War breaking news. UK: Israel may have violated international law in Gaza. Towards UN inspection in the north of the Strip

A Yemeni military source told Al Jazeera that the Houthis targeted an Israeli-linked ship in the Red Sea. Earlier, the Guardian reported that the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it had received a report of an incident in the Red Sea near Yemen. Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have stepped up attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea in protest against Israel's war in Gaza.

The 'situation' related to the secret admission of Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was 'sub-optimal' and 'should not have happened this way'. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said this, pointing out that President Joe Biden had asked the White House chief of staff to activate procedures to "ensure it doesn't happen again".

The US will raise the issue of North Korean military supplies to Russia at the UN Security Council "tomorrow". This was announced by National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

US President Joe Biden has "full confidence" in Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. This was reaffirmed by White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, pointing out that the Pentagon chief took "full responsibility" for not informing the administration's top brass of his hospitalisation, which was due to surgery for prostate cancer and later complications from a urinary tract infection.

Joie Biden "was not informed until Thursday evening that Secretary Austin had been admitted to hospital and only this morning that the root cause of that admission was prostate cancer". This was said by US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby in a press briefing.

The United States and 47 other countries condemn North Korea for supplying weapons to Russia in its war against Ukraine. This was announced by US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby in a press briefing, stressing that the issue will be taken to the UN tomorrow. "The foreign ministers of 47 countries and Secretary Blinken issued a joint statement condemning the transfer of ballistic missiles from North Korea to Russia," the White House official pointed out.

Armed men with faces covered by balaclavas burst into the studio of a public TV channel in the port city of Guayaquil, Ecuador, an area long ravaged by violence and drugs. The men took several journalists and technicians hostage. "Don't shoot, please don't shoot," shouted one woman as gunshots rang out and the attackers, armed with rifles and grenades, forced the terrified bystanders to the ground. The National Police, in a brief statement, let it be known that all its units in Quito and Guayaquil 'were alerted after this criminal act and are already at the scene of the attack'.

The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) admitted killing the commander of Hezbollah's air unit in southern Lebanon, Ali Hussein Barji, in an air strike today. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said the Hezbollah commander had conducted dozens of drone strikes against Israel.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin underwent surgery on 22 December for prostate cancer. This was announced by Walter Reed Hospital where he underwent the only 'minimally invasive' surgery. "He continues to make progress and we expect a full recovery although it may be a slow process," the hospital added.

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients has ordered the various heads of departments to alert his office if they cannot perform their duties. The move comes after the Biden Administration was rocked by the news of Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin's surprise illness last week. Zients ordered the cabinet chiefs to send the White House by Friday all existing procedures for delegating authority in case of incapacity or loss of communication. While the review is ongoing, Zients asked agencies to notify his office and the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs if an agency experiences or expects to experience a circumstance in which a department head cannot perform his or her duties.

The three-day strike by the German Train Drivers' Union (Gdl) can take place as planned. The Hesse Labour Court in Frankfurt rejected the request of Deutsche Bahn, the German railway company, for an interim injunction against the strike. The court, reports Bild, stated that the railways' request would be rejected. No further appeals are possible against the three-day union strike. The strike affects millions of rail travellers, especially on long-distance trains. From Wednesday at 2 a.m. to Friday at 6 p.m. the Gdl wants to stop rail traffic for the third time as part of union negotiations. Goods trains have been at a standstill since Tuesday evening. The German railways recently presented a new offer in which they addressed the union for the first time on the main issue of working hours. The Gdl demands a reduction of working hours from 38 to 35 hours per week with full pay for shift employees. Deutsche Bahn has offered optional models that are not acceptable from the union's point of view, since the payment for the reduction of working hours would be reduced accordingly. Gdl President Claus Weselsky rejected the request for a new round of negotiations.

