January 10, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas has moved here.

Editor’s Note: CNN reported from Gaza under Israel Defense Forces’ escort at all times. As a condition for journalists to join the embed with the IDF, media outlets must submit footage filmed in Gaza to the Israeli military for security review. CNN did not submit its final report to the IDF and retained editorial control.

On the streets of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the scars of war are clear to see.

The city’s heavily damaged buildings bear testament to some of the fiercest fighting that has taken place in the nearly 100 days since the devastating Hamas attacks on October 7 that killed more than 1,200 people and sparked Israel’s war in Gaza. In the more than three months since, at least 23,357 people in Gaza have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. CNN cannot independently confirm those numbers due to the difficulty of access to Gaza for international media.

But the carnage above ground tells only half the story of the Israel Defense Forces’ effort to drive out Hamas from a city it has described as a “main stronghold” of the militant group.

It is below ground, in the massive Hamas tunnel networks that the IDF says stretch for miles in all directions that its soldiers face a task with no obvious parallel in modern military history.

Dan Goldfus, IDF Division Commander, told CNN’s International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson he believes some of the more than 200 people taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 were held in tunnels under the heart of Khan Younis, including some of the 106 who are still believed to be in Gaza.

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Some of the tunnels are 60 meters deep (nearly 200 feet), according to Goldfus. Some are wide and some narrow. Penetrating them is a notoriously dangerous task.

Goldfus says the biggest issue facing his troops is the “multi-dimensional” nature of the fighting “on all fronts.”

He led a CNN team on a tour that illustrated the complexity of the task.

The tour took the team down a metal ladder and two flights of stairs, wiring visible all the way, to about 15 meters (50 feet) under the ground.

The CNN team descended over 20 meters (65 feet), taking steps into a complex network. Yet asked how deep this tunnel went, Goldfus replied, “This is not a very deep tunnel.”

Some, he said, are nearly three times as deep.

Branching off from the side of the tunnel CNN entered, the ceiling was so low it was impossible to stand up straight. And at the end was a small room with a metal frame around the door.

It is in small rooms like this where some of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas have been kept, Goldfus claims.

It is a grim, unforgiving place for anyone, whether hostage or soldier, but Goldfus says the IDF will continue its fight until Hamas is eliminated.

This week, the IDF claimed to have completed the dismantling of Hamas’ command structure in northern Gaza and said it was switching its focus to southern and central Gaza.

Goldfus knows his job is far from over.

“If we give in to the Hamas, we give in to this area, you have to understand that, and I think no sovereign state would agree to such a thing,” he says.

He believes the IDF’s objectives are clear:

“The enemy has brought us, drawn us in, by slaughtering our people, and we know why we’re in here and what we’re doing very clearly. And I think that we’re here to do the job till the end.” 

A Houthi senior leader described a UN Security Council resolution condemning the group’s attacks on vessels in the Red Sea as a “political game” and called on Israel to stop all attacks in Gaza.

In a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, member of the Supreme Political Council and former head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, called on the UN Security Council to release the people in Gaza from what he called “the largest prison in which collective criminal punishment is practiced.” 

He argued that what “the Yemeni armed forces are doing comes within the framework of legitimate defense” and that the United States, Britain, and Israel are the ones violating international law in their response to Gaza. 

“The decision that was adopted regarding the security of navigation in the Red Sea is a political game, and the United States is the one violating international law,” he said of the UNSC vote.

Some background: Before the UN Security Council resolution was approved, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned “there will be consequences” for the continued Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

“I’m not going to telegraph or preview anything that might happen,” Blinken said in a press gaggle in Bahrain. “We’ve made clear, we’ve been clear with more than 20 other countries that if it continues, as it did yesterday, there will be consequences.”

Blinken’s warning comes as the Iranian-backed militant group shows no signs of de-escalation and the potential for regional flare-up looms large.

On Tuesday, the US Navy shot down 21 Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen, according to a statement from US Central Command, in one of the largest Houthi attacks to take place in the Red Sea in recent months.

Although many around the world rang in the new year earlier this month, “2024 is not a happy new year,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday.

This Sunday will mark 100 days since the Israel-Hamas conflict, Tedros noted, adding that “the situation is indescribable.” 

In Gaza, “People are standing in line for hours for a small amount of water, which may not be clean, or bread, which alone is not sufficiently nutritious. Only 15 hospitals are functioning, even partially,” Tedros said. 
“Delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza continues to face nearly insurmountable challenges. Intense bombardment, restrictions on movement, fuel shortages and interrupted communications make it impossible for WHO and our partners to reach those in need,” he said. “We have the supplies, the teams and the plans in place. What we don’t have is access.”

Disruptions to the health care and water sanitation systems, the lack of food and water as well as having people displaced in the winter is “a cocktail for diseases,” said Dr. Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative in the occupied Palestinian territories.  

