Closing summary
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
More than 25,700 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza since 7 October, local authorities said on Wednesday. The latest figures included 210 Palestinians killed and nearly 400 injured in the past 24 hours. About 85% of the besieged strip’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced from their homes, now dealing with cold, hunger and disease in unsanitary and chaotic makeshift displacement camps.
The Israeli army said on Wednesday that it had “encircled” Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, after two days of heavy fighting, in what Israeli officials described as the last large ground assault in the three-month-old war before a shift to “lower intensity” operations aimed at eradicating the Palestinian militant group. Approximately 88,000 Palestinians live in Khan Younis, which is also hosting an estimated 425,000 people displaced by fighting elsewhere in the tiny coastal territory.
Thousands of people sheltering in hospitals in Khan Younis are now trapped by Israel’s assault on the southern city. By Wednesday morning, fierce battles had reached the gates of Khan Younis’s three main hospitals – al-Aqsa, Nasser and al-Amal – making it difficult for civilians to flee, according to Ocha, the UN humanitarian agency. About 18,000 people were believed to be sheltering in the grounds of Nasser hospital alone, Ocha said, along with 850 patients. People fleeing the vicinity of Nasser hospital have been shot at by Israeli tanks as well as attack drones, according to reports. The Palestinian Red Cross Society, which runs al-Amal hospital, said troops had blockaded its staff inside. Israel says Hamas fighters operate in and around hospitals, which hospital staff and Hamas deny.
A building at a training centre in the city run by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), where about 800 people had sought shelter, was hit by tank shelling on Wednesday, according to the agency’s director in Gaza, who said nine people had been killed and 75 injured, with medical teams unable to access the building. The UNRWA commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, said the number of killed was “likely higher”, adding that the incident was “once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war”. Meanwhile, at least eight people were critically injured after Israeli forces targeted a school in Khan Younis that was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, according to reports.
The World Health Organization’s regional director for the eastern Mediterranean said Israel was continuing to target health institutions in Gaza. Ahmed Al-Mandhari said 660 attacks were recorded on health institutions, about half of them in northern Gaza, adding that attacks on health institutions were a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
Yemen’s Houthi forces fired missiles at ships in the Red Sea on Wednesday, the White House said, after Houthi authorities ordered US and British staff of the UN and Sana’a-based humanitarian organisations to leave the country. One missile missed its target and a US Navy destroyer shot down the other two, said the national security council spokesperson, John Kirby.
The international court of justice in The Hague said it would deliver its ruling this week on whether or not to grant emergency measures against Israel. The UN court said the 17-judge panel would hand down its ruling on Friday at 1200 GMT. The court could order Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, although it has no way to enforce its orders.
An Israeli government spokesperson ruled out a Gaza ceasefire, despite reports that negotiations on hostage releases were progressing and repeated international calls for Israel to cease its months-long bombardment of the Gaza Strip. “Israel will not give up on the destruction of Hamas, the return of all the hostages … There will be no ceasefire,” the Israeli government spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, accused Israel of holding up aid deliveries to Gaza. The Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is open “24/7” but the procedures by Israel to allow the entry of aid are obstructing the process, Sisi said on Wednesday, adding that “this is part of how they exert pressure on the issue of releasing the hostages.”
Israeli forces arrested 35 Palestinians, including a woman and former prisoners, in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem on Wednesday, according to data released by the Palestinian prisoners’ affairs authority, bringing the total number of Palestinians arrested in the occupied West Bank since 7 October to 6,255. Meanwhile, Israeli troops on Wednesday reportedly demolished the home of a Palestinian accused of assisting in the killing of four Israelis near a settlement in the occupied West Bank in June.
UN member states must stop arms transfers to Israel and Palestinian armed groups, more than a dozen international humanitarian and human rights organisations urged in a joint statement on Wednesday. They called on countries to “stop fuelling the crisis in Gaza and avert further humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian life”.
US strikes against militias in Iraq prompted the most scathing criticism yet from Baghdad, with the prime minister’s office accusing Washington of contributing to a “reckless escalation” of regional violence. The Pentagon announced earlier on Wednesday that it had carried out overnight retaliatory strikes against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militias in response to its own forces coming under attack at an Iraqi airbase at the weekend.
Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, will arrive in Turkey to meet the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Wednesday for twice-delayed talks aimed at ironing out past differences and halting the spread of the Israel-Hamas war. Analysts believe the Gaza war has forced the two leaders to seek a joint approach to the Middle East and postpone regional disputes.
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, met Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem as part of his Middle East visit. Cameron, who is on his second visit to the region since returning to government, was expected to press for an immediate humanitarian pause in the fighting and raise “the importance of a two-state solution”, Downing Street said.
Updated
South Africa’s foreign minister will travel to The Hague to attend the ICJ ruling on whether or not to grant emergency measures against Israel, the South African government has said.
As we reported earlier, the UN court has said it will issue a decision on Friday on South Africa’s request for interim orders in a genocide case against Israel, including that Israel stop its military campaign in Gaza.
In the ruling on Friday, the ICJ will not deal with the main question of whether Israel is committing genocide. The court will only look at possible emergency measures, whereas the full case could take years to decide.
South Africa wants the court to issue so-called “provisional measures” – emergency orders to protect Palestinians in Gaza from potential breaches of the UN’s Genocide Convention. But the court is not bound to order exactly what Pretoria asked for.
Orders from the ICJ are legally binding and cannot be appealed, but the court has no way to enforce them.
Updated
Houthis fired three missiles at ships in Red Sea, says White House
Yemen’s Houthi forces fired missiles at ships in the Red Sea on Wednesday, the White House has said.
The White House’s national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said the Houthis launched three missiles at two merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea, adding that “one missile missed” and “the other two were shot down by a US Navy destroyer”. Kirby said:
It obviously underscores that the Houthis still intend to conduct these attacks, which means we’re obviously still going to have to do what we have to do to protect that shipping.
The US Central Command said the missiles were fired “toward the US-flagged, owned, and operated container ship M/V Maersk Detroit,” but did not mention a second vessel being targeted.
There were no reports of injuries or damage to the ship, it added.
Number of killed 'likely higher than nine', says UNRWA chief after shelter struck in Khan Younis
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said the number of those killed on Wednesday after a building sheltering thousands of displaced people in southern Gaza was hit is “likely higher” than initially reported.
As we reported earlier, UNRWA’s director in Gaza, Thomas White, said nine Palestinians had been killed and 75 injured after what he described as an “attack” on a UN training centre designated as shelter in Khan Younis.
UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini, posting to social media, said the vocational training centre that was struck is one of the largest UN facilities, sheltering nearly 30,000 displaced people.
He said the UN facility is “clearly marked” and that its coordinates were shared with Israeli authorities, adding:
Once again a blatant disregard of basic rules of war.
Another horrific day in #Gaza. The number of those killed is likely higher.#KhanYounis vocational training centre is one of the largest @UNRWA facilities sheltering nearly 30,000 displaced people.
— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) January 24, 2024
The compound is a clearly marked @UN facility & its coordinates were shared with… https://t.co/XZwK09ondV
Updated
UN court to deliver ruling in Israel genocide case on Friday
The international court of justice in The Hague has said it will deliver its verdict this week on the request for provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case against Israel.
In a statement, the court said the 17-judge panel will hand down its ruling on Friday at 1200 GMT.
South Africa is asking the UN court to act urgently “to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the genocide convention, which continues to be violated with impunity”.
PRESS RELEASE: the #ICJ will deliver its Order on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case #SouthAfrica v. #Israel this Friday, 26 January 2024, at 1 p.m. (The Hague). Watch live on @UNWebTV https://t.co/tikn2TSa8U pic.twitter.com/2csTaDZVZ1
— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) January 24, 2024
Updated
International aid groups urge countries to stop sending weapons to Israel and Palestinian armed groups
More than a dozen international humanitarian and human rights organisations have issued a joint call urging countries to stop arms transfers to Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
In a statement on Wednesday, they called on UN member states to “stop fuelling the crisis in Gaza and avert further humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian life”. The 16 signatories include Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the Médecins du Monde international network. The statement reads:
Israel’s bombardment and siege are depriving the civilian population of the basics to survive and rendering Gaza uninhabitable. Today, the civilian population in Gaza faces a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented severity and scale.
It says Israel continues to use explosive weapons and munitions in densely populated areas in Gaza with “massive humanitarian consequences”, is killing people at “unprecedented levels” and destroying a “substantial portion” of Gaza’s homes, schools, hospitals, water infrastructure, shelters, and refugee camps.
Gaza’s remaining lifeline – an internationally funded humanitarian aid response – has been paralysed by the intensity of the hostilities, which have included the shooting of aid convoys, recurrent communications blackouts, damaged roads, restrictions on essential supplies, an almost complete ban on commercial supplies, and a bureaucratic process to send aid into Gaza.
It says Gaza today is “the most dangerous place to be a child, a journalist, and an aid worker”, where hospitals and schools have become “battlegrounds”. The statement continues:
We demand an immediate ceasefire and call on all states to halt the transfer of weapons that can be used to commit violations of international humanitarian and human rights law … All states have an obligation to prevent atrocity crimes and promote adherence to norms that protect civilians.
Updated
Italy has announced it will launch an operation to provide hospital treatment for 100 Palestinian children from Gaza.
Italy’s defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said on Wednesday that the first 30 children would be transported by plane from Egypt, where they had sought refuge and medical assistance after escaping Israeli bombardment in Gaza.
Another 30 children and their families will be transported to Italy at the end of January onboard a military vessel that will depart from the Egyptian port of al-Arish, he said. The children will be treated in hospitals in Bologna, Florence, Genoa and Rome, a statement by Crosetto said.
The minister did not clarify when or how the remaining 40 children would be transported, Reuters reported. The move was “a moral duty more than a political one”, he said, adding:
One cannot remain indifferent in the face of the serious humanitarian crisis.
Updated
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has met Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem as part of his Middle East visit.
Cameron, who is on his second visit to the region since returning to government, is expected to press for an immediate humanitarian pause in the fighting and raise “the importance of a two-state solution”, Downing Street said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a private meeting today with UK Foreign Secretary, and former Prime Minister, David Cameron, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/XHUNArASv2
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 24, 2024
Speaking as he prepared to travel to Qatar, Cameron said on Tuesday that a sustained ceasefire “would require Hamas to agree to the release of all hostages, Hamas to no longer be in charge of Gaza launching rocket attacks at Israel, and an agreement in place for the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza in order to provide governance and services and, increasingly, security”.
Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has said he is opposed to the Palestinian Authority taking charge of Gaza.
Updated
A group of Palestinians in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah have protested in support of an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The demonstration marked a rare show of protest in the devastated and besieged Palestinian territory, where people are struggling to get by amid the war and humanitarian crisis, AP reported.
Demonstrators, mostly women and children, chanted: “People want to end the war” and “We want to go back to the north [of Gaza].” One sign carried by a young girl read: “Yes to returning the prisoners.”
The protest was seized on by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson who said it was evidence that Palestinians were demanding Hamas release the hostages taken during the 7 October attacks in order to end the war.
However, there was no indication the protesters directed their demonstration at Hamas specifically, AP wrote. A poll published last month showed Palestinian support in Gaza for Hamas had risen since the war erupted.
Updated
Two US-flagged vessels transiting the Bab el-Mandeb strait, accompanied by the US navy, turned around after seeing explosions nearby, according to the shipping company Maersk.
Both vessels are operated by Maersk’s US subsidiary that carries cargo for the US defence department, state department, US agency for international development (USAid), and other government agencies, Reuters reported.
A statement by Maersk read:
While en route, both ships reported seeing explosions close by and the US navy accompaniment also intercepted multiple projectiles.
The vessels and crew were unharmed and were being escorted back to the Gulf of Aden by the US navy, it said.
Updated
Here’s more on the reports that a UN training centre sheltering hundreds of displaced people was hit earlier today in Khan Younis.
Nine people have been killed and 75 injured, according to the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza.
A UNRWA spokesperson told Al Jazeera there had been no warning prior to the building being shelled. He added that a “building has been set on fire” and that “there are many casualties”.
He described the situation as “very dangerous”, adding that UNRWA teams had not been able to access the compound in the past two days “because the Israeli tanks actually [were] very close”. He added:
People are screaming, crying, asking for help. We hope that we will not find so many people to have been killed and injured.
Nine killed and dozens injured after UN shelter hit in Khan Younis – reports
The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza has cited reports as saying that nine Palestinians have been killed and 75 injured after what he described as an “attack” on a UN training centre designated as shelter in Khan Younis.
As we reported earlier, Thomas White said there were “mass casualties” and “buildings ablaze” after the training centre was hit, and that people sheltering inside the building were “trapped”.
In an update, White said two tank rounds hit the building that was sheltering about 800 displaced people in the southern Gaza Strip.
He added that UNRWA and World Health Organization (WHO) teams were trying to reach the centres, but that a route that had been agreed upon with the Israeli army was “blocked with [an] earth bank”.
