By Abdul Adil
(AA, Al Jazeera, NNA, Wafa, The Muslim News):
GAZA
At least 31 more Palestinians were killed in relentless Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, bringing the overall death toll since October 2023 to 45,885, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Tuesday.
A ministry statement added that some 109,196 others have been injured in the ongoing assault.
“Israeli forces killed 31 people and injured 57 others in three massacres of families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.
“Many people are still trapped under the rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported that an Israeli military aircraft has bombed a house on the old Gaza Street in Jabalia al-Balad, in the north of the Gaza Strip, killing at least eight people.
It also wounded an unspecified number of people, Wafa reported.
Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting that four children have been killed in an Israeli bombardment of a tent camp in the so-called “safe zone” of al-Mawasi in the south of the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army early on Tuesday killed six Palestinians in airstrikes that targeted two homes in Gaza City and the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Gaza Civil Defense service said four Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a home for the “Sehweil” family near the Beach refugee camp in western Gaza City.
While in the central Gaza Strip, a medical source told Anadolu Agency that two more Palestinians were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a home for the “Al-Abeed” family in the southern Nuseirat refugee camp.
A Palestinian was injured in an Israeli airstrike on a tent for displaced people in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, according to a local source.
Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli occupation fire and shelling of Al-Shaghaf and Al-Tuffah neighborhoods east of Gaza City.
The Israeli artillery shelling was reported on the eastern areas of Khan Younis and the northern areas of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, according to witnesses.
While in the northern Gaza Strip, witnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army continued to blow up and destroy more homes and buildings in Jabalia and Beit Lahia.
Meanwhile, at least 54 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to prisoners’ affairs groups on Tuesday.
“The victims included 35 people from Gaza,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement marking the Palestinian Martyr’s Day, observed annually on Jan. 7.
The statement accused Israeli authorities of continuing to conceal the deaths of numerous detainees from Gaza in its detention camps.
The two groups said Israel is still withholding the bodies of 63 detainees who died in custody, including 52 since the start of the Gaza war.
“Many Gazan detainees remain victims of enforced disappearance,” they added.
At least nine Palestinians were killed in fresh Israeli airstrikes targeting civilians and homes in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, medics said.
Three people lost their lives when fighter jets shelled a group of civilians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, a medical source said.
Four more people were killed and others injured in an Israeli airstrike on a home near the Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City, the Civil Defense Service said.
Two more Palestinians were killed and others injured in another strike on a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, another medical source said.
Israeli artillery shelling was reported in the eastern areas of Khan Younis and the northern parts of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said.
No information was yet available about casualties.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed and two others seriously wounded in clashes with Palestinian fighters in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said late on Monday.
A military statement identified one of the slain soldiers as Capt. Eitan Shiknazi, a deputy company commander in the Nahal Brigade’s 932nd Battalion, while the name of the other to be released later.
The two others who were seriously wounded are from the same battalion and were transferred to hospital, the statement added, without providing details about the circumstances of the deadly incident.
At least 826 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 5,578 others injured since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict on Oct. 7, 2023, according to military figures.
WEST BANK
The Israeli army on Tuesday dawn killed two Palestinians in the northern occupied West Bank, according to local sources.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medical teams dealt with an 18-year-old Palestinian who was killed in Tammoun town by an Israeli strike.
It added that the Israeli army prevented its medics from reaching another site in the town to treat others injured from an Israeli strike.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that a large Israeli force escorted by bulldozers raided Tubas city, Tammoun town, and Far’a refugee camp, triggering clashes with Palestinians.
Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, has reported that Israeli forces have arrested two Palestinian citizens from occupied East Jerusalem.
Local sources reported that Israeli forces arrested the two citizens, Maram and Hasniya Firawi, from the Old City of Jerusalem. The cause for the arrests was not disclosed.
Israeli occupation bulldozers demolished on Tuesday a nursery and a car wash near the northern entrance to the city of Salfit, owned by local resident Muhammad Mansour from the village of Marda.
Mansour told WAFA that the occupation forces demolished the nursery and car wash, located on an area of two dunams, under the pretext of that they are close to the Ariel colony, which was built on citizens’ lands in Salfit.
Mansour pointed out that this is the second time that the occupation has demolished the nursery and car wash, as they demolished them the first time about a year ago.
The occupation bulldozers demolished a house in the town of Jabal al-Mukaber, southeast of occupied Jerusalem.
