January 3, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

There have been fighting and Israeli strikes in several areas of the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, according to both the Israel Defense Forces and sources in Gaza.

Video from the Jabalya refugee camp showed the aftermath of a substantial explosion which resulted in several civilian casualties.

The Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza said “tens" were "killed and injured" when a family home in Jabalya was targeted.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on its operations in the area. 

Before the explosion in Jabalya, the Health Ministry in Gaza reported that over the previous 24 hours, 128 people had been killed in Gaza and a further 261 injured.

According to the Ministry, the total number of people killed in Gaza since 7 October has risen to 22,313, with more than 57,000 people injured.

The Gaza ministry, as well as its counterpart in the occupied West Bank, estimates that some 70% of the casualties have been women and children.

CNN is unable to independently confirm the figures provided by the Gaza ministry, due to restricted access to the region and the difficulty in verifying accurate numbers amidst the ongoing conflict.

While some parts of Gaza have been quieter after the withdrawal of some Israeli units, intense combat continues in the Khan Younis area, according to both the IDF and Hamas’ military wing.

The IDF said its troops located a tunnel shaft inside a school in the Khirbet Khuza'a neighborhood of Khan Younis “and killed terrorists who attempted to plant an explosive device on a tank.”

“The troops, including armored corps and engineering forces, conducted targeted raids on central locations in the area,” the IDF said. It spoke of intensive battles in Khan Younis.

The Israel Defense Forces said a number of launches from Lebanon toward Israel were identified Wednesday. 

“In response, IDF artillery struck the sources of the fire,” the IDF said. 

“A terrorist cell in Lebanon” was struck, the IDF said, using its usual terminology for Hezbollah.

“In addition, an IAF fighter jet struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon,” it added.

For its part, Hezbollah claimed two cross-border attacks on Wednesday and said that two fighters had been killed, without giving further details.

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah is set to deliver his third speech since the Israel-Hamas war erupted. 

The speech comes a day after a senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri was killed in a strike in Beirut, but had been previously scheduled to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Iranian Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guards who died following a US air strike in 2020.

Some context: Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Islamist movement with one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East. The group, which has its main base on the Israel-Lebanon border, could become a wildcard player in the Hamas-Israel war, and spark a wider regional conflict.

Prior to October 7, Nasrallah had not spoken publicly in person since 2006, when a month-long war erupted between Lebanon and Israel.  

In his first public speech since 2006, Nasrallah called for a ceasefire and praised Hamas' October 7 attacks on Israel, adding that they were fully planned and executed by Hamas.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is “deeply concerned” at any potential border escalation between Hezbollah and Israel after the killing of Hamas senior leader Saleh Al Arouri in Beirut on Tuesday. 

“We continue to implore all parties cease their fire, and any interlocutors with influence to urge restraint,” she added.

Mohammed Hamouda says the streets of Rafah, in southern Gaza, are thick with pollution as beggars and homeless civilians try to survive in sheltering conditions ravaged by death and disease.

“Life here is very difficult,” the physical therapist, who is working at Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah and volunteering at a nearby shelter, told CNN on Tuesday. “Hundreds of thousands cannot find shelter,” he said. “Others sleep on the sidewalk.”

Hamouda and his family are part of the 1.93 million people in Gaza who have been displaced in search of safety from Israeli bombardment and besiegement. He is staying with his family inside a shelter center. He was displaced to Rafah from his neighborhood in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza, where his house was destroyed on October 15.

More than 1 million people are crammed into Rafah, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said on Tuesday. The southern city is estimated to be the most densely populated area in Gaza, exceeding 12,000 people per square kilometer, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in December.

Israel’s severe restrictions on food, fuel and water entering Gaza have put more than 2.2 million people in Gaza at risk of severe dehydration and starvation. Those living in overwhelmed shelters and huge tent camps are exposed to infectious diseases, where children are most at risk, according to Hamouda.

Young kids show signs of malnutrition, he said. Meanwhile, “there is no one” available to meet the needs of disabled civilians who require assistive devices. Those with chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes and epilepsy cannot access medication, Hamouda added.

