Israel-Hamas war: ISIS claims Iran attack, as US strikes in Iraq

05 January 2024, Herald Sun, by Tiffany Bakker, Adella Beaini and Justin Vallejo

The Islamic State has returned to claim responsibility for the twin explosions in Iran as conflict erupts through the Middle East, with the US bombing an Iranian-backed commander in Baghdad.

The terrorist organisation ISIS claimed responsibility for the twin bombings that killed about 84 and injured 300 more in Iran.

In a statement, the Islamic State said the suicide bombings were carried out by two operatives Umar al-Muwahid and Sayf Allah al-Mujahid. The death toll was revised down from about 100.

A senior Biden administration official said earlier the explosions looked like the work of ISIS, which has been severely degraded but maintains terror cells in Iraq and Iran.

“It does look like a terrorist attack, the kind of thing ISIS has done in the past, and that’s our ongoing assumption at the moment,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters.

It comes as the US killed the military commander of the Iranian-backed Hashed al-Shaabi ex-paramilitary faction, according to the Iraqi government.

“A drone targeted the logistical support headquarters of Hashed al-Shaabi,” mainly pro-Iranian former paramilitary units integrated into the Iraqi armed forces, said an Iraqi security official.

The strike killed “two members and wounded seven others”, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the Hashed’s factions, said in a statement that “the deputy commander of operations for Baghdad, Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi”, had been “martyred in a US strike”.

A US official neither confirmed nor denied that Washington was behind the strike.

“The United States is continuing to take action to protect our forces in Iraq and Syria by addressing the threats they face,” said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

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ISRAELI STRIKE KILLS CHILDREN IN ‘SAFE ZONE’

An Israeli strike had destroyed a home in Mawasi in southern Gaza, an area that the Israeli military had declared a safe zone.

At least 12 people were killed, almost all of them children, according to Palestinian hospital officials.

The blast killed a man and his wife, seven of their children and three other children ranging in age from five to 14, according to a list of the dead who were taken to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

There was no immediate response from Israel’s military.

PALESTINIANS TO BE ‘IN CHARGE’ OF GAZA AFTER WAR ENDS

Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant has said that there will be no Israeli civilian presence in Gaza and Palestinian bodies will be “in charge” of the territory after the war ends.

In a statement by his office, reported by Reuters, Gallant said Hamas would no longer control Gaza and Israel would reserve its operational freedom of action.

“Gaza residents are Palestinian, therefore Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel,” he said.

ISRAEL HITS BACK AT CRITIQUE

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir hit back at ally the United States over its criticism of his push for the transfer of Gazans out of the Palestinian territory.

“The United States is our best friend, but first of all we will do what is best for the State of Israel: the migration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza will allow the (Israeli) residents of the envelope to return home and live in security and will protect the IDF (Israeli) soldiers,” the extreme-right minister posted on X.

His post comes after the US State Department criticised his call for a population transfer as “inflammatory and irresponsible”.

Washington has called out both Mr Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who have called for Israeli settlers to return to Gaza and for the territory’s Palestinian inhabitants to leave.

“Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land,” the State Department said.

Expelling civilians during a conflict or creating unlivable conditions which force them to leave is a war crime.

The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents have been forced out of their homes by nearly three months of fighting between Hamas militants and Israel.

HAMAS REVENGE AFTER BEIRUT KILLING

The deputy leader of Hamas Saleh al-Aruri was among six people killed in an Israeli drone strike in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Wednesday.

Arouri, one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing, had headed the group’s presence in the West Bank and was an Israeli target long before the Hamas attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 Israeli’s.

Israel has previously announced the killing in Gaza of Hamas commanders and officials during the war, but Aruri is the most high-profile figure to be killed, and his death came in the first strike on the Lebanese capital since hostilities began.

Hamas said the killing will not lead to its defeat, while Hezbollah vowed Aruri’s death will not go “unpunished”.

Hezbollah called it “a serious assault on Lebanon … and a dangerous development in the course of the war.”

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the killing and said it “aims to draw Lebanon” further into the Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari did not directly comment on Aruri’s killing but said the military is “highly prepared for any scenario” in its aftermath.

The strike came during more than two months of heavy exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and members of Hezbollah along Lebanon’s southern border.

Since the fighting began on October 8, the fighting has been concentrated a few kilometres from the border but on several occasions Israel’s air force hit Hezbollah targets deeper in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has issued a statement rejecting “inflammatory and irresponsible statements from Israeli Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir.”

Matthew Miller said “there should be no mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza” in the statement issued on Tuesday.

“We have been clear, consistent, and unequivocal that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel,” Mr Miller said.

“That is the future we seek, in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, the surrounding region, and the world,” Miller added.

On Saturday, Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Israelis would “make the desert bloom” if only 100,000 Palestinians lived in Gaza. The current population of Gaza is 2.3 million.

MORE MISSILES FIRED AT SHIPS IN RED SEA

Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels fired two missiles late on Tuesday local time toward merchant ships travelling in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the US military said following a report by the British maritime security agency UKMTO.

United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations had initially reported explosions near a cargo ship sailing between the coasts of Eritrea and Yemen.

“Master reports no damage to the vessel and crew are reported safe at present,” the agency, run by Britain’s Royal Navy, said in a brief message.

The US Central Command later said Huthi rebels had fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles into the southern Red Sea, where there were multiple commercial ships but “none have reported any damage”.

“These illegal actions endangered the lives of dozens of innocent mariners and continue to disrupt the free flow of international commerce,” CENTCOM said on X, formerly Twitter, adding it was the 24th attack against merchant shipping in the area since November 19.

