Qatar Prime Minister Warns of Mass Destruction and Says Gaza is No More
More than 100 days after the start of the conflict, Palestinian authorities say the death toll in the coastal area has passed 24,000.
Qatar's prime minister warned on Tuesday of the massive destruction caused by Israel's offensive on Gaza and criticized the Israeli defense minister's rejection of a ceasefire in the battered enclave.
The war, sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on southern Israel, has also unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe that has displaced most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents and left more than a quarter of its population famine has forced it, according to the United Nations.
More than 100 days after the start of the conflict, Palestinian authorities say the death toll in the coastal area has passed 24,000. In Israel, the Hamas attack on October 7 killed around 1,200 people and took some 250 others hostage by the militants.
Currently:
– Houthi rebels attack a US ship off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden, increasing tensions.
– The heads of UN agencies say Gaza needs more aid to arrive faster, and warn of famine and disease.
– Iran attacks targets in northern Iraq and Syria as regional tensions escalate.
– The Palestinian ambassador to the UN calls on the Non-Aligned Movement to pressure Israel to enforce a ceasefire.
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THE PRIME MINISTER OF QATAR TALKS ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF GAZA: 'GAZA IS NO LONGER THERE.'
JERUSALEM – The Prime Minister of Qatar on Tuesday sharply criticized Israel and the international community over the ongoing Israeli war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar's foreign minister, said a two-state solution was needed to end the conflict and warned that Hamas' attack on October 7 and the Israeli response showed that the region could not return to normal. old road. it was before.
“Gaza no longer exists. I mean, there's nothing there,” he said during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “It's carpet bombing everywhere.”
He also raised ongoing tensions in the West Bank, where Palestinians have also been killed by Israeli security forces, and urged an end to Palestinian division.
“We cannot have a two-state solution without a government and politicians in Israel who believe in peaceful coexistence, and we cannot continue any of this without ending this war,” he said.
He warned that a military confrontation in Middle Eastern waterways “will not contain” attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels who fired a missile on Monday and struck a US-owned ship just off Yemen's coast in the Gulf of Aden .
“What we have in the region now is a recipe for escalation everywhere,” Sheikh Mohammed added.
ISRAEL SAYS MISSILES FIRED FROM GAZA, SAID TO BE ONE OF THE STRONGEST BOMBARDMENTS IN MORE THAN A WEEK
TEL AVIV – Israel says a barrage of at least 25 rockets was launched from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel on Tuesday, damaging a shop. It was one of the strongest bombardments from Gaza in more than a week.
It came a day after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the Israeli army was expanding military control from northern Gaza to other parts of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has continued to fire rockets into Israel throughout the war, even as Israel says it is dismantling Hamas's military capabilities in the expanding areas of Gaza. Israel's Channel 12 TV said the rockets were launched on Tuesday from the town of Bureij in central Gaza.
In the Beit Lahia area of northern Gaza, Israeli forces have located about 100 rocket installations and 60 ready-to-use rockets, the army said. The military claims its forces killed dozens of militants during the activity.
Gallant said at a news conference Monday that he expects military operations in southern Gaza “to end soon,” but he did not provide a timetable. He spoke a day after the White House called on Israel to curtail its offensive.
Gallant said Israel is still targeting Hamas leaders, calling them the “head of the snake,” and that they are believed to be hiding in Khan Younis, the southern city where the offensive has focused in recent weeks.
He emphasized that military pressure is the only way to secure the release of the more than 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity. “Only from a position of strength can we guarantee the release of hostages,” he said.
ISRAELI MILITARY INVESTIGATING WEST BANK Clashes ON MONDAY THAT KILLED A PALESTINIAN WOMAN
Tel Aviv, Israel – The Israeli military said Tuesday it is investigating an incident in the occupied West Bank the previous day in which a Palestinian woman was killed in clashes with Israeli forces.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the woman – 23-year-old Ahed Mohammed – was killed along with a man and nine Palestinians were injured.
The Israeli military said the clashes took place in the town of Dura, where about 100 people threw firebombs and blocks at troops, who fired back. The military said one person was killed, others were hit and the incident was “under review.” It did not confirm reports of the woman's death.
The West Bank has experienced a wave of violence since the outbreak of war in Gaza and the Palestinian Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed around 350 Palestinians there since October 7. Most were killed in clashes with Israeli forces during arrest attacks or violent protests.
Palestinians from the West Bank also carried out attacks on Israelis during that time.
EXCHANGE OF FIRE ALONG ISRAEL-EGYPT BORDER KILLS 1 IN EGYPT, INJURES AN ISRAELI SOLDIER
JERUSALEM – Israel said one of its troops was “slightly injured” in a firefight along the country's border with Egypt, which Cairo blamed on drug smuggling. One person in Egypt was killed.
The Israeli military's statement late on Monday said the fighting took place near the Nitzana border crossing with Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula and that there were 20 armed suspects. The Israelis and the suspects exchanged fire, with Israel saying “hits had been identified” among the suspects, without elaborating.
The Israeli soldier who was struck “was evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment and her family has been informed,” the army said.
The Israeli military has not identified the suspects. An Egyptian military statement on Tuesday described the suspects involved as trying to smuggle drugs. It said one person was killed and six people were subsequently arrested.
Egypt and Israel have had a peace deal since 1979, but Israel's months-long war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip has strained ties.
UN chief warns of famine and disease in Gaza as aid wavers
UNITED NATIONS – The UN Secretary General says Gaza faces “the long shadow of famine” and the risk of disease outbreaks due to barriers to delivering essential aid.
Antonio Guterres did not mention Israel by name in his remarks Monday, but blamed its inability to meet Gaza's growing humanitarian needs on widespread bombing, barriers to entry and restrictions on the spread within it – all among the control of Israel.
He said he was “deeply disturbed by the clear violation of international humanitarian law that we are witnessing.”
Israeli officials have denied aid is being hampered and say the UN must provide more workers and trucks.
But Guterres said the UN and its partners “cannot effectively provide humanitarian assistance while Gaza is under such heavy, widespread and unrelenting bombardment.” He pointed to the deaths of 152 UN staff in Gaza since the start of the war, “the greatest loss of life in the history of our organization.”