January 8, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas has moved here.

Antony Blinken gestures as he arrives in Tel Aviv, Israel, on January 8.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s delegation in Tel Aviv expects to discuss the Israeli defense minister’s plan for the next phase of the war in Gaza during key meetings on Tuesday, according to a senior US official.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant put forward the military’s plan for the next phase of the war. Gallant’s proposal states that Palestinians not be allowed to return to their homes in northern Gaza until all the remaining hostages are freed. 

The US side is expected to push Israeli officials on an “imminent” transition of the war to a lower-intensity phase, the official said — which the US has not yet seen.

Joe Biden walks the stairs off of Air Force One after arriving at Love Field in Dallas, on January 8.

US President Joe Biden said Monday that he’s been working to persuade the Israeli government to reduce or “significantly get out of Gaza.”

He was speaking during a campaign event at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina – the scene of a horrific mass shooting in 2015 – and was interrupted by protesters calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

“If you really care about the lives lost here you should honor the lives lost and call for a ceasefire in Palestine,” a protestor shouted at the president, referring to the mass shooting that took the lives of nine churchgoers.

A group of protesters then began chanting “ceasefire now.”

They were asked to leave, as supporters began chanting, “Four more years.” The moment underscores the divisions within the Democratic Party on the issue three months after Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7. 

Following the speech, Biden’s deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters: “Of course, the president is listening,”

Fulks added, “He’s listening to every part of his base. It’s why he’s here and why we’re gonna continue to take this message everywhere.”  

Fulks said that Biden was “very adamant” that “even when people have disagreements with us, from a policy perspective, that we still respect their views and understand them.” 

Asked specifically about the protestors calling for a ceasefire, communications director Michael Tyler said Biden understood the passion.

He said the president is “approaching this not as a politician, but as a human being who and a commander in chief who approaches this from the perspective of somebody who has American safety, global security, front of mind.”

In recent months, there has been growing internal frustration among staffers within the Biden administration on how the president has responded following Hamas’ October 7 attack.

In November, more than 700 staffers and political appointees signed a letter calling on the president to support a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The letter was signed by staffers who work in more than 30 departments and agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, FBI and NASA.

Meantime: Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be the latest in a long parade of Biden national security officials to meet face-to-face with the Israeli government on Tuesday. It will be his fifth visit since the October 7 attack by Hamas.

The stakes of Blinken’s trip are high as America’s allies stood behind Israel at the start of the war but have grown critical as the civilian toll in Gaza rises. Those partners will be looking for evidence Israel is listening to the US, and, as tensions skyrocket in the region, allies are hoping Blinken can ensure Israel has a viable plan to end the war amid concerns over a wider conflict.

In just the past month, Israeli officials have also gotten visits from national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Amos Hochstein, a special envoy who works on energy issues and who has close ties to Israel and Lebanon.

The post and headline have been updated with details on Biden’s remarks about Israel’s campaign in Gaza.

Israel is continuing to ramp up its ground offensive in central and southern Gaza, even as Israeli officials are saying forces will shift to a new phase of fighting. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have carried out strikes and pushed its ground forces into areas where it had previously urged civilians to evacuate.

About one out of every 100 people in Gaza has been killed since October 7, Palestinian statistics show. 

It comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken makes a flurry of stops in the Middle East and will meet with Israeli officials on Tuesday. It will be his fifth visit since the October 7 attack by Hamas.

Ahead of touching down in Tel Aviv, the top US diplomat visited other Arab nations involved in talks on another possible humanitarian ceasefire and hostage release, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar.

Here’s what else to know:

This undated picture released by Hezbollah Military Media shows senior Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil.

Israel claimed responsibility for the death of a senior Hezbollah commander, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 14 on Monday.

Wissam Tawil, a senior commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan forces was killed by an Israeli drone strike in his car in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source previously confirmed to CNN. 

“As for the hit in south Lebanon, we did take responsibility,” Katz said in the interview, “This is part of our war.”

Katz added that Israel is making Hezbollah “pay a price.”

“We did not set a goal to thwart 150,000 missiles,” he said. “We set a goal to restore security to the residents of the north, to restore security to the residents of the south and to the State of Israel.”

Katz also reiterated that Israel has not claimed responsibility for last week’s blast in southern Beirut that killed the deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, Saleh Al-Arouri.

