Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that a ground invasion of the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah will be launched once plans are completed to protect the roughly one million Palestinian civilians sheltered there NYT
Israeli Strikes Hit Southern Gaza Strip City of Rafah
The strikes killed at least thirteen people, a local hospital said; more than half of all Gazans are currently sheltering in the city after fleeing other parts of the territory (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is now preparing a military operation in Rafah as part of its efforts to eliminate Palestinian militant group Hamas; yesterday, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said that a poorly-planned operation would be a “disaster” (AFP)
Netanyahu Rejects Gaza Cease-Fire Deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Palestinian militant group Hamas’s proposed cease-fire and hostage release deal in the Gaza Strip yesterday and said that Israel’s victory over Hamas was “within reach;” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken later said Hamas’s proposal “creates space for agreement to be reached” and that he would continue working to reach one (NYT)
Israel Weighs Hamas’s Response to Proposed Hostage, Cease-Fire Deal
Israeli officials are studying Palestinian militant group Hamas’s response to a proposed deal on a hostage release and cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Israel’s intelligence agency said yesterday (NYT)
Hamas has reportedly countered with a proposal for a three-phase hostage release and 135-day truce; the proposal also reportedly includes the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza (Times of Israel)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today as Israel considers its position; U.S. President Joe Biden said yesterday that Hamas’s demands were “a little over the top,” but that talks are ongoing (PBS)
Israeli officials have repeatedly pushed back in the past against the prospect of a permanent end to the war; still, they are under pressure from the families of hostages held by Hamas to reach an agreement on the hostages’ return (WaPo)
UN Chief Appoints Independent Probe to Review Actions of Agency for Palestinian Refugees
Former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will lead the probe, which UN Secretary-General António Guterres said would assess whether the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is doing “everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches” (VOA)
Israel accused some agency staffers of involvement in Hamas’s October 7 attack, and the agency is set to lose $65 million by the end of February due to a series of subsequent donor withdrawals (NYT)
Further, Israeli intelligence found that at least thirty-two of the remaining hostages held in Gaza since October 7 have died; the estimate is greater than previous reports by authorities (NYT)
Blinken Kicks Off Latest Mideast Diplomacy Trip With Talks in Saudi Arabia
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh to discuss a potential deal that would pause fighting and release hostages in the Gaza Strip; Blinken is on his fifth trip to the region since Palestinian militant group Hamas’s October attack on Israel and will travel on to Egypt, Israel, Qatar, and the West Bank as diplomacy over the deal continues and as the United States seeks to contain further escalation with Iran-aligned forces in the region (NYT)
Washington also aims for any potential deal to allow increased humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza, the State Department said (WaPo)
U.S. Carries Out Retaliatory Strikes on Iran-Backed Groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen
The U.S. barrage of retaliatory strikes come as officials continue to negotiate a potential hostage deal between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas; U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the region yesterday to participate in talks (WSJ)
Following similar actions taken by the United States last week, Canada sanctioned four Israeli individuals accused of committing violence in the West Bank and Hamas leaders (Reuters)
Blinken Reportedly Plans Return to Mideast as Diplomats Weigh Hostage Deal, Cease-Fire
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to the Middle East this weekend, as Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas weigh a deal that could release hostages and result in a cease-fire; this marks Blinken’s fifth emergency visit since war broke out in October, and comes as the Joe Biden administration focuses on postwar reconstruction and governance of the Gaza Strip, increasing humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and preventing conflict spillover (AP)
Other U.S. officials have traveled to the region in recent days to explore the possibility that a temporary cease-fire could be expanded into a broader regional deal (Economist)
As negotiations continue, Israel released more than one hundred people that it had detained during the start of its military operation in Gaza and later cleared of involvement in terrorist activity; separately, Biden issued an executive order yesterday imposing financial and travel sanctions on four Israelis accused of attacking Palestinian civilians in the West Bank (NYT)
Israel’s Military Says It Has Been Flooding Some Gaza Tunnels With Seawater
