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Tensions spike as Gaza conflict reverberates across the Middle East

CGTN

Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, January 3, 2024. /CFP
Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, January 3, 2024. /CFP

Smoke billows during Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, January 3, 2024. /CFP

The Israeli army launched airstrikes on Wednesday on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing and injuring dozens of people, the Gaza-based health ministry said.

A large number of displaced people live in the buildings that were hit by the airstrikes and most of them are still trapped under the rubble, Palestinian media reported.

Prior to the attack, the health ministry had updated the Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli attacks to 22,313 and the number of wounded to 57,296. It said in a statement that the Israeli army had killed 128 Palestinians and wounded 261 others in the last 24 hours.

Palestinian security sources said the Israeli bombardment from the air, land and sea continued in most parts of the Gaza Strip, especially in the refugee camps in central Gaza.

People gather outside an apartment belonging to the Hamas movement destroyed by an Israeli attack on the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, January 2, 2024. /Xinhua
People gather outside an apartment belonging to the Hamas movement destroyed by an Israeli attack on the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, January 2, 2024. /Xinhua

People gather outside an apartment belonging to the Hamas movement destroyed by an Israeli attack on the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, January 2, 2024. /Xinhua

Cross-border fire

The Lebanon-Israel border has been witnessing increased tensions since October 8. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned on Wednesday night to attack Israel "without restraint" if Israel expands its attacks against Lebanon, local TV channel al-Manar reported.

Nasrallah said Tuesday's assassination of Hamas' deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri and other Hamas officials in Beirut a day before was "a dangerous crime." 

Nasrallah said the confrontation on Lebanon's southern border has been limited for the country's stability and security. However, he warned that "if Israel expands its attacks ... all our power will be used to attack Israel; we do not fear the war, and we are not hesitant about it; otherwise, we would have stopped fighting on the southern front."

On the same night, seven Hezbollah fighters, including Hezbollah official Hussein Yazbek, were killed in confrontations on the Lebanese-Israeli border, local media reported.

The confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel killed 201 on the Lebanese side, including 146 Hezbollah members and 35 civilians, according to Xinhua, citing Lebanese security sources.

'Unprecedented' starvation

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye said on Wednesday that the Gaza Strip, which has been under an intense Israeli military assault for nearly three months, is witnessing an "unprecedented state of hunger and starvation."

Ishtaye told a weekly cabinet meeting in Ramallah that the situation in Gaza is "shocking to us and the world" as infants have no milk while "children are searching for a living in long lines" and not getting their share.

A Palestinian child receives food prepared in a charity kitchen amid a lack of food supplies as the fighting between Israel and Hamas continues, December 31, 2023. /CFP
A Palestinian child receives food prepared in a charity kitchen amid a lack of food supplies as the fighting between Israel and Hamas continues, December 31, 2023. /CFP

A Palestinian child receives food prepared in a charity kitchen amid a lack of food supplies as the fighting between Israel and Hamas continues, December 31, 2023. /CFP

Ishtaye accused Israel of deliberately blocking food supplies to Gaza and preventing people's access to food, saying it has targeted their daily calorie intake with "the cannon of crime."

He warned that the people of Gaza have become weak and prone to diseases and epidemics. He said famines are not caused by a lack of food, but by a lack of access to food.

Ishtaye said the goods that entered Gaza only met 8 percent of the people's needs, and called on the world to drop food with parachutes and pressure Israel to open the crossings to allow food in.

(With input from agencies)

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