WHO Health Officer Dr. Teresa Zakaria, the incident manager for the escalation of violence in Israel and the occupied Palestine territories, said the agency’s surveillance systems are capturing the manifestation of diseases, but they aren’t able to verify the bacteria, parasite or virus causing the illnesses. 

“We have seen increased reports of acute respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, jaundice. But again, these are just manifestations of multiple diseases and we can’t get to the bottom of it because we’re not in a position to even test, collect samples and test,” she said.
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with,” she said, adding, “There are a lot of diseases that may actually just spread undetected and that is extremely concerning because by the time we actually find out about it, it will be at a very late stage for which then containing it will be extremely difficult.”

The agency canceled six planned missions to northern Gaza since December 26 “because our requests were rejected and assurances of safe passage were not provided,” the director-general said.

A mission scheduled today to a hospital instrumental for maternal and child health was canceled as well, according to Peeperkorn.

“We hope and we plead that we got kind of confirmation that the mission for tomorrow to hospitals in the north is approved,” Peeperkorn added.

CNN has contacted the Israel Defense Forces and COGAT, the government entity responsible for implementing policy in the Palestinian territories, for comment.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Wednesday that “there will be consequences” for the continued Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

“I’m not going to telegraph or preview anything that might happen,” Blinken said in a press gaggle in Bahrain. “We’ve made clear, we’ve been clear with more than 20 other countries that if it continues, as it did yesterday, there will be consequences.”

Blinken’s warning comes as the Yemen-based Iranian-backed militant group shows no signs of de-escalation and the potential for regional flare-up looms large.

On Tuesday, the US Navy shot down 21 Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen, according to a statement from US Central Command, in one of the largest Houthi attacks to take place in the Red Sea in recent months.

The Houthis say they will only relent when Israel allows the entry of food and medicine into Gaza; its strikes could be intended to inflict economic pain on Israel’s allies in the hope they will pressure it to cease its bombardment of the enclave.

Here are more headlines you should know:

The United Nations Security Council approved a resolution Wednesday calling on Yemen’s Houthi rebels to “cease its brazen” attacks in the Red Sea and violation of international law.

The vote was 11 in favor, 0 against, and four abstentions, including from Russia and China.

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said:

“The resolution demands that the Houthis stop violating international law. The United States applauds today’s adoption by the United Nations Security Council of a resolution co-penned by the United States and Japan condemning Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. The resolution unequivocally demands that the Houthis cease their attacks and underscores the Council’s support for navigational rights and freedoms of vessels of all States in the Red Sea in accordance with international law.” 

She also blamed Iran for helping the Houthis.

The resolution condemned the two dozen Houthi attacks on merchant and commercial vessels since November 19, when the Houthis first attacked and seized the commercial vessel, Galaxy Leader. 

UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward said the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea “hit the world’s poorest the hardest.” 

Earlier the UN Security Council rejected three proposed amendments to the Red Sea text by Russia after the amendments failed to earn the required nine votes needed to bring the matter before the council. 

 Some background: On Tuesday, the US Navy shot down 21 Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen, according to a statement from US Central Command, in one of the largest Houthi attacks to take place in the Red Sea in recent months.

The Houthis say they will only relent when Israel allows the entry of food and medicine into Gaza; its strikes could be intended to inflict economic pain on Israel’s allies in the hope they will pressure it to cease its bombardment of the enclave.

The food situation in Northern Gaza is “absolutely horrific,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“There’s almost no food available and everybody we talked to begs for food,” Sean Casey, an emergency coordinator for the WHO said during a news briefing Tuesday.

Casey, who has carried out several WHO missions to northern Gaza, said each time his team delivered medical supplies to the region, they were asked to bring food the next time.

“That’s not possible for a number of reasons including coordination and security concern,” Casey said. 

WHO has “no communication with entire areas,” but Casey said when he meets a patient who has had a double amputation and asks for food or water, it is clear “they’re not getting their basic needs met.”

The WHO was unable to reach northern Gaza since December 26 and was forced to cancel six planned missions, according to briefing notes sent to CNN.

Many people in central Gaza are also going hungry because there is not enough food coming in, Casey said.

Even in southern Gaza, closest to the Rafah border crossing with Egypt where deliveries are received, not many people are eating a full meal a day, he said.

A United Nations envoy on sexual violence will travel to Israel and the West Bank to gather information on reports of sexual assaults committed during the attacks on October 7 and its aftermath.

Pramila Patten, who is the special representative of the Secretary-General on sexual violence in conflict, will conduct the mission at the end of the month, according to a UN statement on Wednesday. 

“She will meet with survivors, witnesses and others affected by sexual violence to identify avenues of support. She also intends to meet with recently released hostages and detainees. She will be accompanied by experts in safe and ethical interviewing, forensic evidence, digital analysis and accountability,” the statement said. 

