This blog is now closing. You can read our full report on the latest developments in the Middle East here and all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war here.
Summary
Here is where the day stands:
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has released a statement on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s attacks across the strip. In his statement, Lazzarini said: “The crisis in Gaza is a man-made disaster compounded by dehumanizing language and the use of food, water and fuel as instruments of war.”
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington DC on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians since 7 October. Pictures posted online showed demonstrators holding various signs including some saying “Stop funding apartheid now” and “Free Palestine”. Guest speakers who condemned Israel’s attacks on Gaza and urged for a ceasefire in Gaza included Cornel West, Imam Omar Suleiman and Wael al-Dahdouh (who spoke via a video feed).
Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh, who works for Al Jazeera and whose family members were killed by Israeli strikes while he also was recently wounded by an Israeli strike himself, addressed the protest in Washington DC via a video feed from Gaza. He spoke up about the dire conditions in which Palestinians are struggling to exist in Gaza while under Israeli bombardment. “The people are paying an exorbitant price, and are living a disastrous life,” he told the crowds in Washington DC.
A Hamas official thanked Qatar on Saturday for sending medicine to Gaza “in light of the many risks that threaten the lives of Palestinians”, Reuters reports. Speaking at a news conference in Beirut, the Lebanon-based Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said: “Some medicine will be used to treat Israeli prisoners.”
The first lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos, has spoken out against Germany’s defense of Israel in South Africa’s case against Israeli genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice. In a statement on X, Geingos cited the Herero-Nama genocide, which was waged by German forces from 1904 to 1908 and killed between 24,000 and 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama in Namibia (then known colonially as German South West Africa). Geingos said: “The absurdity of Germany, on 12 January 2024, rejecting genocide charges against Israel and warning about the ‘political instrumentalisation of the charge’ is not lost on us.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists has renewed its calls for the protection of journalists in Gaza and urged for “the killings of journalists by the Israeli army” to stop. CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, Sherif Mansour, said: “After 100 days of fighting, Israel’s longstanding record of impunity in journalist killings must face public scrutiny by allowing international media and international investigators uncensored access to Gaza. The killings of journalists by the Israeli army must stop now.”
Updated
UNRWA: "The crisis in Gaza is a man-made disaster"
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has released a statement on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s attacks across the strip.
In his statement, which marks “100 days of death, destruction and displacement”, Lazzarini said:
The crisis in Gaza is a man-made disaster compounded by dehumanizing language and the use of food, water and fuel as instruments of war.
The humanitarian operation has fast become one of the most complex and challenging in the world; largely due to cumbersome procedures for the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and a myriad of obstacles to the safe and orderly distribution of aid, including ongoing hostilities.
Humanitarian aid alone will not be sufficient to reverse a looming famine. A flow of commercial goods must also be allowed in.
International humanitarian law, put in place to protect civilians and regulate the conduct of hostilities, is regularly flouted.
Civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and UNRWA shelters, were hit over the last three months, killing hundreds of civilians and injuring thousands. UNRWA installations should be protected at all times, and provide the protection civilians are seeking. They should never be used for military purposes by any party.
Updated
Israel is planning a “huge” addition to its defense budget as part of a build-up designed to cover its military requirements for the next few years, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, Reuters reports.
Netanyahu said that an inter-ministerial panel will present a plan in eight weeks for “the huge additional [funding], to create that independence in force build-up and in other things required to ensure our security in the coming years”, he said.
Updated
The ongoing conflict in the Red Sea and escalating regional tensions surrounding Israel’s war on Gaza are raising concerns about the global economic recovery.
The Guardian’s Toby Helm, Emma Graham-Harrison, Phillip Inman and Edward Helmore report:
A prolonged conflict in the Red Sea and escalating tensions across the Middle East risk having devastating effects on the global economy, reigniting inflation and disrupting energy supplies, some of the world’s leading economists warn this weekend.
Before a statement expected on Monday by Rishi Sunak in the House of Commons about UK and US airstrikes on Houthi sites in Yemen, economists at the World Bank say the crisis now threatens to feed through into higher interest rates, lower growth, persistent inflation and greater geopolitical uncertainty.
After a second night of strikes against the Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen, President Joe Biden said that the US had sent a private message to Tehran that “we’re confident we’re well-prepared”. Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn on Saturday, on his way to Camp David, Biden declined to go into further detail.
But there is now growing concern in government circles in London and Washington that as Sunak and Biden fight for re-election, events in the Middle East could dash what had looked like improved prospects for economic recovery and therefore their chances at the ballot box.
For the full story, click here:
Updated
Osama Abu Irshaid, the executive director of American Muslims for Palestine, also addressed the crowd in Washington DC, calling for further solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza while also condemning American politicians including Joe Biden, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer.
Abu Irshaid said:
We are proud of who we are. We are proud of what we stand for and we are proud of who we stand for and who we stand against. Let the deaf hear, let the blind see that we are here in the tens of thousands, from all over America …
History will celebrate you. History will register your names. History will register the victory of Gaza. And history will disregard Genocide Joe, Hakeem Jeffries, [Chuck] Schumer and the rest of the gang, the corrupt gang …
My dear brothers and sisters, this is not one activity for Palestine … It didn’t start today. It’s not going to end tomorrow. We have to continue this walk. We are entering a new era in America, an era for a free Palestine.
