January 29 2024 Israel-Hamas war

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

Dozens of civilians were killed and wounded in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City on Monday, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Witnesses said at least “25 civilians were killed” and others were injured in Israeli shelling of a family home in the al-Tuffah neighborhood east of Gaza City, the agency said.

CNN is unable to independently verify the WAFA report. 

Several injured people were brought to Al-Shifa Hospital, according to WAFA journalist Khader Zaanoun, who witnessed the casualties arriving and was in touch with CNN from the hospital via text message.

Earlier Monday, Zaanoun told CNN that Israeli forces had “invaded” Gaza City’s Al-Rimal neighborhood “from multiple directions,” and were surrounding it, including Al-Shifa Hospital. “Ambulances are facing major difficulties in moving and operating due to artillery shelling and besiegement by Israeli forces,” Zaanoun said.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

The father of Army Specialist Kennedy Sanders described the moment that soldiers arrived at his home to notify him of his daughter’s death as “the longest 20 minutes I faced in my life.”

Sanders was one of three US soldiers killed in an attack allegedly by Iran-backed militias against a US base in Jordan.

“When I opened the door, I initially knew what was going on,” said Shawn Sanders, a former Marine. He asked them to wait for his wife to come home so they could be notified together. 

Having just spoken with Kennedy hours before the attack regarding the purchase of a motorcycle, Oneida Oliver-Sanders remembers her daughter as a “sweet spirit.”

“Her smile was contagious. She was always laughing about everything,” Oneida said. “I just want people to remember that even though her time was short on Earth, she lived her life to the fullest and she enjoyed her life in any situation that she was in. In any situation she was in, she made it enjoyable, even being deployed she found different things do to pass her time.” 

As the humanitarian situation in Gaza becomes more dire, pregnant mothers are worried about what life will be like for their babies delivered during a war.

Watch the report:

During a visit to an Israeli military outpost on the Gaza border Monday, Israel’s defense minister told Israeli troops that they are making progress against Hamas, but it will be months before the war is over.

“This is a long war, but in the end, we will break Hamas. We must keep going until we eliminate them as a governing system, and as a military organization capable of launching attacks against the state of Israel,” Yoav Gallant said.

Gallant described the conflict to the soldiers as an “hourglass” that has “flipped against” Hamas and is now in Israel’s favor.

The Israeli defense minister has on several occasions outlined Israel’s commitment to pursuing Hamas fighters in Gaza for as “long as necessary.”

The minister stressed that it will “take months, not a single day” to achieve Israel’s objectives despite his claim that Hamas’ capabilities have been significantly weakened: “They don’t have ammunition, they don’t have reinforcements.” 

A large void is all that is left after the Israeli military excavated the western side of the Bani Suheila cemetery, near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, claiming a Hamas tunnel ran directly through the site and that Hamas militants attacked Israeli troops from there.

A week after a CNN investigation found that the Israeli military damaged or destroyed at least 16 cemeteries in Gaza since the beginning of the war, the Israeli military invited CNN into Gaza to explain why it partially destroyed one of those cemeteries.

But Israeli commanders failed to prove their claim during a three-hour visit to the Bani Suheila cemetery and the surrounding area.

On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took CNN into a tunnel near the Bani Suheila cemetery and into an underground command center that the military said was below the cemetery.

However, IDF commanders declined to show reporters the tunnel shaft they said emerged inside the cemetery, claiming there was sensitive machinery underground and that the structure was unstable.

Read more about the destruction of a Gaza graveyard

The US response to the drone attack in Jordan that killed and wounded US service members on Sunday is likely to be more powerful than previous American retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria, officials told CNN, though the Pentagon and White House are being careful not to telegraph the administration’s plans.

President Joe Biden is under increasing pressure to respond in a way that stops these attacks for good. Iran-backed militants have targeted US military facilities in Iraq and Syria over 160 times since October, and several Republican lawmakers have called for the US to hit inside Iran directly to send a clear message.

But the biggest challenge now for the Biden administration is how to respond to the drone strike – the deadliest attack on US forces in the region since the bombing at Abbey Gate killed 13 US service members in the closing days of the Afghanistan withdrawal – without sparking a regional war.

The US has in recent months carried out several strikes targeting Iranian proxies’ weapons depots in Iraq and Syria. To date, none of those strikes have deterred the militants, whose 165 attacks have injured over 120 US service members across the region since October.

Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling said the deaths of US service members “certainly crossed the president’s red line,” and both officials and analysts are expecting a more robust response that is not necessarily confined to one country or one day. But officials have suggested it is unlikely the US will strike within Iran.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the environment in the Middle East is as dangerous as it’s been in the region “since at least 1973, and arguably even before that.”

Read more details of the possible US response

The UN’s special representative on sexual violence in conflict, Pramila Patten, has called on victims of sexual violence during Hamas’ October 7 attacks to come forward in a bid to bring about justice. 

Patten made the call to survivors during a meeting with Israeli first lady Michal Herzog in Jerusalem on Monday. 

Addressing survivors directly, Patten said: “I want to say that survivors and victims, we owe you all more than solidarity. We want to ensure that you have justice.”

The visit comes after Israel criticized the UN for its delay in condemning the acts of sexual violence perpetrated by Hamas fighters against women on October 7. The UN has previously said its commission collecting war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas has been investigating accounts of sexual violence. 

Patten, who was invited by the Israeli government, said Monday she wanted to convey the “important message” that sexual violence is one of “the most heinous crimes with devastating consequences.” 

“I have a message for survivors, I have a message for families of victims, and another message for witnesses: Please come forward, please break your silence, because your silence will be the license of those perpetrators, and would-be perpetrators, to continue to do these heinous crimes,” she said. 