The covered bodies of Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes are seen at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza on December 25.

A British surgeon who led an emergency medical team at the Al Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza said the situation at the hospital in the past two weeks has been “beyond any doubt the worst thing” he’s ever seen in his medical career.   

Maynard described brutal situations of “multiple traumatic amputations of children, and as I said, horrific burns, the likes of which I’ve never seen before,” the doctor said. He added that often “there is no pain relief to give to these patients at all.”      

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Hamas hides terrorist infrastructure in and around civilian institutions in Gaza, such as hospitals, and that targeting them is essential as it works to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip.

Israel has also said some hospitals are being used as command centers but has provided limited evidence to support that claim. The IDF’s operations are contentious, with humanitarian organizations saying medical facilities in Gaza are unable to provide basic services.   

Maynard told CNN that he and his team found themselves with no choice but to withdraw from the hospital, in light of the increasing Israeli military activity at the hospital.

The British surgeon had been in Gaza for two weeks, an experience he described as “frightening.” 

Speaking from the Egyptian capital of Cairo, Maynard said he found it difficult to leave the hospital on Monday. 

“There was an attack on the intensive care unit,” he said. “We were due to leave it about that time anyways but the following morning, the whole area was taken out of the de-confliction, and we were told by the Israeli Defense Forces that we would not be able to go.” 

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment but has not heard heard back.

The doctor said his organization, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), and Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), were both operating at the hospital but “both sets of foreign doctors had to leave.”

As Maynard and his team left Gaza for their safety, he now fears the lack of personnel left at the hospital.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks at a press conference in Tel Aviv on December 18.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Sunday that while Israel is not looking for war with Hezbollah, if necessary, his country could “copy-paste” its military actions in Gaza to Beirut, Lebanon. 

Gallant said “the priority isn’t to get into a war” with Hezbollah but “eighty-thousand people need to be able to go back to their homes safely,”  the WSJ reported. 

Gallant also stated that if no agreement is negotiated to make that possible, then, Israel wouldn’t shrink from military action, adding “we are willing to sacrifice.” 

Gallant also said he believes Israel is “fighting an axis, not a single enemy,” and “Iran is building up military power around Israel in order to use it,” according to the report.

Israel is determined to destroy Iran-backed Hamas, but also to act with enough force to deter other potential adversaries allied with Tehran, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Gallant said in the WSJ interview.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Friday during a speech that the group’s attacks on Israel aim “to mount pressure on the enemy government and to stop the assault on Gaza” and reiterated that the death of Saleh Al-Arouri, a senior figure in Hamas, in Beirut will “not go unpunished.” 

The Hezbollah leader also warned that people in northern Israel would be the first to suffer consequences in the event of a broader conflict. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he arrives in Tel Aviv on Monday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Tel Aviv ahead of key meetings with Israeli officials on Tuesday.

The top US diplomat landed in Israel on Monday afternoon after a flurry of stops throughout the region. He is expected to push Israeli officials on the need to do more to protect civilians as the staggering humanitarian toll in Gaza continues to mount. 

This is his fourth trip to the region since the October 7 Hamas attack and his fifth visit to Israel. On his first trip following the attack, he visited Israel twice.

Blinken will push Israeli officials on the need to do more to protect civilians as the staggering humanitarian toll in Gaza continues to mount. 

Meetings on Monday: Blinken discussed efforts being made to achieve security and stability in Gaza with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), according to the government-run Saudi Press Agency.

The crown prince “stressed the importance of stopping military operations, intensifying humanitarian efforts, and working to create conditions for the return of stability,” the news agency reported.

In addition to Saudi Arabia, Blinken has already visited other Arab nations involved in talks on another possible humanitarian ceasefire and hostage release, including Jordan and Qatar. After meetings in Israel, he will also stop in the West Bank and Egypt. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media in Saudi Arabia on Monday.

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken is reiterating that it is “clearly not in the interest” of any countries in the region for the war in Gaza to expand. It comes after an Israeli strike killed a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, according to a Lebanese security source.

“It’s clearly not in the interest of anyone — Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah, for that matter — to see this… to see this escalate and to see an actual conflict,” Blinken said to reporters in Saudi Arabia before departing for Israel.

