January 8, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

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. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he’s focused on preventing a wider conflict during a moment of "profound tension" in the Middle East that could "easily metastasize."

"We have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading," Blinken said Sunday during a news conference in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.

Al-Thani also warned of an escalation of conflicts in the region and specifically condemned recent strikes in Beirut and Syria.

Al-Thani reiterated his calls for a ceasefire and said it would have a “positive implication” on the region.

Blinken skirted a question about whether Arab countries were correct in calling for a ceasefire. He said the US wanted to ensure the October 7 attacks would not happen again, which "means dealing with the threat that Hamas continues to pose.”

“But as we've made clear also from day one, it's imperative that in dealing with this very, very difficult challenge, that it do so in a way that puts a premium on protecting civilians. Making sure that people get the assistance they need,” Blinken added, speaking of Israel’s war against Hamas.

In response to a question about whether the US should make providing weapons to Israel conditional, Blinken said they will continue to make sure any US military assistance is used in accordance with international law.

A 3-year-old Palestinian girl was shot and killed as Israeli forces fired at a vehicle that attacked a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, according to police and emergency services.

Israeli police said a man and a woman were shot and killed after they attacked border police Sunday at the Ras Bidu military checkpoint about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of Jerusalem.

As police shot at the attackers, the girl was hit while traveling in a different vehicle. 

Magen David Adom, from Israel’s emergency medical service, said the unconscious child was brought to their team and pronounced dead after medical examinations. 

Two other people were injured in the incident, including a 20-year-old woman, Israel’s emergency medical service said.

CNN’s Amir Tal in Jerusalem contributed reporting to this post.

More than 10 children on average have lost one or both of their legs every day in Gaza since October 7, with many amputations performed without anesthesia, a charity said Sunday, underscoring the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave following more than three months of Israeli bombardment.

In a statement citing United Nations statistics, Save the Children’s director for the occupied Palestinian territory, Jason Lee, said the “suffering of children in this conflict is unimaginable and even more so because it is unnecessary and completely avoidable.”

Save the Children referenced remarks from UNICEF spokesperson James Elder, who after returning from Gaza, said on December 19 that around 1,000 children had lost one or both of their legs since October 7, when Hamas launched its attack on Israel and war broke out.

The charity also cited a World Health Organization statement in which the agency said many of these operations on children were conducted without anesthesia, given the severe shortages in medical supplies and basic goods in Gaza.

Lee said he had seen “doctors and nurses completely overwhelmed” when children are brought in with blast wounds.

“The impact of seeing children in that much pain and not having the equipment, medicines to treat them or alleviate pain is too much for even experienced professionals,” he said.

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More than 10 children losing legs in Gaza every day as dire health crisis grows, aid groups say | CNN

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken 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 for his fifth visit since the October 7 attack by Hamas.

Blinken’s meetings in Israel, one of nine stops on a frenetic, weeklong crisscrossing of the region, are 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.

“What happens is you get in a room and say, ‘This is what we need to see,’” a US official told CNN, noting that breakthroughs with Israel have typically occurred after a visit by Blinken or a call from President Joe Biden. Sometimes the Israelis agree with what the US says, the official said, and sometimes they don’t and negotiations ensue.

There are “at least a dozen live issues we are pushing for,” the official told CNN, including protecting Palestinian civilians amid a skyrocketing death toll as well as creating conditions to allow desperately needed aid to get where it is required most.

Shifts by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have been slow and incremental, and US officials have acknowledged that “gaps” remain between what they claim are Israel’s intentions and what has played out.

The stakes of Blinken’s fifth trip are high as America’s allies that stood behind Israel at the start of the war have grown critical as the civilian toll in Gaza rises. Those partners will be looking for evidence Israel is listening to the US, and, as tensions skyrocket in the region, allies are hoping Blinken can ensure Israel has a viable plan to end the war amid concerns over a wider conflict.

Read more about Blinken's visit.

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

“The IDF will immediately use all its strength to destroy Hamas’s capabilities,” Netanyahu said. “We will destroy them.”

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.

Read the full analysis.

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, 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.”

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.”