Top Israeli general quits over 7 October as 9 killed in West Bank raid: Latest
Comes as Donald Trump says he is ‘not confident’ temporary truce will hold
Netanyahu thanks Trump for ‘helping free’ Israeli hostages
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Israel's top general has resigned, citing the security failures that allowed Hamas' 7 October, 2023, attack as at least nine Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli raid in the West Bank.
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has become the most prominent Israeli official to resign over the militant group’s attack when he announced his resignation today.
Meanwhile, the major operation launched by Israeli forces on the city of Jenin left at least six dead and dozens more wounded, Palestinian health officials said, just days into a fragile ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza. It comes as Donald Trump said he is “not confident” that the temporary truce will hold.
The newly-inaugurated US President also rescinded Biden-era executive orders that sanctioned far-right Israeli settlers for undermining peace in the territory.
Meanwhile, Hamas official Taher al-Nunu has said four female Israeli hostages will be released on Saturday in return for Palestinian prisoners in the second such exchange under the truce, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Guardian reported.
The devastated Strip continued to receive an influx of aid and goods on the second day of the ceasefire, with 915 trucks crossing into the coastal enclave, according to the UN, as shocked Palestinians began returning to what is left of their homes.
Yesterday, the relatives of the first three Israeli women freed from captivity in the Strip issued public statements, thanking those who made their release possible and pleading with the Israeli government to keep up the phased agreement that led to their loved ones’ release.
Israel’s top general resigns citing failures over Hamas attack that ignited war in Gaza Death toll from Israeli attack on Jenin rises to nine Palestinians Trump ‘not confident' ceasefire in Gaza will hold Trump rescinds sanctions on far-right Israeli settlers Settlers attack Palestinian villages hours after Trump rescinded Biden sanctionsViolence has surged in the West Bank, with Israel launching a deadly raid on the Jenin refugee camp on Tuesday. It comes as settler leaders rushed to praise Donald Trump’s decision to reverse the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration aimed at punishing far-right settlers.
Late on Monday, dozens of masked men who are widely believed to be settlers marauded through at least two Palestinian villages and attacked homes and businesses, according to officials in Jinsafut and Al-Funduq, which are roughly 50km north of Jerusalem.
Smoke rises during clashes with Israeli forces near the checkpoint of Bet Forik at the entrance of Nablus, West Bank (EPA )The Palestinian Red Crescent said it treated 12 people who were beaten by the men.
Jalal Bashir, the head of Jinsafut’s village council, said that the men attacked three houses, a nursery and a carpentry shop located on the village’s main road. Louay Tayem, head of the local council in Al-Funduq, said dozens of men had fired shots, thrown stones, burned cars, and attacked homes and shops.“The settlers were masked and had incendiary materials,” said Mr Bashir. “Their numbers were large and unprecedented.”
Namita Singh22 January 2025 03:30
UN says it could take many years to rebuild widely devastated GazaA United Nations damage assessment released this month showed that clearing over 50 million tonnes of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel's bombardment of Gaza could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
To make matters worse, some of the debris is believed to be contaminated with asbestos, as some of the coastal enclace’s devastated refugee camps, built up into cities since the 1940s, are known to have been constructed with the material.
Gaza health authorities say at least 47,000 people have been killed in the conflict, with the rubble likely holding the remains of thousands more.
A UN Development Programme reports says that development in the territory has been set back seven decades by the war.
"They [Gazans] are able to return home. ...It's a bit of a stretch of the imagination, I would say, to call it homes, because mostly, particularly in the north, it's mountains of rubble that they find. So they need help with that," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs, told a Geneva press briefing on Tuesday.
Displaced Palestinians return to Rafah in the Gaza Strip (Copyright 2025, The Associated Press. All rights reserved )Tara Cobham22 January 2025 03:00
Palestinians dig through rubble for bodies of loved onesPalestinian rescue workers continued the search for remains of Gazans buried under the wreckage of their houses and along the roadsides, locating at least 150 bodies since the truce went into effect, according to the Gaza civil emergency service.
Shocking images of decayed bodies spread on social media. At Shejaia cemetery, which had been flattened by Israeli tanks and bulldozers in previous months, several men dug up the ground searching for the graves of their relatives.
"I have been searching and looking for my father’ grave, my brother’s grave and my brother’s wife’s grave, and I can’t find them," Atef Jundiya, said at the cemetery in Gaza City.
"I mean, we are relieved by the ceasefire, but at the same time, we are still searching for our martyrs and searching for our graves and can’t find them," Jundiya told Reuters.
The civil emergency service estimates that 10,000 bodies remain under the rubble, calling for heavy machinery and earth-moving vehicles to help in the extraction process, which officials expect to last for several months.
Tara Cobham22 January 2025 02:00
Palestinians head back home to destruction after truce deal with IsraelSome Gazans have not been able to even recognise where they once lived and have consequently turned their back on shattered neighbourhoods to return to tents where they have sheltered for the past several months. Others have begun to clear debris to try to move back to the wreckage of their homes.
"We are cleaning the house, and removing the rubble, so we are able to return home. Those are the quilts, pillows, nothing was left at the house," said Palestinian woman Walaa El-Err, pointing to her destroyed belongings at her bombed-out home in Nuseirat, a decades-old refugee camp in central Gaza.
She said the feeling of returning to her neighbourhood was "indescribable". She said she'd stayed up all night on Saturday waiting for the truce to take effect the next day. But the optimism surrounding news of a ceasefire has faded.
"When I went into the camp, I teared up, as our camp was not like that, it was the best. When we left all the towers (and) homes were still untouched, and none of the neighbours had been killed," she lamented.
