January 17, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

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

The Houthis confirmed the latest round of US airstrikes in Yemen, according to a statement on the Houthis-run Saba news agency on late Wednesday night in to Thursday morning (local time).

“The American-British aggression renewed its targeting of a number of Yemeni governorates,” the statement read. “The American-British aggression aircraft targeted the governorates of Hodeidah, Taiz, Dhamar, Al-Bayda and Saada.”

This latest round of strikes marks the fourth time the US has struck the Houthis in less than a week, as US and Britain began to take action against Houthis’ attacks of commercial vessels at the Red Sea.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip after crossing the terminal border from Egypt, on January 17.

Medicine and aid for Palestinians and the Israeli hostages have entered the Gaza Strip, according to Dr. Majed Al-Ansari, a spokesperson for the Qatari foreign ministry.

“Over the past few hours, medicine & aid entered the Gaza Strip, in implementation of the agreement announced yesterday for the benefit of civilians in the Strip, including hostages. Qatar, along with its regional and international partners, continues mediation efforts at the political and humanitarian levels,” Al-Ansari wrote on X, formerly Twitter, late Wednesday.

Two Qatari Armed Forces aircraft carrying 61 tons of aid — including food and medicine —arrived in El Arish, Egypt, earlier Wednesday. The aid was provided by Qatar and France, according to Qatar’s Foreign Ministry. Ansari said Wednesday Qatar and its regional and international partners are continuing mediation efforts at the political and humanitarian levels after the aid arrived in Gaza.

The aid arrives after Qatar announced on Tuesday it brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to allow medication into Gaza for Palestinians and Israeli hostages. France also took part in helping with the Qatari-led mediation, Qatar’s foreign ministry has said.

As tensions rise in the Middle East, Iran’s top diplomat said attacks by its allies won’t stop until Israel’s war in Gaza ends. Iran recently has carried out strikes in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan while the Houthis have attacked ships in the Red Sea and Hezbollah continued to be involved in confrontations on the Lebanon-Israel border.

Inside Gaza, more than 160 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza. A deal was brokered by Qatar to allow medication into Gaza for Palestinian and Israeli hostages. 

Here’s what else to know:

The United States carried out another round of strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, according to two US officials, marking the fourth time the US has struck the Iran-backed rebel group in less than a week.

The US used Tomahawk missiles to target approximately 14 Houthi missile launchers used to attack international shipping lanes, one of the officials said. The Tomahawk missiles were launched from US Navy surface vessels and the USS Florida, a guided missile submarine, another official said.

Hours earlier, the Houthis struck a US-owned and operated vessel for the second time this week. On Monday, the Houthis struck another US-owned and operated vessel with an anti-ship ballistic missile in what appeared to be the first such successful attack against a US asset since the group began attacking international shipping lanes in mid-November.

The US strikes come amid heightened tensions in the Middle East and fears that the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza could further spill out into the region. The US has been seeking to avoid major escalation in the region as fears rise over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza spilling out into the region. The Pentagon insisted Wednesday that the Israel-Hamas conflict has not spread.

The post was updated with more details on the US assault.

A Houthi drone struck a US-owned and operated vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, according to US Central Command, marking the second time this week the Iran-backed rebel group has succeeded in targeting a US vessel.

No one was injured aboard the vessel, CENTCOM said, which suffered “some” damage. The ship, which is flagged in the Marshall Islands, remains seaworthy and continued on its way, the statement said. 

Earlier Wednesday, a spokesman for the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had launched a series of direct missiles at the American ship.  

On Monday, a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile struck another US-owned and operated vessel in the Gulf of Aden. It appeared to be the first time since the Houthis began attacking international shipping lanes in mid-November that they had succeeded in hitting a US-owned and operated commercial ship.

Earlier this week, the US Transportation Department issued an alert to US merchant ships, advising them to steer clear of the southern part of the Red Sea until further notice.

Officials advised that although the decision is ultimately up to companies and individual vessels, “it is recommended” US-flag and US-owned commercial vessels avoid the area “until further notice.”

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Wednesday, in a post on X, that he “made clear” to his Iranian counterpart Britain’s position about Iran’s support for Yemen’s Houthis and Tehran’s actions in the region.

Both Cameron and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian are at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Israeli military said it does “not have the ability to guarantee” medicine will reach hostages being held in Gaza, said Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces.

When asked about how the medicine would reach the hostages, Hagari said Israel would work with Qatar to ensure the medicine reaches those being held captive.

“What is important is that this effort happens, and currently the trucks are being checked. They will finish the checks, they will get in (to Gaza) and we need to do everything we can to ensure that the medications will indeed reach where they need to go,” Hagari explained.  

