Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Israel kills 65 in attacks on Khan Younis

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We will soon be closing this live page. Here’s a summary of the main developments:

• Clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian fighters ramp up in Khan Younis amid growing fear for Nasser Hospital – Gaza’s largest remaining hospital.
• Israeli forces have killed at least 65 people in Khan Younis, according to medical sources, with reports of “systematic destruction” of the southern Gaza city.
• The US-led military coalition has hit Yemen’s capital Sanaa in the latest attack against the Houthis.
• Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says attacks against Hezbollah will continue, even if the group “ceases fire unilaterally”, until the security situation at the Lebanese-Israeli border changes.
• A motion of no confidence against Netanyahu in the Knesset over the prime minister’s inability to free the captives fails.
• Axios reports that Israel is proposing a two-month truce in exchange for releasing all the Israeli captives in Gaza and an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners.

J Street says that the “time has come for diplomacy” to free captives and provide “relief to the people of Gaza”.

The organisation, which frames itself as an alternative to the more hawkish AIPAC lobbying group in the US, added that the “toll inflicted upon civilians in Gaza has been unbearably high, the suffering must stop now”.

The statement said that Israel had the right to respond militarily to Hamas’s October 7 attack but that the “time for war has come to a close”.

Ahlam Saqr, 50, cried on the morning her sons started cutting branches off her olive trees to burn them for fires to cook, stay warm and heat water for bathing.

It was a matter of survival, she says, to enable the family to make it through the relentless Israeli bombing of Gaza. But that did not make it any easier to watch her four beloved trees being taken apart.

“The house felt so empty. The trees had their place in the house and it became dark when they were gone. We have beautiful memories with them,” she said.

Read more here.

Martin Griffiths has highlighted the mounting death toll and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, including the killing of two mothers every hour by Israeli forces.

“Hospitals overcrowded, besieged and under fire. Homes reduced to rubble. Places of safety turned into places of danger,” he wrote in a social media post.

Here’s the joint statement from the US-led coalition on tonight’s strikes:

“Today, the militaries of the United States and United Kingdom, at the direction of their respective governments with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands, conducted an additional round of proportionate and necessary strikes against 8 Houthi targets in Yemen in response to the Houthis’ continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea. These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of innocent mariners, and are in response to a series of illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi actions since our coalition strikes on January 11, including anti-ship ballistic missile and unmanned aerial system attacks that struck two U.S.-owned merchant vessels.

Today’s strike specifically targeted a Houthi underground storage site and locations associated with the Houthis’ missile and air surveillance capabilities.

The Houthis’ now more than thirty attacks on international and commercial vessels since mid-November constitute an international challenge. Recognizing the broad consensus of the international community, we again acted as part of a coalition of like-minded countries committed to upholding the rules-based order, protecting freedom of navigation and international commerce, and holding the Houthis accountable for their illegal and unjustifiable attacks on mariners and commercial shipping.

Our aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea, but let us reiterate our warning to Houthi leadership: we will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways in the face of continued threats.”

Israeli troops raided the town of Arraba near Jenin and shot 17-year-old Yamen Mohammed Hsity in the stomach with live ammunition, mayor Ahmad Arada says.

Hsity succumbed to his wounds after Israeli forces left him to bleed and prevented medics from reaching him for more than an hour, Arada added. “As a municipality, we are declaring a full strike tomorrow to mourn the martyr,” he said.

The mayor told Al Jazeera that the town has been suffering since October 7, with daily Israeli raids and farmers being prevented from reaching their land near the Mevo Dotan settlement. Hsity is the second person to be killed by Israeli forces in Arraba since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.

Israeli forces have conducted regular attacks in the vicinity of the hospital in Khan Younis.

Jagan Chapagain, the secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the shelling “increases the risks to the lives of staff & volunteers” of the Red Crescent who work from the hospital.

“I repeat my call to ensure protection of civilians, humanitarian aid workers, ambulances, and health facilities,” he added.

