Israel-Hamas war: Hezbollah avenges ‘martyred’ Australian
Israel launched ‘widespread’ strikes on Hezbollah after the terror group increased attacks in retribution for the death of Australian Ali Bazzi and his brother Ibrahim. Follow the updates. Warning: Graphic
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Israel launched “widespread” strikes in southern Lebanon as increased rocket barrages from Hezbollah threatened to spiral the conflict into a wider regional war.
The escalation comes after the terror group claimed responsibility for missile attacks against northern Israel in retribution for “martyred” Australian Ali Bazzi and his brother Ibrahim Bazzi.
The Israeli Defence Force said fighter jets struck rocket launching positions, an antitank missile squad, and military infrastructure used by the terror group.
“Moreover, the IDF struck a Hezbollah terrorist cell responsible for launching antitank missiles in the area of Aitaroun and a missile launcher used to launch toward the area of Bar’am in northern Israel earlier today,” an Israeli military statement said.
Hezbollah announced the targeting of settlements in northern Israel with a barrage of 30 Katyusha rockets towards Kiryat Shmona “in response to the enemy’s repeated crimes and its targeting of civilian houses in Bint Jbeil”.
Ali and Ibrahim Bazzi, and Ibrahim’s wife Shorouq Hammoud, were killed in the Israeli air strike on Bint Jbeil.
“With great pride and honour, the Islamic Resistance brings to life the martyr, the Mujahid, Ali Ahmed Bazzi Qassem, from the city of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, who rose as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem,” Hezbollah said in a statement, reported by Al Jazeera.
Acting Foreign Minister Mark Dreyfus has said Australia was investigating Hezbollah’s claim that Ali Bazzi was one of its fighters.
Israel intensified its activity against Hezbollah along the northern border with Lebanon amid its ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.
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IRAN EXECUTES ‘ISRAEL SPIES’
Iran has hanged four people convicted of spying for the country’s nemesis Israel less than two weeks after authorities had executed a man on similar grounds.
The executions took place in Iran’s northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported on Friday.
“Four members of a sabotage group related to the Zionist regime (Israel) … were hanged this morning” the website read.
It identified those hanged as three men — Vafa Hanareh, Aram Omari and Rahman Parhazo — and one woman, Nasim Namazi.
All had been sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh”, or waging war against God, and “corruption on Earth” through their “collaboration with the Zionist regime”.
The group “committed extensive actions against the country’s security under the guidance of the Mossad”, Israel’s spy agency, Mizan said.
Iran does not recognise Israel and the two countries have engaged in a shadow war for years.
On December 16, a man also convicted of working for Mossad was executed in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.
The judiciary at the time did not identify the man but said he had been convicted of “intelligence co-operation and espionage for the benefit for the hostile Zionist regime”.
In December 2022, the Islamic republic hanged another four people who had been convicted of collaborating with Israel’s intelligence services.
Tehran accuses Israel of carrying out a wave of sabotage attacks and assassinations targeting its nuclear programme.
According to rights groups including Amnesty International, Iran executes more people per year than any other nation except China.
ISRAEL WARNS IT WILL STRIKE AT LEBANON TO DESTROY HEZBOLLAH
Israel has threatened to expand its war with Hamas to Lebanon where it is coming under attack from Hezbollah fighters.
The country’s military traded heavy cross-border fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon since the Gaza war erupted, and warned it will step up military action unless militants withdraw further from the border.
“I say to our friends around the world: The situation in the northern border necessitates change,” Benny Gantz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet said. “The time for a diplomatic solution is running out. If the world and the government of Lebanon don’t act to stop the fire toward northern communities and to push Hezbollah away from the border, the I.D.F. will do that,” Mr Gantz said.
The Israel Defence Force said its northern command, along the border with Lebanon, was in a “state of very high readiness”.
“We need to be prepared to strike if required,” Israel’s military chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said.
The threat of a wider regional war has worried the US and other allies of Israel, which has come under pressure in recent days to establish another ceasefire and to avoid civilians deaths in Gaza.
Hezbollah accused Israel of hacking into CCTV camera systems installed outside homes and shops in southern Lebanon and urged residents there to take the devices offline.
Another Iran ally, Yemen’s Huthi rebel group, has launched repeated drone and missile attacks at Israel, which have been intercepted.