The UN representative said her and her team were prepared to listen to survivors “in all safety and confidentiality” during her weeklong visit to Israel. 

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan will meet with American hostage families at the White House on Tuesday, an administration official said. 

Several families of hostages being held in Gaza are in Washington, DC, this week, including Ronen and Orna Neutra, parents of Omer Neutra; Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen; Adi and Yael Alexander, parents of Edan Alexander; and Liz Naftali, great-aunt of Abigail Edan, who was freed as part of the November hostage deal. 

Other families not in town might dial in to the meeting, a source familiar with the meeting said. 

The meeting, which the administration official described as routine, comes as negotiators have been working toward securing another hostage release deal. CNN reported earlier today that a broad framework for a hostage release and potential ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war was agreed to among negotiators in Paris this weekend, according to an official familiar with the talks. 

The European Union will continue funding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), despite what it called very “serious” allegations against several of the agency’s staff members. 

In a news release Monday, the bloc said its foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, held a call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “to discuss the situation in the Middle East, including very serious allegations against a number of UNRWA staff members.”

Several EU states, including France, Italy, Germany, Romania and the Netherlands, have all opted to temporarily suspend their individual funding to UNRWA in the wake of claims from Israel last week that several of the agency’s staff were allegedly involved in Hamas’ October 7 attacks. 

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Saturday that the highest investigative authority of the UN had already taken action and that an independent review by external experts is forthcoming. He added that UNRWA had taken “immediate action” by terminating contracts of employees suspected of being involved in the October 7 attack.

In the EU news release, Borrell commended the “swift and decisive measures” taken by UNRWA when the agency received the allegations regarding its staff members. If the agency’s investigation finds Israel’s claims to be true, Borrell said those responsible should be “held to account.” 

Borrell told Guterres during his Monday call that the EU will “continue its essential aid to Palestinians in Gaza unabated” as one of the “largest donors” to the enclave. 

Although the EU’s funding commitments to UNRWA have already been finalized, future funding decisions will be determined by the outcome of the investigation, the news release added.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) was founded by the United Nations a year after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, which marked the creation of Israel and the displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes in an event known by Palestinians as the Nakba (catastrophe).

UNRWA is the primary humanitarian aid group in Gaza.

Here’s the aid and services it provides to Palestinian refugees and their descendants:

UNRWA is unique in that it is the only UN agency dedicated to a specific group of refugees in specific areas. While its purpose is to support Palestinian refugees, UNRWA does not have a mandate to resettle them — a mandate that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) does have. The UNHCR does not, however, have a mandate over Palestine refugees within UNRWA’s areas of operation.

Pausing aid to this agency would further deteriorate the situation, warned Leo Cans, head of mission Palestine for Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders. “(If) you stop these trucks, people will die of hunger and very quickly,” he said.

The environment in the Middle East is as dangerous as it’s been in the region “since at least 1973, and arguably even before that,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said while emphasizing the US effort to prevent escalation.

Blinken, who was speaking at a news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, said that the US response to Iran-backed militias allegedly killing three US Army reservists in Jordan “could be multileveled, come in stages and be sustained over time.”

“We want to prevent this conflict from spreading, so we are intent on doing both, that is standing up for our people when they’re attacked, while at the same time working every single day to prevent the conflict from growing and spreading,” said Blinken.

On the war in Gaza, the US top diplomat also said that he discussed the “ongoing efforts” to free Israeli hostages and create an “extended pause” in fighting in the enclave during his meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Monday.

A broad framework for a hostage release and potential ceasefire was agreed to among negotiators in Paris this weekend, according to an official familiar with the talks. 

While there is a basic framework that negotiators feel they can move forward with, the “details are going to be very difficult” to work out, the official said.

Even though negotiators came to terms on the broad strokes, the office of Israel’s prime minister indicated Monday that there are concerns about “conditions that are not acceptable.” It denied reports that Israel had agreed to a new hostage deal.

Egyptian intelligence today delivered the framework to Hamas in Rafah, the official said.

The framework would call for the first phase of civilian hostage releases to take place over a 6-week pause with three Palestinian prisoners held by Israel released for each civilian hostage returned from Gaza. That ratio would be expected to go up for IDF soldiers and a longer pause is possible beyond the six weeks for the later phases. 

The framework is a melding of different proposals from Israel, Hamas, Qatar and Egypt, along with additional ideas from the United States. The proposals differed on the length of the pause and ratios for swapping prisoners and hostages. 

CNN’s Lauren Izso contributed reporting to this post.

More than 40 US service members were injured in the attack on US forces in Jordan, according to the Defense Department, a number that could possibly continue to increase.

“We do expect that number to continue to fluctuate as our service members, as you know with TBI, report symptoms later on, so that number could continue to grow,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said.

US Central Command previously said in a statement Sunday that 34 service members had been injured.

The Defense Department released the names of the US soldiers killed in an attack allegedly by Iran-backed militias against a US force in Jordan:

They were all assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, a US Army Reserve unit based out of Fort Moore, Georgia, according to Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh.

The United States is “not looking for war” – but the White House on Monday would not rule out the prospect that President Joe Biden is considering strikes within Iran. It comes after three US Army soldiers were killed and more than 30 service members were injured in a drone attack overnight in Jordan. 

“We are not looking for war with Iran, we are not seeking a conflict with the regime in the military way,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. “We’re not looking to escalate here. This attack over the weekend was escalatory, make no mistake about it — and it requires a response, make no mistake about that. I will not get ahead of the president’s decision-making.” 

CNN reported Monday that the killing of three Americans at Tower 22 in Jordan marked a significant escalation of an already precarious situation in the Middle East. Officials said the drone was fired by Iran-backed militants and appeared to come from Syria. It is still being determined which militia group specifically is responsible.

