• It is the 109th day of the war: over 25 thousand Palestinians dead, according to Hamas. 70% of the victims, according to the UN, are women or children (data from 18 January). According to an estimate by US intelligence agencies, Israeli security forces have killed only 20-30% of Hamas militants (January 21). In Israel, 1,200 died in the October 7 attack.
• Relatives of the hostages raid the Knesset, work interrupted.
• Khan Yunis, «at least 50 dead after the Israeli attack, 100 injured».
• The UN complaint: «Israel is obstructing humanitarian missions in northern Gaza».
07.42 am – The fury of the hostages’ relatives chasing Netanyahu
(by Davide Frattini, Jerusalem correspondent) The prime minister resides a hundred meters beyond the darkness and the barrier put up by the police, it closes the last stretch towards the stone building in Jerusalem but almost all of Gaza Street is blocked . Resides even if it is not the official residence for the head of government. When Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power after the elections in November 2022, his wife insisted that the headquarters in Balfour Street, not far from here, be renovated; she had already complained in a TV interview about the cracks in the kitchen, the plaster falling on international guests. So for months the prime ministerial couple has been guests of Simon Falic, the American duty free magnate.
The families of the hostages are harassing them throughout the country, with some fixed bases (the tents in front of the villa in Caesarea on the northern coast), the garrison in front of this house and yesterday afternoon the siege of Parliament, until the raid during a session of the Finance Committee: where – given that the allocation of funds was being discussed – they shouted at the deputies “to pay the ransom” for the hundred kidnapped people still held by the terrorists in the tunnels of the Strip. Or to walk away and leave the task of representing them to others.
07:02 am – 21 Israeli soldiers killed in an attack on Gaza
Twenty-one soldiers were killed yesterday in fighting in Gaza. This was announced by military spokesman Daniel Hagari. This is the most serious episode for the Israeli army since the beginning of the war.
The attack took place in the Maghazi refugee camp, in the center of the Strip – not far from the border – and not as it initially seemed to Khan Yunis. «As far as we know – said Hagari –, around 4pm yesterday (not during the night) the terrorists launched a rocket at a tank protecting the soldiers and an explosion occurred in 2 2-storey buildings . These collapsed while the soldiers were inside and near them.”
04.40 am – Yemen: new US attacks against the Houthis, eight targets hit
The attacks launched last night by ships and planes of the US and British armed forces against positions of the pro-Iranian Yemeni Houthi militias hit eight targets in total, including an underground weapons storage site, missile systems and launching stations, and surveillance systems and air defense. The armed forces of the two Western countries made this known through a joint note. A US Armed Forces official quoted by The Hill newspaper said that “at this time, we estimate that the attack was successful and achieved the desired effect in terms of removing Houthi capabilities.” Since November 19, the Houthis have attacked at least 33 cargo ships sailing in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, prompting 14 shipping companies to stop operations in that region.
03.16 am – CNN, Mossad chief proposes exile for Hamas leaders
Mossad chief David Barnea has proposed that Hamas leaders be exiled from the Gaza Strip as part of a broader ceasefire agreement, CNN reveals. Citing officials familiar with the discussions, the cable news network says Barnea raised the idea during a meeting in Warsaw last month with CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani , and that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the possibility again while in Doha earlier this month.
One of the officials says Qatar’s prime minister told Blinken that the idea would “never work” because Hamas does not believe Israel will stop military operations in Gaza after the terror group’s leaders leave the enclave. Despite the nearly four-month war in Gaza, Israel has failed to capture or kill any of Hamas’s top leaders in Gaza and has left about 70 percent of Hamas’ fighting forces intact, according to Israeli estimates.