Thursday, January 25, 2024
18:43 GMT — The Palestinian death toll from the Israeli offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7 has climbed to 25,900, the Palestinian Health Ministry in the blockaded enclave said.
The ministry, in a statement, said 64,110 others have also been injured.
Israeli forces committed 24 massacres across Gaza in the last 21 hours, killing at least 200 people and wounding 370 others, the ministry said, adding: “Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads, and rescuers can’t reach them."
The ministry also accused Israel of committing "genocidal crimes in the UNRWA-run shelters and in the al Mawasi area" (city of Khan Younis), which it claims to be safe.
19:03 GMT — Families of Israeli hostages obstruct entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza
Families of Israeli prisoners obstructed the entry of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza for a second consecutive day, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The newspaper said the families, along with right-wing activists, blocked the passage of aid trucks to Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Protesters closed the road to the crossing and prevented trucks loaded with humanitarian aid from passing.
"We are here today to show Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he can stop the trucks, just as we are stopping them now," said Dany Elgart, a brother of Itzik Elgart, who is being held hostage in Gaza.
"I call on all citizens: come to the checkpoint and stop this humanitarian aid with your bodies. It is not humanitarian at all because it only serves one segment of the population there. The hostages there do not receive any humanitarian aid.”
18:57 GMT — 'Tragic events' ongoing in Gaza can be viewed as 'genocide': Russia
A Russian envoy said that the “tragic events” in Gaza since Oct. 7 can be viewed as "genocide."
"The tragic events in Gaza have become inhumane. It is truly a crime that so many people, including women and children, died in a short time. This can be viewed as genocide," Russia’s Special Envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, told journalists at a news conference in the Kazakh capital of Astana following the 21st Astana format talks.
Expressing that the talks paid special attention to discussing regional developments, as well as the situation in Syria against the backdrop of what is happening in the region, Lavrentiev said the International Court of Justice must evaluate this definition from a legal perspective.
Lavrentiev further said that Israel’s permissiveness might lead to extremely negative consequences for the entire Middle East, especially with regard to neighbouring countries.
"If the war continues in the Gaza Strip, the conflict will inevitably spill over to Lebanon and Syria. If these countries also get involved in this war, other countries in the Middle East region will also suffer. Nobody wants it to be like this," said Lavrentiev.
"The international community will have to do a lot of serious work and do it as soon as possible to persuade Israel that the clashes in the Gaza Strip should be stopped and the two-state solution should be sat at the negotiating table in consultation with the Palestinians," he said.
Expressing that the world cannot afford the region to become one big conflict zone, the special envoy claimed there are forces that are “fueling the fire" by bombing Yemen.
18:48 GMT — ICRC warns Gaza at risk of 'medical shutdown'
Concrete action must be taken to preserve access to lifesaving and emergency medical care in Gaza, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
"Every hospital in the Gaza Strip is overcrowded and short on medical supplies, fuel, food, and water," William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC's office in Gaza, said in a statement from Geneva.
"Many are housing thousands of displaced families. And now two more facilities risk being lost due to the fighting. The cumulative impact on the health system is devastating, and urgent action must be taken," Schomburg added.
16:51 GMT — 38 Israeli soldiers injured in Gaza in last 24 hours: army
Thirty-eight more Israeli soldiers have been injured in the last 24 hours, including eight during fighting in Gaza, the Israeli forces said.
16:24 GMT — US CIA chief to meet with officials for Gaza hostage talks -Washington Post
US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns will meet with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials in Europe in the coming days for talks on a potential Gaza hostage deal, the Washington Post reported, citing officials familiar with the matter.
16:59 GMT — 'The ceasefire in Gaza is too late': WHO
World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that the ceasefire in Gaza was too late.
Ghebreyesus shared on the X social media platform about the health situation in Gaza, which is under intense attacks and blockade by Israel.
Emphasising that 26 thousand people, 70 percent of whom were women and children, lost their lives in Gaza, Ghebreyesus said, "8 thousand people were missing, and 64 thousand people were injured in Gaza. 1.7 million people were displaced. Patients cannot receive health care. Epidemics and hunger It's spreading." he said.
