January 16, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

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

France's President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he speaks during a press conference to present the course for France's newly appointed government at The Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on January 16.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said his country did not join US-led airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen to avoid escalation in the region.

But French forces would continue work to ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, he said. 

France joined a multinational naval task force in December to protect ships from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. 

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

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

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

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

Several videos show nearly explosions from likely air strikes.

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

Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli military said Hamas had recently carried out a launch toward Israel from within the Al Nasser Hospital compound. 

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of exploiting civilians as human shields by using hospitals and nearby areas as military sites.

Hamas hostage Yossi Sharabi (L) and Itai Svirsky are seen on a Hamas video released on Jan 14.

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

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

Sharabi, 53, was “a loving and devoted father and husband, a real family man with a big heart,” the kibbutz statement said. “A kind soul, he was caring and known for his dedication to all those around him.”

Originally from Tel Aviv, Sharabi moved to Kibbutz Be’eri 30 years ago, “following in the footsteps of his brother Eli, as he wanted to embrace the communal lifestyle there,” the kibbutz said.

He leaves behind a wife and three daughters. Sharabi’s brother Eli was also kidnapped from his home in Kibbutz Be’eri and is still held captive by Hamas.

Eli’s wife and daughters were murdered in the October 7 massacre, according to the kibbutz.  

Sharabi’s body is still being held by Hamas, the kibbutz said. It called on the Israeli government to do “everything possible to bring the Sharabi family back home, as well as the other hostages.” 

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

“Our hearts go out to the family in their immense pain,” the kibbutz said. “May his memory be a blessing.” 

Svirsky’s body is also still held by Hamas, the kibbutz said, adding “we will demand its return with the rest of our abductees.”

The announcement of the two men’s deaths came a day after the Israeli military expressed grave concerns about their fate following the release of a video by Hamas claiming to show their dead bodies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As of Tuesday, the administration was not reimposing the FTO designation.

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

Last week, the United States and the United Kingdom launched strikes against Houthi targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.

A Palestinian child is seen in the rubble of a building destroyed by an Israeli attack in Rafah, Gaza on January 3.

At least 10,600 children have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said Tuesday. 

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

At least 158 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, and 320 others were wounded, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health added Tuesday.

CNN cannot independently verify the ministry’s number due to restrictions on reporting from a war zone. 

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

Here are the latest developments:

Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein speaks with the press in Brussels, Belgium, on March 19.

Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Tuesday that no Mossad-affiliated centers are operating in Erbil in Iraq’s Kurdistan region. Mossad is Israel’s intelligence agency.

This comes a day after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ballistic missiles to strike several locations in Erbil, targeting what it claims was a “spy headquarters and the gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups.”

Hussein told CNN’s Becky Anderson the IRGC attacked “civilian areas” in Erbil, including a house, and that all those killed and injured in the attack were Iraqi Kurds.

Hussein, who is also Iraq’s deputy prime minister for international relations, condemned the attacks and said he considers it “an aggression, and violation of international law.”

Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has submitted a complaint in the form of two identical letters to the UN Security Council and the UN secretary-general in regards to “the Iranian missile aggression that targeted the city of Erbil and led to innocent civilian casualties, injury to others, and damage to public and private property.”

“This aggression is a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the security of the Iraqi people,” the statement read.

Hussein said the tension between Iran and Israel is playing out on Iraqi soil.

Hussein said Iraqis “are paying the price” for Iran’s tension with Israel, as well as with the United States.

At least four civilians were killed and six others injured in the IRGC’s attacks on locations in Erbil Monday, the Security Council of the Kurdistan Region said Tuesday.

Relatives of hostages in Gaza hold banners during a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, on January 6.

Qatar announced it brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas for the delivery of medicine to Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for the delivery of medicine and humanitarian aid to civilians in the most affected areas of the enclave, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted to its X account on Tuesday. 

The agreement was reached in cooperation with France, according to the statement, adding that the medications and aid will depart from “Doha tomorrow for the city of Al-Arish in the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt, on board two Qatari Armed Forces aircraft, in preparation for their transport into the Gaza Strip,” the ministry added.

It is unclear when the medicine is expected to reach Gaza.

This photo taken from Rafah, Gaza, shows smoke billowing over Khan Younis, Gaza, during an Israeli bombardment on January 16.

