January 13, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war has moved here.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that Israel would not consider the war against Hamas finished until the border between Egypt and Gaza is closed.

Israeli officials have not decided exactly how they would proceed with closing Gaza’s border with Egypt, according to Netanyahu — but doing so would signify a renewed Israeli control over the enclave not seen in years, and a blow to Palestinians’ limited sovereignty in Gaza.

The border crossing with Egypt, at the town of Rafah, is the only crossing point not controlled by Israel, though it has still been subject to limited access and lengthy Egyptian bureaucratic and security processes.

As the war enters its 100th day, the main United Nations agency operating in Gaza issued a stark warning that famine will spread across the enclave if more supplies are not allowed into the strip.

These are the biggest updates you need to know for Saturday:

Egypt remains in full control of its borders, foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid said Saturday, following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for the closure of Egypt’s border with Gaza before the war ends.

Netanyahu said Israel can’t finish its war against Hamas until the closure of the Philadelphi Corridor, a 14-kilometer (roughly 8.6-mile) strip of land that serves as the border between Egypt and Gaza. He said that even after Hamas is defeated, “military equipment and other deadly weapons will continue to enter this southern opening — so of course we need to close it.”

The foreign ministry spokesperson further reiterated Egypt’s role in the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, blaming Israel for hindering it.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march through the streets of Washington, DC, during a rally on January 13.

A large group of protesters reached the White House in the United States capital on Saturday as part of an event dubbed “The March on Washington for Gaza.”

Protest organizers — a coalition of groups including the Council on American-Islamic Relations — said thousands of demonstrators attended the event Saturday afternoon, which saw attendees listen to speakers and march from Freedom Plaza to the White House.

Organizers had arranged buses to allow people from outside the area to travel to Washington, DC, for the march, which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for an end to US support for Israel’s offensive in the enclave.

Demonstrators rally outside the White House.

Officials placed additional fencing in front of the White House complex ahead of the event, according to the US Secret Service. Chants could be heard inside the White House complex after the protesters arrived there Saturday evening, and several Secret Service agents could be seen monitoring the situation.

President Joe Biden is not at the White House Saturday evening.

Mourners pray during the funeral of Palestinian journalist Mohammed Abu Hattab, who was killed in an Israeli strike, in Khan Younis, Gaza, on November 3, 2023.

At least 82 journalists have been killed in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon since October 7, 2023, when the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Saturday.

The casualties include 75 Palestinians in Gaza, four Israelis and three Lebanese journalists, according to CPJ’s data.

The CPJ statement listed the names of all journalists killed since October 7 “based on information obtained from CPJ’s sources in the region and media reports,” including Palestinian journalists Ahmed Bdeir and Mohamed Jamal Sobhi Al-Thalathini, who were killed this past week in separate airstrikes in southern Gaza.

It is “the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992,” according to the organization. 

Commercial goods are desperately needed in Gaza to prevent an incoming famine as Israel approaches the 100th day of its war in the enclave, according to the head of the main United Nations agency working in Gaza.

“The crisis in Gaza is a man-made disaster compounded by dehumanizing language and the use of food, water and fuel as instruments of war,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement Saturday. “Humanitarian aid alone will not be sufficient to reverse a looming famine.”

Lazzarini urged leaders to heed the calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and enable the delivery of more food, medicine, water and shelter to those affected by the enclave’s “mass displacement.”

More than 1.4 million people are staying in “overcrowded and unsanitary” UN shelters, where they lack food and hygiene, according to Lazzarini.

The commissioner-general also spoke of the war’s toll on Israelis since Hamas launched its devastating attack on the country on October 7, 2023. Dozens of hostages captured during the attack remain held in Gaza.

“It’s been 100 days of ordeal and anxiety for hostages and their families,” Lazzarini said.

People attend a rally in Tel Aviv, Israel, marking 100 days of Israel’s war on January 13.

An estimated 120,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv to participate in a rally marking 100 days of Israel’s war with Hamas, according to rally’s organizer, the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.

The so-called “100 Days of Hell rally” started at 8 p.m. local time (1 p.m. ET) on Saturday and will go on until 8 p.m. Sunday, which will be the 100th day of the war.

CNN cannot independently confirm the size of the crowd.

People gather at a rally in Tel Aviv.

Palestinians talk to an Egyptian soldier at the border in Rafah, Gaza, on January 11.

The border between Egypt and Gaza must be closed before Israel’s war with Hamas is finished, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday.

During a news briefing marking Israel’s 100th day of war with Hamas, Netanyahu stressed that Israel can’t finish the war until the closure of the Philadelphi Corridor, a 14-kilometer (roughly 8.6-mile) strip of land that serves as the border between Egypt and Gaza.