The UN said the trip by Patten is not intended “to be investigative in nature” and her findings will be included in an annual report on sexual violence.

Hamas has repeatedly denied allegations that its fighters committed sexual violence during the attack despite the evidence.

Nick Maynard still remembers treating the little boy from the Al-Maghazi refugee camp.

The British surgeon found the 6-year-old on the floor of the emergency ward of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza.

“He was semi-conscious with an open chest wound, horrific burns to the body, and no one had seen him. He’d just been deposited on the floor, and he was moribund,” the British surgeon, who worked in the hospital until he says he was forced to leave under the shadow of intensifying Israeli attacks, told CNN.
“We subsequently found out that most of his family had been killed,” he said.

Maynard has recounted the daily horror of working at the hospital: Scores of displaced civilians covering every inch of the medical facility, hundreds of wounded people – mainly children – arriving every day with traumatic burns, missing limbs and shrapnel injuries to the chest and abdomen.

Leading a five-member emergency team of clinicians, he worked with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) from December 26 to January 5.

Maynard, who has been coming to Gaza for 14 years, told CNN the overcrowding in and around the hospital in Deir al-Balah, one of the last remaining functioning hospitals in the enclave, was like “something I’ve never, ever seen before.”

“When you’re dealing with acutely ill patients like that, you have to have a really comprehensive triage system where you can prioritize, and that system collapsed completely,” he said on Tuesday, speaking from the Egyptian capital Cairo.

The ratio of doctors to patients spiraled, as medical workers who were volunteering at the hospital increasingly fled south after the Israeli military issued evacuation orders.

In Al-Aqsa hospital, many of the patients were refugees from local camps including Al-Maghazi, Al-Bureij and Nuseirat, in what Maynard called “the clearest evidence you could ever want that there was an indiscriminate slaughter of people.”

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military “does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties including providing early warning before attack, safe passage corridors and designated safer zones.”

“Hamas targets Israeli civilians and embeds itself in Palestinian civilian neighborhoods, using Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages as human shields,” the office added.

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 23,210 Palestinians since October 7, and injured another 59,167, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health — more than 1% of the enclave’s total pre-war population of 2.27 million people.

Israeli forces are “deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel,” and “depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival,” Human Rights Watch has warned. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported the enclave’s healthcare sector is crumbling at a “rapid pace.”

Maynard said most patients arrived at Al-Aqsa with “dirty wounds” after bomb blasts had pelted fallen glass, gravel, dust and dirt into their injuries. Rampant shortages of painkillers, drinkable water, and medical equipment including gloves, and skin staple removers meant “the wound infection rate was stratospheric.”

Some patients suffered blast injuries where shrapnel passed through multiple parts of the body, damaging the liver, the spleen, the stomach and bowel, while others sustained internal bleeding in the lungs. Worst of all, Maynard said, was the sheer number of Palestinians, mainly children, arriving with traumatic burns and amputations.

“(We saw) the most horrific burns, literally burned down to the bones, some of them,” Maynard said.
“My colleagues in ER particularly saw people coming in with legs hanging off, or arms hanging off.”

More than 10 children on average have lost one or both of their legs every day in Gaza since October 7, Save the Children said on Sunday.

He still thinks of the little boy he found on the floor at the hospital. The kid was just one of many orphaned by the war and coming in with no family, “screaming for their parents” who had been killed.“He was alive when we left, but I don’t know whether he survived,” Maynard said.

The post was updated with more details from the interview with Maynard.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believes that Hamas “can and will engage” on hostage talks even after an Israeli strike killed a senior Hamas official in Beirut last week.

“We succeeded before in the midst of this conflict in getting more than a hundred hostages out, and it’s my belief that they can and will engage on this, and that’s something we’re intensely focused on with Qatar and with Egypt,” Blinken said in an interview with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell on Tuesday, which aired Wednesday.

“We’re doing everything we possibly can, working of course with the Israelis, working with Qatar, working with Egypt, countries that have relationships of one kind or another with Hamas, to put this back on track to continue getting hostages home,” he said. 

On Sunday, Qatari Prime Minister and Minster of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that the assassination of Saleh al-Arouri “is something that can affect such a complicated process.”

“We are not giving up; we are moving forward. We are continuing our discussions with the parties and trying to achieve as soon as possible an agreement that can bring assistance for humanitarian relief and the release of the hostages,” Al Thani said at a press conference alongside Blinken in Doha.

Blinken told NBC News that he again met with hostage families on his trip, saying that “for them, these three months have been an eternity; every day, every hour, every minute feels like an eternity.”

Hamas is no longer in control in large parts of the Gaza Strip, Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz said.

