Key events
India is engaged in diplomatic negotiations with Iran on the attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Houthi movement, an Indian government source told Reuters on Wednesday.
Pakistan recalls ambassador from Iran after Iranian airstrike
Pakistan has recalled its ambassador from Iran and the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan – who is at the moment visiting Iran – will not be allowed to come back, Reuters reports Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday.
An official at Tulkarm refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has told the AFP news agency that “the camp is besieged by aircraft and heavy numbers of the Israeli army, and tanks”.
Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society reported that four Palestinians had been killed “due to the occupation’s bombardment”.
Since the 7 October surprise attack inside southern Israel launched from Gaza by Hamas, an AFP tally has counted about 350 people killed by Israeli army raids and attacks by settlers inside the occupied West Bank. About 6,000 people have been detained by Israel during the same period.
Al Jazeera is carrying quotes from senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk about the deal brokered by Qatar and France to deliver medicine into the Gaza Strip, some of which is destined for Israeli hostages who have been held captive for over 100 days.
It quotes him saying that for every one box of medicine destined for hostages, 1,000 boxes for Palestinians will be included.
Al Jazeera goes on to report:
Abu Marzouk says Israeli authorities will not have the chance to inspect the shipments. He says Hamas insisted Qatar provide the medication and not France because of the European country’s support for Israel.
About 132 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza, including at least 27 believed to have been killed. Forty-five hostages are expected to receive medication under the agreement, according to the French presidency. The deliveries will go on for three months under the deal.
Graeme Wearden
Graeme Wearden is in Davos for the Guardian
Asked at Davos whether Jewish lives are more valuable than Muslim and Palestinian Christian lives, given the asymmetry in casualties in the Israel-Hamas war, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said “No. Period.”
The 7 October attack inside southern Israel killed an estimated 1,200 people. Since then, authorities in Gaza have said that nearly 25,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military response.
Blinken said that for him, and for so many of us, what we are seeing nearly every day in Gaza is gut-wrenching, adding: “The suffering among innocent men, women and children breaks my heart.”
He insisted that the US had pressed Israel about its responsibilities every step of the way, meaning there were “several dogs that did not bark”, but added: “That in no way takes away from the tragedy we have seen and continue to see.”
Blinken said that no country would accept a repeat of the surprise 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel, and that it is hard to overstate the psychological impact on Israel of what happened on that day.
The biggest poison we face around the world is dehumanisation, he continued, saying “the inability to see the humanity in the other” was the issue.
We need to remove that poison, he said, which means having leaders around the world who see that, and are prepared to act on it.
Pope Francis on Wednesday condemned the Iranian missile attack on the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq, and urged all parties to avoid an escalation of conflicts in the Middle East.
“I express my closeness and solidarity with the victims, all civilians, of the missile attack that hit an urban area of Erbil, the capital of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan,” Reuters reports the pope said during his weekly audience at the Vatican.
“Good relations between neighbours are not built with similar actions, but with dialogue and collaboration. I ask everyone to avoid any step that fuels tension in the Middle East and other war scenarios,” he added.
Francis called for prayers for the “many victims of war”, mentioning specifically Ukraine, Gaza, Palestinian territory, and Israel.
Britain’s foreign minister, David Cameron, will meet the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and other leaders at the Word Economic Forum in Davos, the British government said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
However, Masrour Barzani, prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, has reportedly cancelled a planned meeting there with Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in protest over Iranian airstrikes.
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