Israeli forces kill former Palestinian detainee near Nablus

The Israeli military has shot dead former detainee Jaafar Dababseh in front of his home in the occupied West Bank village of Wadi al-Badhan, northeast of Nablus, the Palestinian Information Center and the Quds News Network report.

The circumstances around his death are not immediately clear. We will bring you more information when we have it.

Antony Blinken finally reveals how he never wanted ceasefire in Gaza

Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday revealed how he was never in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza. This despite his repeated public utterances supporting a ceasefire deal in the past. Blinken showed his true colours during a press conference in South Korea.

Journalist Grills UN on Israel Shooting at WFP Convoy in Gaza

Stéphane Dujarric, the Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, briefed the media on the ongoing situation in the Middle East, providing updates on the latest developments and the UN's response to the region's challenges.

‘All hell will break out in the Middle East’ if captives are not released, says Trump

US President-elect Donald Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Wittkoff hed a news conference in Florida, where they addressed some questions about the Gaza ceasefire talks.

Trump said if the captives are not back by the time he gets into office, “all hell will break out in the Middle East, and it will not be good for Hamas, and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone”.



Dunno what more he expects to do to Gaza, but he might be dumb enough to green light more assassinations in Iran and further ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank.

A ‘crisis of severe and multi-dimensional proportions’

The Israeli military is still ramping up attacks across in Gaza, where in the past 24 hours, there have been blistering strikes on residential homes. Eastern Gaza has been the recent epicentre of the conflict [between Hamas and Israeli armed forces].

We’re also getting reports from northern Gaza that suggest the continuation of obliteration operations by the Israeli military. At least 14 Palestinians were killed today due to Israel’s repeated attacks on Gaza.

Satellite images have shown severe destruction and widespread devastation in the far north of the Strip. There has been extensive bulldozing in that part of the enclave. The Israeli military is looking to clear that area under the pretext of dismantling [Hamas’s] military infrastructure.

Such operations, however, have led to significant displacement waves from northern Gaza.

The humanitarian situation has reached what observers describe as a “breaking point”. That’s part of what we’re seeing on the ground. The absence of basic services has led to a crisis of severe and multi-dimensional proportions.

There have been attacks on the [UN World Food Programme], [UN agency for Palestinian refugees] UNRWA and World Central Kitchen. There has also been deliberate elimination of law enforcement agencies, which has led to a surge in criminal gang activity, which is also undermining aid work.


_{Palestinian houses stand badly damaged during the continuing Israeli military operation in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, December 18}



Hamas stands by demand for end to Gaza war in captive deal, as Trump deadline nears

Hamas has stood by its demand that Israel fully end its assault on Gaza under any deal to release the captives still held there. The group also said President-elect Donald Trump was rash to say there would be “hell to pay” unless the captives are freed by his January 20th inauguration.

Officials from Hamas and Israel have been holding talks with Qatari and Egyptian mediators in the most intensive effort for months to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.

The outgoing US administration has called for a final push for a deal before Joe Biden leaves office, and many in the region now view Trump’s inauguration as an unofficial deadline.

But with the clock ticking, both sides accuse the other of blocking a deal by adhering to conditions that torpedoed all previous peace efforts for more than a year.

‘The last thing we want to see is a Palestinian killing a Palestinian’: Barghouti

Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, spoke to Al Jazeera about the Palestinian Authority’s operations in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

“There is no justification for this escalation, and I think the last thing that Palestinians need is now a violent confrontation between Palestinians and Palestinians,” he said.

“We have a big number of political parties, civil society structures, human rights organisations that have interfered and is trying to mediate to end this situation” he said. “All of those who are harmed are our sons, our people, whether they are on the authority side or they are on the resistance side”.

“This is happening while Israel is conducting hundreds of attacks on us … attacks by the Israeli army and attacks by … settlers”. “If it continues, it will only serve the interest of the Israeli occupation,” he said.


