President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Thursday (Feb 1), specifically addressing Israeli settlers in the West Bank in response to the tragic shooting death of a 17-year-old American citizen last month.

An assailant on Thursday took an undisclosed number of people hostage at plant owned by the US giant Procter & Gamble near Istanbul in protest of the war in Gaza, a police spokesman said.

It was not immediately clear how many people were being held at the plant, which lies on the eastern outskirts of Turkey's largest city, the spokesman told AFP.

CBS reported citing government sources that the US officials have approved plans for a series of strikes against targets for over a number of days. The strikes will reportedly on Iranian personnel and facilities inside Iraq and Syria. 

The strikes will come in response to drone and rocket attacks targeting US forces in the region, including the drone attack on Sunday that killed three US service members in Jordan. 

Indian foreign ministry said Thursday (Feb 1) that it was extending financial assistance to Palestine both bilaterally and through the United Nations but warned that it had zero tolerance for terrorism. The statement comes as Israel has accused officials of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine Refugees of being involved in the Oct 7 attacks by Hamas. 

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Dozens of people protested near a main Israeli seaport on Thursday in opposition to humanitarian aid being sent into the Gaza Strip during the war.

The protesters sat in front of the Ashdod port's entrance and asked trucks where their goods were destined.

More than 30,000 individuals have been displaced in Khan Younis, as per the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza. The ministry said that the displaced people are facing critical shortages of water, food, and baby formula in the vicinity of Nasser Hospital.

Norway Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide has said he is “reasonably optimistic” that some countries will resume funding to UNRWA. “That smells to me of collective punishment of everybody who works there but much more importantly of all the Palestinians that are dependent on the services of UNRWA,” he added.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron meets with Lebanon's Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri during an official visit to Beirut, after nearly four months of intensifying, deadly Israel-Hezbollah border clashes triggered by the Gaza war.
 

Dozens of people protested near a main Israeli seaport on Thursday in opposition to humanitarian aid being sent into the Gaza Strip during the war. The protesters sat in front of the Ashdod port's entrance and asked trucks where their goods were destined.

It was not clear if they managed to block any trucks, nor is it clear if any aid destined for Gaza comes in through Ashdod, although the United Nations has asked Israel to allow aid to come in through the port, media reports said. 

Yemen’s foreign minister is urging the EU to increase pressure on the Houthis militia for carrying out attacks on ships in the Red Sea. “Just striking the Houthis won’t do enough. We need mid and long-term solutions,” said Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, foreign minister. 

UNRWA warns cuts may force a shutdown of the Palestinian aid agency, AFP reported. Palestinian officials and the Hamas militant group have expressed strong criticism of the decision made by nearly a dozen Western countries to suspend funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinians.
 

"Master reports an explosion a distance off the vessel's starboard side" west of the port city of Hodeida, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said, adding that "vessel and crew are safe and proceeding to the next port of call".

The UK Maritime Trade Operations has said an explosion has been recorded off a vessel’s starboard side west of Hodeidah, Yemen's principal port city in the Red Sea. The office added that both the vessel and the crew were safe following the attack. Reuters cited residents as saying that the Houthis had fired a missile from a camp in Ibb city, in central Yemen, towards the sea.
 

Over 30 protests are happening across Israel demanding the return of captives held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, Israeli outlet Ynet reported. Several organisations representing families of captives and other victims are taking part in the protests. “As long as they are there, we do not have the privilege to remain silent, we are not allowed to remain silent, and we will not remain silent until all the abductees return from captivity where they have been for 118 damn days,” said one protester Moran Zer Katzenstein.

Hezbollah armed group has claimed that it has targeted Israeli equipment which was located at a radar site in the occupied Shebaa Farms, Al Jazeera reported.

(This a developing story)

Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has raised concerns that Houthi's rampant attacks in the Red Sea risks destabilising the Italian economy.

Citing a huge fall in traffic heading to Italy via the Suez Canal, he said, "From a geopolitical perspective, the continuing of this situation could lead to the marginalisation of ports on the Mediterranean Sea. Not only does it threaten the security of navigation but also (Italy’s) economic stability."

The humanitarian toll continues to mount in the blockaded Palestinian enclave of Gaza. At least 26,9000 people have been killed and 65,949 people have been wounded in Israeli bombardments on Gaza since October 7.

An Arab Israeli man was indicted for allegedly fire-bombing a police station with a terror-related motive, said the Israel Police and the Shin Bet, in a joint statement.

The statement added that the 20-year-old Razi Hamada threw a firebomb at the police station.