Updated
Muslim civil rights activist Imam Omar Suleiman also spoke at the pro-Palestine rally in Washington DC, saying:
I want you to appreciate that in this country, this isn’t our first protest. We have taken to the streets in the name of one victim of state violence for months at a time. If we were to take to the streets for every single casualty and every single person that is under the rubble for the last three months, it would take us a hundred years to honor each and every single one of those victims.
And if we were to collectively take to the streets for the rest of our lives for just one of the people on these posters, for just one Wael al-Dahdouh, it would be worth it.
They ask us where our Nelson Mandelas are. We say that our Mandelas are suing criminals at the Hague right now for genocide. We say that our Mandelas are the children that have resisted over seven decades of occupation, standing in front of Israeli tanks. We say that our Mandelas are the Wael al-Dahdouhs and the Motazes [Azaiza] of the world who continue to hold up cameras to your genocide, unintimidated.
Updated
Cornel West has just been addressing the protest in Washington and speaking of Martin Luther King Jr, while saying he embraces his “Palestinian brothers and sisters” in the massive crowd and predicting a free Palestine “is going to happen”.
The former Harvard and Princeton professor is running in this year’s presidential election as an independent candidate.
“Martin Luther King Jr would have been 95 years old on Monday,” he said. “MLK said: ‘I would rather be dead than afraid … we need courage,’” he said to huge cheers.
“We need love and freedom and freedom in love,” he said.
“When I talk about free Palestine, it’s going to happen. I may not see it for myself but I will have done everything I can with every bone in my body [to make it happen],” said the 70-year-old.
He finished with: “We want equality, we want equality, we want equality.”
Updated
Palestinian journalist Wael al-Dahdouh, who works for Al Jazeera and has lost multiple members of his immediate family in Gaza since October, while also recently being wounded himself, has addressed the protest in Washington via a video feed from the Middle East.
He spoke up about the dire conditions in which Palestinians are struggling to exist in Gaza while under Israeli bombardment.
“The people are paying an exorbitant price, and are living a disastrous life,” he told the crowds in Washington.
“People do not have sustenance, food or drink, a place to sleep, a bathroom, and what is necessary for a life, not for a decent life, rather what is basically necessary to maintain life,” he said.
He added: “Throughout such terrible circumstances, such hardship, it is true that the Gaza Strip pays a terrible price.”
He said that 112 journalists and photographers had been killed in the three months of the conflict. “Throughout all of this hurt, all of this pain, all of this cost... We have not ceased to persist. We guarantee you that we will persist in carrying this message,” he said.
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Washington DC, where thousands of demonstrators are calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza:
Updated
In another video posted online, a demonstrator in Washington DC can be seen adding a gallon of fake blood to a tank to mark the lives of Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes.
A sign in front of the tank reads “Gaza blood is flowing – we will add a gallon of blood every 15 minutes to honor the 247 lives killed today.”
Since 7 October, Israeli forces have killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians across Gaza, leaving nearly 2 million survivors displaced across the strip amid shortages in food, water, fuel and medical supplies.
📍 Washington DC
— missfalasteenia (@missfalsteenia) January 13, 2024
“Gaza blood is flowing - we will add a gallon of blood every 15 minutes to honor the 247 lives killed today” pic.twitter.com/EU4ouVrXl6
Updated
Thousands gather in Washington DC in protests for Gaza ceasefire
Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Washington DC on Saturday in calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed nearly 24,000 Palestinians since 7 October.
Pictures posted online showed demonstrators holding various signs including some saying “Stop funding apartheid now” and “Free Palestine”.
We’re in DC for the March on Washington for Gaza🇵🇸🇵🇸
— Dissenters 🌊 (@wearedissenters) January 13, 2024
Genocide Joe, you can’t hide!#CeasefireNOW #FreePalestine pic.twitter.com/If1azYs4an
One picture showed demonstrators commuting by bus from Boston to Washington DC to attend the pro-ceasefire rallies.
Boston is on its way to the National #March4Gaza in Washington DC! Join us for this massive protest at 1pm at Freedom Plaza to demand an end to the U.S.-Israeli genocide in Gaza! pic.twitter.com/DTJoURNKVm
— ANSWER Coalition (@answercoalition) January 13, 2024
Another video showed demonstrators holding a massive Palestinian flag.
#marchforgaza in Washington DC
— Wajd Waqfi وجد وقفي (@WajdWaqfi) January 13, 2024
pic.twitter.com/fAQ2BuQYGm
Updated
A Hamas official thanked Qatar on Saturday for sending medicine to Gaza “in light of the many risks that threaten the lives of Palestinians”, Reuters reports.
Speaking at a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon-based Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said: “Some medicine will be used to treat Israeli prisoners.”
On Friday, Israel announced that it had reached an arrangement with Qatar that will allow medicine to be delivered to hostages currently held by Hamas in Gaza.
Since 7 October, nearly 2 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes by Israeli strikes, leaving them with severe shortages in food, water, fuel and medical supplies.
Updated
US and UK attacks on Yemen are fueling regional tensions amid Israel’s deadly war in Gaza, which has already killed more than 23,000 Palestinians.
The Guardian’s Patrick Wintour reports:
Last summer, as Washington tried quietly to coax Saudi Arabia towards the grand bargain of normalisation of its relations with Israel, diplomats in Riyadh were much more focused on securing a different peace deal on its southern borders with one of the most successful insurgencies of modern times – the one led by the Houthi rebels of Yemen, also known as Ansar Allah, the supporters of God.