It’s 11:30pm (21:30 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel. Here are the main developments from the past few hours:

• Fighting intensifies in Khan Younis as Israeli troops push to advance deeper into the city, destroying residential buildings and key infrastructure.
• Axios reports that Israel is proposing a two-month truce in exchange for releasing all the Israeli captives in Gaza and an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners.
• A Hamas official warns that humanitarian conditions in Gaza are “dangerously disastrous” and calls on international groups and agencies to pressure the US and Israel to allow aid into the territory.
• The Houthis said they attacked a US military cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden but the US Navy refuted the claim and said the vessel is safe.
• The Israeli military released the names of three soldiers killed in Gaza and said two others were seriously injured.
• The US imposed sanctions on Fly Baghdad, an Iraqi airline, accusing it of transporting weapons, money and Iran-linked fighters to Lebanon and Syria; the company denies Washington’s allegations.

The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian group, said it had targeted the tank with a mortar shell.

“An Israeli rescue unit tried to pull the tank from the location where it was targeted. Our fighters clashed with them and stopped them from advancing towards the vehicle, so the [Israeli] air force struck the tank with several rockets and completely obliterated it with everyone inside,” the Qassam Brigades said in a statement.

Reporting from Rafah, Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum says fighting is ramping up in Khan Younis and clashes are getting closer to the Nasser Hospital – Gaza’s largest remaining medical centre.

“We’ve been seeing the illumination of flares being fired in central areas of Khan Younis, and usually these flares are used by the Israeli military there to give a clear vision for the manoeuvring troops on the ground,” Abu Azzoum said. “We’ve been hearing the sounds of loud explosions over different parts of the city.”

He added that Israel is pursuing a military tactic of “systematic destruction” of residential buildings in Khan Younis, targeting key infrastructure and forcing people to flee.

Mohammad Shtayyeh made the comments in a social media post after a meeting with the UN’s humanitarian relief coordinator Sigrid Kaag.

He added that he had called for the opening of all entry points into Gaza for humanitarian relief and an international effort and a political framework for reconstruction in the enclave after the war.

The US navy’s Middle East-based 5th Fleet has denied the Houthis’ statement claiming responsibility for an attack on the US military cargo ship Ocean Jazz.

“The Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists’ report of an alleged successful attack on M/V [merchant vessel] Ocean Jazz is patently false,” the 5th Fleet said in a statement.

It added that the US navy “has maintained constant communications with M/V Ocean Jazz throughout its safe transit”.

The White House’s Kirby says Washington supports pauses in the fighting to allow the release of captives but it still opposes ending the war.

“We don’t support a general ceasefire, which is usually put in place in the expectation that you’re going to end a conflict and lead to specific negotiations – no change to our policy there.”

The Lebanese group has identified the slain fighter as Haidar Hussein Ibrahim.

Without providing details, Hezbollah said Ibrahim was killed “on the road to Jerusalem” in a nod to its ongoing clashes with Israel, which the group says are in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

The opinion poll suggests that a slight majority of Israelis back a plan that would see the release of captives held in Gaza in exchange for an end to the war, a normalisation agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia and an Israeli agreement for the eventual establishment of a demilitarised Palestinian state.

A survey carried out by the Midgam Institute and commissioned by the Geneva Initiative saw 51.3 percent of respondents back the deal with 28.9 percent opposing. Half the respondents also said they would not support the presence of Israeli troops in Gaza for another three years with 32 percent saying they would be supportive.

Many Palestinians oppose the concept of a “demilitarised” state, seeing it as effectively limiting their sovereignty.

Netanyahu has repeatedly and unambiguously said he rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state. But the Biden administration, which promotes a two-state solution to the conflict, has been trying to evade addressing the prime minister’s comments as it maintains unconditional support for Israel.

Asked about Netanyahu’s open rejection of a Palestinian state, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters: “I’m just not going to characterise the prime minister’s remarks.”

Days earlier, Biden had suggested Netanyahu does not oppose the two-state solution, but the prime minister left no place for doubt, crediting himself this week for thwarting the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In the latest comments from the White House, national security spokesperson John Kirby was also reluctant to talk about Netanyahu’s remarks.

“They had a very constructive conversation, and I think I just need to leave it at that,” Kirby said, describing a call on Saturday between Biden and Netanyahu. “The prime minister should speak to his comments, and I’m sure he has and he will.”