Update - attack on Khan Younis Training Centre this afternoon - two tank rounds hit building that shelters 800 people - reports now 9 dead and 75 injured@UNRWA and @WHO team trying to reach the centre - agreed upon route with Israeli Army blocked with earth bank #Gaza
— Thomas White (@TomWhiteGaza) January 24, 2024
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 5.12pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv and 6.12pm in Sana’a, Yemen. We’ll be handing over to the US shortly to continue our coverage of the Middle East crisis, but first, here are some of the latest developments:
The Israeli government spokesperson Ilana Stein ruled out a Gaza ceasefire on Wednesday, despite reports that negotiations on hostage releases were progressing and repeated international calls for Israel to cease its months-long bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Yemen’s Houthi authorities have ordered US and British staff of the UN and Sana’a-based humanitarian organisations to leave the country within a month. “The ministry … would like to stress that you must inform officials and workers with US and British citizenships to prepare to leave the country within 30 days,” said a letter sent by the Houthi foreign ministry to the UN’s acting humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Peter Hawkins. The Houthis’ top negotiator, Mohammed Abdulsalam, confirmed the letter’s authenticity to Reuters.
Witnesses reported fierce gun battles in the west of Khan Younis, where the Israeli military said it had killed “numerous” squads of gunmen “with sniper, tank and aerial fire”, said Reuters. Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, said in a statement: “The occupation is isolating hospitals in Khan Younis and carrying out massacres in the western area of the city.” The Palestinian Red Cross Society, which runs al-Amal hospital, said troops had blockaded its staff inside and imposed a curfew in the area, including its local headquarters, where three displaced individuals had been killed.
Israel ordered people to leave a swath of downtown Khan Younis that included Nasser and two smaller hospitals as it pushed ahead with its offensive against Hamas, AP reported.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders said its staff were trapped inside Nasser hospital with about 850 patients and thousands of displaced people because the surrounding roads were inaccessible or too dangerous.
People fleeing the vicinity of Nasser hospital have been shot at by Israeli tanks as well as attack drones, said the Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah, southern Gaza. Mahmoud also said there had been a “surge” in aerial attacks and artillery shelling in the western part of Khan Younis, while the compound of al-Aqsa University, where thousands of people were sheltering, was “effectively under military siege”.
The director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency affairs in Gaza, Thomas White, said its training centre in Khan Younis, which was sheltering displaced Palestinians, resulting in mass casualties and a building ablaze.
At least eight people were critically injured after Israeli forces targeted a school in Khan Younis that was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, reported the Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud.
Israel continues to target health institutions in Gaza, said Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the World Health Organization’s regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, reported Al Jazeera, citing comments made during a press conference on Wednesday about the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip. Mandhari said the situation in the Gaza Strip was catastrophic and that the number of workers in medical institutions had decreased to just 5%.
Discharged patients are refusing to leave because “they don’t have anywhere to go”, said a health officer working at the European Gaza hospital in Khan Younis. Raneen Wafi, a health officer with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said it was one of “our main challenges” and that “there is no space” for patients waiting for a bed.
The World Food Programme warned of a “catastrophic food insecurity” in Gaza. “More than half a million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic food insecurity levels and the risk of famine increases each day,” said Abeer Etefa, the WFP’s senior Middle East spokesperson.
Israeli troops on Wednesday demolished the home of a Palestinian accused of assisting in the killing of four Israelis near a settlement in the occupied West Bank in June, witnesses told AFP.
210 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and nearly 400 were injured in the previous 24 hours, according to the latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas.
The Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is open “24/7” but the procedures by Israel to allow the entry of aid are obstructing the process, the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, said on Wednesday. Sisi said: “This is part of how they exert pressure on the issue of releasing the hostages.”
An armed drone targeted a base housing US forces near northern Iraq’s Erbil airport on Wednesday, two sources told Reuters.
Israeli forces arrested 35 Palestinians, including a woman and former prisoners, in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, reported Al Jazeera citing data released by the Palestinian prisoners’ affairs authority.
Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, met the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Wednesday for twice-delayed talks aimed at ironing out past differences and halting the spread of the Israel-Hamas war.
The British foreign secretary, David Cameron, will travel to Israel on Wednesday where he is expected to raise concerns over the high number of Palestinians killed and push for a “sustainable” ceasefire in the Gaza war.
Greenpeace activists on Wednesday unveiled an illustration depicting a Palestinian child crying for help, outside the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid, Spain. The illustration was created by the US artist Shepard Fairey, also known as Obey, and was based on a photograph by the Gaza photojournalist Belal Khaled. Activists also tied a yellow banner reading ‘ceasefire now’ to the building.
Pope Francis issued a new plea against all wars as he evoked the horror of the mass killing of Jews and other victims of the Nazis in advance of Saturday’s Holocaust Memorial Day, reported Reuters. He mentioned the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the bombing of civilians in “martyred Ukraine”. He repeated his assertion that “war is always a defeat” in which “the only winners, so to speak, are weapons manufacturers”.
An incident 50 nautical miles south of al-Mukha in Yemen was reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation. In an advisory note, reported by Reuters, the UKMTO said the master reported an explosion approximately 100 metres from the vessel. The vessel and crew were safe and no injuries or damage were reported, it added.
Strikes by the US on Iraqi military positions will lead to “irresponsible escalation” and violate the country’s sovereignty, the Iraqi prime minister’s office said in a statement on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that after 24 years of membership he had been barred from seeking re-election to the body that appoints the country’s supreme leader, AFP reported.
Updated
Israeli occupation in Khan Younis is 'isolating hospitals', says Gaza health ministry
Witnesses reported fierce gunbattles in the west of Khan Younis, where the Israeli military said it had killed “numerous” squads of gunmen “with sniper, tank and aerial fire”, says Reuters.
Ashraf al-Qidra, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, said in a statement: “The occupation is isolating hospitals in Khan Younis and carrying out massacres in the western area of the city … Hundreds of injuries, patients, and childbirth cases face serious complications due to the lack of access to Nasser medical complex.”
The Palestinian Red Cross Society, which runs the al-Amal hospital, said troops had blockaded its staff inside and imposed a curfew in the area, including its local headquarters, where three displaced individuals had been killed. Israel says Hamas fighters operate in and around hospitals, which hospital staff and Hamas deny.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military ordered the evacuation of the area, which the UN humanitarian office said held 500,000 people, four-fifths of them displaced by fighting in other parts of the coastal strip.
