January 22, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas has moved here.

The ground shook at southern Gaza’s Nasser Hospital as Israeli forces launched strikes on Khan Younis Monday, according to Médecins Sans Frontières staff on the ground.

In a social media post, the charity — also known as Doctors Without Borders — said the strikes caused “panic among staff, patients and displaced people sheltering inside the building,” adding that exit routes were blocked, preventing the evacuation of medical staff and patients.

Israel’s military has intensified attacks on Khan Younis in recent days as it targets what its says is Hamas infrastructure, with the operation expected to last for several days.

Earlier Monday, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said Nasser Hospital is receiving more patients with serious injuries than it can accommodate and intensive care units have reached capacity.

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, said Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system, in a post on X on Monday.

Israel’s siege in Gaza has devastated swathes of the territory, diminished food, fuel and water supplies, and crushed the enclave’s medical system.

Over 1.9 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, many multiple times, according to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees.

Gaza is facing its 10th near-total internet blackout, according to Paltel, Gaza’s main telecommunications provider.

“We regret to announce that telecom services in Gaza Strip have been lost. Gaza is blacked out again for the 10th time since October 7th due to the ongoing and escalating aggression,” Paltel said in a post on X.

Internet monitoring site Netblocks confirmed the blackout on X, saying, “Live metrics show that the #Gaza Strip is again in the midst of a near-total telecoms blackout; the incident is likely to severely limit most residents’ ability to communicate, in the tenth such incident since the start of the war.”

Cell phone connection across Gaza was also “difficult to access,” an employee at Palestinian telecommunications company Jawwal, told CNN on Monday.

Israeli officials are optimistic about Hamas’ response to a proposed two-month ceasefire deal, CNN foreign policy analyst Barak Ravid told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday. 

The proposal was initially met with “quite strong disagreements” within the war cabinet, but Israeli officials are now feeling “optimistic” about the prospect of Hamas agreeing to their terms, Ravid said. 

“They get the feeling that every day that passes, there is more willingness by Hamas to agree to start discussing this idea in more detail,” Ravid said. 

Ravid first reported the deal in Axios, citing two unnamed Israeli officials.

The mediators – Qatar and Egypt – had worked on the proposal for 10 days before it was presented to Hamas, he said. 

The proposal comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ call for an end to the war in exchange for the release of hostages held in Gaza.

Ravid said that despite Netanyahu’s rejection, the prime minister knows that “after two months of pause – even if the fighting resumes this way or another – it’s going to look much different.”

“Israeli officials are totally aware that it might be very hard – close to impossible – to resume the war, to resume the operations in Gaza after two months of pause,” Ravid added. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the situation around Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis “remains extremely dangerous” amid continued military activity and bombardment in the area.

Around 80% of the entrances and exits to Al-Amal are obstructed, it said.

Paramedics were able to access the hospital using a single route “despite the difficulties and dangers and in the presence of military vehicles,” the PRCS said. 

 Internet outages have also interrupted communications among medical teams, it said. 

“We urgently call on the international community to intervene to protect our teams working at the PRCS’s headquarters, Al-Amal Hospital, and the thousands of internally displaced individuals within our facilities,” the PRCS said. 

Medical facilities in southern Gaza have been battered amid an Israeli assault in the area, Palestinian health officials said on Monday.

Dozens of people have been killed and wounded in the latest offensive in western Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza. Medical facilities including the Nasser Medical Complex, Al Amal Hospital and the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters are located in the area.

Following the latest round of US and UK airstrikes in Yemen on Monday, Houthi leader Mohamed Ali al-Houthi said the assault would only make the Yemeni people stronger.

In a statement posted on al-Houthi’s account on X early Tuesday, he said that “the American and British must understand that we are in a time of response and that our people do not know how to surrender.”

Yemenis “are fighting to prevent the genocide and siege of the people of Gaza,” he said, while accusing the US of protecting Israel, which he described as a “terrorist criminal” country.

The US and UK struck eight sites in Yemen on Monday with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands.

Israel’s military said its operations around Khan Younis in southern Gaza demand “precise operations” due to the densely populated civilian areas.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Monday that it is targeting Hamas outposts, infrastructure, and command and control centers in the city.

The military operation, which was launched on Sunday, is being led by Israel’s 98th Paratroopers Division and is expected to last for several days, the IDF said, without providing further details on the timeline.

“Dismantling Hamas’ military framework in western Khan Younis is the heart of the logic behind the operation,” the statement said.

The IDF said it has seen militants at “sensitive sites” such as hospitals and shelters in the densely populated civilian areas.