“The Israelis have been very clear with us that they want to find a diplomatic way forward that creates the kind of security that allows Israelis to return home,” the top US diplomat said, noting that “nearly 100,000 Israelis have been forced to leave their homes in northern Israel because of the threat coming from Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

“We’re working intensely on that effort,” Blinken said.

He said the US is also working on a diplomatic solution that would allow Lebanese people to return to their homes in southern Lebanon.

Some background: A senior Hezbollah commander, Wissam Tawil, was killed by an Israeli drone strike on his car in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source told CNN on Monday. 

Tawil is the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed in an Israeli strike since the onset of daily crossfire between the Lebanon-based group and Israeli forces in October.

On Saturday, Hezbollah launched a rocket barrage on an Israeli airbase in northern Israel, in an attack the group said was a “preliminary response” to the suspected Israeli attack that killed Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in southern Beirut last week.

On the war in Gaza: Heading next to Israel, the top US diplomat said he will push the Israeli government “on the absolute imperative to do more to protect civilians” in Gaza. 

Blinken said is also planning to press Israeli officials on the need for more humanitarian aid to enter the war-torn strip “and also to talk to them about the future direction of their military campaign in Gaza.”

He said in meetings with key Arab leaders on Monday, there was “broad agreement” that Israel “should be able to live in peace and security,” which would mean the West Bank and Gaza should be unified under a Palestinian-led government with an independent Palestinian state.

Israel’s military said it has killed a Hamas militant in Syria who it says was a central figure in firing rockets from Syria toward Israel in recent weeks.

Hassan Hakashah was killed in the southern town of Beit Jinn on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

“We will not allow terrorism from Syrian territory and hold Syria responsible for all activity emanating from its territory. The IDF will continue to act against any threat posed to the State of Israel,” the statement said.

Hamas has so far not publicly commented on Hakashah’s death. 

A view of central Gaza.

Some buildings are flattened or partially collapsed. Others are riddled with bullets or scarred by smoke. Civilians are nowhere to be found. 

This is the scene CNN found on the outskirts of Al-Bureij in central Gaza after three months of war.

CNN embedded with the Israeli military on Monday, getting a glimpse of the destruction inside Gaza and a rare look inside the alleged Hamas underground and weapons manufacturing infrastructure uncovered by the Israeli military.

Alongside now-bulldozed farmlands and inside a nondescript building, the Israeli military took reporters inside the opening of what it said was a tunnel system leading to a weapons manufacturing facility both above and below ground.

Under a nearby shed, the Israeli military showed another shaft leading into the same tunnel.

The Israeli military also showed reporters the above-ground manufacturing facility, where CNN saw mortar shells which Israeli commanders said were made there. Another tunnel shaft lay in the corner of the factory, leading to what the Israeli military said was an underground facility where explosive material – made in some cases from dual-use materials like fertilizer – was packed into the shells.

The Israeli military did not allow reporters underground, saying the chemicals made it too dangerous, but provided a video it said was filmed inside that underground facility in which large vats and industrial material could be seen.

“What we’re seeing is using the embedded civilian industries to build a rocket industry,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari told CNN inside the weapons facility, a point he repeatedly raised throughout the day.

Pressed whether he was stressing the connection between Hamas infrastructure and civilian buildings to justify the heavy civilian death toll in Gaza, Hagari said: “We are focusing on Hamas, not, not – we’re focusing on a war on Hamas, we’re not fighting the people of Gaza.”

Israel expanded its ground offensive into central Gaza in late December and over the last two weeks, it has carried out strikes and pushed its ground forces into areas where it had previously urged civilians to evacuate.

But there are indications that it is slowing its offensive in parts of Gaza, moving to a lower-intensity phase of the war following significant American pressure.

“There’s big change because it’s a different level of intensity. Now, it’s not in the same intensity, high intensity that we worked in the north (of Gaza),” Hagari said. “It’s more continuous effort in the center of gravity so we can make sure that the population is being distinguished from the terrorists and focusing on Hamas frameworks,” he added.

Security forces search for identification and personal effects at the Supernova Music Festival site on October 12 in Kibbutz Re'im, Israel, where hundreds were killed and dozens taken by Hamas militants near the border with Gaza.

Experts at the United Nations say crimes committed against civilians during Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel amounted to war crimes and could qualify as crimes against humanity.