For his part, Biden pledged the United States “shall respond,” in remarks from South Carolina over the weekend. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also reiterated that the US will respond on Monday.

“The president’s been crystal clear — we will respond decisively to any aggression,” he said. “And we will hold responsible the people who attacked our troops. We’ll do so at a time and a place of our choosing.”

This post has been updated with Blinken’s remarks.

Discussions aimed at unlocking a solution to free the remaining hostages and reach a sustained cessation in fighting in Gaza made progress this weekend, Qatar’s prime minister said Monday.

“We are in much better place than where we were a few weeks ago,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC. He said the talks on Sunday have made “good progress to get things back in shape and at least to lay a foundation for the way forward.”

Al Thani described the framework emerging from the talks in France as a combination of “what’s been proposed by the Israelis and what’s been a counter-proposal from Hamas.” in addition to Al Thani, CIA Director Bill Burns and the Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs are also involved.

Still, the Qatari prime minister downplayed the prospect of immediate results. The framework must still be relayed to Hamas, he said, and “we don’t know and we cannot predict” how the militant group will respond.

Hamas must get “to a place where they engage positively and constructively in the process,” Al Thani said.

Israel alleges that 13 employees of the United Nations’ main relief agency in Gaza were associated with Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and took part in varying capacities, ranging from involvement in kidnapping hostages to being told to set up an operations room, according to the summary of the intelligence shared with CNN by an Israeli official. 

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) employs more than 13,000 people in Gaza and provides humanitarian support to the enclave.

CNN has not seen the intelligence that underlies the summary of allegations and cannot corroborate Israel’s claims about individual staffers or the agency’s dynamic with Hamas and other groups operating in Gaza.

Of the 13 UNRWA employees alleged to have been associated with the attack, the Israeli document alleges 10 were Hamas operatives, two were Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives and one is unidentified. 

Israel believes that six UNRWA employees infiltrated Israel as part of the attack, four were involved in kidnapping Israelis, and three additional UNRWA employees were “invited via a SMS text to arrive at an assembly area in the night before the attack and were directed to equip with weapons,” but their presence on October 7 was not confirmed. It also alleges that at least one UNRWA employee supplied logistic support to the attack.

This summary is part of what was provided to US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew and Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues Ambassador David Satterfield in a Friday briefing with Israel’s head of military intelligence, according to the Israeli official. The New York Times first reported the details of Israel’s allegations.  

When asked about the allegations, Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN secretary-general, said the UN had not received the dossier and that UNRWA operates in Gaza with the mandate of the UN General Assembly, a voting body of member states.

Israel has alleged that some of the staff of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack. The main aid agency in Gaza fired several employees in response. But beyond the allegations of recent days, Israel has longstanding issues with UNRWA, accusing it of aiding Hamas and calling for it to be entirely dismantled.

In 2017, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to dissolve UNRWA and merge it with the main UN refugee agency, the UNHCR. More recently, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has suggested that Israel will seek to stop the UN agency from operating in post-war Gaza, saying it “will not be a part of the day after.”

“We have been warning for years,” Katz said. “UNRWA perpetuates the refugee issue, obstructs peace, and serves as a civilian arm of Hamas in Gaza.”

UNRWA has repeatedly denied Israeli allegations that its aid is being diverted to Hamas, and that it teaches hatred in its schools, and has questioned “the motivation of those who make such claims, through large advocacy campaigns.” It has condemned the October 7 attack as “abhorrent.” The threat to remove UNRWA from the besieged Gaza Strip has caused UN officials and those who rely on the agency to sound the alarm.

“Israel doesn’t see UNRWA as something which is conducive to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said Yuval Shany, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s faculty of law.

Israel instead views the agency as “a mechanism that perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he told CNN, “And specifically perpetuates the conflict with regards to the right to return, by designating refugees and their descendants from 1948… as refugees.”

The right of return refers to the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to their ancestral homes in what is now Israel, which was recognized by the 1948 UN General Assembly Resolution 194. The fate of refugees is one of the most contentious issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Read more about Israel’s opposition to UNRWA.

Abeer Salman in Jerusalem and Mohammad Sawalhi in Gaza contributed to this report.

Qatar reasserted its commitment to humanitarian efforts in the Gaza Strip and called for other countries to continue funding UNRWA, the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

During a phone with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on Monday, Qatari Minister of State for International Cooperation Lulwah bint Rashid Al-Khater underscored the extensive reach of UNRWA’s operations, supporting millions across the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

Al-Khater also cautioned that any suspension of funding to the agency could critically impair its capacity to meet the pressing needs of Palestinians in these regions, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Several large donor countries suspended funding from UNRWA after the organization was given information from Israeli authorities alleging that several of its staff members were involved in the terror attacks on October 7 by Hamas. UNRWA said the accused staff members were immediately terminated from their positions.

United States President Joe Biden met with members of his national security team Monday morning on the latest developments in the drone attack that killed three US service members and injured dozens of others in Jordan, the White House said. 

Here’s who Biden met with, according to a statement from the White House:

The attack over the weekend at a small US outpost in Jordan marked the first fatal attack on US troops since the October 7 attacks. Biden has vowed to respond, but it’s not clear when. 

The Netherlands had no other choice but to freeze funding after the “serious” accusations against UNRWA were revealed, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade & Development Geoffrey Cab Leeuwen told CNN’s Connect The World on Monday.

“These accusations are so serious that we have no other choice than to freeze. We really want clarification from the UN, from UNRWA, on how this could have happened, to what the extent of the accusations are, and we need really more information,” he said. 

Leeuwen added that he is scheduled to talk to the head of UNRWA this week to get more clarification on the situation. 

“We will remain one of the biggest donors to the Palestinians and the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” he added.

Leeuwen says the decision to freeze the funding was not coordinated with other countries. 