“Today, there is no effective Hamas rule in a large part of the Gaza Strip,” Gantz said during a press conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. “Public institutions have been destroyed. It does not provide education or medical services except through international organizations.”

He also reiterated the importance of the return of all hostages abducted in the October 7 attack, saying this is the priority in every combat decision. “If any of the abductees are watching us now, it is important for you to know — we are doing everything so that you return to your loved ones who never stop fighting for you,” Gantz added.  

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned “there will be consequences” for the continued Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

“I’m not going to telegraph or preview anything that that might happen,” Blinken said Wednesday to reporters in Bahrain. “We’ve made clear, we’ve been clear with more than 20 other countries that if it continues, as it did yesterday, there will be consequences.”

Amid the efforts to prevent a regional conflict from spreading, it is “particularly important that we respond when we see something like the aggression coming from the Houthis,” the top US diplomat said.

He noted that the threat posed by the Houthi attacks has drawn together an international coalition to counter it.

One of the largest Houthi attacks to date was on Tuesday — when three US Navy destroyers, Navy F/A-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and a UK destroyer, the HMS Diamond — shot down 21 missiles and drones. There were no ships damaged by the attack and no injuries reported.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has landed in Bahrain, where he will meet with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa after meeting earlier in the day with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

After his meeting with Blinken, Abbas traveled to the Jordanian city of Aqaba for a summit with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II.

Blinken will return to Tel Aviv Wednesday afternoon, before traveling to Egypt Thursday.

The top US diplomat has held a flurry of meetings with regional leaders over the past several days, traveling to Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. He was in Israel for key meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials on Tuesday.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are stepping up their strikes on ships in the Red Sea, which they say are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza.

The strikes have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend their travel through the sea and has prompted the US and UK to supply warships to the region in an attempt to deter further attacks.

While — through a combination of geography and technology — the Houthis may lack the capabilities of Hamas and Hezbollah, their strikes on commercial vessels in the Red Sea may inflict a different sort of pain on Israel and its allies.

The global economy has been served a series of painful reminders of the importance of this narrow stretch of sea, which runs from the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen to the Suez Canal in northern Egypt – and through which 12% of global trade flows, including 30% of global container traffic.

In 2021, a ship called the Ever Given ran aground in the Suez Canal, blocking the vital trade artery for nearly a week – holding up as much as $10 billion in cargo each day – and causing disruptions to global supply chains that lasted far longer.

There are fears that the Houthi drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels, which have occurred almost daily since December 9, could cause an even greater shock to the world economy.

The Houthis say they will only relent when Israel allows the entry of food and medicine into Gaza; its strikes could be intended to inflict economic pain on Israel’s allies in the hope they will pressure it to cease its bombardment of the enclave.

Fueling international tensions

Championing the Palestinian cause could also be an attempt to gain legitimacy at home and in the region as they seek to control northern Yemen, which they have dominated since the start of a bloody civil war almost a decade ago.

It could also give them an upper hand against their Arab adversaries, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who they accuse of being lackeys of the US and Israel.

But, there is also concern that the attacks could draw more countries into the conflict.

In December, the US announced a multinational naval task force comprising the United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Norway and others, to “tackle the challenge posed by this non-state actor” that “threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law.”

Read the full story.

The Iran-backed Houthis said the barrage of missiles and drones fired on the Red Sea on Tuesday was in response to a US attack on the group last week. 

The US sank three Houthi boats in the Red Sea, killing all those aboard, on December 31 after coming under fire.

It was the first time the US had targeted members of the Iranian-supported Houthi rebel group since the escalation of tensions in October.

In a statement, the Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Tuesday’s attack was a “coordinated offensive” targeting an American ship “aiding” Israel in the Red Sea. 

Saree said that the operation involved a “substantial deployment” of ballistic and naval missiles, along with drones in response to what he described as a “treacherous attack” by US forces on Houthi naval units on last week.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces affirm that they will not hesitate to deal appropriately with all hostile threats within the right of legitimate defense of our country, our people, and our nation,” Saree added in his statement. 

The group has reassured their “commitment to maintaining maritime traffic” in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, with the sole exception of vessels connected to Israel, Saree said.  

Attacks by Iran-backed militants in the Red Sea have effectively closed one of the world’s main trade routes to most container ships — vessels that carry everything from car parts to Crocs from one corner of the globe to another.

A prolonged closure of the waterway, which connects with the Suez Canal, could snarl global supply chains and drive up the prices of manufactured goods at a crucial moment in the battle to defeat inflation. The Suez Canal accounts for 10-15% of world trade, which includes oil exports, and for 30% of global container shipping volumes.

Houthi militants, based in Yemen, say they are taking revenge for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The US military and its allies have beefed up maritime security but the attacks continue, with 21 Houthi missiles and drones shot down late Tuesday.