“Unfortunately, (those with) wounds are infected, and they are preparing for amputation,” he said.

Civilians in Gaza are no strangers to the trauma of war, having lived through years under siege. As Israel’s military assault on the Palestinian enclave following Hamas' October 7 attacks enters its third month, Hamouda said “all residents of the Gaza Strip need mental health intervention.”

“Children in particular show complications of fear and crying a lot, urine incontinence. They wake up many times at night,” he told CNN. “My children don't let me go to my work,” he said. “When I am outside, they hear the explosion. They think their father is dead, shouting and crying a lot and asking for their father, asking for their mother.”

Hamouda has three children who are aged six, four and two and a half. He described the turmoil of being surrounded by “the sense of death,” as he balances his responsibility as a health worker with his fears for his family.

“There is so much suffering that I cannot describe. Three months ago, my children and I had a house. Today I live inside a shelter center,” he added. “My house was completely destroyed. And with it, the beautiful memories were destroyed.”

Water has been restored to parts of central Gaza, according to the municipality of Deir al Balah.

It said that in conjunction with the Palestinian Water Authority and other municipalities, it had been able to repair the Makrut water line. The line, which is a critical source of clean water for many neighborhoods in central Gaza, had been out of service for several days.

The lack of water pumping had resulted “in the overflow of sewage in the streets,” the municipality said.

The Makrut line is one of several that have been used to supply Gaza with water from Israel. 

UN agencies and NGOs have warned that the lack of clean water in many areas of Gaza risks spreading skin diseases and other illnesses such as diarrhea.

The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, condemned strikes on the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters in Khan Younis in a statement on Tuesday.

“I deplore today’s strikes on the @PalestineRCS-run Al-Amal hospital in the southern #Gaza city of Khan Younis, which severely damaged the Palestine Red Crescent Society training centre located within the hospital complex,” he said.

Calling the bombardment “unconscionable,” Ghebreyesus said hospitals, ambulances, health workers and people seeking care must be protected under international humanitarian law and added that WHO’s movements, as well as those of its partner organizations like the Red Crescent, had been severely impeded by the ongoing violence across Gaza.

Ghebreyesus reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire to ensure “the accelerated and unimpeded flow of food, medical supplies, water and other essential items to millions of civilians forced to live in unspeakable conditions.”

Pointing to “widespread deaths, suffering and decimation of homes, roads and other infrastructure,” the WHO chief wrote “If the conditions for a cease-fire in hostilities have not been met by now, I do not know what it will take.”

CNN has contacted the IDF for comment.

Yemen's Houthi rebels fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles into the southern Red Sea on Tuesday night, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said Wednesday. 

No damage was reported, CENTCOM said in a statement. It marks the latest in dozens of Houthi attacks on commercial vessels since October 7, which the rebels say are in solidarity with Hamas amid the militant group's war with Israel.

The latest Houthi attacks come after the Iran-backed group condemned the killing of senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri in a strike in Lebanon on Tuesday, calling it a "cowardly crime" and expressing support for revenge to be taken against Israel.  

A US official told CNN that Israel carried out the strike in Beirut. Israel did not claim responsibility for the attack, which has raised fears of a potential escalation in fighting in the region.

Some more background: The Red Sea is one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes and prolonged Houthi attacks there could disrupt the global economy.

The US has deployed warships to the waterway and last month launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, a multinational maritime coalition, to strengthen security in the critical global shipping lane.

On Sunday, the White House said it is not seeking a wider conflict in the Middle East after US helicopters sank three Houthi boats in the Red Sea after coming under fire.

Israel carried out the deadly strike in Lebanon on Tuesday that killed senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri, a US official told CNN.

The Biden administration was not told about the operation in advance, the official said.

Arouri, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, was "martyred in a treacherous Zionist airstrike in Beirut," Hamas media outlet Al Aqsa TV said.

If confirmed, Arouri would be the most senior Hamas official killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

Israel did not claim responsibility for the strike in Beirut, which was condemned by Hamas' regional allies, raising fears of a potential escalation in fighting in the Middle East.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday urged Israel to avoid escalation "particularly in Lebanon," according to a statement from the French presidency.

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