With an informal ceasefire holding inside Yemen, and after months of private talks mainly mediated in Oman, on 14 September a Houthi delegation flew to Riyadh, where they met Prince Khalid bin Salman, the defence minister and brother of the crown prince.
Major differences remained to be settled, but it seemed as if, after decades of various forms of fighting, peace was to come to the country, and largely on the terms dictated by a group that did not really exist as a political force inside Yemen until the early 2000s. Saudi Arabia was finally going to cut its losses on the disastrous offensive it launched in 2015 to push back the Houthis. Yet 23 days after the Riyadh meeting, Hamas broke through the border with Israel, massacring Israelis and sparking a chain of events that this week left Yemen exposed to a two-day attack mounted from US and British submarines and warships on the Red Sea.
For the full story, click here:
Updated
The first lady of Namibia, Monica Geingos, has spoken out against Germany’s defense of Israel in South Africa’s case against Israeli genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.
In a statement on X, Geingos cited the Herero-Nama genocide, which was waged by German forces from 1904 to 1908 and killed between 24,000 and 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama in Namibia (then known colonially as German South West Africa).
Geingos said:
The build up to the Herero-Nama genocide in Namibia, perpetrated by Germany started on 12 January 1904.
The absurdity of Germany, on 12 January 2024, rejecting genocide charges against Israel and warning about the ‘political instrumentalisation of the charge’ is not lost on us.
The build up to the Herero-Nama genocide in Namibia, perpetrated by Germany started on 12 January 1904. The absurdity of Germany, on 12 January 2024, rejecting genocide charges against Israel and warning about the “political instrumentalisation of the charge” is not lost on us. https://t.co/bUdiUxn7Uy
— Monica Geingos (@KalondoMonica) January 13, 2024
Updated
Committee to Protect Journalists: 'The killings of journalists by the Israeli army must stop now'
The Committee to Protect Journalists has renewed its calls for the protection of journalists in Gaza and urged for “the killings of journalists by the Israeli army” to stop.
CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, Sherif Mansour, said:
After 100 days of fighting, Israel’s longstanding record of impunity in journalist killings must face public scrutiny by allowing international media and international investigators uncensored access to Gaza. The killings of journalists by the Israeli army must stop now.
The longer the Israel-Gaza war continues, the more likely we are to see the complete devastation of Gaza's journalist corps.
— Committee to Protect Journalists (@pressfreedom) January 12, 2024
After 100 days of fighting, Israel's long standing record of impunity in journalist killings must face public scrutiny by allowing international media… pic.twitter.com/RWChG3gONS
According to CPJ data, as of 13 January, at least 82 journalists and media workers have been killed, including 75 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese.
It added that journalists in Gaza face “particularly high risks as they try to cover the conflict during the Israeli ground assault, including devastating Israeli airstrikes, disrupted communications, supply shortages and extensive power outages.”
The Israel Defense Forces has said that it could not guarantee the safety of journalists currently operating in Gaza.
The CPJ has repeatedly voiced its concerns about an “apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military”.
In a statement released last December, Mansour said: “The Israeli army has killed more journalists in 10 weeks than any other army or entity has in any single year. And with every journalist killed, the war becomes harder to document and to understand.”
Updated
Among the thousands of demonstrators at Saturday’s pro-Palestine rally in London is Husam Zomlot, Palestine’s ambassador to the UK.
In a video posted on to his X account, Zomlot can be seen surrounded by several demonstrators waving Palestine flags and wearing keffiyehs.
Together, they can be heard chanting: “Free, free Palestine! End apartheid! Stop the genocide in our lifetime!”
At the national demonstration in #London, demanding end to #genocide and #CeaseFireNow in #Gaza, chanting: Free free #Palestine” 🇵🇸✊🏽 pic.twitter.com/v1ErQhzEQw
— Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) January 13, 2024
Updated
Jamie McGoldrick of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has visited southern Gaza where over 1 million Palestinians displaced by Israeli attacks are sheltering amid shortages in food, water and electricity.
Speaking from al-Mawasi camp, McGoldrick said:
The Palestinian Red Crescent have set up these tents behind us but there’s not enough tents for the people who are here, the numbers who have arrived. And secondly … the services that are coming in to the camps are not sufficient, [there] are key things that are missing, water and sanitation supply, food supply and medical supplies. I know the Palestinian Red Crescent is trying to work on that but we need more assistance, we need more supplies of essential material.”
Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim Jamie McGoldrick visiting southern #Gaza, speaking on the difficult conditions in which internally displaced persons live, on what they need, and the efforts to support them. pic.twitter.com/PFz07SXKly
— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) January 13, 2024
Updated
Thousands of pro-Palestine protestors marched in London in calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, where nearly 24,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since 7 October.
PA Media reports:
Hundreds of police officers are on duty in the capital on Saturday, with protesters warned that they face arrest if they “intentionally push the limit” on placards and slogans.
Demonstrators converged on Queen Victoria Street before making their way along Fleet Street.
Speaking at Parliament Square, Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, accused the British government of “complicity” with Israel.
Zomlot told the protesters Palestine was a “nation of freedom fighters”, saying: “I stand before you with a broken heart but not a broken spirit.”
For the full story, click here:
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It is 6.03pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
The US carried out an additional strike against Yemen’s Houthi forces early on Saturday after President Joe Biden’s administration vowed to protect shipping in the Red Sea.