A near-total internet blackout in the Gaza Strip has now passed 96 hours, according to the internet monitoring site Netblocks. 

It is the longest sustained telecoms internet disruption on record in Gaza since the onset of the conflict, Netblocks reports, with most residents unable to contact the outside world since January 12.

The Hamas-run government office in Gaza said the communications disruption makes it harder for the emergency services still functioning to reach people wounded in airstrikes. 

At least 80% of the communications sector has been destroyed already and technical crews who carry out reparation work are constantly targeted “despite prior coordination through international institutions,” the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Monday.

On Friday, mobile network Ooredoo Palestine said its main telecommunication and internet lines had sustained damage in Israeli attacks, leading to the complete shutdown of services in the southern and central areas of Gaza. Another large Palestinian telecommunications company, Paltel, also announced Friday that all telecom services in Gaza Strip were cut off due to the “ongoing aggression.”

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

The US military launched new strikes against Houthi targets inside Yemen on Tuesday, targeting anti-ship ballistic missiles controlled by the Iran-backed rebel group, a defense official told CNN on Tuesday.

US forces struck and destroyed four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles that were preparing to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, the official said, and presented an imminent threat to merchant and US Navy vessels in the area.

Houthi missile strikes: A few hours later, however, the Houthis launched an anti-ship ballistic missile into international shipping lanes in the Southern Red Sea, hitting the M/V Zografia, a Maltese flagged bulk carrier, the official said. The ship did not suffer significant damage and was able to continue its journey.

The strikes are at least the third round of attacks the US military has launched against the Houthis’ infrastructure since last Thursday, when the US and UK conducted a joint operation that targeted command and control nodes and weapons depots used by the Houthis to launch missile and drone attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 16.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has, for the first time, publicly acknowledged that he has received complaints through the State Department’s dissent channel about the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza.

“We have something called the dissent channel that allows anyone in the department to raise a concern. We’ve had a number of those. I read every single one,” he said.

Dissent over US policy in Israel-Hamas war: CNN has reported on the anger from personnel within the Biden administration about their policies toward Israel’s war in Gaza, particularly as the humanitarian toll has continued to mount. At least one State Department official publicly resigned in protest. 

The Yemeni militant group, the Houthis, have claimed responsibility for an attack on a Greek-owned vessel which they said was headed toward Israel on Tuesday. 

Houthi military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the group attacked the ship, the “Zogravia” headed towards Israel with a “number of suitable naval missiles.” 

In a live video message, Saree said the hit on the vessel was “direct.” 

“The attack came after the ship’s crew rejected warning calls, including fiery warning messages,” Saree added. 

According to Ambrey, UK-based maritime security firm, the Malta-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier was targeted while it was transiting northbound in the Red Sea, 76 nautical miles northwest of Yemen’s port city of Saleef. 

Why this matters: This comes one day after Houthi rebels struck a US-owned and operated vessel in the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis promised that any future strikes on Yemen will not go unanswered.

Israeli security forces and property tax officials examine a damaged store in Netivot, Israel, after it was hit by a rocket fired from Gaza on January 16.

Around 25 rockets were fired into southern Israel from Gaza on Tuesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has told CNN. 

The rockets were fired towards the southern town of Netivot and most were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. No injuries were reported. 

Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, published a statement on their Telegram channel claiming they were behind the launches. 

One of the largest in weeks, the barrage on Tuesday showed that Hamas is still capable of firing rockets into Israel, even after more than three months of intense military operations by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. 

Key context: While this is the largest barrage of rockets fired towards Israel from Gaza in weeks, it’s still small compared to what Hamas was firing in the early days of the war that broke out after the October 7 attack on Israel when thousands of rockets rained down on Israeli cities and towns in the first week of the war.

The US Transportation Department issued an alert to American merchant ships on Monday, advising them to steer clear of the southern part of the Red Sea until further notice.

The Maritime Administration cautioned that there “continues to be a high degree of risk” facing ships transiting the Southern Red Sea, including the potential for “retaliatory attacks” by Houthi rebels in Yemen.

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

The alert provided coordinates advising vessels to stay north of Yemen in the Red Sea and East of most of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden.

A previous alert, issued last week after US-led forces conducted strikes against Houthi facilities in Yemen, advised ships to avoid the area until Jan. 19.