However, Israeli tanks advancing eastward down the al-Bahar road towards Nasser hospital blocked the escape route from the city towards the Mediterranean coastal highway, which leads towards Rafah on Gaza’s southern edge bordering Egypt.
Some people resorted to dirt roads to try to escape Khan Younis, residents and freelance reporters leaving the area told Reuters.
Updated
Israel continues to target health institutions in Gaza, says WHO regional director
Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the World Health Organization’s regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, has said Israel is continuing to target health institutions in Gaza, reports Al Jazeera citing comments made during a press conference on Wednesday about the healthcare system in the Gaza Strip.
He said attacks on health institutions were a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and highlighted that 660 attacks were recorded on health institutions, about half of them in northern Gaza. He also spoke of the cutting off of medical supplies and fuel, as well as the WHO’s challenges in accessing hospitals in northern Gaza.
Mandhari said the situation in the Gaza Strip was catastrophic and that the number of workers in medical institutions had decreased to just 5%. He said that patients were dying due to lack of medicines and the WHO’s pleas were going unanswered.
Updated
'There will be no ceasefire' – Israeli government rules out suspension of hostilities in Gaza
An Israeli government spokesperson has ruled out a Gaza ceasefire on Wednesday, despite reports that negotiations on hostage releases were progressing and repeated international calls for Israel to cease its months-long bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Ilana Stein said in a briefing:
Commenting on reported ceasefire agreements, Israel will not give up on the destruction of Hamas, the return of all the hostages, and there will be no security threat from Gaza towards Israel. There will be no ceasefire. In the past there were pauses for humanitarian purposes. That agreement was breached by Hamas.
Updated
UNRWA chief says centre for displaced Palestinians hit in Khan Younis, reports mass casualties
Thomas White, the director of UNRWA in Gaza, has reported mass casualties and a building ablaze after a training centre was hit in Khan Younis.
Fighting is escalating in Khan Younis #Gaza - the @UNRWA Training Centre sheltering 10Ks of displaced people has just been hit - buildings ablaze and mass casualties - safe access to/from the centre has been denied for 2 days - people are trapped.
— Thomas White (@TomWhiteGaza) January 24, 2024
More details soon …
Updated
Drone attack reported on base housing US forces near Iraq's Erbil airport
An armed drone has targeted a base housing US forces near northern Iraq’s Erbil airport on Wednesday, two sources have told Reuters.
More details soon …
Houthis order US and British nationals working for NGOs to leave Yemen – reports
Yemen’s Houthi authorities have ordered US and British staff of the UN and Sana’a-based humanitarian organisations to leave the country within a month, Reuters reports.
“The ministry … would like to stress that you must inform officials and workers with US and British citizenships to prepare to leave the country within 30 days,” said a letter sent by the Houthi foreign ministry to the UN’s acting humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, Peter Hawkins.
The letter also ordered foreign organisations to not hire American or British citizens for Yemen’s operations. Houthi top negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam confirmed the letter’s authenticity to Reuters.
The office of Hawkins, who is himself a British national, did not respond to a request for comment. The US and British embassies in Yemen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The decision follows the US and Britain – with support from other nations – striking military targets of the Iran-aligned group after Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. Yesterday the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said that his country would be bringing forward sanctions against the Houthis.
Updated
Explosion reported 100m from vessel near south of Yemen, says UK Maritime Trade Operations
An incident 50 nautical miles south of al-Mukha in Yemen has been reported by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organisation.
In an advisory note, reported by Reuters, the UKMTO said the master reported an explosion approximately 100m from the vessel. The vessel and crew were safe and no injuries or damage was reported, it added.
UKMTO WARNING
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 24, 2024
INCIDENT 019 - ATTACK UPDATE 001https://t.co/qlApy9q9pq#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/uhXf1I7V33
There is no further information at present but we will update as any news comes in.
Updated
Greenpeace activists on Wednesday unveiled an illustration depicting a Palestinian child crying for help, outside Reina Sofía museum in Madrid, Spain.
The illustration was created by the US artist Shepard Fairey, also known as Obey, and was based on a photograph by Gaza photojournalist Belal Khaled. Activists also tied a yellow banner reading: ‘ceasefire now’ to the building.
My colleague, the Guardian’s Madrid correspondent Sam Jones, has translated this post on X by Greenpeace Spain:
We scaled the front of the Reina Sofía Museum to unfurl a huge work by the artist OBEY. The image, which measures almost 60 m2, uses a photo taken in Gaza by the Palestinian reporter Belal Khaled, with the message: Can you hear us?
🔴🔴🔴ACCIÓN🔴🔴🔴
— Greenpeace España (@greenpeace_esp) January 24, 2024
ALTO EL FUEGO EN GAZA YA
Escalamos la fachada del Museo Reina Sofía para desplegar una obra gigante del artista OBEY.
La imagen, de casi 60 m2, adapta una foto tomada en Gaza por el reportero palestino Belal Khaled con un mensaje:
¿NOS ESTÁIS OYENDO? pic.twitter.com/EAc7STie9R
The action by Greenpeace and Unmute Gaza was to “denounce the situation in Gaza” and “like the vast majority of civil society, call for an immediate ceasefire”, the two organisations said in a statement.
Fairey said of the illustration:
I feel morally obliged to amplify the message of Belal’s photography. I believe in solutions to disagreements that avoid violence. The tragic events of the last three and a half months in Israel and Palestine have saddened and upset me.
First, I was shocked by Hamas’s murdering and kidnapping of Israeli citizens on 7 October. I have since been shocked by the indiscriminate bombing and disregard for human rights and human life in Gaza by the Israeli military in response to Hamas’s attack.
The denial of water, electrical power, and basic necessities to Gaza’s citizens, as well as their mass displacement, has no moral justification. I therefore stand with countless others demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
Updated
Egypt's president Sisi accuses Israel of holding up aid deliveries to Gaza
The Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is open “24/7” but the procedures by Israel to allow the entry of aid are obstructing the process, the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, said on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, Sisi said: “This is part of how they exert pressure on the issue of releasing the hostages.”
Accusing Israel of holding up aid deliveries from the Rafah border crossing by pursuing procedures that halt movements, Sisi said: “This is a form of pressure on the Gaza Strip and its people over the conflict and the release of hostages. They are using this as a pressure tool on the people of the Strip.”
“We used to send Gaza 600 trucks a day. But for the past two to three days, we are not delivering more than 200 to 200 trucks (of aid) a day. How are these people (in Gaza) living?” he asked a gathering of military officers and state officials.
“Egypt’s Rafah crossing is open 24/7 every day of the month. But the procedures taking place on the Israeli side for us to send in the aid without it being blocked by anyone, they are the reason [for holdups],” Sisi said.
