Israel-Hamas war: US preparing to send more aid to Gaza

Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday announced that mediation efforts in cooperation with France had resulted in agreement between Israel and the Hamas militant group to allow medication and aid to Gaza.

In a statement posted on social media platform X, Qatar's Foreign Ministry said "that the medications and aid will leave Doha tomorrow (Wednesday) to the city of Al-Arish in the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt, on board two Qatari Armed Forces aircrafts, in preparation for their transport into the Gaza Strip." 

France said it had been working on the deal since October and three months' worth of medication would be supplied for 45 Israeli hostages with chronic illnesses, along with other medical supplies.

Hamas militants took about 250 hostages back to Gaza following the October 7 terror attacks. Israel says 132 remain there, including at least 27 believed to have been killed.

US national security spokesperson John Kirby said that Israel's announced phase-down of military activity in Gaza could help the flow of aid into the besieged territory.

"We are preparing to increase the humanitarian assistance to those people who need it as well as to help set the conditions for the population to return to north Gaza," Kirby told a press briefing on Tuesday.

He added that a reduction in the intensity of the fighting should allow for a "more reliable distribution of aid."

Kirby also said the US was having "very serious and intense discussions" with Qatar about another deal to free Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

"I don't want to say too much publicly here as we have these talks, but we're hopeful that it can bear fruit and bear fruit soon.".

Separately, Kirby said US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had spoken about the conflict in Gaza along with other issues like the war in Ukraine.

French Nobel Prize-winning author Annie Ernaux has joined a cultural boycott of Germany related to Israel's war against Hamas militants.

On Tuesday, Ernaux's German publisher, Suhrkamp, confirmed that she "signed the 'Strike Germany' petition."

The petition argues that "freedom of expression, specifically expressions of solidarity with Palestine" have recently been suppressed in Germany.

It calls for public figures to cut ties with German cultural events such as "festivals, panels, and exhibitions." 

Several cultural events and prize ceremonies in Germany have been canceled since Israel's ground offensive in Gaza because participants expressed views that were considered antisemitic or too critical of Israel.

Tuesday's confirmation of Ernaux joining the boycott comes after her signature on the petition was first reported by the Rheinische Post newspaper, followed by other German media outlets.

The US military carried out a fresh strike against Houthi targets in Yemen on Tuesday, US officials told the Associated Press and Reuters.

The strike targeted four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles that US officials said were being prepared to target more ships in the region.

It was the third US strike in recent days against the Iranian-backed group.

The Houthis have vowed to continue attacking ships in and around the Red Sea to demand an end to Israel's war against Hamas.

On Monday, the Houthis hit a US-owned bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden with an anti-ship ballistic missile.

A Greek-owned ship was also hit in the Red Sea on Tuesday. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Sarea said that the militant group had been behind the attack.

Global oil giant Shell has paused all transit through the Red Sea, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

The decision comes after weeks of attacks on "Israeli-linked" vessels by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen in response to Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza.

The Houthis declared all UK and US vessels "legitimate targets" after both nations carried out numerous airstrikes on Houthi sites Friday in retaliation for the ongoing Red Sea attacks. 

Tuesday's report said Shell was concerned about the risk of environmental disaster in the event of an attack, as well as for the safety of employees. Shell has not responded to media requests for comment.

In December, a Shell vessel transporting jet fuel from India was targeted by a drone and harassed by Houthi boats.

International shipping has been disrupted by the persistent security risk posed by the rebel attacks. Shipping company Maersk and oil company BP have similarly halted Red Sea transit due to risk.

Roughly 12% of global trade passes through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Djibouti at the entrance to the Red Sea.

Ships must pass the narrows on their way to and from the Suez Canal which connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The route allows vessels to avoid rounding Africa, saving a week or more of time and cutting as many as 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) off their journey.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday that it had attacked several Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon's Wadi Saluki district, using fighter jets and artillery.

The IDF said it had carried out an attack "against dozens of posts, military installations and weapons depots" connected to the group in a short time.

German news agency DPA cited Lebanese security sources saying that Israeli fighter jets had carried out 15 attacks on targets in the south of the country.

Hezbollah, a political organisation with a military branch, is considered a terrorist organization by the US, Germany, and several Sunni Arab countries. The EU lists only its armed wing as a terrorist group.

The European Union on Tuesday added the Gaza leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas to its "terrorist" sanctions blacklist over the group's October 7 attacks on Israel.

Yahia Sinwar has consequently become subject to an asset freeze within the 27 members of the bloc, with all EU citizens now banned from conducting transactions with him.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz welcomed the designation.

He said it was the result of "our diplomatic efforts to strangle the resources of Hamas, to delegitimize them and prohibit all support to them. We will continue to eradicate the root of evil in Gaza and wherever it raises its head."

Sinwar is believed to be the mastermind of the horrific October 7 attacks, which Israel says killed some 1,200, mostly citizens.

Israel has since been conducting military attacks on Gaza with the stated aim of eradicating Hamas. Over 24,000 Palestinians have so far been killed, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave.

The 61-year-old Sinwar was born in Gaza's southern Khan Younis neighborhood. He was among the more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners who were exchanged for a single Israeli soldier held in Gaza in 2011.

In 2017, he was elected Hamas' leader in Gaza, then reelected in 2021.

The EU already designates Hamas as a terrorist organization alongside several countries, including the US, Germany and Israel.

A missile struck a Malta-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier while it was transiting through the Red Sea heading toward the Suez Canal on Tuesday.

In an advisory note, British maritime security firm Ambrey said that the vessel was struck 76 nautical miles northwest of Yemen's port city of Saleef.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) also reported an incident some 100 nautical miles northwest of Saleef.

The Greek Shipping and Island Policy Ministry said the ship had no cargo on board and only sustained material damage. Its crew includes 20 Ukrainians, three Filipinos and one Georgian.

It is unclear who was behind the attack, but it comes amid a barrage of attacks by the Iranian-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels on ships transiting through the Red Sea. The group says the attacks are in retaliation for Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis initially said they were targeting what they deemed Israeli-linked ships. But after the US and UK conducted strikes on rebel-held areas of Yemen, the Houthis said on Friday that US and British interests have also become "legitimate targets."

A missile struck a US-owned vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Monday.

The US Military said on Tuesday it had seized Iranian advanced conventional weapons bound for Yemen's Houthis.

The operation on Sunday was the first seizure of "lethal Iranian-supplied advanced conventional weapons" since Houthi attacks against merchant ships began in November, CENTCOM said. 

It added that the shipment was meant to be "part of the Houthis' ongoing campaign of attacks against international merchant shipping."

US Navy Seals boarded a vessel, described by officials as a "dhow," off the coast of Somalia in international waters of the Arabian Sea and seized the weapons. US forces then sank the vessel, and the fourteen people aboard were taken into custody. 

Two SEALs were still reportedly missing after one was knocked into the sea by high waves, and another jumped in after him.

One hundred and fifty eight Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry and the Hamas-controlled territory said. 

In addition, some 320 people were injured in the past 24 hours.

The ministry said Israeli bombardment has killed 24,285 people and left 61,154 wounded in Gaza since fighting erupted following Hamas' October 7 terror attack on Israel.

The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties. A majority of the dead are women and children.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told the World Economic Forum that defusing the conflict in Gaza will stop the escalation on other fronts. 

He said that concentrating on attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea, which led to retaliatory strikes by the US and Britain was "focusing on the symptoms and not treating the real issue."

Al-Thani, who was among the opening speakers at Davos, said the current regional situation is a "recipe for escalation everywhere."

"We should focus on the main conflict in Gaza. And as soon as it's defused, I believe everything else will be defused," he said, adding that a two-state solution was required to end the conflict.

Al-Thani also warned a military confrontation "will not contain" the Houthi attacks.

"I think that what we have right now in the region is a recipe of escalation everywhere," he added.

The US State Department has condemned missile attacks by Iran targeting sites in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdish region.

"We oppose Iran’s reckless missile strikes, which undermine Iraq's stability," said department spokesperson Matthew Miller.

"We support the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s efforts to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people," he said in a statement.

Iraq also condemned the strikes as an "attack on its sovereignty," saying Iraqi authorities would "take all legal steps" necessary, including filing a complaint at the UN Security Council.

Baghdad said recalled its ambassador in Iran for consultations.

The strikes, claimed by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, were said by them to have targeted groups opposed to Tehran and an alleged Israeli "spy headquarters."

The intensive phase of Israel's war with Hamas militants in southern Gaza will end soon, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.

The army had stepped up military operations and bombardments in the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah in recent weeks after saying Hamas's military structures in the north had been dismantled.

"We made it clear that the intensive maneuvering stage would last for approximately three months," Gallant told a news conference. He said the stage was already being reached in the northern Gaza Strip. 

"In southern Gaza we will reach this achievement and it will end soon, and in both places, the moment will come when we will move to the next phase," he said, without specifying a time frame.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said on its website an entire division of soldiers had completed their withdrawal from Gaza on Monday, after having "eliminated hundreds of terrorists" and destroyed kilometers of tunnels in central and northern areas of the Palestinian territory.

Israel had four divisions operating in Gaza before Monday's announced withdrawal, though it was unclear how many soldiers were involved in the pullout.
 

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said they attacked Israel's "spy headquarters" in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, state media reported late Monday. 

"Ballistic missiles were used to destroy espionage centers and gatherings of anti-Iranian terrorist groups in the region late tonight," the Guards said in a statement, naming Israel's Mossad spy agency.

In another statement, the Revolutionary Guards said it had hit "terrorist operations" including so-called "Islamic State" targets in Syria "and destroyed them by firing a number of ballistic missiles."

Explosions were heard in an area about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Erbil in the Kurdistan region, three security sources said, in a neighborhood near the US consulate as well as civilian residences. No US facilities were hit by the missile strikes, US officials told Reuters news agency.

At least four civilians were killed and six injured in the strikes on Erbil, the Kurdish government said in a statement, calling the attack a "crime." Multimillionaire Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and several members of his family were  reported among the dead.

The strikes come at a time of heightened tension in the region and fears of a wider spillover from the ongoing war in Gaza.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have launched near-daily drone attacks on bases housing US military forces in Iraq and Syria, in what the groups say is retaliation for Washington's support of Israel and an attempt to force US troops to leave the region.

dh/wd (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)