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EXPLAINER
Hospitals in Khan Younis remain under siege as Red Sea tensions rise.
Here’s how things stand on Thursday, February 1, 2024:
Latest on human impact and fighting:
- The Israeli army on Wednesday stormed the courtyard of al-Amal Hospital affiliated with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip following a 10-day siege.
- Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis also remains under siege as it faces a fuel shortage.
- Bombardment in Gaza continues, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported that several Palestinians were killed after Israel bombed a civilian car on the main road that links Khan Younis and Rafah.
- On Thursday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) released a statement saying US forces conducted strikes against Houthi unmanned aerial vehicles and the group’s ground control station in “self-defence”.
- Late on Wednesday, CENTCOM announced that the USS Carney shot down an antiship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden. No damages or injuries were reported.
- The European Union plans to launch a naval mission in the Red Sea within three weeks to help defend cargo ships against Houthi attacks, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.
- About 184,000 people have registered for humanitarian assistance on the western outskirts of Khan Younis in recent days, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said in its daily update.
Diplomacy
- A civil case accusing US President Joe Biden and other senior officials of being complicit in Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza has been dismissed by a US federal court judge on jurisdiction grounds.
- On Wednesday, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire. Some 70 US cities have passed resolutions on Israel’s war on Gaza, most of them calling for a ceasefire.
- South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday that Israel has ignored the interim ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week by killing hundreds more civilians in a matter of days in Gaza.
- State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Wednesday that the US response to the attack on Jordan’s Tower 22 that killed three American soldiers “will not be escalatory”. He added that the US does not believe it is in the interest of any country in the region, including Iran, to see the conflict escalate.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met UN humanitarian coordinator Sigrid Kaag on Wednesday. Blinken said the US government is “working closely” with Kaag to “maximise aid getting into Gaza”.
- Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported citing Israeli media that Mossad spy chief David Bernea briefed Israel’s war cabinet about the captives’ release plan. The current plan suggests a 35-day pause in fighting and the release of 35 captives. The number of Palestinian prisoners released was not discussed.
- Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is expected in Cairo on Thursday amid talks of a truce proposal.
Settler attacks in West Bank
- Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that armed Israeli settlers injured two Palestinian children late on Wednesday near the village of Susya, to the south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources.
- Wafa also reported that armed Israeli settlers assaulted an elderly man in the Masafer Yatta region, located south of the West Bank city of Hebron, on Wednesday, according to local sources.
- On Wednesday, an Israeli settler ran over a herd of sheep in al-Ma’rajat area, west of Jericho, Wafa reported.
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