Israeli tank shelling also killed two Palestinian brothers near their home in southern Gaza, the Health Ministry said. Israel's military said troops fired on armed Palestinians that posed a threat.
In the days since the fragile ceasefire took hold in the Gaza Strip, Israel has launched a major military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin. Israeli soldiers and vehicles were fanned out in the muddy streets Thursday as displaced Palestinian families left the area — some carrying suitcases, pets and other belongings.
Israel says it's seeking to stamp out militancy in the area. The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 10 people have been killed in Jenin.
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The war in Gaza has taken a devastating toll on kids, says U.N. humanitarian chief
UNITED NATIONS – The war in Gaza has seen children killed, starved, frozen to death, orphaned and separated from their families, the U.N. humanitarian chief says.
“A generation has been traumatized,” Tom Fletcher told a U.N. Security Council meeting called by Russia on Thursday about the war’s impact on Gaza’s youngest residents.
He said “conservative estimates” indicate that over 17,000 children are separated from their families.
In his video briefing from Stockholm, Fletcher did not give any figures on the number of children killed. But he said, “Some died before their first breath – perishing with their mothers in childbirth.”
An estimated 150,000 pregnant women and new mothers are also “in desperate need of health services,” Fletcher said.
He said a million kids in Gaza need mental health and psycho-social support for depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, according to the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF.
UN says aid is now getting to hard-to-reach areas in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS — Large volumes of aid are entering Gaza and getting to areas that were hard to reach before the ceasefire, the U.N. humanitarian office reported Thursday.
“The surge in supplies entering Gaza each day and the return of law and order has allowed aid organizations to significantly scale up the delivery of life-saving assistance and services,” the U.N. said.
At least 653 aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA.
All of the aid is entering Gaza via crossings from Israel, OCHA said, as the direct Egypt-Gaza crossing remains closed under Israeli forces’ control. The aid itself is supplied by the U.N., nongovernmental organizations, other countries and the private sector.
Seven trucks of fuel were delivered to northern Gaza by U.N. humanitarian partners for the first time since the ceasefire, OCHA said. The fuel delivered to 20 health facilities in Gaza City would be enough to keep them running for about a week, it said.
Since the ceasefire, OCHA said most trucks entering Gaza carried food, but more medicine, shelter materials, water and sanitation supplies are expected in the coming days.
Across southern Gaza, the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF is giving out high-energy biscuits and ready-to-use food — enough for thousands of infants.
Also Wednesday, U.N. partners in southern Gaza distributed medical items and kits for trauma management kits to 14 hospitals.
US Senate confirms John Ratcliffe to lead the CIA
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed John Ratcliffe as CIA director, giving President Donald Trump the second member of his new Cabinet.
The Texas Republican was director of national intelligence during Trump's first term and is the first person to have held that position and the top post at the CIA, the nation's premier spy agency.
Ratcliffe's predecessor, William Burns, played a key role in brokering the Israel-Hamas ceasefire ceasefire in Gaza.
A Hamas militant who died in Israeli prison was tortured, Palestinian officials say
JERUSALEM — Palestinian officials say that the autopsy of a Hamas militant held by Israel who died in prison last month suggests that he had been tortured.
The alleged abuse likely caused intracranial bleeding, a wound that can result from a serious head injury, the Palestinian Authority’s Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs said in a statement Thursday.
A new autopsy determined that 45-year-old Mohammad al-Aref suffered cuts that pointed to “physical assault and excessive use of restraints” and blood clots in the left side of his head, limbs, chest and abdomen, according to the commission.
Israeli authorities did not respond to a request for comment on the medical report.
Al-Aref, from the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank, spent 20 years in Israeli prison on charges related to national security and was released in 2021. He was arrested again last November. Less than a week later, on Dec. 4, he was transferred to a hospital in northern Israel and pronounced dead.
Hamas released a statement condemning his death and claiming him as a member of the militant group.
