Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Hospital besieged amid assault on Khan Younis

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

• UN officials say that a shelter in Khan Younis was struck by Israeli tank shells, killing at least nine people and injuring 75, with the casualty count expected to climb higher.
• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced that it will issue a decision this Friday on South Africa’s requested provisional measures against Israel in genocide case.
• Qatar’s foreign ministry rebuked alleged comments from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who Israeli media reports say questioned the usefulness of Qatar’s role as a mediator in the conflict.
• The Houthis say they engaged US warships off the coast of Yemen, as tensions in the Red Sea continue to simmer.
• Israel continued military operations in Khan Younis, where the Palestine Red Crescent Society said that Al-Amal Hospital is struggling to function under a “blockade” by Israeli forces.

A handful of Democratic lawmakers in the US House of Representatives have asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan research agency, to conduct a review of whether US arms transfers to Israel are violating US and international law.

In a press release on Wednesday, Palestinian-American Representative Rashida Tlaib said that she had sent a letter to President Biden and the GAO along with four other lawmakers. The statement notes that on January 5, the administration said it had not conducted any formal review of Israel’s compliance with international law during its assault on Gaza.

“We write today regarding your Administration’s ongoing weapons transfers to the Israeli government despite considerable evidence that these transfers are flagrantly violating American and international law and being used in the commission of war crimes,” the letter to Biden reads.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed over 25,000 Palestinians since it began on October 7. Almost the same number of children have lost their parents to Israeli attacks.

One orphaned boy, Anas, told Al Jazeera that he is protecting his little brother from the news that their parents had been killed.

“I don’t know how to tell him,” Anas said.

Watch our video to find out more about the situation of children orphaned by Israel’s war:

Hamas official Taher al-Nunu says the group “values” Egypt’s position in opposing Israel’s attempt to control the Philadelphi Corridor – the 14km (8.6 mile) border between Gaza and Egypt.

Cairo had issued a statement warning that the Israeli push to take over the border would jeopardise Israeli-Egyptian relations.

Al-Nunu said Cairo’s stance highlights “the importance of the Egyptian role and its strong effects in supporting the Palestinian people in this historic battle and stopping the brutal aggression” in Gaza.

Netanyahu had said last month that the Philadelphi Corridor “must be in our hands”.

Several Democratic legislators have renewed their calls for a ceasefire, urging President Biden to push to end Israel’s war on Gaza.

Despite the mass destruction and killing of more than 25,000 Palestinians, the Biden administration has vehemently opposed a ceasefire, arguing that the war must go on until Israel destroys Hamas – a goal that many experts say may not be achievable militarily.

Congresswoman Cori Bush, who introduced a ceasefire resolution 100 days ago, said the world cannot wait another 100 days.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestine, goes beyond the UN relief chief Martin Griffiths, who had described as “callous” bombing people in southern Gaza without giving them enough time to flee.

“Ordering trapped people to evacuate and bombing them before they can even do so is callous, yes, and it is also a serious international crime, punishable under the Rome Statute of the [International Criminal Court],” Albanese wrote in a social media post.

Hassan Barari, a professor at Qatar University, has told Al Jazeera that the Israeli PM’s alleged criticism of Qatar’s mediation efforts in the Israel-Hamas conflict reflects frustration over his own failures in the war.

“Qatar has stepped in many times, and Qatar has succeeded in mediating between Israelis and Hamas,” Barari said, calling Netanyahu’s alleged remarks a sign of “desperation”.

“Netanyahu wants everyone to do things his own way. He fails on the battleground, he fails to convince his own people that he’s doing the right thing, and he wants to blame others and pass the buck for his failures on the Qataris,” he added.

A vocational training centre belonging to the UN’s relief agency for Palestinian refugees in Khan Younis has been hit by Israeli tank shells, killing at least nine and injuring at least 75.

A spokesperson for UNRWA told Al Jazeera that the number of dead will likely climb higher.

Watch our video to learn more about the situation at the centre:

Democratic legislator Hank Johnson notes that it has been 100 days since his colleague Cori Bush introduced a resolution calling for ending the war in Gaza.

“Our pro-peace, pro-humanity movement is growing stronger every day. [Biden] must heed our calls for #CeasefireNOW [and] facilitate an immediate, lasting ceasefire,” Johnson said on X.