Likud MK Nir Barkat is set to revive his years-long plan which is aimed at expelling UNRWA from East Jerusalem and instead let the municipality provide education, health, welfare and sanitation services in its place.

As reported, Barkat and several other lawmakers have filed the bill again with the hope to take advantage of the current momentum which is  against UNRWA. 

Amid fighting in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, the forces of the 98th Division noticed a long-range rocket launcher and directed a fighter jet to strike the target. 

The IDF said that the division’s Paratroopers Brigade further killed several gunmen in various close-quarters encounters in the past day.

Airstrikes were directed by the Paratroopers Brigade and the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade  on other Hamas operatives in Khan Younis, said the IDF.

Dozens of Hamas operatives were killed by the 401st Armored Brigade in northern Gaza and Nahal Infantry Brigade in central Gaza. 

According to reports, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is expected in Cairo on Thursday (Feb 1) to review a proposal for a six-week truce. 

In a fresh video message, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will not pull the IDF out of the Gaza Strip. 

“We will not end the war, we will not pull the [Israeli military] out of the Strip, we will not release thousands of terrorists,” Netanyahu said in his message.

According to a Reuters report, as many as 70 US cities, including Chicago and Seattle have passed resolutions, calling for an immediate ceasefire for the Israel-Hamas war. 

Mehreen Faruqi, an Australian senator and deputy leader of the Australian Greens Party targeted the Anthony Albanese government saying it was 'disgraceful' that Canberra had suspended aid to UNRWA. 

“Western countries, like Australia, who have suspended this aid [to UNRWA] have made a pretty disgraceful and morally indefensible decision. We know that people are being starved in Gaza at the moment," said Faruqi.

"We know that there is a humanitarian crisis. We know that there is a mission of genocide that Israel is committing, and at this time to suspend aid is disgraceful,” he added. 

Revealing that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has shared information with donors about the individual accusations made against UNRWA staff, China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said: "We are at a very critical moment in coping with the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the war is still going on … we should not allow these individual cases to dilute our attention in pursuing a ceasefire."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as "the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza". He said this while appealing to all countries to "guarantee the continuity of UNRWA's lifesaving work."

Israel's embassy in Stockholm on Wednesday (Jan 31st) became the target of an attempted attack, said Israeli ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman. 

The "dangerous object" was destroyed by a bomb squad. Police said the "live" device had been found by staff on the premises of the Israeli embassy in the Swedish capital. However, as per AFP, they did not specify what the object was.

Citing unidentified sources, Swedish tabloids, Expressen and Aftonbladet reported that it was a hand grenade. 

"We were alerted at 1:08 pm (1208 GMT) by the embassy that they had found an object they believed to be dangerous," Daniel Wikdahl with the Stockholm police told AFP.

"The object has been destroyed by the national bomb squad, and our assessment is that it was live," he revealed.

An investigation has been launched.

"Today we were subject to an attempted attack against the Embassy of Israel in Stockholm and its employees," Israeli ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman said in a post to X.

"We will not be intimidated by terror," Kulman added.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the situation "very serious".

"An attempted attack on an embassy is an attack both on those who work there and on Sweden," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter

A Houthi-launched cruise missile in the Red Sea on Tuesday (Jan 30th) night approached within a mile of a US destroyer before being intercepted. In conversation with the CNN, four US officials said that thus marks the closest encounter between a Houthi attack and a US warship.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with his British counterpart Grant Shapps at the Pentagon on Wednesday. The two defence chiefs, as per the Pentagon, held talks on security threats in the Middle East.

Discussions were held on issues including "the escalating attacks by Iran-aligned militia groups on US troops in the Middle East" and "the illegal Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea," as well as humanitarian assistance for Gaza and support for Ukraine, said Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder in a statement.

"Secretary Austin thanked Secretary Shapps for the United Kingdom's steadfast support and leadership in coalition efforts to stave off further Houthi aggression, while defending naval and international commercial vessels exercising navigational rights and freedoms," he added, referring to attacks on shipping by the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels.

American forces on Wednesday (Jan 31) claimed they had destroyed a missile belonging to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels that posed an "imminent threat" to US aircraft. 

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As per OCHA, the UN humanitarian agency. around 184,000 people have registered for humanitarian assistance in the western outskirts of Khan Younis in recent days. 

In its daily update the agency said: "They were displaced from western Khan Younis city in recent days amid evacuation orders and continued hostilities."

The hostilities have also forced embattled UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, to abandon health centres and shelters in western Khan Younis and relocate to the western outskirts of the city.