As the crisis persists, the stakes for the global economy are rising. Retailers are already warning of delays, and the cost of shipping goods is increasing.

Six of the 10 biggest container shipping companies — namely Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, ZIM and ONE — are largely or completely avoiding the Red Sea because of the threat from the Houthi militants.

The danger to crew, cargo and vessels has forced carriers to reroute ships around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, resulting in delays of up to three weeks.

This has already significantly increased shipping costs, which could ultimately show up in consumer prices.

If the Israel-Hamas war escalates into a wider regional conflict or the Houthis decide to redirect their attacks toward oil tankers and bulk carriers — which transport crucial raw materials such as iron ore, grain and timber — the consequences for the global economy would be altogether more severe.

Read more about how shipping costs could be affected.

The UN Security Council will vote on Wednesday morning on a US-led resolution condemning the spate of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

The resolution, a copy of which was obtained by CNN, “condemns in the strongest terms the at least two dozen Houthi attacks on merchant and commercial vessels since November 19, 2023, when the Houthis attacked and seized the Galaxy Leader and its crew.” 

Here’s what else is in the resolution:

The text does not name Iran for its support of the Houthis. No timings were immediately given.

A Canadian surgeon who recently returned from Gaza painted a grim picture of the situation on the ground.

“We have a major lack of equipment, of the medical supplies, you know, CT scan machine, and things like that, let alone the lack of drugs (such as) … analgesia, antibiotics,” Anas Al-Kassem told CNN, adding that he had to perform stitches on patients without anesthetics so he could conserve it for major surgeries.

“I think it is worse than what I expected, to be honest with you,” he told CNN, adding that Israeli bombardment in Gaza had been more intense than what he had experienced working in Aleppo during the civil war in Syria.

His comments come as the UN said that Israeli authorities denied a planned mission by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Health Organization to deliver critical supplies into northern Gaza on January 8. It was Israel’s fifth denial of a mission to a drug store and hospital since December 26, OCHA said, leaving five hospitals in northern Gaza without access to medical supplies.

The death toll in Gaza has risen to 23,210, with nearly 60,000 people also injured since October 7, 2023, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry.

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

Here are the latest headlines:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called for the immediate end to hostilities and rejected any attempt to relocate Palestinians from Gaza in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ramallah, according to a readout of the meeting reported by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Abbas discussed the importance of efforts to “stop the Israeli aggression” against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, and the importance of “accelerating the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip,” according to the report.

He also highlighted statements made by Israeli ministers and officials that “call for the expulsion of the Palestinian people from their land,” and stressed his government’s “complete rejection of the displacement of any Palestinian citizen” in Gaza or the West Bank. 

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has advocated for Palestinians leaving Gaza – saying after criticism of his comment that it should be “voluntary” – while Israeli President Isaac Herzog Sunday told NBC that the resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza is “outright, officially and unequivocally” not Israel’s position.

Abbas told Blinken that any plans by the Israeli government to separate or divide the Gaza Strip would be unacceptable. He said that the conflict needs to end in order for an internationally legitimate political solution, including the creation of a Palestinian state, to be implemented, according to the statement.

Blinken, in meetings with Israeli government leaders Tuesday, had said the Israeli government must move toward a two-state solution if it wants the help of Arab partners in the region with lasting security. He also stressed that Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes in Gaza “as soon as conditions allow” and must not be displaced from the enclave,

A 5-year-old girl was killed after a Médecins San Frontières (MSF) shelter in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis was hit by a “suspected tank shell,” MSF said in a statement Tuesday.

MSF says that they cannot confirm the origin of the shell, however “it appears to be similar to those used by Israeli tanks.” 

“The shell did not detonate on impact, otherwise many more of our staff and their families would have most likely been killed,” the MSF project coordinator in Gaza, Thomas Lauvin, said.

The child, who is a family member of MSF staff, underwent surgery after she was critically injured by the shell and died of her wounds the following day, MSF said.

Three others received minor injuries after the shell broke through the walls of the shelter, which is housing more than a hundred MSF staff and their families, according to MSF.

MSF said they did not receive evacuation orders to leave the shelter, despite informing the Israeli army of their location. 

“Prior to the incident, MSF notified Israeli forces that the shelter near Gaza European Hospital was housing MSF staff and their families,” the statement said. 

MSF has contacted Israeli authorities for further explanation, the group said. 

When asked about the incident, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN on Tuesday that it is “operating to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities,” and that the IDF “follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.” 

Four members of MSF’s staff have been killed since the beginning of the war in addition to multiple family members, MSF said. 

At least 23,210 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including more than 10,000 children, since October 7, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Tuesday. 

Israel’s rejection of coordinated aid into Gaza is “critically” stalling efforts by rights groups to curb the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the enclave, where the Israeli bombardment has left more than 2.2 million people facing dehydration, starvation and deadly disease.

