Israel’s war on Gaza live: 40 killed in Khan Younis today – Medical sources

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

And you can always read more about the conflict here.

We will be closing this live blog soon. Here is a recap of the day’s main events:

• The Israeli military announced that at least 24 soldiers were killed in attacks in Gaza, marking the deadliest day for Israeli forces since they first launched their ground assault on the Strip.
• Nasser Hospital has come under fire as Israeli forces push to encircle Khan Younis, creating brutal conditions for medical workers and threatening to knock out one of Gaza’s few remaining functional hospitals. Medical sources told Al Jazeera that Israeli strikes have killed at least 40 people in Khan Younis since the start of the day.
• US President Joe Biden was interrupted by pro-Palestine protesters who called for a ceasefire as he delivered a speech in Virginia.
• Hezbollah fired rockets at the Meron airbase in northern Israel, resulting in some infrastructural damage and prompting Israeli strikes on targets in southern Lebanon.
• Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza has left Gaza after months of documenting the war’s impact on Palestinian civilians, underscoring the heavy toll that Israel’s assault has taken on Palestinian journalists.

The demonstrator interrupted the US president’s speech at least a dozen times during a campaign event in Virginia, according to US media reports.

With each disruption, the crowd tried to drown out the protests by chanting, “Four more years”, and, “Let’s go Joe”.

One of the protesters screamed, “Stop funding genocide. Ceasefire now”, before being escorted out of the room.

Earlier, we reported that demonstrators who support ending the war in Gaza also gathered outside the event in Manassas, Virginia.

Arif Husain, the chief economist at the World Food Programme, has highlighted the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where he said no more than 30 percent of the aid needed for Gaza is entering the territory daily.

One of the issues is the delays in inspecting the aid by Israeli authorities.

“If processing takes a long time, if trucks have to be loaded and reloaded and rejected because there was one item which was not on the list, what it is doing is it is taking time,” Husain said in a virtual conversation with US Senator Bernie Sanders.

“And a truck standing on the border and not getting to where it needs to be with the commodities on it, which people need, is as good as if it’s not there.”

As Israel has ramped up its raids on communities in the occupied West Bank since October 7, it has also increased its use of drone strikes there.

This has led to the deaths of several Palestinians.

“The use of drones in the way that Israel has been using them is, of course, illegal,” Lawyer Diana Buttu told Al Jazeera from Haifa, Israel.

Watch our video to find out more:

Palestine Legal says it is receiving reports of FBI agents visiting activists “in response to their social media posts criticising Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza”.

“The FBI’s discriminatory targeting of people who speak up for Palestinian rights on social media is an attempt to silence popular criticism of Israel,” the legal rights group said in a social media post.

“You have a right to speak up against genocide. You have a right to refuse to speak to FBI agents without an attorney present.”

ALERT: We’ve received several reports of the FBI visiting activists in response to their social media posts criticizing Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. We want you to #KnowYourRights if approached by federal law enforcement (🧵 thread)

— Palestine Legal (@pal_legal) January 23, 2024

The US military has said that it hit facilities used by the groups following an attack on the Al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq earlier on Tuesday.

“US CENTCOM forces conducted unilateral airstrikes against three facilities used by Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq,” US Central Command said in a social media post on Tuesday.

“These strikes targeted KH headquarters, storage, and training locations for rocket, missile, and one-way attack UAV capabilities.”

The news outlet AFP previously reported that the US strikes had killed at least two people, citing unnamed security sources.

Martin Griffiths cites reports from the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) about deadly attacks and heavy bombardment in the southern Gaza city.

“A warehouse was hit, killing two people and cutting off access to humanitarian supplies and to critical water and sanitation equipment,” Griffiths said in a statement. “Six people were killed in Khan Younis Training Centre.”

He added that medics are working at Nasser Hospital “while debris is falling on their heads”.

A grim update on Khan Younis from the ⁦@UNOCHA⁩ team in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/4HZvulfeRH

— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) January 23, 2024

Trita Parsi, an analyst with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Al Jazeera that Biden’s policy on the Middle East could hurt his chances of reelection if voters believe that the US is being dragged into a wider regional conflict.

“If the current war in Gaza continues and if the Biden administration continues its policy of supporting it and not doing an effective job in seeking to contain the conflict, and we see an expansion of the conflict. … It’s going to have a profound impact on the choices of a lot of voters,” Parsi said.

“I think a very large number of people who are very concerned about Trump, and rightfully so, are nevertheless going to feel like Biden’s argument that this election is about the survival of American democracy is betrayed by himself, if he allows the US to get dragged into another war,” he added.

Several protesters shouted, “Shame on you”, and held signs that read, “Genocide Joe”, as the US president arrived at a campaign event in Manassas, Virginia, according to a White House pool report.

The protesters also chanted, “Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Genocide Joe.”

Biden, a staunch supporter of Israel, has been increasingly facing anger and demonstrations as he campaigns for another term in the White House. Earlier this month, protesters interrupted his speech at a church in South Carolina with chants of “ceasefire now”.

The Palestine Red Crescent reports that an Israeli strike has hit the home of the Zamel family in the north Gaza refugee camp. Ten other Palestinians were wounded, it said.

The group posted a video to X showing its teams retrieving the dead and injured.

The World Health Organization has said that it successfully delivered much-needed fuel to the northern Gaza hospital, where Israeli forces have blocked a majority of aid deliveries for weeks. The group says it delivered the aid in coordination with MSF as well as UN security and humanitarian agencies.

“The last humanitarian mission to northern Gaza took place on 12 January,” the WHO said in a social media post on Tuesday.

“Yesterday‘s mission, which delivered 19,000 litres [5,019 gallons] of fuel to Al-Shifa Hospital, faced delays at the checkpoint. The roads leading to the hospital were severely damaged, and the desperation in northern Gaza was apparent, as thousands of civilians surrounded the UN vehicles and fuel truck in the hopes of finding food and water, also delaying the mission.”

Earlier today, UN chief Antonio Guterres criticised Israel for blocking aid deliveries to north Gaza during a session of the Security Council.

The Palestinian group made public a video of what it said was the assault that killed 21 Israeli soldiers in the al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza.

The video starts with a Hamas fighter firing a mortar shell at a house before he picks up a rocket-propelled grenade, walks around the corner and shoots it at the front of a tank parked outside the building, which had been engulfed in smoke at that point.

The footage subsequently cuts to a dark area and a caption appears onscreen that reads, “The moment a minefield was exploded [targeting] the Israeli force.”

“Pray and detonate,” one Hamas fighter says. “Hopefully [they will be] dead.”

Hamas had said earlier that the Israeli soldiers were inside the house with military and engineering equipment, and that it used a Yasin-105 shell to target the tank.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that several Palestinians were killed after Israeli army bombs targeted a residential home in the Ezbet Mlin of Jabalia refugee camp in north Gaza.

We will bring you more updates as information comes in.

Speaking to reporters in Nigeria, the US secretary of state said, “When it comes to the permanent status of Gaza going forward, we’ve been clear, we remain clear about not encroaching on its territory.”

His statement comes after the Israeli army said earlier today that a number of its soldiers died during an operation attempting to create a “buffer zone” between Gaza and Israel.

“They fell in battle near the border fence, during a defence operation in the buffer zone between the Israeli communities and Gaza. This is a task whose entire purpose is to create the security conditions for the safe return of [Israeli] residents to their homes,” said Herzi Halevi.

Additionally, we reported earlier on a conference being held this weekend by several Israeli government ministers and lawmakers that is calling for Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip after the war is over.

It’s just after 10:30pm (20:30 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. Here are the major developments from the past few hours:

• Fighting in Khan Younis continues amid international pleas to save the city’s hospitals from the Israeli assault; medical sources tell Al Jazeera at least 40 Palestinians have been killed.
• Netanyahu promises that Israel “will not stop fighting” as the country reels from the killing of 24 of its soldiers in Gaza yesterday.
• Israeli military says it targeted Hezbollah facilities operated by Iran after the Lebanese group fired rockets at a strategic air base in northern Israel.
• The Biden administration says it is engaging in “sober” discussions to secure a deal to release Israeli captives in Gaza.
• UN chief Guterres renews appeals for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza.
• A UN team finally gains access to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and reports that “equipment, fuel, water and food are all in very short supply” for the thousands of people sheltering there.

The US military has said that a series of recent attacks against Houthi targets in Yemen have successfully destroyed or damaged 25 Houthi missile launch sites and 20 missiles.

The US started carrying out attacks earlier this month, but they have yet to stop the Yemen-based group from conducting attacks in the Red Sea, which the Houthis say will continue until the end of the war in Gaza.

The medical group Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) says that several blocks in Khan Younis, including those where Nasser Hospital is located, have received orders to evacuate.

“MSF staff members can hear bombs and heavy gunfire close to Nasser,” the group said in a social media post on Tuesday. “They are currently unable to evacuate along with the thousands of people in the hospital, including 850 patients, due to roads to and from the building being either inaccessible or too dangerous.”

This morning Israeli forces announced that several blocks in Khan Younis, including where Nasser hospital is located, are under evacuation order until 5:30 p.m. Jerusalem time before they begin operations in the area.

— MSF International (@MSF) January 23, 2024

We’ve heard him speak multiple times since October 7. This speech was a little longer.

Probably because there’s a lot more to say. Unfortunately, the situation is worse and more Palestinians are dying.

When he laid out what needs to happen, or what the UN needs to try to provide aid to those who need it the most, you could sum up his speech by saying “everything”.

Food, water, security – you name it, and there is a need for it in Gaza for the people who need it the most right now.

And when you say “people who need it the most”, that is pretty much everybody in Gaza, and those are the words of the secretary-general of the United Nations.

He painted a very bleak and very dark picture of what the Palestinians in Gaza are facing on an hour-by-hour, day-by-day basis.

Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan has again railed against calls for a ceasefire, saying that the Middle East is suffering from a “cancer” and that Israel will not accept the continued existence of Hamas.

“Shockingly, many here on the Security Council are advocating for a permanent ceasefire, while giving no thought to the implications,” Erdan said. “What do you think will happen if there is a ceasefire? I will tell you what will happen: Hamas will remain in power, they will regroup and rearm, and soon Israelis will face another attempted Holocaust.”