“We prepared several strategies and a number of means for operational activity,” the IDF said. “This area is more challenging, the plans are affected by it.”

The US says the latest strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen were “successful” and destroyed missiles, weapons storage sites and drone systems, according to a senior military official and a senior defense official.

The officials, who briefed reporters following the Monday afternoon operation, said the strikes “achieved the desired effect.”

“We observed good impacts and effects at all 8 locations, assessing that we did in fact destroy missiles, unmanned aerial systems and weapons storage areas,” the official said.

A senior defense official who was also on the call said the strikes have “removed significant Houthi capability,” but warned they still have additional weapons they can use to fire upon international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

For the first time, the US also struck an underground storage facility used by the Houthis, the official said. The storage site was assessed to have “more advanced conventional weaponry,” including missiles and one-way attack drones.

Israel has proposed that Hamas senior leaders could leave Gaza as part of a broader ceasefire agreement, two officials familiar with the ongoing international discussions told CNN.

The extraordinary proposal, which has not been previously reported, comes as Israel has struggled to achieve its stated goal of completely destroying Hamas. Despite its nearly 4-month war in Gaza, Israel has failed to capture or kill any of Hamas’s most senior leaders in Gaza and left around 70% of Hamas’ fighting force intact, according to Israel’s own estimates.

Though it would give safe passage out of Gaza for top Hamas leaders who orchestrated the October 7 attack, draining Gaza of its leaders could weaken Hamas’ grip on the war-torn area while also allowing Israel to continue tracking down high-value targets abroad.

Senior Hamas officials are known to live in Doha, Qatar, and the Lebanese capital Beirut, among other places outside the Palestinian territories. An Israeli airstrike earlier this month killed a top Hamas commander in Beirut.

Israel’s suggestion that Hamas leaders could leave Gaza, though unlikely to be accepted by Hamas, has been discussed as part of broader ceasefire negotiations at least twice in recent weeks — once last month in Warsaw by Israel’s intelligence chief, Mossad Director David Barnea, and then again this month in Doha with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to one official familiar with the discussions.

Read more details about the offer

Israel has offered a 2-month ceasefire to Hamas as part of a prospective hostage deal, Axios reported Monday, citing two unnamed Israeli officials.

It would be “the longest period of ceasefire that Israel has offered Hamas since the start of the war,” wrote Axios reporter Barak Ravid, who is also a CNN analyst.

The Israeli proposal calls for the release of all remaining hostages and hostage bodies in multiple phases, in exchange for Palestinian detainees imprisoned in Israel, according to the Axios report. 

It would also see Israel move its forces out of main population centers and allow “a gradual return of Palestinian civilians to Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip.” 

Hamas has asked for an end to the war as a condition of any deal, which Netanyahu rejected on Sunday.

See CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter for more details.

Egypt has rejected accusations that it has not maintained the security of its border with the Gaza Strip, leading to arms smuggling in the enclave.

The head of Egypt’s State Information Service, the media outlet of the Egyptian government, blamed “extremist Israeli leaders who seek to drag the region into a state of conflict and instability.” 

Chairman Diaa Rashwan’s statement followed last week’s claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that weapons and military equipment were being smuggled into Gaza through Egypt. Netanyahu went as far as to say that the border between Gaza and Egypt must be “shut,” and called for the closure of the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land, less than 9 miles long, that serves as a buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza.

Rashwan said that Egypt has made efforts to combat smuggling by constructing a wall along the Philadelphi Corridor, destroying more than 1,500 tunnels in the border area, and increasing the headcount of its border guard.

Rashwan said that Israel is only accusing Egypt of smuggling to “create legitimacy for its attempt to occupy the Philadelphi Corridor.”

Correction: The description of the Philadelphi Corridor has been updated to indicate that it’s less than 9 miles long.

A major Israeli military offensive is underway in western Khan Younis in southern Gaza, already killing and wounding dozens of people, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza.

Nearly the entire population of the enclave faces a humanitarian crisis, aid organizations say, as people in some areas describe sewage flowing through the streets. The World Health Organization and other groups are warning about the spread of disease and the dire situation of healthcare facilities.

Meanwhile, the United States and the United Kingdom carried out additional strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, marking the eighth round of attacks in just over 10 days, two defense officials told CNN.

Here are the key things to know:

S d British forces struck eight Houthi targets in Yemen on Monday, according to a joint statement from the countries involved in the strikes.

The targets were Houthi underground storage and sites associated with the group’s missile and air surveillance.