In Gaza City in the enclave's north, Abla, a mother of three children, waited for a few hours to make sure the truce held on Sunday before heading to her home in the Tel Al-Hawa suburb, demolished by Israeli bombardments and ground offensives.
The scene was "horrific" she said, as the seven-floor building had been levelled, "smashed like a piece of biscuit".
"I heard the area was hit hard and the house could have been gone, but I was driven by both doubt and hope that it could have been saved," she told Reuters via a chat app.
"What I found wasn't just a house, it is the box of memories, where I had my children, celebrated their birthday parties, made them food, and taught them their first words and moves," she said.
Palestinians walk through the rubble caused by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip (Copyright 2025, The Associated Press. All rights reserved)Tara Cobham22 January 2025 01:00
Yemen vice-president says Trump return pivotal in fight against Iran backed-HouthisThe vice president of Yemen's UN-recognised government on Tuesday welcomed Donald Trump's return as US president, saying it was a decisive turning point to curb the Iran-backed Houthis, who he said threaten regional stability and maritime security.
Aidarous al-Zubaidi told Reuters that Trump's strong leadership and willingness to employ military strength were in sharp contrast to the Biden administration, which he said had allowed the Houthis to consolidate power, bolster their military capabilities and extend their reach beyond Yemen.
"Trump knows what he wants. He is a strong decision-maker," Zubaidi said in an interview on the sidelines of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos.
"We are fans, admirers and supporters of Trump's policy .... because he has a personality that has enough decision-making power to rule America and the world," he said, adding that he expected talks with the incoming administration to begin soon.
Tara Cobham22 January 2025 00:00
Airlines cautiously return to Middle EastConcerns about conflict in the Middle East have prompted airlines to suspend flights to the region, but with the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in place, some are cautiously resuming their services.
Air France, Transavia France, EasyJet and Ita Airways are among the airlines to have recently announced planned resumptions to travel.
EasyJet is among the airlines to have recently announced planned resumptions to travel in the Middle East (Getty Images )Tara Cobham21 January 2025 23:00
Harvard settles lawsuits over antisemitism on campusHarvard University has agreed to provide additional protections for Jewish students to settle two lawsuits accusing the Ivy League school of becoming a hotbed of rampant antisemitism.
Under a settlement announced on Tuesday, Harvard will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism when evaluating whether alleged discrimination or harassment violates the university's non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies.
Harvard will also post online a Frequently Asked Questions document related to those policies, report annually for five years on its responses to discrimination or harassment, and provide expert training on combating antisemitism to staff who review discrimination complaints.
Both lawsuits accused Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars federal funds recipients from allowing discrimination based on race, religion and national origin.
The lawsuits were among many accusing major universities of encouraging antisemitism after war broke out in Gaza in October 2023 between Israel and Hamas.
Both settlements include unspecified monetary terms. Harvard did not admit wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
Harvard University has agreed to provide additional protections for Jewish students to settle two lawsuits accusing the Ivy League school of becoming a hotbed of rampant antisemitism (iStock/ Getty Images )Tara Cobham21 January 2025 22:00
Palestinians confront a landscape of destruction in Gaza's 'ghost towns'Palestinians in Gaza are confronting an apocalyptic landscape of devastation after a ceasefire paused more than 15 months of fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Across the tiny coastal enclave, where built-up refugee camps are interspersed between cities, drone footage captured by The Associated Press shows mounds of rubble stretching as far as the eye can see — remnants of the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Hamas in their blood-ridden history.
“As you can see, it became a ghost town,” said Hussein Barakat, 38, whose home in the southern city of Rafah was flattened. “There is nothing,” he said, as he sat drinking coffee on a brown armchair perched on the rubble of his three-story home, in a surreal scene.
Read the full report here:
Tara Cobham21 January 2025 21:00
Netanyahu ‘pressed Starmer about Britain’s freeze on arms exports to Israel'Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Sir Keir Starmer about Britain's freeze on arms exports to Israel, Israel's readout of Tuesday's discussion between the two prime ministers said.
A statement published by Israel's ministry of foreign affairs said: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this afternoon (Tuesday January 21 2025), spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer who thanked him for the release of British citizen Emily Damari and congratulated him on his actions for the release of the other hostages.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu raised the issue of the weapons export licences to Israel that have been frozen in the UK.
"Prime Minister Starmer said that an evaluation of the issue is being carried out."
The Government suspended 30 arms export licences for items used in Gaza by the Israeli defence forces in September last year, over concerns about Israel's compliance with human rights during the conflict.
Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Sir Keir Starmer about Britain’s freeze on arms exports to Israel, Israel’s readout of Tuesday’s discussion between the two prime ministers said (AP)Tara Cobham21 January 2025 20:30
Trump rescinds sanctions on far-right Israeli settlersAmong other Biden-era executive orders that US President Donald Trump rescinded Monday is one that authorises sanctions on people who undermine peace in the occupied West Bank.
The Biden administration used the executive order to impose a handful of sanctions on extremist settlers accused of using violence against Palestinians who live in the West Bank after violence erupted after Hamas' 7 October, 2023 attacks on Israel.
Settlers in the territory have celebrated the incoming Trump administration, believing it will take a more favorable approach to illegal settlements. During his first term, Trump took unprecedented steps to support Israel's territorial claims, including recognizing Jerusalem as its capital and moving the US Embassy there, and recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights.
Among other Biden-era executive orders that US President Donald Trump rescinded Monday is one that authorises sanctions on people who undermine peace in the occupied West Bank (AP )Tara Cobham21 January 2025 20:00
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