Israel has previously denied holding up aid to Gaza via the Rafah crossing.
Updated
Discharged patients 'don’t have anywhere to go', says Red Cross health officer
Discharged patients are refusing to leave because “they don’t have anywhere to go”, says a health officer working at the European Gaza hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
Raneen Wafi, a health officer with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), says it is one of “our main challenges” and that “there is no space” for patients waiting for a bed.
In any conflict or crisis, access to health care is a question of life or death.
— British Red Cross 🧡 (@BritishRedCross) January 24, 2024
Here, Raneen Wafi, an @ICRC health officer, shares an update from the European Gaza Hospital. ⬇ pic.twitter.com/ZafxTrJt0z
In a video posted by the Red Cross on X, Wafi says:
One of our main challenges is that there is a lot of patients out here that need to be taken care of, but there is no space. A lot of discharged patients refuse to go out because they don’t have anywhere to go. And there are a lot of patients waiting for that bed to be emptied.
So here, we are seeing more IDPs (internally displaced persons) in the hospital, more patients are coming with all the continous bombardement around. There is a lot of patients that are waiting to be taken care of here and this is the desperate thing to think of.”
Updated
Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that after 24 years of membership he has been barred from seeking re-election to the body that appoints the country’s supreme leader, reports AFP.
Rouhani’s official website said jurists in charge of vetting hopefuls “did not approve” his candidacy for a new term on the Assembly of Experts. It did not elaborate on the reason, say AFP.
The 88-member Assembly of Experts is tasked with electing, supervising and, if necessary, dismissing the supreme leader, who has the final say in all matters of state in Iran. The post has been held since 1989 by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 84.
Rouhani, who was first elected to the body in 1999, had announced in November last year that he was seeking a new term.
Rouhani served as Iran’s president from 2013 to 2021. Since leaving office, he has been a vocal critic of the ultra-conservative administration of his successor, Ebrahim Raisi and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has been one of its principal pillars.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images coming in across the news wires from Baghdad, Jerusalem, Khan Younis and Madrid :
Updated
210 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, says health ministry
The latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 210 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and nearly 400 were injured in the past 24 hours.
According to the statement, at least 25,700 Palestinians have been killed and 63,740 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October.
The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
People fleeing area near Nasser hospital being shot at by Israeli tanks, says Al Jazeera reporter
People fleeing the vicinity of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis have been shot at by Israeli tanks as well as attack drones, says Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud reporting from Rafah, southern Gaza.
“Entire families are being surrounded by Israeli military tanks and armoured vehicles. They are ordered to evacuate from their homes and to get outside. Women are separated from the men with their hands on top of their heads,” writes Mahmoud. He adds that civil defence crews “are trying to collect the bodies and identify the dead”.
Al Jazeera is one of the few news organisations with a functioning bureau in Gaza
Mahmoud also reports that there has been a “surge” in aerial attacks and artillery shelling in the western part of Khan Younis, while the compound of al-Aqsa University, where thousands of people have been sheltering, is “effectively under military siege”.
“No one can get out of that area,” writes Mahmoud. “Anyone who tries to leave risks losing their life as there is constant shelling and attacks by land and by air.”
Updated
Israeli troops on Wednesday demolished the home of a Palestinian accused of assisting in the killing of four Israelis near a settlement in the occupied West Bank in June, witnesses told AFP.
Basil Shehadeh was arrested on suspicion of helping two other Palestinians carry out the deadly shooting on 20 June last year at a petrol station near Eli settlement in the northern West Bank. The attackers, Muhannad Shehadeh and Khaled Sabah, were killed by Israeli forces while their alleged accomplice was arrested. The shooting came a day after Israeli forces launched a deadly raid on the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Witnesses told AFP that Israeli troops stormed the village of Orif overnight and surrounded Shehadeh’s house. “The family were evacuated from the three-storey building, then the second floor of the building was blown up,” sais village council secretary Adel al-Amer.
The Israeli military confirmed to AFP that it had demolished Basil’s house overnight. “This demolition followed the destruction of the residences belonging to other terrorists involved in the same attack,” the army told the news agency in a statement.
Israel routinely demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks, arguing that such measures act as a deterrent while critics say it amounts to collective punishment.
Israeli forces arrested 35 Palestinians, including a woman and former prisoners, in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, reports Al Jazeera citing data released by the Palestinian prisoners’ affairs authority.
It states that the arrests took place in Nablus, and in the district towns of Awarta, Urif and Sabastia. Arrests were also carried out in the town of Bani Naieem in the east of the Hebron governorate, and Dura in the south, while six Palestinians were arrested in the village of Burqin, south of Jenin, and from Kifl Haris, west of Salfit.
This brings the total number of Palestinians arrested in the occupied West Bank since 7 October to 6,255.
'War is always a defeat' says Pope Francis in new anti-war plea
Pope Francis has issued a new plea against all wars as he evoked the horror of the mass killing of Jews and other victims of the Nazis ahead of Saturday’s Holocaust Memorial Day, reports Reuters.
“The memory and condemnation of that horrible extermination of millions of people … may help everybody to not forget that the logic of hatred and violence can never be justified,” he said during his Wednesday weekly audience at the Vatican.
“Let us not get tired of praying for peace, for conflicts to end, for weapons to stop, for relief for exhausted populations,” Francis added. He mentioned the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the bombing of civilians in “martyred Ukraine”.
He repeated his assertion that “war is always a defeat” in which “the only winners, so to speak, are weapons manufacturers”.
Heavy fighting in Khan Younis leaves hundreds of patients and staff stranded in main hospital
Israeli forces battled Palestinian militants on Wednesday near the main hospital in Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis, where medics said hundreds of patients and thousands of displaced people were unable to leave because of the fighting, reports Associated Press (AP).
Reporting from Rafah, an AP journalist said Israel had ordered people to leave a swath of downtown Khan Younis that includes Nasser and two smaller hospitals as it pushed ahead with its offensive against Hamas. The UN humanitarian office said the area was home to 88,000 Palestinians and was hosting another 425,000 displaced by fighting elsewhere.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders said its staff were trapped inside Nasser hospital with about 850 patients and thousands of displaced people because the surrounding roads were inaccessible or too dangerous. Nasser hospital is one of only two hospitals in southern Gaza that can still treat critically ill patients, the group said. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry also said the hospital had been isolated.
Since yesterday evening, there has been heaving ongoing bombing mainly in the southern and northern parts of Khan Younis. MSF staff in Nasser hospital report they can feel the ground shaking and that there is a sense of panic among staff, patients and people sheltering inside.