Israeli authorities denied a planned mission by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Health Organization to deliver critical supplies into northern Gaza on January 8, OCHA said on Tuesday.

The two UN agencies planned missions to distribute “urgent medical supplies” to a drug store in Gaza City and Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalya in northern Gaza, as well as “vital fuel” to water and sanitation facilities in the region, according to an OCHA update.

It was Israel’s fifth denial of a mission to the drug store and hospital since December 26, OCHA said, adding that the sanctions have left five hospitals in northern Gaza without access to life-saving medical supplies and equipment. 

At the same time, the continued denial of fuel delivery to water and sanitation facilities is leaving tens of thousands of people without access to clean water and increasing the risk of sewage overflows, significantly heightening the risk of the spread of communicable diseases,” the statement said.

A top UN humanitarian official previously warned that depriving Gaza’s population of food, water, health care and hygiene “cannot be justified.”

CNN has contacted the Israel Defense Forces and COGAT, the government entity responsible for implementing policy in the Palestinian territories, for comment.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed “ongoing efforts to minimize civilian harm” and increase the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Gaza during a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the US State Department said.

Blinken met with Abbas in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday during a week-long trip to the Middle East, aimed at easing regional tensions.

According to a statement from State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, the United Nations has appointed Sigrid Kaag as senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza as a part of those efforts to reduce civilian harm.

Rising death toll: Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 23,210 Palestinians since October 7 and injured another 59,167, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health — more than 1% of the enclave’s total pre-war population of 2.27 million people.

In December, US intelligence revealed nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza have been unguided, as US President Joe Biden said support for Israel’s military campaign would erode due to “indiscriminate bombing.”

It has prompted warnings from global leaders for Israel to shift its military strategy and limit civilian casualties.

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

Tax revenue: Blinken also discussed issues relating to Israel withholding tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority since the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Under existing agreements, Israel collects tax revenue on behalf of the Palestinian Authority on Palestinian imports and exports. Since October 7, the Israeli government has refused to disperse the full amount of taxes collected, which are primarily used by the Palestinian Authority to pay public employees and retirees.

He also discussed US efforts to address extremist violence in the occupied West Bank.

“The United States supports tangible steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, with both living in peace and security,” the statement concluded.

Israel pushed back Wednesday at a Slovenian claim that its forces in Gaza had committed “violations of international humanitarian law,” with the prime minister’s office saying “all civilian casualties” were Hamas’s fault. 

The Israel Defense Forces “does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties including providing early warning before attack, safe passage corridors and designated safer zones,” the prime minister’s office told CNN.

“This has been particularly difficult because Hamas embeds itself in Palestinian civilian neighborhoods, using Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages as human shields. That is Hamas’s strategy and the international community should not allow it to be effective. All civilian casualties are on Hamas’s hands.”

Some context: Israel is set to appear before the International Court of Justice on Thursday over allegations of genocide that South Africa filed last month. Israeli officials have continually defended their military actions in the enclave and said they are trying to avert civilian casualties, and Netanyahu called it a “false accusation.”

Slovenia’s Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon told CNN on Tuesday that she believes Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza, adding, “That is clear.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Bahrain in a surprise visit to meet with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, as part of his latest Middle East trip to ease regional tensions over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.

Blinken will return to Tel Aviv, in Israel, on Wednesday night.

Diplomatic relations: The senior US diplomat has so far on this trip visited the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar and Israel. He is also meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

In his trip to Tel Aviv, he made clear to the Israeli government that Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes in Gaza and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet must move towards a two-state solution.

It comes as international outcry grows over the soaring number of civilians killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza, and far-right Israeli ministers’ calls for Palestinian resettlement outside of the enclave. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza is “outright, officially and unequivocally” not Israel’s position.

Nonetheless, their comments have drawn condemnation from the United States, United Nations officials and several Arab states.

“You have to decide who you’re going to be saving and who has to be left behind.”

These are the words of a Canadian surgeon who’s just returned from Gaza, having spent two weeks working in Khan Younis in the southern part of the enclave.

Anas Al-Kassem has detailed the impossible decisions that the last few remaining doctors are having to make, as staff, equipment and supplies run dangerously low amid Israel’s offensive.

Al-Kassem told CNN Wednesday that the state of Gaza’s heath system was “worse than what I expected.”

“I think it is worse than what I expected to be honest with you,” he told CNN’s John Vause, adding that Israeli bombardment in Gaza had been more intense than what he had experienced working in Aleppo during the civil war in Syria.

“The healthcare system was not probably the best because of the siege on Gaza for years,” he said, adding that in the current war “it was at the verge of collapsing and 100% it did collapse.”

A lack of adequate medical supplies has impacted remaining healthcare facilities in the territory, he said.

