Israel’s opposition welcomes Supreme Court ruling against Netanyahu’s law restricting judicial powers. Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in a single West Bank village, and a seventh Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli prisons.
Casualties
- 21,978+ killed* and at least 56,451 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
- 321 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 506 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 2,193 injured.
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on January 1. Due to breakdowns in communication networks within the Gaza Strip, the Ministry of Health in Gaza has been unable to regularly and accurately update its tolls since mid-November. Some rights groups put the death toll number closer to 30,000 when accounting for those presumed dead.
Key Developments
- Israeli forces kill at least 4,156 Palestinian students and injure 7,818 others, majority of them in Gaza Strip, since October 7.
- Israeli forces bomb and vandalize 278 governmental schools in Gaza Strip and 65 schools affiliated with UNRWA.
- At least 133 schools turn into shelters for thousands of displaced Palestinians as students stopped attending school since October 7.
- Haaretz newspaper says number of Palestinians arrested in Gaza went up 150 percent in January compared to December.
- Al-Akhbar reports Israeli forces are finding it hard to tackle resistance fighters in Gaza as their tactics are elusive and rapidly change.
- Israeli Shin Ben officers attempt to extract information on hideouts of resistance fighters in north Gaza, locations of tunnels and boobytraps.
- Israel’s Supreme Court rule against law passed in July to eliminate reasonableness clause.
- National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, lambast Supreme Court ruling as “dangerous, anti-democratic event”, while opposition leader, Yair Lapid, welcomes it.
- Israeli rights group, Yesh Din, says 2023 was the worst year of settlers’ violence in occupied West Bank.
- According to PA’s Ministry of Health, Israel killed 520 Palestinians in West Bank, 51 of them in Jerusalem.
- A total of 55,158 Israeli settlers stormed Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem in 2023, according to Al-Quds Governate report.
- Abdul Rahman Bassem Al-Bahash, 23, is seventh Palestinian prisoner to die in Israeli jail.
Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Continues
The Israeli military said it expects the conflict in Gaza to continue throughout 2024. In a new year’s message, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said troop deployments will be adjusted to prepare for “prolonged fighting.” George Wright reports for BBC News.
Four Palestinian militants were killed by the IDF during a raid in the occupied West Bank town of Azzun after they threw explosives on Israeli forces, the IDF said. BBC News reports.
Israel said it killed dozens of militants in the north of the Gaza Strip over the past day, as residents reported heavy fighting and shelling by Israeli tanks in parts of the Al-Bureij refugee camp. The developments follow Israel’s announcement of plans to withdraw some troops inside Gaza in a shift to more targeted “mopping up” operations. Dan Williams, Nidal A-Mughrabi, and Arafat Barbakh report for Reuters.
Thousands of childhood vaccine doses against diseases, including polio, rubella, mumps, and measles entered the Gaza Strip via the Rafah crossing yesterday, the Hamas-run health ministry said. The supplies will cover vaccinations for up to 14 months with the aid of Egyptian cold storage facilities. Reuters reports.
U.S. RESPONSE
Former CIA Director General David Petraeus, said Israel must “clear and hold all of Gaza” to eliminate Hamas, comparing the war to the battle against the self-styled Islamic State militant group. Petraeus added he is concerned Israel’s military campaign in Gaza could “radicalize future generations.” BBC News reports.
Israel’s decision to withdraw troops from Gaza “appears to be the start of the gradual shift to lower-intensity operations in the north that we have been encouraging,” a U.S. official said. Andrea Shalal reports for Reuters.
Israel’s supreme court struck down a divisive judicial overhaul law on an 8-7 ruling. The law would have removed the court’s powers to overturn government decisions, which the court deemed to be “unreasonable in the extreme.” The law was originally passed in July, having been pursued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government prior to the war erupting. While Netanyahu signaled he will not fight the ruling, he criticized the decision, remarking that “it is unfortunate that the Supreme Court chose to issue a decision at the heart of Israel’s social divisions, precisely when IDF soldiers on the right and the left are fighting and risking their lives.” Carrie Keller-Lynn and Anat Peled report for the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire in self-defense after a container ship came under attack from four Iranian-backed Houthi boats, the U.S. Central Command confirmed in a post on X. U.S. Central Command added that the weekend events represented the “23rd illegal attack by the Houthis on international shipping since Nov. 19.” The Houthis confirmed that ten of their fighters were killed in the skirmish. Jari Tanner reports for AP News.