It has also targeted ships in the Red Sea, disrupting international trade.
DOZENS KILLED IN SHELLING NEAR GAZA HOSPITAL
Israeli shelling near a southern Gaza hospital has killed 41 people over the past two days, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
It comes after Israel stepped up its attacks in the centre and south of the besieged territory.
The UN humanitarian office said Thursday that an estimated 100,000 more displaced people had arrived in the already-teeming southern border city of Rafah in recent days following the intensification of fighting around Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis.
The extra displacements came as Egyptian officials prepared to receive a high-level Hamas delegation in Cairo on Friday for talks on a new proposal aimed at putting an end to nearly three months of war that has devastated Gaza.
The Palestinian Red Crescent on Thursday condemned what it said was Israeli shelling near the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Yunis that “led to the martyrdom of ten people and the injury of at least 21 others”, adding the attack followed one in front of the hospital the day before that killed 31.
“Among the casualties are individuals present in front of the hospital and displaced persons seeking shelter at the PRCS (Red Crescent) premises,” the group said in a statement.
PAKISTAN CANCELS NYE CELEBRATIONS IN GAZA SOLIDARITY
Pakistan has banned New Year’s Eve celebrations to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, with the government urging people to instead “observe simplicity”.
Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said in a Thursday evening televised address to the nation, because of the situation in the Gaza Strip, the government had “completely banned all kinds of events regarding the New Year celebrations”.
ISRAEL ADVANCES ON REFUGEE CAMPS
The UN said as many as 150,000 Palestinians were being forced to flee areas of central Gaza as the Israeli military approached refugee camps.
The Israeli military has called for the evacuation of an area across central Gaza that includes Bureij and Nuseirat camps, where around 90,000 people live, plus tens of thousands of already displaced people and go to the town of Deir al-Balah.
The UN warned Deir al-Balah was already overcrowded, with several hundred thousand displaced people sheltering there.
HOSTAGE SHOOTING REPORT RELEASED
An investigation into the accidental shooting of three Israeli hostages have found one of the men was shot and killed about 15 minutes after the other two.
The IDF has published its final findings of an investigation into the December 15 killing of three Israeli hostages by its troops during fighting in a battle-torn neighbourhood of Gaza City.
The army identified the three killed hostages as Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer El-Talalqa.
It found during those 15 minutes, an Israeli officer pleaded with Mr Haim to exit a building, to which he fled following the shooting of Mr Shamriz and Mr El-Talalka.
When Mr Haim left the building, he was shot by two soldiers despite the fact that the officer had ordered them not to fire. Mr Haim died shortly after.
The investigation also found that IDF forces on the ground did not have “sufficient awareness” of the possibility that troops would encounter captives in a situation that was not a special operation to rescue them, despite the army having intelligence of possible hostages in the area
In a statement, the IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi said the shooting “did not match the risk and the situation”.
“The (military) failed in the mission of rescuing the abductees in this incident,” he said.
“The entire chain of command feels responsible for the difficult event, grieves over this outcome and shares in the grief of the three families of the abductees.”
The findings of the investigation into the tragic incident were presented to the families of the three hostages.
It comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the families of 28 of the captives in the Kirya in Tel Aviv, where the he said “we are working to return everyone. That is our goal”.
Hamas has said it would not release more captives without a full ceasefire, something Israel has repeatedly rejected.
Mr Netanyahu has faced growing domestic pressure to assure the safe return of the captives, no matter what it takes.
ISRAELI MILITARY ‘REGRETS HARM TO CIVILIANS’ AFTER DOZENS KILLED
The Israeli military has said it “regrets the harm” caused by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike that killed dozens of people in the Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of Gaza earlier this week.
About 86 people were killed in the Israeli airstrike in the Maghazi camp, east of Deir al-Balah, late on Sunday, according to figures by the UN human rights office.
An Israeli military official, speaking to Israel’s Kan news, said: “The type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing extensive collateral damage that could have been avoided.”
CHILDREN BEING KILLED IN WEST BANK AT ‘UNPRECEDENTED LEVELS’
The number of children who have been killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, has reached an “unprecedented” level, the UN children’s fund (Unicef) has warned.
At least 83 children have been killed in the West Bank in the past 12 weeks, Unicef’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa Adele Khodr said in a statement on Thursday.
That figure is more than double the number of children killed in all of 2022.
