Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 121

Health officials say at least 92 people have been killed overnight by Israeli attacks, including on a kindergarten in Rafah.

a woman cries out as she stands in rubble
A woman reacts upon finding clothing items of a killed relative among rubble of a destroyed house, following Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip [Mohammed Abed/AFP]

Here’s how things stand on Sunday, February 4, 2024:

Humanitarian crisis in Gaza

  • At least 92 people were killed overnight in the besieged strip’s southern city of Rafah, where displaced Palestinians have been sheltering, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
  • At least two children were killed in the attack as Israeli forces hit a kindergarten, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
  • Concerns over a potential Israeli ground incursion into Rafah have mounted in recent days, with hundreds of thousands of displaced seeking refuge from the fighting there in makeshift shelters and encampments.
  • A strike on a fuel tank near the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis killed one person and damaged hospital buildings, Wafa reported.
  • Israeli soldiers continue to film themselves committing crimes even after an ICJ ruling ordering Israel to take action to prevent genocide in Gaza, the Bisan Research and Development Center said.
  • Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he wants to see allegations that staff from the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees participated in Hamas’s October 7 attacks “fully examined”, but people in Gaza should not be left “literally starving”.
  • Since October 7, at least 27,238 people have been killed and 66,452 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza. The revised death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.
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Regional tensions and diplomacy

  • The United States and the United Kingdom have issued a joint statement saying their militaries – with support from allies including Australia, Bahrain and Canada – hit 36 Houthi targets in 13 locations across Yemen.
  • Separate from its air strikes on Yemen, the US military says it shot down six Houthi antiship missiles as they were preparing to launch against vessels in the Red Sea.
  • The UN Security Council is expected to hold an emergency meeting on Monday to address the US’s recent air strikes on Iraq and Syria.
  • Iran says the US attacks inside Iraq and Syria are a “strategic error” that will only add to tensions and instability in the Middle East.
  • On negotiations for the release of captives and a ceasefire in Gaza, a top Hamas official in Lebanon said the Palestinian group needed more time to “announce our position” on a proposed framework.

Occupied West Bank

  • Israeli forces continue with their nearly daily raids across the occupied West Bank.
  • Overnight, Israeli soldiers stormed Beita in the south of Nablus, Arrabeh in the south of Jenin, the Shu’fat refugee camp in northern Jerusalem, and Qaffin in the north of Tulkarem.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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