Middle East Crisis Live: “Major Deployment” of Israeli Forces in West Bank City of Jenin, Palestinian Media Report | Israel-Gaza War

Palestinians were searching for survivors among the rubble in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday following an Israeli airstrike.

Haitham Imad, a photographer for the EPA, took photos this morning of the Brais family as they search for missing people among the destroyed buildings.

It is not yet clear how many people died in the strike, but other images filed this morning show several bodies being taken for burial at the Nasser Hospital morgue, including babies.

Jordan’s King Abdullah used his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to push for an Israeli ceasefire. In a statement released by the palace, he warned of the “catastrophic repercussions” of the continued Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

In a sign that the talks did not help water down Jordan’s position on the conflict, the monarch told Blinken that Washington had a major role to play in pressuring Israel to agree to a ceasefire immediate in Gaza, reports Reuters.

Blinken is in Jordan as part of his week-long tour of the region. He also met with the foreign minister and visited a World Food Program warehouse where trucks are filled with aid to be delivered to Gaza.

Peter Beaumont is in Beirut, where the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, has raised fears that the war could spread to Lebanon. You can read the full report here, which includes powerful reporting from the city.

Here is an extract from his analysis of current fears of an extension of the conflict in the region:

(fear of all-out war between Hezbollah and Israel) has dominated debate in Lebanon and the wider region since Arouri’s assassination, even as a precarious normalcy has returned to Beirut’s sprawling southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah, following the assassination of Arouri. attack. While the streets that emptied immediately after the strike have become busy again, anxiety persists. The mood was summed up by outgoing Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who spoke on Friday of “the danger of attempts to drag Lebanon into a regional war… with serious consequences, in particular for Lebanon and neighboring countries.” . On Saturday morning, as Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel, claiming the barrage was only its first response to Arouri’s killing, Mikati’s warning took on added resonance. The cross-border exchanges highlighted the fact that, three months later, Israel’s war against Hamas is beginning to spread more and more across the region.

Since October 8, limited exchanges across the border – including airstrikes and drone attacks – have become a daily phenomenon between Israel and Hezbollah, as well as with other factions in Lebanon, resulting in casualties. two sides. Iran-backed groups in Iraq have stepped up attacks on US military bases, while Yemen’s Houthis – who, like Hamas and Hezbollah, have long enjoyed Iranian support – have launched long-range drones. ranged and threatened commercial shipping around key Red Sea routes. Last week, Islamic State claimed responsibility for two explosions that ripped through a crowd in southern Iran, killing at least 84 people, while a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad killed the commander of a Shiite-backed militia by Iran.

But it is especially in Lebanon that the situation has become most dangerous, undermining the fragile understanding between Hezbollah and Israel that has persisted since the extremely destructive Second Lebanon War in 2006.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Aman on Sunday morning as part of a diplomatic initiative to prevent Israel’s war against Hamas from spreading elsewhere In the region.

Blinken’s position is that detailed plans for the territory’s post-conflict future must be developed, but Jordan and other Arab countries have so far been highly critical of Israel’s actions and support that no long-term planning can take place until there is an immediate ceasefire. . Blinken is pushing Israel to adjust its military operations to reduce civilian casualties while increasing the volume of humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza.

Blinken also visited a World Food Program warehouse in the Jordanian capital where trucks are filled with aid for delivery to Gaza.

After talks Saturday with Turkish and Greek leaders, Blinken said he wanted to prevent “an endless cycle of violence” as part of his weeklong visit aimed at easing tensions in the region.

The Israeli military has signaled it is moving away from its focus on northern Gaza, saying it has finished dismantling Hamas’ military infrastructure there.

His spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said Saturday evening that his forces would “continue to build on their achievements” there, AP reports, adding that they would strengthen defenses along the Israel-Gaza border fence. and would focus on the central and southern parts of the border. territory.

This comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on an official visit to the region. The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to end its air and ground offensive in Gaza and focus on more targeted attacks against Hamas leaders, to avoid harming Palestinian civilians.

Blinken is expected to pressure Israel to protect civilians in Gaza when he lands on Tuesday. In recent weeks, Israel had already reduced its attacks on northern Gaza and pushed south, where most of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians are being pushed back to smaller areas in a humanitarian disaster as Israeli airstrikes continue.

Further details have been obtained on this morning’s airstrike in the occupied West Bank. The strike killed six Palestinians in Jenin, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, while Israel said one of its soldiers was killed.

Here’s more from Reuters, which spoke to people on the ground this morning:

Israel said its planes fired on Palestinian militants who attacked troops in the city of Jenin, while the Palestinian ministry said the strike targeted people gathered at the site, and eyewitnesses said the attack took place as Israeli forces were withdrawing.
“One of the martyrs was beheaded,” Mujahid Nazzal, a Palestinian doctor and first responder at the scene, told Reuters. “It looked like the missile had hit him directly. Others had their limbs severed. A seventh person was seriously injured and taken away by ambulance.
Another witness, Ahmed Suleiman, said: “The airstrike took place at the entrance to Jenin, in an area called the Martyrs’ Triangle. You can see the effects of the missile. Blood and body parts scattered everywhere.
Four of those killed were brothers, according to family members.
An Israeli Border Police officer was killed and others injured when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device during operations in Jenin, the Israeli army and police said.
A helicopter helped rescue them by covering them, the army said, adding that a plane fired on a “terrorist squad which threw explosives and put our forces in danger, a number of terrorists were killed.” .

Six killed in Israeli airstrike on West Bank town of Jenin: Palestinian officials