“This year has been the deadliest year on record for children in the West Bank,” she said. In addition, she said that more than 576 children have been injured and others have reportedly been detained since October 7.
“As the world watches on in horror at the situation in the Gaza Strip, children in the West Bank are experiencing a nightmare of their own,” Ms Khodr said.
“Living with a near-constant feeling of fear and grief is, sadly, all-too-common for children affected.”
RESIDENTIAL BUILDING ‘COMPLETELY FLATTENED’
At least 20 people have been killed and 55 wounded by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip overnight.
The incident occurred near the Kuwaiti hospital, Al Jazeera reported, citing its correspondent who said he witnessed “a Palestinian girl who was injured, seriously injured, and another woman whose face was fully covered with blood” as casualties entered the hospital.
“The airstrike has completely flattened the residential building that is full displaced people,” the correspondent said.
Until now rescue operations by the ambulances and civil defence teams continue to pull the people from under the rubble.
AMERICAN THOUGHT TO BE HELD CAPTIVE BY HAMAS KILLED
US president Joe Biden says that Judith Weinstein, 70, was actually killed during Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, and was never taken captive.
Mr Biden said he is “devastated” to learn of the death of the US-Israeli-Canadian woman after she was “fatally wounded” during the attacks alongside her Israeli-American husband, Gadi Haggai, 73.
“We are holding Judith and Gad’s four children, seven grandchildren, and other loved ones close to our hearts,” Mr Biden said.
ISRAEL’S WAR CABINET IS EXPECTED TO MEET TO DISCUSS POST WAR
Israel’s war cabinet is expected to meet on Friday to discuss its plan for Gaza after the war with Hamas ends, according to reports.
The meeting comes following reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been putting off the discussion of plans for control of the Palestinian territory.
Mr Netanyahu has reportedly refused multiple requests from security officials to arrange a meeting on decisions relating to “the day after” Israel declares it has achieved its goals against Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip.
MIA SCHEM OPENS UP ABOUT CAPTIVITY
The 21-year-old face of Israel’s hostage crisis spoke for the first time on her 54 days in captivity, following her release at the end of last month.
French-Israeli tattoo artist Mia Schem, who appeared in the first proof of live video after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, said she “went through a holocaust” in Gaza.
“It was important for me to reflect on the true situation regarding the people living in Gaza, who they really are, and what I went through there,” she said in a preview of the full interview being aired on Israel’s Channel 13.
“Entire families are in the service of Hamas. In retrospect, I suddenly realised that I was being held in captivity by a family.
“I began asking myself questions, why am I being held in a family’s house? Why are there children here? Why is there a woman here?”
Ms Schem was abducted from the music festival in Kibbutz Re’im and was shown in a video soon after receiving treatment from a veterinarian for an injured arm.
She caused headlines after she said in videos that her captors were “very kind” before she was released during a temporary ceasefire. She has remained silent until now, revealing only a new tattoo on Instagram saying: “We will dance again”.
“I will never forget October 7, 2023,” she wrote in the post.
“The pain and the fear, the difficult sights, the friends who won’t come back, and those we must bring back. But we will win, we will dance!”
Meanwhile, Israeli captive Ruti Munder, 78, told Channel 13 upon release that conditions were reasonable at the start of the conflict.
Initially, they ate “chicken with rice, all sorts of canned food and cheese,” she said. “We were ok.:
But the menu changed when “the economic situation was not good, and people were hungry”.
ISRAEL APPROVES AID BY SEA
Israel has given preliminary approval to Cyprus for a maritime humanitarian corridor to ship aid to the besieged and war-torn Gaza Strip, the foreign ministry said.
The proposal, in the works for more than a month, aims to deliver large quantities of badly needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel has waged a nearly three-month war against the Islamist militant group Hamas which rules the territory.
Gaza’s 2.4 million people are suffering chronic shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine, with only limited aid entering the Palestinian coastal territory.
Last week the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for “safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale”.
FRANCE PRESSURES ISRAEL ON CEASEFIRE
Israel has come under pressure from one of its strongest allies with a French demand for a “lasting ceasefire” in the war with Hamas.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the escalating crisis that has killed more than 20,000 people in Gaza.
The talks came as Israeli forces pressed on with intensified attacks in the Gaza Strip’s biggest southern city and central areas.
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