Live Updates
Relatives and supporters hold placards, some bearing portraits of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, during a rally calling for their release, in Tel Aviv on January 6, 2024.
AFP
The Gaza war is on its 96th day, and the U.S. Navy deterred drone attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebel militia in the Red Sea on the day that the youngest hostage in Hamas captivity, Kfir Bibas, celebrated his first birthday in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it killed Ali Hussein Barji, Hezbollah’s drone unit commander, in an airstrike Tuesday. Fire exchanges between the Israeli army and the Iran-backed terror group have intensified in recent days following the assassination of Hamas’ deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, in Lebanese territory.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said it received an incident report in the Red Sea near Yemen amid continuing Houthi attacks targeting merchant shipping operations in the area.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “tense,” as per a local report. The Israeli government is under increasing pressure from Washington to scale back its military campaign in the Gaza Strip amid a mounting death toll among civilians.
Israel’s unwavering stance over its goal of eliminating Hamas draws from the decades-long history of the Israel-Palestine conflict that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas operatives invaded Israel in a surprise attack where the Palestinian militant group killed more than 1,200 people and dragged over 200 hostages into Gaza.