Israel’s war on Gaza updates: No ‘deliberate’ war crimes by Israel, says US

Our colleagues on the ground in the Gaza Strip are reporting that Israeli army shelling of a civilian car has left at least one Palestinian dead and several others wounded.

We will bring you more updates as information comes in.

This live page is now closed. Follow along with our ongoing coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

We will be closing this live blog soon. Here’s a review of today’s main developments:

• The UN reported that Israeli authorities have denied access for nearly 70 percent of aid deliveries to northern Gaza, even as the Palestinian territory faces dire humanitarian conditions created by Israel’s assault since October 7.
• US official John Kirby says that there is no evidence that Israel has committed “deliberate” war crimes, despite a growing body of evidence to the contrary.
• Gaza telecoms provider Paltel announced that internet services have started to gradually return to the Strip, which was under a telecommunications blackout for one week.
• The US carried out renewed strikes in Yemen as the Houthis continue raids on shipping in the Red Sea.

US news outlet The Washington Post, quoting an unnamed Western diplomat and three unnamed Lebanese officials, says that Israel has targeted the end of January for escalation of its conflict with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

The Western diplomat reportedly told the Post that the window for achieving a negotiated settlement between Hezbollah and Israel is “narrowing”.

Rhetoric from Israeli officials says as much, with the most recent threat of escalation coming from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant earlier today.

The former head of the Mossad, Tamir Pardo, has told Israeli broadcaster Kann News that if the country ends the war with 136 coffins, representing the number of captives believed to still be held in Gaza, “Israel has lost for the first time”.

“We need to take care of correcting the country’s neglect and betrayal of its citizens,” he added.

Preventable diseases like hepatitis A are spreading rapidly in the Gaza Strip, as thousands of internally displaced Palestinians cram into overcrowded shelters to find safety from Israel’s relentless bombardments.

Watch our video report to find out more:

US President Biden has said that a two-state solution could still move forward with Netanyahu in office, one day after the Israeli leader flatly stated that he would not allow the creation of a Palestinian state.

Asked if a two-state solution was impossible with Netanyahu in office, Biden said “no, it’s not.”

Biden said that there were “many” forms a two-state solution could take, and that Netanyahu was not necessarily opposed to all of them. He also mentioned that some UN member states don’t have militaries.

Last month, Netanyahu also stated that he was “proud” that he had prevented the creation of a Palestinian state.

The UN humanitarian affairs branch in Palestine has said that shipments of much-needed aid are facing widespread denials by Israeli authorities.

UNOCHA said in a briefing that while humanitarian agencies had planned 29 aid delivery missions to northern Gaza during the first half of January, Israel approved only seven of them.

“The first two weeks of January have witnessed a dramatic increase in the rate of denials by the Israeli military of access to areas to the north of Wadi Gaza,” the group said. “This has prevented the scale-up of humanitarian operations.”

The group says that the denial rate of 69 percent is a sharp deterioration from previous months when the rejection rate was about 14 percent. Netanyahu recently stated that Israel is only allowing the “minimum” level of humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

The group also states that “the Israeli military denied 95 percent [18 of 19] of missions involving the allocation of fuel and medicines to water reservoirs, water wells and health facilities in the north in the first two weeks of January”.

Repeated access denials are critically inhibiting urgent relief efforts in northern #Gaza.

Access must be facilitated to people in need wherever they are.#AccessDenied

For more information 👇

— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) January 19, 2024

In its latest attacks on the Yemeni group, US Central Command said it has carried out strikes against three “anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch” at 6:45pm local time (15:45GMT)

U.S. forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region. U.S. forces subsequently struck and destroyed the missiles in self-defense.

U.S. CENTCOM Destroys Three Houthi Terrorists' Anti-Ship Missiles

As part of ongoing efforts to protect freedom of navigation and prevent attacks on maritime vessels, U.S. Navy ships are present in the Red Sea. On Jan. 19 at approximately 6:45 p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central… pic.twitter.com/vPYUaIvvA5

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 19, 2024

We have more information on an Israeli raid on the neighbourhood of Rafidia in the west of the occupied West Bank city.

The Palestinian Red Crescent has said that one young man has been injured by live Israeli fire during clashes that erupted after Israeli forces stormed the area.

Video verified by Al Jazeera shows these clashes. In the footage, armoured Israeli military vehicles can be seen pursuing young Palestinian men who threw rocks at them. The sounds of gunfire can clearly be heard.

United Nations General Assembly President Dennis Francis has urged the body to use its influence to push for an end to the “carnage” in Gaza, as Israel continues to press its assault on the Strip.

“That situation behoves us to ask; we must ask: How much is enough? And does the very concept of ‘enough’ even exist in this setting?” Francis asked on Friday.