The Israeli military said yesterday that the measure is aimed at dismantling Hamas’s operations network, and is carried out after soil and water system analysis to ensure that nearby groundwater is not contaminated (Times of Israel)
In December, a UN official warned against flooding the tunnels due to potential damage affecting the Gaza Strip’s drinking water and sewage systems (NYT)
Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron says the United Kingdom is considering recognizing a Palestinian state at the United Nations, arguing that it could bring “irreversible progress to a two-state solution,” but the Israeli Prime Minister opposes the move, calling instead for a full Israeli security control over the area (Politico)
Undercover Israeli Forces Storm West Bank Hospital
Israeli forces disguised as civilians killed three Palestinian militants inside the Ibn-Sina hospital in the West Bank (AP)
The Israeli military claimed the three men had been involved in military activity against Israelis; the covert hospital attack raised concerns under international law (NYT)
Western Countries Halt Aid to UN Agency Following Reports of Staff Involvement in Attacks
Countries including Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom (UK) followed the United States in suspending aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after reports that some of its staffers were involved in the October 7 attack on Israel (WaPo)
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said yesterday that any employee “involved in acts of terror” would be held accountable, but urged countries to continue supporting the agency (Reuters)
Meanwhile, a drone attack on a U.S. military outpost in Jordan killed three U.S. troops and wounded at least thirty-four; U.S. President Joe Biden said that Iran-backed militant groups carried out the attack in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border (Reuters)
It was the first strike to have killed U.S. forces in the Middle East since the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas began last October (WaPo)
The strike was a major escalation in the ongoing war and comes at a time when U.S. and other foreign envoys are trying to reach a deal for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and for Hamas to release the hostages it is holding (The Guardian)
ICJ Orders Israel to Contain Death in Gaza in Preliminary Ruling on South African Case
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) declined to throw out a South African lawsuit alleging Israel has committed genocide in its ongoing war with Hamas and issued provisional orders that Israel limit civilian deaths and allow more aid into Gaza; the court did not order a cease-fire as Pretoria requested (Reuters)
The court also called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages in Gaza; Israel has called South Africa’s allegations “grossly distorted” (WaPo)
U.S. Taps CIA Director for Fresh Mideast Hostage Talks
CIA Director William J. Burns will travel to Europe in the coming days for talks on a potential deal to release hostages held in the Gaza Strip and commit both warring sides to a pause in fighting; Burns is due to meet with Israeli, Egyptian, and Qatari officials (WaPo)
In November, he helped broker a deal that led to a weeklong pause and the release of more than one hundred hostages held by Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza; the United States seeks a longer halt in fighting in this round of negotiations (NYT)
Egypt and Qatar have served as interlocutors between Israel and Hamas since Hamas’s October 7 attack sparked the current war in Gaza; tension between Israel and Qatar looms over the latest peace talks after Qatar accused Israel this week of hampering efforts to release hostages. (WaPo)
British Foreign Secretary Meets With Israeli, Palestinian Officials
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron traveled to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials yesterday; he raised the issue of humanitarian protections in the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, UK officials said (NYT)
Yesterday, explosions damaged a UN facility in the southern Gaza Strip where people were sheltering, killing at least twelve people; Israel’s military said it had ruled out the possibility it was an Israeli strike (BBC)
EU Officials Call for Palestinian State at Meeting With Israeli Foreign Minister
At a meeting in Brussels, European Union (EU) officials called for Palestinian statehood to be part of any arrangement that follows the current war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas; Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz shied away from addressing future governance of the Gaza Strip during the meeting, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back against the prospect of Palestinian statehood in recent days (NYT)
While the Brussels meeting highlighted divisions over sustained security agreements in the Middle East, inside Israel, relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza stormed a parliamentary session, calling for the government to do more to secure the captives’ release (The Guardian)
Israel also experienced the deadliest single day of its ground campaign today, with twenty-four soldiers killed in Gaza (NYT)
Netanyahu Pushes Back Against U.S., Arab Calls for Palestinian State