A senior US military official has said more attacks by the Houthis are expected. The director of the US joint staff, Lt Gen Douglas Sims, told reporters in a virtual meeting that the Houthis had fired at least one missile already in response to the US-UK attacks.
The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, urged maximum restraint by all parties involved in Yemen and warned of an increasingly uncertain situation in the region.
Houthis say US strikes, including the latest one on a military base in Sana’a, will have no impact on their Red Sea attacks. The Houthi Ansarullah official Nasruldeen Amer, speaking to Al Jazeera, said there were no injuries in the latest US strike in Yemen and vowed a “strong and effective response”.
“Hundreds of thousands” marched in London on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Metropolitan police said it had made two arrests, both in relation to offensive placards.
Demonstrators have been gathering in cities across the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Images have been shared of protests in a number of locations, including London, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Jakarta and Lahore.
Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Saturday amid a dire humanitarian situation as it also grappled with a telecommunications blackout on the 99th day of the war. Witnesses reported Israeli bombardment of Gaza in the early morning, and an AFP journalist said on Friday that strikes and shelling had hit areas between Gaza’s southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, crowded with people who have fled from the north.
Hospitals across the Palestinian territory are facing shortages of crucial medical supplies. A doctor at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis described the health system as having “collapsed”, citing shortages in medical supplies and beds, and staff that are exhausted and unwell.
Only six remaining ambulances are in operation in the entire Gaza Strip, says the health ministry.
135 Palestinians were killed and 312 wounded in the past 24 hours, according to the latest figures released on Saturday by the Gaza health ministry. It brings the total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes to at least 23,843 and the number of wounded to 60,317 people since 7 October.
An 18-year-old man, Khaled Ahmed Zubaidi, was severely beaten and killed by Israeli forces after they raided the occupied West Bank town of Zeita, near Tulkarem, said the Palestinian health ministry.
More than 30 Palestinians, including young children, were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight into Saturday, say health and rescue officials
At least 10 Palestinians have been killed in Khan Younis and bombing is ongoing, reports an Al Jazeera journalist. Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Rafah, writes that “today has been a very bloody day as Israel scales up its military attacks across the Gaza Strip”.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has provided medical services to 4,800 patients and injured individuals in the southern Gaza Strip.
Turkey conducted overnight airstrikes on nearly 30 “terrorist targets” in northern Iraq and Syria after nine of its soldiers were killed in a military base in Iraq, the defence ministry said on Saturday.
Israeli forces killed three armed Palestinians who were trying to break into a settlement in the occupied West Bank overnight between Friday and Saturday, the Israeli military said.
The anti-poverty charity Global Justice Now criticised the US-UK strikes against Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, saying: “‘Bomb first, think later’ is again the guiding principle for British and American policy in the Middle East.”
Updated
Only six working ambulances left in Gaza, says health ministry
There are only six remaining ambulances in operation in the entire Gaza Strip, reports Al Jazeera, citing a statement from the health ministry. “We are still struggling to operate some essential services, including intensive care units and nurseries,” it said.
The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas, and it has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
UN envoy to Yemen expresses ‘serious concern’ and urges ‘maximum restraint’
The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, urged maximum restraint by all parties involved in Yemen and warned of an increasingly uncertain situation in the region, reports Reuters.
In a statement cited by the news agency on Saturday, Grundberg said he “notes with serious concern the increasingly precarious regional context, and its adverse impact on peace efforts in Yemen and stability and security in the region”.
Updated
‘Hundreds of thousands’ march in London calling for a ceasefire in Gaza
Posting an update and video of the march in London on X, The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said hundreds of thousands of people had joined the protest on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The video shows protesters marching down a road in central London on the way towards Parliament Square, shouting “ceasefire now” and chanting.
London now! Hundreds of thousands marching for Palestine and for a #CeasefireNOW 🇵🇸#GazaGlobalAction pic.twitter.com/HPPmx1eHkf
— PSC (@PSCupdates) January 13, 2024
Updated
Two arrests made during London protest march, says the Met
Two arrests have been made, both in relation to offensive placards being carried during a London march on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, say the Metropolitan police.
In a statement published on X, the Met said the front of the march had now reached Parliament Square and a significant number of people continued to make their way along the route.
The front of the march has reached Parliament Square. A significant number of people continue to make their way along the route.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) January 13, 2024
So far two arrests have been made. Both in relation to offensive placards being carried.
In an earlier post on the social media site, the Met said 1,700 officers would be on duty today to keep people safe and to deal with any offences.
Updated
A Palestinian teenager has been beaten to death, says health ministry
An 18-year-old male, Khaled Ahmed Zubaidi was severely beaten and killed by Israeli forces after they raided the occupied West Bank town of Zeita, near Tulkarem, reports Al Jazeera citing a statement from the Palestinian health ministry.
The Qatar based news network also reports that bombing is ongoing in Khan Younis, with at least 10 Palestinians killed there since the early hours of the morning. In a piece posted by their correspondent, Tareq Abu Azzoum reporting from Rafah, he writes that “today has been a very bloody day as Israel scales up its military attacks across the Gaza Strip”.
Azzoum adds that a number of houses in Nuseirat and Maghazi camps had been attacked, while on the western road linking Khan Younis to Rafah, a car was targeted by an Israeli missile, killing and injuring a number of Palestinians.
