Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said on Monday that the UK is “willing to take direct action” against the Iran-backed Houthi terror group “to deter threats to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea”. The UK has committed to the U.S.-led international maritime coalition tasked with protecting vital shipping lanes after dozens of Houthi attacks on commercial vessels.
British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron spoke on Sunday with his Iranian counterpart on rising tensions in the Red Sea, making clear that “Iran shares responsibility for preventing these attacks” and noted Iran’s “long-standing support” for the Houthi’s.
In response, the Iranian Foreign Minister criticised the West for its double standards and condemned Israel for its continuing military response to the October 7th massacre.
The UK’s first maritime aid shipment of nearly 100 tonnes of thermal blankets, shelter packs and medical supplies has reached Egypt from Cyprus via the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ship Lyme Bay, where it will cross into Gaza. The shipment follows Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps’ visits to Egypt and Cyprus in December. 11 tonnes of medical supplies were donated by Cyprus.
Hamas targets Israel on New Year’s Eve with rocket barrage
Hamas fired a large barrage of rockets at Israel just as the country celebrated the ushering in of 2024.
Over 25 rockets were aimed at Tel Aviv and other areas, sounding sirens across central and southern Israel including Rehovot, Nes Ziona, Holon, Lod, Modi’in, Ashdod, and Sderot.
“While 129 Israelis are still being held captive by Hamas in Gaza, Hamas also decided to start 2024 by launching a barrage of rockets at Israel”, stated the IDF. “There is no ‘happy’ New Year until they are all home”, the military added.
18 rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system and nine fell in open areas. The Rishon Lezion and Nes Tziona municipalities reported some shrapnel landing within their zones.
“We were all afraid… my heart was pounding”, said Gabriel Zemelman directly following the attacks.
The IDF now controls northern Gaza after intense fighting with Hamas but has yet to completely annul the terror groups’ ability to launch barrages of rockets. The Al-Mayadeen media agency reported that dozens of M-90 rockets were fired at the Jewish State in a symbol of continued belligerence against Israel.
According to the reports, Hamas have sought to down Israeli helicopters and drones and is planning to transition to a phase of conflict aimed at wearing down the IDF and reducing their ability to achieve their stated objectives.
Adi Mismah, a regional commander of Hamas’ elite Nukhba force, was reportedly killed on Monday by an Israeli air strike at Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.
Harrowing details emerge of sexual violence committed by Hamas against women and girls in New York Times expose
A recent New York Times expose has detailed devastating testimonies of women and girls being systematically targeting by Hamas for sexual assault and mutilation.
The findings brought together 150 accounts from witnesses, medical staff, first responders, soldiers, rape counsellors and government officials – together with videos, photos and GPS data from the attacks.
“They all gather around her… She’s standing up. They start raping her. I saw the men standing in a half circle around her. One penetrates her. She screams. I still remember her voice, screams without words”, said witness Raz Cohen. “Then one of them raises a knife,” he said, “and they just slaughtered her”. A friend of Raz Cohen’s said terrorists were “talking, giggling and shouting” before “literally butchering her”.
A video detailing the charred remains Gal Abdush, whose face was burned beyond recognition, has been described as having her legs splayed and dress hiked up was featured. Her husband’s body was found so badly burned that authorities needed to test his DNA to identify him. Abdush’ s body was found on the route to the Nova festival. Another young woman was found on the route sliced open in her vaginal area “as if someone tore her apart”.
In at least seven locations, women and girls were reported to have been raped or mutilated. 30 additional women in and around the Nova festival were seen with “legs spread, clothes torn off, signs of abuse in their genital areas”, according to the report.
One of the women pictured in evidence seen by the New York Times reveal that terrorists has driven dozens of nails into her thighs and groin, whilst two dead Israeli soldiers were shot directly in their vaginas. The bodies of 10 female soldiers were recovered from a Gaza observation post with signs of sexual violence, according to military dentist Captain Maayan.
The bodies of two young teenagers, aged 13 and 16, were found at Kibbutz Be’eri with their clothes ripped, with one bruised in her groin area and the other with “pyjama pants pulled to her knees, bottom exposed, semen smeared on her back”. In at least six other houses, similar abuses were carried out on at least 24 others, whose bodies were recovered either being stripped, tied with zip ties or mutilated – or in combination.
Witnesses revealed that badly injured women were passed around the terrorists, with one witnessing five women raped in front of them whilst hiding.
Welfare Ministry spokesman Gil Horev said that most of the women who were raped were subsequently murdered, but that at least three women and one man survived the sexual abuse. Superintendent and police spokesperson Mirit Ben Mayor said Hamas’ genocidal abuse marked a merger of “the hatred for Jews and the hatred for women”.
