Condemnation after Israel kills two journalists in Gaza
- Two more journalists killed after their vehicle is targeted in an Israeli air strike, including the son of Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh.
- At least seven Palestinians killed in an Israeli drone attack on Jenin in the occupied West Bank; three-year-old girl killed by Israeli border police near occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel considers 2024 ‘year of fighting’: Expert
Esmat Mansour, a researcher on Israeli affairs, says that according to Israeli estimates, the war will take at least nine months to a year to conclude, and that will only happen after the army “combs through the Gaza Strip and rids it of rockets and tunnels”.
“They will also aim to find the captives and reach the Hamas leadership. All of this makes 2024 a year of fighting and puts Israel in a continuous state of emergency,” Mansour told Al Jazeera.
“This means that the existing situation – the state of emergency, the emergency government, and all that those entail – will continue, and it is also possible that the captives may not return during this year,” he added.
“And this is why Israel is pushing for a deal with Hamas without a halt to the fighting. Israel wants the fighting to continue because it is looking for a clear victory in the form of changing the entire situation in the Gaza Strip, and this requires a lot of time.”
US Muslim group calls on Biden to condemn targeting of journalists in Gaza
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said US President Joe Biden should speak out against Israeli war crimes and the killing of journalists.
“Yet all we hear from administration officials are denials of the obvious genocide taking place and actions in support of that genocide, forced starvation and ethnic cleansing,” CAIR Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said in a statement.
“The majority of Americans reject the Biden administration’s hypocritical and inhumane stance on the unfolding genocide in Gaza. It is time for President Biden to align his statements and actions with the will of the American people and call for an immediate ceasefire and a just and lasting peace.”
Hackers display anti-Hezbollah messages at Beirut airport
Screens normally displaying departure and arrival times instead displayed messages attacking Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to the Associated Press.
“Hassan Nasrallah, you will no longer have supporters if you curse Lebanon with a war for which you will bear responsibility and consequences,” the message read.
The messages were displayed alongside logos from a Christian group known as Soldiers of God and another group calling itself The One Who Spoke. However, the former denied its involvement.
US senator blames ‘political decisions’ by Israel for inadequate Gaza aid
United States Senator Chris Van Hollen, who visited the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, says the “unnecessarily cumbersome” screening process, which is “the result of political decisions by the Netanyahu coalition” is delaying the delivery of assistance to Gaza.
For example, he said water filtration systems were turned back by Israeli inspectors at the border, with the crossing operating eight hours a day instead of 24-7 to meet the needs of Palestinians. “When one item on a truck is rejected, the entire truck is rejected,” Van Hollen told CBS News.
He also said the process to ensure the delivery of aid inside Gaza without it being targeted by Israel is not working.
“According to all the international NGOs that we talked about – who have operated in conflict zones around the world – they’ve never seen a worse process for ensuring the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance,” Van Hollen said.
The democratic senator warned that people in Gaza are starving and on the verge of disease outbreaks.
Al-Quds Brigades says it fired rockets at Israeli towns
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad has said it fired rockets at the Israeli towns of Sderot and Nirim outside Gaza.
Separately, Haaretz reported siren sounds in Sderot and other border towns.
Israeli military admits damage to air control base in Hezbollah attack
Hezbollah attacked the Mount Meron base, near the Israeli border with Lebanon, with rockets and anti-tank missiles on Saturday.
A video released by the Lebanese group shows damage to the base’s radar domes, although the Israeli military has said that backup systems mean its air defences are still functioning.
Israel will be fighting in Gaza all year, military chief says
Herzi Halevi hints at a long-term conflict in Gaza, saying that 2024 will be a “challenging year”.
“We will be fighting in Gaza all year – that’s for sure,” Halevi said during a visit to the occupied West Bank.
He added that the Israeli military is inflicting a “heavy price” on Hezbollah amid the Lebanese group’s attacks on northern Israel.