There are different ways Israel can take over the corridor, but officials have not decided exactly how they would proceed with doing so, Netanyahu said, further emphasizing that the only decision they have made is that the crossing “must be closed.”

Israel will not allow displaced residents of northern Gaza to return while the war is ongoing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday.

Netanyahu said the decision aligns with international law. 

Key context: Almost 90% of Palestinians in Gaza have been forcibly displaced due to Israel’s war on Hamas, according to the main United Nations agency working in the strip. Palestinian leaders have vowed not to allow the war to permanently remove Gazans from their homes in the territory, as regional leaders have warned the conflict could have that result.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made clear to the Israeli government during a recent visit that it must allow Palestinians to return home “as soon as conditions allow,” Blinken said at a news conference this week.

Smoke rises over Deir al-Balah, Gaza, following Israeli attacks on January 13.

The US military launched further strikes on the Houthi rebels in Yemen overnight Friday into Saturday local time, taking out a radar site after striking nearly 30 locations Thursday evening in a joint US-UK effort.

US President Joe Biden said he ordered the strikes “in direct response” to the rebels’ attacks on commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea, which the group says are aimed at pressuring Israel into ceasing its heavy bombardment of Gaza.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UN Security Council Friday the strikes were intended to “restore stability in the Red Sea,” despite repeated warning from the Houthis of retaliation — and fears of the conflict in Gaza further spreading throughout the Middle East.

Here’s what else you need to know today:

Hans Grundberg, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, speaks during a press conference in May 2023.

Hans Grundberg, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, called for all parties in Yemen to exercise restraint and de-escalation amid an “increasingly precarious regional context,” the diplomat said in a statement Saturday.  

Grundberg reiterated UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ call for all parties to “avoid actions that would worsen the situation in Yemen, escalate the threat to maritime trade routes, or further fuel regional tensions at this critical time”

Grundberg also highlighted the “need to protect Yemeni civilians, and to safeguard the progress of peace efforts since the truce of April 2022.”

A spokesperson for the Houthi rebels says the Iran-backed militant group will offer a robust reply to a second, albeit much smaller, series of US airstrikes in Yemen overnight.

Spokesperson Nasruldeen Amer told Al Jazeera Arabic there were no injuries or “material damages” caused by the latest US action, but that there would be a “firm, strong and effective response.”

The US targeted a radar facility used by the Houthis in the early hours of Saturday local time, according to a US official.  A joint US-UK operation 24 hours earlier struck almost 30 separate locations, in an effort to disrupt the Houthis’ ability to fire on international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. 

Five Houthi fighters were killed in the first wave of strikes and six more were wounded, a statement from the group said Friday.  

The attacks, which the Houthis described as a “brutal aggression,” would not dissuade Yemen from its stance of solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, the Houthi armed forces said in a statement carried by Houthi-run TV channel Al-Masirah.

CNN’s Oren Liebermann contributed reporting.

People mourn over the shrouded bodies of loved ones in Rafah, Gaza, on January 13. 

The number of Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7 stands at 23,843, the Hamas-run health authority in the enclave said in a statement on Saturday.

More than 60,000 injuries have been recorded, the statement added.

CNN cannot independently verify these figures due to limited access to the area.

On Friday, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths told the UN Security Council that “there is no safe place in Gaza.”

“Colleagues who have managed to make it to the north in recent days describe scenes of utter horror: Corpses left lying in the road,” he said, adding that Israeli bombardments have intensified in areas civilians were told to relocate for their safety.

The British navy shoot down projectiles launched by the Houthis targeting ships in the Red Sea, with Sea Viper missiles as seen from the HMS Diamond on January 10.

Simmering tensions reached new levels on Friday when the US and UK launched strikes on Houthi fighters in Yemen, in an effort to force them to halt their months-long attacks in the Red Sea. A day later, the US unilaterally carried out fresh strikes, targeting a Houthi radar facility.

The strikes risk further fanning the flames of a wider regionaI conflict that neither the US nor the Houthis’ backers in Iran appear to want.

Since Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel and the Israeli offensive in Gaza that followed, Iran’s so-called axis of resistance — a network of Shia militias that span four Middle Eastern countries — has been activated from one end of the region to the other.

The Iranian-backed armed groups have coalesced around a single stated goal: bringing about a ceasefire in Gaza, where the staggering civilian death toll and wide-scale devastation wrought by Israel’s assault has led to allegations of genocide at the United Nations’ top court (claims Israel has strenuously denied).

