January 30, 2024

*) Israel kills 20 Palestinians in new Gaza massacre Israel has struck a family home in the Sabra neighbourhood of besieged Gaza, killing over a dozen Palestinians and wounding others, state-run WAFA news agency reported. WAFA said Israeli warplanes launched a strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Citing sources, WAFA added that the Israeli artillery also targeted the vicinity of a residential building in Khan Younis, in the south. *) UN chief to meet donor nations after refugee agency accusations United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet with key donors to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Guterres’ meeting comes in the wake of Israel accusing 12 members of the UN agency’s staff for their involvement in the October 7 surprise Hamas blitz. The UN secretary general’s spokesperson said Guterres’ message to donors — especially those who have suspended their contributions — will be to at least guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations. *) Blinken warns Ukraine gains in doubt if no US aid US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that Ukraine’s gains over two years of fighting were all in doubt without new US funding. Tens of billions of dollars in US aid has been sent to Ukraine since the conflict began in February 2022, but Republican lawmakers have grown reluctant to keep supporting Kiev. Blinken offered an increasingly dire picture of Ukraine’s prospects without US approval of the so-called supplemental funding. *) Canada drops arms export controls for Türkiye Canada has dropped export controls to Türkiye for certain types of weapons, including drone optical technology, according to a notice posted online. The notice said that from now on Canada would review all exports on a case-by-case basis. Monday’s announcement from Ottawa came after Canada had earlier suspended drone technology sales to Türkiye — a fellow member of NATO — in 2020. *) Neuralink implants brain chip in first human: Elon Musk Elon Musk, the founder of Neuralink, has said in a post on social media platform X that the first human received an implant from the brain-chip startup and is recovering well. Musk said initial results showed promising neuron spike detection. The US Food and Drug Administration had given the company clearance last year to conduct its first trial to test its implant on humans.