January 7, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas has moved here.

Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Doha, Qatar, on Sunday.

The recent killing of a senior Hamas leader could affect?ongoing negotiations to secure the release of hostages held by the militant group in Gaza, Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said.?

Israel carried out the strike last Tuesday in Beirut that?killed?senior Hamas leader?Saleh Al-Arouri, a US official previously told CNN. Israel did not claim?responsibility.

At a joint news conference in Doha Sunday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken,?Al-Thani was asked whether Arouri’s death could impact talks to free the more than 100 hostages believed to still be held in Gaza following the October 7 attacks.

Qatar has played a central role in mediating hostage negotiations. And despite the challenges, the negotiation process is continuing, Al-Thani said.

Two medical aid groups on Sunday announced their withdrawal from a central Gaza hospital, citing increased Israeli military activity in the area.

In a statement, the International Rescue Committee said its emergency medical team was “forced to withdraw” from Al Aqsa Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah after the Israeli military dropped flyers on?central Gaza ordering Palestinians to evacuate to “shelters” in the?area.

The IRC team had provided vital services at the hospital, such as the treatment of trauma injuries, the release said.?

CNN is not able to independently confirm this statement.?

Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) also said it was withdrawing from Al Aqsa hospital. It comes after?Doctors?Without Borders on Saturday said it?would?evacuate its staff and their families from the facility.

MAP and the IRC said they were “deeply appalled” their teams had?to pull out of the hospital and would work to?identify alternate locations to provide health care to civilians.?

“The dismantling of health services witnessed in the north must not be repeated in the middle and south of Gaza,” the release said.?

Secretary of State Antony?Blinken?boards a plane as he departs for Abu Dhabi from Doha, Qatar, on Sunday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be the latest in a long parade of Biden national security officials to meet face to face with the Israeli government when he arrives in Tel Aviv this week for his fifth visit since the October 7 attack by Hamas.

Blinken’s meetings in Israel, one of nine stops on a frenetic, weeklong crisscrossing of the region, are part of what US officials say is a constant?effort to stay in touch with – and in front of – Israeli officials?in an attempt?to keep?Israel’s war machine in check as the?conflict drags on.

There are?“at least a dozen live issues we are pushing for,” the official told CNN, including?protecting Palestinian civilians amid a skyrocketing death toll as well as creating conditions to allow desperately needed aid to get where it is required most.

Shifts by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have been slow and incremental, and US officials have acknowledged that “gaps” remain between what they claim is Israel’s intentions and what has played out.

The stakes of Blinken’s fifth trip are high as America’s allies that stood behind Israel at the start of the war but have grown critical as the civilian toll in Gaza rises. Those partners will be looking for evidence Israel is listening to the US, and, as tensions skyrocket in the region,?allies are hoping?Blinken can ensure Israel has a viable plan to end the war amid concerns over a wider conflict.

“We don’t expect every conversation on this trip to be easy,” Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson,?said Thursday?before the delegation left.

Read more about Blinken’s visit to Israel as tensions grow within the region.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he’s focused on preventing a wider conflict during a moment of “profound tension” in the Middle East.

He made the comments during a news conference with?Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani?in Doha on Sunday.

“We have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading. And that is indeed a major focus in what is now my fourth visit to the region since October 7. It was at the heart of discussions yesterday with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Mitsotakis, this morning with King Abdullah of Jordan and in the meetings that I just had with the Emir with the prime minister,” he said.

The Secretary of State also met with the leaders of Jordan this weekend, where the nation’s King?Abdullah?II?warned Blinken?of the “catastrophic consequences of the continuing war in Gaza”?and?called for?“an end to the dire humanitarian crisis.”

King?Abdullah?“reiterated the importance of the US role in putting pressure for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”?and ensuring “adequate and sustainable delivery of relief, humanitarian, and medical assistance”?to Gaza,?according to a statement.?