In a statement from Geneva, the experts — Alice Jill Edwards, a special rapporteur on torture and other punishment, and Morris Tidball-Binz, a special rapporteur on “extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions” — called for full accountability for the widespread killings and alleged sexual torture.

The UN experts said that allegations of sexual torture included rape and gang rapes and that there were mutilations and gunshot wounds to genital areas of victims as well as other signs of sexual violence.   

“These acts constitute gross violations of international law, amounting to war crimes which, given the number of victims and the extensive premeditation and planning of the attacks, may also qualify as crimes against humanity,” the experts said.

Hamas has repeatedly denied allegations that its fighters committed sexual violence during the attack despite the evidence.

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad Monday released a video showing an Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

Elad Katzir, 47, speaks for about three-and-a-half minutes in the video published by the Quds brigade. In the video, he stands in front of the group’s banner. 

It’s the second time he has appeared in one of the group’s videos. The first was in mid-December.

In the new video, Katzir speaks in both English and Hebrew and mentions the name of another man who had been held hostage, Tamir Adar.

Elad Katzir.

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum in Israel announced last week that Adar, 38, had died, without providing further details. 

Like Adar, Katzir is from Kibbutz Nir Oz, the community in southern Israel from which some 40 people were abducted on October 7.

It is not clear if he is speaking under duress.

Katzir says: “Tamir Adar, my dear friend, may you rest in peace, may your memory be blessed, I share your family’s grief.”

Katzir goes on to say:

He adds: “I want them [the government] to get me back, as well as all other hostages, and end this damn war…..With each day of the war, more soldiers and more hostages are being killed. Stop the war and bring us hostages home in peace. Make a deal to exchange prisoners of war, together with the Hamas, and bring us home.”

Katzir’s mother, Hana, was in the first group of hostages to be released during a short-lived truce in November. Her release was a surprise to many Israelis because Islamic Jihad had announced days earlier that she had died. Hana’s husband was killed on October 7, their daughter Karmit told CNN.

It’s unclear when the latest video was shot, but Adar’s death was announced publicly on January 5. 

A barrage of rockets was fired from the Gaza Strip on Monday evening local time, with Israel’s Iron Dome system making at least several interceptions. 

CNN teams in Tel Aviv counted at least half a dozen interceptions south of the city.

A large area of southern Israel from Ashdod northward to Tel Aviv received warnings of the rocket attack.

Hamas’ military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, said on Telegram: “We hit “Tel Aviv” with a rocket barrage in response to the massacres against civilians.”

There are no reports of casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the weekly cabinet meeting at the Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, Israel, on January 7.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops stationed close to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, telling them that the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah “underestimated us big-time in 2006, and is underestimating us again.”

Netanyahu visited the 769 Brigade, telling them: “I chose to come to Kiryat Shmona on the day of anti-tank fire upon us.”

In July 2006, after the ambush of an Israeli military patrol, Israeli forces crossed the border into Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah positions, while air strikes also targeted Hezbollah infrastructure and commanders.

Netanyahu said that Hezbollah had thought “we were like spiders’ cobwebs. Suddenly it sees what kind of spider.” Hezbollah faced “tremendous power, the unification of a people, a determination to do whatever is necessary to restore security to the north.”

Netanyahu said: “We will do everything to restore security to the north and allow your families, because many of you are local, to return home safely and know that we cannot be messed with. We will do whatever it takes. Of course, we prefer that this be done without a wide campaign, but that will not stop us.”

He added: “We gave them an example of what is happening to their friends in the south, this is what will happen here in the north. We will do everything to restore security.”

About one out of every 100 people in Gaza has been killed since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7, Palestinian statistics show. 

At least 22,835 people have been killed, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced in its daily update on Monday. That’s 1% of Gaza’s total population of 2.27 million people, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. 

The Ministry generates its data from hospitals in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

It said 58,416 people had been injured. That is more than 2.6% of the population, or more than one in 40 people. 

The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza, which tends to have slightly higher numbers than the ministry in Ramallah due to delays in transmitting information to the West Bank, put the total at 23,084 dead on Monday. It said 58,926 people had been injured. 

Israel has said more than 8,000 of the dead are militants it is targeting in its war on Hamas. 

The Ministry of Health in Ramallah says more than 5,300 of the dead are women and more than 9,000 of them are children. Together that would make up nearly two-thirds of the dead.  