— MSF UK (@MSF_uk) January 22, 2024
The Israeli military said its forces were battling militants inside Khan Younis after completing their encirclement of the city the day before. It stated that aircraft were striking targets as part of the operations there and it had also targeted suspected militants in central and northern Gaza.
Thousands of people fled south from Khan Younis on Tuesday toward the town of Rafah, say AP. The UN says about 1.5 million people – around two-thirds of Gaza’s population – are crowded into shelters and tent camps in and around Rafah, which is on the border with Egypt.
Even there, Palestinians have found little safety, with Israel regularly carrying out strikes in and around the town. Palestinian witnesses told AP that in recent days Israeli soldiers and tanks had pushed into parts of Muwasi, a sandy area along the coast that Israel had declared a safe zone, where tens of thousands of people were living in tents without basic services.
Updated
Eight critically injured in Israeli army attack on school, says Al Jazeera reporter
At least eight people have been critically injured after Israeli forces targeted a school in Khan Younis that was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, reports Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud in Rafah.
Mahmoud writes:
We heard from paramedics and first responders that it was difficult to transfer those injured inside the school to Nasser hospital … despite the fact it was a very short distance.
The intensity of the bombing prevented the ambulance and paramedics from getting to the school … this is what we have been seeing since the early hours of this morning.”
US strikes on Iraq leads to 'irresponsible escalation', says Iraqi prime minister's office
Strikes by the US on Iraqi military positions will lead to “irresponsible escalation” and violate the country’s sovereignty, the prime minister’s office said in a statement on Wednesday, reports Reuters.
The US carried out strikes against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militia on Tuesday, the Pentagon said. Iraq will consider these operations as “aggressive actions” that undermine years of cooperation, the Iraqi government statement added.
Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi will arrive in Turkey to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday for twice-delayed talks aimed at ironing out past differences and trying to halt the spread of the Israel-Hamas war.
AFP reports that the rapid pace of the Middle East escalation forced Raisi to delay his visit to Ankara twice. In early January planned talks in Ankara were called off when twin blasts claimed by Islamic State group jihadists killed 89 people at the shrine of assassinated Iranian Revolutionary Guards general Qassem Suleimani.
A trip Raisi had planned for November was cancelled because of conflicting schedules of diplomats involved in consultations over the Gaza war.
Iran’s official IRNA news agency said Raisi would be leading a “high-ranking political and economic delegation” on his first official visit to Turkey since his election in 2021.
The Turkish presidency said the two leaders would appear at a press conference after holdings talks and chairing a meeting of their top ministers during the one-day visit.
Analysts believe the Gaza war has force the two leaders to seek a joint approach to the Middle East and postpone regional disputes.
“Relations between Turkey and Iran have always been complex and multidimensional,” Hakki Uygur, director of Istanbul’s Centre for Iranian Studies told AFP. “Turkey has always able to manage it, to somehow to find a middle ground. I think a similar thing will happen now.”
“It is possible that Raisi and Erdogan might declare some symbolic measure about Palestine out of the meeting,” said Arash Azizi, a professor at Clemson University in South Carolina. “But I think their focus will be mostly on how to contain the conflict and make sure it doesn’t expand further, something that Ankara and Tehran both want.”
Updated
Two dead in US strikes against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq , say officials
US forces bombed sites used by Iran-backed militants in Iraq early Wednesday after a spate of attacks targeting US personnel, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said, killing two people, reports AFP citing Iraqi officials.
The strikes came just days after US troops in western Iraq were targeted with ballistic missiles and rockets in an attack the Pentagon blamed on militants supported by Tehran.
According to Iraqi sources cited by the AFP, the US strikes targeted the Hezbollah Brigades, a group affiliated with the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation force), an alliance of Iran-backed former paramilitary groups now integrated in Iraq’s regular armed forces.
They hit sites in the Jurf al-Sakhr area, south of Baghdad, as well as in the al-Qaim area on the border with Syria where two people were killed and two wounded, an interior ministry official and a former member of the Hashed al-Shaabi said.
World Food Programme warns of 'catastrophic food insecurity' in Gaza
Israel kept up its heavy assault on the “encircled” city of Khan Younis after an outpouring of grief over the army’s deadliest single day since ground operations in the territory began, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
As the fighting raged, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA reported that Israeli forces on Tuesday had issued fresh evacuation orders for a 4 sq km (1.5 sq mile) segment of Khan Younis currently home to about 513,000 people as well as the major Nasser and al-Amal hospitals.
The office of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas decried the “dangerous demands” for people to head south, and warned that Israel intended to “displace the Palestinian people from their homeland, thus leading to unforeseeable consequences”, according to official news agency Wafa.
The evacuation orders came as the World Food Programme (WFP) warned that Palestinians were facing “catastrophic food insecurity”, and as the UN chief took Israel to task over its rejection of a two-state solution – seen by ally the US as the only path to a durable peace, says AFP.
The war has led to dire shortages of food, water, fuel and medicines in the besieged territory. In Gaza City, displaced resident Umm Dahud al-Kafarna told AFP the Israeli campaign had left “us with nothing to eat or drink while bombing us from the air, sea and tanks”.
“More than half a million people in Gaza are facing catastrophic food insecurity levels and the risk of famine increases each day,” said Abeer Etefa, the WFP’s senior Middle East spokesperson.
#Gaza: To reach thousands of families displaced across camps and communities in Rafah and Deir El Balah, WFP teams are delivering assistance through:
— World Food Programme (@WFP) January 23, 2024
🤝 6 partner distribution points
💳 9 WFP-contracted shops
⛺ 14 informal camps
🫓 8 bakeries pic.twitter.com/mU9mSX7dSR
Updated
Israel and Hamas have moved closer to agreement on a ceasefire, reports say
Israel and Hamas have moved closer to agreement on a 30-day ceasefire in Gaza when Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners would be released, sources told Reuters, as Israel pressed ahead with its assault on southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Younis.
There is no further information on this story at the moment but we will update when more details come through.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 9am in Gaza and Tel Aviv and 10am in Sana’a, Yemen. We’ll be handing over to London shortly to continue our coverage of the Middle East crisis, but first, here are some of the latest developments:
The US military has carried out two more strikes in Yemen which they say have destroyed two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed at the Red Sea. The US says the Houthis were preparing to launch the missiles. US central command (Centcom) has posted on X that “US forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the US Navy ships in the region.”
