Palestinians to be ‘in charge’ of Gaza after war ends, says Israeli defence minister
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said that there will be no Israeli civilian presence in Gaza and Palestinian bodies will be “in charge” of the territory after the war ends.
In a statement by his office, reported by Reuters, Gallant said Hamas would no longer control Gaza and Israel would reserve its operational freedom of action. He was quoted as saying:
Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel.”
Key events
In a statement released by his office on Thursday, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant outlined Israel’s new phase in its war on Gaza, saying:
“In the northern region of the Gaza strip, we will transition to a new combat approach in accordance with military achievements on the ground.”
Gallant added that Israel’s operations would include raids, demolishing tunnels, air and ground strikes, and special forces operations, Reuters reports.
He added that Israel’s military operation in the south “will continue for as long as is deemed necessary.”
Since October 7, Israeli strikes have killed more than 22,400 Palestinians while leaving 1.9 million survivors internally displaced amid severe shortages in food, water, fuel and medical supplies.
Summary of the day so far
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
-
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said that there will be no Israeli civilian presence in Gaza and Palestinian bodies will be “in charge” of the territory after the war ends. In a statement by his office on Thursday, Gallant said Hamas would no longer control Gaza and Israel would reserve its operational freedom of action.
-
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for two explosions at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate commander Qassem Suleimani. More than 95 Iranians were killed and scores more injured in the attack on Wednesday, which came at a memorial ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds force. The US is “in no position to doubt” the Islamic State’s claim of responsibility, the White House has said.
-
More than 22,438 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, the majority of them women and children, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s health ministry on Thursday. The figures include 125 Palestinians killed in the past 24 hours. At least 12 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on a home in al-Mawasi evacuation zone, Palestinian hospital officials said. The blast reportedly killed a man and his wife, seven of their children and three other children ranging in age from five to 14.
-
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will depart later today to the Middle East for the fourth time since the Israel-Hamas war began in October. Blinken is set to visit Israel and the occupied West Bank, as well as Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt over the next week, the US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, told reporters.
-
A US airstrike in Baghdad on Thursday killed the commander of an Iranian-backed Shia militia that Washington blames for attacks on American forces in the region, according to US officials. One official said that a leader of Harakat al-Nujaba, whom the official did not name, was killed in his car as he was about to enter the garage at his group’s Baghdad headquarters.
-
Several Gulf Arab states have strongly condemned remarks by two Israeli government ministers this week calling for Palestinians to emigrate from Gaza. Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has called on Palestinians to leave Gaza and make way for Israelis who could “make the desert bloom” while national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for promoting “a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza’s residents” and the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory. The UN’s top human rights official, Volker Türk, said he was “very disturbed” by the statements.
-
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had killed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) northern Gaza operations chief, Mamdouh Lolo, in an airstrike in northern Gaza. The IDF said the strike was a joint operation with Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, the Shin Bet. Separately, the IDF said it raided and destroyed a Hamas military compound along the central coast of the Gaza Strip, including an underground tunnel system that led to a facility that was used by Hamas to manufacture weapons.
-
The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has warned Israel it must allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza to avoid starvation and large outbreaks of disease. Speaking during a trip in Kosovo, Cameron also said attacks in Red Sea shipping lanes must stop, otherwise international action will be taken.
-
Israel has accused the UN of “stalling” the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the territory which Israel has held under a virtual siege and continual aerial bombardment since 7 October. The Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs said it was equipped to inspect up to 200 trucks a day passing through the Kerem Shalom crossing, but the UN was “not scraping 100”.
-
At least 120 Palestinians were detained during an Israeli military raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday, according to reports. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had detained hundreds of people suspected of militant activities.
-
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said there must be a “new reality” that would allow Israelis who have evacuated from northern areas of the country to return. He was referring to the repeated exchanges of fire over the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
-
A Houthi drone boat laden with explosives detonated in the Red Sea on Thursday, a senior US military officer said, just hours after the US and its allies warned the Iran-backed militia group to stop attacks or face “consequences”.
Palestinians to be ‘in charge’ of Gaza after war ends, says Israeli defence minister
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said that there will be no Israeli civilian presence in Gaza and Palestinian bodies will be “in charge” of the territory after the war ends.
In a statement by his office, reported by Reuters, Gallant said Hamas would no longer control Gaza and Israel would reserve its operational freedom of action. He was quoted as saying:
Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it raided and destroyed a Hamas military compound along the central coast of the Gaza Strip, including an underground tunnel system that stretched for hundreds of metres.
According to the IDF, one of the tunnels led to a facility that was used by Hamas to manufacture weapons. The IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the facility had been used to create long-range rockets and was stocked with explosives, adding:
The damage to the production sites and Hamas’s rocket launch capability and its reduction, as is carried out throughout the war, continues to be one of the main objectives of the military operation.”
US ‘in no position to doubt’ Islamic State claim for attack in Iran, says White House
The US is “in no position to doubt” a claim by Islamic State that it was responsible for an attack in southern Iran that killed dozens on Wednesday, the White House has said.
The White House’s national security spokesperson, John Kirby, told reporters at a briefing today that the US has “long said and maintained” that IS “remains a viable terror threat”.