_{Palestinian Authority security forces use tear gas to disperse a protest against their security operation in Jenin on December 16}

Israel demolished over 12,000 structures in West Bank since 2009: UN report

More than 12,000 structures have been demolished by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since 2009, according to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The hardest-hit areas include Khirbet Tana, Jabal Mukaber, and Silwan, which saw 400, 373, and 274 demolitions, respectively, said the OCHA’s report, entitled Breakdown of Data on Demolition and Displacement in the West Bank.

The report revealed that demolitions targeted 3,553 agricultural structures and 3,547 residential buildings. The year 2024 marked a peak, with 1,763 incidents recorded – the highest in 16 years.

Children and families remain particularly vulnerable, according to OCHA. The displaced individuals included 5,358 boys, 4,324 girls, 5,462 men and 4,791 women.

OCHA also reported that nearly 1,800 donor-funded structures were demolished, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region, where access to essential services continues to deteriorate.

These figures highlight the urgent need for international action to address the impact of ongoing demolitions and displacements in the West Bank.

MAGA Plots ALL OUT WAR On Pro-Palestine Speech

Not a 'snowball's chance in hell' that Canada joins U.S.: Trudeau

Here’s what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to say about U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's threat to use “economic force” to join Canada and the United States.


But then who's next...

Pierre Poilievre is a yapping Zionist chihuahua

Pierre Poilievre recently said he wants to deliver more arms to Israel, starve Palestinians by cutting UNRWA and suppress opposition to the holocaust in Gaza. Journalist Samira Mohyeddin of On The Line Media joined Talking Foreign Policy to discuss the Conservative Party leader’s anti-Palestinian positions, ‘blame Iran’ views and promotion of more Israeli violence in the region.

The conservative party is by far in the lead, with 98% certainty to gain the majority :(
2025 sucks.

https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/

Main events from Januari 7th

US general praises Lebanese Army for enforcing Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire

Major General Jasper Jeffers, who is overseeing the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, hailed the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) for acting “decisively, rapidly and with clear expertise” in its efforts to enforce the peace deal.

“The LAF is the legitimate security provider for Lebanon and continues to demonstrate to me and the rest of the Mechanism it has the capability, intent and leadership to secure and defend Lebanon,” Jeffers said on a visit to the LAF’s 5th Brigade in southern Lebanon with French Brigadier General Guillaume Ponchin.

“The engineer corps in particular is full of true professionals, removing and rendering safe hundreds of pieces of unexploded ordnance every week,” he added.

UN, Lebanon call for $371m in humanitarian aid

Imran Riza, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Lebanon, said on Tuesday that $371.4m in additional funding was “urgently required to sustain life-saving efforts” until March 2025, to “prevent further deterioration of an already dire situation”.

“While the cessation of hostilities offers hope, over 125,000 people remain displaced, and hundreds of thousands more face immense challenges rebuilding their lives,” Riza said, announcing the joint appeal with the Lebanese government.

The call builds on the UN’s initial appeal in October for $426m, when all-out war flared between Israel and Hezbollah, sending more than a million people fleeing their homes in Lebanon.

About $250m was raised through that appeal, according to the UN.

Supporting this week’s call for aid, Lebanon’s Minister of Environment, Nasser Yassin, said the country’s “institutions and public sector also require significant support to prevent the collapse of basic and social services”.

One-third of Israeli forces withdrew from Lebanon: Blinken

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says that he sees hope for a “durable peace” in Lebanon, adding that about one-third of Israeli forces have departed since a truce was struck between Israel and Hezbollah.

That agreement stipulates that Israeli forces must exit Lebanon by January 26, but recent reports in Israeli media have stated that they may stay beyond that deadline in violation of the agreement.

Israel has also continued to carry out near-daily attacks in southern Lebanon, as well as the destruction of civilian homes in areas under its control.

Israel says it is enforcing the agreement by forcing Hezbollah to withdraw its forces to the north of the Litani River, about 30km (19 miles) from the Israeli border.

