January 3, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned on Wednesday that if Israel wages war with Lebanon, the response would be "limitless," adding that the killing of a Hamas senior official in Beirut on Tuesday "won't go unpunished."

Nasrallah was delivering a pre-planned address to mark the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force military commander Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq in January 2020. 

Nasrallah's speech also follows the killing of Hamas senior leader Saleh Al-Arouri in Beirut, which a US official has told CNN was caused by an Israeli airstrike.  

Tensions have escalated between Israel and Hezbollah since the October 7, 2023 attack and the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas, which has prompted fears of a spillover into a wider regional conflict.

Tensions have escalated between Israel and Hezbollah since the October 7, 2023 attack and the ensuing war between Israel and Hamas, which has prompted fears of a spillover into a wider regional conflict.

"A war with us will be extremely costly," he said, adding, "It would then be in Lebanon's interest to go to war to the very end."

"Yesterday's crime was large and dangerous," Nasrallah said about Al-Arouri's death. "... This crime will not be left without a response and punishment. Between us and our enemies there is time and the battlefield." 

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

In that speech, Nasrallah called for a ceasefire and praised Hamas' attacks on Israel, adding that they were fully planned and executed by the militant group.

The United States joined 11 countries on Wednesday in condemning Houthi attacks against commercial and merchant vessels in the Red Sea, warning against further attacks in a strongly worded statement. 

Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, are the countries that spoke out against the attacks alongside the US.

The attacks by the Yemeni-backed Houthi rebels, the statement said, are “illegal, unacceptable, and profoundly destabilizing” and in “direct threat to the freedom of navigation.”

The joint statement comes days after US helicopters sank three Houthi boats in the Red Sea after coming under fire, marking the first time that the US has killed members of the group. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Sunday that the US would continue acting in self-defense.

“We don’t seek a conflict wider in the region and we’re not looking for a conflict with the Houthis. The best outcome here would be for the Houthis to stop these attacks, as we have made clear over and over again,” Kirby said on ABC News.

The US doubled down on its assessment that Hamas and other Gaza militants used the enclave’s largest hospital complex as a command hub as well as to hold hostages and store weapons, with a senior intelligence official pointing to newly declassified intelligence that reinforces the conclusion of Israeli and US intelligence.

But the US intelligence community did not release any new evidence to support its assessment after questions were raised about to what extent the Al-Shifa Hospital was indeed the “beating heart” of Hamas operations, as Israel had claimed.

In late December, the Washington Post published an extensive investigation that cast doubt on some of Israel’s claims.

Israel had come under widespread criticism for its November siege and assault on the struggling hospital, where doctors had described the situation as “catastrophic.”

The new intelligence echoed previous allegations by US President Joe Biden's administration and Israel in the days and weeks leading up to Israel’s November raid on Al-Shifa Hospital that intelligence indicated Hamas had a command and control node in the tunnels under the hospital complex.

A spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, had also said the hospital was being used to store weapons and hold hostages.

In November, Hamas acknowledged using the hospital to bring in hostages as they “meticulously monitored” their health before detaining them in different locations, after Israel released video from the hospital’s security cameras showing hostages being brought inside. But Hamas denied using the hospital as a command hub.

Read more about the US doubling-down on its assessment.

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.