Death toll in Israeli strikes on Gaza since ceasefire deal rises to 77, residents say

Death toll in Israeli strikes on Gaza since ceasefire deal rises to 77, residents say
Smoke plumes rise from explosions above destroyed buildings in the northern Gaza Strip on January 16, 2025, following the announcement of a truce. (AFP)
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Updated 16 January 2025
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Death toll in Israeli strikes on Gaza since ceasefire deal rises to 77, residents say

Death toll in Israeli strikes on Gaza since ceasefire deal rises to 77, residents say
  • Israel’s acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government
  • Netanyahu has delayed the meeting, accusing Hamas of making last-minute demands and going back on agreements

DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM: Israel airstrikes killed at least 77 people in Gaza overnight on Thursday, residents and authorities in the enclave said, hours after a ceasefire and hostage release deal was announced to bring an end to 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas.
The complex ceasefire accord emerged on Wednesday after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the US to stop the war that has devastated the coastal territory and inflamed the Middle East.
The deal, scheduled to be implemented from Sunday, outlines a six-week initial ceasefire with the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, where tens of thousands have been killed. Hostages taken by militant group Hamas, which controls the enclave, would be freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel.
The deal also paves the way for a surge in humanitarian aid for Gaza, where the majority of the population has been displaced and is facing acute food shortages, food security experts warned late last year.
Rows of aid trucks were lined up in the Egyptian border town of El-Arish waiting to cross into Gaza, once the border is reopened.
Israel’s acceptance of the deal will not be official until it is approved by the country’s security cabinet and government, and a vote was slated for Thursday, an Israeli official said.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed the meeting, accusing Hamas of making last-minute demands and going back on agreements.
“The Israeli cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
Hamas senior official Izzat el-Reshiq said on Thursday the group is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by mediators on Wednesday.
Hard-liners in Netanyahu’s government were still hoping to stop the deal, though a majority of ministers were expected to back it.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism Party said in a statement that its condition for remaining in the government would be a return to fighting at the end of the first phase of the deal, in order to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages back. Far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has also threatened to quit the government if the ceasefire is approved.
In Jerusalem, some Israelis marched through the streets carrying mock coffins in protest at the ceasefire, blocking roads and scuffling with police.
Despite the hold-up to the cabinet meeting, political commentators on Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said the latest delay would likely be resolved and that the ceasefire was a done deal.
The White House also downplayed reports of a snag in the ceasefire deal on Thursday. Jonathan Finer, the deputy national security adviser, said in an interview with CNN: “We fully expect the deal to be implemented as described by the president and by the mediators — Egypt and Qatar — yesterday and on the timeline that was described. What we’re doing now is working through details of implementation.”
Calls for faster implementation
For some Palestinians, the deal could not come soon enough.
“We lose homes every hour. We demand for this joy not to go away, the joy that was drawn on our faces — don’t waste it by delaying the implementation of the truce until Sunday,” Gazan man Mahmoud Abu Wardeh said.
The accord requires 600 truckloads of humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza every day of the ceasefire, with 50 carrying fuel. The first phase of the agreement will also see Israel releasing more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including many long-serving inmates.
Israelis may find it hard to see Palestinian militants who were serving life sentences for their involvement in deadly attacks in their country, set free.
But successive surveys have shown broad support among the public for a deal that would see the hostages released, even at what is seen as a heavy price.
“This has to be the only choice that we take in order to continue surviving as a state and as a nation, knowing that we will do anything to save each other,” said Jerusalem resident Chava Treitel.
While people celebrated the pact in Gaza and Israel, Israel’s military conducted more attacks, the civil emergency service and residents said.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 81 people had been killed over the past 24 hours and about 188 injured. The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said at least 77 of those were killed since the ceasefire announcement.
The Israeli military is looking into the reports, a military spokesperson said.
Israel secured major gains over Iran and its proxies, mainly Hezbollah, as the Gaza conflict spread. In Gaza, however, Hamas may have been crippled, but without an alternative administration in place, it has been left standing.
If successful, the ceasefire will halt fighting that has razed much of heavily urbanized Gaza, killed over 46,000 people, and displaced most of the tiny enclave’s pre-war population of 2.3 million, according to Gaza authorities.
That in turn could defuse tensions across the wider Middle East.
With 98 foreign and Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza, phase one of the deal entails the release of 33 of them, including all women, children and men over 50.
Global reaction to the ceasefire was enthusiastic.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza after Hamas-led gunmen burst into Israeli border-area communities on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 soldiers and civilians and abducting over 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Negotiations on implementing the second phase of the deal will begin by the 16th day of phase one, and this stage was expected to include the release of all remaining hostages, a permanent ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
The third stage is to address the return of all remaining dead bodies and the start of Gaza’s reconstruction supervised by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations.