That timeline has now been extended indefinitely. 

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrives for a cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on August 27.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has criticized the decision by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to withdraw one of its army divisions from the Gaza Strip on Monday, saying the move “will cost human lives.”

The far-right politician said that a “rocket barrage” launched from Gaza into Israel on Tuesday morning “proves once again that the occupation of the [Gaza] Strip is necessary for the realization of the combat goals.”

On Monday the 36th division, which comprises armored, engineering, and infantry companies, withdrew from the Gaza Strip after 80 days, the IDF said. The spokesperson said they withdrew for “a period of refreshment and training” and the division’s future movements have not yet been decided.

The withdrawal means there are now three IDF combat divisions left in the Gaza Strip, alongside special forces, according to the spokesperson. 

Key context: Gvir’s comments highlight the tensions that exist within the Israeli government, and the wider defense and security establishment, over how much of a presence Israel should retain inside Gaza after the war.

Far-right politicians are pushing for complete re-occupation, along with the possible return of Jewish settlements in the Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure from the United States to ensure a prominent role for the Palestinian Authority, said recently Israel has “no intention of permanently occupying Gaza.”

A man writes the name on the shroud of a child killed in an Israeli strike, in front of the morgue of the Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Balah in Gaza on October 22.

At least 10,600 children have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said on Tuesday. 

At least 158 people were killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, and 320 others were wounded, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health added Tuesday.

“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, and ambulance and civil defense crews cannot reach them,” the ministry said.

CNN cannot independently verify the Health Ministry’s number due to restrictions on reporting from a war zone. 

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

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday said the “intensive manoeuvring stage” of Israel’s military offensive in northern and southern Gaza will “end soon.”

He added that the Israeli military was working to “eliminate pockets of resistance” in northern Gaza, Gallant said, which he claimed would be achieved through “raids, airstrikes, special operations and additional activities.” 

After the October 7 attacks, Gallant said the original plan was for the “intensive manoeuvring stage” of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to last approximately three months.

In the three months since Israel started its war against Hamas in Gaza, more than 24,000 Palestinians have been killed, including many in areas Israel had told them to evacuate to.

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

Left to right: WEF president Borge Brende, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Saudi Arabia Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, Delaware Senator Christopher Coons, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar, Finland Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attend a session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on January 16.

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

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

“We agree that regional peace includes peace for Israel but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state,” bin Farhan said.

Asked at a panel at the WEF whether Saudi Arabia could, within that context, agree to recognize Israel as part of a wider agreement, the Saudi foreign minister said “certainly.”

Some context: In 2020, four Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, recognized Israel under a set of treaties known as the Abraham Accords, sidestepping the longstanding Arab demand for a Palestinian state.

Since then, the Biden administration has been working to bring Saudi Arabia, widely regarded as the leader of the Muslim world, to follow suit, a move that could have opened the door to other Muslim countries to recognize Israel.

Israel said it struck multiple Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Tuesday, the latest in cross-border fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shiite militant group.

The IDF said it conducted aerial and artillery strikes on what it said were Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Wadi Saluki in Lebanon.

The Lebanese state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israel conducted “more than 15 raids, strikes the outskirts of Houla, Wadi Al-Saluki, Wadi Al-Hujair, and the Rab Thalateen Al-Taybeh road.”

The announcement from the IDF comes just hours after it said its special forces struck in the area of Ayta ash Shab in Lebanon. The IDF did not respond to CNN’s question about the target of the strike or the nature of the operation.

The Israeli military also said that overnight, one of its aircraft struck a Hezbollah anti-tank missile launcher in the area of the town of KafarKila in southern Lebanon.

The US Navy seized Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missile components from a vessel off the coast of Somalia last week that was destined for Houthis in Yemen, US Central Command announced on Tuesday.  

During the operation, two SEALs went overboard and are missing. One fell into the water due to eight-foot swells, and the second jumped in after them according to protocol, a US official told CNN Saturday.  

While conducting the operation, US Navy SEALs boarded the ship and seized “Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missiles components,” including “propulsion, guidance, and warheads for Houthi medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) and anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCMs), as well as air defense associated components.” 

CENTCOM said “initial analysis indicates these same weapons have been employed by the Houthis to threaten and attack innocent mariners on international merchant ships transiting in the Red Sea.”