Local sources reported that the occupation forces stormed al-Farouq neighborhood and demolished a house belonging to the citizen Widad Halsa, and bulldozed the road leading to it.
Israeli occupation forces demolished a livestock facility, including two rooms and a barn, in the town of Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem.
The director of the Tuqu’ municipality, Tayseer Abu Mufreh, told WAFA correspondent that the occupation forces demolished two rooms and a barn in Qanan Qahat area east of the town, without prior warning or notification.
He said that the barn is owned by local resident Saleh Rashid Abu Mufreh.
Red Crescent sources reported that their crews transferred a critically injured person from the site of the shelling to the hospital, while local sources from the town confirmed the killing of Suleiman Mustafa Qteishat as a result of the shelling.
Security sources reported that a second young man, whose identity remains unknown, was killed in the shelling, adding that the occupation forces kidnapped his body.
The occupation forces raided several citizens’ homes inside the town and caused damage to their contents. The occupation forces also caused damage to the streets, infrastructure and shops in the town.
The occupation forces stormed the town at midnight, where special Israeli units infiltrated it, followed by military reinforcements from Atouf Gate checkpoint east of the town.
At the same time, the occupation forces pushed military reinforcements from al-Hamra checkpoint, accompanied by a D9 bulldozer towards the camp, where they were stationed for a period of time on the main street leading to the camp from the southern side, and caused damage to it before entering and storming the camp.
The Israeli occupation forces stormed the cities of Ramallah and Al-Bireh and several villages, towns and camps in the governorate at dawn on Tuesday,
They carried out extensive raids and searches, and detained three people, including a female university student.
The raids, according to what security and local sources said, included areas of Jabal al-Tawil, Satah Marhaba, Al-Bireh industrial zone, Al-Masyoun neighborhood, Ramallah al-Tahta, and al-Tira.
The Israeli raids and incursions also included the town of Beitunia, west of Ramallah, al-Jalazone and al-Amari camps, and the villages of Deir Qadis and Barqa.
Meanwhile, an undercover Israeli special force raided the al-Badhan town, northeastern Nablus city, and killed a Palestinian man.
Eyewitnesses identified the slain Palestinian as Jafar Dababseh, who was a former prisoner in Israeli jails.
The Palestinian Health Ministry is yet to comment on both Israeli raids in the northern West Bank.
LEBANON
The Lebanese Army said Tuesday that it has begun deploying in five towns across the Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts in southern Lebanon following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
In a statement, the army confirmed its units have started operations in the towns of Ras Naqoura, Alma al-Shaab, and Tayr Harfa in Tyre district, as well as Beit Lif in Bint Jbeil district.
The army added that its forces are also extending their presence to other towns in the western and central sectors of southern Lebanon after the Israeli withdrawal. This includes continuing their deployment in Naqoura, a key town in Tyre district, initiated earlier this week.
As part of its deployment, the army is conducting engineering surveys to remove unexploded ordnance, clear debris, and reopen roads. These efforts are being carried out in coordination with the UN Interim Forces (UNIFIL) and the five-party committee overseeing the cease-fire agreement with Israel.
The army urged residents to avoid the affected areas and comply with military instructions until the operations are complete.
The deployment in Naqoura began Monday, following similar operations in Shama, Tyre district on Dec. 31, and in Khiam, Marjayoun district on Dec. 12.
Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati called on Israel on Tuesday to halt its violations of a cease-fire deal and withdraw from the Lebanese territory.
“We sent a clear message to the international sponsors of the cease-fire understanding (the US and France),” Mikati said during the opening of a pavilion at the National Museum in Beirut.
The message includes “the necessity of halting the (Israeli) violations and the complete withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories,” Mikati said.
“It also stresses that commitment to implementing UN Resolution 1701 is not only Lebanon’s responsibility, but it is also binding to the Israeli enemy,” he added.
UN Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, calls for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah and the establishment of a demilitarized zone between the Blue Line (the Lebanon-Israel border) and the Litani River in southern Lebanon, restricted to Lebanese Army and UNIFIL forces.
Mikati warned that Israeli violations of the cease-fire “threaten to undermine the agreement, which I believe no one wants to see its collapse.”
Lebanese authorities have reported at least 395 Israeli violations, including the death of 32 people and injury of 39 others, since the deal came into force on Nov. 27.
[Photo: A mosque demolished by Israeli forces in Khan Yunis, Gaza on January 07, 2025. Photojournalist: Hassan Jedi/AA]