US military air strikes target Houthi weapons depot in Yemen

The US Central Command says it conducted “precision strikes” targeting the Houthi militia’s underground weapons caches in Yemen. “The Houthis used these facilities to conduct attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” it said.

“The strikes are part of CENTCOM’s effort to degrade Iranian-backed Houthi attempts to threaten regional partners and military and merchant vessels in the region.”

US and British forces have repeatedly struck targets in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on Israel-linked shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis say their attacks are in solidarity with besieged Palestinians in Gaza.

Seven US-UK strikes targeted Yemen’s Amran, Sanaa provinces: Houthi media

We reported earlier that the US Central Command claimed to have conducted “precision strikes” targeting the Houthi militia’s underground weapons caches in Yemen.

The Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah channel says there were five raids in the Harf Sufyan district of the northwestern Amran province and two in the Sanhan district of the Sanaa province.

It did not elaborate on the results of the attacks.

Also today, a protest rally was staged by university students in Sanaa to denounce strikes on Yemen and Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

US Muslim group calls out Meta for Palestine censorship

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned Meta’s decision to stop fact-checking content and urged it to stop censoring posts supportive of Palestinians or critical of Israel’s government.

“If Meta is serious about fostering an environment where important debates can occur on Facebook, Instagram and Threads without biased interference, then the company should immediately stop shadow banning advocates for Palestinian human rights and suppressing posts critical of the far-right Israeli government,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR’s national deputy director, in a statement.

A Human Rights Watch report on Meta’s pro-Palestine content suppression documented 1,050 takedowns and other suppression of writings posted by Palestinians and their supporters, CAIR noted.

Facebook DESTROYING Democracy To Help Trump - And Conning You About FREE SPEECH





Opinion: A disturbing pattern of repression is emerging in Europe

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/1/8/a-disturbing-pattern-of-repression-is-emerging-in-europe

In November, the Dutch political elite overwhelmingly sided with Israeli football fans after they went on a rampage in Amsterdam and provoked violence with local residents. The injustice did not stop at the twisted narrative Dutch politicians chose to adopt.

The clashes gave the ruling Dutch right-wing coalition a convenient excuse to table a host of measures that clearly target the country’s Muslim community. These proposals – which they had likely had up their sleeves for a long time – included stripping dual nationals of their passports and migrants of their temporary residency permit if they are deemed to be “anti-Semitic” – with the caveat that in today’s political climate, almost any statement criticising Israel’s genocide in Gaza is being labelled as anti-Semitic or terrorist.

Other measures include barring so-called anti-Semitic organisations from public funding, labelling them as terrorist entities, and placing them on sanctions lists, banning the Palestinian prisoner support network Samidoun, and criminalising the “glorification of terrorism”.

Israeli tourists watch ongoing attacks on Gaza

_{Guided tourists look towards ongoing strikes on Beit Hanoon from southern Israel on Wednesday, January 8}

_{Smoke billows as buildings are levelled by Israeli bombardment in Beit Hanoon}

At least 74 children killed in Gaza during first week of 2025: UNICEF

During the first seven days of this year, Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli attacks carried out overnight in Gaza City, Khan Younis, and al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated “safe zone” in the south, according to the United Nations children’s agency.

“For the children of Gaza, the new year has brought more death and suffering from attacks, deprivation, and increasing exposure to the cold,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “A ceasefire is long overdue. Too many children have been killed or lost loved ones in a tragic start to the new year.”

UNICEF also said in a statement that apart from the bombardment, the continued lack of basic shelter – combined with winter temperatures pose serious threats to children.

“With more than a million children living in makeshift tents, and with many families displaced over the past 15 months, children face extreme risks,” it said. “Since December 26, eight infants and newborns have reportedly died from hypothermia – a major threat to young children who are unable to regulate their body temperature.”

UNICEF appealed to “all parties to the conflict to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law, including by ceasing attacks on civilians, humanitarian workers, and civilian infrastructure; meeting civilians’ essential needs; and by facilitating rapid, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian access”.