The United States and United Kingdom carried out the operations with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, the countries said.

The strikes are smaller than the first joint operation on January 11 that struck over 30 Houthi targets. 

“Our aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea, but let us reiterate our warning to Houthi leadership: we will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways in the face of continued threats,” the statement said. 

The leader of the World Health Organization is “deeply concerned” by reports of fighting around the two hospitals in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media that fighting near Al-Amal Hospital and Monday’s raid on Al-Khair Hospital put “patients and people seeking safety within these facilities at risk” and prevent other people who are hurt from being able to reach the hospitals.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza said dozens of people had been killed and wounded in the latest offensive in western Khan Younis, where several medical facilities and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) headquarters are located. 

Health officials also said that Israeli forces Monday stormed the Al-Khair Hospital and detained a number of its medical staff, amid an ongoing “siege” of the area.

The PRCS said Monday night that the situation remains “extremely dangerous” there and that ambulance teams are facing “significant difficulties in reaching the wounded and injured due to the continuous bombardment in the governorate.”

When asked to comment on the storming of the hospital, the Israel Defense Forces said it “cannot comment on ongoing activities.” A source told CNN that a major Israeli military offensive is underway in western Khan Yunis and is expected to last several more days.

The United States and the United Kingdom carried out additional strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Monday, marking the eighth round of attacks on the rebels’ infrastructure in just over 10 days, two defense officials told CNN.

Nasr Al-Din Amer, the head of the Houthi-run Saba news agency, said strikes hit Yemen’s capital Sana’a and the cities of Taiz, Al-Bayda, and Hajjah.

President Joe Biden spoke to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday, the White House said earlier in the day, about a range of topics including security in the Red Sea. 

CNN reported on Monday that the US has named the ongoing operation to target Houthi assets in Yemen “Operation Poseidon Archer,” suggesting a more organized and potentially long-term approach to the operations in Yemen that have been aimed at deterring the Houthis from attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The US has now struck Houthi targets in Yemen eight times since January 11, the majority of which the US military has carried out unilaterally. The first wave of strikes, in which the US and UK hit approximately 30 sites across Houthi-controlled Yemen, marked the beginning of Operation Poseidon Archer, one official said.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Monday that the Houthis had not launched a new attack on commercial shipping since January 18. The Houthis claimed on Monday to have attacked a US-owned cargo ship, the M/V Ocean Jazz, but a defense official told CNN that claim was not true.

The post was updated with the details provided by the Saba news agency.

Israel’s national security minister is threatening to quit his position and “not be part of the government” if Israel decides to end the war against Hamas in Gaza.

“If there is no war, there is no government. I’ve said it all long. There is a war going on, we know it, but if, God forbid, it is decided to stop the war, I will not be part of the government,” Itamar Ben Gvir said, speaking at a meeting of his far-right party, Jewish Power. 
“I would like to say to you that our being part of the government has an impact on our small divine plot of land,” Ben Gvir also told members of his party at the meeting, touting some of their policies. 

Ben Gvir has a history of making threats like this. In late November, during a negotiated pause in the fighting to allow an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners — Ben Gvir threatened to quit Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s government if the attacks on the Gaza Strip were not resumed as soon as the humanitarian truce came to an end.

A video of his comments was posted on social media by CNN affiliate KAN News, an Israeli public broadcaster. 

Mounds of solid waste and sewage openly flowing in the streets are exacerbating health hazards in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, with air pollution adding to the toxic environment, according to aid workers and civilians in the area.

“Everywhere in Rafah, if you walk, you will see a lot of solid waste and a lot of water sewage building up on the street,” said Salwa Tibi, 53, who works at the humanitarian agency CARE International. “You will find a lot of diseases in the shelters.”

Despite the hazards, children in desperate search of food can be seen picking scraps from rubbish piles, Tibi said.

Israel’s siege of the Palestinian enclave has collapsed waste collection and disposal services, according to the United Nations relief agency UNRWA, and the scarcity of clean drinking water and toilets has created an “explosively dangerous” environment for the spread of disease, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Thursday. 

Gazans also describe air pollution caused by smoke from people burning wood instead of fuel, supplies of which have been largely cut off from the territory. 

“My father is sick because of air pollution, smoke and gas,” a displaced civilian in Rafah, who wished to remain anonymous, told CNN. “Influenza diseases are widespread due to the weather and the lack of facilities in the tents and rooms of the displaced.”

CNN’s Celine Alkhaldi contributed reporting to this post.

Israel’s former foreign minister is stressing the urgency of determining who could control Gaza when the fighting between Israel and Hamas end – and said there are likely three “real options”: Hamas, Israel or a different Palestinian regime.

