Medicines Sans Frontiers reports “an unknown number of dead and wounded” following Israel’s attack on Nasser Hospital. UNRWA says 84% of Gaza health facilities have been impacted by Israeli attacks, and 70% of civilian infrastructure has been damaged.
Casualties:
- 28,775+ Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including at least 12,000 children, and 68,552+ Palestinians have been injured.
- 380+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
- Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
- 569 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.**
*This figure was confirmed by Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Telegram channel. Some rights groups put the death toll number at more than 36,500 when accounting for those presumed dead.
** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.”
Key Developments:
- A dire situation at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis is unfolding, as Israel’s raid continues, forcing displaced people and medical staff to evacuate the building.
- World Health Organization (WHO) is trying to access Nasser Hospital to deliver humanitarian aid
- UNWRA: 84 percent of healthcare facilities in Gaza affected by Israeli aggression
- Satellite imagery shows the construction of a wall along the border between Gaza and Egypt, raising suspicion that Palestinians might be forced to evacuate into the Sinai Desert
- Gaza Media Office: 130 journalists killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023
- West Bank: Israeli military raids 15 homes in the town of Silat ad-Dhahr
- At least two dead in “suspected terror” shooting attack in southern Israel
- Lebanon submits a formal complaint to the UN Security Council, following Israel’s attacks in Nabatiyeh
- Russia invites Hamas and other Palestinian factions to Moscow for “inter-Palestinian” talks on Gaza, and other Middle East issues
- Germany approves the deployment of armed forces in an EU mission to thwart Houthi attacks in the Red Sea
- Biden administration meets with Jewish and Muslim community leaders to discuss rising antisemitism and Islamophobia
- Below is a link to a highly interesting 36-minute conversation between my distinguished Professor Rashid Khalidi and Katie Halper which offers, among other insights, valuable historical background on the Zionist project in Palestine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYKOrPSJ5_g
· Dire situation unfolds at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis A dire situation at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis is unfolding as Israel continues its raid on the largest functioning medical facility remaining in the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s Genocide War in Gaza Continues
Four patients died at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis after all power was lost during an Israeli raid on the hospital, the Hamas-run health ministry said. The ministry said that electric generators had cut out and that all power was lost at the hospital but did not specify a reason, saying on Facebook that the Israeli military was in control of the complex after raiding it on Tuesday. The Israeli military said in a statement today that its forces arrested 20 people who it said participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, and that it had found weapons belonging to Hamas near the hospital. The military had previously said the raid was partly based on intelligence that three hostages had been held in the complex and that their bodies could have been there. Victoria Kim reports for the New York Times.
An Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp, located in central Gaza, killed at least 12 people yesterday, according to a spokesperson for Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Ten of those killed were women and children, the spokesperson and a doctor at the hospital said. Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Abeer Salman, Sana Noor Haq, and Radina Gigova report for CNN.
Qatar is waiting for Hamas to respond to a proposed ceasefire deal that would see the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. “The major sticking point remains the Israeli withdrawal of troops from Gaza,” the source said. Becky Anderson reports for CNN.
Israel has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to dismiss South Africa’s request to issue additional emergency measures ahead of Israel’s planned offensive in Rafah. In documents released yesterday, Israel argued that the emergency measures issued by the ICJ already cover “the situation of hostilities in Gaza as a whole.” Reuters reports.
Report: IDF intel assesses that Hamas will ‘survive as terror group’ post-war
Document drawn up by Military Intelligence reportedly states that even if Israel dismantles Hamas’s organized military capabilities, it will continue to operate in Gaza
Israel’s military intelligence circulated a document to Israeli leaders this week warning that even if the IDF succeeds in dismantling Hamas as an organized military force in Gaza, it will survive as “a terror group and a guerrilla group,” according to a Channel 12 report.
The Israeli government will offer financial remuneration to new immigrants who settle in the country’s northern or southern periphery or in the occupied West Bank. It announced the plan at a joint press conference held by Immigration and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer and Finance Minister Smotrich. At an estimated cost of more than $19 million dollars, the scheme would give each new immigrant choosing to live far from an urban center or on the West Bank $550 per month for two years to put toward their rent. New immigrants who rent apartments in central Israel or in the Haifa area would receive several hundred shekels ($100-200) a month for two years. Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, and the settlements established on the territory are considered illegal under international law.
