Wednesday, January 29, 2025
1155 GMT — Two Hamas officials accused Israel of delaying the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza, as agreed in the ceasefire deal, and warned that it could impact the release of captives.
"We warn that continued delays and failure to address these points (delivery of key aid) will affect the natural progression of the agreement, including the prisoner exchange," a senior Hamas official told AFP, while another official said the group had asked mediators to intervene in the issue.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
1222 GMT — Israeli drone strike injures 5 people in southern Lebanon, health ministry says
Five people were injured in an Israeli drone strike targeting the southern Lebanese town of Majdal Selm, the Lebanese health ministry said.
On Tuesday, Israeli air strikes injured 36 people in Nabatieh, a major town in south Lebanon, according to the health ministry. The Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah vehicles that were transporting weapons on the edge of Nabatieh.
The Israeli army also detained three people on Wednesday in southern border town of Maroun al-Ras, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
1130 GMT — UNRWA Lebanon says not impacted by US aid freeze or new Israeli law
The director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said that the agency had not been affected by US President Donald Trump's halt to US foreign aid funding or by an Israeli ban on its operations.
"UNRWA currently is not receiving any US funding so there is no direct impact of the more recent decisions related to the UN system for UNRWA," Dorothee Klaus told reporters at UNRWA's field office in Lebanon.
US funding to UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025 under a deal reached by US lawmakers and after Israel accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the October 7, 2023 attacks.
1023 GMT — Palestinians say Israeli forces kill two in West Bank raids
The Palestinian health ministry has said that Israeli forces killed two people in separate overnight raids in the occupied West Bank, including one in Jenin, where the Israeli military is conducting a major offensive.
The ministry said in a statement that a 25-year-old man it identified as Osama Abu al-Hija was killed late on Tuesday in Jenin "as a result of an Israeli air strike".
Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, the ministry of health also announced that a 23-year-old Palestinian man it identified as Ayman Naji was killed in the northern city of Tulkarem "after being shot" by Israeli forces.
1003 GMT — UNRWA ban in Israel, East Jerusalem puts 2.5 M refugees at risk: chief
The UNRWA chief for the Palestinian territories has expressed deep concerns over Israeli legislation that prohibits UNRWA’s activities in Israel and restricts any communication or coordination between Tel Aviv authorities and the agency, set to take full effect at the end of January.
Speaking to AA, Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler expressed deep concern over the unfolding situation.
"There is a very high probability that something bad will happen here on Thursday (January 30)," Fowler stated.
Reports indicate that Israeli groups will gather for celebrations outside the UNRWA headquarters.
"We can't risk our personnel, facilities, documents and everything we own."
The agency, which operates from its headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem and helps around 2.5 million Palestinian refugees, is set to be banned after 74 years due to a law passed by the Israeli Parliament on October 28, 2024.
0840 GMT — US envoy, Palestinian official meet in Saudi Arabia
The US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has met with a senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Saudi capital Riyadh, according to a media report.
"This was the first meeting between a Trump administration official and a Palestinian official since November's election," Axios news portal reported on Tuesday.
Citing sources, Axios said the meeting followed weeks of back-channel talks between the Trump administration officials and Palestinian leadership.
0815 GMT — Israel continues to demolish Palestinian homes in West Bank
The Israeli army has demolished another Palestinian home, marking the ninth consecutive day of its military incursion into the northern occupied West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army has escalated its offensive against Tulkarem, which began on Monday.
The Israeli army arrived with a D10 bulldozer, raided the Shweika neighbourhood in northern Tulkarem city, and demolished the home of Palestinian Tamer Fuqaha, who was killed by the Israeli army in May last year.
0623 GMT — Israel has no right to ban UNRWA in Palestinian territories: UN
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the Israeli government to withdraw its decision requiring UNRWA to stop providing its services in the occupied West Bank and vacate all buildings it runs in the city by January 30.
Guterres called on Israel, in a letter, to withdraw this decision based on the legal framework that regulates UNRWA’s activities and its irreplaceable nature, referring to Israel’s obligations towards the agency according to an agreement concluded between Israel and the United Nations in 1967, and under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations that applies to UNRWA.
He stressed that international law stipulates that Israel has no right to impose its sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories and that "Israel cannot invoke the provisions of its national law," including the law passed to ban UNRWA, "to justify its failure to fulfil its obligations under international law ."
0623 GMT — Israel kills Palestinian in Tulkarem
A Palestinian youth has been shot and killed by Israeli forces as they besieged a house in the Artah suburb, south of Tulkarem.
Ayman Fadi Qasim Naji, 23, was killed by the Israeli army, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that its crews received the body of a slain youth who had been wounded in the Artah suburb and detained by Israel. He was transferred to the Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital.
