People inspect the damage following Israeli bombardment in Rafah, on the southern Gaza Strip, on January 17, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Doha, Qatar: Continued bombing was observed in the northern Gaza along with heavy artillery shelling.
Overnight bombing took place in two parts of Rafah killing six people, including four children and injuring more than 10.
The worst scenes, however, were in Khan Younis where artillery shelling hit the western side of the city. Thirteen people, the vast majority children, were killed there.
Watch this page for more live updates:
[9pm Doha Time] Two Qatari planes land in Egypt's El Arish
Two aircraft of the Qatari Armed Forces carrying 61 tons of assistance landed in El Arish City of the sisterly Arab Republic of Egypt. Read more.
[4pm Doha Time] UN agency chief warns of bleak post-war future for Gazans
The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, warned Wednesday of the bleak future facing Gazans after the war between Hamas and Israel ends.
Following his fourth visit to the Palestinian territory since the war erupted on October 7, the UNRWA chief said many residents are no longer able to see "the future in the Gaza Strip".
"You have hundreds of thousands of people living now in the street, living in these plastic makeshift (tents), sleeping on the concrete," Lazzarini told journalists in Jerusalem. Read more
[3pm Doha Time] PA minister calls for more pressure on Israel to open border crossings
The Palestinian Authority minister of social development has called for pressure on Israeli authorities to open all of the Gaza Strip crossings in order to bring in relief and medical supplies.
During his meeting with Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs in the Middle East, Ahmed Majdalani stressed the necessity of providing suitable tents to shelter 300,000 displaced Palestinians sleeping in the open, and reconnecting electricity, water and communications networks.
Majdalani also warned of the accelerating humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip as a result of the limited food and relief supplies being brought in through the Rafah border crossing.
Displaced Palestinians take shelter inside a building damaged during Israeli bombardment in Rafah on January 17, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
[1:44pm Doha Time] UN’s chief at Davos: ‘World is standing by as civilians killed’
UN chief Antonio Guterres has once again appealed for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Guterres said that warring parties in Gaza are blatantly “ignoring international law”, leading to mounting human suffering, and that the international community has done little to stop it.
“The world is standing by as civilians, mostly women and children, are killed, maimed, bombarded, forced from their homes and denied access to humanitarian aid,” Guterres said.
“I repeat my call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, and a process that leads to sustained peace for Israelis and Palestinians, based on a two-state solution.”
[12:10pm Doha Time] 163 killed in Gaza in last 24 hours
Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed 163 people and injured 350 more over the past 24 hours, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Numerous victims are still trapped under the wreckage and cannot be reached by rescuers, the ministry said in a post on Telegram.
The latest attacks bring the overall toll in Gaza to 24,448 killed and 61,504 wounded since October 7.
This handout satellite image taken on October 16, 2023 by Planet Labs PBC and obtained on January 17, 2024 shows smoke billowing above Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. Photo by Planet Labs / AFP
[10am Doha Time] Gaza under telecommunications blackout since Friday: UN
Gaza has been under a telecommunications blackout for more than four days now, the UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) has said in its latest daily update.
The latest shutdown of phone and internet services is the seventh time that Israel has cut off these services since October 7, OCHA added, leaving people in Gaza without “lifesaving information” and unable to call first responders.
In its latest update, OCHA also noted that the Deir el-Balah water pipeline – the only water pipeline from Israel into Gaza that is currently working – is urgently in need of urgent repairs.
OCHA also again said that refusals from Israeli authorities have led to a “stark decline” in humanitarian missions to the north of Gaza.
Since the beginning of January, only 14 percent of planned missions to the north of Wadi Gaza have gone ahead, compared to 86 percent from October to December, OCHA said.
Palesitinian girl looks for salvageable items amid the destruction on the southern outskirts of Khan Yunis on January 16, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
[9am Doha Time] UN agency warns ‘everyone in Gaza is hungry’
Israel’s blockade on food, medicine and fuel entering Gaza has made hunger and hardship in the Palestinian territory much worse.
The UN’s World Food Programme now says that “everyone” in the Gaza Strip is experiencing hunger amid food shortages.
[8am Doha Time] Red Crescent recovers body of Palestinian after Israeli drone strike on car
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says it has recovered the remains of a Palestinian killed by an Israeli drone strike on a car in the Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
Earlier, we reported that Israeli forces had fired at PRCS ambulances attempting to reach the burning vehicle.
The Israeli military has now removed the destroyed vehicle.
Elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military stormed the city of Qalqilya and arrested several workers from the Gaza Strip.
Heavy clashes have also been reported in Tulkarem following Israeli raids in the city.