Here are the latest updates:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with the Emir of Qatar in Lusail, Qatar, on Sunday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he’s focused on preventing a wider conflict during a moment of “profound tension” in the Middle East that could “easily metastasize.”

He made the comments during a news conference with?Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani?in Doha on Sunday.

“We have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading. And that is indeed a major focus in what is now my fourth visit to the region since October 7. It was at the heart of discussions yesterday with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Mitsotakis, this morning with King Abdullah of Jordan and in the meetings that I just had with the Emir with the prime minister,” he said.

Al Thani?also warned of an escalation of conflicts in the region and specifically condemned the recent strikes in Beirut and Syria.

“Recent events that we have witnessed within Lebanon or Syria, unfortunately, are a violation to the sovereignty of those countries and we can see also a continuous violations. Our main target or purpose is to stop this war and to avoid the bigger escalation in the region,” he said.

Al Thani reiterated his calls for a ceasefire and said it would have a “positive implication” on the region.

Blinken skirted a question about whether Arab countries were correct in calling for a ceasefire. He said the US wanted to ensure the October 7 attacks would not happen again, which “means dealing with the threat that Hamas continues to pose,” Blinken said.

“But as we’ve made clear also from day one, it’s imperative that in dealing with this very, very difficult challenge, that it do so in a way that puts a premium on protecting civilians. Making sure that people get the assistance they need,” Blinken added, speaking of Israel’s war against Hamas.

In response to a question about whether the US should make providing weapons to Israel conditional, Blinken said they will continue to make sure any US military assistance is used in accordance with international law.

A three-year-old Palestinian girl was shot and killed as Israeli forces fired at a vehicle that attacked a military checkpoint in the occupied?West Bank, according to police and emergency services have confirmed.

Israeli police have called the incident a “vehicular terror attack,” and confirmed that the man and woman in the vehicle, who attacked border police at the?Ras Bidu military checkpoint on Sunday were shot and killed. The checkpoint is located in?the West Bank, about 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) northwest of Jerusalem.

As police shot at the attackers, a?three-year-old girl in a different vehicle was struck.?

Magen David Adom, from Israel’s?emergency medical service, said the?unconscious?child was brought to their team and pronounced dead after medical examinations.?

Two other people were injured, one of whom was a 20-year-old woman. She was treated by paramedics and was fully conscious and in mild condition with limb injuries, Israel’s emergency medical service said.

CNN’s Amir Tal in Jerusalem contributed reporting to this post.

Noor Marouf, whose limb was amputated after being wounded in an Israeli strike, sits in a wheelchair as she is helped by her aunt at the European Hospital in Rafah, Gaza, on December 28.

More than 10 children on average have lost one or both of their legs every day in Gaza since October 7, while many of the amputations are conducted without?anesthetic, the charity Save the Children said in a statement Sunday, referencing statistics released by the United Nations.?

“The suffering of children in this conflict is unimaginable and even more so because it is unnecessary and completely avoidable,” said?Jason Lee,?Save the Children’s Country Director for the occupied Palestinian territory.

Lee said?he has seen “doctors and nurses completely overwhelmed” when children are brought in with blast wounds.?

“The impact of seeing children in that much pain and not having the equipment, medicines to treat them or alleviate pain is too much for even experienced professionals. Even in a war zone, the sights and sounds of a young child mutilated by bombs cannot be reconciled let alone understood within the bounds of humanity,” Lee said.?

In its statement, the charity referenced remarks from?UNICEF spokesperson?James Elder, who after returning from Gaza, said on December 19 that?around 1,000 children in Gaza have lost one or both of their legs since October 7, as hospitals are overwhelmed with children and their parents bearing “the ghastly wounds of war.”?

Save the Children also referenced a World Health Organization statement in which the agency said many of these operations on children in Gaza were conducted without anesthetic, as the enclave is facing severe shortages of medicines and medical supplies.?

