At least ten reported killed by Israeli strike on al-Mawasi ‘safe zone’
An Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 Palestinians in a tent encampment sheltering displaced families in the southern Gaza Strip early on Thursday, medics said, Reuters reports.
The director-general of Gaza’s police department Mahmoud Salah, and his aide Hussam Shahwan were killed in the airstrike, Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV reported. Israel has not commented directly on the strike.
15 Palestinians were reported wounded in the attack.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli quadcopters were firing in Gaza City, and that Israel’s military “continues to blow up residential buildings west of Jabalia camp.”
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Key events
The Al Jazeera news network has issued a statement denouncing the Palestinian Authority for its decision to close the network’s office.
Al Jazeera has previously been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
In the statement Al Jazeera said:
Al Jazeera Media Network denounces the Palestinian Authority’s decision to freeze its work and coverage in the West Bank and considers this decision nothing but an attempt to dissuade the channel from covering the rapidly escalating events taking place in the occupied territories.
This decision comes following the ongoing campaign of incitement and intimidation by parties associated with the Palestinian Authority against Al Jazeera’s journalists and correspondents. The decision to freeze Al Jazeera’s work and prevent its journalists from conducting their duties is an attempt to hide the truth about events in the occupied territories, especially what is happening in Jenin and its camps. And – unfortunately – such decision comes align with the previous action taken by the Israeli government, which closed Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah.
Al Jazeera is shocked by this decision, which comes at a time when the war on the Gaza Strip is still on going, and the systematic targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli occupation forces.
As of 31 December 2024, preliminary investigations by the Commitee to Protect Journalists claimed at least 146 journalists and media workers had been killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and Lebanon since 7 October 2023. It said the figures make it the deadliest period for journalists since it began gathering data in 1992.
Here are some of the latest images sent from Gaza over the newswires. At least 15 people have been reported killed by Israeli strikes in the last few hours.
Palestinian news agency reports four Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli strike on the al-Shati refugee camp, which is to the west of Gaza City in the north of the Gaza Strip.
It reports “Since dawn today, 15 citizens have been killed and dozens injured in the occupation’s bombing of various parts of the Gaza Strip, 11 of them in Khan Younis.”
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Israel’s military has issued statistics on the number of its troops killed in the past two years.
The number for 2023 is given as 558 soldiers killed, with 512 killed during “operational activity”. Writing for the Times of Israel, military correspondent Emanuel Fabian writes that this number “apparently including the hundreds who were killed during Hamas’s 7 October onslaught — and three in terror attacks”. 16 deaths were recorded as due to accidents.
The figure for 2024 is lower. Fabian writes “In 2024, the IDF recorded a total of 363 deaths in the military, including 295 in operational activity amid the war and 11 in terror attacks.”
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Lebanon’s National News Media reported on Thursday morning that “enemy drones are currently flying over the skies of the capital Beirut and the southern suburbs, at a low altitude.”
Israel’s military announced overnight that a warning siren regarding possible “hostile aircraft infiltration” in Israel’s southern port city of Eilat had been due to “a false identification”.
Defense minister Katz defends new conscription law after Gallant resigns from Knesset
Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz has defended plans for a new conscription law in Israel after his predecessor Yoav Gallant announced yesterday he would resign from the Knesset over the issue.
In a post to social media on Thursday morning Katz said “There is no place for cynical political use of a moral issue like conscription into the IDF.”
He continued:
The new conscription law, upon its completion, will bring about a historic turning point and the recruitment of tens of thousands of additional ultra-Orthodox members for significant service in the IDF for the first time.
Yesterday Gallant said the bill, which will allow some exemptions from military service for Orthodox men “contradicts the needs of the Israeli army and the security of the state of Israel.”
Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Gallant in November 2024.
At least ten reported killed by Israeli strike on al-Mawasi ‘safe zone’
An Israeli airstrike killed at least 10 Palestinians in a tent encampment sheltering displaced families in the southern Gaza Strip early on Thursday, medics said, Reuters reports.
The director-general of Gaza’s police department Mahmoud Salah, and his aide Hussam Shahwan were killed in the airstrike, Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV reported. Israel has not commented directly on the strike.
15 Palestinians were reported wounded in the attack.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Israeli quadcopters were firing in Gaza City, and that Israel’s military “continues to blow up residential buildings west of Jabalia camp.”
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Welcome and opening summary …
Welcome to the Guardian’s ongoing live coverage of conflict in the Middle East. Here are the headlines …
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Israeli strikes killed at least 12 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on New Year’s Day. Reports suggest at least 10 more people have been killed on Thursday, after tents in al-Mawasi were bombed overnight. It is an area that has been designated a “safe zone”. Palestinian media reports that the director-general of Gaza’s police force was killed in the strike.
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On Wednesday, Israeli defense minister Israel Katz threatened that Israel would intensify its strikes on Gaza if Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel
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The Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has banned broadcasts by the Al Jazeera news network. The network has previously been banned from operating inside Israel by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government
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Israel’s former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has resigned from the Knesset, citing the government’s policy on the exemption of Orthodox men from military service. Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Gallant in November 2024