“We all took that decision because of the shock we had from those reports,” he added. 

Leeuwen says his country has made an upfront payment of $30 million in aid to UNRWA for 2024.

Here’s CNN’s interview with the Dutch minister about the funding suspension:

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An Iranian-proxy Iraqi Shia group operating in Iraq and Syria warned the US that it will continue attacks if American soldiers do not “leave today.”

The group, Harakat Al-Nujaba, issued the statement one day after a drone attack on an outpost in northern Jordan claimed the lives of three US soldiers and left over 30 others injured. Al-Nujaba did not claim the attack in the statement. 

It’s unclear what the group is referring to, but regional media reports emerged after the drone strike confusing the location US soldiers were killed. The militia vowed that US presence in the region would be eradicated and warned of a “heavy price for each day that passes without their withdrawal.”

In the statement, the group called on the US to “learn the lesson” and “depart immediately,” emphasizing that failure to do so would result in a “heavy price.” 

“Your barracks and bases know very well that we do as we say…[the US] must learn the lesson and leave today before tomorrow,” the statement added.

The United States has carried out retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militias in the past, including one earlier this month in Baghdad that killed a senior Al-Nujaba commander.

A drone that killed US Army soldiers and wounded dozens more in Jordan on Sunday approached the US military outpost, Tower 22, around the same time an American drone was returning to the base, which led to uncertainty over whether the system was an enemy drone, two US officials told CNN. 

The uncertainty delayed the US response. It is not clear whether the drone intentionally followed the American drone or if it was a coincidence, one of the officials said.

US officials are also still assessing the drone’s point of origin.

The drone hit near the base’s living quarters on Sunday, officials said. At least 34 US servicemembers were wounded, including eight who had to be medically evacuated to Landstuhl medical center in Germany. They are in stable condition.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society says that a 7-year-old girl has been trapped by Israeli tanks in central Gaza inside her family’s vehicle for several hours after it was fired upon — killing all her family.  

The PRCS said the girl is the only person alive in the vehicle after it was targeted by Israeli forces earlier Monday. It said her father and four siblings were killed.

“Our teams continue to communicate with the girl to calm her down,” the PRCS said.

The PRCS told CNN the vehicle had been targeted close to a gas station in a neighborhood of central Gaza. Ambulances were unable to reach the area, as the Israeli military considered it a closed military zone, and was targeting anyone attempting to move in the area, the PRCS said.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on operations in the immediate area. CNN is also seeking further details from PRCS about efforts to rescue the girl.

Earlier Monday the IDF said its troops encountered and killed dozens of armed terrorists in battles in the central Gaza Strip. “The troops were assisted by tank fire under the direction of field observers and infantry soldiers. In addition, the troops located large quantities of weapons in the area,” the IDF said.

Hezbollah said it launched 10 attacks on Israeli military targets in northern Israel on Monday — more than double the daily attacks it announced throughout the past week.

The Israeli military said it responded by striking the “sources of fire, as well as additional areas in Lebanon.”

Multiple towns in the eastern, western and central sectors of the Lebanese border with Israel were hit by Israeli artillery fire, including the outskirts Marwahin, Kafr Kela, Eita al-Shaab, Dhoheira and Alma Al-Shaab, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) said.

Israeli fighter jets also hit the outskirts of Yaroun town in the eastern sector of southern Lebanon, according to both NNA and the Israeli military, which said the jets carried out “precise strikes on two Hezbollah military sites” where fighters of the Iran-backed paramilitary groups were identified.

Hezbollah said it targeted the Risha and Hadab Yarin sites using al-Burkan missiles, which can carry a payload of up to 500 kilograms (more than 1,100 lbs), soon after midnight. It also claims to have fired a Falaq missile, which reportedly carries 50 kilograms (110 lbs) of explosives up to 10 kilometers (6 miles), in targeting Jal al-alam and the Barranit Barracks.

At least half of the top government donors to UNRWA, the UN Palestine relief agency, have announced they will suspend funding to the organization after Israel alleged that some of its staff members were involved in the October 7 attack.

Who halted funds: 10 out of 20 of UNRWA’s top government donors in 2022 are among those who have announced they are halting funds. The United States, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, France and Japan.

Decision pending: The European Commission said Monday it will determine upcoming funding decisions following an investigation into the allegations, adding that no additional funding was due to UNRWA until the end of February. 

Who will continue funding: Four out of 20 top UNRWA donors — Norway, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Spain — announced they were continuing payments to the agency.

Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Kuwait and Qatar are the remaining five out of the list of the twenty largest donors to UNRWA. They have not announced whether they will halt or continue their funding.

Here’s a list of the agency’s top 25 donors:

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed his “outrage and sorrow” over the Sunday killing of three US soldiers in his opening remarks on Monday ahead of a meeting at the Pentagon with NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.

Monday is Austin’s first day at the Pentagon since before his procedure on December 22 to treat prostate cancer, and his subsequent hospitalization in early January.

He said Monday that he feels “good” and is “recovering well, but still recovering.”  

“Let me start with my outrage and sorrow for the death of three brave US troops in Jordan, and for the other troops who were wounded,” Austin said. “The President and I will not tolerate attacks on US forces, and we will take all necessary actions to defend the US and our troops.”

Stoltenberg followed Austin’s remarks also expressing his condolences for the loss of the three US soldiers, and those who were wounded. 

“[T]his demonstrates once again the risk that servicemen are exposed to and they stand up for our values and take part in missions, operations where we protect freedom and the values we all believe in,” Stoltenberg said.

As several Western countries, like the United States, United Kingdom and Germany, announce a pause in funding for the main UN aid agency in Gaza, Palestinians living in dire conditions warn it could be a “death sentence.”

