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Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 54 across Gaza, Medics Say

Smoke rises from an Israeli strike as the Israeli military conducts operations inside the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Smoke rises from an Israeli strike as the Israeli military conducts operations inside the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
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Israeli Airstrikes Kill at Least 54 across Gaza, Medics Say

Smoke rises from an Israeli strike as the Israeli military conducts operations inside the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
Smoke rises from an Israeli strike as the Israeli military conducts operations inside the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

Israeli airstrikes killed at least Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including 11 people in a tent encampment sheltering displaced families, medics said.

They said the 11 included women and children in the Al-Mawasi district, which was designated as a humanitarian zone for civilians earlier in the war between Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas group, now in its 15th month.

The director general of Gaza's police department, Mahmoud Salah, and his aide, Hussam Shahwan, were killed in the strike, according to the Hamas-run Gaza interior ministry.

"By committing the crime of assassinating the director general of police in the Gaza Strip, the occupation is insisting on spreading chaos in the (enclave) and deepening the human suffering of citizens," it added in a statement.

The Israeli military said it had conducted an intelligence-based strike in Al-Mawasi, just west of the city of Khan Younis, and eliminated Shahwan, calling him the head of Hamas security forces in southern Gaza. It made no mention of Salah's death.

Other Israeli airstrikes killed at least 43 Palestinians, including six in the interior ministry headquarters in Khan Younis and others in north Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, the Shati (Beach) camp and central Gaza's Maghazi camp.

Israel's military said it had targeted Hamas fighters who intelligence indicated were operating in a command and control center "embedded inside the Khan Younis municipality building in the Humanitarian Area".

"As the year begins, we got reports of yet another attack on Al-Mawasi with dozens of people killed, another reminder that there is no humanitarian zone let alone a safe zone (in Gaza)", Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, said in a post on X.

"Every day without a ceasefire will bring more tragedy."

Asked about Thursday's reported death toll, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said it followed international law in waging the war in Gaza and that it took "feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm".

Later on Thursday, separate Israeli airstrikes killed at least four people on Jala Street in downtown Gaza City and two in its Zeitoun district, medics said.

The Israeli military has accused Gaza fighters of using built-up residential areas for cover. Hamas denies this.

Hamas' smaller ally Islamic Jihad said it fired rockets into the southern Israeli kibbutz of Holit near Gaza on Thursday. The Israeli military said it intercepted one projectile in the area that had crossed from southern Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians in the war, according to Gaza's health ministry. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced and much of the tiny, heavily built-up coastal territory is in ruins.

The war was triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 cross-border attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.

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Arab World

Sudanese Paramilitary Forces Kill at Least 28 People in an Attack in Darfur

FILE PHOTO: Displaced people ride a an animal-drawn cart, following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp, in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Displaced people ride a an animal-drawn cart, following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp, in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
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Sudanese Paramilitary Forces Kill at Least 28 People in an Attack in Darfur

FILE PHOTO: Displaced people ride a an animal-drawn cart, following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp, in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Displaced people ride a an animal-drawn cart, following Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacks on Zamzam displacement camp, in the town of Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

An attack by the Sudanese paramilitary forces on a stronghold of a Darfur tribal leader left at least 28 people dead, a doctors group said on Tuesday.

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces on Monday rampaged through the town of Misteriha in North Darfur province, according to the Sudan Doctors Network, which tracks the country’s ongoing war.

The town is a stronghold of tribal leader Musa Hilal who also hails from the Rizeigat tribe as the majority of the members of the paramilitary RSF.

At least 39 people, including 10 women, were wounded in the attack, the medical group said.

Sudan’s war erupted in 2023 after tensions between the Sudanese army and the rival RSF escalated into fighting that began in Khartoum and spread nationwide, killing thousands, triggering mass displacement, disease outbreaks, and severe food insecurity. Aid workers were frequently targeted.

Arab World

Hamas Calls for Sanctions Against Israel Over New West Bank Moves 

A drone view shows Kedar Sheep farm, an Israeli outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows Kedar Sheep farm, an Israeli outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2026. (Reuters)
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Hamas Calls for Sanctions Against Israel Over New West Bank Moves 

A drone view shows Kedar Sheep farm, an Israeli outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows Kedar Sheep farm, an Israeli outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, January 20, 2026. (Reuters)

Hamas on Tuesday called for sanctions against Israel, welcoming a joint condemnation by nearly 20 countries of new Israeli measures aimed at tightening control over the occupied West Bank.

Israel has approved a series of initiatives this month backed by far-right ministers, including launching a process to register land in the West Bank as "state property" and allowing Israelis to purchase land there directly.