Five Arab countries proposed a U.S.-backed plan to donate to reconstruction of the Gaza Strip if Israel works toward Palestinian statehood (Bloomberg)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a news conference yesterday that his vision for control “clashes with the idea of [Palestinian] sovereignty;” a U.S. State Department spokesperson reiterated Washington’s position yesterday, saying there was “no way” to rebuild or provide lasting security in Gaza without establishing a Palestinian state (NYT)
Palestinians Flee Nasser Hospital As Fighting Intensifies
Israel’s military said it detected strikes coming from the hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis (WaPo)
Nasser and two other major Gaza hospitals risk being shut down due to nearby evacuation orders and fighting, the United Nations said (BBC)
France, Qatar Broker Deal to Send Aid to Gaza Population, Israeli Hostages
In a rare diplomatic agreement, the plan allows humanitarian aid to reach civilians in the Gaza Strip and medicine to reach Israeli hostages being held by Palestinian militant group Hamas; at least one of two airplanes carrying aid supplies landed in Egypt today (WaPo)
Hamas is thought to still have more than one hundred hostages in captivity (NBC)
U.S., Saudi Arabia Suggest Saudi-Israeli Normalization Is Linked to Palestinian State
In speeches at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan both said that in light of the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, a previously floated proposal for Saudi-Israeli normalization is still possible if there is a pathway to the creation of a Palestinian state (Axios)
Sullivan laid out four principles for U.S. thinking regarding the postwar status quo in the region, including that the Gaza Strip is not used for attacks on Israel, there is peace between Israel and Arab countries in the region, there is a state for Palestinians, and that Israel receives security assurances (Reuters)
Also speaking at Davos, Jordan’s Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh said that Jordan believes peace with Israel is a strategic choice while echoing calls for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Reuters)
Israeli President Isaac Herzog was expected to speak at the forum today and call for increased pressure on Hamas to release hostages it still holds after its October 7 attacks.(Bloomberg)
Israel Rejects Genocide Allegations at World Court, Calling Them ‘Grossly Distorted’
Attorneys for Israel said South Africa’s allegations at the International Court of Justice that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians were “grossly distorted” and that halting its offensive in Gaza would leave it defenseless; Israel has called on the court to dismiss the case (Reuters)
Gaza Conflict Has Significantly Raised Emissions
In a new study, a group of researchers from the United States and UK found planet-warming emissions from the first two months of war between Israel and Palestinian group Hamas surpassed the annual total of twenty countries and territories (Guardian)
The researchers said the estimate was conservative and called for mandatory military emissions reporting (PDF)
Blinken: Arab Countries Want Integration With Israel if There Is Path to Palestinian State
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is holding meetings in Israel today following a tour through other countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia; he told reporters in Saudi Arabia that Arab countries want normalization with Israel, but that it would require an end to the war in the Gaza Strip and a “practical pathway” to a Palestinian state (Times of Israel)
Purported Israeli Strike Kills Hezbollah Commander in Lebanon
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said today that commander Wissam Hassan al-Tawil was killed in an air strike in southern Lebanon (NYT)
Unnamed Lebanese officials told Reuters that Israel was responsible; Israel did not immediately comment on the strike, which came after Hezbollah attacks damaged an Israeli military base on Saturday (Reuters)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned yesterday that the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas “could easily metastasize” to the wider region; Blinken and senior European officials are currently in the region, and Italy said that Group of Seven (G7) countries are working with Israel “to find a rapid way out of the military phase” of the war, which has now passed three months of conflict (Reuters)
Israeli officials said on Saturday that the country’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip has successfully dismantled Hamas as a fighting force in northern Gaza and is moving into a new and more targeted phase of war that is focused on the enclave’s center and south (FT)
Israeli Firm Elbit Signs Estimated $275 Million in Deals With Country’s Military to Produce Heavy Bombs, Other Supplies In-Country
The move aims to reduce Israel’s reliance on governments including the United States, which has held up some shipments over concerns about how the weapons would be used in Gaza (Times of Israel,WaPo)
Israel’s Defense Minister Lays Out Vision for Gaza’s Postwar Rule
In a document released yesterday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that a Palestinian group other than Hamas should rule over civilian matters in the Gaza Strip following the end of the current war, while Israel, Egypt, and a multinational force should maintain a role in the enclave (FT)
Separately, U.S. officials have suggested the Palestinian Authority should play a leading role in Gaza after the war (Al Jazeera)