“We have a major lack of equipment, of the medical supplies, you know, CT scan machine, and things like that, let alone the lack of drugs [such as] … analgesia, antibiotics,” he said, adding that he had to perform stitches on patients without anesthetic so he could conserve it for major surgeries.

On the ground: Israel’s siege and severe restrictions on food, fuel and water entering Gaza has crushed the health care system, forcing medical workers to grapple with severely wounded patients in an environment stripped of essential supplies and infrastructure.

Only 13 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning, and bed occupancy is at 351%, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

In Deir al-Balah, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital reported receiving dozens of casualties from several parts of central Gaza, from heavy air strikes that pounded the area. Further south, where the Israeli military has concentrated parts of its campaign, the World Health Organization stressed it “cannot afford” to lose the remaining operational hospitals.

The United Kingdom says it deployed the HMS Diamond guided missile destroyer to support United States warships shooting down more than a dozen Houthi missiles and drones over the Red Sea, as tensions over Israel’s military offensive in Gaza spill into the region.

“Deploying Sea Viper missiles and guns, DIAMOND destroyed multiple attack drones heading for her and commercial shipping in the area, with no injuries or damage sustained to DIAMOND or her crew,” British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement Wednesday.

“The UK alongside allies have previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences,” the statement added.

It came after the US Navy downed 21 Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen, according to a statement from US Central Command, in one of the largest Houthi attacks to take place in the Red Sea in recent months.

Some context: The Iran-backed Houthis have said their barrage of drones and missiles are showing solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The first series of attacks by the Houthis, which began shortly after October 7, targeted commercial vessels with some connection to Israel that were traveling the Red Sea, one of the world’s most critical waterways.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Wednesday said it struck more than 150 “terror targets” across Gaza over the past day.

In a statement, the IDF said “dozens of terrorist operatives” were killed by Israeli forces in the southern city of Khan Younis. The IDF said it directed aircraft to target “terrorists” in two separate operations in the area.

Some of the heaviest combat in recent days has been reported in Khan Younis, where there is fighting on the ground as well as regular airstrikes.

The IDF also claimed to have uncovered more than 15 underground tunnel shafts in the central al-Maghazi area. Troops found rocket launchers, missiles, UAVs, explosive devices, and a machine used to manufacture rockets, the IDF claimed.

The IDF alleges Hamas has built a labyrinth of tunnels that spans the entirety of the strip — an underground network used to transport people and goods, store rockets and ammunition, and house Hamas control centers.

Hamas in 2021 claimed to have built 500 kilometers (about 311 miles) of tunnels under Gaza, though it is unclear if that figure was accurate or posturing.

A top Israeli actor, best known for his role as a special forces soldier in hit Netflix series “Fauda,” has been badly wounded in Gaza while fighting for Israel’s military against Hamas, according to his family and the hospital where he is being treated.

Idan Amedi, 35, is in critical condition in the ICU at Sheba Tel Hashomer Medical Center near Tel Aviv, a spokesperson for the hospital said.

However, the star’s father told Israeli website Walla!: “There is no danger to his life.”

Amedi, who is of Kurdish descent, shot to fame in the 2010s as a singer-songwriter before joining the cast of “Fauda” in 2017. He plays a member of an Israeli special forces unit in the series, which follows an Israeli agent who comes out of retirement to hunt for a Palestinian fighter he thought he’d killed, according to the show’s official Netflix page.

Amedi had volunteered to fight for the Israeli military in Gaza following Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel, according to “Fauda” co-creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharaoff.

“Idan is a true hero and from the first day of the war he decided to put everything aside and go fight. First in the north and then in the south [of Gaza],” they told Walla!

Read the full story:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

The top US diplomat said he had arrived in Israel at “an incredibly challenging time” after making stops in countries around the Middle East. 

During his meetings, Blinken reiterated the importance of avoiding further civilian harm and “protecting civilian infrastructure in Gaza” at a time when global health organizations are warning about the enclave’s collapsing health care sector.

Blinken made clear to Israel that Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes in Gaza “as soon as conditions allow” and must not be displaced from the strip, he said. And in some of his most direct comments on the matter, Blinken said Netanyahu must rein in the far-right tendencies of his government to achieve any progress in the future.

Here’s what else to know:

The US Navy shot down 21 Houthi missiles and drones launched from Yemen, according to a statement from US Central Command, in one of the largest Houthi attacks to take place in the Red Sea in recent months.

The military called it a “complex attack” carried out by the Iran-backed militants.

The barrage, launched at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday in Yemen, included 18 one-way attack drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile, Central Command said.

The attack was launched toward international shipping lanes in the southern Red Sea where “dozens” of merchant vessels were traveling, according to the statement.

Two defense officials had earlier told CNN that the barrage included a total of 24 drones and missiles.

