
Bloomberg news agency quoted the US national security adviser as saying: “There is a chance of reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza this week.” Jake Sullivan also said: “Israel has achieved many of its military objectives in Gaza,” which leads him to accept the agreement.
According to Al Arabiya TV sources: “Trump’s envoy informed Netanyahu during their meeting last Saturday that the consequences of not concluding a trade agreement also include Israel and not just Hamas.”
Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat “Fearing Israel’s attempt to carry out assassinations in preparation for a ceasefire agreement, Hamas’s leadership at the political and military levels has issued strict instructions to field commanders and active military personnel that Israel considers a target: to avoid appearing in public places and to limit movement, whether on foot or in any vehicle, unless there is an urgent security need that requires it.”
The agreement was therefore accepted by Hamas late yesterday afternoon. And despite strong internal tensions, for example the ministers Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich opposed it, even Israel eventually accepted. Axios quotes Israeli officials: “Netanyahu has accepted new concessions regarding the Palestinian prisoners who will be released”. And again: “Netanyahu expressed his approval for the concessions regarding the withdrawal from the Philadelphia and Netzarim axes”. Ministers of the Israeli party “Shas” declared: “We will vote in favor of the agreement on the exchange of prisoners”. Ten members of the coalition sent a letter to Netanyahu expressing their strong opposition to the hostage deal.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid: “I would like to remind Netanyahu again: he does not need Ben-Gvir and Smotrich. I offered him a political safety net for the prisoner deal. This offer is still valid as ever. If Netanyahu can and wants to conclude the deal, we can finalize the details of the safety net within half an hour.”
According to the Israeli Kan channel: “The ministries have received instructions to begin preparations to receive prisoners from Gaza.” According to Hadshot Bezaman: “At least 3 hospitals have received instructions to prepare to receive prisoners.”
Bezalel Smotrich said: “The agreement that is taking shape is a disaster for the national security of the State of Israel. We will not be part of a surrender agreement that includes the release of high-ranking commanders, the end of the war, the squandering of the results obtained with so much blood and the handing over of many prisoners. It is time to continue working with all our strength, to occupy and cleanse the entire Strip, wrest control of aid from Hamas and open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders completely and all prisoners are returned.”
The reaching of the agreement was imposed by the United States but will also have the approval of the IDF. According to the Israeli media, they count “30 wounded Israeli army evacuated within 24 hours following the fighting in the Gaza Strip.” On January 13 alone, 6 soldiers died, including one officer, and 11 were wounded.
At the moment, about the agreement it is known that “it is different when there is something that could motivate the two sides to reach this agreement: we are talking about the first phase of 42 days in which 33 of the kidnapped will be released, men and women alive and dead. It could come into effect this week.”
Israeli police, in cooperation with the IDF, recently arrested a Bedouin drone operator in the surrounding area while he was trying to smuggle drugs into the Gaza Strip.
In Lebanon, a high-level delegation from the United Arab Emirates has arrived in Beirut to reopen the embassy in Lebanon after more than three years of closure, the Abu Dhabi Foreign Ministry said. Reuters reports: “The president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Lebanese judge Nawaf Salam, has secured the support of enough members of the Beirut parliament to become Lebanon’s next prime minister.” According to Al-Mayadeen Correspondent: 73 out of 128 MPs have so far nominated Judge Nawaf Salam to form the first government under President Joseph Aoun. This would be a blow to Hezbollah, which wants interim Prime Minister Najib Mikati to remain in office.
Iran says 1,000 new and improved UAVs with a range of over 2,000 km and “stealth capabilities” have been transferred to security forces in a message to Israel.
On January 13, IDF released a video of the country’s Air Force warplanes refueling in mid-air before striking Houthi targets in Yemen. Ansar Allah responded by launching drones. The IDF reports: “A UAV launched from Yemen was recently intercepted by the IAF in southern Israel. No sirens were sounded in accordance with protocol.” Sirens sounded in several areas across Israel in the late afternoon following a projectile launched from Yemen.
And now a look at the conflict situations.
Israeli troops are now stationed in the Syrian Golan Heights. Intense fighting between IDF soldiers and Hezbollah militants has taken place in the village of Shimaa in western Lebanon. Israeli air strikes have resolved the issue.
Lebanese media reported Israeli airstrikes on the village of Humin al-Fawqa in the Nabatiyeh district. The village is located north of the Litani River, about 17 km from the Israeli border. So far there has been no comment from the IDF.
Lebanon continues to search under the rubble and on the battlefields. From the search and recovery operations of bodies in Tayr Harfa. The process remains extremely difficult, with searches under the rubble, demolished areas and terrain modified by Israeli engineering works.
In the Gaza Strip on January 13, 5 members of the Nahal Brigade were killed in Beit Hanoun, north of Gaza, including Captain Yair Yakov Shushan, and 11 were injured with varying degrees of severity. The house where they had taken refuge was booby-trapped, the soldiers died under the rubble, no one was able to extract them.
Military affairs analyst Yossi Yehoshua told Yedioth Ahronoth: “I just finished a conversation with an officer fighting in the northern Gaza Strip and I was very shocked. There are very difficult testimonies from numerous commanders and soldiers about the way the fighting is being conducted. – The army is facing a major dilemma between the public’s right to know what is happening, the security of the army and the morale of the soldiers. The general message that must be conveyed: things are not going well.”
The Israeli air force carried out a new raid near the bridge in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, northwest of Gaza City. Dead and wounded following the bombing by an Israeli plane near the Katib State Mosque in the Zeitoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City. Wounded following the bombing by Israeli forces in the Al-Nasr neighborhood, west of Gaza City. Israeli warplanes targeted a house in Al-Daraj neighborhood in central Gaza City
A number of Israeli tanks advanced into the center of Rafah city and fired intensively towards the Al-Najma roundabout in the center of Rafah city. Al-Qassam Brigades: claimed responsibility: “our fighters managed to break into a building where an Israeli infantry force of 25 soldiers was barricaded and engaged it with various types of weapons, resulting in the immediate killing or wounding of all members of the force in the presence of rescue forces, a minefield was detonated on two troop transport vehicles, fires are still raging in the building and clashes continue in the “Al-Najili” area of Al-Shaboura camp in central Rafah, southern Gaza Strip.” Confirmation from the IDF is pending.
School students in Jenin camp stage a protest to demand their right to education in light of the ongoing military operation by security forces in Jenin and its camp.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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