United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Israeli security forces to exercise "maximum restraint" after they launched a major operation in the West Bank city of Jenin.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least eight Palestinians were killed and 35 people were wounded.
During the military operation, which took place as the Gaza ceasefire entered its third day, Israeli fire also injured three nurses and two doctors, said the director of the Jenin hospital, Khalil Suleiman.
The UN Secretary-General "remains deeply concerned" by the violence and "calls on security forces to exercise maximum restraint and use lethal force only when strictly necessary to protect life," a spokesman for Guterres said.
The Qatari prime minister expressed hope that the Palestinian Authority would return and assume a governing role in Gaza after the end of the war with Israel.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Switzerland, two days after the Gaza ceasefire he helped broker came into effect, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani warned that only the people of Gaza should decide who would govern the territory.
"We hope to see the Palestinian Authority back in Gaza. We hope to see a government that will really address the problems of the people there. There is a long road ahead for Gaza after the destruction," he said, according to a Reuters report.
The issue of the future administration of Gaza after the war was not directly addressed in the ceasefire agreement.
Israel has rejected any governing role for Hamas, but is almost equally opposed to the Palestinian Authority taking control, a body established under the interim Oslo peace accords three decades ago and which has limited powers in the West Bank.
New US President Donald Trump has lifted the imposition of sanctions against people who undermine peace in the West Bank, which was one of the executive orders from the time of former President Joseph Biden.
The Biden administration has imposed some sanctions by executive order against Jewish extremist settlers who attack Palestinians in the West Bank. This comes after an outbreak of violence preceded by an attack by Hamas from another Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip, on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Jewish settlers in the West Bank celebrated the arrival of the Trump administration, believing that it would treat illegal Jewish settlements differently.
During his first term as president, Trump took unprecedented steps in support of Israel's territorial aspirations, including recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to that city, as well as recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned what they described as brutal attacks by Israeli settler militias and their armed terrorist elements on Palestinian citizens, their property and holy sites, the latest of which was, they say, a barbaric aggression on the towns of Al-Funduk and Jinsafut, east of Qalqilya.
“Under the supervision and protection of the Israeli occupation forces and the Israeli government, at least 50 masked Israeli terrorists launched a public mass attack last night on the village of Al-Funduq in the occupied West Bank.
Israeli terrorists burned numerous Palestinian homes and shops, destroyed vehicles, terrorized civilians and wounded 21 of them. Israeli occupation forces intervened to suppress Palestinian citizens when they tried to defend themselves,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
They claim that in a new act of aggression, the Israeli occupation forces have imposed additional collective punishments and restrictive measures on our people throughout the West Bank, closing all entrances to Palestinian governorates, cities, and settlements, either with iron gates or military checkpoints, the number of which has reached approximately 898 barriers, leading to the fragmentation of the West Bank.
These illegal measures have caused paralysis of citizens' movement, humiliation and oppression of thousands of Palestinians for long hours at checkpoints that demonstrate the ugliest forms of Israel's apartheid system, they pointed out in a statement.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs views with great concern the lifting of sanctions on extremist settlers and the decision of the Israeli government to release detained Israeli terrorists, demonstrating Israel’s intention to drag the West Bank into an all-out confrontation in search of justifications for copying the genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip in the West Bank, in preparation for creating a state of violent chaos and facilitating its annexation.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs holds the international community responsible and calls on it to urgently fulfill its obligations to our people, including providing international protection," the statement said.
The ministry called for the imposition of deterrent international sanctions on Israel, the occupying power, and its settler terrorist organizations.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues its political, diplomatic and international legal activities with countries and relevant human rights and humanitarian organizations to expose the crimes of Israel and its settlers, and mobilize the broadest front of international pressure to force the Israeli government to stop its attacks and end the military occupation of the land of Palestine," the statement concluded.
Leaders of Israeli opposition parties today called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to follow the example of Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi and resign.
"I salute Herzliya Halevi. Now let the prime minister and his disastrous government take responsibility and resign," Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid announced.
Yisrael Beitenu party leader Avigdor Liberman said that following the resignation of the head of the Israel Defense Forces, he is calling on the prime minister and other members of the government to take responsibility and "follow him."
"Thank you Hertz, Netanyahu, now it's your turn," said Democratic Party leader Yair Golan.
The leader of the National Union party and former army chief himself, Benny Gantz, stated that Halevi is first and foremost a warrior, who fought for the country his entire life.
"The Chief of Staff is responsible for the military blunders that led to the disaster of October 7th and is also responsible for the massive recovery of the IDF," Gantz posted on the X platform, adding that he took responsibility from the first moment and demonstrated it on the battlefield and is now demonstrating his public responsibility in a manner worthy of respect.