New interrogation videos of Palestinian terror suspects reveals Hamas’ use of civilian human shields as cover for military activity
“We were being used as human shields”, said Zahdy Ali Zahdy Shahin, a former Hamas operative who described Hamas pulling him, along with other civilians, from the humanitarian corridor established by Israel to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
When the war ended, one Hamas terrorist “would settle the score” with Shahin, after he protested the integration of Hamas terrorists with civilians forced to stay on the ground floor of the hospital.
“We left the apartment and [Hamas] took control of it”, added Muhammad Darwish Amara in a separate interview, a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad who claimed Hamas terrorists seized his home. “On the upper floor where my son lives… a sniper was sitting by the window, and in the other room, there were several [operatives]. He said there were more than 20 people [in the apartment], their weapons thrown on the floor”, he added.
After planting explosives at the door of another homeowner, Hamas terrorists reportedly said that “if this doesn’t suit you, leave, this is none of your business”. The terrorist shot the homeowner in the leg, threatening to plant a bomb “between you and your wife” after the man said that “these are my children – this is not okay”.
Talks to reach hostage-ceasefire deal continue
Egypt is hosting another delegation of Israeli leaders to discuss a potential hostage and ceasefire agreement with the Hamas terror group, according to recent reports. Cairo is exploring Israel’s readiness to “completely withdraw” upon a comprehensive agreement, according to unnamed sources.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there is the “possibility (…) for movement”.
Details including the release of around 40 Israeli hostages in exchange for several hundred Palestinian prisoners and a weeks-long truce in the Strip has been covered by Arab-language, London-based media reports.
New reports have also surfaced of an Egyptian delegation visiting Israel last week. “Things are still complicated”, said an Egyptian official. Palestinian sources added that “internal consultations between Palestinian factions” are ongoing, whilst Qatari mediators has reportedly told Israel that Hamas is willing to resume negotiations “in principle”.
The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 23 still held captive by Hamas. The capture of dead bodies and refusal to allow a proper burial is part of the terror groups ongoing psychological warfare conducted against Israel. 105 hostages have been released in previous deals and over 100 are thought still alive in Hamas captivity.
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader in the Gaza Strip, has eased his terms for a deal according to Channel 12, after initially demanding for a permanent ceasefire in return for Israel hostages. He also demanded that the Palestinian Authority (PA) accepted Hamas and other Gazan terror groups into the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in preparation for elections for which they would be eligible to stand.
A Hamas source confirmed similar reports to the Al-Arabiya news outlet. The issue is reportedly contentious within the terror group, with its leadership divided into “Qatari” and “Iranian” camps – clashing on whether to join the PLO.
Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad reportedly rejected an Egyptian proposal to give up control of the Gaza Strip in return for a permanent ceasefire.
Freed hostage Mia Schem experienced a “Holocaust”, “hell” in Hamas captivity
Freed French-Israeli hostage Mia Schem told reporters that she experienced a “Holocaust” and “hell” within Gaza during her capture and was told that she was not going to return home alive. Mia Schem was abducted from Nova music festival, where a third of all those killed on October 7th by the Hamas terror group, were murdered.
“One of the Hamas members looked at me, and just shot me in the arm, at a very, very close range”, she told reporters late last month. “I was on the floor, covered in blood, and I screamed”, she added, before being “touched” and “pulled into a car” by her hair, where she was then taken to Gaza.
She said that the terrorists “threw” her into the “back room of some hospital” where they tied a “piece of plastic” to her arm. “That’s how I was for three days”, Mia Schem added that the terror group covered her in a hijab. The reports correspond with footage released of other hostages who had been shaved and dressed in Islamic styles to conceal their identity from Israeli forces.
“They’re children who from the moment they are born, they teach them that Israel is Palestine and just to hate Jews”, said Schem, who was abused in captivity in a family home. The wife and children of the terrorist “in the next room” was the only reason she wasn’t raped, she said.
“They told me to say that they were taking care of me and treating me… You do what you’re told. You’re afraid to die”, she testified – addressing the hostage video which was released during her captivity. Hamas “stuck a camera in my face and said ‘Say that we treated you nicely, that people in Gaza are nice and good.’ What else was I supposed to do?”
Her captors taunted her to break her “emotionally”, telling Mia she would be released “tomorrow” and then in “a year, two years, three years”.
Operational updates and terror attack in the West Bank
The IDF reported that it struck a series of Hezbollah targets on the 1st January and today captured a Hamas stronghold in Gaza City, after exchanging rounds with Hamas terrorists in the groups’ underground tunnel network. The IDF has reported intelligence linking a Gaza City mosque to the massacres of 7th October.
Two security officers in their twenties were injured in a stabbing attack at the entrance of Mishor Adumim industrial zone in the town of Modi’in, nearby Jerusalem in the West Bank, on Sunday. The man and woman were evacuated to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus by Magen David Adom after the terrorist was killed at the scene.
