Netanyahu updates Biden on 'progress' in Gaza talks, Israeli army continues strikes

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An Israeli air strike was reported on the outskirts of the village of Janta along the Lebanese-Syrian border late Sunday.

It's not clear what was targeted in the strike.

غارة على منطقة البقاع تستهدف أطراف منطقة جنتا.#لبنان#العدوان_الإسرائيلي pic.twitter.com/gM8kkUdxjW

— Zack Chemalyإبن طرابلس (@ZackChemaly) January 12, 2025

It's the second Israeli attack on the Beqaa region in east Lebanon since the November 27 ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah. Israel has vowed it will continue to strike any weapon transfers, depots and other installations belonging to the Shia militant group.

An Israeli air strike was reported around the south Lebanese village of Houmin al-Fawqa Sunday night. Images shared online showed smoke billowing from the area, but it wasn't immediately clear what was targeted.

عاجل | #غارة على أطراف #حومين الفوقا pic.twitter.com/p0z2Q7We72

— Al Modon - المدن (@almodononline) January 12, 2025

In the border village of Mays al-Jabal, Israeli forces carried out combing operations.

The Israeli army has continued detonating homes in border towns and villages and destroying what it claims are Hezbollah installations as part of its scorched earth strategy.

Under a ceasefire deal, it has until later this month to completely withdraw from southern Lebanon which it invaded at the start of October last year during the war with Hezbollah.

US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the ICC in connection to alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel in Gaza, on Sunday to discuss negotiations for a captive release and Gaza ceasefire deal, a US official said.

The call, further details of which are expected to be released later, comes as Biden pushes for a truce between Israel and Hamas before Donald Trump returns to the White House on 20 January.

General Michael Kurilla, the head of the US Army’s Central Command (CENTCOM), visited Saudi Arabia and met with General Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili, the chief of general staff of the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces.

CENTCOM said the generals "discussed shared security concerns, their mutual commitment to addressing evolving threats in the region, and the importance of joint readiness through interoperability".

USCENTCOM Commander Visits the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

On 11-12 January, Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, Commander, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), visited U.S. servicemembers and conducted key leader engagements in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Gen. Kurilla met with Gen. Fayyadh… pic.twitter.com/3LHYJiDcQo

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 12, 2025

US Vice President-elect JD Vance said Donald Trump would "enable the Israelis to eliminate the last remnant of Hamas and its leadership" in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II called for a ceasefire during a meeting in Amman with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's Secretary of State.

He called for an end to Israel's "genocidal war" on Gaza and warned of the dangers posed by Israel's attacks on holy sites in Jerusalem.

Israel plans to use tax revenue it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to pay the PA's nearly 2 billion shekel ($544 million) debt to state-run Israel Electric Co (IEC), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday.

Israel collects tax on goods that pass through Israel into the occupied West Bank on behalf of the PA and transfers the revenue to Ramallah under a longstanding arrangement between the two sides.

Since 7 October 2023. Smotrich has withheld sums earmarked for administration expenses in Gaza.

Those frozen funds are held in Norway, and he said at Sunday's cabinet meeting that they would instead be used to pay the 1.9 billion shekel debt owed to the IEC.

"The procedure was implemented after several anti-Israeli actions and included Norway's unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state," Smotrich told cabinet ministers.

"The PA's debt to IEC resulted in high loans and interest rates, as well as damage to IEC's credit, which were ultimately rolled over to the citizens of Israel."

(Reuters)

Israeli settlers targeted homes south of Nablus on Sunday - Abdullah Ziyada, head of the Madama Village Council, told Wafa.

The settlers were reportedly protected by Israeli forces, who were preventing residents from reaching the area to stop the attack.

Ziyada said a "significant number" of Israeli forces stormed the centre of the village and restricted local Palestinians from moving and blocking efforts to confront the settlers.

A top-level Israeli security delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for talks on a Gaza captive and ceasefire deal, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in a possible sign of so-far elusive agreements nearing.

Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that the delegation includes Mossad Head David Barnea, the head of the Shin Bet domestic security service, Ronen Bar and the military's head of the hostage brief, Nitzan Alon.

Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met on Saturday with Netanyahu after meeting on Friday with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Qatar and fellow mediators Egypt and the United States are making renewed efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining 98 hostages held there before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on 20 January.

(Reuters) 

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister on Sunday called for the lifting of sanctions on Syria after meetings with top diplomats from the Middle East and Europe focused on the war-ravaged country's future.

"We stressed the importance of lifting unilateral and international sanctions imposed on Syria, as their continuation hinders the aspirations of the Syrian people to achieve development and reconstruction," Prince Faisal bin Farhan said after Sunday's talks concluded in Riyadh.

Over 150 immigrants are reportedly arriving in Israel to join the Israeli army as it continues with its war on Gaza - according to the Maariv newspaper.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy arrived in Riyadh on Sunday to participate in a regional and western meeting with Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shibani.

(Reuters)

A medical source has told Al Jazeera that Israel's current invasion of northern Gaza has led to 5,000 Palestinians going missing or killed. Another 9,500 have been injured.

Israel launched the operation, now on its 100th day, on 6 October.

Gaza's civil defence service revealed that the Israeli onslaught over the last five days has killed 70 children.

They were killed in attacked across the Gaza Strip.

Germany's foreign minister said Sunday that sanctions against Syrian officials responsible for war crimes must remain in place but called for a "smart approach" to provide relief to the Syrian population after last month's overthrow of President Bashar Assad.

Annalena Baerbock spoke to reporters after arriving in Saudi Arabia for a conference on Syria's future attended by top European and Middle Eastern diplomats.

"Sanctions against Assad's henchmen who committed serious crimes during the civil war must remain in place," Baerbock said.

"But Germany proposes to take a smart approach to sanctions, providing rapid relief for the Syrian population. Syrians now need a quick dividend from the transition of power."

European Union foreign ministers will meet in Brussels at the end of the month to discuss the lifting of sanctions on Syria, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Sunday.

"We are working towards really being able to have decisions at that time whether we are able to do so," Kallas told reporters on her way into the Riyadh talks on Syria.

(Reuters)

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Riyadh on Sunday to join other foreign ministers for a regional conference with Syrian counterpart Asaad al-Shibani.

(Reuters)

Foreign ministers and top diplomats from Western and Arab countries were preparing to meet Syria's new foreign minister in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Sunday at the first such regional meeting on Syria since President Bashar al-Assad was ousted last month.

Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan Al-Shibani arrived in Riyadh on Saturday evening, according to Saudi state news agency SPA. Foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Iraq were also in Riyadh ahead of Sunday's meeting, along with envoys from the United Kingdom and the United States. Other top Arab and Western officials are expected to attend.

The meeting, which is expected to focus on Syria post-Assad, comes as the country's new administration urges a lift of sanctions by the West to help in the country's recovery.

(Reuters)

Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 46,565 Palestinians and injured 109,660 since 7 October 2023, the Gaza Health Ministry said on Sunday.

(Reuters) 

Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai on Sunday said she would continue to call out Israel's violations of international law and human rights in Gaza.

"In Gaza, Israel has decimated the entire education system," she told a summit on girls' education in Muslim nations, hosted by Pakistan.