The US has carried out strikes in Iraq against targets linked to Iran-backed militia. Associated Press is reporting that three facilities in Iraq were hit by the US military. Defence secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes were in retaliation for missile and drone attacks on US troops in Iraq and Syria over the past several days. The US strikes hit militia facilities in Jurf al-Sakhar, which is south of Baghdad, al-Qaim and another unnamed site in western Iraq, two US officials told AP.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Tuesday said the “clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable”, as he appealed for more aid access throughout the Gaza Strip. “The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history,” Guterres told the UN security council. “Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
He told the council that the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave was “appalling” and that “the people of Gaza not only risk being killed or injured by relentless bombardments, they also run a growing chance of contracting infectious diseases like hepatitis A, dysentery, cholera.” Guterres again appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ensure aid gets to where it is needed, to facilitate the release of hostages and to lower the tensions throughout the Middle East.
The Israeli envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, faced a walkout by some Arab ambassadors as he started by saying the world was trying to treat cancer with an aspirin, and said those advocating a ceasefire needed to realise it only meant the terror group Hamas would “remain in power, they would regroup and rearm, and soon Israel would face another attempted holocaust.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the US was opposed to any permanent change to Gaza’s territory, but kept the door open to possible support for any “transitional arrangements” to resolve the conflict with Israel. “If there needs to be transitional arrangements to enable that to happen, that’s one thing. But when it comes to the permanent status of Gaza going forward, we’ve been clear, we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory,” Blinken told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria.
British foreign secretary David Cameron will travel to Israel on Wednesday where he is expected to raise concerns over the high number of Palestinians killed and push for a “sustainable” ceasefire in the Gaza war.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is expected to fly to Turkey on Wednesday for twice-delayed talks aimed at ironing out past differences and trying to halt the spread of the Israel-Hamas war.
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X pictures of a visit to an IDF base where he told cadets “My main expectation is nothing less than total victory. There is no substitute for victory”.
US President Joe Biden has been heckled by protesters at a campaign event in Virginia. Multiple interruptions forced Biden to pause or try to speak over shouts of “Ceasefire now,” and “Genocide Joe” over his support for Israel and its war in Gaza, the Reuters news agency reports.
The US has asked China to urge Iran to rein in the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. The Financial Times is reporting that the US has seen little sign of help from Beijing, citing US officials.
The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) has released their latest update where they are highlighting what’s happening in Khan Younis specifically as fighting intensifies there “Hostilities were particularly intense in Khan Younis, with Israeli forces reported to having surrounded and launched a large-scale operation in the city. Heavy fighting is reported in proximity to hospitals in Khan Younis, including Al Aqsa, Nasser and Al Amal, with reports of Palestinians trying to flee to the southern town of Rafah.”
Updated
The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) has outlined some of the violence happening in the West Bank in its latest update. It describes the number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank in 2023 as “the highest” since Ocha started recording casualties in 2005.
It also says “the number of Israelis killed in the West Bank and Israel in 2023 in attacks perpetrated by Palestinians from the West Bank was the highest” in the same time frame.
Here’s some of that update on Palestinians killed in the West Bank:
Since 7 October 2023 and as of 23 January 2024, 360 Palestinians have been killed, including 92 children, across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Additionally, two Palestinians from the West Bank were killed while carrying out an attack in Israel on 30 November. Of these 360 fatalities, 350 were killed by Israeli forces, eight by Israeli settlers and two by either Israeli forces or settlers.
The number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2023 (507) marks the highest number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank since OCHA started recording casualties in 2005. So far in 2024 (as of 23 January), 51 Palestinians, including at least 11 children, have been killed.
On the deaths of Israelis Ocha says:
Since 7 October 2023 and as of 23 January 2024, five Israelis, including four members of Israeli forces, have been killed in Palestinian-perpetrated attacks in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
In addition, four Israelis were killed in an attack carried out by Palestinians from the West Bank in West Jerusalem (one of the four was killed by Israeli forces who misidentified him) on 30 November 2023. Another Israeli woman was killed in another attack perpetrated by Palestinians in Israel on 15 January 2024.
The number of Israelis killed in the West Bank and Israel in 2023 in attacks perpetrated by Palestinians from the West Bank (36) was the highest since OCHA started recording casualties in 2005.
The United States has asked China to urge Iran to rein in the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen over their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
The Financial Times is reporting that the US has seen little sign of help from Beijing, citing US officials.
The US has repeatedly raised the matter with top Chinese officials in the past three months, the report said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his deputy, Jon Finer, discussed the issue in meetings this month in Washington with Liu Jianchao, head of the international liaison department of China’s Communist party, the newspaper said.
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken also raised the issue with his Chinese counterpart, the report said, adding US officials believe there was little evidence that China had put any pressure on Iran to restrain Yemen’s Houthis, beyond a mild statement that Beijing issued last week.
The reports come as the US military carried out strikes in Yemen, destroying two Houthi anti-ship missiles that the US said were aimed at the Red Sea and were preparing to launch.
US President Joe Biden has been heckled by protesters at a campaign event in Virginia.
Multiple interruptions forced Biden to pause or try to speak over shouts of “Ceasefire now,” and “Genocide Joe” over his support for Israel and its war in Gaza, the Reuters news agency reports.
Biden’s support of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is costing him support among young voters and other opponents of the war who could play a critical role in the 2024 election, especially in swing states such as Michigan, says Reuters.
“They feel deeply,” Biden said after some of the initial protesters were ushered out of the auditorium.
As the heckling continued from other participants, Biden kept speaking, and warned the audience that the constant interruptions would continue and had clearly been planned. Supporters in the crowd shouted “Four More Years!” to drown out the heckling.
David Cameron will return to the Middle East on Wednesday to press for an immediate humanitarian pause in the fighting.
Downing Street said Cameron was expected to raise “the importance of a two-state solution”.
The foreign secretary, who said the situation in Gaza is desperate, is due to visit Qatar, Israel, the West Bank and Turkey.
Lord Cameron, on his second visit to the region since returning to government, will continue to insist no permanent ceasefire can be agreed unless Hamas releases all the remaining hostages, is incapable of firing rockets at Israel, and an agreement exists that allows the Palestinian Authority to return to Gaza and provide services.
His visit comes as Qatar continues to try to mediate between Israel and Hamas on a plan for a two-month ceasefire that would see the release of all hostages and a large number of Palestinian political prisoners.
Some mediators believe that if such a long humanitarian pause was agreed neither side would want to return to war.
Read the rest of our diplomatic editor’s piece on David Cameron’s planned visit here:
There may have been criticism of Israel from the UN chief and other delegates at the security council meeting, but the Israeli prime minister is signalling he is pushing on with the war in Gaza.