The head of the UN interim forces in Lebanon said he has met with Lebanese officials to discuss the situation in southern Lebanon.
Posting to social media, Aroldo Lázaro said he met with the Lebanese speaker, Nabih Berri, the caretaker prime minister, Najib Miqati, and army commander Joseph Aoun. He wrote:
I expressed my concern about the situation and breaches in the cessation of hostilities, including potential miscalculation, which could have devastating consequences. Our priorities are to prevent escalation, protect civilian lives, and ensure peacekeepers’ safety and security.”
Today, I met separately with Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri, Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Lebanese Army Commander General Aoun. We discussed the situation in southern Lebanon and the Blue Line and full implementation of Resolution 1701. pic.twitter.com/PIipwrphzj
— Aroldo Lázaro (@aroldo_lazaro) January 4, 2024
Gulf states condemn Israeli ministers’ call for Palestinians to emigrate from Gaza
Several Gulf Arab states have strongly condemned remarks by two Israeli government ministers this week calling for Palestinians to emigrate from Gaza.
We reported earlier that the UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, said he was “very disturbed” by the statements made earlier this week by Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, and national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
On Monday, Ben-Gvir called for promoting “a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza’s residents” and the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territory. A day earlier, Smotrich had said Palestinians should leave Gaza and make way for Israelis who could “make the desert bloom”.
In a statement today, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said it “categorically condemns and rejects the comments of the two ministers”. It called on the international community to act in the face of the Israeli government’s “persistence” in violating international law “through its statements and actions”.
Qatar also “condemned in the strongest terms” the comments by the two Israeli ministers, its foreign ministry said, adding:
The policy of collective punishment and forced displacement practised by the occupation authorities against the inhabitants of Gaza will not change the fact that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian.”
Kuwait warned against “Israeli plans to displace Gaza residents in particular, and the Palestinian people in general”.
The United Arab Emirates, which normalised ties with Israel in 2020, also “condemned in the strongest terms the extremist statements” of the two ministers, AFP reported.
The UAE voiced its “categorical rejection of such offensive statements and of all practices … which threaten further escalation and instability in the region”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The US, France and the EU have also denounced the comments.
The UN security council has condemned the “cowardly” attack in southern Iran that killed at least dozens at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of the senior Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Suleimani.
In a statement, the council condemned “in the strongest terms” the attack in the city of Kerman on Wednesday.
It said members of the council “expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences” to the families of the victims of the “reprehensible” attack.
The members of the security council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers, and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice.”
The statement reiterated that “any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed”.
While Antony Blinken heads to the Middle East later today, another senior US official is already on the ground as the US intensifies its diplomatic engagement in a bid to calm tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Joe Biden has dispatched the special envoy Amos Hochstein, who arrived in Israel earlier today where he met with the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant. Hochstein was heavily involved in shepherding talks that led to the establishment of a maritime border between Israel and Lebanon in 2022.
During their meeting in Tel Aviv, Gallant said Israel preferred a diplomatic solution but that there was “a short window of time” to find one, according to remarks provided by his office. He said:
We find ourselves at a junction – there is a short window of time for diplomatic understandings. We will not tolerate the threats posed by the Iranian proxy, Hezbollah and we will ensure the security of our citizens.”
US secretary of state to tour Middle East amid fears of tensions escalating
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will depart later today to the Middle East for the fourth time since the Israel-Hamas war began in October.
Blinken is set to visit Israel and the occupied West Bank, as well as Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt over the next week, the US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, told reporters.
We reported earlier that an Israeli strike had destroyed a home in Mawasi in southern Gaza, an area that the Israeli military had declared a safe zone.
At least 12 people were killed, almost all of them children, according to Palestinian hospital officials.
The blast killed a man and his wife, seven of their children and three other children ranging in age from five to 14, according to a list of the dead who were taken to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
There was no immediate response from Israel’s military.
A Houthi drone boat laden with explosives detonated in the Red Sea on Thursday, a senior US military officer said, just hours after the US and its allies warned the Iran-backed militia group to stop attacks or face “consequences”.
Vice Adm Brad Cooper, the commander of US naval forces in the Middle East, told journalists:
A Houthi one-way attack unmanned surface vessel, or USV, detonated in international shipping lanes. Fortunately, there were no casualties and no ships were hit.
He said the uncrewed boat “came within a couple of miles of ships operating in the area – merchant ships and US Navy ships – and we all watched as it exploded”.
He added it was the first time the Houthis had used a USV in recent months, since their harassment of commercial ships in the Red Sea began after the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war.
The incident marked the 25th attack by the Houthis targeting merchant vessels sailing in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since 18 November, he said, adding that “there are no signs that their irresponsible behaviour is abating.”
The incident came a day after 12 nations, led by the US, warned the Houthis of consequences unless they immediately halted firing on commercial vessels.
Here’s more on Wednesday’s attack on a crowd in southern Iran at a memorial for senior Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Suleimani, for which Islamic State has now claimed responsibility.
At least 84 people died when two blasts ripped through the crowd near Suleimani’s tomb in the city of Kerman, four years after he was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad.