Key event
Demonstrators have been gathering in cities across the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Here are some of the images coming in:
Updated
With Sunday marking 100 days of the Israel-Hamas war, Associated Press has spoken to a number of people affected by the war. They have published a detailed piece speaking to a Palestinian doctor working at the Kuwaiti hospital in Gaza.
Dr Suhaib Alhamss, a urologist by training, said the Israel-Hamas war had exposed him, his staff and the people of Gaza to a scale of violence and horror unlike anything they had seen before.
Speaking to Associated Press over the phone between surgeries, Alhamss said his home town of Rafah was now unrecognisable.
You can see the exhaustion, the nervousness, the hunger on everyone’s face. It’s a strange place now. It’s not the city I know. This is a disaster that’s bigger than all of us.
Alhamss also described how he and other medical staff have had to be resourceful with a lack of supplies. He told the reporter that he dressed patients’ wounds with burial shrouds:
Each day I have people who die before my eyes because I don’t have medicine or burn ointment or supplies to help them.
The Kuwaiti hospital is one of two in Rafah and with just four intensive care beds before the war, it now receives about 1,500 wounded patients each day and at least 50 people dead on arrival. He told the reporter of harrowing scenes that have stayed in his mind: the vacuous stare of a young boy who survived a strike that killed his entire family, a newborn rescued from his dead mother’s womb.
The father of three said he saw his children once a week when they would leave the shelter of their grandmother’s home to come and give him a hug at the hospital. “I am terrified for them,” he said.
Updated
Three months of Israeli bombardment and a tightened siege in Gaza have left hospitals across the Palestinian territory facing shortages of crucial medical supplies. The number of people seeking shelter and treatment has increased, putting a strain on already inadequate resources.
A doctor at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis describes the health system as having “collapsed”, citing shortages in medical supplies and beds, and staff that are exhausted and unwell.
Updated
In London, large crowds have gathered in the City, calling for a ceasefire.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said thousands of people had joined the march by about noon.
Thousands already here to march for Palestine. We demand a #CeasefireNOW#GazaGlobalAction pic.twitter.com/0873ryRqIO
— PSC (@PSCupdates) January 13, 2024
Updated
Sunday will mark 100 days of the Israel-Hamas war. News agency Associated Press has spoken to the families of Hamas hostages and have provided the following report:
It has become a daily ritual.
Every morning, before she’s even out of her pyjamas, Rachel Goldberg-Polin tears a piece of masking tape off the roll, grabs a marking pen and in thick black strokes writes down the number of days her son, Hersh, has been held hostage by Hamas militants. Then she sticks the tape to her chest.
“I find it so remarkable how nauseating it is every single time,’’ she said. “And it’s good. I don’t want to get used to it. I don’t want anybody to get used to the fact that these people are missing.’’
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was last seen on 7 October, when militants loaded him into the back of a pickup truck with other people who were abducted from a southern Israel music festival where more than 300 attendees were killed. The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of an arm when the attackers tossed grenades into the shelter where a group of young people had taken refuge.
Sunday will mark 100 days since he and about 250 others were taken hostage by the militants who stormed across the border from Gaza, triggering the latest war between Israel and Hamas. While dozens of women, children and foreigners were released during a week-long November ceasefire, and a number of hostages have been confirmed dead, 132 others remain in captivity. The Red Cross hasn’t been permitted to see them, and almost nothing is known about their conditions.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, 54, now spends her days trying to bring Hersh and the other hostages home. The mother of three has spent the past three months in relentless motion, crisscrossing the globe, reminding anyone who will listen that her child is more than just an inconvenient statistic: He is her only son, a music lover, a young man who deserves the chance to fulfil his dream of traveling the world.
Goldberg-Polin and her family, who moved to Israel from the US when Hersh was seven, have met with US President Joe Biden, Pope Francis, Elon Musk and dozens of journalists. She’s spoken at the UN, gone to protests and carried placards.
The plight of the hostages has gripped Israel’s attention, and the tireless campaign by families has gained widespread support and sympathy, ratcheting up pressure on the Israeli government to make concessions to win their release.
The Goldberg-Polin family plans to attend the start of a 24-hour rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv on Saturday and another Sunday on the Jerusalem promenade, a collection of parks and walkways overlooking the city. Similar events are scheduled in cities outside Israel, including London, New York and Paris.
But so far, nothing has stopped the number on the masking tape from going up. The ritual began on day 26, when Goldberg-Polin stuck the makeshift badge to her chest to show everyone that the excruciating, ever-increasing tally was the focus of her life, not just a factoid for news stories.
“It defines me anyway,’’ she told the Associated Press on Wednesday, when her badge read 96. She likened it to a name tag, in the fashion of “Hello my name is.’’ “This is who I am,” she said. “My identity is the number of days he’s been stolen.″
Ahead of the 100-day milestone, Goldberg-Polin asked people around the world to adopt her routine on Sunday, hoping the show of solidarity would help her and the other families bear the pain and anguish of waiting yet another day for their loved ones to return.
Goldberg-Polin’s masking tape badge was inspired by childhood memories from 1979, when the US was transfixed by the fate of 52 people held hostage at the US embassy in Iran. ABC News opened its coverage every night with a running count of how many days the crisis had lasted. The hostages were finally released after 444 days.