The Palestinian Authority says that Al-Aref is one of dozens of Palestinian prisoners who have died in detention during the war in Gaza. Human rights groups have increasingly raised alarm about the treatment of Palestinian detainees and called for an independent investigation into the deaths of Palestinians in Israeli custody.
Israel has announced several investigations into the deaths of detainees. Its Prison Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the number of those who had died in Israeli custody since Oct. 7.
Israel’s Netanyahu says Elon Musk is being unfairly criticized over his straight-arm gesture
JERUSALEM — Israel’s prime minister says Elon Musk is being unfairly criticized over his straight-arm gesture earlier this week that many social media users said the gesture looked like a Nazi salute.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Musk has been “falsely smeared.” He described the world’s richest man as a “great friend of Israel.”
Musk has lashed out at the criticism of his gesture, although right-wing extremists embraced the salute.
Israel hints it wants to keep forces in Lebanon past the ceasefire deadline
JERUSALEM — Israel may seek to delay pulling all of its troops out of southern Lebanon, which would violate the terms of a ceasefire it signed with the militant group Hezbollah.
An Israeli government spokesperson said Thursday that Israel wants the ceasefire agreement to endure, however he hinted that the Lebanese army wasn't deploying fast enough to secure areas.
"There is movement but it is not moving fast enough,” said David Mencer.
Under the ceasefire deal from November, Hezbollah and Israel are both supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by Sunday to allow the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers to provide security.
Israel's military also said Thursday it was still finding Hezbollah arms caches in southern Lebanon, including rockets, rifles and ammunition.
Israeli tank fire kills 2 brothers in southern Gaza, Palestinian health ministry says
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israeli tank fire killed two Palestinians near the southern border town of Rafah, days after a ceasefire in the war-battered territory took hold.
The Health Ministry said Thursday that Israeli shelling hit the Tel al-Sultan district west of Rafah, killing two brothers near their home. It said the firing apparently targeted a residential building, without elaborating. The Palestinian Civil Defense confirmed it had recovered the two bodies.
The Israeli military, which has forces deployed at the nearby border between Gaza and Egypt, said that its troops "operated against threats posed to them in the Gaza Strip, in accordance with the terms of the ceasefire agreement."
In Rafah, the army said its forces fired on armed Palestinians “moving suspiciously” near its positions. Troops also fired at “an armed individual operating within a structure," it said, while emphasizing Israel was fully committed to the truce deal.
Hezbollah says the Lebanese state needs to make sure Israeli forces withdraw by ceasefire deadline
BEIRUT — The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said Thursday that any delay in Israeli forces' withdrawal from southern Lebanon “would necessitate a firm response from the state.”
Under the terms of the U.S.-and French-brokered ceasefire, Israeli troops are expected to pull out of Lebanon by Sunday. Israeli media has recently reported that Israel is seeking to postpone the completion of its withdrawal.
Hezbollah had warned it could resume rocket and drone fire if Israel failed to withdraw on time. However, in a statement on Thursday addressing these reports, the group called on the Lebanese state to take action in response to potential violations.
“We call on all parties, especially the Lebanese political authorities, to exert pressure on the countries sponsoring the agreement to ensure the final days of the deadline are monitored effectively,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah and Israel are both supposed to withdraw from southern Lebanon by Sunday to allow the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers to provide security.
Lebanese return to a southern town after Israeli forces withdraw
NAQOURA, Lebanon — Residents returned Thursday to the town of Naqoura near the Lebanon-Israel border, which hosts the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force, after Israeli forces withdrew from the area.
Long lines of cars, some waving Hezbollah flags, inched along the coastal road. The Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers had reopened roads, cleared mines and removed unexploded ordnance from residential neighborhoods.
Residents of the southern town were among over 1.2 million Lebanese displaced during the Israel-Hezbollah war.
Returning residents found their homes and businesses along the main road completely destroyed, some looted. Water and electricity networks lay in ruins. Mosques, health centers and the municipality building were damaged.
Rabab Yazbeck, surveyed the collapsed remains of her home. “Thank God — the most important thing is that we’re back to our land.”