“This decision means killing us, killing the human being. This is a death sentence. This is the only thing we live on, and you want to cut it?” Suhaila Nofal, a displaced civilian, saif, pleading for mercy “on Gaza and its people.” 

What we know: The announcement about pause funding came after Israel accused some staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks. The agency fired several employees in the wake of the allegations, which have not been made public. As yet, it’s unclear whether the funds will be re-routed through other organizations.

CNN video from Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza shows hundreds of displaced Palestinians sheltering in a school run by UNRWA. 

Another Palestinian, Um Mohammad Al Khabbaz, pointed to his living conditions.

“Look at how we live – under the rain and amidst the fire. Our children are ill, and we are displaced. We have no life,” he said. “There is no safety in the schools. They are all dirty and there is no water. This is in addition to the people we have lost.” 

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Monday called for the chief of UNRWA, the UN relief agency for Palestinians, to resign following allegations brought by Israel that 12 of the UN agency’s employees were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

“I have just canceled the meetings of UNRWA head, [Philippe Lazzarini], with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel on Wednesday,” Katz wrote on X.

“Lazzarini should draw conclusions and resign. Supporters of terrorism are not welcome here,” he added.

Katz already called on the United Nations “to take immediate personal actions” against UNRWA’s leadership on Saturday.

Lazzarini on Saturday said that the highest investigative authority of the UN had already taken action and an independent review by external experts is forthcoming. He added that UNRWA had taken “immediate action” by terminating contracts of employees suspected of having been involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack.

As rocket sirens rang out across central Israel on Monday afternoon, Hamas’ military wing said it fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv.

The Al-Qassam Brigades said it was bombarding Tel Aviv “in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians,” a reference to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

CNN teams in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem heard the sound of distant booms, and journalists in Khan Younis reported seeing a barrage of outgoing rockets from the southern Gaza city.

Most of the warning sirens that sounded Monday were south or east of Tel Aviv.

Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency rescue service said there were no immediate reports of casualties in a barrage of rockets fired at central Israel on Monday.

CNN’s Richard Allen Greene contributed reporting to this post.

The eight service members who were medically evacuated to receive higher-level care after being injured in Sunday’s drone attack on Tower 22 in Jordan were evacuated to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, a US official told CNN.

They are currently in stable condition.

More than 30 service members were injured in the drone attack that also killed three US soldiers.

While no deal on a possible release for hostages held in Gaza is yet in place, talks surrounding the subject have been “constructive,” US national security council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby told CNN.

Kirby warned on CNN This Morning that a “lot of work” still remains to finalize another hostage deal, but there have been “very good discussions with the Qataris, with the Egyptians with the Israelis.”

US officials remain hopeful they are inching closer to reaching a hostage agreement that would include a lengthy pause in the fighting in Gaza — and, they hope, an easing of tensions in the region. 

Biden dispatched CIA Director Bill Burns to Paris for talks Sunday on a plan that would include a phased release of all the remaining hostages in Gaza paired with a suspension of the war for two months, a proposal that if agreed to could have a significant impact on the future of the conflict.

US President Joe Biden and his national security team are weighing response options after three US service members were killed and dozens more were injured in Jordan, the White House said Monday morning. 

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNN’s Phil Mattingly the president is “working his way through” response options “right now.” 

“He had a good meeting yesterday with the national security team. He still has decision space ahead of them and I certainly get in front of that,” Kirby said.

As far as which group is responsible for the attack, Kirby said the administration is still “working our way through the attribution and what group was specifically responsible for this.”

“I think we have a pretty good sense,” Kirby said, “and we certainly believe that that the group was supported by Kata’ib Hezbollah, which is one of the main IRGC Revolutionary Guard-core backed groups in Iraq and Syria that have been conducting so many of these attacks on our troops in our facilities.”

Kirby also said that while this was the first deadly strike on US troops in the region since the October 7 attacks, it’s far from the first attempt. 

“This one had lethal consequences in ways that previous ones didn’t, but that doesn’t mean that the intent of the previous attacks weren’t also lethal, it’s just that we were able to defeat them,” he said.

The surgical ward at Al Amal hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza has “completely ceased operations” amid the ongoing shelling, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.

The aid agency said the operations ceased as of 2 p.m. local time and attributed it to depletion of oxygen supplies.

Israeli forces continued to surround the hospital for the eight consecutive day, with shelling and gunfire underway in the hospital’s vicinity, the PRCS said.

Three of the displaced people sheltering at Al Amal had been killed and four injured, the agency added. Emergency teams could not reach others who had been killed or injured.

Israeli forces had warned residents to evacuate areas in the Al-Amal neighborhood and the areas near the hospital, prompting many families to approach the hospital because they think they would be safer there, PRCS spokesperson Nebal Farsakh told CNN.

The European Commission will decide whether it will provide funding to UNRWA, the UN Palestine relief agency, after an investigation, the European Commission says.

UNRWA is in turmoil after Israel accused some of its staff members of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks. It has fired several employees in the wake of the allegations, which have not been made public.

Where things stand: Currently, the EC says, no additional funding to UNRWA is due till the end of February. It said the commission would then decide whether to provide aid to UNRWA or not after the investigation is finalized and based on decisions taken by the UN.

The Council said it expected UNRWA to “agree to carrying out an audit of the Agency to be conducted by EU appointed independent external experts,” a statement from the EC said.

In a statement, the EC also said it expected UNRWA to assess what control systems were in place “to prevent the possible involvement of its staff in terrorist activities” and a “strengthening of UNRWA’s Department of Internal Investigations (DIOS) which is key in this regard.”

Eric Mamer, the Commission’s chief spokesperson, said Monday “I think the situation is sufficiently serious for everybody, including UNRWA, to understand that investigations and audits have to take place as quickly as possible.” 

