January 16, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

At least 10,600 children have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said on Tuesday. 

At least 158 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, and 320 others were wounded, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health added Tuesday.

“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry said.

CNN cannot independently verify the Health Ministry's number due to restrictions on reporting from a war zone. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Sunday that more than 9,000 of the dead were Hamas fighters. CNN also cannot confirm this figure. 

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said the "intensive manoeuvring stage" of Israel's military offensive in northern and southern Gaza will "end soon."

He added that the Israeli military was working to "eliminate pockets of resistance" in northern Gaza, Gallant said, which he claimed would be achieved through "raids, airstrikes, special operations and additional activities." 

After the October 7 attacks, Gallant said the original plan was for the "intensive manoeuvring stage" of Israel's military campaign in Gaza to last approximately three months.

In the three months since Israel started its war against Hamas in Gaza, more than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed, including many in areas Israel had told them to evacuate to.

If you're just joining us, here are today's latest headlines:

Saudi Arabia is willing to recognize Israel if the Palestinian issue is resolved, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said Tuesday. 

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the foreign minister said that the first step to resolving the Palestinian issue is through a ceasefire "on all sides."

“We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state,” bin Farhan said.

Asked at a panel at the WEF whether Saudi Arabia could, within that context, agree to recognize Israel as part of a wider agreement, the Saudi foreign minister said “certainly.”

Some context: In 2020, four Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, recognized Israel under a set of treaties known as the Abraham Accords, sidestepping the longstanding Arab demand for a Palestinian state.

Since then, the Biden administration has been working to bring Saudi Arabia, widely regarded as the leader of the Muslim world, to follow suit, a move that could have opened the door to other Muslim countries to recognize Israel.

Israel said it struck multiple Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Tuesday, the latest in cross-border fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shiite militant group.

The IDF said it conducted aerial and artillery strikes on what it said were Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Wadi Saluki in Lebanon.

The Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israel conducted “more than 15 raids, strikes the outskirts of Houla, Wadi Al-Saluki, Wadi Al-Hujair, and the Rab Thalateen Al-Taybeh road."

The announcement from the IDF comes just hours after it said its special forces struck in the area of Ayta ash Shab in Lebanon. The IDF did not respond to CNN’s question about the target of the strike or the nature of the operation.

The Israeli military also said that overnight, one of its aircraft struck a Hezbollah anti-tank missile launcher in the area of the town of KafarKila in southern Lebanon.

The US Navy seized Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missile components from a vessel off the coast of Somalia last week that was destined for Houthis in Yemen, US Central Command announced on Tuesday.  

During the operation, two SEALs went overboard and are missing. One fell into the water due to eight-foot swells, and the second jumped in after them according to protocol, a US official told CNN Saturday.  

While conducting the operation, US Navy SEALs boarded the ship and seized “Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missiles components,” including “propulsion, guidance, and warheads for Houthi medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) and anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), as well as air defense associated components.” 

CENTCOM said "initial analysis indicates these same weapons have been employed by the Houthis to threaten and attack innocent mariners on international merchant ships transiting in the Red Sea.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday that the "intensive manoeuvring stage" of Israel's military offensive in northern and southern Gaza will "end soon."

The Israeli military is working to "eliminate pockets of resistance" in northern Gaza, Gallant said, adding: "We will achieve this via raids, airstrikes, special operations and additional activities." 

After the October 7 attacks, Gallant said the original plan was for the "intensive manoeuvring stage" of Israel's military campaign in Gaza to last approximately three months. But, he cautioned the Israeli military adapts its operations "in accordance with the reality on the ground" and "our intelligence."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has announced one of its army divisions had exited the Gaza Strip on Monday night, in the most significant sign yet of a shift to a new phase of fighting that some Israeli officials have been promising.

The IDF said its 36th division, which comprises armored, engineering, and infantry companies, withdrew from the Gaza Strip after 80 days. 

The brigade operated in the areas of Zeitun, Shati, Shejaiya, Rimal, and the Central Camps, the Israeli military added. The IDF did not respond to CNN’s questions about whether the withdrawal was temporary, what was behind the withdrawal, or how many troops it involved. 

The Iranian foreign ministry said strikes on Iraq and Syria by the country's Revolutionary Guards was a “precise and targeted” operation to deter security threats, in the latest threat to peace and stability in the region as Israel's war on Gaza rages on.

Iran hit “terrorist headquarters” in Idlib, in Syria, and a “Mossad-affiliated center” in Erbil, in northern Iraq, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The Islamic Republic identified and targeted the headquarters of criminals using ballistic missiles in a precise and targeted operation,” Kanaani added. 

On Monday, Iranian forces launched ballistic missiles at what it said was a spy base for Israel's intelligence agency Mossad in northern Iraq, and an "anti-Iran terror groups" in Syria.

Kanaani said the strikes were carried out "in defense of (Iranian) sovereignty and security as well to counter terrorism."

“Iran always supports peace, stability and security in the region and respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries, while at the same time using its legitimate and legal right to deter national security threats.”

Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has warned that recent US-led strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen would only deepen regional divides over Israel's war on Gaza.

Al Thani said Tuesday that tensions in the Middle East are "affecting everyone," stressing that the primary focus for leaders should be to diffuse the war in Gaza, where Israel's deadly military offensive since October 7 has decimated swathes of the territory and left more than 2.2 million people facing famine, deadly disease and forcible displacement.

"We always prefer diplomacy over any military resolutions, and we believe that we shouldn't just focus on those small conflicts, we should focus on the main conflict in Gaza and as soon it's diffused, I believe that everything else will be diffused," the Qatari prime minister said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

When asked about US and UK striking Houthi targets in Yemen over attacks on the Red Sea, he called its impact on the freedom of navigation "a global issue."

"What we have in the region is a recipe of escalation everywhere," he added.

Regional divides: Since November, the Houthis — an Iran-backed Shia political and military organization — have been launching drones and missiles at commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea.

Then on Thursday, the US and UK launched strikes against Houthi targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, marking the fiercest response from the Biden administration since the salvos began.

The United Nations in Iraq has condemned Iran's missile attack in Erbil, capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq.

It added that security concerns must be addressed "through dialogue."

On Monday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards launched ballistic missiles at a number of locations in Erbil, including what it said was a spy base for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad and at “anti-Iran terror groups” in Syria.

The strikes, which killed at least four civilians and injured six others according to the Security Council of the Kurdistan region, were condemned by the United States as “reckless” and imprecise, as fears over a wider regional conflict mount.