Many countries in the region are ready to invest in the reconstruction of Gaza and to support the Palestinians in their governance but 'provided there is the realisation of a Palestinian state'. This was said by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a press conference in Israel. "The views expressed by these countries," he added, referring to the stages of his trip to the Middle East, "are critical to ending a cycle of violence once and for all through the realisation of Palestinian political rights.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague will consider the possibility of war crimes in connection with the killing of journalists in the Gaza Strip. This is reported by Reporters Without Borders (Rsf), which has filed two petitions with the court. "Prosecutor Karim Khan's office has assured that crimes against journalists are included in its investigation into Palestine," says Rsf, quoted by the Guardian. "The prosecutor's office is looking into crimes against journalists, among other potential crimes, as part of its ongoing investigation into the situation in Palestine. Rsf's objectives and actions should be supported and are of crucial importance in Gaza and elsewhere,' reports Rsf, quoting Khan's office statement. At least 79 journalists, most of them Palestinians, have been killed since the conflict began three months ago, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

"As the Israeli campaign moves to a phase of less intensity in southern Gaza and as the IDF reduces its forces, we have agreed on a plan for the UN to conduct an assessment mission," This was said at a press conference, without Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the end of today's meetings in Israel. 'It,' he explained, 'would determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return home to the north. This will not happen overnight, there are serious infrastructural and humanitarian challenges. But the mission will initiate a process that will assess these obstacles and how they can be overcome'.

The toll of the Gaza war on civilians, especially children, is "too high". This was said, quoted by the media, by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a press conference in Israel.

"We believe that filing a complaint against Israel with the Hague Tribunal distracts the world from important efforts. Moreover, the accusation of genocide is unfounded". This was said by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a press conference in Tel Aviv. "It is particularly galling given that those who attack Israel, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter, Iran, continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews."

"In response to publications regarding this issue, it is clarified that Israel is not engaged in examining the feasibility of transferring Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to African countries." This is what Lior Haiat, spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, says in a post on social X.

The UK will send a new warship, Hms Richmond, to the Red Sea to deal with the threat from the Houthis, the Iranian-backed militia in Yemen. The ship will join the British warship Hms Diamond and the Hms Lancaster, which are already operating in the region to protect commercial vessels. "We call on the Iranian-backed Houthis to cease these attacks immediately. The Houthis will bear the responsibility and the consequences if they ignore these warnings,' stressed British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps according to reports in the 'Daily Mail'.

Israel, in response to a request by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, will allow a UN delegation to visit the north of the Gaza Strip so that it can see the state of the infrastructure up close and establish the needs in the area. This was decided, quoted by the media, by the Israeli war cabinet in which Blinken himself participated. The UN, the media recalled, has repeatedly expressed concern about hunger in the Strip and the difficult access to food for many people in the Palestinian enclave.

The Norwegian parliament has given the green light to a government plan to open parts of its seabed to mineral exploration, despite protests from activists and warnings from scientists about the risks to the environmental impact. The proposal to gradually open up an area of 280,000 square kilometres, mainly in the Arctic, was approved with 80 votes in favour and 20 against. A small group of protesters had earlier gathered in front of parliament displaying banners reading 'Stop deep sea mining' and 'Norway protect our oceans'. Norway, Western Europe's largest oil and gas producer, is now set to become one of the first countries to explore the ocean floor for minerals crucial for renewable energy technology. At the same time, deep-sea mining is controversial due to its potential impact on vulnerable marine ecosystems. Several countries, including France and the UK, have called for a moratorium on this type of activity. But the Norwegian plan emphasises that 'environmental considerations' will be taken into account at all stages of the process and that 'extraction will only be permitted if the plan of whoever obtains the licence demonstrates that it can be done in a sustainable and responsible manner'. In December, the Labour-led minority coalition government had reached an agreement with the opposition on mining the country's seabed in the Arctic region.

Five rockets were fired at Sderot from the Gaza Strip. This was reported by 'The Times of Israel' citing the municipality. There were no reports of impacts in the city, as the rockets were all intercepted or landed in open areas.

"An organisation that remains silent when children are abducted and women brutally raped becomes complicit with terrorists and if it becomes complicit with terrorists it has no reason to exist". This was said by Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan accusing the United Nations during his address to the General Assembly. Erdan introduced himself by showing the photo of little Kfir Bibas, the youngest of the Israeli hostages whom Hamas claims died in the raids conducted on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli ambassador accused the UN of focusing only on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and not on the hostages who, he explained, "are brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers and friends".

A Taliban official reported that a bomb attached to a minivan exploded in Afghanistan's capital Kabul, killing at least three civilians and wounding four others. A police spokesman said the explosion occurred in the eastern part of the city. The police launched an investigation and a suspect was arrested. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State group's affiliate in the region has in the past often carried out attacks against Shiites, whom the group considers apostates.