“This makes people very uncomfortable because you know what? Human beings like a countdown,” Goldberg-Polin said. “We like to countdown to vacation. We like to count down in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.”
“We do not like a count-up. A count-up of humanity’s failure of getting these human beings out of captivity is something that makes people very uncomfortable. And you know what? Join the club. I’ve been uncomfortable for 96 days.”
Even so, the 100-day mark has offered a moment to direct the world’s attention back on the hostages. Goldberg-Polin hopes that someone, somewhere is caring for her injured son.
She has a message for Hersh, just in case it might reach him. “I would say: There has not been one second since you were taken that we are not working, turning over every single stone on the planet Earth and running to the ends of the Earth to get you back,” she said. “So we need you to stay strong. And survive and stay alive. And we are coming.”
Updated
More Houthi attacks expected, says senior US military official
A senior US military official has said more attacks by the Houthis are expected. The director of the US joint staff, Lt Gen Douglas Sims, told reporters in a virtual meeting that the Houthis had fired at least one missile already in response to the US-UK attacks.
As reported by the Qatar-based media network Al Jazeera, Sims said: “Their rhetoric has been pretty strong, and pretty high, and we expect that they will attempt some sort of retaliation. I would hope that they don’t retaliate, but we’re prepared in the event that they do.”
Updated
More than 30 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, say health and rescue officials
More than 30 Palestinians, including young children, were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight into Saturday, say health and rescue officials, as concerns grow over a lack of fuel and supplies for overburdened hospitals.
Rescue workers searched through the twisted rubble of a home in Gaza City by flashlight after it was hit by an Israeli attack, reports the news agency Associated Press.
Footage provided by Gaza’s civil defence authorities, and viewed by Associated Press, reportedly showed them carrying a young girl wrapped in blankets with injuries to her face, and at least two other children who appeared dead.
Civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said that the attack on the home in the Daraj neighbourhood killed at least 20 people in total. Another strike near the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border killed at least 13 people, including two children.
The bodies of those killed, primarily from a displaced family from central Gaza, were taken to the city’s Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital, where they were seen by an Associated Press reporter.
With the war in Gaza entering its 100th day on Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) says only 15 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are still partially functional.
The main hospital in central Gaza, Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, went dark Friday morning after running out of fuel.
Staff were able to keep ventilators and incubators operating with solar-charged batteries during the day, and received a small emergency shipment of fuel from another hospital late Friday.
Fuel was expected to run out again on Saturday unless the WHO is able to deliver a promised shipment, hospital officials said. Aid deliveries were being disrupted by a renewed drop in telecommunications connectivity in much of Gaza, which began late Friday.
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PRCS provided medical services to 4,800 patients in the southern Gaza Strip
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has provided medical services to 4,800 patients and injured individuals in the southern Gaza Strip, it said.
The national humanitarian organisation is providing medical services to patients and displaced individuals in its al-Mawasi clinic in Rafah and in two mobile clinics in al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, reaching those unable to access hospitals.
A video posted on the PRCS’s X account shows a number of people queuing for treatment.
The Palestine Red Crescent continues to provide medical services to patients and displaced individuals in the southern #Gaza Strip. 📍This is done through the PRCS's clinic in Al-Mawasi in Rafah in addition to two mobile clinics in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis, reaching… pic.twitter.com/nuE1SnN5Ja
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 13, 2024
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You can view the US central command’s statement on Saturday’s strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen below, as posted on its X account:
At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan 13., U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen. This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes… pic.twitter.com/YE5BKJLGBv
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 13, 2024
135 Palestinians killed and 312 wounded in the last 24 hours, says Gaza ministry
The latest figures released on Saturday by the Gaza health ministry state that 135 Palestinians were killed and 312 wounded in the previous 24 hours.
It brings the total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October to at least 23,843, according to the latest figures by the ministry. More than 60,317 people have been wounded, it said.
The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas, and it has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Houthis say US strikes will have no impact on their Red Sea attacks
US strikes in Yemen, including the latest one on a military base in Sana’a, had no significant impact on Houthis’ capabilities to continue preventing Israel-affiliated vessels from passing through the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, Yemen’s Houthis’ spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters.
Houthi Ansarullah official Nasruldeen Amer speaking to Al Jazeera, said that there were no injuries in the latest US strike in Yemen and vowed a “strong and effective response”. “There were no injuries, no material nor human losses,” he said.
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Anti-poverty charity Global Justice Now criticised the US-UK strikes against Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, saying: “‘Bomb first, think later’ is again the guiding principle for British and American policy in the Middle East.”
Responding to the news, Nick Dearden, the director of the charity, said that while the US and the UK accepted their actions “risk escalating attacks in the Red Sea” and “building support” for the Houthis, they “seem content to accept their path of death and destruction as collateral damage”.
He added:“Yemen is a desperately poor country, and the UK and US are complicit in its impoverishment, having backed Saudi’s deadly war attacks there for years.”
“The backing of Israel’s assault on Gaza has inflamed opinion across the whole region. Rather than engaging in diplomacy to end the bloodshed, the US and UK are pouring fuel on the fire, risking a deadly spiral of violence. They do not speak in our name and we call on all citizens to demand an end to this war.”
YEMEN REACTION: ‘Bomb first, think later’ is again the guiding principle for UK and US policy in the Middle East.