France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity

France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity
Updated 58 min 35 sec ago
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France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity

France confident Lebanon can form government representing the country’s diversity
  • The spokesman said that France hopes the Lebanese prime minister will find a formula to resolve the impasse

PARIS: France has full confidence that Lebanese authorities can form a government that can bring together the Lebanese people in all their diversity, a French foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday.
Asked about US red lines over Hezbollah’s presence in the Lebanese government, he said that France hopes the Lebanese prime minister will find a formula to resolve the impasse.
The United States has set a “red line” that Shiite armed group Hezbollah should not be a member of Lebanon’s next government after its military defeat by Israel last year, USdeputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said in Lebanon on Friday.


Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer

Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer
Updated 07 February 2025
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Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer

Israeli victims will continue to work with ICC after US sanctions, says lawyer
  • Israeli families want to continue engaging with it as part of efforts to seek justice, said lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman
  • “Victims are ever more committed to have direct contact with the court and to pursue the justice they deserve“

THE HAGUE: Israeli victims of the Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war will still work with the International Criminal Court even after US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the tribunal, a lawyer for victims and victims’ families said on Friday.
The sanctions are in retaliation for the court’s issuing of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant, who are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The ICC’s prosecutor is also investigating the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. Prosecutors sought arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders for the crimes, but they were all killed in the past 16 months of war in Gaza, according to Israel and Hamas.
While sanctions will complicate dealings with the ICC, the Israeli families want to continue engaging with it as part of efforts to seek justice, said Yael Vias Gvirsman, a lawyer who represents over 350 victims and families of victims.
“Sanctions could complicate the communications channels between Israeli citizens and the court, but victims are ever more committed to have direct contact with the court and to pursue the justice they deserve,” Gvirsman said in an interview with Reuters.
The Gaza conflict has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians since October 2023, the Gaza health ministry says.
The US sanctions, which focus on punishing the court for investigating Israeli officials, can also affect the prosecution’s probe into crimes committed by Hamas, says Vias Gvirsman.
“It will be a dilemma for the court how to engage with Israeli citizens and assess if contact with the court endangers them,” she said.


US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says

US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says
Updated 6 min 54 sec ago
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US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says

US has set ‘red line’ that Hezbollah not join Lebanese govt, envoy says
  • Morgan Ortagus first senior US official to visit Lebanon since US President Donald Trump took office