Ghebreyesus evaluated that "The ceasefire in Gaza was extremely delayed" and stated that the health system in Gaza was at risk of collapse. Ghebreyesus noted that only "will is needed" to achieve the needed peace in Gaza.
15:00 GMT — Israel army orders Palestinians to leave shelter hit by tank fire: UN
The United Nations said that the Israeli military ordered people taking refuge in their shelter hit with deadly tank fire in southern Khan Younis to leave by the following afternoon.
A spokesperson for UNRWA, the agency for Palestinian refugees, confirmed testimony from displaced people in the shelter who said the army gave them until 1500 GMT on Friday to flee.
14:53 GMT - 20 killed in 'massacre' at Gaza's Kuwait Junction — ministry
The Health Ministry reports that 20 people were killed and 150 others injured in an Israeli "massacre" at Kuwait Junction in Gaza City as hungry Palestinians waited for humanitarian aid.
14:26 GMT - Hamas affirms leadership role in Palestinian affairs
Following the publication of "Our Narrative... Operation Al Aqsa Flood" in measured, well-written English and later in French as well as Arabic, a senior Hamas official explained that the resistance group, which Israel has vowed to crush, seeks to retain a say.
Bassem Naim, Hamas's director of international relations, said the group's action at a national leadership level and its "resistance to the Zionist project... qualifies it to be in the leadership of the Palestinian people".
"The movement does not demand, through this document or otherwise, the exclusivity of the leadership of the Palestinian people," said Naim, a former health minister in Gaza.
14:00 GMT - Israel: World court should throw out 'spurious' genocide allegation
Israel voiced confidence that the International Court of Justice would throw out South African allegations that their Gaza war amounts to genocide against Palestinians, which an Israeli government spokesperson described as without basis.
"We expect the ICJ to throw out these spurious and specious charges," the spokesperson, Eylon Levy, said in a briefing ahead of the court's scheduled convening on Friday to announce whether it will grant emergency measures against Israel.
13:23 GMT — Red Sea attacks to continue till Gaza receives aid — Houthis
The targeting of ships linked to Israel will continue until aid reaches the Palestinian people in Gaza, Yemen's Houthis leader Abdul Malik al Houthi said in a televised speech.
"Our country will continue its operations until food and medicine reach the people of Gaza," he said.
The group's leader added that the results of the latest US and British escalation would be counterproductive and would not affect "our will and determination".
13:23 GMT - Israel mulls decision not to extend water deal with Jordan over criticism of Gaza war
Israel is considering a decision not to extend a water agreement with Jordan due to Amman’s criticism of Israel's relentless war on Gaza, which killed at least 25,700 Palestinians, according to Israeli media.
"The Energy Ministry is looking into a decision not to extend the water agreement with Jordan over anti-Israel statements from senior Jordanian officials," the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said.
Jordan and Israel have an agreement that sees the Arab nation purchasing 50 million cubic meters of water from Tel Aviv under their 1994 peace agreement.
12:45 GMT - Death toll rises to 12 in shelling of UN shelter in Gaza: UN
The death toll from a tank fire on a United Nations shelter in Gaza's main southern city of Khan Younis has risen to 12, a top UN aid official has said.
"Twelve people have now been confirmed dead with over 75 injuries, 15 of whom are in critical condition," Thomas White, Gaza director of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), said in a statement.
On Wednesday, two tank shells struck the UN shelter in Khan Yunis where thousands of displaced Palestinians have taken refuge, he said.
12:00 GMT - Another Palestinian killed by Israeli fire in West Bank, rising death toll to 373
Another Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, taking the toll to 373 since Oct. 7, the Health Ministry said.
A ministry statement said a 24-year-old man was killed by Israeli fire in the town of Bireh al-Basha near Jenin city.
According to eyewitnesses, Israeli forces raided the town early in the morning and besieged a house inside.