— Global Justice Now (@GlobalJusticeUK) January 12, 2024
"Those who launched last night’s attacks on Yemen [..] seem content to accept their path of death and destruction as collateral damage."https://t.co/zNTPnd7rfo
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Israel accused South Africa of presenting a “profoundly distorted” view of hostilities, “barely distinguishable” from that of Hamas, as it presented its defence at the international court of justice in The Hague against accusations of genocide.
My colleague, the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent Haroon Siddique was at the ICJ hearing and has the following report from the day’s events:
My colleague, the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour has written an analysis of the Houthi movement. He writes:
So those who claim the Houthis are not serious in attempting to block Israeli-linked trade in the Red Sea underplay the extent to which the defence of Palestine is a foundational principle of the Houthi movement, and highly popular among Yemeni people. The rebel stance over the past two months has afforded this relatively obscure Shia group a status in recent weeks that even Hezbollah in Lebanon cannot claim. They are deeply authoritarian, but skilled mobilisers of popular opinion.
You can read the full analysis piece here:
Ziad, a 35-year-old Palestinian, shares memories of a favourite restaurant, rehomes a cat called Hope and struggles to find strong enough words to describe his ‘city of ghosts’ in the latest edition of the Guardian’s Gaza diary series.
Below is an excerpt but you can read the full piece here.
Tuesday 9 January
8am Am I still alive? Well, I am sure still breathing; the pain all over my body is a sign that it is functioning. What does “alive” mean? Is everything we are going through called life. I wonder about the difference between me and a dead person.
Does the loss of safety and your hopes and dreams qualify you to be dead? Because if so, this means that Gaza has became a city of ghosts.
Turkey bombs 'terrorist targets' in Iraq and Syria
Turkey conducted overnight airstrikes on nearly 30 “terrorist targets” in northern Iraq and Syria after nine of its soldiers were killed in a military base in Iraq, the defence ministry said on Saturday.
“Air operations were carried out on terrorist targets in the regions of Metina, Hakurk, Gara and Qandil,” the ministry said in a statement, reports AFP.
The Turkish soldiers were killed during clashes that followed an attempted intrusion at the base near the northern Iraqi city of Metina, the ministry said, revising upward a previous toll of five.
The ministry said the strikes had targeted 29 locations including “caves, bunkers, shelters and oil installations” belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) and the YPG (people’s protection units), a Syrian Kurdish militia which is a central element of US-allied forces in a coalition against Islamic State.
Ankara has operated several dozen military posts in the area for the past 25 years in its decades-old war against the PKK, a group blacklisted by Turkey and many of its western allies as a terrorist organisation.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was due to hold an emergency security meeting Saturday in Istanbul to discuss the uptick in attacks on troops in the region.
Meanwhile, 113 people were arrested for suspected links with the PKK in nationwide raids on Saturday, interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X.
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Three armed Palestinians trying to break into settlement killed, says Israeli military
Israeli forces killed three armed Palestinians who were trying to break into a settlement in the occupied West Bank overnight between Friday and Saturday, the Israeli military said.
The three Palestinians were armed with knives, a rifle and axes, reports Reuters, citing information from the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa. Two were 16 years old and the third was 19.
The Israeli military said a soldier was wounded in an exchange of fire with the assailants as they breached the outer fence of the settlement Adora, near the Palestinian city Hebron.
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Israel bombards southern Gaza, witnesses say
Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Saturday amid as a dire humanitarian situation as it also grappled with a telecommunications blackout on the 99th day of the war, Agence France-Presse reports.
Witnesses reported Israeli bombardment of Gaza in the early morning, and an AFP journalist said on Friday that strikes and shelling had hit areas between Gaza’s southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, crowded with people who have fled from the north.
All internet and telecommunications services in Gaza were cut on Friday as a result of Israeli bombardment, main operator Paltel said. “Gaza is blacked out again,” it said on X (formerly Twitter).
The Palestinian Red Crescent posted that the disruption was increasing the challenges in “reaching the wounded and injured promptly”.
UN aid agency OCHA’s head for the occupied Palestinian territories said on Friday that Israel was constantly blocking humanitarian aid convoys into northern Gaza.
Andrea De Domenico said:
They have been very systematic in not allowing us to support hospitals, which is something that is reaching a point of a level of inhumanity that for me is beyond comprehension.
In central Gaza, a lack of fuel forced the shutdown of the main generator of al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
“Does anyone care about us? Why is everyone silent?” asked one mourner at a hospital where a group of Palestinians had gathered beside white body bags holding the latest casualties.
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US targets Houthi radar site in renewed raid on Yemen
The US has carried out an additional strike against Yemen’s Houthi forces after President Joe Biden’s administration vowed to protect shipping in the Red Sea.
The latest strike, which the US said targeted a radar site early on Saturday local time, came a day after dozens of American and British strikes on the Iran-backed group’s facilities, Reuters reports.
The guided missile destroyer Carney used Tomahawk missiles in the follow-on strike early on Saturday local time “to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels”, the US central command said on X (formerly Twitter).
The Houthi movement’s television channel, Al-Masirah, reported that the US and Britain were targeting the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, with raids.
Intensifying concerns about a widening regional conflict, US and British warplanes, ships and submarines launched missiles on Thursday against targets across Yemen controlled by the group, which has cast its maritime campaign as support for Palestinians under siege by Israel in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The Pentagon said Houthis later fired an anti-ship ballistic missile but it did not hit any ships.
