Israel-Palestine live: Israel’s response to South Africa’s genocide case at the ICJ ends

The Israeli military killed four Palestinians during a dawn raid in the town of Azzun in the north of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian media outlet Wafa reported. 

The four Palestinian men were named as Walid Ismail Radwan, 18, Qusay Jamal Adwan, 21, Iyad Ahmed Shubita, 22, and Muhammad Abdel Fattah Radwan, 29.

A large Israeli military force stormed Azzun at dawn, and as a result, confrontations and clashes broke out between young men and the occupation soldiers.

The Israeli army fired stun grenades, gas bombs, and live bullets extensively. Then, they surrounded four young men in a residential building and shot them, killing them. Their bodies were held by Israel, Wafa reported.

Since 7 October, at least 320 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army and settlers while about 5,000 have been illegally detained by Israel. 

Abdul Rahman al-Bahsh, 23, who had been imprisoned since May 2022, has been announced dead by the Israeli Prison Service.

There have been reports that seven prisoners have died in Israeli prisons since 7 October. 

Speaking to Palestinian media, Bahsh's father said his son had been subjected to "torture, beatings and aggression" while in prison with many prisoners stripped naked and left in the cold facing humiliation and not allowed to sleep.

Good morning readers of Middle East Eye,

We are on the 88th day of the war on Gaza and the Palestinian death toll in Gaza is officially 21,978 but has most likely surpassed the 22,000 mark.

Israeli bombing escalated in central and southern Gaza as the Israeli military continued to expand its ground offensive even as it announced that it will withdraw some troops from Gaza in a possible sign of a change in war tactics.

Here are the major developments from the last few hours: 

• Israeli air strike kills 15 Palestinians in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
• Israeli national security adviser says the country “will not boycott” proceedings launched by South Africa at the International Court of Justice.
• The Tony Blair Institute says reports the former UK prime minister will assist in Israeli plans to resettle refugees from Gaza are “a lie”.
• Israeli military says 5 soldiers injured in latest Hezbollah attacks on north Israel

Good evening readers of Middle East Eye,

We are on the 87th day of the war on Gaza. 

The new year began in the besieged Palestinian enclave with Israeli bombing as the death toll near the 22,000 mark. Overall, around four percent of Gaza's population have been killed, wounded or gone missing in less than three months of bombardment. 

Here are the major developments from the last few hours: 

• In a series of targeted strikes during its ongoing bombardment of Gaza, the Israeli army laid waste to dozens of mosques.
• Israel is withdrawing some forces from Gaza to shift to more targeted operations against Hamas, an Israeli official has told Reuters. 
• Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said during a party meeting on Monday that Israel "will permanently control the Gaza Strip to ensure security".
• The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs announced on Monday evening that a Palestinian prisoner died in Israeli detention.
• The number of Hezbollah fighters killed in the southern part of Lebanon on Monday has reached four, Hezbollah announced on its Telegram account.

The number of Hezbollah fighters killed in the southern part of Lebanon on Monday has reached four, Hezbollah announced on its Telegram account.

Hezbollah initially reported the death of three members, later revising it to four fatalities as the day progressed.

The announcement did not provide specifics regarding the circumstances of the four deaths, but declared that they "were martyred on the road to (liberate) Jerusalem".

Reuters reported the initial three casualties occurred during an Israeli strike on two houses in Kafr Kila, a Lebanese village near the border under Hezbollah's security jurisdiction.

On Monday, the Israeli military reported conducting strikes on multiple targets in Lebanon, including "military sites" being used by Hezbollah.

The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs announced on Monday evening that a Palestinian prisoner died in Israeli detention.

According to the Wafa news organisation, Qaddoura Fares, head of the ministry, told the organisation over a phone call that a detainee had died in Megiddo prison, "without knowing any details yet about the identity of the martyr".

Megiddo prison is located outside the West Bank.

Fares said that the news of the detainee’s death comes within the framework of the Israeli occupation’s crimes against detainees in its prisons, which raised the number of detainees who died since 7 October to seven.

"Since the start of the comprehensive aggression against our people on 7 October of last year, detainees in the occupation prisons have been subjected to physical and verbal torture and deprivation of the necessities of life," Wafa reported.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Monday that residents of some Israeli communities north of the Gaza Strip, evacuated after the attack on 7 October by Hamas-led Palestinian fighters, will soon be able to return, as the military operations continue to advance.

Gallant stated that residents of certain communities, located within four to seven kilometres north of the enclave, will soon be able to return to their homes, as per his comments from a recent briefing that were made public.

The Israeli military reported on Monday that it had targeted various locations in Lebanon, including "military sites" utilised by Hezbollah.

The military stated that earlier five of its soldiers had been injured due to gunfire from across the Lebanese border.

The military said its troops and aircraft "struck a series of targets in Lebanon, including terrorist infrastructure, military sites in which Hezbollah terrorists were operating, and launch posts".

On Monday, Hezbollah in Lebanon announced via its Telegram account that three of its members had been killed in the southern region of the country.

The announcement provided no specifics on the circumstances of their deaths, but stated that the three individuals "were martyred on the road to (liberate) Jerusalem".

On Monday, Israel's Justice Minister Yariv Levin criticised the nation's supreme court for "taking all powers", following the justices' decision to overturn a crucial part of the government's contentious legal changes.

In their ruling, "judges are taking into their hands all the powers, which in a democratic regime are divided in a balanced way between the three branches" of government, Levin, the architect of the judicial overhaul, said on Telegram, AFP reported.

"It takes away from millions of citizens their voice."

On Monday, the Supreme Court of Israel overturned a contentious law enacted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government, which had reduced the high court's authority and led to protests across the nation.

The recently passed law eliminated one of several mechanisms the Supreme Court possesses to invalidate decisions made by the government and its ministers.

Specifically, it revoked the court's power to annul decisions it found to be "unreasonable".

The court announced in a statement that a majority of 8 out of 15 justices voted to invalidate the law.

Israel's move to pull back a portion of its forces from Gaza signifies a potential beginning of reduced-intensity operations in the northern region of the Palestinian territory, a US official said on Monday.

But despite this, the official added, ongoing conflict in that area persists.

"This appears to be the start of the gradual shift to lower intensity operations in the north that we have been encouraging, which reflects the success the IDF has had in dismantling Hamas’ military capabilities there. I’d caution though there is still fighting in the north and this does not reflect any changes in the south," the official told Reuters.

On Monday, Israel withdrew tanks from certain areas of Gaza City, while also revealing plans to alter its military strategy and reduce the number of soldiers deployed. At the same time, intense combat and heavy bombardment continued in other parts of the Palestinian territory.

Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said during a party meeting on Monday that Israel "will permanently control the Gaza Strip to ensure security".

He said it would be achieved with "permanent presence of Israeli forces", along with "establishing Jewish settlements", adding that he would present the plan soon to Israel's war cabinet. 

"Those who think that the solutions in the Gaza Strip will be similar to those tried in the past are mistaken," Smotrich added.

Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, said on Monday that one of its snipers has killed an Israeli soldier near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

It added that its fighters attacked Israeli vehicles east of the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City, killing a number of soldiers, and that three Israeli troops were killed in the Qarara area, north of Khan Younis in the south. 

Middle East Eye could not independently verify the claims.