Our live coverage of Israel's war against Hamas has moved here.
January 29 2024 Israel-Hamas war
By Helen Regan, Christian Edwards, Antoinette Radford, Aditi Sangal and Elise Hammond, CNN
Updated 12:06 a.m. ET, January 30, 2024
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Dozens of civilians killed in Israel airstrikes on Gaza City, Palestinian news agency says
From CNN's Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman and Eyad Kourdi
Dozens of civilians were killed and wounded in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on Monday, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Witnesses said at least "25 civilians were killed" and others were injured in Israeli shelling of a family home in the al-Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City, the agency said.
CNN is unable to independently verify the WAFA report.
Several injured people were brought to Al-Shifa Hospital, according to WAFA journalist Khader Zaanoun, who witnessed the casualties arriving and was in touch with CNN from the hospital via text message.
Earlier Monday, Zaanoun told CNN that Israeli forces had "invaded" Gaza City's Al-Rimal neighborhood “from multiple directions,” and were surrounding it, including Al-Shifa Hospital. "Ambulances are facing major difficulties in moving and operating due to artillery shelling and besiegement by Israeli forces," Zaanoun said.
CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.
Parents of soldier killed in Jordan drone attack remember daughter's smile and personality
From CNN’s Jamiel Lynch
The father of Army Specialist Kennedy Sanders described the moment that soldiers arrived at his home to notify him of his daughter’s death as “the longest 20 minutes I faced in my life.”
Sanders was one of three US soldiers killed in an attack allegedly by Iran-backed militias against a US base in Jordan.
“When I opened the door, I initially knew what was going on,” said Shawn Sanders, a former Marine. He asked them to wait for his wife to come home so they could be notified together.
Having just spoken with Kennedy hours before the attack regarding the purchase of a motorcycle, Oneida Oliver-Sanders remembers her daughter as a “sweet spirit.”
“Her smile was contagious. She was always laughing about everything,” Oneida said. “I just want people to remember that even though her time was short on Earth, she lived her life to the fullest and she enjoyed her life in any situation that she was in. In any situation she was in, she made it enjoyable, even being deployed she found different things do to pass her time.”
Every 10 minutes a baby is born in Gaza. Here's what it's like for new mothers trying to survive
From CNN's Jomana Karadsheh
As the humanitarian situation in Gaza becomes more dire, pregnant mothers are worried about what life will be like for their babies delivered during a war.
Watch the report:
Israel's defense minister tells troops it could be months before the war against Hamas is over
From CNN's Lauren Izso in Tel Aviv and Niamh Kennedy
During a visit to an Israeli military outpost on the Gaza border Monday, Israel's defense minister told Israeli troops that they are making progress against Hamas, but it will be months before the war is over.
“This is a long war, but in the end, we will break Hamas. We must keep going until we eliminate them as a governing system, and as a military organization capable of launching attacks against the state of Israel," Yoav Gallant said.
Gallant described the conflict to the soldiers as an "hourglass" that has "flipped against" Hamas and is now in Israel's favor.
The Israeli defense minister has on several occasions outlined Israel's commitment to pursuing Hamas fighters in Gaza for as "long as necessary."
The minister stressed that it will "take months, not a single day" to achieve Israel's objectives despite his claim that Hamas' capabilities have been significantly weakened: “They don't have ammunition, they don't have reinforcements."
Israel claims a tunnel ran through a Gaza cemetery it destroyed. But a visit raises more questions
From CNN's Jeremy Diamond
A large void is all that is left after the Israeli military excavated the western side of the Bani Suheila cemetery, near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, claiming a Hamas tunnel ran directly through the site and that Hamas militants attacked Israeli troops from there.
A week after a CNN investigation found that the Israeli military damaged or destroyed at least 16 cemeteries in Gaza since the beginning of the war, the Israeli military invited CNN into Gaza to explain why it partially destroyed one of those cemeteries.
But Israeli commanders failed to prove their claim during a three-hour visit to the Bani Suheila cemetery and the surrounding area.
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took CNN into a tunnel near the Bani Suheila cemetery and into an underground command center that the military said was below the cemetery.
However, IDF commanders declined to show reporters the tunnel shaft they said emerged inside the cemetery, claiming there was sensitive machinery underground and that the structure was unstable.
US weighs options for retaliatory response to deadly attack on US troops in Jordan
From CNN's Oren Liebermann, Natasha Bertrand and Katie Bo Lillis
The US response to the drone attack in Jordan that killed and wounded US service members on Sunday is likely to be more powerful than previous American retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria, officials told CNN, though the Pentagon and White House are being careful not to telegraph the administration’s plans.
President Joe Biden is under increasing pressure to respond in a way that stops these attacks for good. Iran-backed militants have targeted US military facilities in Iraq and Syria over 160 times since October, and several Republican lawmakers have called for the US to hit inside Iran directly to send a clear message.
But the biggest challenge now for the Biden administration is how to respond to the drone strike – the deadliest attack on US forces in the region since the bombing at Abbey Gate killed 13 US service members in the closing days of the Afghanistan withdrawal – without sparking a regional war.
The US has in recent months carried out several strikes targeting Iranian proxies’ weapons depots in Iraq and Syria. To date, none of those strikes have deterred the militants, whose 165 attacks have injured over 120 US service members across the region since October.
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling said the deaths of US service members “certainly crossed the president’s red line,” and both officials and analysts are expecting a more robust response that is not necessarily confined to one country or one day. But officials have suggested it is unlikely the US will strike within Iran.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the environment in the Middle East is as dangerous as it’s been in the region “since at least 1973, and arguably even before that.”
UN official calls on victims of sexual violence during October 7 attacks to come forward to help bring justice
From CNN's Lauren Izso in Tel Aviv and Niamh Kennedy in London
The UN's special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, has called on victims of sexual violence during Hamas' October 7 attacks to come forward in a bid to bring about justice.
Patten made the call to survivors during a meeting with Israeli first lady Michal Herzog in Jerusalem on Monday.
Addressing survivors directly, Patten said: “I want to say that survivors and victims, we owe you all more than solidarity. We want to ensure that you have justice.”
The visit comes after Israel criticized the UN for its delay in condemning the acts of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas fighters against women on October 7. The UN has previously said its commission collecting war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas has been investigating accounts of sexual violence.
Patten, who was invited by the Israeli government, said Monday she wanted to convey the "important message" that sexual violence is one of “the most heinous crimes with devastating consequences."
"I have a message for survivors, I have a message for families of victims, and another message for witnesses: Please come forward, please break your silence, because your silence will be the license of those perpetrators, and would-be perpetrators, to continue to do these heinous crimes," she said.
The UN representative said her and her team were prepared to listen to survivors "in all safety and confidentiality" during her weeklong visit to Israel.
US national security adviser will meet with American hostage families at the White House on Tuesday
From CNN's Arlette Saenz
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with American hostage families at the White House on Tuesday, an administration official said.
Several families of hostages being held in Gaza are in Washington, DC, this week, including Ronen and Orna Neutra, parents of Omer Neutra; Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen; Adi and Yael Alexander, parents of Edan Alexander; and Liz Naftali, great-aunt of Abigail Edan, who was freed as part of the November hostage deal.
Other families not in town might dial in to the meeting, a source familiar with the meeting said.
The meeting, which the administration official described as routine, comes as negotiators have been working toward securing another hostage release deal. CNN reported earlier today that a broad framework for a hostage release and potential ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was agreed to among negotiators in Paris this weekend, according to an official familiar with the talks.
