January 22, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

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

The ground shook at southern Gaza’s Nasser Hospital as Israeli forces launched strikes on Khan Younis Monday, according to Médecins Sans Frontières staff on the ground.

In a social media post, the charity — also known as Doctors Without Borders — said the strikes caused “panic among staff, patients and displaced people sheltering inside the building,” adding that exit routes were blocked, preventing the evacuation of medical staff and patients.

Israel’s military has intensified attacks on Khan Younis in recent days as it targets what its says is Hamas infrastructure, with the operation expected to last for several days.

Earlier Monday, the Hamas-controlled health ministry said Nasser Hospital is receiving more patients with serious injuries than it can accommodate and intensive care units have reached capacity.

Palestinian children hold empty containers as they wait to receive food in Rafah, Gaza, on January 17.

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Michael Fakhri, said Israel is destroying Gaza’s food system, in a post on X on Monday.

Israel’s siege in Gaza has devastated swathes of the territory, diminished food, fuel and water supplies, and crushed the enclave’s medical system.

Over 1.9 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced, many multiple times, according to the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees.

Gaza is facing its 10th near-total internet blackout, according to Paltel, Gaza’s main telecommunications provider.

Internet monitoring site Netblocks confirmed the blackout on X, saying, “Live metrics show that the #Gaza Strip is again in the midst of a near-total telecoms blackout; the incident is likely to severely limit most residents’ ability to communicate, in the tenth such incident since the start of the war.”

Cell phone connection across Gaza was also “difficult to access,” an employee at Palestinian telecommunications company Jawwal, told CNN on Monday.

An Israeli tank moves along the border with Gaza on Sunday.

Israeli officials are optimistic about Hamas’ response to a proposed two-month ceasefire deal, CNN foreign policy analyst Barak Ravid told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday. 

The proposal was initially met with “quite strong disagreements” within the war cabinet, but Israeli officials are now feeling “optimistic” about the prospect of Hamas agreeing to their terms, Ravid said. 

Ravid first reported the deal in Axios, citing two unnamed Israeli officials.

The mediators – Qatar and Egypt – had worked on the proposal for 10 days before it was presented to Hamas, he said. 

The proposal comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ call for an end to the war in exchange for the release of hostages held in Gaza.

Ravid said that despite Netanyahu’s rejection, the prime minister knows that “after two months of pause – even if the fighting resumes this way or another – it’s going to look much different.”

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said the situation around Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis “remains extremely dangerous” amid continued military activity and bombardment in the area.

Around 80% of the entrances and exits to Al-Amal are obstructed, it said.

Paramedics were able to access the hospital using a single route “despite the difficulties and dangers and in the presence of military vehicles,” the PRCS said. 

 Internet outages have also interrupted communications among medical teams, it said. 

Medical facilities in southern Gaza have been battered amid an Israeli assault in the area, Palestinian health officials said on Monday.

Dozens of people have been killed and wounded in the latest offensive in western Khan Younis, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza. Medical facilities including the Nasser Medical Complex, Al Amal Hospital and the Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters are located in the area.

Following the latest round of US and UK airstrikes in Yemen on Monday, Houthi leader Mohamed Ali al-Houthi said the assault would only make the Yemeni people stronger.

In a statement posted on al-Houthi’s account on X early Tuesday, he said that “the American and British must understand that we are in a time of response and that our people do not know how to surrender.”

Yemenis “are fighting to prevent the genocide and siege of the people of Gaza,” he said, while accusing the US of protecting Israel, which he described as a “terrorist criminal” country.

The US and UK struck eight sites in Yemen on Monday with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands.

Palestinians wounded during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought over a donkey carte to the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, Southern Gaza, on January 22.

Israel’s military said its operations around Khan Younis in southern Gaza demand “precise operations” due to the densely populated civilian areas.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Monday that it is targeting Hamas outposts, infrastructure, and command and control centers in the city.

The military operation, which was launched on Sunday, is being led by Israel’s 98th Paratroopers Division and is expected to last for several days, the IDF said, without providing further details on the timeline.

“Dismantling Hamas’ military framework in western Khan Younis is the heart of the logic behind the operation,” the statement said.

The IDF said it has seen militants at “sensitive sites” such as hospitals and shelters in the densely populated civilian areas.

“We prepared several strategies and a number of means for operational activity,” the IDF said. “This area is more challenging, the plans are affected by it.”

US Central Command forces alongside UK Armed Forces, and with the support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, conducted strikes on 8 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen on January 22.

The US says the latest strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen were “successful” and destroyed missiles, weapons storage sites and drone systems, according to a senior military official and a senior defense official.

The officials, who briefed reporters following the Monday afternoon operation, said the strikes “achieved the desired effect.”

