrorist groups associated with the Israeli regime … for intelligence and sabotage operations in Iran.” Iraq protested the violation of its sovereignty and recalled its ambassador to Iran.
In the letter, Iravani reiterated Iran’s “unwavering commitment” to respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria and Iraq.
The measures generate heightened tensions in the region, amid fears of a wider contagion of the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas militants following their wonderful attacks on October 7 in southern Israel.
The letter, dated Jan. 16, mentions Iranian airstrikes on Tuesday in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan. Iran claimed to have attacked bases of a Sunni separatist group. Pakistan denounced the attack as a “flagrant violation” of its airspace, it said. he had killed two young men and recalled his ambassador in Tehran.
A BRITISH NATIONAL HAS BEEN KILLED IN IRAQ BY RECENT IRAN ATTACKS, SAYS UK
BAGHDAD (AP) — Britain’s ambassador to Iraq said Wednesday that a British citizen, Karam Mikhael, was among the civilians killed during an Iranian attack in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil earlier this week. Ambassador Stephen Hitchen offered his condolences to Mikhael’s circle of relatives and those of others who died in the attack in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Iran fired missiles late Monday at what it said was a Israeli “spy headquarters” in an upscale neighborhood near the sprawling U.S. Consulate compound in Irbil. Iraqi officials have denied that the location struck had any connection to Israeli intelligence.
The Iranian attack in Erbil killed at least four people, in addition to Mikhael, a British-Iraqi businessman, and Peshraw Dizayi, a prominent local businessman whose portfolio included real estate and security companies. Iraq recalled its ambassador to Tehran for consultations and summoned Iran’s head of affairs in Baghdad to protest the attack.
SHIP DRONE ATTACK OFF YEMEN COAST, BRITISH MILITARY SAYS
JERUSALEM (AP) — A shipment struck in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, the British military said, most likely via a bomb-carrying drone smuggled through Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
The attack occurred a few miles southeast of Aden, where the drone crashed into a ship, said Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations agency, which oversees Middle Eastern waterways.
The captain “reported that there was a fire on board that has already been extinguished,” he added.
The British military did not immediately identify the vessel, nor whom they suspected in the attack. No group immediately claimed the attack.
However, the Houthis have since November introduced a series of attacks on ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, in what they see as an attempt to prop up Hamas and Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s war against Hamas.
The United States and its allies carried out three rounds of airstrikes last week, targeting Houthi sites in an attempt to deter the militants. However, the Houthis have introduced several attacks since then, putting ships traveling in industrial direction for shipments of goods and energy in greater danger. from Asia and the Middle East to Europe.
Hamas fires rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel
BEIRUT – Hamas said it fired 20 missiles from Lebanon toward a military barracks near Israel’s northern coast on Wednesday.
It was the first rocket attack from Lebanon through the Palestinian militant organization since last December, and comes a day after at least 25 rockets were fired from Gaza into southern Israel in one of the most intense bombardments in more than a week.
Hamas said Wednesday’s attack was partly a reaction to the alleged Israeli airstrike that killed a senior Hamas official, Saleh Arouri, on Jan. 2 in the suburbs of Beirut.
It is not immediately known if there are any injuries or casualties in Israel. The Israeli military said its warplanes and artillery struck sites and places of liberation in southern Lebanon.
Hamas later announced that one of its fighters, from the Palestinian refugee camp of Mieh Mieh near the city of Sidon, had been killed in an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon.
In recent days, the intensity of cross-border fighting between Israel and the Lebanese militant organization Hezbollah has also intensified.
As for the clients of a new ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the hostage situation, Hamas political leader Osama Hamdan told reporters in Beirut that the organization had “presented a vision” to Egypt in Qatar in reaction to proposals put forward by both countries. but he accused Israel of “wavering” in its reaction.
The Hamas official also criticized the foreign network for its fear of supplying medicine to the dozens of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, while more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza have been living for months in appalling conditions, without health care.
Iran’s Most Sensible Diplomat Warns War Could Expand as Israel Tries to Pressure Hamas
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s foreign minister has warned that fighting could intensify in the Middle East if Israel ends its war against Hamas.