Late on Monday, 18 countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and European powers France and Spain, slammed Israel over the recent moves.

They "are part of a clear trajectory that aims to change the reality on the ground and to advance unacceptable de facto annexation", the countries said.

"Such actions are a deliberate and direct attack on the viability of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution."

Hamas hailed the condemnation as "a step in the right direction in confronting the occupation's expansionist plans, which flagrantly violate international law and relevant UN resolutions".

The group in a statement urged the countries involved "to impose deterrent sanctions and exert pressure on the fascist occupation government to halt its policies aimed at entrenching annexation, colonial settlement and forced displacement".

It said the Israeli measures were part of ongoing "aggression" against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

In addition to roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.

Israel's current government has accelerated settlement expansion, approving a record 54 settlements in 2025, according to activists.

The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, is envisioned as the core of a future Palestinian state, but many on Israel's religious right view it as part of Israel's historic homeland.

Arab World

Israel Seeking Direct Military Coordination with Lebanon 

Lebanese soldiers and UNIFIL forces on patrol in Naqoura southern Lebanon. (Reuters file)
Lebanese soldiers and UNIFIL forces on patrol in Naqoura southern Lebanon. (Reuters file)
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Israel Seeking Direct Military Coordination with Lebanon 

Lebanese soldiers and UNIFIL forces on patrol in Naqoura southern Lebanon. (Reuters file)
Lebanese soldiers and UNIFIL forces on patrol in Naqoura southern Lebanon. (Reuters file)

Israel is seeking to alter the post-ceasefire coordination mechanism along the Lebanese border by establishing direct contact with the Lebanese army, bypassing the United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in the south, said Israeli media.

The proposal has reignited debate in Beirut over the future of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the role of international oversight in southern Lebanon, with Lebanese officials insisting that any modification must remain strictly within the United Nations framework.

Reports attributed to Israel’s security establishment say the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has recently adopted what Israeli officials describe as a “confrontational stance” toward the Israeli military.

Israeli media quoted officials as telling American counterparts that direct coordination between the Israeli military and the Lebanese army would be preferable to the current arrangement, which operates through UNIFIL. Some officials reportedly argued that the peacekeeping force now causes “more harm than benefit.”

The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation said Israel’s security establishment believes UNIFIL has grown increasingly “hostile” in recent weeks.

The force’s mandate in southern Lebanon is due to expire at the end of this year.

Lebanese officials have responded by underscoring that the country’s position remains anchored in international legality and UN authority.

Fadi Alame, head of the Foreign Affairs and Immigrants Committee in Lebanon’s parliament, said Israeli media discussions “do not bind Lebanon,” stressing that “Lebanon’s sole reference remains the international resolutions issued by the United Nations.”

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Alame reiterated Lebanon’s commitment to Resolution 1701 and expressed support for UNIFIL.

He said the force monitors implementation of the resolution and safeguards Lebanon’s rights and sovereignty within the UN framework.

“As long as there is a UN resolution in force, any amendment or termination must occur through the United Nations itself,” he stated. “International law requires an international monitoring body as long as the resolution remains in effect.”

Addressing speculation about replacing UNIFIL or shifting to direct coordination with the Lebanese army, Alame said Beirut’s official stance remains unchanged.

“Lebanon is committed to Resolution 1701 under a clear government decision,” he underlined. “For us, Resolution 1701 and other UN resolutions remain the foundation.”

He added that Lebanon is awaiting a report from the UN secretary-general in June that is expected to outline potential options. These could range from maintaining the current international force to introducing a European-led presence or increasing the number of international observers.

Any proposal, he stressed, would remain subject to UN approval.

Meanwhile, a Lebanese ministerial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel’s proposal for direct coordination without UNIFIL “raises questions,” noting that the peacekeeping force is already embedded in the existing tripartite coordination mechanism.

Communication with Israel is conducted through UNIFIL under an established framework, the source explained, adding that Lebanon insists on maintaining an international sponsor and monitoring body as long as Resolution 1701 has not been fully implemented.

European proposals remain under discussion, including the possibility of a European-led force under French supervision or a mission focused on training and equipping the Lebanese army to assume expanded responsibilities. However, these ideas have yet to crystallize and remain tied to future political and security developments.

The debate follows a UN Security Council decision in August 2025 to extend UNIFIL’s mandate until December 31, 2026, with a coordinated drawdown planned to begin the following year.

UNIFIL has been deployed in southern Lebanon since 1978. It serves as a monitoring and buffer force, overseeing implementation of Resolution 1701 and supporting the Lebanese army’s deployment south of the Litani River.