Beirut: The United States has set a “red line” that Shiite armed group Hezbollah should not be a member of Lebanon’s next government after its military defeat by Israel last year, US deputy Middle East envoy Morgan Ortagus said in Lebanon on Friday.
Ortagus is the first senior US official to visit Lebanon since US President Donald Trump took office and since Joseph Aoun was elected president in Lebanon.
Her visit comes amid a stalled cabinet formation process in Lebanon, where government posts are apportioned on sectarian lines. Hezbollah’s ally Amal has insisted on approving all Shiite Muslim ministers, keeping the process in deadlock.
Speaking to reporters after meeting President Aoun, Ortagus said she was “not afraid” of Iran-backed Hezbollah “because they’ve been defeated militarily,” referring to last year’s war between the group and Israel.
“And we have set clear red lines from the United States that they won’t be able to terrorize the Lebanese people, and that includes by being a part of the government,” she said.
Ortagus had been widely expected to deliver a tough message to Lebanese officials about Hezbollah, which was battered by months of Israeli air strikes and ground operations in southern Lebanon last year.
Fighting ended in late November with a ceasefire brokered by the United States and France that set a deadline of 60 days for Israel to withdraw from south Lebanon, Hezbollah to pull out its fighters and arms and Lebanese troops to deploy to the area.
That deadline was extended to Feb. 18. Ortagus referred to the new date on Friday but did not explicitly say the Israeli army (IDF) would withdraw from Lebanese territory.
“February 18 will be the date for redeployment, when the IDF troops will finish their redeployment, and of course, the (Lebanese) troops will come in behind them, so we are very committed to that firm date,” she said.
Ortagus is expected to meet Lebanese prime minister-designate Nawaf Salam, Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri — who also heads Amal — and make a trip to southern Lebanon with the Lebanese army


Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast

Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast
Updated 07 February 2025
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Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast

Al-Qaeda in Yemen says senior official killed in blast
  • Abu Yusuf Al-Muhammadi Al-Hadrami died when a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated near where he worked in Marib

Dubai: A senior member of Al-Qaeda in Yemen has been killed in a bomb blast, according to a statement from the extremist group behind a string of high-profile attacks.
Abu Yusuf Al-Muhammadi Al-Hadrami died when a motorcycle packed with explosives detonated near where he worked in Marib, east of the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
Washington regards the group, known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as most dangerous branch of group
Born in 2009, AQAP grew and developed in the chaos of Yemen’s war.
It has been responsible for multiple attacks, including the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole off the coast of Aden, which killed 17 US military personnel.
In 2015, AQAP claimed that two French gunmen who massacred 12 people in an attack on the Paris offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine were acting on its behalf.


US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW

US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
Updated 07 February 2025
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US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW

US aid freeze worsening Syria camp conditions: HRW
  • On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a letter asking them to cease all activities

Beirut: Human Rights Watch warned Friday that US aid suspensions could worsen “life-threatening conditions” in camps holding relatives of suspected Daesh terrorists in northeast Syria, urging Washington to maintain support.
Kurdish-run camps and prisons in the region still hold around 56,000 people with alleged or perceived links to the Daesh group, years after the jihadists’ territorial defeat.
They include jihadist suspects locked up in prisons, as well as the wives and children of IS fighters held in the Al-Hol and Roj internment camps.
“The US government’s suspension of foreign aid to non-governmental organizations operating in these camps is exacerbating life-threatening conditions, risking further destabilization of a precarious security situation,” HRW said in a statement.
The rights group said the aid freeze could “limit provision of essential services for camp residents,” citing international humanitarian workers.
On January 24, four days after US President Donald Trump returned to power, NGOs linked to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) received a first letter asking them to cease all activities funded by the agency.
A week later, another letter, seen by AFP, authorized them to resume certain missions intended for “life-saving humanitarian assistance.”
The orders have left aid groups in the northeast “unsure how to proceed with deliveries of essential goods, like kerosene and water, further exacerbating pre-existing shortages,” the statement said.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio should continue US assistance to organizations providing essential lifesaving assistance in northeast Syria,” the group said.
Following the January 24 order, HRW said Blumont, an organization responsible for camp management in Al Hol and Roj, suspended activities and withdrew all staff, including guards.
A few days later, the group received a two-week exemption allowing it to work.
Al-Hol is northeast Syria’s largest internment camp, with more than 40,000 detainees from 47 countries.
The vast majority of Al-Hol and Roj residents are women and children living in dire conditions.
HRW also said that “any political settlement in the region should include ending the arbitrary detention of those with alleged Daesh ties and their families.”
“Thousands of lives, many of them children, are hanging in the balance, and the indefensible status quo of the last six years should not be allowed to continue,” said Hiba Zayadin of Human Rights Watch.
The call comes amid talks between Syria’s new authorities and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) over the group’s future and as clashes rage in the north between the Kurdish-led group and Turkish-backed factions.