January 31, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

Israel's prime minister is assuring the families of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza that he is "making every effort" to get them back. It comes as hostage talks, mediated by Qatar, are still ongoing.

In terms of an agreement to release hostages, Netanyahu said he could only share limited information and that it was "too early to say how it will take place." Still, United States National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that "talks surrounding the subject have been constructive."

Netanyahu has said he would not agree with Hamas' demands to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners and withdraw from Gaza to secure the release of the hostages. And his far-right coalition partners, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have sharply criticized the potential deal.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel back to the Middle East at the end of the week, the White House said Wednesday.

The trip, which has not been publicly announced by the State Department, was announced at a Jewish Federation event in Washington by National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby.

CIA Director Bill Burns met with leaders in Europe last week and White House coordinator for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, returned from Doha over the weekend, Kirby said.

“Our Secretary of State will be heading back over to the region at the end of this week,” Kirby added in response to a question about the hostages being held by Hamas. 

Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza is “still standing,” but “barely functional,” the head of medical activities in Gaza for Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors without Borders, Aurélie Godard said Wednesday.

Godard visited Al-Shifa — the largest health facility in Gaza — on January 22 for the first time since MSF evacuated its staff from the hospital in November.

Since November, Al Shifa has gradually “transformed into a camp for displaced people,” accommodating around 50,000 people seeking safety, according to MSF. 

It said the lack of fuel for generators has made it “impossible to properly treat people in desperate need of medical care.” Godard visited the hospital with a UN convoy to deliver 19,000 liters (5,000 gallons) of fuel. “This fuel is essential because it is used to run the generators that supply the hospital with electricity,” she said.

Around 3,000 liters (793 gallons) of fuel per day are required for Al Shifa to be functional, meaning the convoy's 19,000 liters (5,000 gallons) of fuel will supply the hospital for "barely a week," according to Godard.

The US Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed sanctions on “three entities and one individual located in Lebanon and Türkiye for providing critical financial support to an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and Hizballah financial network.”

A notice from the Treasury Department said the entities had generated hundreds of millions of dollars by selling Iranian commodities, "including to the Syrian government."

The latest round of sanctions comes amid a continued uptick of attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militias. 

The latest attack on a US base in Jordan, which President Joe Biden said was tied to Iran, killed three US service members and injured more than 40 others. Biden has promised a response for the deadly strike.

Decisions by major donors to pause funds for the largest supplier of humanitarian aid — UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency — “will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza," the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, he appealed for the 17 countries that have stopped their funding to reconsider their decisions, adding that no other body “has the capacity to deliver the scale and breadth of assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need.”

His warning comes as 184,000 people in the southern town of Khan Younis register for humanitarian assistance after being forced to leave the area due to ongoing fighting, according to UNRWA.

Reporters in the region told CNN that helicopters and drones are circling several locations in southern Gaza. The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said Wednesday that patients, medical workers and displaced people at the Al-Amal hospital are living "in constant fear and anxiety."

Here are the latest headlines:

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PCRS) said that Israeli forces are still stationed in the south- eastern part of the ​​Al-Amal Hospital complex in Khan Younis, a day after saying that Israeli units had entered the compound.

The PRCS also said that Israeli “snipers are on the roofs of the houses surrounding the hospital.”

In an update Wednesday afternoon local time, the PRCS said that from time to time, the sounds of explosions could be heard in the immediate area.

Where things stand: The aid group said Israeli forces were prohibiting everyone inside the association’s headquarters nearby and the hospital from going out to the street.

One of seven people killed Wednesday, according to PRCS, was a Red Crescent employee who was targeted at the southern door of the hospital. Crews had been unable to retrieve his body. The PRCS said the hospital's stock of fuel and medical equipment was dangerously low.

CNN has asked the IDF for an update on its operations in the vicinity of Al Amal and whether it is prohibiting people from leaving the PRCS headquarters.

What Israel is saying: IDF said Wednesday that “during the operation in Khan Younis, the forces searched a house connected to terror activity and located explosives planted with the intention of harming the ground forces. In another incident, the soldiers identified an armed terrorist near IDF soldiers, and successfully directed the Israeli Air Force to eliminate the terrorist.”

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the decisions by major donors to pause funds for the largest supplier of humanitarian aid — UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency — “will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza.”

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, he appealed for the decisions to be reconsidered, adding that no other body “has the capacity to deliver the scale and breadth of assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need.”

At least 17 countries have announced they will suspend funding to the UN agency since Israel alleged that a dozen of its employees were involved in the October 7 attack. Some of UNRWA’s largest donors like the US, the UK and Germany are among those that have suspended funds.

WHO is facing "extreme challenges" trying to support the health system and workers in Gaza, and has faced “great difficulty” trying to reach hospitals in the south of the strip, according to Tedros. The director-general cited “heavy fighting” near hospitals in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, as “severely impeding access to health facilities for patients, health workers and supplies.”

Tedros said that WHO delivered medical supplies to Nasser Medical Complex, also in southern Gaza, on Monday during a UN mission, but other missions to deliver food were denied.

The UN Secretary-General António Guterres also called for funding to continue in the wake of the allegations, saying he was "personally horrified" by the allegations but that the UN acted immediately after hearing them on Wednesday.

As the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis is engulfed in intense fighting, 184,000 people have registered for humanitarian assistance after being forced to leave the area in recent days, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

“UNRWA along with the people of Khan Younis have fled to the outskirts down closer to the coast,” Tom White, director of UNRWA affairs, said in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Satellite images taken by Planet Labs over the last 10 days show that a large cluster of tents set up by displaced people to the west of Khan Younis have now disappeared.

Take a look at this area around the Aqsa Khan University west of Khan Younis. This is where many people had fled after heavy fighting erupted in Khan Younis as Israeli forces extended their ground operations in southern Gaza.

January 19: In satellite images, hundreds of tents can be seen

January 29: Images show that the tents have gone. 

The university is on a road that leads west from Khan Younis toward the sea, and toward an area that the Israel Defense Forces had instructed civilians to move toward.

The Israel Defense Forces said that it has implemented a "closed military zone" in the area around the Nitzana crossing between Israel and Gaza.

In the past few days, protesters — including family members of hostages taken into Gaza by Hamas — have blockaded the Nitzana crossing, demanding no aid be sent into Gaza until all Israeli hostages are freed.

Waving Israeli flags and holding signs that read "where is the hostages humanitarian aid?," the protesters say they want aid withheld until hostages are released. One woman, whose brother was killed in the Gaza Strip, said "no truck will enter until the last of the abductees returns." 

Why this matters: The crossing is one of two between Israel and Gaza where humanitarian aid is inspected and processed.

The IDF said in a statement that “overnight, according to the situational assessment, the Commander of the Southern Command signed an order to implement a closed military zone in the area of Route 211 and the Nitzana Border Crossing.”