January 7, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

The resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza is “outright, officially and unequivocally” not Israel’s position, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday.

Speaking to NBC’s Kristen Walker on Meet the Press, Herzog was asked whether recent comments made by some Israeli cabinet members, who appeared to suggest a forced displacement of Palestinians out of Gaza, reflect the Israeli government's official position. 

Herzog said this is "absolutely not” the position of the “Israeli government or the Israeli parliament or the Israeli public,” but added, “In a society where free speech is the basis of our national DNA, people can say whatever they want.”

The Israeli president said that his colleagues “were speaking about the wilful leaving of the Gaza Strip, but… I'm saying outright, officially and unequivocally this is not the Israeli position.”

Herzog also spoke of Israel’s determination “to undermine the ability of Hamas to operate terror throughout the world and of course, in Israel.”

He said his country was “utterly grateful” to US President Joe Biden for his “steadfast stand” in supporting Israel, and that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s upcoming visit to Israel is “another expression of the huge impact and importance that the United States places as to the direction and the exit from this conflict.”

On October 7, 2023, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a promise to Israelis:

Now, three months on, Israel's defense forces are shifting to a new phase of its war on Hamas in Gaza – and there are signs its objectives are changing too.

While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have achieved some of their goals – such as claiming to have killed thousands of Hamas fighters – their war on Hamas is unfolding in front of an international community increasingly aghast at the extraordinary humanitarian crisis and tens of thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza.

Here are some other key developments:

Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the "catastrophic consequences of the continuing war in Gaza” and called for “an end to the dire humanitarian crisis" in the enclave, according to a palace statement released after their meeting Sunday. 

King Abdullah II "reiterated the importance of the US role in putting pressure for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza" and ensuring "adequate and sustainable delivery of relief, humanitarian, and medical assistance" to Gaza, according to the statement. 

He said regional stability could only be achieved through "a just solution to the Palestinians issue” and a “comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution.”

The monarch reiterated his “unequivocal rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which constitutes a clear violation of international law,” the palace said.

The king also stressed that violence committed by extremist settlers in the West Bank must be stopped before it leads "to an explosion in the region.”

In a statement, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller thanked the King for Jordan's "role and leadership in providing life-saving aid to Palestinians civilians in Gaza."

"They both agreed to continue close coordination for sustained humanitarian assistance," it read.

The statement also said Blinken emphasized US opposition to displacing Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and the need to provide civilians protection from violence.

Miller's statement said the secretary also shared in the meeting that the US is committed to finding peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians, specifically through the "establishment of an independent Palestinian state." 

From Jordan, Blinken heads to Qatar where he will meet Sunday with Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. 

The son of Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh was killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on Sunday.

His son's death comes just months after his wife, two children and grandchild were killed in a strike he himself reported on before he learned of their deaths.

The network reported that Wael’s photojournalist son Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, 27, was killed west of Khan Younis on Sunday, alongside Al Jazeera employee Mustafa Thuraya. Their driver was also killed and another person was critically injured, local journalists told CNN.

"There is nothing more painful than losing your own blood and especially your own eldest son. Hamza was me, my soulmate and everything," Al-Dahdouh said during a live interview on Al Jazeera on Sunday. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said even before their deaths that more journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Hamas war than had ever been killed in a single country in an entire year.

Al-Dahdouh also spoke at his son’s funeral on Sunday, saying that he hoped Hamza’s death would be the last.

“I wish that the blood of my son will be the last of those journalists killed and those killed in this massacre,” he said in video broadcast by Al Jazeera. Pictures from the funeral showed Al-Dahdouh, wearing his press vest, holding his son’s lifeless hand and kissing it repeatedly as he wept.

Al-Dahdouh’s own hand was bandaged. He was injured in an attack that killed his colleague Samer Abu Daqqa in December.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a CNN question about the apparent airstrike that killed the two Al Jazeera employees on Sunday.

The Israeli military has said in the past that it never intentionally targets journalists.

But the CPJ, which promotes press freedom worldwide, said 77 journalists and media workers were killed in Gaza between October 7 and December 31. Of those 70 were Palestinians, four Israeli and three Lebanese.

Wael Al-Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter, and grandson were killed in October in an explosion at the house where they were sheltering in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The IDF told CNN it had carried out an airstrike in an area of Gaza where Al-Dahdouh’s relatives were killed while it was targeting “Hamas terrorist infrastructure.”

Seven Palestinian men were killed in an Israeli airstrike near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said Sunday. Israel confirmed it had carried out an airstrike, calling the men “terrorists.”

Four of the dead were brothers, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

Palestinian factions called a general strike in the West Bank in response to Sunday's killings, and funeral processions for the six men were being held Sunday morning.

The IDF did not say why it identified all the victims as terrorists.

But the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said they were "engaged in clashes with bullets and explosive devices" in the Jenin camp, according to a statement by the PIJ’s Al-Quds Brigades in the West Bank.

The IDF also said an Israel Border Police officer was killed when her vehicle drove over an explosive device during the operation, and that other officers were injured. The IDF identified the dead officer as Sgt. Shay Germay, and said her family has been notified.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, violence in the West Bank has been on the rise. At least 334 people have been killed by either soldiers or Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Israel has appointed British lawyer Malcolm Shaw to represent it at the International Court of Justice where this week it will fight genocide allegations, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat told CNN Sunday.