Tzipi Livni said Monday in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that a Palestinian regime was the only feasible suggestion but stressed that it is “truly urgent” to decide if this would be in the form of the Palestinian Authority or another group. Delaying this decision would only lead to Hamas continuing to exist, and therefore the conflict between Israel and Hamas continuing too, Livni argued.

“Israel doesn’t and shouldn’t take care of (the) 2 million Palestinians that are there,” said Livni, who served as foreign minister in the Kadima party government until 2009. “We don’t want to reoccupy Gaza. We just need to take care of our security.”

The former foreign minister suggested that the “entire international community” needed to ensure that any new Palestinian leadership would not be formed by Hamas or any other terrorist group.

“We need (a) regime that is willing to work with Israel on security and give legitimacy to Israel when we need to fight against, or also within, (the) Gaza Strip,” Livni said, adding that whether this would be the Palestinian Authority or another group is “less important.”

Nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip faces a humanitarian crisis, aid organizations say. Millions of people have been displaced since October 7 and they are struggling to stay dry and warm as winter temperatures and rains set in.

Less than a week into the Israel-Hamas war, the United Nations appealed to the world asking for nearly $300 million in aid to assist Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Within a month, the figure nearly quadrupled as the entire Gaza Strip plunged into a humanitarian catastrophe.

Three months into the war, international donors, mostly governments, have provided just over half of the requested funds through the UN’s plan, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) Financial Tracking Service.

The figures reveal that only four-fifths of the emergency funding needed to ensure food security and roughly a quarter of what’s needed for shelter, water and sanitation have been provided.

Even before Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, the enclave has been among the world’s top recipients of aid per capita for years. Before the war, four in five people depended on international help and as many as 1.84 million people were food insecure, according to the World Food Program.

Keep reading about Gaza’s history of reliance on foreign assistance and the humanitarian aid needed to keep people alive today.

The post was updated.

A major Israeli military offensive is underway in western Khan Younis and is expected to last several more days, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

Israeli troops have encircled the Khan Younis refugee camp just west of the southern Gaza city and are conducting raids to try and dismantle Hamas’s military capabilities in the area.

Earlier on Monday, Palestinian health officials said that medical facilities in Khan Younis were battered amid an Israeli assault in the area, as the number of dead in the enclave continues to rise. The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said dozens of people had been killed and wounded in the latest offensive.

Hamas’s militant wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, said Monday that they were fighting in the western Khan Younis area and had killed a number of Israeli soldiers with anti-personnel missiles.

The United States has named the ongoing operation to target Houthi assets in Yemen “Operation Poseidon Archer,” according to two US officials.

The named operation suggests a more organized, formal and potentially long-term approach to the operations in Yemen, where the US has been hitting Houthi infrastructure as the Iran-backed rebel group has vowed to keep targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. 

The US has struck Houthi targets in Yemen seven times since carrying out its first set of attacks together with the UK military on January 11. The first wave of strikes, in which the two countries hit approximately 30 sites across Houthi-controlled Yemen, marked the beginning of Operation Poseidon Archer, one official said.

The attacks have targeted one-way attack drones, anti-ship ballistic missiles, anti-ship cruise missiles and more as the US has tried to disrupt the Houthis’ ability to fire on international shipping lanes.

The officials emphasized that Operation Poseidon Archer is separate from Operation Prosperity Guardian, which is a defensive coalition of nations who have committed naval assets and personnel to bolstering security in the Red Sea. Some of the more than 20 nations in the coalition, including the US and UK, have repeatedly intercepted drone and missile launches from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

US President Joe Biden is maintaining an “open mind” about what form a two-state solution with Israel would ultimately take, the White House said Monday, adding the president acknowledges that it won’t be an easy road.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the president understands “the need for some flexibility” when it comes to the format of an independent Palestinian state.

Hours after getting off the phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday, Biden referenced the possibility of a demilitarized Palestinian state when speaking to reporters at the White House, saying he believed “there are a number of types of two-state solutions.”

“There’s a number of countries that are members of the UN that … don’t have their own military, a number of states that have limitations, and so I think there’s ways in which this can work,” Biden said.

Still, Netanyahu rejected calls for Palestinian sovereignty on Saturday following those talks with Biden about Gaza’s future, suggesting Israel’s security needs would be incompatible with Palestinian statehood.

While this is a break from Biden’s belief that a two-state solution is needed, Kirby said the US president is “under no illusions that how difficult it’s going to be to get there, particularly with this conflict going on in Gaza.” He said the administration would continue conversations with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority “in the hopes that more progress can be made.”