In a statement posted on its affiliate Telegram channels today, Islamic State said two of its members had detonated their explosive belts in the crowd.
![Islamic State has claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on a crowd in southern Iran marking the anniversary of the death of the senior Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Suleimani.](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/4042ab6de76a8d271fbe4c77282864a45f377a5d/0_0_5724_3728/master/5724.jpg?width=465&dpr=1&s=none)
Early today, Iran had said it was bolstering security along its borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, in the first tangible sign that it suspected that the attack was work of an Islamic State affiliate.
Attention has focused on Islamic State Khorasan Province, a Sunni group operating primarily in Afghanistan that resents the damage done to Islamic State’s cause by Suleimani in Iraq and Syria.
Summary of the day so far
If you’re just joining us, here’s a recap of the latest developments:
-
More than 22,438 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, the majority of them women and children, according to the latest figures from Gaza’s health ministry on Thursday. The figures include 125 Palestinians killed in the past 24 hours. At least 14 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes on the al-Mawasi evacuation zone, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Thursday. Al Jazeera reported that the youngest was five years old and most were aged under 10.
-
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had killed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) northern Gaza operations chief, Mamdouh Lolo, in an airstrike in northern Gaza. The IDF said the strike was a joint operation with Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet.
-
The UN’s top human rights official, Volker Türk, has said he is “very disturbed” by statements by high-level Israeli officials calling for Palestinians in Gaza to be moved to neighbouring Arab countries. His comments came days after Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, called on Palestinians to leave Gaza and make way for Israelis who could “make the desert bloom”.
-
The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has warned Israel it must allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza to avoid starvation and large outbreaks of disease. Speaking during a trip in Kosovo, Cameron also said attacks in Red Sea shipping lanes must stop, otherwise international action will be taken.
-
Israel has accused the UN of “stalling” the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the territory which Israel has held under a virtual siege and continual aerial bombardment since 7 October. The Israeli defence ministry body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs said it was equipped to inspect up to 200 trucks a day passing through the Kerem Shalom crossing, but the UN was “not scraping 100”.
-
At least 120 Palestinians were detained during an Israeli military raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem on Thursday, according to reports. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had detained hundreds of people suspected of militant activities.
-
Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said there must be a “new reality” that would allow Israelis who have evacuated from northern areas of the country to return. He was referring to the repeated exchanges of fire over the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
-
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for two explosions at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate commander Qassem Suleimani. More than 95 Iranians were killed and scores more injured in the attack on Wednesday, which came at a memorial ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds force.
-
The US military has carried out an airstrike in Baghdad against a high-ranking Iraqi militia commander whom it blames for attacks against US forces in the country, killing him and another person, a US official said. The strike on Thursday, which hit a vehicle in the capital, targeted a leader of Harakat al-Nujaba, the official said.
-
Four Hezbollah fighters were killed overnight in southern Lebanon, the movement announced on Thursday, in what Lebanese state media said were Israeli strikes on the border town of Naqura. The deaths, according to a source close to Hezbollah, included a local leader.
-
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will depart on Thursday for the Middle East, including a stop in Israel, an unnamed senior US official said. Blinken will leave Thursday night “for stops in a number of capitals, including Israel”, the official said. It would be his fourth crisis trip to the Middle East.
The UN’s top human rights official has said he is “very disturbed” by statements by “high-level Israeli officials” calling for Palestinians in Gaza to be moved to neighbouring Arab countries.
In a social media post, Volker Türk said 85% of people in Gaza are already internally displaced, and that they “have the right to return to their homes”.
He warned that international law “prohibits forcible transfer of protected persons within or deportation from occupied territory”.
His comments came days after Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, called for Palestinians to leave Gaza and make way for Israelis who could “make the desert bloom”.
“What needs to be done in the Gaza Strip is to encourage emigration,” Smotrich told Army Radio on Sunday. “If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not 2 million Arabs, the entire discussion on the day after will be totally different.”
Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, said on Monday that the war presented an “opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza”.
Islamic State claims responsibility for attacks at Iran memorial for assassinated commander
Islamic State has claimed responsibility on its Telegram platform for two explosions at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate commander Qassem Suleimani, Reuters reported.
At least 84 people were killed and scores injured during the blasts, which struck minutes apart on Wednesday, shaking the city of Kerman, about 820km (510 miles) south-east of the capital, Tehran.
The explosions occurred during a memorial ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds force.
Israel military says it killed senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad member in northern Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, said they have killed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) northern Gaza operations chief, Mamdouh Lolo, in an airstrike in northern Gaza.
According to the IDF, Lolo was an assistant to the leaders of the militant group in northern Gaza and a “central figure” in the PIJ.
ממדוח לולו, שימש כסייענם של ראשי מרחב צפון הרצועה בארגון הג’יהאד האסלאמי הפלסטיני, ועמד בקשר עם בכירי מפקדת הארגון בחו״ל. לולו חוסל בתקיפת כלי טיס של צה״ל, בהובלת מרכז האש והמודיעין בפיקוד הדרום ובהכוונה של שב״כ ואגף המודיעין >> pic.twitter.com/lN3yB4OXbG
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) January 4, 2024