While the Houthi leaders swore retaliation, Biden warned on Friday that he could order more strikes if they did not stop their attacks on merchant and military vessels in one of the world’s most economically vital waterways.
Witnesses confirmed explosions early on Friday, Yemen time, at military bases near airports in Sana’a and in Yemen’s third city, Taiz, a naval base at Yemen’s main Red Sea port of Hodeidah and military sites in the coastal Hajjah governorate.
The Houthis said five fighters were killed but they vowed to continue their attacks on regional shipping.
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Opening summary
Welcome to our live reporting of the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis – this is Adam Fulton.
The US carried out a fresh strike against Yemen’s Houthi rebel forces early on Saturday after Washington vowed to protect shipping in the Red Sea.
The latest attack, which the US military said targeted a radar site, came a day after dozens of American and British strikes on the Iran-backed group’s facilities.
The first raid triggered mass protests in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, while other Middle Eastern countries voiced concern that it could intensify unrest in the region.
The Pentagon said the Houthis later fired an anti-ship ballistic missile but it did not hit any ships.
US central command said the latest American strike was designed “to degrade the Houthis’ ability to attack maritime vessels” in the Red Sea, one of the world’s most economically vital waterways.
More on that story soon. Now, as it turns 9.45am in Sana’a and 8.45am in the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv, here’s an overview of other key developments:
Five people were reported killed and six injured in the US and UK air and missile strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen late on Thursday. The US president, Joe Biden, described the strikes as a “success” and warned that the US would continue action if the Houthis continued “this outrageous behaviour”. A bipartisan chorus of US lawmakers have assailed Biden for failing to seek congressional approval for the strikes.
At least 23,708 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza since the war there began, according to the latest figures by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry on Friday. More than 151 Palestinians had been killed and 248 injured in Gaza in the previous 24 hours, it said.
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Sana’a in protest and Houthis threatened retaliation after Thursday’s bombings. A Houthi military spokesperson accused “the American-British enemy” of launching brutal aggression “as part of its support for the continuation of Israeli crime in Gaza”. The intervention “will not go unanswered and unpunished”, he said. On Thursday, the Houthis’ leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, said they would respond with more attacks on western shipping if Yemen was struck. Yemen’s internationally recognised government said it held the Houthis “responsible for dragging the country into a military confrontation”.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, urged countries to avoid an escalation in the Red Sea and warned that the Houthis must “immediately cease all such attacks” on international shipping. The assaults were “not acceptable as they endanger the safety and security of global supply chains and have a negative impact on the economic and humanitarian situation worldwide”, he said.
Countries across the Middle East expressed fears over the latest regional escalation after the US and UK strikes. The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said it “strongly condemn[ed] the blatant American-British aggression” against Yemen, which it said had stood with the Palestinian people. Iran was also quick to condemn the attacks. Hamas said the US and Britain would bear responsibility for the impact of their attack on the region’s security. Turkey has claimed the US and UK are intent on turning the Red Sea into a bloodbath.
Oil prices hit $80 (£63/€73) as fears grew about the economic impact of disruption to international trade through the Red Sea. Joe Biden said he was “very concerned” about the impact of the strikes in Yemen on oil prices, suggesting that impact was a key reason why the conflict should be stopped from widening. Raising concerns about a possible inflation shock for the world economy, Brent crude prices jumped by about 4% to a high of $80.75 a barrel on Friday.
The British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said the UK needed to send a “strong signal” that Houthi rebel attacks in the Red Sea were wrong and could not be carried out with “impunity”. He said he would make a statement to MPs on Monday about “limited and necessary” military strikes in Yemen.
Israel has accused South Africa of presenting a “profoundly distorted” view “barely distinguishable” from Hamas as it presented its defence at the international court of justice in The Hague against accusations of genocide. A day after South Africa argued that it had committed genocidal acts in Gaza with intent from “the highest levels of state”, Israel said on Friday that was a “partial and deeply flawed picture”.
All internet and telecom services in Gaza were cut on Friday as a result of the Israeli bombardment, main operator Paltel said. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it has completely lost communication with its teams operating in the Gaza Strip for at least three hours.
Doctors at al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza said patients would die soon after power was cut off on Friday after it ran out of fuel for its main generator. The facility, which serves as the area’s main hospital, said the UN had said a fuel delivery was expected but it had not arrived by Friday night.
Israel has negotiated a deal with Qatar that will allow the delivery of medicines to hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has said. The medications would be given to the hostages “in the next few days”, it said.
Israeli forces killed three Palestinian men who attacked a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. An IDF statement said its soldiers had come under fire while patrolling the Adora settlement, about 20km (12 miles) west of Hebron in the southern West Bank. In a separate incident in the West Bank, a man was killed after being severely beaten by Israel forces in Zeita, north of the city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Israel’s internal security agency, the Shin Bet, has warned Netanyahu to act in order to prevent an imminent eruption of violence in the occupied West Bank, according to a report. Similar warnings have been issued by the IDF chief of staff and other senior military commanders, according to Israel media.
Israel has criticised the UN human rights office after it released a statement marking Sunday’s 100th day of the conflict with Hamas without calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza. “A call for a ceasefire, without demanding the release of our hostages and the disarming of Hamas, is a call for terrorism to win,” Israel’s envoy to the UN said.
The UN humanitarian office has said Israeli authorities were systematically denying it access to northern Gaza to deliver aid and this had significantly hindered the humanitarian operation there.
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