Nearly two dozen Americans have been killed “as a result of continued violence” after October 7 in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to a spokesperson for the United States State Department.

“We can confirm the deaths of 23 American citizens — 21 who have served in the IDF, one who served in the Israeli National Police, as well as the recently reported death of Mr. Jabbar as well,” Vedant Patel said at a press briefing Monday, referring to 17-year-old US citizen Tawfic Abdel Jabbar who was recently killed in the West Bank.

The State Department also called on Israel to investigate Jabbar’s death, Patel said. It has asked the Israeli government for “any and all relevant and pertinent information.”

Patel also said that the US has helped at least 1,400 American citizens, legal permanent residents and their family members leave Gaza since October 7.

“This is something we of course will continue to work around the clock towards,” Patel said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has announced the deaths of three more soldiers in Gaza, bringing the total since operations there began to 198.

The IDF named a captain and two majors as the latest casualties. All were killed in southern Gaza, the IDF said.

Separately, it said it is deepening ground operations to the west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, “while adhering to the principles of combat and international law.”

“The IDF is fighting a terrorist organization that embeds itself in the civilian population, and skilled and experienced units are working to dismantle the Hamas military framework, while staying aware of the complexity of the task, given that Hamas systematically embeds itself in sites such as hospitals and schools,” the IDF said.

Cell phone and internet connection across Gaza is still “difficult to access,” Abdullah Al-Khatib, an employee at Palestinian telecommunications company Jawwal, told CNN Monday.

Al-Khatib, who is in Rafah in southern Gaza, said: “If you are lucky, you might catch a line after 50 attempts. It’s like you are competing with others to pick up transmission. While we are trying our best to repair the infrastructure, which is 80% destroyed, the maintenance process has become so difficult, almost impossible, due to lack of materials.” 

“Many transmission towers and stations, and warehouses containing devices and cables were completely destroyed,” he said.
“Trying to restore transmission and internet lines is like trying to resuscitate a dying person using only first aid kits, with no other tools,” Al-Khatb added. 

Communications are returning but in a “very slow manner,” Amro Tabash, who is currently based in southern Gaza, told CNN on Monday.

Other impacted areas: In some locations in the southern Gaza Strip, including Al Mawasi, “communications are still almost non-existent,” Tabash said. In Rafah, there are “hundreds of thousands of people trying to use the same telecom tower, causing it to continuously collapse,” he said. In Khan Younis, communications are “continuously disrupted” due to active combat and invasion of the city, he added.

The United Kingdom announced new sanctions on individuals linked to Hamas on Monday, in its third round of such sanctions since October 7.

It made the announcement alongside the US and Australia.

Five “key figures” linked to the leadership and financial networks of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) were sanctioned, as well as one currency exchange entity called Al Mutahadun for Exchange.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that the move was a “clear message” to Hamas that the UK is “committed to ensuring there is no hiding place for those financing terrorist activities.”

“To reach a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, Hamas can no longer be in power and able to threaten Israel. By disrupting the financial networks, which sustain Hamas’ operation, including from Iran, these sanctions support that crucial aim,” Cameron added.

According to the statement from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, the five individuals sanctioned are:

Medical facilities in Khan Younis in southern Gaza were battered amid an Israeli assault in the area Monday, Palestinian health officials said.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza said dozens of people were killed and wounded in the latest offensive in western Khan Younis, where medical facilities including the Nasser Medical Complex, Al Amal Hospital and the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters are located.

“The situation here is completely catastrophic. We didn’t sleep last night. The hospital is entirely besieged,” Ahmad Al Moghrabi, a doctor at the Nasser Medical Complex said in a video shared to his Instagram page Monday. “There is no way for us to escape the hospital and no way for evacuation. The troops are all around, and the only roads for evacuation are filled with dead bodies,” he said.

The Nasser Medical Complex is receiving more serious injuries than it can accommodate, the health ministry said, adding that intensive care units are currently at capacity.

Health officials also said that Israeli forces Monday stormed the Al Khair Hospital, west of Khan Younis, and detained a number of its medical staff, amid an ongoing “siege” of the area.

The IDF told CNN, when asked to comment on the storming of the hospital, that they “cannot comment on ongoing activities.”

The US has sanctioned several “Hamas-affiliated” financial groups in Gaza, alleged to have facilitated the transfer of funds, including cryptocurrency, from Iran to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. 