“Today, we are witnessing genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. This means that war is ongoing, so there is possibility of extension,” Foreign Affairs Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said, speaking Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Amirabdollahian added that Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon was unwilling to intervene directly in the fighting. Offering his aid to what he said was the militant group’s preference to restrain bloodshed, he said Hezbollah had pledged to maintain a week-long ceasefire in Gaza in November.
Amirabdollahian also claimed that after Iranian airstrikes on a Kurdish domain in northern Iraq, she targeted Israeli sites. He called Israel “the not unusual enemy of Iran and Iraq. “
Second Israeli airstrike in West Bank kills more Palestinians
JERUSALEM — An Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinians during a Wednesday raid in the occupied West Bank.
The army says it targeted an organization of militants who opened fire and threw explosives at Israelis in the Tulkarm refugee camp, a built-up residential domain in the northern West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said four other people were killed. The Israeli military said one soldier was seriously wounded.
The army said the troops arrested seven others who Israel alleges were involved in planting roadside bombs during the raid.
On Wednesday, an airstrike near another West Bank refugee camp killed five Palestinians. Israel said the target, a senior militant believed to have been involved in attacks against Israelis, was killed along with members of his cell.
At least 360 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Most died in clashes, violent protests or Israeli arrest raids.
The Israeli military says it has arrested some 2,700 Palestinians in the West Bank since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack from Gaza into Israel, which sparked the war. According to the report, around 1,300 more people are believed to be members of Hamas.
MOODS AND CONDITIONS ARE DETERIORATING IN SOUTHERN GAZA, HEAD OF U.N. AGENCY SAYS
JERUSALEM — The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says he is shocked by how poor the conditions in the Gaza Strip have become after three and a half months of war.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini spoke to reporters on Wednesday, a day after completing his fourth visit to Gaza since October 7.
Lazzarini said he had overcome the mood and situation of the masses of displaced people who have sought safe haven in the southern part of the territory, many of whom live in giant tent camps. The UN estimates that more than 80 percent of Gaza’s 2. 3 million citizens have been displaced.
He said the situation continues to worsen with his travels. Their last stop was just before Christmas.
“Now we have makeshift plastic that has popped up almost everywhere,” Lazzarini said. “Hundreds of thousands of people are now living on the streets, living in this plastic transformation, sleeping on concrete. “
He said U. N. shelters are an option because they are overcrowded and suffer from poor sanitary conditions.
In some places, women have all but stopped eating or drinking because they do not want to use the filthy bathrooms, Lazzarini said. Diarrhea and skin diseases are fast spreading, he said.
Lazzarini said he was also struck by the sense of helplessness of the other people he saw. He said they were in “survival mode,” exhausted and demoralized by appalling hygiene situations and lack of hope. For many it will be very unlikely that they will return home when the fighting stops, because the destruction is so extensive, and many talk of leaving Gaza in the hope of rebuilding their lives elsewhere.
“They don’t see how they can continue to raise their children in this kind of environment,” Lazzarini said. “People are starting to have a hard time predicting what the long-term future will look like. “
U.N. AGENCY SEEKS REVIEW OF ALLEGED PRO-HAMAS ACTIVITY IN ITS RANKS
JERUSALEM (AP) — The head of the U. N. agency for Palestinian refugees says he has called for an independent review of allegations made by pro-Israel teams about unchecked pro-Hamas activities within his organization.
Philippe Lazzarini told reporters Wednesday he would soon appoint a professional consulting group or some other “independent entity” to look into the claims.
Israeli officials and their allies have claimed that the refugee agency, known by its acronym UNRWA, allows anti-Israel incitement in its many schools. They also alleged that some of the agency’s tens of thousands of staff members supported or collaborated with the militant organization Hamas or wrote irrelevant messages on social media.
UNRWA serves millions of Palestinians across the Middle East whose families fled or were forced to leave their homes inside Israel during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948. Israel rejects the return of refugees to their former lands, saying it would undermine the country’s power. Jewish character.
Opponents of the accusations say the refugee company is being tainted as part of a campaign to alleviate the plight of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Israeli critics have accused UNRWA of perpetuating the Palestinian refugee problem, a charge Lazzarini dismisses.
Lazzarini said on Wednesday that the habit alleged by critics went against U. N. principles and that his company had internal safeguards in place to deal with violations.
