explainer
Biden signs an order imposing sanctions on West Bank settlers, and Israel's siege of Gaza hospitals continues.
Here's what happened on Friday, February 2, 2024:
Human impact and combat updates
- The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that the Israeli siege on Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, continues for 11 days.
- PRCS also announced that Israeli forces attacked Al-Amal Hospital for the third time on Thursday.
- Gaza Health Ministry Spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a statement on Thursday that more than 30,000 displaced people at a school near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis are without water, food or formula. he warned.
- Israel announced Thursday that it had successfully fought the southern Gaza city of Khan Yunis, where it launched a major ground offensive last week. This means Israeli forces could advance as far as Rafah, on the enclave's southern border.
- More than half of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have fled to Rafah, living mostly in makeshift tents and public buildings, cold and hungry.
diplomacy
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin talks with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant about the transition to “low-intensity operations in Gaza,” support for a diplomatic solution along the Israel-Lebanon border, and stability in the occupied West Bank. .
- British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said Thursday that his country could formally recognize a Palestinian state after a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, without waiting for the outcome of talks on a two-state solution.
- US President Joe Biden will join grieving families at Dover Air Force Base on Friday to pay tribute to the three US service members killed in a drone strike on the US military facility at Tower 22 in Jordan.
- Biden signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at punishing settlers who attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, amid escalating violence since Israel began its war in Gaza.
Attacks in the West Bank
- Israeli forces shot and wounded a Palestinian man in the city of Hebron, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported, according to local sources.
- Israeli settlers tried to set fire to a car on the outskirts of the Palestinian town of As Sawiya, south of Nablus, Wafa news agency reported.
- According to Wafa news agency, Israeli forces attacked the cities of Jenin, Nablus and Hebron on Thursday night.