Supreme Court ruled it has power to review laws, intervene when legislature oversteps its authority
In a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, the Israeli Supreme Court said today that it has the power to intervene when the legislature exceeds its authority.
With a 12 out of 15 majority, the Supreme Court ruled it can strike down a law which for some reason deviates from the constitutional mandate of the Knesset.
Netanyahu’s overhaul and weakening of the Supreme Court deeply divided Israel earlier in 2023. Some military reservists said they would stop volunteering in protest. The overhaul has been on hold since the Oct. 7 terror attacks by Hamas and subsequent war against the group launched by Israel in response.
The Supreme Court ruled that it has the authority to conduct judicial review of basic laws, and to intervene in exceptional and extreme cases where the Knesset exceeded its founding authority.
Israel’s Supreme Court strikes down key part of Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul
Israel’s Supreme Court struck down a key component of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s contentious judicial overhaul.
The court narrowly voted to overturn a law passed in July that prevents judges from striking down government decisions they deem “unreasonable.”
Opponents had argued that Netanyahu’s efforts to remove the standard of reasonability opens the door to corruption and improper appointments of unqualified cronies to important positions.
Israel National Security Minister Ben Gvir criticized the decision “a dangerous, anti-democratic” decision. “The High Court’s ruling is illegal, and includes the annulment of a basic law in a precedent manner, in the absence of a source of legal authority,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Injured Palestinian child treated at Gaza hospital
A child receives treatment today at Aksa Hospital in Deir al Balah, central Gaza.
Death toll in Gaza rises to nearly 22,000
The death toll in Gaza was nearing 22,000 and some 70% of the fatalities are women and children, a Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson reported Monday.
As of New Year’s Day, the number of fatalities climbed to 21,978 and 56,697 people have been wounded in the 87 days since the Israelis invaded the Palestinian territory, the spokesperson, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, said on the ministry’s Telegram channel.
Among those dead were 326 “health personnel,” the spokesperson said in the latest ministry update, which was translated by NBC News.
Israeli forces “deliberately targeted 150 health institutions, leaving 30 hospitals and 53 health centers out of service in all areas of the Gaza Strip, Al-Qudra said.
The Israelis launched the offensive after Hamas militants ignited the latest war with a bloody Oct. 7 surprise attack that left around 1,200 dead. They have accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields and hiding military installations under hospitals.
Mourners at soldier’s funeral in Tel Aviv
Mourners during a funeral for Staff Sgt. Maj. Constantine Sushko today in Tel Aviv. According the Israel Defense Forces, Sushko was killed while fighting in Gaza on Saturday.
Far-right Israeli minister calls for promotion of ‘migration’ of Gazans
Israeli far-right national security minister Ben Gvir called for promoting the “migration of Gaza residents,” saying it is a “human solution.”
In a post on X today he wrote: “Encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza will allow us to bring home the residents of the area around Gaza and the residents of Gush Katif.”
Israel-Hamas tensions threaten shipping routes in Red Sea
Tensions between Israel and Hamas have spread to the Red Sea, threatening one of the world’s most important shipping routes. NBC’s Josh Lederman reports for TODAY.
Qatari planes carrying humanitarian aid arrive in Egypt
Three Qatari planes carrying 135 tons of aid have landed at Egypt’s Al-Arish Airport, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X.
Since Israel’s siege of the enclave, only a few dozen trucks of aid are being let into Gaza daily, a fraction of what used to enter before the war broke out.
More than 30 people arrested in the West Bank, prisoners’ rights group says
At least 32 people have been arrested in the occupied West Bank in the last 24 hours, the Commission for the Affairs of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners and the Palestinian Prisoners Club in Ramallah said in a statement today.
“The arrests were concentrated in the town of Qatana/Jerusalem, affecting at least 12 citizens, a group of whom were later released, including a woman who was detained by the occupation as a hostage,” read the statement.
Israeli forces have detained dozens of Palestinians almost every day since the Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, with the tally reaching 4,910 according to the figures by the organization.
“The occupation forces continue to carry out widespread raids and harassment during arrest campaigns, severe beatings, and threats against detainees and their families,” the statement added.