Benjamin Netanyahu posted on X pictures of a visit to an IDF base where he told cadets “My main expectation is nothing less than total victory. There is no substitute for victory”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Elyakim IDF base where he met with cadets in the company commanders training course, both conscripts and reservists:
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 23, 2024
"My main expectation is nothing less than total victory. There is no substitute for victory"https://t.co/5UAbSwi4A6 pic.twitter.com/WcBDviKm6F
Updated
Along with those latest strikes by the US on Houthi anti-ship missile sites in Yemen, the US launched strikes in Iraq on Tuesday.
“US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq,” the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement.
“These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias,” Austin added.
On Saturday, four US personnel suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase was hit by multiple ballistic missiles and rockets fired by Iranian-backed militants from inside Iraq.
Sources speaking to the Reuters news agency said Tuesday’s strikes in Iraq killed at least two militants, and that four people were wounded.
A reminder of what’s been taking place over the last day – we’ve seen some strong words on Tuesday at the UN security council debate on Gaza.
Patrick Wintour, our diplomatic editor writes:
Israel’s “clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution” is unacceptable, and could only prolong the conflict in Gaza, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said, at the launch of a highly charged security council debate focusing on aid shipments to Gaza.
Gutteres told the meeting in New York on Monday that the denial of a Palestinian state will only embolden extremists everywhere and indefinitely extend the conflict.
“Last week’s clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable,” Guterres told the council.
“This refusal, and the denial of the right to statehood to the Palestinian people, would indefinitely prolong a conflict that has become a major threat to global peace and security,” he said.
Multiple speakers from around the globe also had their say, and Patrick sums up their views here:
Updated
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is expected to fly to Turkey on Wednesday for twice-delayed talks aimed at ironing out past differences and trying to halt the spread of the Israel-Hamas war.
Raisi’s visit to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan comes with the war in Gaza starting to inflame tensions and escalate fighting across the Middle East, says Agence France Presse.
The rapid pace of the Middle East escalation forced Raisi to delay his visit to Ankara twice. His planned talks in Ankara in early January were called off when twin blasts claimed by Islamic State killed 89 people at the shrine of assassinated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps general Qassem Suleimani.
A trip he had planned for November was cancelled because of conflicting schedules of diplomats involved in consultations over the Gaza war.
US conducts two strikes in Yemen which destroy Houthi anti-ship missile sites
The US military has carried out two more strikes in Yemen which they say have destroyed two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed at the Red Sea. The US says the Houthis were preparing to launch the missiles.
US central command (Centcom) has posted on X that “U.S. forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region.”
Centcom describes the strikes as “self-defence”. These are the latest strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis over its targeting of Red Sea shipping. There was also a larger round of strikes late Monday.
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have said their attacks on ships are in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel strikes Gaza. The attacks have disrupted global shipping and deepened concern that fallout from the Israel-Hamas war could destabilise the Middle East.
U.S. CENTCOM Destroys Two Houthi Terrorists' Anti-Ship Missiles
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 24, 2024
On Jan. 24 at approximately 2:30 a.m.(Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces conducted strikes against two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch. U.S.… pic.twitter.com/l3CMPrDx92
Welcome and opening summary
It’s 6:41am in Sana’a, Yemen and 5:41am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Welcome to our latest blog on the Middle East crisis. I’m Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.
The US says it has carried out new strikes against two Houthi anti-ship missiles in Yemen. US central command (Centcom) has posted on X that “forces conducted strikes against two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch.”
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest events:
The United States has carried out strikes in Iraq against targets linked to Iran-backed militia. Associated Press is reporting that three facilities in Iraq were hit by the US military. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes were in retaliation for missile and drone attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria over the past several days. The US strikes hit militia facilities in Jurf al-Sakhar, which is south of Baghdad, al-Qaim and another unnamed site in western Iraq, two US officials told AP.
The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, on Tuesday said the “clear and repeated rejection of the two-state solution at the highest levels of the Israeli government is unacceptable”, as he appealed for more aid access throughout the Gaza Strip. “The entire population of Gaza is enduring destruction at a scale and speed without parallel in recent history,” Guterres told the UN security council. “Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
He told the council that the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave was “appalling” and that “the people of Gaza not only risk being killed or injured by relentless bombardments, they also run a growing chance of contracting infectious diseases like hepatitis A, dysentery, cholera.” Guterres again appealed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to ensure aid gets to where it is needed, to facilitate the release of hostages and to lower the tensions throughout the Middle East.
Speaker after speaker from around the globe but especially the Middle East has lined up to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and rapid pathway move to a two state solution, writes our diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour.
The Israeli envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, faced a walkout by some Arab ambassadors as he started by saying the world was trying to treat cancer with an aspirin, and said those advocating a ceasefire needed to realise it only meant the terror group Hamas would “remain in power, they would regroup and rearm, and soon Israel would face another attempted holocaust.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the United States was opposed to any permanent change to Gaza’s territory, but kept the door open to possible support for any “transitional arrangements” to resolve the conflict with Israel. “If there needs to be transitional arrangements to enable that to happen, that’s one thing. But when it comes to the permanent status of Gaza going forward, we’ve been clear, we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory,” Blinken told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria.
British foreign secretary David Cameron will travel to Israel on Wednesday where he is expected to raise concerns over the high number of Palestinians killed and push for a “sustainable” ceasefire in the Gaza war.
The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) has released their latest update where they are highlighting what’s happening in Khan Younis specifically as fighting intensifies there “Hostilities were particularly intense in Khan Younis, with Israeli forces reported to having surrounded and launched a large-scale operation in the city. Heavy fighting is reported in proximity to hospitals in Khan Younis, including Al Aqsa, Nasser and Al Amal, with reports of Palestinians trying to flee to the southern town of Rafah.”
Whatever the future of a post-Gaza war looks like, it cannot include the leaders of Hamas, the US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, said. In a press briefing at the White House, Kirby also said the US was involved in “active conversations” on the release of more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Reuters reports.
The United States would support another “pause” – temporary ceasefire – in Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza, such as a 30, 60 or 90-day period, the White House has just said. The US national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, is briefing right now in the west wing at the regular media press conference with him and the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre.
Aid trucks continue to have difficulty reaching people in southern Gaza, from Egypt and, via multiple aid agency reports, are not able to get to many parts of central and northern Gaza at all. Trucks are blocked for security checks and become severely backed up prior to reaching inside Gaza.
The United States has destroyed or degraded over 25 Houthi missile launch facilities and more than 20 missiles in Yemen since it started strikes in the country earlier this month, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
