explainer
A hospital in Khan Yunis remains under siege as tensions rise in the Red Sea.
Here's what happened on Thursday, February 1, 2024:
Latest information on human impact and combat:
- Israeli forces on Wednesday stormed the courtyard of Al-Amal Hospital, affiliated with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), in the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, after a 10-day siege.
- Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis is also facing fuel shortages and remains under siege.
- Shelling in Gaza continues, with Al Jazeera's Tareq Abu Aziz reporting that Israel bombed a civilian vehicle on the main road between Khan Yunis and Rafah, killing several Palestinians.
- On Thursday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) issued a statement saying that U.S. forces attacked Houthi drones and the group's ground control post in “self-defense.”
- Late Wednesday, Centcom announced that the aircraft carrier USS Kearney shot down an anti-ship ballistic missile fired by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported.
- The European Union plans to launch a naval mission in the Red Sea within three weeks to protect cargo ships from Houthi attacks, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday.
- Some 184,000 people have registered for humanitarian assistance in the western suburbs of Khan Yunis in recent days, the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said in a daily update.
diplomacy
- A civil lawsuit accusing US President Joe Biden and other officials of complicity in Israel's “genocide” in the Gaza Strip has been dismissed by a US federal judge on jurisdictional grounds.
- The Chicago City Council passed a resolution Wednesday calling for a cease-fire. About 70 U.S. cities have passed resolutions regarding Israel's war in Gaza, with most calling for a ceasefire.
- South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday that Israel had killed hundreds more civilians in the Gaza Strip over the next few days, ignoring last week's interim ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
- State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. response to the attack on Jordan's Tower 22, which killed three U.S. soldiers, was “not escalating.” He added that the United States does not believe that an escalation of the conflict is in the interests of any country in the region, including Iran.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with UN Humanitarian Coordinator Sigrid Kaag on Wednesday. Blinken said the US government was “working closely” with Kaag to “maximize aid to Gaza.”
- Al Jazeera's Hamda Sarhat, citing Israeli media, reported that Mossad spy chief David Bernier briefed Israel's war cabinet on the prisoner release plan. Current plans suggest a 35-day pause in fighting and the release of 35 prisoners. The number of Palestinian prisoners released was not discussed.
- Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is scheduled to arrive in Cairo on Thursday amid ceasefire talks.
Attacks on settlers in the West Bank
- Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that armed Israeli settlers wounded two Palestinian children late Wednesday near the village of Susha, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to local sources. .
- Wafa also reported that armed Israeli settlers assaulted an elderly man on Wednesday in the Masafah Yatta area, south of the West Bank city of Hebron, according to local sources.
- On Wednesday, Israeli settlers ran over a flock of sheep in the Almarajat area west of Jericho, Wafa reported.