A picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on January 19, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Doha, Qatar: UN Women's agency warns of 'generational trauma' on Palestinians as figure show "two mothers killed every hour" in Israel's war on Gaza.
Meanwhile Israel ratcheted up its attacks in the south of the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
Witnesses said the Israeli bombardment was again focused overnight on Khan Yunis, the largest city in Gaza's South, although Palestinian media also reported intense fire around Jabalia in the north early on Saturday.
AFP reported that a child with a bloodied face cried on a gurney at Al-Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, while ambulances carrying the wounded and the dead arrived to the sound of automatic weapons in the distance.
Watch this page for more live updates:
[11:11pm Doha Time] US senator Bernie Sanders says “unconditional support to Israel” must change
US Senator Bernie Sanders said in a statement released on Saturday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “made his position clear: He will never allow a Palestinian state, ever.”
The statement came following US President Joe Biden denying that Netanyahu’s Friday comments revealed any “opposition to a Palestinian state.”
Netanyahu doubled down on Saturday, saying that he would “not compromise” on Israeli security control of all territory west of the Jordan River, and that this “opposes a Palestinian state”.
“Despite the illegal and inhumane actions of Netanyahu’s government, President Biden has thus far offered unconditional support to Israel. That must change,” Sanders’ statement adds.
[9:02pm Doha Time] Fighting rages across Gaza where death toll surges
Health officials in the Gaza Strip on Saturday reported a surging death toll in fighting with Israel, whose leader Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for "Palestinian sovereignty" after the war. Read more.
[4pm Doha Time] Several Palestinians killed in Beit Lahiya, Nuseirat refugee camp
Al Jazeera reported that three Palestinians have been killed in an Israeli bombing on the Sultan area, west of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
Earlier, in the central area of the territory, four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombing that targeted an apartment in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
[3pm Doha Time] Palestinians mourn teenager killed in West Bank
Palestinians gathered Saturday to mourn the death of a teenager killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank, where violence has surged since war erupted in Gaza.
In a case that has drawn concern from the White House, seventeen-year-old Tawfiq Ajaq was shot dead Friday in the town of Al-Mazraa Al-Sharqiya, east of Ramallah, the Palestinian news agency Wafa and relatives of the young man said. Read more
[1pm Doha Time] Gaza death toll nears 25,000
At least 24,927 Palestinians have been killed and more than 62,300 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7, the health ministry has just reported.
[11:20am Doha Time] Israeli strike hits Damascus residential building: state media
An Israeli strike hit a residential building in the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday, state media said, as regional tensions soar over the war in Gaza.
Rescuers gather in front of a building destroyed in a reported Israeli strike in Damascus on January 20, 2024. (Photo by Louai Beshara / AFP)
"An attack targeted a residential building in the Mazzeh neighbourhood in Damascus, resulting from an Israeli aggression," Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported. It did not say if there were any casualties.
[9am Doha Time] UK unable to conclude Israel followed international law in Gaza, court documents show
UK government legal advisers were unable to conclude that Israel complied with international humanitarian law in its war in Gaza, the Guardian has reported, citing court documents.
The UK Foreign Office in November expressed “serious concerns” about potential breaches of international humanitarian law in the first of several internal reviews into arms exports to Israel in light of the war in Gaza, the Guardian said.
But after receiving reassurances from Israel, officials ultimately concluded it did not have sufficient information on compliance, according to the newspaper.
Based on the internal reviews, the government’s export control joint offered foreign secretary David Cameron the option of continuing exports but keeping them under review, suspending exports for use in Gaza, or suspending all arms sales to Israel – with Cameron opting for the first option.
The documents emerged as part of a legal challenge by the Global Legal Action Network against the Department for Business and Trade’s decision not to revoke arms export licences to Israel.
[8:30am Doha Time] US State Department confirms death of US citizen in occupied West Bank: Report
The United States Department of State has confirmed the death of a US citizen in the occupied West Bank, CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan has reported.
“We can confirm the death of a US citizen civilian in the West Bank on January 19, 2024 … We are working to understand the circumstances of the incident [and] have asked the Government of Israel for further information … ” Brennan quoted a State Department spokesperson as saying in a post on X.
Tawfiq Ajaq, 17, was killed by Israeli forces in al-Mazra’a al-Sharqiya, east of Ramallah, the Palestinian state news agency, Wafa, reported on Friday.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby had earlier said the White House was “seriously concerned” about the report and was seeking more information from counterparts in the region.
[8am Doha Time] Women and children are the main victims of Israel-Hamas war with 16,000 killed, UN says
Women and children are the main victims in the Israel-Hamas war, with some 16,000 killed and an estimated two mothers losing their lives every hour, the United Nations agency promoting gender equality said Friday.
As a result of the more than 100-day conflict, UN Women added, at least 3,000 women may have become widows and heads of households and at least 10,000 children may have lost their fathers. Read more