Qatar announced on Tuesday it brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas to allow medication into Gaza for Palestinians and Israeli hostages. 

Earlier Wednesday, the Hamas terms of the agreement included a stipulation that for every one box of medication given to Israeli hostages, 1,000 boxes of medication are also provided for Palestinians in Gaza.

Israeli military Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi looks on while visiting a location given an undisclosed location in northern Israel on January 3.

The head of Israel’s military said the likelihood of war on Israel’s northern front is now “much higher” than in recent times.

Israel’s Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday said his country is increasing its readiness for “fighting in Lebanon.” He made the comments while visiting a reservists’ exercise near the border with Lebanon. 

He also said attaining Israel’s goal of returning residents who have fled amid Israel-Hezbollah clashes “must come through a very significant change.”

He also said that much had been learned from the war underway with Hamas in Gaza.

“We have a lot of lessons from the fighting in Gaza, many of which are very relevant to fighting in Lebanon, and there are some that must be adapted,” the military chief said.

A growing number of insurers are refusing to cover American, British, and Israeli vessels against war risks in the Red Sea as attacks from Houthi rebels continue.

The hesitation from insurers comes as US officials have warned American merchant ships to steer clear of the vital waterway until further notice. 

“Some insurers are no longer willing to underwrite war-risk insurance for vessels with ownership or involvement with the US, UK or Israel traveling through the Red Sea,” said Marcus Baker, the global head of marine, cargo and logistics at Marsh, the insurance brokerage and risk advisory unit of Marsh McLennan. 

A US-owned and operated cargo ship was hit by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on Monday, according to US Central Command. A Houthi official vowed on Wednesday that attacks on “Israeli-linked” vessels in the Red Sea as well as the Arabian Sea will continue. 

Although not all insurers are imposing restrictions, Baker said the insurance market is clearly “tightening” and rates could continue to surge.

War-risk rates have spiked from just 0.01% of vessel value in early December to 0.7% today, Baker said. That means the cost to insure a $100 million container ship has spiked from $10,000 per voyage to $700,000 today. 

The Israeli government did not link the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes in northern Gaza to the release of hostages held by Hamas during meetings with Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week, the US State Department spokesperson said Wednesday.

Israel said “they did not want to see Palestinians displaced from their homes,” according to spokesperson Matt Miller.

“They said to us that they would support a (United Nations) mission to assess the conditions so people could return to their homes. And they also never linked return to their homes to release of hostages in any way, shape or form,” he said at a news briefing.

Before the Blinken meeting, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who sits on the Israeli security cabinet, proposed that Palestinians not be allowed to return home until all the remaining hostages are freed.

On escalation: More generally, Miller said that the US has been working “to prevent the region from tipping into a full-blown conflagration” and asserted that that effort has been successful so far.

Last week, Blinken pushed back on the idea that the conflict was “escalating,” but acknowledged that “there are lots of danger points.”

In the days since, the Houthis and US have been engaged in tit-for-tat strikes in the Red Sea and Yemen, respectively, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has hit targets in Iraq and Pakistan.

A Qatar Armed Forces plane carrying medicines and humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza is seen in Arish, Egypt, on Wednesday.

A Hamas official acknowledged the agreement with Israel brokered by Qatar to allow medication into Gaza for Israeli hostages — but said the arrangement is dependent on there also being enough medication for Palestinians in the enclave.

“Any initiative to allow medicines delivery to the detainees (in Gaza) should include medicine delivery to Palestinians in Gaza,” Osama Hamdan, a Lebanese-based Hamas official, said during a press conference from Beirut on Wednesday.

The Red Cross proposed delivering medical supplies to the Israeli hostages inside Gaza, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior member of Hamas, said on social media Wednesday. It is not clear from the agreement how the medical supplies will be delivered into Gaza or who will transport the medication. 

The Hamas terms of the agreement included a stipulation that for every one box of medication given to Israeli hostages, 1,000 boxes of medication are also provided for Palestinians in Gaza. 

People in Gaza are living through what is now the longest sustained telecoms internet disruption in the enclave since the start of the war with Israel, a monitoring site reports.

A near-total internet blackout in the Gaza Strip has now passed 120 hours, according to Netblocks, with most residents unable to contact the outside world since January 12.

On Monday, the Hamas-run government office in Gaza said the disruption also makes it harder for the emergency services that are still functioning to reach the wounded.

Israel did not respond to CNN’s multiple requests for comment on the communications blackout.  

Houthis will not stop their attacks on what they are referring to as Israeli-linked vessels in the Red and Arabian Seas, according to a written statement on Hizam al-Assad, a member of the Houthi political bureau’s X account.