11:10 GMT - Netanyahu to meet top legal officials ahead of ICJ genocide ruling
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene a meeting of top legal officials to discuss a looming ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s deadly offensive on Gaza.
The Hague-based court will give its verdict in South Africa’s genocide lawsuit against Israel on Friday.
According to Israeli Army Radio, Thursday’s meeting will discuss possible scenarios of the ICJ ruling on the Israeli war on Gaza.
10:18 GMT - Israeli strikes kill at least 50 Palestinians in Khan Younis in 24 hours
At least 50 Palestinians were killed in Khan Younis in the past 24 hours, Ashraf Al-Qidra, the spokesman for the Health Ministry in Gaza, told Reuters.
09:30 GMT - Hamas suspends talks as Israel rejects Gaza withdrawal: report
Qatar told Israel that the Palestinian resistance group Hamas has suspended talks for a prisoner swap deal, according to Israeli media.
“Hamas told Qatari mediators that it demands a full Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the war on the first stage of any prisoner swap deal,” the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said, citing a source familiar with the talks.
There was no immediate comment from Qatar on the report.
08:50 GMT - More aid needs to be able to enter Gaza — UK to Israel
British Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that more aid trucks must be able to enter Gaza and an immediate humanitarian pause is needed to help those trapped in a "desperate situation".
Cameron, who is on a visit to the Middle East and met separately with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, announced Britain and Qatar are working together to get more aid into Gaza, with a first joint consignment containing tents being flown into Egypt on Thursday before travelling by road to Gaza.
08:00 GMT - WHO chief slams Israel’s bombardment of Khan Younis
The World Health Organization’s director-general has denounced Israel’s bombardment of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
“The ongoing heavy bombardment, evacuation orders and killing of civilians in Khan Younis, Gaza is just horrendous,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
“WHO team joined an UNRWA mission to help those who were injured in today’s blast at the training centre where civilians were sheltering,” he noted and extended his condolences to the victims’ families.
06:40 GMT - Israeli bombardment targets children in Gaza refugee camp
The Israeli army has carried out an air strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza which killed four children.
The children’s bodies were found in the debris of houses, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
It added that the Israeli military continued its attacks from the air and ground on the Khan Younis region in southern Gaza, targeting the surroundings of Nasir Hospital with artillery shells.
05:50 GMT - Nearly all US Senate Democrats back two-state solution
An overwhelming majority of President Joe Biden's fellow Democrats in the Senate have backed a statement reiterating US support of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict arising from Israel's decades-old occupation of Palestine.
Forty-nine of the 51 members of the Senate Democratic caucus backed an amendment supporting a negotiated solution to the conflict that results in Israeli and Palestinian states living side by side, ensuring Israel's survival and fulfilling the Palestinians' "legitimate aspirations" for an independent country.
Senator Brian Schatz introduced the measure as an amendment to an upcoming bill that would provide national security aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
05:00 GMT - Russia says Palestinian unity key toward liberation
Russia's top diplomat has said the first step toward Palestinian sovereignty must be for the divided Palestinians to rebuild unity of all factions. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said without unity "there will be no bedrock foundation for the Palestinian state."
He said the lack of unity will be used as a pretext to keep Gaza "in some kind of special status where somebody will ensure security," separated from the occupied West Bank, parts of which are governed by the Palestinian Authority.
"They themselves need to determine which principles will establish the basis for the restoration of the unity of their people," he said.
04:10 GMT - Israeli protesters seek hostage deal and block highway in Tel Aviv
Hundreds of protesters have blocked the main highway in Tel Aviv, calling on the government to secure the immediate release of more than 100 hostages held captive in Gaza.
It was the latest show of displeasure with the far-right Netanyahu government by families of the hostages and their many supporters. They say that the hostages are in grave danger and time is running out to bring them home safely.
Police cleared the protesters off the Ayalon Highway before the crowd gathered outside the nearby building where the Israeli military and Defence Ministry are headquartered.
For our live updates from Wednesday, January 24, click here.
