Main events from Januari 6th
- Israel’s bombardment of Gaza continues, with at least 22 Palestinians killed in attacks on Monday, including four people in a raid on a home in the Bureij refugee camp.
- The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has condemned Israel’s “blatant disregard” for humanitarian workers in Gaza after its forces attacked a clearly marked World Food Programme convoy on Sunday.
- The Israeli military confirmed that two of its soldiers were killed and two others seriously wounded during fighting in northern Gaza.
- Israeli settlers have carried out attacks on Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, as tensions have risen over a shooting in which three Israelis were killed and eight wounded near the illegal settlement of Kedumim.
- Lebanon’s Civil Defense has recovered the bodies of seven people after the Israeli military bombed the town of Khiam in its latest violation of a fragile ceasefire deal.
- Yemen’s Houthis say they have launched a “military operation” targeting US aircraft carrier the USS Harry S Truman using missiles and drones, as well as Israeli targets near Tel Aviv and Ashkelon.
Israel bars lawyers from meeting detained Kamal Adwan director, rights group says
The Israeli military is refusing to allow lawyers to meet Dr Hussam Abu Safia, who was arrested during a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital on December 27, according to an Israeli rights group.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said in a post on X that it has sent “urgent requests to send an attorney” to meet the detained doctor to “evaluate his state and detention conditions”.
But “the military says he’s barred from lawyer visits until 10.01.2025”, the group said.
Israel arrested the 51-year-old paediatrician – who gained international attention for his video messages about the dire conditions inside the besieged Kamal Adwan Hospital – claiming he is a Hamas operative.
His whereabouts remain unknown.
Guy Shalev, the executive director of PHRI, told CNN that the Israeli military has refused to reveal where Abu Safia is being held.
“It is important to think about that for a second, because we are getting this response for hundreds of other detainees. They don’t have Abu Safiya’s high profile. We are requesting their location in order to visit them with our lawyers. Sometimes, it takes months until we locate someone. Sometimes people are dying in custody without us knowing,” he told the broadcaster.
UN officials, doctors and activists around the world are urging Israel to release Abu Safia, with some fearing he may meet the same fate as Dr Adnan al-Bursh, the director of al-Shifa Hospital whose death in Israeli custody triggered accusations of torture and rape.
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