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SvennoJ 12 hours ago
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Main events from January 8th

  • Israeli attacks across Gaza killed at least 50 people on Wednesday, while UNICEF said at least 74 Palestinian children have been killed during the first week of 2025 alone.
  • Gaza’s Health Ministry has warned hospitals only have enough fuel for one day of operations, while Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warns of “catastrophic” consequences for patients and newborns.
  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is “very close” and expressed hope for a “durable peace” in Lebanon, saying a third of Israeli forces in the country have left since a truce was struck with Hezbollah in November.
  • Israeli forces announced recovering the body of another captive from Gaza as the relatives of those still held there criticised Prime Minister Netanyahu for his refusal to end the war.
  • Israel’s military has confirmed three soldiers were killed in Beit Hanoon, northern Gaza, after an improvised explosive device was detonated against their tank.
  • The Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, has claimed responsibility for an attack near an illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank that killed three Israelis on Monday.

More on the Israel’s recovery of captive’s body

The Israeli military has issued a statement on what it called a “complex and difficult operation”. It said the “troops located and recovered the body of hostage Yousef al-Ziyadna from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip and returned his body to Israel”.

The military also offered more information on Defence Minister Israel Katz’s claim the remains of al-Ziyadna’s 23-year-old son, Hamza, had been brought to Israel. It clarified that the son’s body had not been recovered, although “findings were located related to Hamza… which raise serious concerns for his life”.

The two men were members of Israel’s Bedouin community, a Palestinian minority who have Israeli citizenship.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the relatives of captives held in Gaza, says al-Ziyadna, 53, had 19 children and had worked for 17 years at the dairy farm of a kibbutz that was among the communities Hamas had attacked on October 7, 2023. Al-Ziyadna’s teenage children, Bilal and Aisha, were among the 100 captives released during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023.

Al-Ziyadna and his son, Hamza, were both thought to be still alive before the military’s announcement.

Israel believes a third of the remaining 100 captives held in Gaza are dead.


Smotrich says Israel ‘preparing hell’ for Hamas

Israel’s far-right finance minister has warned of a new phase in the war on Gaza.

During a live interview on Israel’s Channel 7, Bezalel Smotrich said there will be a “very fundamental change” in the way Israel will “conduct the war in Gaza”. “We are preparing hell for Hamas,” Smotrich said.

In the same session, he also criticised the ongoing talks for a ceasefire, saying there “should have been no negotiations with Hamas”.