January 30, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

The United States has put about $300,000 in funding to the United Nations' main aid agency in Gaza on hold as the UN investigates allegations that staff of the agency were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Tuesday.

That funding to UNRWA was due to be delivered in the coming weeks. The US announced last week it was temporarily suspending funding after the allegations came to light. There could theoretically be more funding that is impacted by the pause, depending on how much money is authorized by Congress for the fiscal year, Miller explained.

The US has provided about $121 million to UNRWA this fiscal year, Miller said at a State Department briefing.

Miller stressed the need for a thorough investigation into the allegations. He also emphasized the important role that UNRWA plays in Gaza.

The US and 34 other donor nations are set to meet with the UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday afternoon for a briefing on actions taken since the revelation that some of UNRWA’s staff joined in the attacks on Israel. Guterres will also stress the organization’s critical humanitarian work, according to UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.

The US has been a top donor for UNRWA:

This post has been updated with additional information about donor countries meeting the UN Secretary-General.

CNN's Richard Roth contributed reporting to the post.

The Israeli military provided official confirmation Tuesday that it has been pumping "large volumes of water" into suspected Hamas tunnels in Gaza, following weeks of speculation.

Back in December, a US official told CNN that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) were "carefully testing" out the method of pumping seawater into tunnels "on a limited basis." The IDF failed to respond to CNN's request for comment at the time.

However, in a statement released Tuesday, the IDF said it has been implementing "new capabilities" to target Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip by "channeling large volumes of water into the tunnels." The IDF said tools like pumps and pipes were being used.

The Israeli military maintained that the water pumping was "only carried out in tunnel routes and locations that were suitable, matching the method of operation to each case."

Some background: When rumblings of the IDF's plans to flood tunnels emerged in December, concerns were raised about the safety of hostages, many of whom are believed to be held underground in Gaza. Experts also highlighted concerns about the potential to contaminate freshwater supply and damage infrastructure at the surface level.

Hamas also downplayed the prospect of Israel's success, stressing that its network of tunnels had been built to withstand water being pumped into them.

President Joe Biden told reporters Tuesday he has made a decision about the US response to the drone strike that killed three US service members and injured dozens in Jordan.

Asked by CNN’s Arlette Saenz whether he has decided how to respond, Biden said, “Yes,” but declined to provide further details.

Biden had warned in a statement Sunday that the US will respond in a “time and manner of our choosing” as he weighs how to deter future attacks without escalating the conflict. US officials said on Monday that the American response was likely to be more powerful than previous US strikes in Iraq and Syria against Iranian interests, but they have suggested it is unlikely the US will strike within Iran. 

The White House offered few details on the response but suggested that any action would be aimed at both degrading the group’s capabilities and sending a strong message of deterrence. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby also suggested it could take place in a “tiered approach” that could include “potentially multiple actions.”

Biden said Tuesday as he prepared to depart for a fundraising swing in south Florida that he holds Iran responsible for the attack, which CNN has reported was carried out by suspected Iranian proxy forces.  

He reiterated that he is hoping to deter a broader conflict in the region, saying, “I don't think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That's not what I'm looking for.”

The president spoke with the families of the killed troops on Tuesday and will attend a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base on Friday, the White House said.

This post has been updated with additional information from the White House.

CNN's Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.

The UK said it was “alarmed” by a conference held in Jerusalem on Sunday calling for the resettlement of Gaza by Jewish Israelis, which was attended by several Israeli cabinet ministers.

Several Israeli cabinet ministers attended the conference, including far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, along with Members of Knesset from the Likud, Jewish Power, and Religious Zionism parties. The conference was titled: “Rally for Victory: Liberating and resettling the Gaza Strip.”

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.

After surrounding the Al Amal hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza for more than a week, Israeli military vehicles have entered its compound, and they are stationed in the hospital front yard, which is crowded with thousands of displaced people, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.

The tanks are “firing live ammunition and smoke grenades,” the aid agency said in a series of messages between 10 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. ET.

CNN is unable to verify the situation independently and has asked the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

Earlier, Israeli forces were asking the crews and displaced people to “evacuate the building at gunpoint,” Muhammad Abu Musabih, director of Ambulance and Emergency Services at the hospital, told CNN in an audio message.

This comes after PRCS had earlier reported gunfire from Israeli tanks on Tuesday in the area, killing one displaced woman and injuring nine others. Some 8,000 displaced people and 100 staff are at the hospital and the PRCS headquarters that is adjacent to the hospital, a PRCS official told CNN.

