Live Updates: Death toll from Israeli assault on Gaza hits 23,357

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

11:23 GMT — The Health Ministry in Gaza has said at least 23,357 people have been killed in more than three months of Israeli aggression on besieged Gaza.

The toll includes 147 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while 59,410 people have been wounded across the Palestinian enclave since October 7.

"Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads and rescuers can't reach them," the statement said.

About 85 percent of Gaza residents have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught, while all of them are food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.

12:37 GMT — A legal battle is set to open at the top UN court over an allegation of Israeli genocide in Gaza

A legal battle over whether Israel's aggression in Gaza amounts to genocide opens Thursday at the United Nations' top court with preliminary hearings into South Africa's call for judges to order an immediate suspension of Israel's military actions.

Israel normally considers UN and international tribunals unfair and biased. But it is sending a strong legal team to the International Court of Justice to defend its military offensive launched in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

Two days of preliminary hearings at the International Court of Justice begin with lawyers for South Africa explaining to judges why the country — long a supporter of the Palestinian cause — has accused Israel of “acts and omissions" that are “genocidal in character” in the Gaza war and has called for an immediate halt to Israel's military actions.

Thursday’s opening hearing is focused on South Africa’s request for the court to impose binding interim orders including that Israel halt its military campaign. A decision will likely take weeks.

12:09 GMT — Hamas criticises US opposition to South Africa's lawsuit against Israel at world court

Hamas described the US position on South Africa's lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as showing "contempt for international law and (being) an American attempt to disrupt it."

In a statement, the Hamas group said the comments by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken regarding the lawsuit filed by South Africa in the ICJ against Israel to look into the crimes of genocide in Gaza "is a disregard for international law, and an American attempt to obstruct the tools of international justice from carrying out their role."

Hamas called on the US "to stop its policies," which said it prolongs the aggression and genocide in Gaza.

The US said earlier that a "genocide" case filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is "meritless" and "galling."

10:25 GMT — Israeli army detains 26 more Palestinians in West Bank

The Israeli army detained 26 more Palestinians in various areas of the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

According to a joint statement issued by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the new arrests bring the total number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli forces since October 7 to 5,780.

During the arrest campaigns, the Israeli soldiers also beat, abused Palestinians, and conducted field interrogations, in addition to damaging their homes and other properties, the statement added.

In its annual report, the commission said the total number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails at the end of December 2023 reached 8,800, including 80 women.

07:59 GMT — 13 Palestinians injured during the Israeli army raid into Nablus

Thirteen Palestinians were injured, mostly by live ammunition, during the Israeli army's raid into the city of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society stated in a press release that its ambulance crews "dealt with 13 injuries during the Israeli army's incursion into the city of Nablus."

06:17 GMT —Israeli army shoots three Palestinians, killing one in unprovoked situation

Security camera video from a West Bank village shows a young man standing in a central square when he is suddenly shot and drops to the ground. Two others rushing to his aid are also hit, leaving a 17-year-old dead, moments before Israeli military jeeps roll in.

An Associated Press review of the video and interviews with the two wounded survivors showed Israeli soldiers opened fire on the three when they did not appear to pose a threat. One of the wounded Palestinians was shot a second time after he got up and tried to hop away.

The fatal shooting in the village of Beit Rima is the latest in a series of incidents in which soldiers appeared to fire without provocation, a trend Palestinians say has worsened since Israel's war on Gaza.

05:30 GMT - Israel tells hospitals to prepare for ''thousands of inured''

Israel's Health Ministry has ordered hospitals in the north of the country to prepare for the possibility of receiving "thousands of injured" people as tensions with the Lebanon's Hezbollah group increase, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported.

KAN said the ministry has asked medical centres in the north to prepare for the possibility of going into "deserted island mode," that is being left without medical supplies, medicine and food for days.

The ministry also asked hospitals to go into emergency mode within a few hours and requested that they maintain a 50 percent occupancy rate.