But stoking tensions only benefits Iran up to a certain point. If these relatively low-level confrontations eventually escalate into all-out war with the US, Tehran’s paramilitary partners could face decimation.

Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians who attacked an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, according to the Israel’s military. All three were members of Hamas, the militant organization said. 

The attackers struck the Adora settlement near the city of Hebron on Friday evening, opening fire on Israeli soldiers patrolling nearby, the Israeli army statement said. Israeli emergency responders said a 34-year-old man was treated in hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg.

The Israeli army posted a photo showing an M-16 rifle, knives and other weapons it said were found on the gunmen.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health named the three killed as Ismail Jahisha, 19, Mohammad Jahisha, 17, and Uday Jahisha, 15.

A Hamas statement said, “We bleed for the martyrs of the Hebron operation, and we mobilize all freedom fighters to continue clashing with the enemy.”

Rising violence: Since Hamas’ attacks on October 7, and the Israeli offensive in Gaza, the West Bank has seen a sharp increase in violence in the West Bank, particularly against Palestinians.

According to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 2023 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005, when they started keeping records.

Israeli forces has attacked two sites in central Gaza it says are used by militants to fire rockets at Israel, its military said, as it presses on with its campaign against Hamas.

Dozens of rocket launchers were also destroyed, the statement added.

The army released a video it said showed one of its operations. According to their statement, the explosion caused by the Israeli strike appears to trigger a rocket launch, which showed the rockets had been loaded and readied for firing. The video shows the rocket coming to ground after travelling about 100m. 

Further south, in the city of Khan Younis, Israeli forces also say they struck a tunnel shaft inside a building, and uncovered weapons and explosives.

This photo released by the Houthi Media Center shows Houthi forces boarding the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on November 19, 2023.

The US has carried out further strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, but who are the group?

The Houthi movement, also known as Ansarallah (Supporters of God), emerged in the 1990s, when its leader, Hussein al-Houthi, launched a religious revival movement for a centuries-old subsect of Shia Islam called Zaidism.

The Zaidis ruled Yemen for centuries but were marginalized under the Sunni regime that came to power after the 1962 civil war. Al-Houthi’s movement was founded to represent Zaidis and resist radical Sunnism, particularly Wahhabi ideas from Saudi Arabia. His closest followers became known as Houthis.

Currently, the Houthis remain in control of much of Yemen, and form part of Iran’s so-called  “Axis of Resistance” - an anti-Israel and anti-Western alliance of regional militias backed by the Islamic Republic. Along with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis are one of three prominent Iran-backed militias that have launched attacks on Israel in recent weeks.

Attacks on the Red Sea: The Houthis have been targeting commercial vessels in the Red Sea to inflict economic pain on Israel and its allies in response to the horrific scenes coming out of Gaza, and is believed to be an attempt to pressure Israel into ceasing its bombardment.

The global economy has been served a series of painful reminders of the importance of this narrow stretch of sea, which runs from the Bab-el-Mandeb straits off the coast of Yemen to the Suez Canal in northern Egypt – and through which 12% of global trade flows, including 30% of global container traffic.

A number of countries have taken steps to curb the Houthi aggression in the Red Sea region. The United Nations Security Council has meanwhile approved a resolution calling on Yemen’s Houthi rebel group to cease it attacks in the Red Sea.

A Houthi spokesperson said they would continue its attacks “to prevent Israeli ships going to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigation in the Arab and Red Seas.”

Read more here.

At the United Nations Security Council, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield defended US military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, saying the strikes were carried out “to restore stability in the Red Sea, while upholding the fundamental principles of freedom of navigation.”

Thomas-Greenfield said Friday the US has no desire to see more conflict in the region but reiterated that “attacks on any vessels in the Red Sea, regardless of origin or ownership, are entirely unacceptable.”

She called on members of the UN to demand Iran-backed Houthi rebels cease attacks on vessels, ensuring the safe release of all the crews and ships that are still being held.

The US Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney transits the Suez Canal, in Egypt, on October 18, 2023.

The strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen on Saturday morning local time was carried out by US warship USS Carney using Tomahawk missiles, US Central Command says.

The strike was “a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on January 12, designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

The Houthis has been firing at commercial vessels crossing Red Sea, which they say are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza. But on Thursday, the US and UK struck back at Houthi sites in an attempt to disrupt their ability to fire upon international shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

A Houthi-run television channel is reporting that airstrikes have hit Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

“The American-British enemy is targeting the capital, Sanaa, with a number of airstrikes,” the Houthi-run Al-Masirah news network announced early on Saturday, local time.

People living in the Yemeni capital took to social media to report hearing several loud explosions.