“Palestinian people will always be here.”
Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour
China demands that Israel cease its “collective punishment” of Gaza.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meets China’s President Xi Jinping in June 2023
Leaks of intelligence in Lebanon? As Israel attacks Hezbollah, worries
Slain Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tawil, left, with deceased Iranian General Qassem Soleimani
Israeli forces detain twenty-six Palestinians in the West Bank.
According to the prisoners' affairs authority, 26 Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Israel has detained at least 5,780 Palestinians since October 7. According to the authority's yearly report, there were 8,800 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails as of the end of December 2023, and 80 of them were women. Israeli soldiers have been conducting nightly raids into Palestinian homes during their 56-year military occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. On "calm" days, they have arrested 15 to 20 people. Israel increased the number of Palestinians under its custody from 5,200 to over 10,000 in the first two weeks following October 7.
Iraq demands a “quick” withdrawal of US forces
Al-Sudani at a press briefing in Tehran, Iran
Blinken is now having a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas of Pennsylvania.
Blinken, left, meets Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah
Palestinian corpses interred in the Maghazi schoolyard
Palestinians perform prayers for the dead after an Israeli air strike hit…
A senior Biden official visits Qatar for captive talks
According to US news outlet Axios, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was received by American top Middle East advisor Brett McGurk on a plane trip to Doha. Qatar and Egypt are leading the way in facilitating captive-prison swap agreements between Israel and Hamas. The Qatari government and the White House maintained a fairly low profile during the visit. The news article stated, "They failed to publicize McGurk's travel or provide a readout of his discussion with the prime minister of Qatar. During a week-long ceasefire in Gaza, Palestinian detainees and civilian captives detained in Gaza were freed under the terms of the agreement reached between Israel and Hamas in November.
The death toll in Gaza rises to 23,357
Palestinians stand next to bodies following Israeli air strikes in Rafah, southern…
Egypt and Islamic Jihad are “in contact” regarding a new prisoner agreement.
According to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Abbas Kamel, Egypt's minister of intelligence, has contacted the leaders of Islamic Jihad and Hamas to explore resuming talks on a prisoner exchange agreement with Israel. Kamel asked the two sides to "urgently" send a delegation to Egypt, according to Al-Akhbar. The US had previously asked Qatar to exert pressure on Hamas to accept a gradual exchange arrangement, but the political leadership of Hamas rejected that request, the newspaper claimed. "Communication also took place with the Qatari side." An Israeli security delegation presented Kamel with their "modified proposal from the previous ones" earlier this week, according to Al-Akhbar, which included "new provisions related to truces, aid, and the exchange mechanism."