Gantz called for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry on October 7, 2023, and for it to lead the State of Israel into elections to establish a government that can restore public trust.
Netanyahu spoke with Halevi by phone after announcing his resignation to thank him for his long service to the country.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of the ultra-Orthodox Religious Zionism party assessed that the new IDF command must be prepared to continue the war until total victory.
He welcomed Halevi's resignation and praised him for his decades of service, including what he said were "great military achievements on all fronts" during the latest war, although he criticized him for not destroying Hamas's ability to govern.
(BETA)
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports, citing the director of the Khalil Suleiman Hospital in Jenin, Wissam Bakr, that three nurses and two doctors were injured by Israeli fire during an Israeli military operation inside Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
Al Jazeera reports that the death toll in Jenin has risen to seven, with around 35 others wounded. Jenin's governor, Kamal Abu al-Rub, told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency that "what is happening is an invasion of the camp," referring to a refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city.
"Everything happened quickly, Apaches were in the air and Israeli military vehicles were everywhere," he added.
Hamas has called for an escalation of fighting against Israel in response to the current Israeli military raid in Jenin.
The commander of Israel's Southern Command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, informed the Chief of the Israeli General Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, today that he intends to resign.
He did this after Halevi announced that he too would resign in March.
Finkelman cited his responsibility for the failures of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that led to the attack by Palestinian extremists led by the Islamist Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, as the reason for his resignation.
"On October 1.200th, I failed to defend the Western Negev and its beloved and heroic inhabitants. That failure is etched in my memory for the rest of my life," Finkelman announced, Israeli media reported, alluding to the day when around 250 were killed and more than 90 hostages were taken and taken to Gaza, where around XNUMX are still being held, but it is known that not all of them are alive.
"Out of responsibility to the State of Israel, the IDF and its people, I have since acted to wage war against Hamas and the terrorist organizations in Gaza. We must continue to attack the enemy, return all of our hostages to their homes and communities, their rightful place of safety and prosperity," Finkelman added.
(BETA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that the Israeli army's major operation in Jenin in the West Bank is "another step towards achieving the set goal: strengthening security in Judea and Samaria," the biblical name for the territory.
The operation, dubbed "Iron Wall," is expected to last several days, Israeli media reported.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least six people were killed and 35 wounded in an Israeli operation in Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
"We are acting in a systematic and decisive manner against the Iranian axis wherever it sends weapons - to Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu said in a statement released by his cabinet.
The Islamist organization Hamas, which rules the other Palestinian territory, the Gaza Strip, has called for a strengthening of the fight against Israel in response to the Israeli military operation in Jenin, agencies reported.
A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has been in effect since Sunday in the war between Israel and Hamas, which has lasted more than 15 months.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War. Palestinians are fighting for an independent state that would encompass all three territories.
(BETA)
The Chief of Staff of the Israeli Army, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, informed Defense Minister Israel Katz today that he intends to resign.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said 915 trucks carrying aid entered the Gaza Strip on Monday, the second day of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas after 15 months of war.
OCHA cited information from Israel and the ceasefire guarantors – the US, Qatar and Egypt. On Sunday, the UN said that about 630 trucks had entered the Palestinian enclave, at least 300 of which had gone north.
The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas - which the US and EU consider a terrorist organisation - stipulates that at least 600 trucks can bring aid into Gaza each day from the initial six-week ceasefire, including 50 trucks carrying fuel.
Data from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) shows that 2.892 trucks of aid entered the Gaza Strip in December. The aid is delivered to the Gaza side of the border, where it is picked up and distributed by the UN.
However, gangs and looters have made this difficult. OCHA data shows that 2.230 aid trucks – an average of 72 per day – were picked up in December, while from 1 to 5 January the daily average was 51.
Israel has destroyed much of the Gaza Strip during its military operation, while most of the 2,3 million people who lived there have been displaced multiple times. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the humanitarian situation as "catastrophic."
Guterres told the UN Security Council on Monday that the UN continues to face "significant obstacles, challenges and constraints." He said the UN, humanitarian groups and the private sector need rapid, safe and unhindered access to the Gaza Strip.
Guterres also said that Israel and Hamas must coordinate with the UN in a timely and effective manner so that it can carry out its humanitarian work. "This also includes establishing public order and security to prevent looting of humanitarian supplies," he added.
The war in the Gaza Strip began after an attack by Hamas members on October 7, 2023, on southern Israel, when, according to Israeli figures, 1.200 people were killed. In subsequent Israeli attacks, according to figures from the Hamas-controlled Palestinian health authorities, more than 47.000 people were killed.
(Radio Free Europe)
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