Wednesday, January 22, 2025
1240 GMT — At least 25 Palestinians have been detained in fresh Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups.
Former prisoners were among the detainees in the raids that targeted Hebron, Jenin, Tulkarem, and Ramallah, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
Israeli soldiers interrogated dozens of Palestinians in several towns during the raids before releasing them, it added.
The new arrests brought the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank since October 2023 to over 14,300, including those who were released after being arrested, according to Palestinian figures.
1257 GMT — Yemen's Houthis release crew of Galaxy Leader after Gaza truce
Yemen's Houthis have released the crew of the Galaxy Leader more than a year after they seized the vessel off the coast of Yemen, Al Masirah TV, which is owned by the Houthis, has reported.
The crew were handed to Oman after the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
1237 GMT — UN chief praises Trump's 'large contribution' to Gaza ceasefire
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has hailed Donald Trump's diplomatic efforts to help secure a truce in Gaza following 15 months of war.
"I will praise the United States, Qatar and Türkiye for their efforts for months and months to obtain the release of hostages, also to obtain the ceasefire," Guterres said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
"There was a large contribution of the robust diplomacy of the at-the-time president-elect of the United States," he added.
1221 GMT — Germany calls on Israel to clamp down on violent settlers in occupied West Bank
Germany has urged Israel to rein in rampant settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
"We are also concerned about the further increase in settler violence, as well as statements by Israeli Cabinet members who describe the violent actions of the settlers as part of the fight against terror and in this way legitimise them,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said at a press briefing in Berlin.
“Such violence and its legitimation cannot be justified, violates human rights and damages the prospects for resolving the Middle East conflict and we will continue to monitor settler violence at the European level," he added.
1128 GMT — Jordan warns of grave consequences from Israeli military operation in Jenin
Jordan’s foreign minister has warned of grave consequences from an ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
"The situation in the West Bank is grave and may destabilise the region's security," Safadi said during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
He said his country is working to prevent an explosion of the situation in the occupied territory.
0830 GMT — Israeli forces kill father in front of his family in Jenin
The Israeli army killed a Palestinian man in front of his wife and three children while driving a car in Jenin city in the northern occupied West Bank amid ongoing Israeli incursion.
A video filmed by the family that went viral on social media documented the last moment of Ahmed Nimer Obeidi Shayeb when he was shot and injured while driving.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Bashir Matahen, the director of Public Relations and Media at the Jenin Municipality, said Ahmed Shayeb was with his family - his wife and three children - returning home when he came under Israeli army's sniper fire.
Meanwhile, Matahen noted that over 600 Palestinians fled the Jenin refugee camp amid major Israeli incursion into Jenin.
He also said that the displaced people are in difficult humanitarian conditions without proper shelters, adding that the municipality opened one of its buildings to host them.
0200 GMT — UK legal scholars demand inquiry into policing of pro-Palestine protest
Dozens of leading UK legal scholars called for an independent inquiry into the Metropolitan Police’s handling of a pro-Palestine protest over the weekend in London.
The lawyers have also demanded that charges against Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), and others arrested during the demonstration be dropped.
In a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, they described the policing of the protest as “a disproportionate, unwarranted and dangerous assault on the right to assembly and protest.”
They urged the government to take action, warning that “the drift of British law and policing poses a fundamental threat to the right to protest.”
0145 GMT — ASEAN welcomes Gaza ceasefire, calls for full implementation
The Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN welcomes a ceasefire in Gaza and calls for its full implementation and release of all hostages and detainees, its chair Malaysia said.
"We also call for a full, safe, rapid, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance for the Palestinians," it said in a statement released on Wednesday.
0050 GMT — Israeli army destroyed 80% of northern Gaza: Palestinian official
The Israeli military's recent genocide and ethnic cleansing have left 80 percent of northern Gaza in ruins, a Palestinian official said.
Areas like the Jabalia refugee camp, Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahia have suffered near-total destruction, Deputy Minister of Public Works and Housing in Gaza Naji Sarhan told Anadolu Agency.
“The devastation is absolute, affecting homes, streets and infrastructure, making northern Gaza uninhabitable,” Sarhan said.
More than 300,000 Palestinians are currently homeless, and the impending return of internally displaced people from central and southern Gaza according to the ceasefire agreement is expected to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis, he added.
0012 GMT — Trump criticises Biden over Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal
US President Donald Trump criticised former President Joe Biden’s handling of the Middle East, saying he could not secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage exchange deal sooner.
“Biden couldn't get it done,” Trump told reporters at the White House. "It was only the imposition that I put on it as a deadline that got it done."
“The hostages are starting to come back. If I weren’t here, they wouldn’t be back ever... They would have all died.”
21:00 GMT — Over 2,400 aid trucks roll in since truce
Nearly 900 more humanitarian aid trucks have entered Gaza as a senior UN official said so far there had been no apparent law-and-order issues.
The latest arrivals bring the total to more than 2,400 trucks entering the besieged enclave.
Throughout the 15-month Israeli genocidal war, the UN has described its humanitarian operation as opportunistic — facing problems with Israel's military invasion, access restrictions by Israel into and throughout Gaza and more recently looting by armed gangs.
Muhannad Hadi, the top UN aid official for Gaza and the occupied West Bank, said there had been minor incidents of looting in the past three days, but "not like before."
"It's not organised crime. Kids jumped on some trucks trying to take food baskets. There were some other people (who) tried to take some bottled water," he told reporters.
"Hopefully within few days this will all disappear once the people of Gaza realize that we will have aid enough for everybody."
20:00 GMT — Decomposed corpses found under debris of bombed homes
Many Palestinians from the southern Gaza city of Rafah have returned to the area only to be shocked to find nothing left of their homes and businesses.
Manal Selim, a single mother of six, worked as a hairdresser and owned a shop that rented wedding and evening dresses. Her family lived upstairs.
"We thought we’d find some place to live in or stay," she said. "The destruction is scary. It's like an apocalypse."
She broke down in tears seeing it all destroyed, pulling a few ripped dresses from under the rubble.
"This is my house. I built it brick by brick for 25 years," she said.
"We retrieved 120 decomposed bodies over the past two days. They’re completely decomposed with only skeletal remains," Civil Defense member Haitham Hams told The Associated Press.
AP footage showed members sifting through piles of debris and in one case, unearthing a person's thigh bone, a ripped shirt and a pair of pants. A body bag inside an ambulance was labeled "unknown" and the discovery date late on Tuesday.
20:00 GMT — Israel reports stabbing attack in Tel Aviv
Four people have been wounded in a stabbing attack in central Tel Aviv, according to Israeli police, who said the attacker was killed by Israeli soldiers at the scene.
Two people were in moderate condition and two had light wounds, according to Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency rescue service. Ichilov Hospital said one person was in moderate-severe condition with a stab wound to the neck.
Authorities identified the attacker as a 28-year-old Moroccan who entered Israel on a tourist visa.
For our live updates from Tuesday, January 21, 2025, click here.