05:20 GMT — Blinken meets Abbas as Israel continues its war in Palestine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to hold talks with the head of the Palestinian Authority, which Washington hopes could govern Gaza after Israel's war on the enclave ends.

The United States' top diplomat was on his fourth crisis visit to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.

Blinken told a news conference afterwards that the United States would continue to support its ally, but also called on Israel to do more to protect those trapped in the besieged Palestinian territory, saying the "daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high".

Washington has floated a post-war scenario in which a reformed Palestinian Authority, currently led by President Mahmud Abbas, governs Gaza in addition to the occupied West Bank.

05:00 GMT - Allies shoot down Houthi missiles, drones in Red Sea — US military

US and UK forces have shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Yemen-based Houthis into the Southern Red Sea towards international shipping lanes, the US military's Central Command said.

US Central Command said 18 drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and one anti-ship ballistic missile were shot down by US and British forces. It said there were no injuries or damage reported, adding that this was the 26th Houthi attack on commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea since November 19.

Houthis have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel's war in Gaza. Various shipping lines have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.

04:37 GMT - Israel kills 15 more civilians in Gaza's south — Palestine media

Israel has killed at least 15 civilians and wounded many others in an air strike that targeted an apartment located in a building west of Rafah city, in southern Gaza, official WAFA news agency reported.

Citing medical sources, WAFA said 15 bodies arrived at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah after Israeli shelling of the residential building, adding the building is owned by the Nofal family in of the Tel al Sultan neighbourhood.

04:00 GMT - Saudi-Israel deal won't sacrifice Palestine's interests: envoy

Saudi Arabia is interested in normalising ties with Israel after its brutal war on besieged Gaza, but any deal must lead to the creation of a Palestinian state, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the UK has said.

A normalisation deal was "close," but Saudi Arabia paused US-brokered talks after October 7, Prince Khalid bin Bandar told the BBC in a radio interview.

Saudi Arabia still believes in establishing ties with Israel despite the "deplorable" casualty figures in Gaza caused by Israel, but it would not "come at the cost of the Palestinian people," the ambassador said.

03:40 GMT - Türkiye slams inaction over Gaza, says use of veto 'a detrimental tool'

The use of the veto at the United Nations Security Council has become an "arbitrary and detrimental tool," Türkiye's deputy UN representative has said.

Speaking at a General Assembly meeting, Asli Guven said the need for Security Council reform is "indisputable and undeferrable" and the reform process needs to address and eliminate the current shortcomings of the use of the veto.

"The use of the veto has become an arbitrary and detrimental tool, whereby the common good is sacrificed over individual interests," said Guven. "The inaction over Gaza has been another case in point.”

"The pursuit of self-interests in this body not only undermines multilateralism but also weakens the credibility of the whole UN system," she added.

She said the Security Council was unable to adopt a single resolution on Gaza for over a month, despite calls by the international community and millions of people who took to the streets around the world.

"And the two resolutions that were eventually adopted failed to call for what is fundamentally needed to stop the bloodshed in Gaza: an immediate ceasefire," she added.

03:11 GMT - Israel denies talking with African countries on Gaza expulsions

An Israeli official has denied reports that Israel is talking with African countries about expelling Palestinians to the continent.

"In response to publications regarding this issue, it should be noted that Israel is not engaged in examining the feasibility of transferring Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to countries in Africa," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said on X.

His remarks came as many Israeli officials called for the expulsion of Palestinians from besieged Gaza, annexation of the enclave and return of illegal Jewish settlements there.

02:42 GMT - Muslim groups urge Canada to support investigation into Israeli 'war crimes'

Muslim organisations have issued a call for Canada to support an investigation into "Israeli war crimes."

The appeal came in the form of a letter under the umbrella of the National Council of Canadian Muslims [NCCM] to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"250 Canadian civil society groups and community organisations are issuing a joint open letter to the Prime Minister, asking Canada to back the proceedings at the International Court of Justice [ICJ] regarding Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip," the NCCM said in a post on X.

For our live updates from Tuesday, January 9, click here.