“Hamas has sought to leverage a variety of financial transfer mechanisms, including the exploitation of cryptocurrency, to channel funds to support the group’s terrorist activities,” Brian Nelson from the Treasury of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said in a press release.

Those sanctioned include members of the Gaza-based Shamlakh family, who used several companies to facilitate funds transfers from Iran to Hamas, and the Hezrallah Exchange, which allegedly “worked with Hamas to facilitate transactions, including through the use of cryptocurrencies,” according to the Treasury Department.

The US imposed sanctions alongside the UK and Australia, who are also sanctioning “key Hamas officials and facilitators,” according to the State Department. 

“We remain committed to working with our allies and partners to dismantle the financial infrastructure that supports Hamas operations,” said State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement. 

This is the fifth round of US sanctions on Hamas since October 7, according to the State Department. 

Only seven out of 29 aid missions planned by humanitarian agencies to Gaza were granted access by the Israeli military in January, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report Sunday.

There is a “significant increase” in the rate of denials by the Israeli military of access to areas north of Wadi Gaza, in the central Gaza area, compared to previous months, OCHA said.

Compared to previous months: Between October and December 2023, only 6 out of 43 (14%) of the missions planned north were denied, and the rest facilitated.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on OCHA’s statistics.

Between Saturday and Sunday, some 325 truckloads of food, medicine and other supplies entered Gaza through the Rafah and the Kerem Abu Salem/ Kerem Shalom border crossings. Approximately 500 commercial and aid trucks per day were being let into Gaza before October 7.

Where things stand: Only 15 bakeries across Gaza are operational, six of which are in southern Gaza and nine in the central area, OCHA said, adding that there are no functioning bakeries in northern Gaza.

There are sixteen hospitals that are still partially functioning across Gaza, including nine in southern Gaza and seven in the north, OCHA said.

In southern Gaza, three hospitals – Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir El-Balah, and Nasser and Gaza European hospitals in Khan Younis – are “at risk of closure due to the issuance of evacuation orders in adjacent areas and the ongoing conduct of hostilities nearby,” OCHA said. 

The Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza has been functioning to a “limited degree” since mid-January, OCHA said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political prospects in Israel continue to look dim, with a new poll suggesting that his party would come in a very distant second if elections were held today, and the coalition he leads now would not win enough seats to stay in power. 

Benny Gantz, a former defense minister who joined Netanyahu’s war cabinet from the opposition after the October 7 attacks, would be the biggest winner, the poll for CNN affiliate Channel 13 suggests. His National Unity party would win 37 seats, the poll projects. Netanyahu’s Likud party would win 16 with him at the helm, and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party would come in third with 14, projections suggest.

A slim majority (53%) said Netanyahu’s personal interests were the main consideration driving his conduct of the war. A third (33%) said the national interest was his main consideration, with the remaining respondents saying they did not know or not answering the question.

Israelis last went to the polls on November 1, 2022. The next elections are scheduled for October 27, 2026, but many Israelis expect a national election to be called this year.

The polling, conducted and released Sunday by leading Israeli pollster Camil Fuchs for Channel 13, is broadly in line with other polls conducted since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told families of the remaining Israeli hostages in Gaza that Israel has an “initiative” to secure the release of those abducted – but there is “no real proposal” from Hamas that would advance their freedom.

According to the Prime Minister’s office, Netanyahu told representatives of the families of the hostages:

“Contrary to what they say, There is no real proposal from Hamas - this is not true. I say this as clearly as I can because there are so many untrue things that must be tormenting you.”
He added: “In contrast, there is an initiative of ours, and I will not elaborate.”

On Sunday, Netanyahu said that in exchange for the release of the hostages Hamas had demanded an end of the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and “the release of all the murderers and rapists” – Netanyahu’s words for Palestinian prisoners Hamas wants to be freed. 

“If we agree to this - our soldiers fell in vain. If we agree to this - we will not be able to guarantee the security of our citizens,” the prime minister said. 

Hepatitis A infections have increased in Gaza due to overcrowding, lack of clean water and poor sanitation, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said citing the Gaza Ministry of Health, run by Hamas. 

UNRWA cited the health ministry saying suspected cases have increased 16 times in January more than the entire month of November last year. 

Thousands of displaced people are sharing toilets and shower areas, UNRWA said on Facebook. 

The WHO chief last week said that 24 Hepatitis A cases in Gaza were confirmed through test kits and warned of “inhumane living conditions” contributing to the spread of the disease. 

“The capacity to diagnose diseases remains extremely limited. There is no functioning laboratory. The capacity to respond remains limited too,” the WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus said on X on Thursday. 