Key medical services at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis have collapsed and its surgical capacity is “almost non-existent,” Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said Monday, and the nearby Al-Amal hospital remains ensnared in fighting.

Meanwhile, United States President Joe Biden has pledged to hold “to account” those responsible for a drone attack on a US outpost in Jordan, which killed three US soldiers, marking the first time US troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

Here are the latest developments:

More than a dozen countries have announced they are suspending funding to UNRWA, the main United Nations Palestinian relief agency, amid allegations that 12 of the UN agency’s employees were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. Since the allegations arose, the organization fired several employees.

But main donors, including the United States, have paused their funding for an organization that employs about 13,000 people in Gaza as the humanitarian disaster spirals in the enclave.

Here’s which countries have suspended their aid:

While other countries say they will continue to provide aid:

At least 10 civilians were killed after Israeli artillery fire hit a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City on Monday, Palestinian state news agency WAFA said. Israeli military vehicles surrounded the school, as soldiers engaged in intense shelling and gunfire, WAFA said. 

The incident is a reminder that while the most intense military activity in Gaza has moved to the south, around Khan Younis, the war continues throughout the Strip.

CNN has reached out to UNRWA and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to ask about the shelling of the school in Gaza City. 

Israeli fighter jets also shelled at least five residential buildings in the Al-Rimal neighborhood, WAFA added, killing and injuring dozens of civilians. 

Eyewitness and journalist Khader Zaanoun, who is in Al-Rimal, told CNN Monday that Israeli forces invaded the neighborhood “from multiple directions,” and are currently surrounding it, including the Al-Shifa Hospital.

Four paramedics were killed after two ambulances were struck by Israeli aircraft in Gaza City, as they were moving to transport the dead and injured Monday, Zaanoun said. “Ambulances are facing major difficulties in moving and operating due to artillery shelling and beseigment by Israeli forces,” Zaanoun said. 

An earlier version of this post stated that CNN had reached out to the IDF for comment before that request had been made.

The United Nations special representative on sexual violence in conflict has arrived in Israel, the country’s foreign ministry said, amid criticism of the UN for being slow to acknowledge and investigate the extent of sexual violence perpetrated during Hamas’ October 7 attack.

Pramila Patten met with Aliza Ben Nun, political director of Israel’s foreign ministry, on Monday. The ministry said Patten was invited “so that she could receive an unmediated impression of the extent of the atrocities and then bring Hamas’ crimes to the attention of the proper international authorities.” 

It also accused the organization UN Women of “ignoring the reports of the appalling cases that have been uncovered.”

Israeli officials have repeatedly criticized the UN for its sluggishness in responding to reports of rape and sexual violence. Hamas has rejected accusations of rape and sexual violence during October attacks as “unfounded lies.”

Read what we know about sexual violence inflicted by Hamas on October 7.

Vital medical services at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, have collapsed, aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned Monday.

The hospital’s surgical capacity is now “almost non-existent” and the handful of remaining medical staff are left with “very low supplies that are insufficient to handle mass casualty events,” the international medical aid group — also known as Doctors Without Borders — said. 

There are between 300 and 350 patients left at Nasser hospital who are unable to evacuate, MSF said.

“It is too dangerous and there are no ambulances. These patients have war-related injuries such as open wounds, lacerations from explosions, fractures, and burns,” it said in a statement.

MSF also shared the testimony of one nurse, identified only as Rami, who they said was trapped inside Nasser hospital. He said five dead people and 50 wounded arrived at the emergency room on Thursday, but there was no one to care for them.

“There was no staff left at the ER (emergency room) of Nasser hospital. There were no beds, just a few chairs and no staff, just a few nurses,” Rami said. “We managed with what we had, tried to stop the bleeding, and sort the patients there. It was a horrible event and really affected me psychologically,” he added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have called on residents in the vicinity of the Al-Amal hospital to evacuate, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

The PRCS said Israeli drones equipped with loudspeakers on Monday issued a call to residents to leave the area near the hospital in the Al-Amal neighborhood and relocate to the Mawasi area west of Khan Younis, amid continued heavy fighting in the city in southern Gaza.

It is not clear how many people have heeded the call. There have been multiple reports of people being injured or killed while trying to flee Khan Younis.

Earlier on Monday, CNN reported that there was heavy fighting around the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Luxembourg will continue to provide funding to the main United Nations agency in Gaza despite allegations that some of its staff were involved in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks, the country’s foreign minister said on Monday. 

“We won’t stop the help now because in Gaza, they need support for the moment and it’s the civilian victims who, again are the victims if there is no UNRWA support for the moment,” Xavier Bettel said on arrival at a doorstep interview at the EU Council in Brussels.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) fired several employees in the wake of the allegations made by Israel, which have not been made public.

Bettel said he thought UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini made the “right decision to kick them out directly” but also to have an inquiry about what happened.

“But we will need the outcome of the investigations, then I will have to take the conclusions,” Bettel said.

Several countries — including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Italy and others — announced they would suspend funding for UNRWA in the wake of the allegations.

Iran has distanced itself from the attack which killed three United States troops at a US outpost in Jordan on Sunday, and said in a statement that accusations against the Islamic republic are “baseless.”

The foreign ministry’s spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said in a statement on Monday that “regional resistance” groups do not take orders from Iran.

“We believe the region does not need more tension or a new war,” he said.

US President Joe Biden vowed to hold accountable those responsible for the deaths and placed blame for the attacks on Iran-backed militant groups.

“We believe that war in Gaza is not the solution, and an immediate ceasefire can be the basis for the return of peace in the region,” Kanaani said.

Sunday’s drone attack on Tower 22 near the Syrian border marks the first time US troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of the war in Gaza. At least 34 US service members were also injured in the attack.