“The operations of our naval forces in the Red and Arabian Seas will continue to target Israeli ships linked to the enemy entity,” Al-Assad said. 

Al-Assad declared that the group will continue its assaults as long as the conflict in Gaza persists. 

“As long as the American Zionist aggression and siege on our people in Gaza continues the attacks will not stop,” Al-Assad added.

“What should be designated as terrorism is the crimes of genocide committed by the Israeli occupation army, with American support and participation, against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” Al-Assad said. 

Tensions are escalating in the Middle East and beyond after Iran conducted a series of missile strikes within the region.

Pakistan strongly condemned an Iranian airstrike inside its borders that killed two children, calling it an “unprovoked violation of its airspace” and warning of retaliation.

The attack in Pakistan comes after Iran launched missiles in northern Iraq and Syria Monday, in the latest escalation of hostilities in the Middle East where Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza risks spiraling into a wider regional conflict.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that an end to the war in Gaza may put an end to other attacks in the region, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“If the genocide in Gaza stops, then it will lead to the end of other crises and attacks in the region,” the Iranian minister said.

Amir-Abdollahian also said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah — whom he has twice spoken to since the war in Gaza began — told him that Hezbollah attacks would stop if Israel ceased its attacks on Hamas in Gaza.

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

Palestinians check damaged graves at a cemetery following an Israeli raid in Khan Younis, Gaza, on January 17.

A cemetery in Khan Younis in southern Gaza was severely damaged during a period of time when the Israel Defense Forces said it conducted operations in the area.  

A video of the cemetery that was geolocated by CNN shows the area bulldozed, with some graves apparently disturbed. The IDF has not responded to CNN’s repeated questions about the apparent damage to the cemetery.  

A satellite image of the cemetery taken by Maxar on Monday shows the cemetery undisturbed, indicating the damage must have happened between then and Wednesday morning, when it was first reported. 

The IDF said on Tuesday that its “commando forces have been operating in the Khan Younis area in order to locate and dismantle terror infrastructure.”

Health care facilities nearby: The Jordanian Armed Forces also said that a field hospital it runs that is located next to the cemetery in Khan Younis sustained “severe material damage” as a result of “continuous Israeli bombardment in the hospital’s surroundings overnight and into Wednesday morning.”

The Al Nasser Hospital compound is also near the cemetery. The IDF was operating in the area on Tuesday evening and into Wednesday morning, and its approach toward the medical complex had brought on panic among the thousands sheltering there.

US President Joe Biden’s administration on Wednesday re-designated the Houthis as a specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) entity amid continued attacks by the Yemen-based militia.

Administration officials said the designation is aimed at deterring the Houthis from their ongoing aggression in the Red Sea. It is the latest in a series of US actions targeting the Iranian-backed group, and comes as the specter of a wider regional war in the Middle East looms large amid Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

“These attacks are clear example of terrorism and a violation of international law and a major threat to lives, global commerce, and they jeopardize the delivery of humanitarian assistance,” a US senior administration official said in a call with reporters Tuesday.

Mohammad Abdul Salam, the official spokesperson for the Houthis said the group had anticipated the designation, which he described as being driven by political motives in a call with Al-Jazeera on Wednesday. The Houthis said they used the attacks to try and garner “leverage” to halt the war in Gaza, underscoring that the US designation “would not weaken” their “unwavering support” for the Palestinian cause.

The administration removed the Houthis’ SDGT designation and de-listed it as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in February 2021, after it was designated by former President Donald Trump’s administration in its final weeks.

Keep reading about the Houthi re-designation.

People stand next to a destroyed car that was targeted in an Israeli airstrike near the occupied West Bank Balata refugee camp on January 17.

At least three people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a car in Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet, released a statement on Wednesday saying that “during joint IDF and ISA activity in the Balata camp in the city of Nablus, a terrorist cell headed by Amed Abdullah Abu-Shalal was eliminated during a precise airstrike.”

Eyewitnesses in the area told the official Palestinian agency WAFA that the occupation forces “abducted” the bodies of two young men from the vehicle before withdrawing from the area.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a statement that the Israeli forces surrounded the targeted vehicle with military jeeps, preventing ambulance crews from approaching, and opened fire on Red Crescent teams who were present at the scene.

The PRCS said that its teams were able to reach the vehicle after the Israeli withdrawal from the area, where they retrieved the remains of one of the young men. And the health ministry in Ramallah later said that an unidentified “burnt body arrived at Rafidia Government Hospital in Nablus, as a result of the occupation’s shelling of a vehicle near Balata camp.”  