A senior defense official who was also on the call said the strikes have “removed significant Houthi capability,” but warned they still have additional weapons they can use to fire upon international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

For the first time, the US also struck an underground storage facility used by the Houthis, the official said. The storage site was assessed to have “more advanced conventional weaponry,” including missiles and one-way attack drones.

Israel has proposed that Hamas senior leaders could leave Gaza as part of a broader ceasefire agreement, two officials familiar with the ongoing international discussions told CNN.

The extraordinary proposal, which has not been previously reported, comes as Israel has struggled to achieve its stated goal of completely destroying Hamas. Despite its nearly 4-month war in Gaza, Israel has failed to capture or kill any of Hamas’s most senior leaders in Gaza and left around 70% of Hamas’ fighting force intact, according to Israel’s own estimates.

Though it would give safe passage out of Gaza for top Hamas leaders who orchestrated the October 7 attack, draining Gaza of its leaders could weaken Hamas’ grip on the war-torn area while also allowing Israel to continue tracking down high-value targets abroad.

Senior Hamas officials are known to live in Doha, Qatar, and the Lebanese capital Beirut, among other places outside the Palestinian territories. An Israeli airstrike earlier this month killed a top Hamas commander in Beirut.

Israel’s suggestion that Hamas leaders could leave Gaza, though unlikely to be accepted by Hamas, has been discussed as part of broader ceasefire negotiations at least twice in recent weeks — once last month in Warsaw by Israel’s intelligence chief, Mossad Director David Barnea, and then again this month in Doha with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to one official familiar with the discussions.

Read more details about the offer

Israel has offered a 2-month ceasefire to Hamas as part of a prospective hostage deal, Axios reported Monday, citing two unnamed Israeli officials.

The Israeli proposal calls for the release of all remaining hostages and hostage bodies in multiple phases, in exchange for Palestinian detainees imprisoned in Israel, according to the Axios report. 

It would also see Israel move its forces out of main population centers and allow “a gradual return of Palestinian civilians to Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip.” 

Hamas has asked for an end to the war as a condition of any deal, which Netanyahu rejected on Sunday.

See CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter for more details.

Egypt has rejected accusations that it has not maintained the security of its border with the Gaza Strip, leading to arms smuggling in the enclave.

The head of Egypt’s State Information Service, the media outlet of the Egyptian government, blamed “extremist Israeli leaders who seek to drag the region into a state of conflict and instability.” 

Chairman Diaa Rashwan’s statement followed last week’s claim by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that weapons and military equipment were being smuggled into Gaza through Egypt. Netanyahu went as far as to say that the border between Gaza and Egypt must be “shut,” and called for the closure of the Philadelphi Corridor, a strip of land, less than 9 miles long, that serves as a buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza.

Rashwan said that Egypt has made efforts to combat smuggling by constructing a wall along the Philadelphi Corridor, destroying more than 1,500 tunnels in the border area, and increasing the headcount of its border guard.

Rashwan said that Israel is only accusing Egypt of smuggling to “create legitimacy for its attempt to occupy the Philadelphi Corridor.”

Correction: The description of the Philadelphi Corridor has been updated to indicate that it’s less than 9 miles long.

Smoke rises during Israeli bombardment over Khan Younis in southern Gaza, on January 22.

A major Israeli military offensive is underway in western Khan Younis in southern Gaza, already killing and wounding dozens of people, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza.

Nearly the entire population of the enclave faces a humanitarian crisis, aid organizations say, as people in some areas describe sewage flowing through the streets. The World Health Organization and other groups are warning about the spread of disease and the dire situation of healthcare facilities.

Meanwhile, the United States and the United Kingdom carried out additional strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, marking the eighth round of attacks in just over 10 days, two defense officials told CNN.

Here are the key things to know:

S d British forces struck eight Houthi targets in Yemen on Monday, according to a joint statement from the countries involved in the strikes.

The targets were Houthi underground storage and sites associated with the group’s missile and air surveillance.

The United States and United Kingdom carried out the operations with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada and the Netherlands, the countries said.

The strikes are smaller than the first joint operation on January 11 that struck over 30 Houthi targets. 

The leader of the World Health Organization is “deeply concerned” by reports of fighting around the two hospitals in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media that fighting near Al-Amal Hospital and Monday’s raid on Al-Khair Hospital put “patients and people seeking safety within these facilities at risk” and prevent other people who are hurt from being able to reach the hospitals.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza said dozens of people had been killed and wounded in the latest offensive in western Khan Younis, where several medical facilities and the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) headquarters are located. 

Health officials also said that Israeli forces Monday stormed the Al-Khair Hospital and detained a number of its medical staff, amid an ongoing “siege” of the area.

The PRCS said Monday night that the situation remains “extremely dangerous” there and that ambulance teams are facing “significant difficulties in reaching the wounded and injured due to the continuous bombardment in the governorate.”

