January 25, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Fourteen out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are still partially functioning, with access to some impossible because of the conflict, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which cited the World Health Organization.

It said in an update that partial functionality indicates “a hospital is accessible to people in need of health care, can take in some new patients and can undertake some level of surgery.” 

The UN also provided status updates on two medical facilities in Gaza:

Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis: “No one can enter or exit the facility due to ongoing bombardments in the vicinity, including 400 dialysis patients in need of support. Health staff are reported to be digging graves on hospital grounds due to the large numbers of fatalities anticipated and the need to manage burials," OCHA said.

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City: The situation has somewhat improved with the facility now having about 120 health and care workers and roughly 300 patients. The hospital conducts between five and 10 surgeries daily, mainly trauma cases that require immediate care.

OCHA cited the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as saying the Israeli military “continues to shell areas that it has unilaterally designated as ‘safe’ for evacuation, reinforcing that nowhere in Gaza is safe."

The Rafah area in southern Gaza now hosts more than 50% of Gaza’s population, and people are facing worsening sanitary conditions and growing hunger, according to the United Nations.

Further escalation of hostilities in the Rafah area “could have serious implications for over 1.3 million people who are reportedly sheltering in the governorate," the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are now in the streets of Rafah, as well as the southern city of Khan Younis, “living in makeshift shelters in miserable conditions, with little or no access to food, water, medicines and appropriate shelter,” OCHA said.

A lack of water availability has also aggravated sanitary conditions, with the amalgamation of solid waste worsened by rain.

These are some numbers of the dire situation, as outlined in the OCHA report:

The US sanctioned several high-ranking Houthi leaders allegedly behind the rebel militia’s attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

The sanctioned individuals include Mohamed al-Atifi, the group's so-called “minister of defense,” as well as leaders of the Houthi naval forces.

Later Thursday, the UK announced it had also sanctioned the leaders, in a coordinated move alongside the US. The UK government said the sanctions were imposed to disrupt the Houthis' ability to carry out attacks on international shipping vessels.

The Iran-backed Houthis say the attacks in the Red Sea are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza.

CNN's Max Foster and Catherine Nicholls contributed to this reporting.

Gaza’s Civil Defense said they have dealt with “unbelievable” injuries after an attack on civilians waiting for aid near Gaza City Thursday.

Civilians were “targeted” by Israeli forces at the Kuwaiti roundabout in Gaza City, where they were gathered to pick up bags of flour, Basal added. 

Mohammed Al-Rifi, who sustained injuries in his arm and leg after the shelling incident by the Kuwaiti roundabout, said he and others there were "shelled four times.”

Abu Kareem, who was standing outside Al-Shifa Hospital, said that people went to the Kuwait roundabout to “get what they could, and were met with shelling.”

“The Israeli military instructs people to go to these locations designated for aid pickup, and then they target it. We’re never going to find food to eat,” Kareem said.

“We are resorting to food one would normally feed livestock,” he said. 

CNN asked the IDF earlier Thursday for comment on any military operations in the vicinity of the roundabout.

"Concrete actions" are required to preserve "life saving" medical services in war-torn Gaza, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warns.

The ICRC says only two referral hospitals are providing advanced medical services in Gaza, in a statement released Wednesday.  

However, the ICRC warned that the future of the Nasser Hospital and a third facility, Al Amal Hospital, operated by the Palestine Red Crescent Society, hang in the balance as fighting continues in their immediate vicinity. The head of the ICRC office in Gaza, William Schomberg said "the cumulative impact on the health system is devastating." 

In a statement sent to CNN, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra, the spokesperson for the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza described the situation at Nasser Hospital as "extremely catastrophic." 

"The hospital is operating at 10% of its capacity. Operating rooms have run out of anesthesia and painkillers for patients and the wounded," Al-Qidra added. 

Torrential rain in Gaza is making an already brutal existence even harder for the tens of thousands of people displaced and camping in the open air. 

CNN video from Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, shows dozens of people searching for their belongings after torrential rain washed away mattresses, food and clothes overnight Wednesday.

An estimated 1.9 million people in Gaza are displaced, with more and more crowding into open areas in the center and south of the territory. The mass displacement has led to widespread hunger and the spread of respiratory and skin diseases. 

Parents in Deir Al-Balah told CNN they cannot sleep, because they are trying to comfort their children. And then storms compound their misery. "We were all asleep, and at midnight, we woke up when all those tents were drowned in water. We started carrying our children,” said Ahmad Al Rebai.

"All we say is enough with all this. We want to go back to our homes in Gaza. We are tired of this life,” one man said. "It has been three and a half months. Enough with this life. It's better that we die than live like this." 

Israel declassified more than 30 documents, including summaries of cabinet meetings, as part of its defense against an accusation of genocide made by South Africa at the International Court of Justice, an Israeli official familiar with the matter told CNN Thursday.

The declassification of the documents aimed to show that the Israeli government took steps to bolster humanitarian aid and medical support to Palestinian civilians in the first months of the war.

Israel declassified the documents, the official said, in an effort to rebut South Africa's allegation of genocide, which hinges on the Israeli government's intent.

What's next in the ICJ case: The court is due to announce an order in the case on Friday. It is not clear what the order will be, but it could call for a ceasefire in the conflict. World Court rulings are legally binding, but the court has no mechanism to enforce its decisions. A final ruling on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is likely to take months or years to deliver. 

The New York Times was the first to report the documents, which are not available to the public. 

The UK will triple its aid to Gaza and coordinate efforts with Qatar to increase the flow of supplies and equipment to those most in need in the enclave.

On Thursday, the UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron will oversee 17 tonnes of family-sized tents being loaded onto a plane to Egypt, according to a UK foreign office statement.

Cameron, who is carrying out a diplomatic tour of the Middle East described the “scale of suffering” in Gaza as “unimaginable.”

The foreign minister said he told Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu during a Wednesday meeting that “far more trucks need to be able to enter Gaza and more crossings need to open.”

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says that Israeli forces are again targeting the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis amid heavy fighting in the area.

In a statement Thursday, the PRCS said there was "ongoing shelling and gunfire in the hospital's vicinity.”

The PRCS also alleged that Israeli forces had imposed “a complete curfew around the hospital since yesterday afternoon, restricting the movement of ambulance crews to and from the hospital. Thousands of displaced individuals live in constant fear and anxiety due to the ongoing siege and bombardment.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Wednesday that they continue to operate in Khan Younis, where they are pursuing “military targets, outposts, infrastructure and command and control centers”, and said the operation there will continue for “several days”.

The IDF regularly asserts that it does not target hospitals but that Hamas uses them as cover for its military operations.