The U.S. Navy’s largest warship, described as the “most adaptable and lethal combat platform in the world,” will return back to its homeport in Virginia to “prepare for future deployments,” the U.S. Sixth Fleet confirmed in a statement yesterday. The USS Gerald R. Ford arrived off the coast of Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks to contribute to “regional deterrence and defense posture,” and its departure means there will now be a lone U.S. aircraft carrier in the region in the wake of rising tensions with proxy groups. Brad Lendon reports for CNN.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
Five IDF soldiers were “lightly injured” as a result of “a number of launches from Lebanon toward the area of Adamit in northern Israel,” the IDF confirmed in a poston X yesterday. “IDF soldiers and aircraft struck terrorist infrastructure, military sites in which [Iran-backed Lebanese] Hezbollah terrorists were operating and launch posts in the last few hours, as well as a terrorist cell operating in the area of Houla,” the post added. Meanwhile, Hezbollah said yesterday in itsTelegram account that four of its fighters were killed while “martyred on the road to (liberate) Jerusalem.”
Attacks by Iran-backed militant groups – including the Houthis in Yemen, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and Kataib Hezbollah targeting U.S. bases in Syria and Iraq – have been coordinated and calibrated following meetings where the groups “discuss updates and progress on all the fronts and how strategically the operations benefit each front,” an official with Kataib Hezbollah said. “Iran provides all kinds of support but when it comes to decisions and actions on the ground, the decision is ours,” the official added, referencing how each group has a degree of autonomy. Liz Sly, Mustafa Salim, and Suzan Haidamous report for the Washington Post.
The head of South Korea’s opposition party, 59-year-old Lee Jae-myung, was stabbed in the neck with a seven inch knife by an assailant during a visit today to the port city of Busan. Lee is due to undergo surgery this afternoon. His injuries are not expected to be life threatening. The suspect will be charged with attempted murder, local police confirmed. Timothy W. Martin reports for the Wall Street Journal.
Turkish authorities detained 33 people on suspicion of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, according to state-run media. Thirteen others are being sought after by the police, as raids in 57 locations across eight provinces have been carried out so far as part of an investigation by the counter-terrorism bureau of Istanbul’s prosecutor’s office. NBC News reports.
| Israeli Supreme Court Strikes Down Legal Pillar of Netanyahu’s Judicial Overhaul |
| The court struck down (WaPo) a law yesterday that sought to limit its power over government decisions and that had been central to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plans. In a written statement, the court’s chief justice said the law endangered (NYT) one of the few checks on government decisions and the court’s ability to protect the public interest. Netanyahu’s Likud party said the decision ran counter to national unity during a time of war; the bill triggered nearly a year of public unrest prior to the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. This In Brief by CFR expert Steven A. Cook explains what to know about Israel’s judicial reforms. Israel/Palestinian territories:Israel’s military will pull thousands of troops (AP) from the Gaza Strip in the coming weeks so they can rest and receive further training, it announced yesterday. Officials did not say whether the change represented a new phase of the war. |
| Israel is pulling thousands of troops from Gaza in a possible precursor to a scaled-back offensiveThe Israeli military confirmed Monday it was pulling five brigades out of the Gaza Strip, a step that could clear the way for a long-term phase of lower-intensity fighting against the Hamas militant group. Read more. |
| Why this matters:Some troops will return to bases for more training or rest, while many older reservists will go home. The war has taken a toll on the Israeli economy by preventing reservists from going to jobs, running businesses or returning to university. The confirmation of the planned troop withdrawal came the same day that Israel’s Supreme Court struck down a key component of Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul plan. While the plan is not directly connected to the war effort, it was the source of deep divisions inside Israel and had threatened military readiness in the past. |
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