New storm to hit Gaza, piling on suffering for thousands of displaced


_{A displaced man fixes a tent shelter set up along the shore in Gaza City as strong winter winds sweep the Palestinian enclave on January 13}

A new storm is forecast to hit Gaza, adding further to the suffering of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in makeshift tents in displacement camps that are already unfit to withstand the harsh winter weather.

Israel’s more than two-year genocidal war has forced nearly all of Gaza’s two million people from their homes to live in these temporary shelters.

Last week, Gaza’s Government Media Office reported that 127,000 of the 135,000 tents in displacement camps have been rendered unusable because of the recent extreme weather.

“The reality on the ground tells a very painful and grim story,” said Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Gaza City on Monday. “Hundreds of thousands of displaced families are still living in torn tents and roofless homes exposed to the rain and cold, and the freezing nights.”

This suffering is directly caused by Israeli restrictions, said Abu Azzoum, as Israel has not been allowing the “entry of prefabricated mobile housing units and the building materials that are essential for winter protection” or a free flow of desperately needed basic humanitarian aid.

Under a United States-brokered ceasefire, which took effect on October 10, and which Israel has violated hundreds of times on a near-daily basis, aid deliveries were supposed to be significantly ramped up, with at least 600 trucks a day due to enter Gaza to fulfil the population’s needs.

However, the Government Media Office says only an average of 145 trucks have been entering Gaza since the ceasefire.


The harsh winter conditions have also caused the collapse of previously damaged buildings by relentless Israeli bombing, leading to the deaths of at least 25 people since mid-December, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

“The elderly people, the sick and the children are among those who are most affected” by the harsh winter conditions, said Abu Azzoum.

Deaths caused by cold exposure have risen to 24, including 21 children, the Government Media Office reported last week. “All the victims were displaced Palestinians living in forced displacement camps,” it said in a statement.

A Palestinian Civil Defence spokesperson in Gaza said last week that hospitals across the territory have been observing an influx of patients, particularly children, with cold-related illnesses, and the organisation had received hundreds of calls for support due to extreme cold.

The Palestinian Meteorological Department has warned of the risk of frost and freezing conditions in a polar air mass across large parts of Palestine on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

Israel Bans Aid Groups in Gaza

Amed Khan, human rights advocate and political activist, joins Emma to discuss what he has witnessed over the past two years in Gaza. Through the Amed Khan Foundation, he has purchased and delivered emergency child nutrition throughout the genocide in Gaza.

Trump asks Putin to join Gaza ‘board of peace’ even as Ukraine war rages

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to join United States President Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, purportedly aimed at resolving global conflicts as well as overseeing governance and reconstruction in Gaza.

The invitation, which emerged on Monday, was extended as Russia’s nearly four-year war on Ukraine continues and a peace deal there remains elusive. Trump had been pushing for an end to the war, one he claimed he would stop within 24 hours of taking office a year ago. A war of attrition has been raging on the ground, and peace negotiations are ongoing, but momentum has slowed again.

The White House has reached out to figures around the world to sit on the “board of peace”, chaired by Trump himself.

“President Putin also received an invitation to join this board of peace,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday. Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, he said, without adding whether Putin is inclined to join.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a Putin ally, has also been reportedly invited to join the group by Trump.

First Iran and now Greenland, double blow for EU leaders; hit by Trump tariffs

European leaders have found themselves in an awful predicament after Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs if they didn’t fall in line on Greenland. This blow comes after European leaders’ failure to see the regime change in Iran even after days of protests. Rifat Jawaid looks at this development and also on the controversy surrounding the composition of the so-called Gaza Peace Board by Trump.

Israel launches ‘large-scale’ military raid in occupied West Bank’s Hebron

The Israeli military has launched a “large-scale” operation in Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank, deploying hundreds of soldiers and heavy machinery in a move that has paralysed the city’s southern districts.

In a joint statement issued on Monday, the Israeli army and the internal security service, Shin Bet, confirmed the offensive, stating it aims to “thwart terror infrastructure” and confiscate weapons in the Jebel Johar area.

‘Defensive Shield’ tactics

Reporting from the scene, Al Jazeera Arabic’s correspondent Montaser Nassar described a state of total lockdown.

“We are in the so-called southern region of Hebron, which has been under a curfew since dawn,” Nassar said. “There is an intensive deployment of occupation forces … including bulldozers and tracked armoured vehicles.”

“We witnessed tracked armoured vehicles … the last time we saw these in Hebron was during the second Intifada during [Israeli] Operation Defensive Shield,” he said, noting the significance of the heavy equipment.