There were no ships damaged in the attacks and no injuries as a result of the massive drone and missile launch, CENTCOM said.

Read more about the Houthi attacks.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made clear to the Israeli government that Palestinians must be allowed to return to their homes in Gaza “as soon as conditions allow” and must not be displaced from the strip, the top US diplomat said Tuesday.

Blinken announced that the Israeli government had agreed to a plan to allow a United Nations assessment mission to northern Gaza as the Israeli offensive there shifts to a new phase.

In a day of talks with top Israeli officials, Blinken said he reaffirmed US support for Israel “ensuring that October 7 can never happen again,” while also calling on the government to do more to mitigate civilian casualties. He also discussed the efforts to secure the release of hostages who remain held by Hamas.

Blinken has made five visits to Israel since the October 7 Hamas attacks as the Biden administration sought to keep pressure on the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“It’s our unique bond and America’s enduring commitment to the people of Israel that allows, indeed demands, that we’re as forthright as possible in the moments when the stakes are highest, when the choices matter the most. This is one of those moments,” he said Tuesday.

Indeed, the stakes of the secretary’s latest visit couldn’t be higher as concerns mount over the war spilling out into the wider region and the humanitarian toll continues to grow. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the Israeli offensive, millions have been displaced, and the entire population in the war-torn strip faces the risk of famine, the UN has warned. US officials have publicly acknowledged that gaps remain between Israel’s “intentions” and “results” when it comes to the staggering toll on civilians.

Read more about Blinken’s visit to Israel:

Israel’s military said it has killed a regional commander of Hezbollah’s air force, who it claimed was responsible for an attack on an Israeli command center earlier Tuesday. 

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said Ali Hussein Burji commanded the Southern Lebanon Region of Hezbollah’s Aerial Unit and “led dozens of terror activities against Israel using explosive UAVs and surveillance UAVs against Israel and IDF soldiers.”

“Before his elimination, a launch cell belonging to Hezbollah’s Aerial Unit which was on its way to launch explosive UAVs toward different locations in Israel was eliminated,” the statement said.

IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in his regular news conference on Tuesday, “we eliminated him [Burji] in a drone.” 

Hezbollah also announced Burji’s death on its social media channels but denied he was in charge of its drone program or air force. 

“Hezbollah’s press office vehemently denies these false and completely baseless claims and confirms that the mujahid brother who is responsible for Hezbollah’s drones has not been subjected to an assassination attempt,” Hezbollah said in a statement late on Tuesday.

The Israeli government must move toward a two-state solution if it wants the help of Arab partners in the region with lasting security, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

In some of his most direct comments on the matter, Blinken noted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must rein in the far-right tendencies of his government to achieve any progress in the future.

“Israel must stop taking steps that undercut Palestinians’ ability to govern themselves effectively. Extremists settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolitions, evictions all make it harder — not easier — for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security,” he said.
“Israel must be a partner to Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people in living side by side in peace with Israel and as neighbors.”

The top US diplomat met with Netanyahu following meetings with leaders in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan.

“As I told the prime minister, every partner that I met on this trip said that they’re ready to support a lasting solution that ends the long-running cycle of violence and ensures Israel’s security. But they underscored that this can only come through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state,” Blinken said.

The World Health Organization has stressed that it “cannot afford” to lose the remaining operational hospitals in southern Gaza, warning the enclave’s health care sector is collapsing at a “rapid pace.” 

As Israeli calls for evacuations continue to push people to the south of the strip, WHO said it has strained the region’s already stretched facilities. The region’s hospitals are now “bursting with patients” and internally displaced people, WHO Emergency Medical Team Coordinator Sean Casey told a news briefing Tuesday.

Only 13 of 36 hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning, and bed occupancy is at 351%, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

Casey, who has carried out a number of WHO missions to hospitals in Gaza, described the “intensification of hostilities” around the European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis as “really worrying.” 

Richard Peeperkorn, a WHO representative in the occupied Palestinian Territory, also told the briefing: “We cannot afford to lose any hospital.”

Israel is set to appear before the International Court of Justice this week in a high-stakes case that could determine the course of the brutal war in Gaza.

It is an unprecedented case. Experts say it is the first time the Jewish state is being tried under the United Nations’ Genocide Convention, which was drawn up after World War II in light of the atrocities committed against the Jewish people during the Holocaust.

The South African government, a successor to the apartheid regime that was made a pariah on the international stage three decades ago, brought the case against Israel, accusing it of being in breach of its obligations under the convention in its war on Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has firmly rejected the accusation, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it a “false accusation.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said on Tuesday his country will present a case “using self-defense” to show it is doing its “utmost” under “extremely complicated circumstances” to avert civilian casualties in Gaza.

Eliav Lieblich, a professor of international law at Tel Aviv University, told CNN the case is significant politically and legally.

Read more about the international court case.