Israeli minister backs Trump’s plan to ‘let hell break out’ on Gaza if Israeli hostages are not released by Saturday
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, has backed Trump’s call to “let hell break out” on Gaza if all the remaining Israeli captives are not released by Saturday.
In a post on X he said:
The response must be exactly as President Trump suggested.
Completely halt humanitarian aid, cut off electricity, water and communications and use brutal and disproportionate force until the hostages return.
He added:
It is time to open the gates of hell on Hamas – and this time, without any restrictions on our heroic fighters.
Key events
Iran’s top judicial authority has pardoned two journalists who uncovered the death of a young woman in police custody that triggered nationwide protests in 2022, the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan said on Tuesday.
Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi had been sentenced to 13 and 12 years in prison respectively by an Iranian Revolutionary Court in October 2023 for their coverage of the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman in custody of the morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code.
“Following the approval by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of a list of pardons that was prepared by the judiciary’s head, these individuals were pardoned,” Mizan said, adding that the pardons were applied on the occasion of the 46th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Last year, both journalists were temporarily released after 17 months in prison, and later acquitted of the charge of “collaboration with the US” in an appeal court.
Other charges such as “colluding against national security” and “propaganda against the regime” remained, but have now been cleared by the pardon and the journalists’ judicial case is now closed, Reuters reports.
Protests that followed Amini’s death led to the worst unrest in Iran since the revolution. The authorities have blamed the United States for fomenting the demonstrations, which Washington denies.
Palestinian officials have denounced president Mahmoud Abbas’ decree ending payments to the families of those killed by Israel or imprisoned in Israeli jails, including many detained for attacks on Israelis.
Agence France-Presse reports that the decree, which was issued on Monday and is expected to affect tens of thousands of people, transfers the administration of these payments to an independent foundation.
Qadura Fares, head of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority’s committee overseeing prisoner affairs, called for the decree’s immediate withdrawal, warning that it will impact “approximately 35,000 to 40,000” families both inside and outside the Palestinian territories.
“I urge you to reconsider this matter and withdraw this decree”, Fares said at a press conference in Ramallah.
He added that such a significant decision should have been discussed at all levels of the Palestinian political leadership.
Also present at the press conference was Hilmi al-Araj, head of the Center for the Defence of Liberties and Civil Rights, who called for the decree to be “rescinded as though it never existed,” condemning both “its timing and its content”.
In a separate statement, Fares said that a civil society organisation, the Palestinian Economic Empowerment Foundation, will now manage these payments and conduct audits to “verify the financial hardship” of prisoners and their families.
Unrwa says it is still operating ‘at full scale’ in Gaza despite ban
Despite an Israeli ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) operating in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, the agency has said that its teams are delivering humanitarian relief “at full scale” in Gaza.
In a post on X, Unrwa said it has 7,000 staff on the ground, has reached 1.2 million people with much-needed food and delivered up to 17,000 medical consultations daily.
Unrwa has provided education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region, including in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Israeli government has accused the UN agency of allowing Hamas militants to infiltrate its staff, an allegation the agency denies.
Following a Knesset vote last year, Israel formally banned Unrwa from operating on its territory at the end of last month, but many operations are continuing.
Houthis ready to launch attacks on Israel if attacks on Gaza resume, leader says
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis rebels are ready to launch attacks on Israel if it resumes attacks on Gaza and does not commit to the ceasefire deal, the group’s leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi said in a televised speech earlier today.
The Houthis had attacked Israeli and other vessels in the Red Sea, disturbing global shipping lanes, in what they said were acts of solidarity with Gaza’s Palestinians during Israel’s war on the territory.
The Houthis, who control most of western Yemen including the capital, have carried out more than 100 attacks on ships since November 2023. They have targeted the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which are joined by the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait, a chokepoint between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East.
In addition to concerns about jeopardising the long-held goals of a two-state solution, Egypt and Jordan have privately raised security concerns about welcoming large numbers of additional refugees into their countries even temporarily, according to the Associated Press.
Jordan’s King Abdullah in Washington for key meeting with Donald Trump
Sandwiched between Saudi Arabia, Syria, Israel and the occupied West Bank, Jordan is already home to more than 2 million Palestinian refugees in its population of 11 million.
Amman has come to depend on Washington as its largest source of economic and military assistance for decades, which now stands at more than $1bn a year.
Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994 but has strained relations with its neighbour. Many Jordanians have strong connections to Gaza and are supporters of the Palestinian cause.
Jordan’s King Abdullah has been meeting with some of Donald Trump’s advisers, including national security advisor Mike Waltz, ahead of the pair’s discussion expected to take place later today (11:30 ET; 16:30 GMT).
Israeli minister backs Trump’s plan to ‘let hell break out’ on Gaza if Israeli hostages are not released by Saturday
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, has backed Trump’s call to “let hell break out” on Gaza if all the remaining Israeli captives are not released by Saturday.
In a post on X he said:
The response must be exactly as President Trump suggested.
Completely halt humanitarian aid, cut off electricity, water and communications and use brutal and disproportionate force until the hostages return.
He added:
It is time to open the gates of hell on Hamas – and this time, without any restrictions on our heroic fighters.
UN humanitarian officials have said that while aid flows into Gaza had improved since a ceasefire deal took effect on 19 January, they fell short of the needs on the ground.
UN humanitarian office (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke told a Geneva press briefing: “We have been able to scale up humanitarian operations significantly with food, medical and shelter supplies and other aid during the ceasefire period.”
But Edem Wosornu, director of OCHA’s Operations and Advocacy division, told a gathering of Geneva-based diplomats: “We can never match the needs right now. Gaza is completely devastated, infrastructure is not where it should be. We will try our best. The trucks are but a drop in the ocean.”
Egyptian president says Gaza reconstruction should happen ‘without displacement’ of Palestinians
The Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has made comments about Gaza during a phone call with Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen, according to a statement from his office.
US President Donald Trump said yesterday that he could cut aid to Jordan and Egypt if they refused his demand to permanently take in most Palestinian people from Gaza, in what is widely seen as a proposal for what amounts to ethnic cleansing. Jordan and Egypt have both rejected Trump’s “take over” plan.
A readout form el-Sisi’s phone call with Frederiksen states:
President El-Sisi and the Danish Prime Minister reiterated the crucial need for the full implementation of the ceasefire agreement in its three stages, the exchange of hostages and detainees, as well as facilitating immediate and unfettered access for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip to end the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the sector.
They also underscored the imperative to begin the reconstruction of Gaza to make it livable again, without displacing its Palestinian population, safeguarding their rights and ability to live on their land.
The phone call reaffirmed the importance of establishing an independent Palestinian State along the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, affirming that this is the only guarantee for achieving lasting peace, stability, and the desired economic prosperity.
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza reaches 48,219, says health ministry
At least 48,219 Palestinian people have been killed and 111,665 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
The ministry said that 11 deaths were recorded and 10 injured people arrived in hospitals during the past 24 hours.
Gaza’s health ministry has said in the past that thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory.
Now turning to some news out of Yemen. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has said one of its staff members had died in detention in northern Yemen, where the UN has repeatedly called for the Houthi movement to free detained UN employees.
WFP did not specify when or how its employee, who it said had been detained on 23 January with six others, had died.
The UN paused all operations in Yemen’s Sa’ada region on Monday after more UN staff were detained by the Houthi authorities, deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
The Iran-backed Houthis have controlled most populated parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since seizing power in 2014 and early 2015. Since 2021 the Houthis have detained dozens of UN staff. The group now has some 24 UN staff in detention.
Despite the ongoing ceasefire agreement, a young Palestinian man, Muhammad Nafeth Hosni Abu Taha, has been fatally shot by Israeli forces in a neighbourhood west of Rafah, in southern Gaza, Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, is reporting.
Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has condemned Israel’s assault on Gaza, referring to the country as a coloniser embarking on a “project of colonisation”.
“This is a colonisation, a project of colonisation,” he said at a news conference earlier today with visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “How much negotiations can you have when the coloniser has not withdrawn?”
“This is also an issue of politics of dispossession. When you rob people’s land, people’s houses, people’s property… therefore there are two issues here we have to resolve. One of course immediate humanitarian assistance, but also a long term just amicable resolution to the problem,” Ibrahim said.
Malaysia – a predominately Muslim country – is a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause and has pushed for a two-state solution.
Erdogan was quoted as saying that Israel has “failed to keep its promises” regarding the ceasefire deal and told journalists that “the Israeli occupation should end once and for all”.
