explainer
Israel confirms tunnels are flooded with seawater, UN rallies to restore funding to UNRWA.
Here's what happened on Wednesday, January 31, 2024:
Latest updates
- The Israeli military confirmed on Tuesday that it has been flooding tunnels in the Gaza Strip with seawater for several weeks.
- Hamas officials told Reuters on Tuesday that Hamas is considering a new proposal for a three-phase ceasefire with Israel.
- At least half of buildings across the Gaza Strip have been destroyed since October 7, according to an analysis reviewed by the BBC on Tuesday.
- The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in a report on Monday that Israel had repeatedly issued new evacuation orders for neighborhoods in western Gaza City, where 88,000 Palestinians were living in shelters. .
Human influence and combat
- The US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Tuesday that a US warship shot down a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile in the Red Sea.
- US-based think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threat Project (CTP) said on Wednesday that Palestinian insurgents are likely in the early stages of rebuilding their military and governance capabilities solely in the northern Gaza Strip. said. . They added that in their assessment, Hamas is not necessarily preparing for offensive operations as suggested by Western media.
- The Israeli military said on Wednesday that three soldiers were killed and five more seriously injured in fighting in the Gaza Strip.
- The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Tuesday that the safety of an emergency worker and a six-year-old girl who were trying to rescue them from a car shelled by Israeli forces in Gaza City remains “unknown.”
Gaza's aid system 'collapses'
- United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appealed to major donors to resume funding to the United Nations Palestine Refugee Agency (UNRWA) during a closed-door meeting of 35 countries on Tuesday, The Times of Israel reported. Reported.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes an immediate shutdown of UNRWA, a senior government official said on Tuesday, fearing it could cause a “humanitarian catastrophe,” according to the Times of Israel.
- UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths warned in a statement on Tuesday that cutting off funding to UNRWA would “lead to the collapse” of the aid system in the Gaza Strip.
- U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield in Washington told reporters on Tuesday that the U.S. “has reached out to the Israeli government to seek further information” about Israel's allegations against 12 UNRWA personnel involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. I have contacted them.”
- In a post on X on Wednesday, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese said governments withholding funding to UNRWA meant supporting Israel, whose actions “probably amounted to genocide.” He said it amounted to a “double standard” that continues to be met.
diplomacy
- The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet on Wednesday at 11:00 AM New York time (16:00 Japan time) to discuss the International Court of Justice's interim ruling on Israel's war in Gaza.
- The United Nations human rights office issued a statement on Tuesday calling the “planned extrajudicial execution” of three Palestinian men inside Ibn Sina Hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin “unlawful.” did.
- Iraq's Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah organization said in a statement on Tuesday that it had suspended all military operations against U.S. forces in the region to prevent “embarrassing the Iraqi government.”