‘Dividing the divided’

While the army cited “counterterrorism goals”, Nassar observed soldiers installing new metal barriers, warning of a long-term tightening of control.

“They brought in iron gates a short while ago, and this is the dangerous part,” Nassar said. “It seems that what is happening on the ground is a prelude to dividing the already divided.”

Video footage verified by local sources showed Israeli forces closing the Tariq bin Ziyad roundabout with cement blocks and earth mounds. Palestinian news agency Wafa reported at least seven arrests.

Mosque under pressure

Nassar pointed out that the raid is taking place less than half a kilometre from the Ibrahimi Mosque, following recent Israeli moves to strip Palestinian authority over the site.

“This comes after a decision to ban the director of the Ibrahimi Mosque … for 15 days,” Nassar explained, noting that management of the site is being transferred to the Israeli Civil Administration.

Since the beginning of the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, more than 1,080 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, about 11,000 injured, and some 20,500 arrested, according to official Palestinian sources.

Israelis Protest Netanyahu Government, Demand Independent Inquiry Of Oct 7 Events

Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday, demanding for an independent state commission of inquiry into the events of October 7, 2023 and for a change in government. Protesters said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government refused to be held accountable for the Hamas-led attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, adding that they are protesting the judicial overhaul and protecting democracy.

The remains of the last Israeli hostage, police officer Ran Gvili, have still not been returned from Gaza. His retrieval is crucial to a plan brokered by the U.S. government to ensure peace between Gaza and Israel.

Gaza “Peace Board” Is COLONIAL Plan

"He's literally forming the Legion of Doom ..."

Palestinian Activists Speak Out After Toronto Attacks

In this episode of GTA Muslims Today, host Ahmed Ramadan sits down with Palestinian activists Dave Perks, Nick Shcherban, and Jake Javanesher from the Google Nakba campaign. The conversation focuses on recent attacks targeting Palestinian activists in Toronto, the growing backlash against pro-Palestinian advocacy, and why solidarity and free expression are under increasing pressure in Canada.

The moving target known as the yellow line represents danger for those in the Gaza Strip

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-gaza-strip-yellow-line-palestine-israel-trump-netanyahu-hamas/


_{A yellow block demarcating the 'yellow line,' which has separated the Gaza Strip's Israeli-held and Palestinian zones since the October ceasefire, in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, in December, 2025.}

Osama Abu Saeed’s day is controlled by careful decisions related to safety and survival: when to leave his house, how far he can go and how long he can stay outside.

Mr. Abu Saeed, 30, lives about 100 metres from the yellow line, which cuts through the Gaza Strip and demarcates territory controlled by the Israel Defense Forces from Hamas-controlled areas. The impact of the boundary is present in every detail of his life, he said.

“There is no normal movement here. Every step needs a risk assessment,” he said. “We watch the sky more than we watch the road.” As he spoke, the sound of drones continued and mixed with occasional gunfire.

The Israeli military withdrew to the yellow line in the first phase of the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas and brokered by the U.S. in October, which brought to a halt the two-year war which began with Hamas attacking Israel.

The line starts in the north of Gaza, passes through central areas and reaches the outskirts of Rafah in the south. Its depth is not fixed – in some areas the line extends about two kilometres and in others it reaches up to seven kilometres deep, absorbing between 50 and 58 per cent of Gaza’s land by classifying it as high-risk combat zones. Israeli military forces are stationed in areas including eastern Gaza City neighbourhoods such as Shuja’iyya, Al-Tuffah and Al-Zeitoun, as well as northern towns like Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, and southern areas in Rafah and eastern Khan Younis.

Initially an invisible boundary, the Israeli army later placed large yellow concrete blocks to mark the yellow line physically on the ground. Palestinians are prevented from accessing their homes and farms that fall within it. Anyone trying to go near the line faces gunfire, drones and tanks.

Mr. Abu Saeed said the line shifts constantly, making it difficult to assess where to walk for fear of accidentally crossing over.

“We know it has changed when the gunfire gets closer, or when we see yellow barrels dropped by drones to mark a new reality,” he said. “It moves forward and backward without any announcement.”

“Getting close to the house or staying there became extremely dangerous,” he said. “The shelling did not stop and the constant drones, artillery fire and direct gunfire forced us to leave again.”

The eastern areas under Israeli control belong to hundreds of small Palestinian farmers who inherited the land over generations. Farmers lost their main source of income and have had to rely on aid or move to safer areas inside Gaza.

“We just want people to understand that we are not numbers, we are human beings,” said Mr. Al-Awada. “We have homes, land and the right to live in peace. The Yellow Line is not just a line on a map. It has become a barrier between us and our lives.”