"Israel may have taken actions that violate international law in Gaza". British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said this when answering questions in the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. The head of the Foreign Office said he was 'concerned' about the conduct of the conflict against Hamas and pointed out that he had not received any explicit indications of possible violations.

Operations in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza, "will intensify and continue until the Hamas leaders are reached and the hostages recovered". Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. "Changes in combat tactics in the northern part of the Strip," Gallant added, "will allow Israel to achieve its goals in the war.

"If I don't get immunity, then the corrupt Joe Biden won't either": he threatens Donald Trump on his Truth social shortly before an appeals court hearing on the immunity he claims as former president in the federal election interference trial. "Biden will be ready for indictment," he warns.

"Mr Secretary Blinken, this is not the time to talk softly to Hamas. This is the time to use a big stick." This was said by National Security Minister and controversial leader of the Israeli radical right Itamar Ben Gvir on X using a phrase attributed to President Theodore Roosevelt regarding foreign policy to be made by "talking softly but with a stick" in hand.

"Uncovering voter fraud should grant me presidential immunity against Biden's false allegations!": so wrote Donald Trump on Truth shortly before appearing before the capital's appeals court to claim presidential immunity in the trial over his attempts to overturn the vote in 2020. "I am so proud to show the American people how corrupt Biden and our justice system is! All charges against me and others should be dropped immediately, with apologies and economic damages for the illegal and highly political persecution of innocent people."

The World Bank estimates that China will grow by 4.5% in 2024 and 4.3% in 2025, i.e. 0.1 percentage points less for both years than previously forecast. In 2023, China will grow by 5.2%. On the other hand, the estimates for Russia are revised upwards slightly (+0.1 for this year and 0.1 for next year) to +1.3% in 2024 and 0.9% in 2025.

A senior Hezbollah commander, responsible for dozens of drone attacks against northern Israel in recent months, including today's attack on the IDF Northern Command headquarters in Safed, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. The Times of Israel reports. Ali Hussein Barji, the commander of Hezbollah's air force in southern Lebanon, was shot in a car in the town of Khirbet Selm, shortly before the funeral of Hezbollah senior commander Wissam al-Tawil, who was killed yesterday.

World Health Organisation officials have expressed concern about the possible collapse of hospitals in southern Gaza as the conflict intensifies around the town of Khan Younis, with many medical staff and patients fleeing for their lives. "What we are seeing is really worrying around many hospitals along with the escalation of hostilities, very close to the European hospital in Gaza," Sean Casey, coordinator of the WHO emergency medical teams in Gaza, told a press conference in Geneva. "We are witnessing the collapse of the health system at a very rapid pace," he added, saying that some 600 patients had fled a hospital.

The US economy continues to turn on the 'momentum of what we have done' but is 'fragile': 'I hope there will be a collapse' of the economy 'in the next 12 months because I don't want to be Herbert Hoover. The only president I don't want to be is Herbert Hoover'. This was said by Donald Trump effectively wishing for a market meltdown before his return to the White House. During the first term of Hoover's presidency, US stock markets collapsed, signalling the beginning of the Great Depression.

A Palestinian man who attempted to stab Israeli soldiers at a check point near Ramallah in the West Bank was killed by the military. This was reported by the army who said there were no injuries among the soldiers.

Alarm sirens are sounding again in the northern Israeli region of upper Galilea due to 'hostile air intrusions'. This was reported by the Israeli daily Haaretz. Sirens are sounding, in particular, in Avivim, Bar'am, Yir'un and many other communities. Tension remains high on the border between Israel and Lebanon, heightening fears of direct intervention by Hezbollah in the Middle East war.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has appointed Gabriel Attal, hitherto education minister, as the new prime minister in place of Elisabeth Borne. This is the first move in the announced reshuffle with which the president intends to relaunch his mandate. Attal, 34, began his journey in politics in the gauche, with the Socialist Party, then became one of Macron's loyalists and achieved excellent results, including popularity, first as government spokesman, then as minister. Borne, 62, had resigned yesterday after an hour-long interview with Macron at the Elysée Palace. Attal is the youngest prime minister France has ever had and also the first openly gay.