Israeli government ministers and members of the Knesset joined a rally in Jerusalem on Sunday calling for the resettlement of Gaza by Israelis and an expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir told the crowd the only way to prevent attacks like the one perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 was for Israel to control the Palestinian territories.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told the rally that Israel would not have security without further settlement construction, while communications minister Shlomo Karhi said God had given Gaza to the Jewish people and that there would never be a Palestinian state.

Hamas condemned the gathering in a statement on Monday and said the rally revealed the “hidden intentions” of the Israeli government to displace and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country does not intend to maintain a permanent presence in Gaza again, but that it would maintain security control over the territory for an indefinite period of time.

An Israeli soldier was seriously injured on Monday in the port of Haifa, close to the Israeli naval headquarters, after being hit by a car, police said.

The driver then left the car with an axe, police added, before being shot and killed by security forces. He has not been identified.

A medic at the scene said that the injured man was conscious and suffering from severe bruises on his lower limbs.

He was evacuated to hospital where he’s said to be in a serious condition.

Heavy fighting continues in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, with the Palestine Red Crescent Society saying that Al Amal hospital continues to be surrounded by Israeli troops.

The Israel Defense Forces said Monday its aircraft struck “two compounds used as terrorist infrastructure and killed armed terrorists” inside.

Israel frequently asserts that Hamas militants are using civilian infrastructure such as hospitals as cover for their operations.

Fighting in the area has raged for more than a week, making the Al Amal and Nasser hospitals difficult and sometimes impossible to access.

The aid agency Doctors without Borders (MSF) warned on X Monday that “amid heavy bombing in Khan Younis, vital medical services have collapsed at Nasser hospital, currently the largest functioning health facility in Gaza.”

Austria has become the latest country to suspend payments to the United Nations relief agency in Gaza after Israel accused some of its staff members of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks.

“The allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the bestial terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 are deeply shocking and extremely disturbing,” the foreign office in Vienna said, adding it would temporarily suspend all further payments to the agency and calling for an investigation.

Since October 7, Austria had provided 13 million euros (about $14 million) to the population in Gaza, the statement said.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has threatened to take legal action against Israeli officials if reporters working in Gaza are targeted by the military.

In an open letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant published Saturday, the IFJ said around 10% of journalists working in Gaza had been killed during the Israel-Hamas war.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a separate non-profit that promotes press freedom, said on Sunday that 83 journalists and media workers had been killed since the war began on October 7. Of those, 76 were Palestinians, four Israeli and three Lebanese.

The IFJ’s letter called on Israel to publish specific policies and procedures to ensure that military personnel would protect journalists.

The Israeli military has previously said it never intentionally targets journalists.

US President Joe Biden vowed to hold “to account” those responsible for a drone attack on a US outpost in Jordan, which killed three US Army soldiers and injured at least 34, marking the first time US troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of the Gaza war.

US Central Command confirmed the deaths and said eight personnel had to be medically evacuated from Jordan. The number of wounded is expected to rise.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group for several Iran-backed militias in the country, said it attacked a number of places along the Jordan-Syria border on Sunday — including a camp near the US base in Jordan where soldiers were killed.

US officials have said the drone that killed the US service members at Tower 22 was launched by Iran-backed militants and appeared to come from Syria. The US government has not yet named a specific militia they hold responsible.

Iran denied it played any role in the attack.

Here are the other headlines from the region:

Iran on Sunday denied it played any part in the attack on a US military outpost in Jordan that killed three American service members, Iran’s state news agency reported, citing the country’s permanent mission to the United Nations.

The attack marked the first time US troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the beginning of the Gaza war.

On Sunday, US President Joe Biden vowed to hold accountable those responsible for the deaths and placed blame for the attacks on Iran-backed militant groups.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group for several Iran-backed militias in the country, said it attacked a number of places along the Jordan-Syria border on Sunday — including a camp near the US base in Jordan where soldiers were killed.

The deaths of three American troops in a drone attack Sunday has thrust the United States deeper into the Middle East conflict and lent fresh urgency to efforts at securing the release of hostages in Gaza in exchange for a prolonged halt in the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

The confluence of intertwined events — high-stakes hostage talks in France were underway at the same time American officials were grappling with the troop deaths in Jordan — added up to one of the most charged moments since the outbreak of violence following Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks.

Now, leaders in Washington and the Middle East are mulling choices that could significantly transform the situation, with thousands of lives and the future of the region in the balance.

President Joe Biden, who vowed to respond to the drone attacks “at a time and in a manner of our choosing,” faces a decision on the scale of the American reprisal, which will have consequences both in the region and at home as he enters a tough reelection fight.

Read more about the wider conflict in the Middle East.

The main UN agency in Gaza is in turmoil after Israel accused some of its staff members of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) fired several employees in the wake of the allegations, which have not been made public.

Following Israel’s allegations, UNRWA’s main donor, the United States, and a growing number of countries have paused funding to the organization, which employs about 13,000 people in Gaza, as the humanitarian disaster spirals in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Here’s what we know:

Read more about the allegations here.

Japan has suspended its funding to the UN relief agency in Gaza “for the time being” in response to allegations that members of its staff were involved in Hamas’ October 7 attacks, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Sunday. 

“UNRWA plays a vital role in delivering essential humanitarian assistance to each and every resident (of Gaza). Against this backdrop, Japan is extremely concerned about the alleged involvement of UNRWA staff members in the terror attack on Israel on October 7 last year,” Foreign Press Secretary Kobayashi Maki said in the statement.

Japan will suspend funding while the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) conducts an investigation into the allegations, but will continue to provide support to other international organizations to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the statement added.

An Israeli official told CNN on Friday that Israel shared information about 12 staffers allegedly involved in the October 7 attacks both with UNRWA and the United States. UNRWA fired several employees in the wake of the allegations, the exact details of which have not been made public.