As of last week, no deaths were reported in Gaza from Hepatitis A, as per the WHO, but several thousand people with jaundice were recorded “presumably also due to Hepatitis A,” Ghebreyusus said. 

Some background: According to the CDC, symptoms of Hepatitis A can include yellow skin or eyes, not wanting to eat, an upset stomach, vomiting, stomach pain, fever, dark urine or light colored stools, diarrhea, joint pain and feeling tired. Adults are more likely than children to have symptoms if they are infected.

Families of hostages disrupted a meeting of the finance committee in the Israeli parliament on Monday, demanding more be done to secure their release.

“You will not sit here while they die there,” read one of the placards as more than a dozen people forced their way into the committee’s meeting.

Video of the scene showed security officers trying to remove the protesters.

There are no reports of arrests inside the parliament, called the Knesset.

Israeli police reported that dozens of protesters had blocked the entrance to the Knesset, “violating public order.” After they refused to leave, a police officer announced a dispersal order. Those disrupting public order were moved back to the protest area in order to allow the protest to continue lawfully, according to a police statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to a two-state solution has sparked criticism from officials in Brussels and Washington, as divisions deepen between Israel and its allies and within its own government.

Netanyahu has made clear his opposition to a Palestinian state, but last week set alarm bells ringing when he said Israel “must control security of all the land which is west of the Jordan River.”

Ahead of a meeting in Brussels on Monday, European Union foreign ministers criticized Netanyahu’s comments, with Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, calling them “unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, the death toll in Gaza has climbed to more than 25,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the enclave.

Here are the latest developments:

Dear Omri, my Omri,

Alma began crawling soon after you were taken from us. She now sits and stands as well and tries to eat on her own. She smiles and reaches for the space you once occupied as if trying to grasp a memory that slips through her tiny fingers.

I wonder, will you be free to see her walk for the first time? I have been writing daily to you, myself and the world. Writing about our pain, our agony, our despair. I hope that you’ll return to Roni, Alma and me.

We heard that one of the released hostages told you we survived October 7 against all odds; we were rescued from the house of horrors that saw the death of loved ones, our hours-long abuse and your violent abduction.

We hope that news is true. We hope that the knowledge we are here waiting for you helps you persevere through your captivity, just as the hope of your return is what helps me persevere.

Editor’s note: Lishay Lavi’s husband Omri Miran, father of their two daughters Roni and Alma, was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and remains captive in Gaza. Her letter has been translated from Hebrew by her brother, Moshe Lavi. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. Read the full letter here.

Several European foreign ministers have joined the chorus of criticism directed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s opposition to a two-state solution.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday, Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin said Netanyahu’s comments were “unacceptable” and “do not contribute in any way to the prospects of peace.”

Netanyahu said his desire for security control over all territory west of Jordan is contrary to the existence of a Palestinian state. But Martin said this outcome would harm regional security.

“A two-state solution is the ultimate security guarantee to Israel and to Israeli citizens, and to Palestinians in terms of a future prospect of living in harmonious coexistence,” Martin said.

Latvia’s Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs Krišjānis Kariņš called Netanyahu’s remarks “discouraging.”

“But in spite of these remarks, from the European side, we need to push in this direction. This is the only way for peace and all of us need peace in the Middle East,” Kariņš said as he arrived at the same meeting.

The Israeli government’s opposition to a two-state solution is “unacceptable” and Israel cannot expect countries to drop the issue, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Monday.

“It’s unacceptable [for Israel] to say I don’t want this solution,” Josep Borrell told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU and Middle East foreign ministers in Brussels, adding, “the whole international community is behind” a two-state solution.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls from the international community for a two-state solution, but Borrell questioned what alternatives remain.

Borrell said that Hamas is part of the problem but that the way Israel has been trying to destroy the militant group was “certainly” wrong and was seeding hate “for generations.”

Israel Foreign Minister Israel Katz and his Palestinian Authority counterpart are attending the meeting in Brussels.

Communication networks have been restored across Gaza following the longest near-total blackout in the coastal enclave since the start of the war.

The outage, which lasted over a week, was the ninth communications blackout in Gaza since Israel’s war against Hamas began on October 7, according to internet monitoring site Netblocks.

Fares Samer, head of Palestinian telecommunications provider Ooredoo, told CNN on Monday: “Network is back in southern and central Gaza, and is operating in the north. This includes mobile phone communication and internet.”

The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 25,000 people since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the enclave said Sunday.

The Palestinian toll includes 25,105 killed and 62,681 injured, according to the ministry. CNN cannot independently verify the figures.

