Live Updates: Medics, patients flee Gaza hospitals as bombing intensifies: WHO

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

11:49 GMT — World Health Organization officials voiced concern about the possible collapse of hospital provision in occupied southern and central Gaza, with hundreds of medical staff and patients having fled facilities for their lives.

"What we're seeing is really worrying around Al Aqsa Hospital and (an) intensification of hostilities very close to European Gaza Hospital and very close to Nasser (Hospital)," Sean Casey, WHO emergency medical teams coordinator in Gaza, told a Geneva press briefing by video link.

"We cannot lose these health facilities. They absolutely must be protected. This is the last line of secondary and tertiary health care that Gaza has - from the north to the south it's been dropping, hospital after hospital," he said.

11:54 GMT — Israeli army detains 25 more Palestinians in West Bank

With the overnight arrest of 25 more people, the number of Palestinians arrested by the Israeli army in the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7 has risen to 5,755.

A joint statement issued by the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners Society said: "The tally of arrests since Oct. 7 has risen to over 5,755, including those apprehended from their homes, at military checkpoints, those compelled to surrender under pressure, and those taken as hostages."

The Israeli occupation forces arrested at least 25 individuals from the occupied West Bank from Monday evening till Tuesday dawn, the statement further added.

10:29 GMT — Int'l community has obligation to organise Gaza security: Germany

''The international community must organise security in Gaza after the war and a reformed Palestinian Authority must play a crucial role in future'', Germany's foreign minister said on Tuesday during a visit to Egypt.

"Egypt and Germany are agreed that Gaza and the West Bank belong to Palestinians," Germany's Annalena Baerbock told reporters.

Baerbock said Palestinians should not be driven away.

"We need to have concrete measures today and now. We need to make sure aid is getting to people in Gaza," she said at a news conference with her Egyptian counterpart.

10:27 GMT — Israeli army says another 5 soldiers killed in Gaza

The Israeli army has said another five soldiers have been killed in ground battles in Gaza, bringing the total to 9 in the past 24 hours.

Earlier the Israeli army had said four soldiers were killed in fighting with Palestinian groups in southern and central Gaza and six other troops were seriously wounded in the battles.

10:14 GMT — Death toll in Israeli attacks on Gaza rises to 23,210

The number of people killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7 has risen to 23,210, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave has said.

The ministry in a statement said at least 59,167 others had been injured.

The Israeli forces committed 12 massacres against Palestinian families across the enclave in the last 24 hours, leaving 126 Palestinians killed and 241 others injured, the ministry added.

It said that several victims were still under the rubble and on the streets, as the ambulances were unable to reach them due to relentless Israeli air and ground attacks.

10:27 GMT — Israeli army says another 5 soldiers killed in Gaza

The Israeli army has said another five soldiers have been killed in ground battles in Gaza, bringing the total to 9 in the past 24 hours.

Earlier the Israeli army had said four soldiers were killed in fighting with Palestinian groups in southern and central Gaza and six other troops were seriously wounded in the battles.

09:19 GMT — Hezbollah says targeted Israel base to avenge killings in Lebanon

Hezbollah has said that it targeted the Israel base to avenge killings in Lebanon.

Israel's military however said no damage was caused to one of its army bases in northern Israel after Hezbollah said it launched explosive drones toward the area, officials said.

Earlier three members of Hezbollah have been killed in a targeted strike on their vehicle in the town of Ghandouriyeh in the south of Lebanon.

0908 GMT — Hamas chief urges Muslim states to support ‘resistance with weapons’

Hamas chief has urged Muslim states to support "resistance with weapons".

The statement comes in the wake of continuing Israeli attacks on Gaza.

08:53 GMT — Blinken to discuss 'way forward' in Gaza as he meets Israeli leaders

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the "way forward" in Israel's war in Gaza as he meets with leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after touring Israel's Arab neighbours.

"There's lots to talk about, in particular about the way forward," said Blinken, who has visited Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, as well as Türkiye and Greece, since Saturday.