CNN is unable to independently confirm the identity of the deceased men. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian gestures during a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Wednesday that if there is an end to the conflict in Gaza, other attacks in the region will also cease.

“If the genocide in Gaza stops, then it will lead to the end of other crises and attacks in the region,” the Iranian minister said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Amir-Abdollahian said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah told him that Hezbollah attacks would stop if Israel ceased its attacks on Hamas in Gaza. The Iranian minister told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that in the last 100 days, he has held talks twice with Nasrallah.

Amir-Abdollahian added that maritime security and shipping safety in the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf are important to oil exporter Iran, also claiming that Iran has information that the Yemenis and Saudis are nearing “a real substantive peace agreement.”

Palestinians check damaged graves at a cemetery following an Israeli raid in Khan Younis, Gaza, on January 17.

Israeli forces appear to have withdrawn from the area around the largest hospital in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, after their approach towards the medical compound late on Tuesday prompted panic among the thousands of people sheltering there.

People on the scene told CNN that there were no more military vehicles in the area around the Al Nasser Hospital compound as of Wednesday morning.

Around 7,000 people are sheltering at the compound, according to the World Health Organization. 

Late on Tuesday, Israeli forces began moving towards the hospital, prompting crowds of people to flee. Multiple videos from the scenes showed people carrying blankets, mattresses and other personal belongings making their way out of the compound. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not respond to CNN’s questions on Wednesday about its operations in and around the Al Nasser Hospital compound.

But the IDF said on Tuesday that Hamas had recently carried out a launch from within the hospital compound towards Israeli forces in Khan Younis. It also said that IDF “commando forces have been operating in the Khan Younis area in order to locate and dismantle terror infrastructure.”

Photographs of some of those taken hostage by Hamas during their recent attacks are seen on October 18, in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that 253 people had been taken hostage to Gaza on October 7, announcing a firm number for the first time. 

Previously Israel had been saying “more than 250,” Netanyahu’s office told CNN.

Hamas and other militant groups operating in Gaza seized the hostages in a surprise attack, killing about 1,200 others that day.

Following hostage releases and one rescue, Israel now believes 132 hostages from October 7 are still being held in Gaza – 105 of them alive and 27 dead.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the assembly during the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17.

A solution in Gaza will “allow for the de-escalation in other parts of the Middle East,” said United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Speaking to CNN’s Julia Chatterley at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Guterres warned that he is “extremely worried about Lebanon.”

“We cannot have in Lebanon another Gaza,” said Guterres, adding that he sees serious efforts being made by the Lebanese government, the United States and other parties.

Guterres also called for a humanitarian ceasefire in order to facilitate the liberation of hostages “immediately and unconditionally,” to provide “effective humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza” and to “facilitate a serious negotiation for de-escalation in Lebanon.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17.

The situation in Gaza is “gut-wrenching,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, adding the “suffering we are seeing among innocent men, women and children breaks my heart.”

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos Wednesday, Blinken said there remained questions on the most effective ways to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza and how to minimize civilian casualties.

When asked whether Jewish lives matter more than Palestinian lives for the US, he said: “No. Period.”

He also described the Israel-Gaza war as a “profound opportunity for regionalization in the Middle East,” adding that more Arab countries were willing to have a relationship with Israel.

“But you also have an absolute conviction by those countries, one that we share that this has to include a pathway to a Palestinian state,” Blinken added.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned about the impact of the Red Sea disruption on the global economy if the situation escalates.

Current Houthi attacks on shipping are “not significant enough to impact the global economy, the risk is more spillover of violence and prolonging the conflict and then uncertainty is high,” Kristalina Georgieva told CNN’s Richard Quest at the World Economic Forum in Davos Wednesday.
“How would that impact the world? I worry it could be quite negative.”

Some context: Attacks by Iran-backed militants in the Red Sea effectively closed one of the world’s main trade routes to most container ships. The Houthi militants, based in Yemen, say they are taking revenge for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

An aerial view of buildings destroyed by Israeli air strikes in the Jabalya camp for Palestinian refugees in Gaza City on October 11.

As Israel’s war against Hamas enters its fourth month, the Israeli government has said little of substance, at least in any official way, on its plans for post-war Gaza.

Into that void has stepped a group — once fringe, but now in the governing coalition — that hopes for full Israeli control, to resettle Gaza and even expel Palestinians. And its ideas are permeating mainstream debate.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a position in the defense ministry, says that Israel “will rule there. And in order to rule there securely for a long time, we must have a civilian presence.”

Read the full story here.

Israeli forces are moving toward the largest hospital in Khan Younis, prompting patients and sheltering Gazans to flee, according to international doctors working there and local journalists capturing events on camera.