The UN Security Council is set to hold a meeting Wednesday on maintaining international peace and security, which French diplomats said would address the issue of Huthi attacks in the Red Sea.

In recent weeks, Huthi rebels have launched a flurry of drone and missile strikes targeting commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

They say their strikes are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling Hamas militants.

FRENCH PRESIDENT CALLS ON ISRAEL TO AVOID ESCALATION

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on Israel to avoid escalation, “particularly in Lebanon”, after an Israeli strike in Beirut.

Israel has so far not admitted or denied responsibility for the attack. Government adviser Mark Regev has told MSNBC that “whoever did this … [it was] a surgical strike against the Hamas leadership”.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) is reporting that Mr Macron spoke by telephone with Israeli minister and war cabinet member Benny Gantz. “It was essential to avoid any escalatory attitude, particularly in Lebanon, and that France would continue to pass on these messages to all players directly or indirectly involved in the area,” he said.

‘WORLD SHOULD BE ASHAMED’: UN AT SCENE OF HOSPITAL BOMBING

The Gaza team leader of the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) Gemma Connell was at al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, after an Israeli air strike that killed at least five people there.

“Five people were killed here, including a five-day-old child,” Ms Connell said. “It’s a Palestinian Red Crescent Society facility clearly marked with the Red Crescent emblem on the roof.”

“No child in the world should be killed, let alone one sheltering under the emblem of a humanitarian organisation”.

“This was a space where babies were living. This is a space where children were living,” Connell said, “but there is no safe space in Gaza, and the world should be ashamed”.

ANOTHER HAMAS COMMANDER KILLED

Meanwhile, Israeli troops have killed a Hamas commander who helped lead the October 7 terror attack that killed some 1,200 people and saw about 240 others taken hostage.

Adil Mismah, the Nukhba Company Commander of the city of Deir al-Balah, was “eliminated,” Israeli Defense Forces said via social media.

Mismah had led terrorists into the Kibbutz Kissufim and ordered other gunmen to ravage the communities of Nirim and Be’eri, according to The Jerusalem Post.

The commander was slain in an air strike directed by Israeli ground troops, officials said.

The IDF said troops also “struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror targets” in Shejaiya and located a large cache of weapons as well as destroying a launch post and “eliminating” a terror cell that had attacked Israeli troops, the New York Post reported.

A Khan Yunis rocket launcher was also taken down by the IDF, as the Israeli Navy took aim at Gaza targets, officials said.

Israel has said its war in the disputed territory will last for months to come, resisting international calls for a prolonged ceasefire.

More than 21,800 people in Gaza have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

The ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and military casualties, says two-thirds of the victims are women and children.

Israel has claimed that more than 8,000 of the slain Palestinians are terrorists. Neither side has provided evidence to back up their death toll claims.

The vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced as the humanitarian crisis dragged on, with more than a half million people starving due to a lack of food being delivered to the region, according to the United Nations.

GAZA FIGHTING RAGES ON

Meanwhile, Israeli forces battled Hamas militants amid the ruins of the heavily-bombed Gaza Strip as the war raging for almost three months piled new miseries on Palestinians in the besieged territory.

The Israeli army said soldiers had killed “dozens of terrorists”, including some carrying explosives, raided a weapons storage compound in the southern city of Khan Yunis and discovered long-range rocket launchers and tunnels.

Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry said 70 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in the past 24 hours during Israeli raids.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Israel had struck its headquarters in Khan Yunis, “resulting in several fatalities”, and the health ministry said four people were killed including an infant.

UN agencies have voiced alarm over Gaza’s spiralling humanitarian crisis as 2.4 million people live under siege and bombardment, most of them displaced and many huddling in shelters and tents amid dire food shortages.

“Living conditions … are just hopeless,” said Mostafa Shennar who fled Gaza City, now a largely devastated urban combat zone, and has been living in the crowded southern border town of Rafah.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and warned the war may continue “throughout 2024” as efforts toward a ceasefire have so far yielded no results.

Israel, after suffering the worst attack in its history, has launched a withering offensive that has killed at least 22,185 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.

ARMY PROBES PRISONER DEATH

The Israeli army says 173 of its soldiers have been killed inside Gaza in the battle against Hamas, which is black-listed as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States.

The military said on Tuesday local time that it was investigating a soldier suspected of shooting dead a Palestinian captured in the Gaza Strip.

“The terrorist was handed over to the supervision of a soldier, who, under suspicion, allegedly shot him, resulting in his death,” the army said of the incident.

Throughout its bloodiest ever Gaza war, Israel has had the backing of its key ally the United States, which has however also urged greater restraint to spare civilian lives.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which includes far-right and hard line nationalist groups, has said repeatedly it will keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed.

The army said Monday it would soon rotate out some of the more than 300,000 reservists called up after October 7, in part to prepare them for many more months of war ahead.

It said reservists from two brigades, which have some 4,000 troops each, will start returning home this week.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also said some residents “will soon be able to return home” to towns and villages near Gaza that were attacked by Hamas and then evacuated.

The government has so far refused to specify its plans for post-war Gaza and how it will be rebuilt and governed.

US news outlet Axios, citing unnamed Israeli sources, said Hamas had presented Israel with a proposal for a new hostage exchange deal via Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

The official told Axios the proposal had been deemed unacceptable by the Israeli war cabinet, but suggested progress could be made towards a more amenable plan in future.

– with AFP