Saudi Arabia could normalize relations with Israel if a comprehensive agreement were reached including Palestinian statehood, its foreign minister said. The IDF struck Hezbollah targets inside Lebanon more than 20 km from the Israeli border. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they attacked Israel’s “espionage headquarters” in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. The EU added Yahya Sinwar, leader of Hamas in Gaza, to their sanctions list.
Here’s what you need to know 102 days into the war
What happened today
■ GAZA: The IDF said that forces attacked Hamas infrastructure throughout the Khan Yunis region, including the regional HQ of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and that commando units struck the headquarters of a Hamas battalion in the south of the Strip.
An Islamic Jihad commander captured by the IDF last month in Gaza told Israeli forces how members of the organization were trained in Iran under the supervision of Iranian soldiers, the Shin Bet said.
The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said a total of 24,285 Palestinians have been killed since the war began.
The IDF said that it intercepted a rocket launched at its forces in Khan Yunis from the Nasser Hospital, adding that Hamas is systematically operating from hospitals, using their infrastructure and the civilian population as a human shield.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that senior IDF officials said that the scope, depth and quality of Hamas' tunnels in the Gaza Strip "astonished them."
Qatari PM Mohammed Al-Thani said in the World Economic Forum in Davos that the end of the war in Gaza would help prevent escalation on other fronts.
Norway's foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, told Davos that his country is promoting, together with other countries, the establishment of a broad Palestinian unity government.
The EU on Tuesday added Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, to their sanctions list in response to the group's surprise attack on Israel last October.■ ISRAEL: Saudi Arabia could normalize relations with Israel if a comprehensive agreement were reached that included statehood for the Palestinians, its foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, told Davos.
The IDF announced the deaths of two soldiers who died as a result of the war in Gaza, Major General Noam Ashram (wounded on December 29) and Sergeant Nitzan Schessler (fatally wounded on Monday).
A heavy barrage of rockets from Gaza included a direct hit on a civilian store in the southern city of Netivot. The head of the regional council, addressing the government, said "Reality slaps us in the face…Hamas again does what it wants."■ HOSTAGES: Israeli President Isaac Herzog will participate in the Davos World Economic Forum on Wednesday in an attempt to promote a deal to release the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
“There is a real risk of an imminent explosion in the West Bank, far beyond what we have seen since the outbreak of the war” – Amos Harel
■ WEST BANK: The IDF said 27 people were arrested Monday night on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. Out of the dozens interrogated in the village of Bnei Nai’m, home of the perpetrators of Monday’s terror attack in the central Israeli city of Ra’anana, two were arrested.
■ LEBANON: The IDF said it struck various Hezbollah targets in the Sulouqi area of southern Lebanon, more than 20 km from the Israeli border. It added that the Israeli Air Force attacked a Hezbollah anti-tank missile launcher overnight and that special forces attacked a target in the Ayita al-Sha’ab area, on the western side of the Lebanese border with Israel.
U.S. President Biden's envoy, Amos Hochstein, proposed to Lebanese officials that Hezbollah be pushed back seven kilometers from the border with Israel and that the Lebanese army would be stationed in southern Lebanon, the Hezbollah-aligned Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported. According to the report, Hochstein said that "there is no need for a withdrawal to the north of the Litani River."■ HOUTHIS: The United States carried out a strike against Houthi anti-ship missiles in Yemen on Tuesday, U.S. officials told Reuters.
EU states have given initial backing to create a naval mission to protect ships from attacks by Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea, European diplomats said on Tuesday.
A Greek-owned cargo ship was hit by a missile while the ship was sailing northwest from the coast of Yemen, the British maritime security service Ambrey reported. Minor damage was caused to the ship, sources told Reuters.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it confiscated advanced Iranian conventional weapons intended for the Houthis in Yemen in the Arabian Sea.■ IRAN: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they have attacked Israel’s “espionage headquarters” in Erbil, in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, state media reported late on Monday. The U.S. “strongly condemns Iran’s attacks in Erbil,” the State Department said.
Prime Minister of Iraq's Kurdistan Region, Masrour Barzani, accused Iran on Tuesday of killing innocent civilians in its strikes. In Davos, Barzani said the Iranian allegations of an Israeli spy HQ were baseless, and that U.S forces should not withdraw from Iraq.Context
Israel declared war after Hamas killed at least 1,200 Israelis and wounded more than 3,300 in a merciless assault. In Gaza, the Hamas-controlled health ministry reports that at least 24,285 Palestinians have been killed. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad hold hostage more than 129 soldiers and civilians, dead and alive, including foreign nationals.
The war comes after ten months of the most significant domestic political and social crisis in decades, due to the Netanyahu-led government’s judicial coup – legislation aimed at dramatically weakening Israel’s judiciary and potentially rescuing Netanyahu from the three corruption trials he faces – and amid an escalation of violence between West Bank Palestinians and Israeli settlers, the latter empowered by Israel’s most right-wing government ever.