The Unprecedented Internal Displacement in Gaza
Kelsey Norman discusses the conditions and plight of the internally displaced persons in the Gaza Strip as they run out of options for refuge and as Israel threatens to attack the southern city of Rafah. Norman writes that the question of return of the displaced may not have an answer because entire areas of the Strip have been destroyed.
REGIONAL RESPONSE
A wall is apparently being constructed near the border between Egypt and Rafah, according to analysis by the New York Times. Satellite imagery shows a large patch of land being bulldozed and a wall being built, with work estimated to have begun around Feb. 5. It is unclear whether the structure might be intended to hold Gazans who crossed the border, but if it were, it would be a major reversal of Egypt’s stance. The Egyptian government has declined to discuss the new construction, referring only to its fortification of the border in recent weeks.
Egyptian authorities are building a walled enclosure in the desert near the Gazan border, fearful that an Israeli military push will set off a flood of refugees.
Confirming the genocidal statements issued over recent months by Israel’s far-right government, reports released Thursday revealed that Egypt is constructing a massive walled enclosure in northern Sinai to host Palestinians forcibly expelled from Gaza. The news comes as Israel makes the final preparations for a bloody ground offensive into Rafah, where some 1.5 million people are crammed together and being denied
the basic necessities for human life. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the eight-square-mile compound is a “contingency plan” in the event Palestinians succeed in breaching the reinforced border.
UAE restricts US ability to launch retaliatory airstrikes against Iran proxies “Some Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates, are increasingly restricting the U.S. from using military facilities on their soil to launch retaliatory airstrikes on Iranian proxies.”
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, where he said the “UK was deeply concerned about the loss of civilian life in Gaza and the potentially devastating humanitarian impact of a military incursion into Rafah.” Sunak “highlighted the scale of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and urged Israel to fully open the Kerem Shalom crossing and allow the maritime delivery of international aid through Ashdod port, which the UK stood ready to support on.” Sunak also “noted the importance of continuing to abide by International Humanitarian Law and protecting civilian infrastructure like hospitals and shelters.”
The U.N. Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner expressed concern over the Israeli military’s raid on the Nasser Medical Complex. “The raid appears to be part of a pattern of attacks by Israeli forces striking essential life-saving civilian infrastructure in Gaza, especially hospitals. Medical facilities are protected infrastructure under international humanitarian law … they must not be the object of attack nor be used outside their humanitarian function for acts harmful to the enemy. Even if Israel contends that a medical facility has lost its protection … it must nevertheless comply with the principles of precautions and proportionality. Furthermore, Israel, as the occupying power, has the duty to ensure and maintain medical facilities and services in all of the occupied territory, including the Gaza Strip.”
U.S. RESPONSE
President Biden spoke with Netanyahu about the “ongoing hostage negotiations” and the “situation in Rafah” according to a White House readout released yesterday. Biden “reiterated his view that a military operation should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the civilians in Rafah.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered his “deepest condolences” yesterday for two American teenagers “who were reportedly killed” in the West Bank, calling for an investigation into their deaths.
Netanyahu and Biden speak as divides sharpen on Palestinian state, Rafah operation. Amid growing tensions between the two leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden spoke by phone for 40 minutes Thursday evening, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. An official in the Prime Minister’s Office told The Times of Israel that the two discussed the hostages taken during the October 7 onslaught, Rafah and the next stage in the fight against Hamas, and touched on the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. A White House statement also said the pair talked about hostage negotiations, conditions in Gaza and the prospect of an Israeli military operation in Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold in the enclave, where 1.4 million displaced Palestinians have fled to seek shelter from fighting elsewhere.
CIA, FBI chiefs make snap visits to Israel. CIA chief William Burns made a snap visit to Israel, meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as with his Israeli counterpart, Mossad chief David Barnea, local media outlets reported. The talks, it is understood, focused on moving ahead with the hostage talks. Wray also met with FBI agents based in Tel Aviv, according to a statement from the bureau, stressing the importance of their work against Hamas and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. He reiterated the FBI’s support of Israel in the wake of the October 7 massacre. “The FBI’s partnership with our Israeli counterparts is longstanding, close, and robust, and I’m confident the closeness of our agencies contributed to our ability to move so quickly in response to these attacks, and to ensure our support is as seamless as possible,” Wray was quoted as saying.
Top Israeli ministers reject Palestinian statehood as part of post war plan. Top ministers in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government rejected Palestinian statehood following a Washington Post report that Israel’s main ally the United States was advancing plans to establish a Palestinian state. “We will in no way agree to this plan, which says Palestinians deserve a prize for the terrible massacre they carried out against us: a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said. “A Palestinian state is an existential threat to the State of Israel as was proven on Oct. 7,” he said, adding that he will demand the security cabinet was set to meet to take a clear position against Palestinian statehood. The Washington Post reported that the US was working with some Arab countries, including Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – with which Israel has long sought to establish diplomatic ties – on a post-war plan for the region that would include a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Echoing Smotrich in separate remarks were National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, Education Minister Yoav Kisch and lawmaker Matan Kahana, a member of the National Unity Party headed by main Netanyahu challenger Benny Gantz.
The Biden Administration’s Confused Response to Israel’s Rafah Operation.Hanna Alshaikh comments on the Biden administration’s confused policy and messaging regarding Israel’s war on Gaza, its inability to declare full control over the Strip, and its intention to launch a ground assault on the city of Rafah. Alshaikh argues that whatever comes next in Rafah and Gaza, change is coming to the Middle East region regarding the question of Palestine in a way that will surprise the Biden administration.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
Yesterday, new reports surfaced suggesting the United States recently conducted a covert cyber operation against the Iranian ship MV Behshad in the Red Sea. The reports cited an unnamed U.S. official, who described the operation as aimed at inhibiting the ship’s “ability to share intelligence with Houthi rebels in Yemen.” The official said the operation was part of the Biden administration’s response to the drone attack by Iranian-backed militia in Iraq that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan late last month. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment. Courtney Kube and Carol Lee report for NBC News. See our coverage on the report, Key Questions in U.S. Cyber Attack on “Iranian Spy Ship,” from Just Security Senior Fellow Brianna Rosen and Co-Editor-in-Chief Tess Bridgeman.
A U.S. Coast Guard cutter “seized advanced conventional weapons and other lethal aid” originating in Iran and heading for Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen from a vessel in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 28, CENTCOM said in a statement. “This is yet another example of Iran’s malign activity in the region,” CENTCOM commander Gen. Michael E. Kurilla said. “Their continued supply of advanced conventional weapons to the Houthis is in direct violation of international law and continues to undermine the safety of international shipping and the free flow of commerce.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it killed a senior commander and two operatives of Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces in an airstrike conducted on Wednesday in Lebanese territory. Hezbollah said yesterday that a number of its fighters were killed without detailing how, where, or when they were killed. Hezbollah added it carried out strikes on Israeli army positions yesterday. Hamdi Alkhshali and Charbel Mallo report for CNN.
Iran’s growing arms industry is turning the country into a large-scale weapons exporter whose clients are vexing the U.S. and allies in the Middle East, Ukraine and beyond.
Most economic analysts in Israel agreed that the decision of the international company to gradate the strength of the economy of countries in front of international credits “Moody’s”, to reduce the gradation of Israel by one degree not only because of the war, although the consequences of the war have a very large weight, but also because of the form of managing the economy, especially the state budget, and add negative expectations for the Israeli economy. Here, too, many analysts blamed the person of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and considered the decision a failure to be a recorded failure on it, along with criticisms of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who chose to underestimate Moody’s decision, despite the very negative consequences of this decision on the economy, such as the possibility of a decline in the value of the shekel, and warned global investors in their entry into the sectors of the Israeli economy, and the high cost of interest on Israeli government debt in the world. Read the full text here.