Gaza’s ‘phase two’ from a distance: Why hope still feels out of reach

When Steve Witkoff announced “phase two” of the ceasefire, it sounded like the update everyone has been desperate for here in Gaza. Something in the way the United States envoy said it – phase two – really made it sound like things might finally be turning the corner.

In less than 24 hours, another announcement followed. The White House named the members of a new “Board of Peace”, tasked with overseeing a technocratic committee that would manage the day-to-day governance of post-war Gaza. The committee will be led by Dr Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian official, who is presented as part of a forward-looking plan for reconstruction and stability.

On paper, it appears to be a movement. Like structure. Like planning for a future beyond war. But on the ground in Gaza, there isn’t a sense of confidence. There is doubt – and a lot of it.

Many Palestinians here struggle to understand how a board meant to rebuild Gaza can include people who have openly supported Israel, especially when the destruction is still everywhere you look, and no one has been held accountable.

Buildings are still in ruins. Families are still grieving. Entire neighbourhoods are gone. Against that backdrop, talk of governance and reconstruction feels disconnected from reality.

For families who have lost their homes, their loved ones, and their sense of safety, the contradiction is hard to ignore. It’s difficult to be asked to trust a future designed by people who seem untouched by the present pain and untouched by responsibility for it.

All these official statements? They feel miles away from what’s actually happening. Phase two might exist in some news release, but for most people, life still feels stuck right where it started.

You don’t feel a ceasefire in speeches or headlines. You feel it in what’s missing, the sudden silence, the easing in your chest, the nights that don’t end with a jolt. That’s what people are waiting for. Not the label, not the milestone. Just the change itself.

Right now, that feeling isn’t there. Promises are uneven, timelines keep slipping, and too many commitments just fade into the background. For people living through it, this doesn’t feel like peace on the move; it feels like everything’s hanging by a thread, ready to snap at any minute. Just calling it “phase two” doesn’t make it feel any safer.

The Palestinian Genocide: The Ultimate Evidence

Former UNRWA Chief spokesman Chris Gunness Powerful Speech to the UN

Israel bulldozes UNRWA buildings in occupied East Jerusalem


_{Israeli authorities demolish a UNRWA compound, belonging to the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees, in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026}

Israel has begun bulldozing buildings inside the headquarters of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem, as the far-right government clamps down heavily on humanitarian groups that provide desperately needed aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

UNRWA said in a statement on Tuesday that Israeli forces had confiscated staff devices and forced them out of their headquarters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood.

“This is an unprecedented attack not only against UNRWA and its premises. It constitutes a serious violation of international law and the privileges and immunities of the United Nations,” it said.

Later on Tuesday, Israeli forces fired tear gas at a Palestinian trade school in a second targeting of a UN facility in occupied East Jerusalem.

Local sources reported earlier that an Israeli army group, accompanied by bulldozers, stormed the UNRWA’s compound after sealing off the surrounding streets and intensifying its military presence in the area, and proceeded to demolish structures inside the compound, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israeli lawmakers and member of the government were also present, according to UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, who said the attack came “in the wake of other steps taken by Israeli authorities to erase the Palestine Refugee identity”.

He also warned that “what happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission” anywhere in the world.

Israel has repeatedly attacked UNRWA for what it terms pro-Palestinian leanings and accused the body of ties to Hamas, without providing evidence, which the UN agency has vehemently denied.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the demolition was following through on a new law that banned the organisation. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a statement that he had accompanied crews to the headquarters and called it a “historic day”.

Israeli prisons are akin to ‘torture camps’, Israeli rights group finds


_{About 9,200 Palestinians are estimated to be detained in Israeli facilities, including the Ofer military prison near Jerusalem}

At least 84 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli prisons since October 2023 after being subjected to systematic abuse, including physical and psychological violence, inhuman conditions, deliberate starvation and denial of medical treatment, the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem says.

Israeli authorities were still holding 80 of their bodies and refusing to return them to their families, the organisation said in a report released on Tuesday, which listed the names of the 84 deceased prisoners, including one minor, and the facilities in which they died.

Fifty of them were from the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been carrying out its genocidal war for more than two years and repeatedly violating an October ceasefire. Thirty-one were from the occupied West Bank, and three were citizens of Israel. The report noted that the numbers were likely to be higher because the organisation listed only the deaths it was able to verify.

B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak said Israeli authorities had turned the prison system into a network of “torture camps” as part of “a coordinated onslaught on Palestinian society intended to destroy their existence as a collective”.

“The genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank are the most blatant manifestations of this policy,” Novak said in a statement.