Speaking alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog ahead of their meeting on Tuesday morning, Blinken said he would share what he had heard from regional countries during a day of meetings with Israel's government.

08:32 GMT — Three Hezbollah members reportedly killed in Israeli strike

Three members of Hezbollah have been killed in a targeted strike on their vehicle in the town of Ghandouriyeh in the south of Lebanon, two sources familiar with the group's operations have told Reuters.

The sources did not immediately identify those killed.

Israel had killed a top Hezbollah commander in a strike in south Lebanon a day prior, sources familiar with the group's operations said.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on Monday's operation.

08:25 GMT — 57 bodies brought to Al Aqsa hospital in last 24 hours —Ministry

At least 57 bodies and 65 injured were brought to Gaza's Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry in the enclave has said.

The ministry, however, did not provide further details of the victims.

07:57 GMT — Israel angered over genocide lawsuit, thanks US for support

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said that "there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous" than the lawsuit filed in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war.

Speaking to visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Herzog censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday, and thanked Washington for its support of Israel.

07:31 GMT - Israeli soldiers' death toll surge amid Gaza invasion

The Israeli army has said four more soldiers were killed in fighting with Palestinian groups in southern and central Gaza.

Six other troops were seriously wounded in the battles, the military said in a statement cited by the Times of Israel news website on Tuesday.

180 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the besieged enclave since the start of the ground operation on Oct. 27.

The military death toll since the onslaught on Gaza in October, however, has risen to 514.

07:26 GMT — Israel angered over genocide lawsuit, thanks US for support

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has said that "there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous" than the lawsuit filed in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war.

Speaking to visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Herzog censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday, and thanked Washington for its support of Israel.

07:12 GMT — Israeli army kills dozens of Palestinian fighters in Gaza: military

Israeli forces have killed around 40 Palestinian fighters and raided a compound and tunnel shafts during expanded operations in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, the military has claimed.

Khan Younis hosts one of the largest refugee camps in the enclave where civilians are taking shelter.

Summarising operations since Monday, it said on Tuesday that aircraft hit Hamas fighters in Al-Maghazi, central Gaza.

South and central Gaza have been a focus of the offensive by Israel, which on Saturday declared Hamas infrastructures in the north dismantled.

Israel has faced criticism for killing innocent civilians and falsely identifying them as fighters.

06:20 GMT — Blinken in Tel Aviv as Gaza sees another night of Israeli terror

Top US diplomat Antony Blinken has arrived in Tel Aviv as part of a regional tour as Israel pounded besieged Gaza and Lebanon, raising global fears that Israel could widen its war beyond Gaza.

US Secretary of State Blinken, on his fourth regional trip since Israel's war began, met on Monday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after talks in the United Arab Emirates and ahead of his visit to Israel.

Before leaving Al Ula in Saudi Arabia, Blinken said, "We agreed to work together and coordinate our efforts to help Gaza stabilise and recover ... and to work toward long term peace and security and stability."

Israeli leaders will tell Blinken that they will not allow Palestinians from northern Gaza to return if Hamas resistance group refuses to free more of the Israeli captives it seized on October 7, Axios reported, quoting two senior Israeli officials.

Washington, Israel's main ally and arms supplier, says it is concerned over the Israeli war's civilian death toll. But it continues to arm Tel Aviv and has never since October 7 called for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel's decimation campaign has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, wounded nearly 59,000 and flattened 60 percent of the enclave's homes and businesses. The US has also torpedoed multiple UNSC resolutions that would have called for truce in Gaza.

Israel is the largest recipient of US military aid. The US has reportedly provided Israel with over 70,000 weapons — aircraft, ground vehicles, missiles and bombs — via military aid between 1950 and 2022.

The US government recently used an emergency authority to allow the sale of about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review.

Amnesty International has tied some US-supplied munitions directly to Israeli strikes with extensive Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza.