January 8, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

The Israeli government has named its judge for the panel that will consider South Africa’s claim at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel is “in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention” because of its war in Gaza. 

Israel firmly rejected the accusation and said it would appear before the court. 

The prime minister’s office announced Monday that retired Supreme Court justice Aharon Barak will be Israel’s appointee to the 15-judge panel at ICJ in the Hague.

Barak, who is 87, was the President of Israel’s Supreme Court from 1995 to 2006.

Both parties in a case are entitled to name a judge to be part of the panel that hears evidence.

South Africa will formally present its case on Thursday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) admitted on Monday it carried out an airstrike that killed two journalists working for Al Jazeera in Gaza on Sunday, saying forces were targeting a terrorist. 

One of the people killed in the strike was a journalist and drone operator who was working for Al Jazeera, the network’s Jerusalem and Ramallah bureau chief told CNN.

“Mustafa Thuraya was a drone operator used by Al Jazeera since the beginning of the war, a freelancer. He is known as a drone operator journalist in Gaza,” Waleed al-Omari said.

He was one of several journalists, including photojournalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh, who had gone to northern Rafah “to cover the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Abu Al-Naja family house which killed dozens,” al-Omari said.

As they were returning to Khan Younis, “drone strikes targeted two cars — the first vehicle which had Hamza and Mustafa and a driver, and a second car that had the reporter of Palestine Today and a driver.”

Thuraya and Al-Dahdouh were killed and their driver was critically injured, and both occupants of the other car were killed, al-Omari said. 

There is no indication Thuraya was operating a drone at the time of the strike, when the journalists were returning from filming. 

Accusations of "systematically targeting" journalists: Pressed by CNN as to whether they knew there was a journalist drone operator in one of the cars, the IDF said: “For now we can’t elaborate. We will let you know when we have more information.”

Al-Dahdouh, the photojournalist, was the son of Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh. Two of his other children were killed along with his wife and a grandchild in an Israeli airstrike in October. 

Al Jazeera in a statement Sunday accused Israel of “systematically targeting” Al-Dahdouh, adding: “Al Jazeera condemns, in the strongest terms, the ongoing crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces against journalists and media professionals in Gaza."

Israel says categorically that it does not target journalists, but the Committee to Protect Journalists 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.

Israeli forces will shift from the “intense maneuvering phase of the war” toward “different types of special operations,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said.

“We’re close to the next phase in the north, including Gaza City,” where Israeli troops have largely established control, at least above ground, Gallant said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Monday.

As tens of thousands more civilians crowd into southern parts of Gaza, Gallant acknowledged that Israel’s military offensive needs “to take into consideration the huge number of civilians" and military tactics would need to adjust.

“It will take some time,” Gallant said. “But we aren’t going to give up.”

Key context: Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 22,600 people, 70% of whom are women and children, the Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday.

CNN cannot independently verify the casualty figures reported by the Gaza ministry due to limited access to the area and the challenges of confirming precise numbers during the ongoing conflict. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it hit the southern city of Khan Younis with 30 strikes overnight into Monday, as it intensifies its military assault in central and southern Gaza.

CNN cannot independently verify operational details reported by the IDF.

Israeli troops and air force hit "underground targets, terror infrastructure, and weapons storage facilities," the IDF said.

The IDF claimed that in Khan Younis “troops identified 10 terrorists in areas from which rockets were launched toward Israeli territory." Forces then struck the areas with an unmanned aerial vehicle.

In an agricultural area in central Gaza, the IDF said troops located a tunnel shaft, thousands of dollars and weapons. In al-Maghazi in central Gaza, a fighter jet struck a weapons storage facility where long-range rockets were stored.

Some context: Deadly bombardment has ramped up in the southern city of Khan Younis in recent weeks, including on Saturday, when an Israeli airstrike killed at least seven family members, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

Then on Sunday, Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, 27, the son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, was killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike, alongside Al Jazeera employee Mustafa Thuraya, the network reported.

The IDF has issued several evacuation orders telling civilians to leave much of the area. Israeli bombardment and besiegement has forcibly displaced almost 90% of Gaza's more than 2.2 million population, according to the UN's agency for Palestine refugees.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Palestinian civilians must be allowed to “return home as soon as conditions allow” and "must not be pressed to leave Gaza" following comments from two far-right Israeli ministers.