But he added that “constant monitoring” has had an effect on the agency’s already strained operations by encouraging some donor countries to consider cutting the organization’s investments. He added that it has also damaged morale at a time when UNRWA is wearing down “this huge humanitarian operation in Gaza. “
Lazzarini said he needs a review of “what’s true or false” and a look at how the firm handles problematic cases. He said he was confident that the investigation would reveal that there was “no policy formulated” that violated U. N. criteria and that a proper follow-up formula had been implemented.
He said the assessment would also look at “what is disingenuous, what is politically motivated” among the critics.
JORDAN SAYS A DOCTOR AT A HOSPITAL HE WAS RUNNING WAS WOUNDED IN THEGAZA
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A doctor working at a hospital he runs in Gaza has been wounded in nearby clashes, the Jordanian military said.
An army issued on Wednesday said the man was wounded in the thigh and hand and would be evacuated to the kingdom. He did not provide further details about the man.
It said a Palestinian who was receiving treatment was also wounded. It says the hospital in Khan Younis suffered “severe material damage” as a result of “continuous Israeli bombing” nearby.
The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident.
The Jordanian military says it holds Israel guilty for protecting the hospital and called the attack on the hospital a “flagrant violation of foreign humanitarian law. “
Jordan, a close Western ally, made peace with Israel in 1994 but supports the Palestinian cause and has called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
ISRAELI ARMY TRAINING FOR POSSIBLE OFFENSIVE IN LEBANON
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military has conducted training that simulates an offensive in southern Lebanon as it continues to exchange fire with Hezbollah fighters along the border.
Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, head of the army’s Northern Command, said in a statement Tuesday, “We are more prepared than ever for this, including for tonight if necessary. “
More than 2,000 rockets have been fired into Israel from Lebanon, Hezbollah’s headquarters, since the start of the Gaza war, killing 12 Israeli infantrymen and six civilians on Monday, as well as a mother and her child.
Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon killed militants and 20 civilians, according to Hezbollah. Earlier this week, Israel said it had stopped militants from infiltrating the disputed Golan Heights.
Gordin says reserve soldiers are spread out along the border to bolster Israel’s defenses.
Hezbollah says its attacks are aimed at immobilizing Israeli forces and will continue until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. Israel has warned of all-out war if Hezbollah withdraws from the border, in line with a UN solution that ended the war between Israel. and Hezbollah in 2006.
HAMAS OFFICIAL: GAZA RESIDENTS TO RECEIVE MEDICINES AS PART OF HOSTAGE AID DEAL
CAIRO (AP) — Hamas has provided more important points about a deal brokered through France and Qatar to deliver medicine to Israeli hostages held by its fighters in Gaza.
Senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk said Wednesday that for each box of medicine provided to the hostages, 1,000 boxes would be sent for use by Palestinian civilians.
In a message published in X, he said that the International Committee of the Red Cross would deliver all medicines, in addition to those destined for the hostages, to hospitals providing services in all areas of Gaza.
The agreement also includes the delivery of additional food and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Abu Marzouk says the Israeli government will not be able to inspect the shipments. He claims that Hamas insisted that Qatar supply the drugs and not France because of that European country’s request to Israel.
It is the first agreement reached between the warring parties since a week-long ceasefire in November. Hamas and other militants are still holding some of the 250 hostages they captured in the Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. Most of the others were released in November in exchange for the release of imprisoned Palestinians through Israel.
Among those held captive in Gaza are several elderly people and others who want medicines to treat chronic diseases.
Israeli airstrike in West Bank kills top Palestinian militant, says
JERUSALEM — The Israeli army says it killed a senior Palestinian militant in an airstrike in the West Bank.
Ahmed Abdullah Abu Shalal, who the IDF said had infrastructure and had planned attacks against Israelis in Jerusalem, was killed along with four others early Wednesday morning near the Balata refugee camp in the city of Nablus.
The Palestine Red Crescent said Israeli forces prevented medics from reaching the scene of the attack, and in a social media post said “the shots were aimed at our teams. “
The military claimed that Abu Shalal and his mobile were making plans to carry out an imminent attack and had obtained investments and recommendations from “Iranian sources. “He did not provide any evidence of this allegation.
Violence has increased in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 350 Palestinians have been killed in the past three months, mostly in Israeli arrest raids and violent protests.
Israel has increasingly resorted to airstrikes in the West Bank as fighting intensifies, but targeted killings remain rare in the territory.
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