Growing list: Japan joins a growing list of countries that have suspended funding for UNRWA, which employs around 13,000 people in Gaza, as the humanitarian disaster spirals in the besieged Palestinian enclave. The list includes:

Ireland and Norway say they will continue to fund the UN agency.

The head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, met with senior US officials on Friday to share intelligence on United Nations relief agency staff members who allegedly took part in Hamas’ October 7 attacks, an Israeli official told CNN.

The intelligence was corroborated from different sources, the official said, which was why it took this long for it to be briefed to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the United States.

Israeli officials reached out to UNRWA with their suspicions several days before Friday’s briefing to US officials. CNN has previously reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was told by UNRWA on Wednesday.

An Israeli official familiar with how the intelligence was gathered said it was taken from Hamas computers and documents confiscated during operations in Gaza, and from interrogations of detainees and alleged terrorists.

Israeli officials say some of the attackers who were killed or detained on October 7 had UNRWA IDs on them. CNN was not shown the IDs or other intelligence. 

US Central Command confirmed Sunday that eight service members were medically evacuated from Jordan after being wounded in Sunday’s drone attack on a US outpost near the Syrian border.

The “personnel that received injuries required evacuation from Jordan to higher level care,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

“The number of US personnel with injuries has increased to at least 34 service members, but we expect this number to fluctuate as service members continue to seek follow-on care,” CENTCOM said.

CENTCOM said about 350 US Army and Air Force personnel are deployed to the base — called Tower 22 — “conducting a number of key support functions, including support to the coalition for the lasting defeat of ISIS.”

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group for several Iran-backed militias in the country, said it attacked a number of targets along the Jordan-Syria border Sunday — including a camp near the US base in Jordan where soldiers were killed.

The camp, Al-Rukban, is in close proximity to Tower 22, where the US said three service members were killed in a drone attack.

The Islamic Resistance’s statement, posted to its Telegram channel, came before the US announced the death of its service members.

The organization’s forces launched drone attacks at dawn Sunday as part of its efforts to “resist the American occupation forces in Iraq” and in response to Israel’s “massacres against our people in Gaza,” it said.

The attacks targeted four bases, three of which are in Syria, the group said.

What the US has said: US officials have said the drone that killed the US service members at Tower 22 was launched by Iran-backed militants and appeared to come from Syria. The US has not yet named a specific militia they hold responsible and a US official told CNN Sunday that is still being determined.

More from Jordan: The country’s communications minister said the attack that killed the US soldiers targeted an “advanced position on the border with Syria” and that no Jordanian border guard forces were hurt. Muhannad Moubaideen described the strike as a “terrorist attack.” While condemning Israel’s campaign in Gaza, Jordanian officials have often expressed concern about the potentially widening war in the Middle East. Jordan is a key partner to the US in the region and receives substantial US aid.

CNN’s Eyad Kourdi, Jomana Karadsheh and Mitchell McCluskey contributed reporting to this post.

A meeting to secure a hostage deal and a pause in fighting in Gaza was “defined as constructive,” but “significant gaps” remain, a statement from the Israeli prime minister’s office said Sunday.

The meeting took place in Paris Sunday and involved officials from Qatar, Israel, the United States and Egypt. The parties will hold more meetings this week, Israel said.

The meeting included Mossad Director David Barnea, CIA Director Bill Burns, the prime minister of Qatar, Egypt’s intelligence minister, Israel Defense Forces Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon and Israeli Security Agency Director Ronen Bar, according to the statement.

Families head to Washington: Some family members of US citizens believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas are returning to Washington, DC, this week, sources familiar with the plans said, as senior Biden administration officials work on the hostage talks.

The families hope to continue exerting pressure on US officials to facilitate a deal between Israel and Hamas that sees the release of more hostages. Six American men are among those still held captive.

The president of the Palestinian Authority has asked countries that halted funding for the United Nations relief agency in Gaza to reconsider.

A growling list of countries have suspended their funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after allegations arose that some of its staff members were involved in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks.

“Such positions, if maintained, would disproportionately punish millions of our people without just cause,” PA President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement Sunday, according to WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz suggested Friday that Israel will seek to stop the UN agency from operating in post-war Gaza.

More from Palestinian officials: PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh also said Sunday he hopes the “extremely dangerous” decisions to suspend funding will be “reversed.” He said the decision to suspend aid “comes at the most difficult time, at a time when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has called for an immediate supply, and increased supplies of international aid into Gaza.”

More context: The ICJ, which is the UN’s top court, ruled last week that Israel must act immediately to prevent a genocide in the Palestinian enclave, including ensuring access to humanitarian aid. Aid workers in Gaza warn that a famine is looming, and that hospitals are in dire shape.

Israel’s military said it struck Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon with fighter jets and artillery Sunday.

Hezbollah fighters also hit Israeli infantry on the Lebanese-Israeli border Sunday, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

Remember: Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah — the powerful Iran-backed paramilitary — has become a near-daily occurrence since the Lebanese militants increased attacks on Israel a day after the Hamas attacks of October 7.

The fighting is among several key flashpoints amid fears that the war in Gaza will spread into a wider Middle East conflict.

France has joined a growling list of countries suspending payments to the United Nations relief agency in Gaza following Israeli accusations that members of its staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks.

In a statement Sunday, France’s Foreign Ministry said it has “no plans to make a further payment in the first half of 2024” to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). France contributed nearly 60 million euros (around $65 million) to UNRWA in 2023.

Israel’s allegations were “exceptionally serious,” the ministry’s statement said, adding it would decide how to ensure requirements for aid transparency and security are taken into account “when the time comes.”

UNRWA fired several employees in the wake of the allegations, which have not been made public.