B’Tselem said its findings were based on the testimonies of 21 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons in recent months and on the work of Israeli and international human rights organisations that monitor prisons. About 9,200 Palestinians are estimated to be held in Israeli prisons.

Several of the interviewees described undergoing or witnessing sexual violence in custody, including sexual assault, forced stripping, severe injuries to genitals through beatings, attacks involving dogs and penetration with various objects.

Other testimonies highlighted brutality during interrogations, particularly in a room referred to as the “disco room”, where electrical shocks were administered at regular intervals while the prisoner was deprived of food and access to a toilet.

The findings confirmed a pattern of abuse already highlighted in B’Tselem’s August 2024 report Welcome to Hell. Novak said: “Despite mounting evidence and numerous reports on Israel’s torture camps, the international community continues to grant this regime full immunity – effectively legitimizing the continued torture, oppression and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and abandoning the victims.”

...

Many bodies of Palestinians returned by Israel to Gaza after the October ceasefire have shown signs of torture and execution, and families have been forced to identify their missing loved ones through photographs of decomposed and mutilated remains.

B’Tselem spokesperson Yair Dvir told Al Jazeera that “the international community must use all the tools at its disposal in the framework of international law to stop Israel from continuing to commit these crimes.”

Silencing released prisoners

B’Tselem’s collection of evidence was hampered by Israeli attempts to silence released prisoners through intimidation. “Israeli authorities threatened to re-arrest anyone who shared information about their experiences in prison,” the report said. “The threats were issued both before and after the prisoners were released.”

It added that such action illustrates “how Israel uses deprivation of liberty as a key means of oppressing Palestinians”.

Israeli authorities have repeatedly rejected abuse allegations, saying they act in accordance with international law, but these claims contradict evidence presented by the government’s own officials.

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in November bragged about the harsh treatment of Palestinian prisoners in a video filmed next to bound prisoners lying blindfolded on the floor.

A few days later, Ben-Gvir, who is in charge of the Israeli prison system, was seen carrying sweets in the Knesset chamber after Israel’s parliament advanced a bill that would allow the death penalty for “terrorists” and is seen as targeting Palestinians.

Dvir, B’Tselem’s spokesperson, said that while Israel tries to deny the abuses, “Ben-Gvir continues to produce public relations pieces and videos from within these torture facilities, proudly showcasing the inhuman conditions and the abuse inflicted on Palestinian detainees.”

The report’s conclusion was unequivocal. “Israel is continuing its systemic, institutionalised policy of torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners, approved and backed by the political system, the judicial system, the media and, of course, the prison authorities themselves,” it said.

“Far from being carried out in the shadows, this systematic abuse is put on public display, with no attempt to conceal or obscure it.”

Rare admission of guilt by Carney, Macron over Gaza amidst threats from Trump

Donald Trump’s decision to invade Greenland has suddenly made western leaders realise the importance of international laws. Canadian PM Mark Carney made a confession that international laws were not applied consistently in the recent past alluding to the Gaza conflict. French President Emanuel Macron too suddenly remembered the significance of rules-based international order. British politicians, on the other hand, continued to showcase double-standards while debating the issues pertaining to Gaza and Iran.

Local Cops HARASS Woman Who Criticized Israel

Krystal and Saagar discuss the ADL launching an AI crackdown.

Meanwhile in Israel

Israeli Radical Jews Vs Israeli Police: Violent Clashes In Jerusalem, Cops Thrash Haredi Men



https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/police-arrest-11-in-violent-ultra-orthodox-protests-in-jerusalem-beit-shemesh/

Violent riots erupted in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh as hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jewish protesters clashed with Israeli police over plans to conduct autopsies on two infants who died in an unlicensed daycare. Roads were blocked, garbage bins were set on fire, vehicles damaged, and public transport disrupted as police declared the protests illegal. Authorities say the autopsies are crucial to determine whether heat exhaustion and negligence caused the deaths, while religious leaders call the procedure a desecration of the dead. The unrest has intensified tensions between state authorities and ultra-Orthodox communities.

Israel carries out air attacks across southern Lebanon

The Israeli military says it carried out an attack on Burj Shemali, near the southern city of Tyre, claiming it targeted a member of Hezbollah. The area includes a Palestinian refugee camp.

In a separate statement, the army said it launched an air strike on the Sidon region of southern Lebanon, targeting what it described as a Hezbollah fighter. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 300 people in Lebanon since the November 2024 ceasefire, including at least 127 civilians.

Israeli troops demolish home, raid towns across occupied West Bank

Below is a roundup of Israeli attacks throughout the Palestinian territory: