Israeli army chief resigns over October 7 ‘failure’

Major-General Herzi Halevi has quit over what he described as his responsibility for the military “failure” during the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel last year.

The resignation will take effect on March 6.

In his resignation letter, released by the army, the military chief said he was leaving “due to my acknowledgement of responsibility for the failure on October 7”.

Halevi said his departure comes at a time of “significant successes” for the military. More than 15 months of Israeli army attacks on Gaza have killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, with the UN calling the besieged and bombarded territory “a graveyard” for thousands of children.

Many Israelis have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to take personal responsibility for political and military failure on October 7.


_{Israeli Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi}

Israel opposition leader calls on government to quit after resignation of army chief

The opposition leader said he saluted military chief Herzi Halevi for quitting and added: “Now, it is time for them to take responsibility and resign – the prime minister and his entire catastrophic government.”

Yair Lapid has said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government should resign after the country’s military chief stepped down, citing failures to prevent the October 7 attack.

Jenin death toll rises

The number of Palestinians killed in the Israeli army’s raid on Jenin has now risen to eight, according to the latest update by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Trump’s administration ‘more openly in favour of settlements’

Ben Friedman, policy director at the Defense Priorities think tank, told Al Jazeera that the Biden administration was “hypocritical” when it came to any criticism of Israel, including its sanctions on Israeli settlers.

The administration “did almost nothing to back up their words of criticism of Israel and Netanyahu on the treatment of civilians in Gaza, the actions of settlers of the West Bank, expanding the war in Lebanon, Syria… but the one little thing they did was the sanctions against some of the settlers, which is almost a symbolic act”, Friedman said.

“Trump has undone that, and he’s not a hypocrite on this; he’s just more openly in favour of settlements… and even of abusing the human rights of Palestinians,” Friedman noted.

“So I think now we’re going to see an administration that’s even more devoted to… Israeli interests as defined by Netanyahu,” he said.

“If Israel, under this government… wants to annex the [occupied] West Bank, chances are the Trump administration will be there cheering for them to do it and stomping on the grave of the two-state solution,” Friedman said.

Trump’s pick for UN ambassador dodges question on Palestinian rights

Elise Stefanik, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the United States ambassador to the United Nations, refused to say whether she believed Palestinians have a right to self-determination.

Stefanik says Israel has a ‘biblical right’ to occupied West Bank

Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations, says that she agrees with the statement that Israel has a “biblical right” to the occupied West Bank, a view that contrasts with international law but aligns with the vision of radical Israel settlers.

While Israeli settlers have been on the front lines of pushing for greater control of the West Bank for decades, they have benefited from direct and indirect assistance from the Israeli state and security forces.

US Senator Chris Van Hollen, who had asked Stefanik the question about the West Bank, said it would be “very difficult” to achieve peace and security in the region with such views at the centre of US foreign policy.

Stefanik’s view that Israel has ‘biblical right’ to West Bank signals big shift in US policy

This would mark a significant change in American policy, which, for a very long time, has been that there is a two-state solution in the Middle East between the Palestinians and the Israelis and that that should be established and put in place.

Effectively, Elise Stefanik [Trump’s pick to serve as US ambassador to the United Nations] is saying this is not the case here. She believes that the Israelis could take over all of the occupied West Bank.

Donald Trump did an interview in December when he was asked if there should be a two-state solution; he said he wasn’t sure what form any peace settlement in the Middle East would take even though he was on the record in 2020 saying that he supported a two-state solution.

So perhaps his view has changed and evolved, and now it’s reflected by his prospective UN ambassador.

‘The Israeli public is behind the settlers’

Menachem Klein, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University, told Al Jazeera that the “settlement project” in the occupied West Bank is “a state-made project”.

The Israeli public is behind its army and behind the settlers, he said, adding, “It’s not an independent operation by extremists” but rather state-driven.

He said the combat units of the Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank can be described as “extremists”, which will make it difficult for the Israeli army to control its troops there.

“Not all of them are settlers, but many of them are on the same page” and “share the same mindset” as the settlers, Klein said.

In the Jenin area of the occupied West Bank, established settlers are used to being able to relay instructions to the Israeli army on a daily basis he said.

Police must answer for ‘unlawful’ arrests at pro-Palestine protest in London, says Amnesty

Amnesty International has raised concerns over the Metropolitan Police’s handling of last Saturday’s End the Genocide in Gaza protest in London, where dozens of demonstrators were arrested.

The demonstration saw thousands gather in London to express solidarity with Palestinians. However, police blocked plans to march from Portland Place to Whitehall, limiting protesters to a static demonstration.

More than 70 pro-Palestinian protesters were then arrested in Trafalgar Square on suspicion of breaching protest conditions.

The Metropolitan Police defended their actions, claiming there was a “coordinated effort” to breach restrictions imposed on the rally. However, protest organisers have vehemently denied this claim.

Kerry Moscogiuri, campaigns and communications director at Amnesty International UK, said: “In the run-up to the protest, we voiced concern about police imposing restrictions that risked unnecessary and disproportionate interference with demonstrators’ rights, which appeared to rely on legal powers that the High Court previously ruled to be unlawful but have been left in effect while awaiting an appeal”.

“There are now serious questions for the police to answer about their behaviour at Saturday’s protest and the lawful basis for the arrests of large numbers of peaceful demonstrators,” she said.


_{People attend a demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza, after Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal, in London, UK, January 18}

The root cause is the lingering and now rising again racism and fascism in US/Europe. The apartheid system has been imported from Europe and protected by the USA. It started under British mandate in 1920, a century ago. Now Trump is likely only going to make it worse, giving Israel the green light to further annex the West Bank, fully supporting the colonial terrorist settler movement.

Main events from January 21st

• At least 10 Palestinians have been killed and dozens, including doctors and nurses, wounded in an Israeli army raid on Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
• Elise Stefanik, US President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the ambassador to the United Nations, has told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that Israel has a “biblical right” to the entire occupied West Bank.
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says 897 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, the third day of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
• Gaza’s civil defence workers have recovered 120 decomposed bodies from under the rubble of destroyed buildings in two days.
• Four people were wounded in a suspected stabbing attack in Tel Aviv, according to reports in Israeli media.
  

UN says 897 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that 897 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, as humanitarian assistance continues to surge into the Gaza Strip following months of Israeli restrictions.

Ukraine requests Israel hand over Russian-made weapons seized from Hezbollah: Report

The Times of Israel is reporting that Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel has discussed legislation with Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Sharren Haskel, that would see Jerusalem send Russian-made weapons seized from Hezbollah in Lebanon to Kyiv.

The newspaper said Ukrainian Ambassador Yevgen Korniychuk had met with Haskel earlier today and that the Ukrainian Embassy had released a statement after the meeting in which it “expressed hope for a positive resolution of this matter”.

Israeli forces destroyed 80 percent of North Gaza: Official

The Undersecretary of Gaza’s Ministry of Public Works, Naji Sarhan, says that Israeli forces have destroyed 80 percent of the buildings in the northern governorate of the Gaza Strip, leaving 300,000 Palestinians homeless, according to our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.


_{Palestinians set up tents among the rubble of their houses as they return to Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday}

Aerial photos show scale of destruction in Rafah



About 275,000 people lived in Rafah before the war, with this number swelling to more than 1.4 million by early 2024 as Palestinians from the rest of Gaza sought refuge there.

Israeli forces launched a full-scale invasion of Rafah in May 2024, forcing more than 1 million people to flee. In the months that followed, almost no photographs have been seen of Rafah as Israeli tanks and soldiers demolished many of the city’s buildings.

Gaza people shocked by scale of devastation

People in Gaza are shocked by the scale of the destruction. They did not imagine that complete neighbourhoods had been wiped out. But it is not only that. The houses that are still standing are either burned or unliveable.

And there is another thing that needs to be pointed out. There are a lot of explosives left in some areas. That is why it is very dangerous for people to approach their houses at this stage.

Some are still trying to clean up what’s left, some are trying to salvage their belongings from under the rubble.

We know that people were forced to evacuate from one place to another. They are still in shock but the only relief now is that there are no air strikes or drones. They know that there is a little bit of safety.

Aerial views show destroyed al-Jnaina area in southern Gaza’s Rafah

Journalist Hassan Eslaih has shared videos on Instagram, showing the mass destruction of al-Jnaina neighbourhood, east of Rafah city, in southern Gaza, following Israeli attacks.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFHjSK1s98Y

‘Every single street, neighbourhood, city’ in Gaza has destroyed infrastructure

You can’t imagine how destroyed the infrastructure across the Gaza Strip is. Sewage is filling the streets. In some places, there’s a lack of water. Desalination plants are not working any more. The infrastructure has completely collapsed.

Yesterday was the first day Israel let in heavy machinery. But civil defence teams, engineers and others working [on recovery efforts] do not know where to start.

In every single street, neighbourhood, city – infrastructure is destroyed. Palestinians are going to have to start their lives from scratch.

Israel destroyed all police stations, hundreds of vehicles in Gaza: Police department

All police offices and stations in the Gaza Strip have been burned and hundreds of vehicles and other assets destroyed in Israeli attacks since October 7, 2023, according to the General Directorate of the Palestinian Police in the Gaza Strip.

More than 1,400 members of the department have also been killed, including the director-general, Major-General Mahmoud Salah, said the statement published on Facebook.

More than 1,950 members have been injured and 211 arrested by Israeli forces during the war, it added.

Gaza rescuers ‘finding only bones’ in the vast fields of debris

Civil Defence teams are trying to go through as many houses in as many areas as possible where people are still missing.

Yesterday, they said they were able to retrieve the bodies of 68 Palestinians. But there are at least 11,000 more people unaccounted for and believed to be trapped under the rubble.

Emergency teams don’t have the adequate heavy equipment required for their recovery efforts in the vast destruction from Israeli bombardment and have to rely on rudimentary tools.

In most cases, they are finding only bones or bodies that are unrecognisable. They bury them in areas near their targeted houses. This isn’t a matter of several months – many Palestinians have been trapped under the rubble for more than a year.

‘A few bones’: Gaza survivors search for what remains of dead loved ones

With a heavy heart, keen eyes and trembling hands, Abu Muhammed Ghaith meticulously searched through the thick nylon bags used as makeshift shrouds for those killed in Gaza.

Inside the morgue at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, he was hoping to find a trace of his missing son. Instead, he was met only with unidentified body parts and fragmented remains.

The sight left him collapsed on the ground, overwhelmed by grief and exhaustion.

Yet, he gathered his strength and continued searching for any trace of 17-year-old Muhammed, shifting his focus from bodies to personal items: a pair of sandals patched with yellow plastic, an orange sweater, a black jacket or tracksuit pants – anything that could belong to his son.

Search for bodies continues in Gaza City

_{Atef Jundiya searches for the graves and bodies of his father, brother and brother-in-law at Gaza City’s Shejaia cemetery, which was flattened by Israeli tanks and bulldozers}

About 200 bodies recovered from Gaza debris as search goes on

As Gaza Palestinians return to their destroyed homes, the grisly search for dead family members continues. The civil defence agency and medical staff have recovered about 200 bodies since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect on Sunday.

Mahmoud Basal, head of the service, said extraction operations have been challenged by the lack of earth-moving and heavy machinery, adding Israel has destroyed several of their vehicles and killed at least 100 of their staff.

Basal estimates the bodies of about 10,000 Palestinians killed in the war are yet to be found and buried.

A UN damage assessment released this month showed clearing more than 50 million tonnes of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2bn.

Fresh vegetables return to market stalls in central Gaza

_{Palestinians flocked to market stalls on the streets of Nuseirat refugee camp, in central Gaza, on Tuesday}

UN to monitor equal access to aid in Gaza

The UN’s Human Rights Office (OHCHR) in Palestine is preparing to send mobile teams to aid distribution points in Gaza to ensure equitable access to relief supplies.

In a statement on social media, OHCHR said its teams would ensure “the most vulnerable groups have equal access” to humanitarian aid now being surged into the war-torn territory.

The agency also warned that the road ahead in Gaza’s recovery would be long.

“Gaza will have to endure for years to come: the destruction of basic infrastructure, the collapse of public order and safety, unexploded ordnance, rubble, lack of shelter and safe-spaces, life-changing disabilities, and immense mental health needs,” it said.

Aid trucks, heavy machinery enter Gaza unhindered for first time in 15 months

Surprisingly, Israel is letting more than 600 trucks enter. Yesterday they approved very heavy machinery to enter the Gaza Strip – to remove people from under the rubble, and also fuel.

Since the ceasefire began three days ago, it’s understood that more than 2,400 aid trucks have been allowed to pass into Gaza. The trucks are carrying food, water, aid supplies and fuel.

More are on the way into Gaza right now. They are being secured by Hamas’s police, whose presence has helped mitigate looting.

Here’s a breakdown of the trucks that entered Gaza since the ceasefire: Sunday, 630 trucks. Monday, 925 trucks. Tuesday, 897 trucks. This is the first time this many trucks have entered the Gaza Strip in 15 months.

UN officials say 80 percent of Gaza’s population completely relies on food aid distributions after 15 months of bombardment and restrictions. UNRWA said they are working around the clock; their colleagues are exhausted, but they’re working endlessly to deliver that aid.

We’re spotting people on the streets with food parcels, with flour, and this is a sign that what is coming in is actually being distributed.

Israeli boats fire on Gaza coast

Israeli gunboats have shelled towards the coast of Gaza City in violation of the terms of the ceasefire, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report. No casualties were reported.

‘Increasing indications’ Israel to restart Gaza war after phase one

Indications are growing that Israel is not taking the terms of the ceasefire seriously and is planning to restart fighting in Gaza before phase two of the agreement comes into effect, according to political analyst Mohamad Elmasry.

“What we have to keep our eye on is violations,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera. “Yesterday, there was video circulating of [Israeli forces] shooting a Palestinian [in Gaza]. It’s a clear violation, but we didn’t hear any sort of condemnation from the US, who is supposed to be sort of ensuring that the ceasefire continues.”

“The other thing we have to keep an eye on,” Elmasry added, “is what happens after phase one. There are increasing indications that Israel has every intention of continuing the war. They’ve apparently said as much. And then we’ve got US President Donald Trump after his inauguration saying: ‘Look, it’s their war’.

“I read that as a statement that the US is kind of washing its hands – it’s not going to intervene.”

Israel escalating in West Bank to ‘overcompensate’ for Gaza ceasefire

Israeli forces are ramping up operations in the occupied West Bank – specifically in Jenin – to “distract” from the Gaza ceasefire deal, which is being viewed domestically as a “spectacular failure” for Prime Minister Netanyahu, says political analyst Mohamad Elmasry.

“The ceasefire in Gaza was kind of a defeat for Netanyahu. Israeli media reports are calling it an embarrassment for him to have Hamas, after all these months, still very much alive and well and operational in Gaza,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera.

“Now what the Israeli government is doing is trying to distract from that and sort of overcompensate by escalating in the West Bank.”

Elmasry highlighted that since the ceasefire began, Israel has made dozens of arrests in the West Bank, offsetting the release of 90 prisoners under the agreement so far.

“This is a way for the Israeli government to show its ardent supporters and especially those on the right wing that this is only temporary in Gaza and [Israel is] still able to do whatever we want in the West Bank,” he said.

Israeli military sends reinforcements to Jenin: Report

The Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that the Israeli army has sent military reinforcements to the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp.

Wafa’s correspondent reported that Israeli military bulldozers destroyed streets near the Ibn Sina Specialized Hospital, the entrance to Jenin Government Hospital, and the vicinity of a roundabout at the entrance to the Jenin refugee camp.

As we reported earlier, Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded dozens in the raid on Jenin that started on Tuesday and comes as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds in Gaza.

Israeli military veterans warn occupied West Bank’s Jenin is being ‘Gazafied’

Breaking the Silence, an Israeli veterans’ advocacy group, said Israeli settlers have been allowed, over “multiple straight days”, to “torch villages throughout the West Bank” and the military has now launched an “all-out” operation in Jenin.

The group said that Jenin now faces being “Gazafied” by the Israeli military, “complete with airstrikes and destruction of infrastructure”.

In a series of posts on social media, the group also shared a video clip of dozens of masked Israeli settlers arriving at the Palestinian village of Fundup, where they began to torch vehicles while “a clearly visible” Israeli police car stood nearby.

Gunfire as Palestinian fighters confront Israel’s ‘Iron Wall’ operation in Jenin

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic have shared a video clip of what it said was a Palestinian resistance fighter confronting Israeli forces who have launched a major raid on Jenin city and its refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Sustained gunfire can be heard in the night-time video footage as an Israeli military vehicle moves along a street and Israeli drones can be heard in the sky overhead.

Israel’s military killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded dozens when they raided Jenin on Tuesday in an operation the military have codenamed “Iron Wall”.