Israel’s military said Sunday that military activities in Gaza were continuing, with “dozens of terrorists eliminated and large quantities of weapons located.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he would not accept Hamas’ demand for an end to the war in exchange for the release of hostages held in Gaza.

Here’s what you need to know:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not accept Hamas’ demand for an end to the war in exchange for the release of hostages held in Gaza, he said Sunday.

Netanyahu said Hamas has demanded an end to the war, the release of Palestinian prisoners and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza in exchange for the release of the hostages.

“If we agree to this, our soldiers fell in vain. If we agree to this, we will not be able to guarantee the security of our citizens,” the prime minister said. 

Some context: Netanyahu’s comments come amid a report in the Wall Street Journal that the US, Egypt and Qatar want Israel to join a new phase of talks with Hamas that would start with the release of hostages and lead to the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Netanyahu said he communicated these points to US President Joe Biden over the weekend, and reiterated comments he made last week about Israel controlling all territory west of Jordan. 

The Israeli military has desecrated at least 16 cemeteries in its ground offensive in Gaza, a CNN investigation has found, leaving gravestones ruined, soil upturned and, in some cases, bodies unearthed.

In Khan Younis, southern Gaza, where fighting escalated in recent days, Israeli forces destroyed a cemetery, removing bodies in what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN was part of a search for the remains of hostages seized by Hamas during the October 7 attacks.

CNN has reviewed satellite images and social media footage showing the destruction of cemeteries — and witnessed it firsthand while traveling with the IDF in a convoy. Together, the evidence reveals a systemic practice.

The intentional destruction of religious sites, such as cemeteries, violates international law, except under narrow circumstances relating to that site becoming a military objective, and legal experts told CNN that Israel’s acts could amount to war crimes.

A spokesperson for the IDF could not account for the destruction of the 16 cemeteries CNN provided coordinates for, but said the military sometimes has “no other choice” but to target cemeteries it claimed Hamas uses for military purposes.

Read the full report.

The Israel Defense Forces released footage Sunday of a tunnel in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza where it said Hamas held around 20 hostages at different times. 

The tunnel was located in the center of Khan Younis and ran about 830 meters (0.51 miles) at a depth of 20 meters (66 feet), the IDF said.

There were booby traps, explosives and various obstacles inside the tunnel, according to the IDF, which said it encountered and killed several Hamas operatives as it entered the tunnel.

The IDF found no hostages in the tunnel but said, based on testimonies from former hostages and DNA evidence, that about 20 hostages were held there at different times, some of who have been released while others remain held in Gaza. 

Videos shared by the IDF show long tunnels, some of which lead to rooms with mattresses, blankets and food wrappers scattered on the floor, and kitchen and bathroom areas. 

An estimated 104 hostages are believed to be alive in Gaza, according to the latest Israeli figures, which have fluctuated at times based on intelligence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday rejected calls for Palestinian sovereignty following talks with US President Joe Biden about Gaza’s future, suggesting Israel’s security needs would be incompatible with Palestinian statehood.

The Israeli leader did not provide any other details in his one-line post in Hebrew. The territory west of Jordan encompasses Israel, the occupied West Bank, and Hamas-run Gaza, where Israel is battling the militant group following the October 7 attacks.

Biden and his top officials — including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Israel and the region last week — have said the creation of a Palestinian state with guarantees for Israel’s security is the only way to finally bring peace and stability to the Middle East.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called opposition to a two-state solution “unacceptable.”

Read more on the global calls for a Palestinian state.

Early on Christmas Day in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, Motaz Azaiza shared a terrifying update on X.

A quadcopter was flying low above the door of his house, he said, and he feared he was about to be targeted in an Israeli airstrike. As a highly visible Palestinian online who had received threats before, Azaiza believed he had reason to be afraid.

Hundreds of people flooded the replies with concern for the 24-year-old photojournalist, who has been documenting Israel’s military assault on Gaza on social media since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7.

“I’m so scared for Motaz,” the replies read.
“I hope Motaz is okay.”
“Pray for Motaz.”

Noor, a medical student in California who asked to go by her first name for safety reasons, was one of the people worrying. For months, she’s been following Azaiza’s dispatches from Gaza, broadcast to his millions of followers: images of his once vibrant neighborhood transformed into a gray wasteland, raw glimpses of carnage in the ashes, and reflections on his own feelings of rage and exhaustion.

Noor refers to Azaiza with the familiarity of his first name. She gets notifications on her phone each time he posts, and worries when too much time passes.

Read more.