Shaw has a long history of representing national governments in international courts and has appeared before the European Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Justice, the Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong), the High Court of Ireland, and the UK Supreme Court, in addition to the ICJ, according to the law firm where he works. 

He has represented the United Arab Emirates at the ICJ, and Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Ireland, Malaysia and Cameroon in other courts, his Essex Court Chambers biography says. 

Some context: South Africa filed an application against Israel at the ICJ last month, accusing Israel of being “in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention” because of its war in Gaza. 

Filing its case, South Africa said it was "gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants."

Israel firmly rejected the accusations and said it would appear before the court “to dispel South Africa's absurd blood libel."

South Africa and Israel are both parties to the Genocide Convention, according to the ICJ, which is also known as the World Court and is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

CNN's Amir Tal contributed to this post.

Three months ago, speaking to citizens rocked by a horrific day of attacks by Hamas, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a promise.

Now, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is shifting to a new phase of its war on Hamas in Gaza – and there are signs its objectives are changing too.

“The record is not very friendly to military campaigns seeking to eradicate political military movements that are deeply rooted,” Bilal Y. Saab, an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa at Chatham House, told CNN.

Israel has seen some successes in that regard; its forces claim to have killed thousands of Hamas fighters, including some high-ranking members, and have dismantled some parts of the group’s vast tunnel network under the enclave.

But challenges remain and an endgame is far from sight. Few countries at war set deadlines. Israeli officials have warned of a lengthy war that could stretch through the entirety of 2024 and beyond.

It will unfold in front of an international community that is increasingly aghast at the extraordinary humanitarian crisis and spiraling civilian deaths in Gaza.

And as international pressure increases, so too could domestic unease towards Netanyahu – an embattled prime minister eager to point to tangible victories.

“There is a race against time,” said Saab, outlining the key questions facing Israel’s leadership. “At what price is this tactical success going to come, and how much time do the Israelis have to achieve that tactical success without suffering from more significant international outrage?”

Read more: Israel is shifting to a new phase of its war on Hamas.

It’s been three months since the devastating Hamas attack that sparked Israel’s war in Gaza, and the deadly fighting has led to a dire humanitarian crisis in the area. 

The Israeli military began an offensive on the Palestinian enclave after Hamas militants launched a brutal assault on Israel on October 7, with gunmen killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 200 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

In the three months since the attack, more than 22,700 people in Gaza have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Here’s a look at some of the key moments in the conflict:

October 7: Hamas’ attack. Hamas’ surprise October 7 assault marked the biggest terrorist attack in Israel’s history. At least 1,500 Hamas fighters poured across the border into Israel by land, sea and air using paragliders. Soon after, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was "at war.”

October 9: Israel orders the "complete siege" of Gaza. Two days afterwards, Netanyahu said the Israeli military would attack Hamas with a force “like never before,” with the goal of destroying the militant group.

October 13: A growing exodus. Israel’s military told 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes immediately, as it stepped up its response. Since the conflict began, the UN estimates up to 1.9 million people have been displaced.

October 17: Hundreds killed at Gaza hospital. A deadly blast tore through Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which was sheltering thousands of displaced people. CNN found that the blast was likely caused by a malfunctioning rocket fired by Palestinian militants rather than an Israeli strike.

October 27: Israel expands its ground offensive. After a war largely conducted from the air, the Israel Defense Forces announced it was “expanding ground operations” in Gaza.

November 15: Al-Shifa hospital raid. Israel launched a “targeted” operation against Hamas inside Gaza’s largest hospital, where thousands of Palestinians were believed to be sheltering. Conditions at the hospital deteriorated rapidly in the days of fighting. The raid sparked international criticism.

November 24: A truce begins. After days of careful negotiations, a truce between Israel and Hamas brought a pause to fighting. As part of the truce, civilian hostages held captive by militants were released, with groups of hostages being released each day.

December 1: The truce collapses. One week later, the Israeli military resumed fighting against Hamas in Gaza, accusing the group of breaking the terms of the truce. Israel’s focus began shifting from northern to southern Gaza.

December 15: Hostages killed in botched raid. Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Israeli hostages in northern Gaza after misidentifying them as threats. The IDF said the shooting was against its rules of engagement and that the soldiers involved would face disciplinary procedures.

January 1: Israel announces partial withdrawal. On the first day of the new year, Israel announced it would soon begin pulling thousands of soldiers out of Gaza in preparation for a new phase of the conflict, although a top official warned that he expected the fighting to continue throughout the year.

The Israel Defense Forces has dropped new flyers in neighborhoods in central Gaza urging Palestinians to evacuate to the nearby city of Deir al-Balah. 

The IDF said people in the neighborhoods of Al-Amal, Al-Sdera, Al-Basateen, Al-Farouq and Ain Jalout are in a dangerous war zone.

United Nations officials have previously said there is nowhere safe for civilians to go in Gaza. Many displaced residents have already fled to Deir al-Balah. Gazans told CNN this week that living conditions there are dismal, despite instructions from the Israeli military that it would be safer there.

Here are some other key updates: