- Israeli forces conduct raids in the occupied West Bank as the bombardment of Gaza continues on New Year’s Day, with at least 17 Palestinians killed in northern Jabalia and the central Bureij refugee camp.
- Days of heavy rain have flooded hundreds of makeshift shelters across the Strip, piling more misery on displaced Palestinians as Israel continues to restrict the entry of humanitarian aid.
- The United Nations says Israel’s attacks on Gaza’s hospitals have pushed its healthcare system to “the brink of total collapse”, and Israeli justifications that Palestinian armed groups use the facilities are “vague, broad” and “contradicted by publicly available information”.
- Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 45,541 Palestinians and wounded 108,338 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.
- ‘Huge price to pay after the end of this genocide’Sami al-Arian, director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University, says the international community’s failure to halt Israel’s bloody attack on Gaza will have lasting repercussions for global rules and norms.“The international community hasn’t been doing anything, it’s really quite toothless. It doesn’t have any means or any thoughts to do anything to force Israel to do anything. It has zero leverage. Israel is controlling the situation for a long time because none of the actors – with very few exceptions such as the Houthis in Yemen – are willing to actually force Israel to follow international law,” al-Arian told Al Jazeera.“The United States is always ready with its veto. The other powers don’t do anything about it, they just shrug and look the other way. The victims of this genocide, the victims of these war crimes – the Palestinians – are paying a heavy price because of this impotence. This international order has lost its meaning, and I think there will be a huge price the world will have to pay after the end of this genocide.”
- community has left Gaza’s children to freeze and starve
- Displaced Palestinian family live under roof of bombed houseJournalist Saed Hasballah has shared a video on Instagram showing a displaced Palestinian family taking refuge in a destroyed home in northern Gaza in the rain and increasing cold.The father, displaced from Jabalia to Gaza City because of Israeli bombing, sat with his children under a collapsed roof, lighting a fire in an attempt to warm his shivering family.The video has been verified by Sanad, Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency.
- Israeli forces arrest 22 Palestinians from occupied West BankIsraeli forces have arrested at least 22 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, according to locals and security sources.The arrests took place in the areas of Hebron, Salfit, Tubas, and Bethlehem, the Wafa news agency reported.According to Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 10,300 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centres, including 345 children and 89 women.
- Israel says UN report on Gaza hospital attacks is fabricatedDaniel Meron, Israel’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, has described a damning UN human rights agency report on attacks on Gaza’s hospitals as made up.The 23-page UN report said: “The destruction of the healthcare system in Gaza, and the extent of killing of patients, staff, and other civilians in these attacks, is a direct consequence of the disregard of international humanitarian and human rights law.”Meron said on X that Israel operates in accordance with international law, would never target innocent civilians, and accused Hamas of using Gaza hospitals for what he called “terror activity”.The Israeli military has accused Hamas of using health facilities as “command centres” for military operations, and said people it has detained at hospitals were fighters.
- A fire burns after an Israeli strike outside Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza [Reuters]
- Israeli ministers to discuss ‘the day after’ the war on GazaIsraeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reports Israel’s government will hold a meeting on Thursday involving the defence minister to hash out what happens when the war on Gaza ends.On the agenda will be finding an alternative to Hamas’s rule in Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won’t be present as he’s in hospital recovering from prostate surgery.Netanyahu has pledged that Israeli forces would operate in Gaza for “years to come”. Amid the widespread destruction and carnage in Gaza, analysts say any post-war plan will face monumental difficulties in conception and implementation.
LIVE: Israel kills 17 Palestinians in Gaza on New Year’s Day
