A boy sits on the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Rafah refugee camp, south of the Gaza Strip, on January 1, 2024. Photo by AFP
Doha, Qatar: At least five Palestinians have been killed, including a five-day-old child, in an Israeli strike on El Amal City Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Gaza's team leader of the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) says, "There is no safe space in Gaza, and the world should be ashamed".
The death toll currently stands at 22,185 with at least 57,000 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7.
Watch this page for more live updates:
[6:35pm Doha Time] France denounces Israeli officials' remarks calling for displacement of Palestinians from Gaza
The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs denounced today remarks made by two Israeli ministers calling for the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and rebuilding settlements on Palestinian lands. Read more.
[3:45pm Doha Time] EU’s Josep Borrell says world must impose solution to Gaza conflict
The European Union’s foreign policy chief says the international community must impose a solution to Israel’s war on Gaza as both sides are unable to come to terms.
“I believe that we have learned in these 30 years that the solution has to be imposed from outside because the two parties will never be able to reach an agreement,” he told an event in Lisbon, also warning that “if this tragedy doesn’t end soon, the entire Middle East might end up in flames.”
[1:12 pm Doha Time] Gaza health ministry: 22,313 Palestinians killed since October 7
The death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza now stands at 22,313 Palestinians killed, the health ministry says.
At least 57,296 Palestinians have also been wounded.
Thousands more are trapped under the rubble of their homes and are presumed dead.
In the past 24 hours, 128 Palestinians have been killed and 261 others injured in Israeli attacks.
[1:07 pm Doha Time] ‘No child should be killed’
A UN official in Gaza has condemned Israel’s strike on the Palestinian Red Crescent’s headquarters in Khan Younis that killed five people, including a newborn.
“No child in the world should be killed, let alone one sheltering under the emblem of a humanitarian organisation,” said Gemma Connell, a team leader for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza. “This war has to end.”
[11:30am Doha Time] US condemns Israeli Ministers' calls to displace Palestinians
The US Department of State condemned the statements of two Israeli ministers calling for the displacement of Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip, saying that "this rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible". Read more
[8:30 am Doha Time] Gaza Health Ministry lists 26 names for medical evacuation
The Gaza Ministry of Health has published the names of 26 people approved for medical evacuation from Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt today.
The patients listed have severe injuries, including an 18-month-old baby with burns to the face and hands.
Only about 1 percent of the total people reported injured amid Israel’s war on Gaza have been evacuated, the UN said in late December.
[8:15 am Doha Time] ‘World should be ashamed’: UN official at scene of hospital bombing
Gemma Connell, the Gaza team leader of the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), was at al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, after an Israeli air strike that killed at least five people there.
“Five people were killed here, including a five-day-old child,” said Connell. “It’s a Palestinian Red Crescent Society facility clearly marked with the Red Crescent emblem on the roof.”
“No child in the world should be killed, let alone one sheltering under the emblem of a humanitarian organisation,” she added.
“This was a space where babies were living. This is a space where children were living,” Connell said, “but there is no safe space in Gaza, and the world should be ashamed”.
The tent camps of displaced Palestinians are pictured in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip close to the border with Egypt at sunset on December 31, 2023. Photo by AFP
[8am Doha Time] More than 1 million people now in Rafah: UN
The UN relief agency (OCHA) has released an update on the humanitarian situation in Palestine, noting that more than 1 million people are now in the Rafah Governorate in southern Gaza.
OCHA said that heavy Israeli bombardments from “land, air and sea” continued across Gaza and that hostilities in Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah had added to Rafah becoming “extremely overcrowded”.
An estimated 14,000 people who were sheltering at the Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis when it was attacked by Israel on Tuesday, killing five people, are now “extremely fearful”, the update added. Many have already since fled the hospital while others are planning to leave the “place they had previously turned to for refuge and protection”, OCHA said.
The UN humanitarian update also renewed warnings about the spread of disease in Gaza and the “catastrophic” food security situation with the risk of famine.