“The hospital is shaking and there is panic,” an American doctor said in a voice note sent to CNN from the Al Nasser hospital, in which the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background.

Earlier, the Israeli military said Hamas had recently carried out a launch toward Israel from within the hospital compound. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of exploiting civilians as human shields by using hospitals and nearby areas as military sites.

It comes after Israel’s defense minister said the intensive stage of its military offensive in Gaza will “end soon,” and as the UN relief chief warned Israel’s war has brought famine to the strip with “such incredible speed.”

Catch up on the latest updates:

Smoke billows over Khan Younis, Gaza, during Israeli bombardment on January 17.

Israeli forces are moving toward the largest hospital in Khan Younis, prompting patients and sheltering Gazans to flee, according to international doctors working there and local journalists capturing events on camera.

Multiple videos show dozens of people carrying blankets, mattresses and other personal belongings leaving the Al Nasser hospital compound in southern Gaza.

Women can be seen carrying children in their arms, while one man carries a boy on his shoulders. The sounds of bombardment and small arms fire can be heard in the background.

Several videos show nearby explosions, likely from airstrikes.

An American doctor, Thaer Ahmad, one of a team of US and British doctors from NGO MedGlobal working at the hospital, told CNN the Israeli military was getting closer.

“The hospital is shaking and there is panic,” said Ahmad in a voice note sent to CNN, in which the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background. “So many of the (internally displaced people) around the hospital have begun walking on foot away from the hospital.”

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military said Hamas had recently carried out a launch toward Israel from within the Al Nasser Hospital compound. Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of exploiting civilians as human shields by using hospitals and nearby areas as military sites.

From left, Hamas hostages Yossi Sharabi and Itai Svirsky are seen on a Hamas video released on January 14.

Two Israeli men held hostage in Gaza since October 7 and featured in recent videos released by Hamas have died, according to statements from their home village Tuesday.

Kibbutz Be’eri announced the deaths of Yossi Sharabi and Itai Svirsky in separate statements released with the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum headquarters. 

Sharabi’s brother Eli was also kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri and is still held captive by Hamas.

In a separate statement, Kibbutz Be’eri announced the death of Svirsky.  

Both men’s bodies are being held by Hamas, the kibbutz said.

Israel’s defense minister said Monday that Hamas was practicing “psychological torment” by releasing videos of hostages.

CNN’s Andrew Carey, Amir Tal and Ivana Kottasová contributed to this report.

Qatar says it has brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas that will see medicines delivered to Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for the delivery of medicine and humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians.

“Medicine along with other humanitarian aid is to be delivered to civilians in the Gaza Strip, in the most affected and vulnerable areas, in exchange for delivering medication needed for Israeli captives in Gaza,” the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday in a statement posted on X.

The medications and aid will leave Doha on Wednesday and head to Egypt before being transported to Gaza, the ministry added. It is unclear when the medicines are expected to reach Gaza.

Relatives of the more than 100 remaining hostages believed to be alive in Gaza have been calling for medications to be passed on to their loved ones.

Read more about the deal.

The Biden administration is expected to re-classify the Yemeni militant group, the Houthis, as a global terrorist entity amid continued attacks in the Red Sea, a source familiar told CNN on Tuesday.

The administration removed the Houthis’ Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDTG) designation and de-listed it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in February 2021, after it was designated by the Trump administration in its final weeks.

At the time, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the decision to remove the group’s designations was driven by concerns that it could imperil the ability to deliver crucial assistance to the people of Yemen.

He said it was “a recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.”

Both the designations trigger an asset freeze, but only an FTO designation imposes immigration restrictions on members, according to the State Department. 

The SDGT designation also does not impose sanctions on those who provide “material support” to the group.

As of Tuesday, the administration was not re-imposing the FTO designation.

Pressure has grown on the administration to reimpose the designations as the Iranian-backed militia carries out attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. 

On Tuesday, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Greek-owned vessel it said was headed toward Israel. Hours earlier, the US military launched new strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.

A Palestinian woman and children check debris following Israeli bombardment in Rafah, southern Gaza, on December 22, 2023.

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. 

“The Palestinian death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression has exceeded 24,285, of which 75% are children, women, and elderly people (+10,600 children, 7,200 women, and 1,049 elderly people),” the ministry said. 

At least 158 people were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza in the past 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 ministry’s figures.

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

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

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, he said the first step to resolving the Palestinian issue is through a ceasefire “on all sides.”

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.

This picture taken on January 6, 2024, shows Gaza City's landmark Al-Hassaina Mosque, damaged in Israeli bombardment.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said the “intensive maneuvering 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 maneuvering 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 Gaza 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 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.