Jordan's King Abdullah II speaks during his visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Kigali, Rwanda, in this handout picture released on January 8.

The conflict in Gaza has created “an entire generation of orphans,” King Abdullah II of Jordan said in a statement Monday. 

The statement comes after King Abdullah II of Jordan met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman on Sunday, where the two “agreed to continue close coordination for sustained humanitarian assistance” in Gaza, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Sunday.

King Abdullah II also warned Blinken of the “catastrophic consequences of the continuing war in Gaza,” according to a palace statement released after their meeting.

“Without a just peace, on the basis of the two-state solution, the world will continue to pay a heavy price for failing to resolve this conflict, and we will never know true peace and stability in the Middle East,” the king added.

Colleagues and family members mourn over the body of Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqa, who was killed during Israeli bombardment, during his funeral in Khan Younis, Gaza, on December 16.

In the three months since the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas began, at least 79 journalists have been killed in Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Monday.

As of January 8, the deaths include 72 Palestinians, four Israelis, and three Lebanese, according to CPJ’s data.

The CPJ statement listed the names of all journalists killed since October 7, saying thye reporting was “based on information obtained from CPJ’s sources in the region and media reports.” It includes Al Jazeera photojournalist Hamza Al-Dahdouh and Palestinian freelance videographer Mustafa Thuraya, who were killed in Gaza on Sunday.

“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,” CPJ said in the statement.

“CPJ is investigating all reports of journalists and media workers killed, injured, or missing in the war, which has led to the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992,” the journalism advocacy group said.

A senior Hezbollah militant, Wissam Tawil, was killed by an Israeli drone strike on his car in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source told CNN on Monday.

A senior Hezbollah commander, Wissam Tawil, was killed by an Israeli drone strike on his car in southern Lebanon, a Lebanese security source told CNN on Monday. 

In a statement this afternoon, Hezbollah also acknowledged the death of Tawil, known as Hajj Jawad, in an Israeli attack. 

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. 

Tawil is the most senior Hezbollah commander to be killed in an Israeli strike since the onset of daily crossfire between the Lebanon-based group and Israeli forces in October.

The organization published photographs of Tawil posing with top officials, including slain Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani as well as slain Hezbollah militant leaders Imad Mughniyyeh and Mustafa Badreddine, further indicating that he was a high-ranking Hezbollah commander. 

Some background: On Saturday, Hezbollah launched a rocket barrage on an Israeli airbase in northern Israel, in an attack the group said was a “preliminary response” to the suspected Israeli attack that killed Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in southern Beirut last week.

Israel and Hezbollah have since traded strikes over the past day, three months since hostilities broke out in October. 

Overnight and into this morning, Israeli fighter jets, a helicopter and a drone struck southern Lebanon where Hezbollah operates.

Israeli fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military compound in the area of Marwahin and an Israeli helicopter targeted an area where an anti-tank missile launch was fired earlier. The IDF also said that an Israeli drone struck a launcher which was used to fire in Israeli territory. 

Hezbollah-owned Al Manar said the group had been targeting Israeli forces on the border between Lebanon and Israel. 

This morning Israeli air force struck “a series of Hezbollah terror targets in Lebanon, including military sites,” after an anti-tank missile was launched toward the city of Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel. 

Read the full story here.

An aerial view of a destroyed UNRWA Palestinian school following Israeli attacks in Jabalya, Gaza, on December 12.

The UN’s main agency in Gaza says there have been 220 incidents involving its premises, including 63 direct hits during the three-month-long war.

In a situation report published Monday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) also said there had been 23 incidents of “military use and/or interference” at UNRWA facilities since October 7. It did not say who was responsible.

As of January 6, 146 of its employees have been killed, the UN agency added.

UNRWA has more than 30,000 staff, most of whom are Palestinian refugees, according to its website. More than 13,000 staff members are based in the Gaza Strip, according to agency statistics.

One of its two headquarter offices is located in the Gaza Strip.

The agency’s shelters are still harboring huge numbers of internally displaced Palestinians, the report said, highlighting that the average shelter is currently housing four times its capacity.

As of January 2, close to 1.4 million internally displaced people were sheltering in 155 UNRWA installations, the report said. 

The agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, highlighted the devastating impact of the conflict in a recent social media post, saying Gaza is “simply becoming uninhabitable.”