Blinken made the comments during a press conference on Sunday with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha.

Blinken criticized “irresponsible” and “inflammatory” statements made by Israeli ministers and lawmakers calling for a resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza. He did not specifically name the Israeli ministers who made the comments.

Key context: Blinken's comments come after Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked outrage when both far-right ministers made comments advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip.

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

Additional reporting from CNN's Niamh Kennedy in London.

A key hospital in central Gaza "must remain functional," the head of the World Health Organization said Sunday, after several aid organizations withdrew medical staff from the facility citing increased Israeli military activity in the area.

In a statement, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the Al-Aqsa Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah is “the most important hospital remaining in Gaza’s Middle Area,” and demanded the facility, its staff, patients and the families located on its premises be protected from ongoing hostilities.

Aid groups Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the emergency medical team of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on Sunday announced their withdrawal from Al-Aqsa Hospital after the Israeli military dropped flyers on central Gaza ordering Palestinians to evacuate to "shelters" in the area. Doctors Without Borders on Saturday said it would evacuate its staff working at Al-Aqsa due to artillery fire in the area.

No hospitals are fully functioning in northern Gaza and only “a mere handful” of health facilities elsewhere in the territory were operational, Tedros said in his statement.  

He said representatives from WHO and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs who visited Al-Aqsa Hospital on Sunday saw large numbers of wounded people being brought in for urgent treatment.

Tedros said evacuation orders and lack of safety had forced most medical staff to leave. “Tonight’s reports indicate that only 5 doctors remain. Hospital management said health workers had no food,” he said.

CNN is not able to independently confirm the details of his statement. The Israel Defense Forces have said they do not generally target medical facilities but have accused Hamas of using them as cover for military activity and reserve the right to strike them if so. 

Tedros said WHO was planning to facilitate the deployment of an emergency medical team to support the overstretched doctors and nurses of Al-Aqsa but that it would only be possible in a secure environment. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said he's focused on preventing a wider conflict during a moment of "profound tension" in the Middle East, as he shuttles between capitals on his latest visit to the region since October 7.

“We have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading," Blinken said in Doha Sunday after meeting with Qatar's prime minister.

The top US diplomat will be the latest in a long parade of Biden national security officials to meet face to face with the Israeli government when he arrives in Tel Aviv this week. It's part of what US officials say is a constant effort to stay in touch with — and in front of — Israeli officials in an attempt to keep Israel’s war machine in check as the conflict drags on.

At least 22,835 Palestinians have been killed and 58,416 others injured in Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday.

CNN is not able to independently verify the numbers released by the ministry.

Here are the latest updates:

The recent killing of a senior Hamas leader could affect ongoing negotiations to secure the release of hostages held by the militant group in Gaza, Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said. 

Israel carried out the strike last Tuesday in Beirut that killed senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri, a US official previously told CNN. Israel did not claim responsibility.

At a joint news conference in Doha Sunday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Al-Thani was asked whether Arouri's death could impact talks to free the more than 100 hostages believed to still be held in Gaza following the October 7 attacks.

Qatar has played a central role in mediating hostage negotiations. And despite the challenges, the negotiation process is continuing, Al-Thani said.

Two medical aid groups on Sunday announced their withdrawal from a central Gaza hospital, citing increased Israeli military activity in the area.

In a statement, the International Rescue Committee said its emergency medical team was "forced to withdraw" from Al Aqsa Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah after the Israeli military dropped flyers on central Gaza ordering Palestinians to evacuate to "shelters" in the area.

The IRC team had provided vital services at the hospital, such as the treatment of trauma injuries, the release said. 

CNN is not able to independently confirm this statement. 

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) also said it was withdrawing from Al Aqsa hospital. It comes after Doctors Without Borders on Saturday said it would evacuate its staff and their families from the facility.

MAP and the IRC said they were "deeply appalled" their teams had to pull out of the hospital and would work to identify alternate locations to provide health care to civilians. 

“The dismantling of health services witnessed in the north must not be repeated in the middle and south of Gaza,” the release said.