A sinistra la premier dimissionaria Elisabeth Borne con il nuovo premier Gabriel Attal (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / POOL / AFP)

A group of Ukrainian hackers, probably with intelligence support, hacked the internet provider of Moscow 'M9com' and 'demolished' the servers with the result that part of the Russian capital was left without internet and TV. Sources told Rbc-Ukraine, adding that some 20 terabytes of data were deleted. In addition, hackers downloaded more than 10 Gb of data from the company's mail server and customer databases, which were made available online. The hackers, the sources said, acted to avenge the 12 December cyber attack on the Ukrainian telecommunications company Kyivstar.

The Israel Defence Forces announced the death of five more soldiers killed in battle in Gaza yesterday, for a total death toll of nine and a total of 185 since the ground offensive began. The five soldiers died in explosive detonations in Bureij, in central Gaza, reports the Times of Israel.

Un palestinese a Rafah tra le macerie dei bombardamenti. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

The Russian army and navy will continue to be equipped with increasingly modern weapons. This was said by the Russian Defence Minister, Serghei Shoigu , participating remotely in a summit with the armed forces. Tass reports. "We will continue to equip the army and navy with the most modern weapons, including those based on artificial intelligence technologies and new physical principles," the Russian minister said.

PM Benyamin Netanyahu is meeting at the defence ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. According to the PM's office, the talks began with a face-to-face meeting. Immediately afterwards Blinken will meet with Israel's war cabinet.

Il segretario di Stato Usa Antony Blinken incontra il presidente israeliano Isaac Herzog oggi al David Kempinski Hotel, a Tel Aviv REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool

- ''A hostile aircraft'' crashed this morning at a military base in northern Israel . This was announced by the military spokesman. ''There were no casualties or damage,'' the spokesman added. Images were circulated in the media showing a column of smoke in the car park of the base. According to the Ynet website, this is the headquarters of the Northern Region Command in Safed, Galilee.

In a surprise operation, hundreds of soldiers and officers sealed off an area of Jewish settlement near Bethlehem ( West Bank ) and then demolished dwellings in some outposts erected in the vicinity of the Pney Kedem settlement. The presence of the military raised the indignation of MP Rothman, leader of the Religious Zionism party. Defence Minister Gallant pointed out that he personally ordered the operation, which coincided with the arrival of US Secretary of State Blinken in Israel. The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed concern about settler activities in the West Bank.

The Lebanese Hezbollah claimed to have bombed the Israeli military base 'Dado' near Safad, more than 20 km from the demarcation line with Lebanon, with several armed drones.

A 6.0 magnitude earthquake was registered off the central west coast of Japan today, the government announced. There is no tsunami warning.

The main reason for 'Israel's hatred of journalists is that the regime is extremely afraid of the world's awareness and judgements towards the Gaza crisis'. Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said this, claiming that 111 journalists and cameramen have been killed so far in Gaza, as of 7 October, a figure that is 'unprecedented in history'. In a message posted on his X account, Amirabdollahian offered his condolences to the head of the Al Jazeera station's bureau in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, for the death of his son, journalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh, who was killed along with another reporter, Mustafa Thuria, in an Israeli attack on the car in which they were travelling on Sunday morning.

At least 520 children have been killed in Ukraine by Russian forces since the start of the invasion and more than 1,191 have been injured, the country's Prosecutor General's Office announced on Telegram, as Ukrinform reports. "Until the morning of 9 January 2024, according to the official data of juvenile prosecutors, 520 children have been killed and more than 1,191 injured" in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, the message reads. Most of the children (504) were killed or injured in the Donetsk region.

Israel 'will never be able to recover all its hostages' held in Gaza 'unless it releases all our prisoners in its jails'. This was reiterated by Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh during a speech at the ongoing International Union of Muslim Scholars conference in Doha. Haniyeh claimed that the 7 October attack was a consequence of "attempts to marginalise the Palestinian issue". According to the head of the Hamas political bureau, 'despite the high price, the massacres and the war of extermination, the enemy failed to achieve any of its objectives in the war', which are 'the elimination of resistance factions, the recovery of hostages and the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Egyptian territory'.

Un soldato israeliano in azione a Gaza REUTERS

Taiwan sent alert messages on mobile phones around 3pm local time (8am in Italy) about China's launch of a satellite that was flying over the southern sky of the island, warning citizens about the possible fall of debris. Moments later, the Chinese state network Cctv reported 'the successful launch of the Einstein Probe satellite'. Harsh comment from Foreign Minister Joseph Wu: 'A launch at this very delicate time of our elections (the presidential elections are on Saturday, ed.), I would classify it as China's 'grey zone' activity to remind Taiwan that there is a danger of war'.

Relatives of Israeli hostages in Gaza are on their way to the Kerem Shalom crossing with the Strip with the intention of blocking the place from where humanitarian aid for the population of the Palestinian enclave enters daily. The action - according to the media - is in protest against Hamas, which is preventing the Red Cross from visiting the hostages, to become aware of their condition and provide them with medical and humanitarian aid. Shai Wenkert - father of Omer, a 22-year-old hostage - told Ynet that since 7 October his son "has not seen a doctor, nor received medication, and it is not possible that hundreds of trucks are now entering Gaza".

In the war against Israel Hamas is using North Korean weapons. The confirmation comes from Seoul, in response to a request from CNN, after the Voice of America station showed a photo showing part of a rocket fired with a North Korean-made F7 rocket launcher. South Korean intelligence (Nis), Seoul says, "is collecting and accumulating concrete evidence regarding the amount and timing of North Korean weapons supply to Hamas".

Russian forces attacked the community of Marhanets in the Nikopol district of southern Ukraine last night, causing damage in a residential neighbourhood, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, Serhiy Lysak, reported Ukrinform. "After midnight, Marhanets, in the Nikopol district, was hit. The enemy hit the city using heavy artillery,' Lysak wrote on Telegram, adding that five apartment buildings and two cars were damaged. No casualties were reported.

Antony Blinken emphasised the 'importance' of strengthening the mechanism that provides humanitarian aid to Palestinian populations and facilitating the return of displaced persons. Together with the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs and Reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, Sigrid Kaag, the US Secretary of State "emphasised the shared commitment to reaching the most vulnerable through increased entry of aid and commercial goods into Gaza, localised assistance to meet immediate needs, and improved funding for humanitarian assistance", according to a State Department statement. Kaag took up the post yesterday, which, according to the UN, aims to facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify the delivery of humanitarian aid to the enclave, where more than 23,000 people have died in Israeli shelling since 7 December.

Russian forces attacked the community of Marhanets in the Nikopol district of southern Ukraine last night, causing damage in a residential neighbourhood, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, Serhiy Lysak, reported Ukrinform. "After midnight, Marhanets, in the Nikopol district, was hit. The enemy hit the city using heavy artillery,' Lysak wrote on Telegram, adding that five apartment buildings and two cars were damaged. No casualties were reported.

A delegation of Israeli security officials arrived in Cairo to resume negotiations on the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. This was reported by the London-based Qatari newspaper, al Araby al Jadeed, quoted by Haaretz.

The death toll of the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck Japan on New Year's Day has risen to 202, according to data from the regional government in Ishikawa. There are 565 confirmed injured.

Wajima dopo il terremoto. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Donald Trump has filed a motion seeking presidential immunity in the Georgia case, in which he is accused of trying to overturn the result of the 2020 election. In the filing, Trump's lawyers argue that their client should be protected by presidential immunity because he acted in his capacity as president when he objected to Joe Biden's election votes. "Communicating with state officials about the administration of federal elections and asking them to exercise their official responsibilities with respect to the election are part of presidential responsibilities," Trump's lawyers say. "From 1979 to 2023, no president has ever been criminally prosecuted for actions committed" while in office, they highlight.

Israel hits another strategic target in the war to destroy Hamas and weaken its Shia allies. The theatre of the operation is once again Lebanon: after the killing in the capital of the Palestinian movement's number two, Saleh Arouri, a raid in the south of the country eliminated one of the commanders of Hezbollah's elite forces. "Beirut can become like Gaza", was the warning of Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in response to the attacks from north of the border, while in the Strip the army announced the start of "phase three" of the offensive, less intense and with targeted attacks.

Four more Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing to 180 the total number of dead soldiers since the beginning of the ground operation in the Strip at the end of October. This was announced by the Israel Defence Forces.

Yet another Ukrainian attack on Belgorod, a Russian city on the border between the two countries. According to the governor of the region, Vlacheslav Gladkov, at least three people, two men and a woman, were seriously injured in an attack that took place during the night. The same governor reported that 'ten air targets' were intercepted and shot down.