Iran’s Alborz warship enters Red Sea, news agency reports
An Iranian warship has entered the Red Sea, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency has reported, a day after the United States exchanged fire with Iran-backed Houthi boats in the strategic body of water.
Tasnim reported that the Alborz, a destroyer-class ship, had passed through the Bab al-Mandab Strait that separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa and marks the sea’s southern entrance.
The agency said that Iranian warships have been operating in the region “to secure shipping lanes since 2009,” according to a translation by Reuters.
The news comes hours after U.S. helicopters exchanged fire with Iran-backed Houthi crews in small boats, sinking three of the vessels, following distress calls received from a commercial containership.
Kibbutz confirms the death of a 56-year-old man
Ilan Weiss, 56, who was believed to be missing since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched a multipronged attack on Israel, is believed to be dead, the Kibbutz Be’eri, where he lived, said in a statement today.
“It is believed he was murdered,” the kibbutz said.
IDF: 18 soldiers have been killed in Gaza due to friendly fire
The Israel Defense Forces said today that 18 of its soldiers were killed as a result of friendly fire during its ground operations.
A total of 170 soldiers have been killed so far, it said, with 29 of those deaths resulting from accidents. Two of the deaths were due to “shooting irregularities,” it added.
Another nine deaths were a result of accidents linked to “ammunition, weapons and trampling,” it added.
IDF continues ground operation inside Gaza
Sirens sound as Hamas launches rocket barrage on Tel Aviv
Sirens were sounded in central and southern Israel around midnight as Hamas’ military-wing the Qassam brigades said it had launched a barrage of rockets onto Tel Aviv.
“We bombed the city of ‘Tel Aviv’ and its suburbs with a barrage of ‘M90’ rockets,” the group said in a post on Telegram.
Baby foods and vaccines return to Gaza Strip, health officials say
Baby food purchased by the Palestinian government and some donated by UNICEF has begun entering the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, the Health Ministry in Ramallah said in a statement on Telegram.
It also said Egypt had preserved the food in cold storage until it was handed over to Gaza.
The supply includes children’s vaccines for polio and measles, the ministry said, adding they are sufficient for 8 to 14 months.
IDF says it struck targets in Gaza, killed senior Hamas commander
The Israel Defense Forces said it killed Adil Mismah, a top commander in Deir al-Balah, and destroyed targets in Shejaiya in Gaza City today.
The IDF conducted a “targeted raid on the terrorist organizations’ command and control center and located large quantities of weapons used by the terrorist organizations in the area of a mosque,” it said in a statement.
An Israeli aircraft also struck a militant launching rockets in Khan Younis, the IDF said, adding it separately attacked a unit launching mortar shells.
IDF is preparing for a year of war in Gaza
In a New Year’s Eve address, the top spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces warned that the war in Gaza would require “prolonged fighting” and “warfare throughout this year.”
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said: “We are wisely planning the management of the forces operating in the field, looking at the reserve system, the economy, refreshing forces, and continuing the combat training processes in the IDF.”
He also gave details of recent operations against Palestinian militants in the strip, and said that some reservists would return to their families this week.
He said this would “significantly ease the burden on the economy and allow them to gather strength for the upcoming activities in the next year, as the fighting will continue and they will still be required.”
Thousands join New Year’s Day demonstration in Turkey to denounce Israel’s Gaza campaign
Tens of thousands gathered in Istanbul, Turkey, today to show solidarity with the Palestinian people amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group in the Gaza enclave.
People gathered around the Galata Bridge in Istanbul to denounce the “terrorism” of both Israel and the banned Kurdish group PKK, the official Turkish agency Anadolu said.
Survivors of deadly Khan Younis air strike treated in Gaza hospital as they mourn dead relatives
Mohamad al-Laham, a survivor of a deadly airstrike attack in Khan Younis that killed dozens, told an NBC News crew that he believes the majority of his family was among those killed.
Destruction in Gaza on New Year’s Day
A Palestinian woman stands amid rubble and belongings in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on New Year’s Day, after Israel’s military said fighting would continue throughout 2024.