When asked to comment on the storming of the hospital, the Israel Defense Forces said it “cannot comment on ongoing activities.” A source told CNN that a major Israeli military offensive is underway in western Khan Yunis and is expected to last several more days.

The United States and the United Kingdom carried out additional strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen on Monday, marking the eighth round of attacks on the rebels’ infrastructure in just over 10 days, two defense officials told CNN.

Nasr Al-Din Amer, the head of the Houthi-run Saba news agency, said strikes hit Yemen’s capital Sana’a and the cities of Taiz, Al-Bayda, and Hajjah.

President Joe Biden spoke to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday, the White House said earlier in the day, about a range of topics including security in the Red Sea. 

CNN reported on Monday that the US has named the ongoing operation to target Houthi assets in Yemen “Operation Poseidon Archer,” suggesting a more organized and potentially long-term approach to the operations in Yemen that have been aimed at deterring the Houthis from attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The US has now struck Houthi targets in Yemen eight times since January 11, the majority of which the US military has carried out unilaterally. The first wave of strikes, in which the US and UK hit approximately 30 sites across Houthi-controlled Yemen, marked the beginning of Operation Poseidon Archer, one official said.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said on Monday that the Houthis had not launched a new attack on commercial shipping since January 18. The Houthis claimed on Monday to have attacked a US-owned cargo ship, the M/V Ocean Jazz, but a defense official told CNN that claim was not true.

The post was updated with the details provided by the Saba news agency.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir takes part in a Cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, in December.

Israel’s national security minister is threatening to quit his position and “not be part of the government” if Israel decides to end the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Ben Gvir has a history of making threats like this. In late November, during a negotiated pause in the fighting to allow an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners — Ben Gvir threatened to quit Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s government if the attacks on the Gaza Strip were not resumed as soon as the humanitarian truce came to an end.

A video of his comments was posted on social media by CNN affiliate KAN News, an Israeli public broadcaster. 

Garbage piles up in Rafah, Gaza, on January 13.

Mounds of solid waste and sewage openly flowing in the streets are exacerbating health hazards in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, with air pollution adding to the toxic environment, according to aid workers and civilians in the area.

“Everywhere in Rafah, if you walk, you will see a lot of solid waste and a lot of water sewage building up on the street,” said Salwa Tibi, 53, who works at the humanitarian agency CARE International. “You will find a lot of diseases in the shelters.”

Despite the hazards, children in desperate search of food can be seen picking scraps from rubbish piles, Tibi said.

Israel’s siege of the Palestinian enclave has collapsed waste collection and disposal services, according to the United Nations relief agency UNRWA, and the scarcity of clean drinking water and toilets has created an “explosively dangerous” environment for the spread of disease, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Thursday. 

Gazans also describe air pollution caused by smoke from people burning wood instead of fuel, supplies of which have been largely cut off from the territory. 

CNN’s Celine Alkhaldi contributed reporting to this post.

Former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni speaks to CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Monday.

Israel’s former foreign minister is stressing the urgency of determining who could control Gaza when the fighting between Israel and Hamas end – and said there are likely three “real options”: Hamas, Israel or a different Palestinian regime.

Tzipi Livni said Monday in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that a Palestinian regime was the only feasible suggestion but stressed that it is “truly urgent” to decide if this would be in the form of the Palestinian Authority or another group. Delaying this decision would only lead to Hamas continuing to exist, and therefore the conflict between Israel and Hamas continuing too, Livni argued.

“Israel doesn’t and shouldn’t take care of (the) 2 million Palestinians that are there,” said Livni, who served as foreign minister in the Kadima party government until 2009. “We don’t want to reoccupy Gaza. We just need to take care of our security.”

The former foreign minister suggested that the “entire international community” needed to ensure that any new Palestinian leadership would not be formed by Hamas or any other terrorist group.

People wait for food in Rafah, Gaza, in late December. Officials have reported that nearly all families in Gaza are skipping meals due to food shortages.

Nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip faces a humanitarian crisis, aid organizations say. Millions of people have been displaced since October 7 and they are struggling to stay dry and warm as winter temperatures and rains set in.

Less than a week into the Israel-Hamas war, the United Nations appealed to the world asking for nearly $300 million in aid to assist Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Within a month, the figure nearly quadrupled as the entire Gaza Strip plunged into a humanitarian catastrophe.

Three months into the war, international donors, mostly governments, have provided just over half of the requested funds through the UN’s plan, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) Financial Tracking Service.

The figures reveal that only four-fifths of the emergency funding needed to ensure food security and roughly a quarter of what’s needed for shelter, water and sanitation have been provided.

Even before Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, the enclave has been among the world’s top recipients of aid per capita for years. Before the war, four in five people depended on international help and as many as 1.84 million people were food insecure, according to the World Food Program.

Keep reading about Gaza’s history of reliance on foreign assistance and the humanitarian aid needed to keep people alive today.

The post was updated.