Heavy fighting raged in central and southern Gaza on Wednesday as fears mounted of a regional escalation following a strike in Beirut that killed one of the top Hamas leaders.
Israel has refused to comment on reports it carried out the killing Saleh Arouri, the most senior Hamas member slain since the war in Gaza erupted nearly three months ago.
But on Wednesday, the chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service vowed that the agency would hunt down every Hamas member involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, no matter where they are.
The comments by David Barnea appeared to be the strongest indication yet it was behind Tuesday's blast. He made a comparison to the aftermath of 1972 Munich Massacre, when Mossad agents tracked down and killed a string of Palestinian militants involved in abducting and killing Israeli athletes at that year’s Olympic games.
Hamas' Oct. 7 attack from Gaza into southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, and some 240 others were taken hostage. Israel’s air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 22,100 people, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Israel's campaign has driven some 85% of Gaza’s population from their homes, forcing hundreds of thousands of people into overcrowded shelters or teeming tent camps in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has nevertheless bombed. A quarter of Gaza’s population face starvation, according to the United Nations, as Israeli restrictions and heavy fighting hinder aid delivery.
Currently:
— Israel’s Supreme Court delays activation of law that makes it harder to remove Netanyahu from office
— A Hamas official killed in a Beirut strike had been on Israel’s hit list for years.
— US intel confident militant groups used largest Gaza hospital in campaign against Israel: AP source.
— South Africa’s genocide case against Israel sets up a high-stakes legal battle at the UN’s top court.
— Find more of AP's coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here's what's happening in the war:
ISRAEL SAYS HOSTAGE WAS KILLED IN FAILED RESCUE ATTEMPT IN GAZA
The Israeli military says a hostage taken captive by Hamas was killed in a failed rescue attempt in Gaza.
The hostage, 25-year-old Sahar Baruch, had been previously reported to have been killed, but Israel initially blamed Hamas, while Hamas said Israeli forces killed him in a raid.
The military said Wednesday it was not possible to determine whether Baruch died from Israeli fire or from Hamas in the rescue mission, which took place in early December.
The announcement about Baruch comes weeks after Israel said its forces accidentally killed three hostages in the Gaza Strip. Some relatives of hostages have said the protracted fighting puts the remaining captives at risk.
Following a hostage release deal in late November, some 129 hostages remain, although about 20 are said to have died in captivity.
U.N. SAYS ‘NO ONE’ SHOULD BE CALLING FOR MASS DISPLACEMENT
UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations is implicitly criticizing Israel’s far-right finance minister for his calls encouraging Palestinians in Gaza to leave the territory, reiterating the 193-member world body’s strong opposition to forced displacement.
U.N. associate spokesperson Florencia Soto Niño told reporters Wednesday that “no one should be advocating for mass displacement of Palestinians out of Gaza.”
She was responding to a post on X, formerly Twitter on Wednesday, by Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who wrote that 70% of Israelis support “voluntary migration” for Palestinians from Gaza to other countries.
Smotrich’s initial call encouraging Palestinians to leave Gaza was met with an international outcry including from Israel’s closest ally the United States, its top European ally Germany, and neighboring Egypt.
Soto Niño stressed that Palestinian civilians should be safe in Gaza.
“Every person has the right to be protected from forced displacement from their home or residence, and so far 85% of this population has been internally displaced and is living in pretty dire conditions,” she said. “They have the right to return to their homes.”
HEARINGS SCHEDULED FOR SOUTH AFRICA'S GENOCIDE CASE AGAINST ISRAEL
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Nations’ top court has scheduled two days of preliminary hearings into a case filed by South Africa alleging that the Israeli military campaign targeting Hamas in Gaza meets the threshold of genocide under international law.
South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice to order Israel to halt its attacks in Gaza.
Israel strongly refutes the genocide allegation. An official in the Israeli prime minister’s office, Eylon Levy, on Tuesday said Israel will “appear before the International Court of Justice at the Hague to dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel.”
The court announced Wednesday that it will hold hearings on Jan. 11 and 12 into South Africa’s urgent request for interim orders including that Israel halt its military campaign in Gaza.
If granted, such interim orders, known as provisional measures, would remain in place while the complex genocide case is heard by the court, a process that could take years.
ISRAELI MINISTER DOUBLES DOWN ON GAZA RESETTLEMENT
JERUSALEM — Israel’s far-right finance minister is doubling down on his calls to encourage Palestinians in Gaza to leave the territory despite an international outcry, including from the United States.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday, Bezalel Smotrich wrote that 70% of Israelis support “voluntary migration” for Palestinians from Gaza to other countries, saying that Israel couldn’t allow itself to live so close to a “hotbed of hate.” He did not say where the figure came from.
Smotrich, a champion of West Bank settlements, drew criticism from the U.S., Egypt, Germany and France after he made similar comments earlier this week while calling on Israel to reestablish settlements in the Gaza Strip. The State Department said his comments were “inflammatory and irresponsible.”
Talk of mass displacement brings up difficult memories for Palestinians, some 700,000 of whom fled or were forced to flee during the war leading to Israel’s creation in 1948.
Smotrich is a key partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Israel’s most nationalist and conservative. He has largely been sidelined by the War Cabinet that does not include him.
South Africa has cited statements by some Israeli officials as part of its argument at the International Court of Justice that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
GERMANY JOINS CRITICISM OF ISRAELI MINISTERS' RESETTLEMENT COMMENTS
BERLIN – Germany has joined in strong criticism of two Israeli ministers’ calls for Palestinians to be resettled outside Gaza.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer said Wednesday that Berlin, a close ally of Israel, rejects the comments by Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir “in the strongest terms” and that “they are neither useful nor helpful.”
He underlined the position of Germany and its Group of Seven allies that “there must be no expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, there must be no territorial reduction of the Gaza Strip.”
He added that “from our point of view, a two-state solution remains the only sustainable model for Israelis and Palestinians to live together peacefully.”