Israeli forces “demolished the outer wall of the building and fired … smoke bombs at the displaced people and the association’s staff,” the PRCS said. “The situation is becoming more dangerous. We are extremely concerned for the safety of our crews, the wounded, the sick, and the thousands of displaced people in the building.”

What's the situation like at two key hospitals in Khan Younis: Despite frequent shelling and strikes in the area, efforts have continued to sustain minimal operations at both Al Amal and Nasser hospitals. CNN received photographs of a tanker truck organized by the World Health Organization reaching the Nasser Medical Complex Tuesday with 24,000 liters of diesel fuel.

The situation in the larger Khan Younis city of Gaza has also worsened: The southern city was originally the place that residents of northern Gaza were asked to evacuate to. But now, with Israeli operations focused on Khan Younis, things are worsening for the already displaced people. As Israeli military issues instructions for people to leave neighborhoods in the area, journalists have told CNN there may be as many as 100,000 displaced people in UN shelters and other facilities in the area. Many are afraid to move to supposedly safer areas. Very little aid has reached these facilities in recent days because of the fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel “will not release thousands of terrorists,” as part of a deal with Hamas, vowing to press on until Israel’s original war aims are achieved.

And he pushed back at Hamas’s main stated aim in any deal, saying Israel would not pull troops out of Gaza.

Netanyahu said he was committed to “total victory …. And the majority of our nation and we are not going to compromise for less than that.”

The prime minister's comments came as Hamas has said it is studying a proposal for a potential hostage deal and ceasefire but that it wants the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.  

Three US service members injured in the drone attack on a base in Jordan on Sunday are expected to arrive at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany this evening, according to a spokesperson. More than 40 US service members were injured in the attack.

All three are reported to be stable, but one is in critical condition, Kirk Frady, a spokesperson for Medical Readiness Command, Europe, said. Landstuhl Regional Medical Center is the largest Defense Department hospital outside the United States.

Once they arrive at the hospital, they will undergo an examination from the trauma team, which will determined whether any of the service members require evacuation to the US for further treatment.

Both Iceland and Estonia announced they are suspending funds to UNRWA, the main United Nations relief agency in Gaza. The move is in light of the allegations brought by Israel that some of the UN agency’s employees were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna announced the suspension and called for a "quick and in-depth investigation" into the "very serious allegations." 

Iceland's Foreign Minister Bjarni Benediktsson also called for a thorough investigation and said contributions would be frozen until consultations with the other Nordic countries, the United Nation’s Regional Information Centre for Western Europe said in a press release on Monday.

So far, the agency has fired the employees in question. But advocates have warned that lack of funding would spell disaster for the civilians.

Who else has halted funding: Many Western countries, who are also among the agency's top donors, have decided to suspend the funding. This includes Finland, United States, Italy, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia, the UK, France, Japan, Austria, Romania and New Zealand.

Who continues to fund: Norway has already said it will continue funding UNRWA, along with Ireland, Turkey, Luxembourg, Jordan and the European Union.

The Gaza Crossings Authority says that 100 unidentified bodies have been returned to Gaza from Israel.

Hisham Adwan, a spokesperson for the Crossings Authority, told CNN that “100 unidentified bodies were delivered from the Israeli side through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday morning in a container.”

He said the bodies had been taken from the Gaza Strip, and it was possible that some of them were taken from cemeteries in Gaza. CNN has previously reported that the Israeli military desecrated at least 16 cemeteries in its ground offensive in Gaza, leaving gravestones ruined, soil upturned, and, in some cases, bodies unearthed.

In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, where fighting escalated recently, Israeli forces destroyed a cemetery, removing bodies in what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN was part of a search for the remains of hostages seized by Hamas during the October 7 terror attacks.

The bodies returned on Tuesday were later buried in an open space in Rafah in southern Gaza.

In response to a question from CNN about the remains of 100 Palestinians, the IDF said bodies had been returned to Gaza once it was established they were not those of Israeli hostages. The IDF said it “is committed to fulfilling its urgent mission to rescue the hostages, and find and return the bodies of hostages that are held in Gaza.”

This post has been updated to reflect that the IDF confirmed the return of bodies to Gaza but did not specify a number.

CNN's Lauren Izso contributed reporting to this post.