The UN migration agency sends its first shelters and sanitation supplies into Gaza
AMMAN, Jordan — The U.N.’s migration agency said Thursday it sent its first convoy of trucks into the Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began, carrying materials for shelters as well as water, sanitation and hygiene supplies to provide relief for approximately 10,000 people.
The International Organization for Migration said it sent trucks from Jordan to Gaza carrying 13,000 sleeping mats, 11,000 mattresses, 11,000 blankets, 10,000 pillows with pillowcases, 2,000 plastic sheets, and 1,200 hygiene kits.
Around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people has been displaced by the war, and the United Nations estimated last month that 69% of the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including over 245,000 homes.
24-year-old Hamas attack survivor will represent Israel at Eurovision
TEL AVIV — A survivor of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack will represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Switzerland in May.
Yuval Raphael, 24, won first place in a singing contest on Israeli television that determines Israel’s entry to Eurovision, a pan-continental pop extravaganza. She won with a performance of the Swedish group ABBA’s pop hit “Dancing Queen,” which she dedicated to the victims of the attack.
Raphael survived the Nova music festival in southern Israel as Palestinian militants stormed the event, killing hundreds and taking many hostage during Hamas' cross-border raid. She has testified in the Israeli parliament about her experience on Oct. 7. She described hiding from gunmen under piles of dead bodies for eight hours, and said "I'm going to deal with this thing for the rest of my life."
Last year's Eurovision was overshadowed by the war in Gaza, with large demonstrations protesting Israel's participation. Israel's representative, Eden Golan, who ended up taking fifth place in the competition, was kept under tight security.
Heavy rain and floods worsen misery for Palestinians displaced in Gaza
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Although the ceasefire in Gaza has brought an influx of humanitarian aid and a rare respite from Israeli bombardment, it has done little to change the miserable conditions endured by most of the 2 million people displaced by fighting.
The winter weather has compounded the hardships of those eking out an existence in tattered tents and makeshift shelters. Heavy rains were flooding tents across the territory, leaving Palestinians shivering in the cold.
At one makeshift camp in Deir al-Balah, the downpour Thursday quickly soaked through flimsy tents that seemed to float on pools of muck. Some used sandbags to keep their tents from washing away, while others tried to clear the huge puddles of mud outside their shelters. Barefoot children trod through paths that had become filthy rivers.
Residents of the tent camp said they had no choice but to stay put. After the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war took effect Sunday, Palestinians returning to their houses said they found only ruins.
Israeli forces kill 2 Palestinian militants who carried out West Bank bus attack
JERUSALEM — Israeli forces have killed two Palestinian militants who carried out a deadly attack on a bus in the West Bank earlier this month.
The Israeli military said Thursday that the two men barricaded themselves in a structure in the West Bank village of Burqin and exchanged fire with Israeli troops before they were killed overnight. The army said a soldier was moderately wounded.
The military said Mohammed Nazzal and Katiba al-Shalabi were operatives with the Islamic Jihad militant group.
The Hamas militant group released a statement claiming the two men were members of its armed wing and praising the bus attack. Hamas and the smaller and more radical Islamic Jihad are allies that sometimes carry out attacks together.
Al Jazeera says the Palestinian Authority arrested one of its reporters
The Al Jazeera news network says the Palestinian Authority arrested one of its reporters after preventing him from covering an Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank.
The Qatar-based news network reported Thursday that its reporter, Mohammed al-Atrash, was arrested from his home.
It said Palestinian security forces had earlier prevented him from reporting on a large Israeli military operation in Jenin, an epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years. The Palestinian Authority launched its own crackdown on militants in the city late last year.
There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority.
Both Israel and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority banned Al Jazeera last year. Israel accuses it of being a mouthpiece of Hamas over its coverage of the war in the Gaza Strip and says some of its reporters are also militants.
The pan-Arab broadcaster has rejected the allegations and accused both Israel and the Palestinian Authority of trying to silence critical coverage.
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