what to remember from Friday January 19

Israel will allow the delivery of flour shipments to the Gaza Strip via the Israeli port of Ashdod, the White House announced Friday.

Several dozen Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip on Friday January 19, according to Hamas. According to the Ministry of Health of the movement in power in the Palestinian enclave, Israeli strikes had killed 77 people by midday.

Early Friday, witnesses reported heavy fire and airstrikes in Khan Younes, the main town in the south of the Gaza Strip, where Israel believes many members of the Hamas leadership are hiding. Here’s what to remember from the day.

A “gradual” return of telecommunications to Gaza

Friday night, the Palestinian operator Paltel announced a “gradual return of telecommunications” In “several areas of the Gaza Strip”, after a week of almost total shutdown. A resumption subsequently confirmed by the Hamas Ministry of Telecommunications.

Before this recovery, the network monitoring organization NetBlocks announced that this outage was “the longest” recorded since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, provoked by the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. These cuts limit “seriously the visibility of what is happening on the ground”noted NetBlocks.

They prevent the inhabitants of Gaza from having “access to vital information or call first aid, and hinder other forms of humanitarian response”lamented the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).

Cargoes of flour delivered to Gaza via Israeli port

Israel will allow the delivery of flour shipments to the Gaza Strip via the port of Ashdod, near the besieged Palestinian territory, the White House announced Friday. Three United Nations agencies had asked Israel to allow access to its port of Ashdod, in order to transport more humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory. The war between Israel and Hamas has triggered a humanitarian catastrophe for the approximately 2.4 million residents of the Gaza Strip. They struggle to get food, water, fuel and medical care.

For the World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), access to the port of Ashdod would allow “to deliver much larger quantities of aid and then send them directly by truck to the hard-hit areas of northern Gaza where few convoys have managed to reach”.

Joe Biden “still believes in the prospect” of a Palestinian state

The American President “always believes in perspective and possibility” of a Palestinian state, but “recognizes that it will take a lot of work to get there”, White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday. According to him, Joe Biden discussed his position with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a conversation “30 to 40 minutes” Friday.

The head of the Israeli government on Thursday rejected a recurring request from Joe Biden, namely the coexistence, in the future, of the State of Israel with a Palestinian state. “Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River. This is a necessary condition, which contradicts the idea of ​​sovereignty (Palestinian)“declared the Prime Minister, specifying that he had said this directly to the Americans.

New strikes against the Houthis

On Friday, the United States continued its strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, saying it was acting in “self-defense”. These strikes are a response to repeated attacks by these Yemeni rebels, targeting merchant ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis, in solidarity with the Palestinians, have vowed to continue targeting ships in these areas.

Hezbollah threatens Israel with “a real slap”

The Israeli army announced that it had struck sites of the Islamist movement Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Friday. At least three houses were destroyed, according to the official Lebanese agency ANI. Hezbollah for its part claimed three attacks on Israeli territory.

Hezbollah will put a “real slap” to Israel if this country extends its “assault” on the Israeli-Lebanese border, threatened the number two of the powerful pro-Iranian movement on Friday. “The enemy must therefore know that (…) we prepare on the basis that endless aggression can happen, just as our will to repel aggression is infinite”declared Sheikh Naim Qassem.

In Israel, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said for his part that Israel was ready to ensure security at the border “by force”.