“I renew the demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and for the release of all hostages. This stands as the only credible course of action to authentically address – let alone resolve – this conflict,” he said.

The situation in Gaza behoves us to ask, “We must ask: how much is enough? And does the very concept of enough even exist in this setting?”
– General Assembly President Dennis Francis @UN_PGA at NAM Summit#NAMSummitUg2024 https://t.co/jp2nXNCs86

— UN News (@UN_News_Centre) January 19, 2024

Keir Starmer, leader of the UK’s Labour Party, has told reporters that the Israeli PM is “wrong” to reject the possibility of a two-state solution.

Yesterday, Netanyahu issued one of his most forceful denunciations of a potential independent Palestinian state, a position that runs counter to that of Israel’s closest ally, the US.

“The comments [made by] Prime Minister Netanyahu are unacceptable and they are wrong,” Starmer said.

“Palestinian statehood is not in the gift of a neighbour. It is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. It’s also the only way to a secure settlement and a secure future.”

US newspaper The Washington Post has quoted unnamed US officials who say that the prevailing view in Washington, and among top Israeli army commanders, is that Israel is a long way off from achieving victory over Hamas.

Earlier this month, the Israeli military announced that it had effectively “dismantled” Hamas infrastructure in northern Gaza, just days before rocket attacks were carried out by the group’s fighters from the same area of the Strip.

Israeli PM Netanyahu has repeatedly said that his country’s war on Gaza will not end until Hamas is completely defeated and all Israeli captives have been returned.

The White House has said that Israel will allow some shipments of flour into Gaza, where aid groups have warned of impending famine and said that Israel is impeding the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

“The president welcomed the decision from the Government of Israel to permit the shipment of flour for the Palestinian people directly through Ashdod port,” the White House said in a readout of an earlier call between Biden and Netanyahu.

A group of 60 Democrats in the US House of Representatives have sent a letter to the US Secretary of State Blinken urging the Biden administration to firmly reject the “forced and permanent displacement” of Palestinians in Gaza.

While support for assistance to Israel remains strong in the US Congress, a growing bloc of lawmakers, especially progressives, have raised pressure on the White House about US arms sales as Israel conducts a brutal campaign in Gaza that has levelled entire neighbourhoods, decimated health infrastructure, and displaced more than 85 percent of the population.

“We urge you to continue to reiterate the United States’ firm commitment to this position and ask that you provide clarification regarding certain provisions of the administration’s supplemental humanitarian and security funding request,” the letter reads.

The Palestinian official news agency Wafa has reported that Israeli forces raided the home of Palestinian activist Imad Abu Shamsiyya in Hebron, threatening him and his family with detention.

Abu Shamsiyya is a volunteer with the Israeli human rights group B’tselem, which documents abuses by Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank, including through the use of video cameras.

Wafa reports that Israeli soldiers raided Abu Shamsiyya’s home in Tel Rumeida, searching the phones of family members and threatening his daughter with detention if he did not stop filming incidents with Israeli forces in Hebron.

Israa University in Gaza was demolished by the Israeli army with 315 mines on Wednesday after its forces occupied the campus for more than a month. The dramatic video has been making waves across the internet.

A US journalist got into a tense exchange with US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, questioning why Israel would go to such lengths to destroy civilian infrastructure.

Watch the exchange in our video:

It’s now 10:05pm (20:05 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• The White House has denied that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza, despite a growing body of evidence detailing possible violations of international law by Israeli forces. The Biden administration also reiterated its opposition to a ceasefire.
• A UN human rights official says that Palestinians detained by Israel shared accounts of being beaten and humiliated by Israeli forces, with some released in cold weather wearing only diapers.
• The Jordanian army says that Israeli forces deliberately targeted a field hospital in Gaza, despite previous coordination with Israeli authorities.
• Gaza telecoms provider Paltel announced that internet services have started to gradually return to the strip, which was under a telecommunications blackout for one week.
• Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant again hinted at possible escalation with Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon, saying that Israel would “bring security by force” if a diplomatic agreement was not reached soon.

When asked by a reporter about Mexico and Chile requesting an investigation from the International Criminal Court on the commission of crimes against humanity by Israel in its war on Gaza, John Kirby has said he did not have a comment.

“We’re still gathering more information about what this would entail. But I want to say again, that we don’t have any indications that there’s deliberate efforts to commit war crimes by the [Israeli military],” he said.

Al Jazeera has spoken to Palestinians who say they witnessed the execution of more than a dozen men in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli military.

William Schabas, an international law professor from the UK, told us that if proven credible, this footage could be considered as evidence of war crimes at the ICC.

“Summary executions even of fighters, even of combatants is a war crime,” he said.