Alex De Waal, an expert on humanitarian crises and director of the World Peace Foundation has told Al Jazeera’s Inside Story that the conditions in Gaza have few parallels in modern history.

“I’ve been studying this topic for almost 40 years, and during that 40 years, I have not seen or studied a situation in which a population was reduced with this speed, this rigour, this comprehensiveness, to a state of starvation. It is unprecedented since World War II,” said De Waal.

Jordan TV, the kingdom’s public broadcaster, cited the ministry as saying that it condemns the attack in the “strongest terms”.

It added that the building in Khan Younis was sheltering displaced people who were fleeing the “deliberate and ongoing” Israeli targeting of their homes.

With this statement, Jordan joins a chorus of others, including the US government, who have condemned the Israeli attack on the facility.

Al Jazeera verified video footage posted to Instagram by a Palestinian journalist showing displaced Palestinians teaming up with doctors at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis to clean.

The hospital has been under attack in recent days as the Israeli army has intensified their ground operations and air raids on the southern Gaza city. The hospital was completely surrounded by Israeli forces and cut off from the rest of the city, rendering it unable to respond to reports of casualties from Israeli attacks.

Translation: After the siege of Nasser Hospital and the evacuation of the cleaning crews, some of the displaced people and remaining doctors volunteered to clean the emergency department

As the US president was leaving a political event in Washington, DC, his motorcade passed by small groups of protesters yelling “ceasefire now”, and someone holding a yellow sign with the words “full ceasefire in Gaza now”, a White House pool report said.

Yesterday, more than a dozen demonstrators calling for ending the war in Gaza interrupted Biden as he spoke at a campaign event in the state of Virginia.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has offered his condolences to those killed after Israeli tanks shelled a facility run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza earlier today.

Tedros, head of the World Health Organization (WHO), lamented the “horrendous” heavy bombardment of Khan Younis.

“The ongoing heavy bombardment, evacuation orders and killing of civilians in Khan Younis, Gaza is just horrendous,” he said in a social media post.

“WHO team joined an UNRWA mission to help those who were injured in today’s blast at the training centre where civilians were sheltering. Our deep condolences to the families who lost loved ones.”

Giorgia Meloni has told Italian legislators that she disagrees with Netanyahu’s position opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

“Italy has always reiterated that the Palestinian people have the right to have a state, an independent, secure state,” Meloni said, as reported by the Associated Press news agency.

“It is a just and necessary solution, both in the interests of the Palestinians but also in those of Israel. For this [reason], I don’t share the position expressed by the Israeli prime minister.”

EU special envoy to the Middle East Sven Koopmans has told Al Jazeera that the international community must push for a two-state solution, despite the fact that Netanyahu is “clearly not interested”.

“The only solution there is a two-state solution. Is it realistic? It is very difficult. But there is no other solution,” he said, noting that there is still division among EU member states about whether to call for an immediate ceasefire.

“It is clear from Prime Minister Netanyahu that he is not in favour of a two-state solution, and that has been clear for a long time. At the same time, we don’t hear any alternative solution,” he added.

Israeli broadcaster Channel 13, citing two unnamed Israeli officials, reports that the office of Prime Minister Netanyahu attempted to coordinate with an Egyptian security agency to set up a phone call with the Egyptian present, but this attempt was rejected.

The report states that there are “significant disputes” between the governments of Israel and Egypt over the Israeli army’s plans for the “Philadelphia axis”, the strip of land in the southern Gaza Strip bordering Egypt.

Late last month, Netanyahu told a news conference that the corridor “must be in our hands” and shut down to ensure the security outcome Tel Aviv desires.

A spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign affairs ministry has issued a statement rebuking alleged comments from Netanyahu, following media reports that the Israeli leader called Qatar’s mediation efforts “problematic”.

“We are appalled by the alleged remarks attributed to the Israeli Prime Minister in various media reports about Qatar’s mediation role. These remarks if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives, but are not surprising,” Majed Al Ansari said on X.

“If the reported remarks are found to be true, the Israeli PM would only be obstructing and undermining the mediation process, for reasons that appear to serve his political career instead of prioritizing saving innocent lives, including Israeli hostages,” the statement adds.