The charity said children are nearly seven times more likely to die from blast injuries than adults as they are more vulnerable and sensitive to injuries. “Their skulls are still not fully formed, and their undeveloped muscles offer less protection, so a blast is more likely to tear apart organs in their abdomen, even when there’s no visible damage,” Lee said.?

“Unless action is taken by the international community to uphold their responsibilities under International Humanitarian Law and prevent the most serious crimes of international concern, history will and should judge us all,” Lee said.?

Only “a definitive ceasefire” would end “the killing and maiming of civilians” and would enable “desperately needed humanitarian aid”?to reach Gaza,?including critical medicines for wounded children, he added.?

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has repeatedly said it is not targeting civilians and that terror group Hamas uses civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as shields for its attacks on Israel.?

The?Hamas-run?Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday that at least 22,835 Palestinians have been killed and at least 58,416 have been injured in Gaza since October 7.?At least?113 people have been killed and at least 250 have been injured over the past 24 hours, the ministry said.?

CNN is not able to independently verify the numbers released by the health ministry.?

Israel's President Isaac Herzog attends a meeting in Tel Aviv, Israel, on November 30.

The resettlement of Palestinians out of Gaza is “outright, officially and unequivocally” not Israel’s position, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said on Sunday.

Speaking to NBC’s Kristen Walker?on Meet the Press,?Herzog was asked whether recent comments made by some Israeli cabinet members, who appeared to suggest a forced displacement of Palestinians out of Gaza, reflect the Israeli government’s official position.?

Herzog said this is “absolutely not” the position of the “Israeli government or the Israeli parliament or the Israeli public,” but added, “In a society where free speech is the basis of our national DNA, people can say whatever they want.”

The Israeli president said that his colleagues “were speaking about the wilful leaving of the Gaza Strip, but… I’m saying outright, officially and unequivocally this is not the Israeli position.”

Herzog also spoke of Israel’s determination “to undermine the ability of Hamas to operate terror throughout the world and of course, in Israel.”

He said his country was “utterly grateful” to US President Joe Biden for his “steadfast stand” in supporting Israel, and that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s upcoming visit to Israel is “another expression of the huge impact and importance that the United States places as to the direction and the exit from this conflict.”

A photo taken from Rafah, Gaza, on January 6 shows smoke billowing over Khan Younis, Gaza, during an Israeli bombardment.

On October 7, 2023, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a promise to Israelis:

Now, three months on, Israel’s defense forces are shifting to?a new phase?of its war on Hamas in Gaza – and there are signs its objectives are changing too.

While the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have achieved some of their goals – such as claiming to have killed thousands of Hamas fighters – their war on Hamas is unfolding in front of an international community increasingly aghast at the extraordinary humanitarian crisis and tens of thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza.

Here are some other key developments:

Jordan's King Abdullah II and Crown Prince Hussein, fifth and sixth from left, meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, fourth from left, and officials in Amman, Jordan, in this handout photo released on January 7.

Jordan’s King?Abdullah?II?warned?US Secretary of State Antony Blinken?of the “catastrophic consequences of the continuing war in Gaza”?and?called for?“an end to the dire humanitarian crisis” in the?enclave, according to a palace statement released after their meeting Sunday.?

King?Abdullah?II?“reiterated the importance of the US role in putting pressure for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza”?and ensuring “adequate and sustainable delivery of relief, humanitarian, and medical assistance”?to Gaza,?according to the statement.?

He said?regional stability could only be achieved through?“a just?solution to the Palestinians issue” and a “comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution.”

The monarch reiterated his?“unequivocal rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which constitutes a clear violation of international law,” the?palace?said.

The king?also stressed that violence committed by extremist?settlers in the West Bank must be stopped before it leads “to an explosion in the region.”

In a statement, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller thanked the King for Jordan’s “role and leadership in providing life-saving aid to Palestinians civilians in Gaza.”

“They both agreed to continue close coordination for sustained humanitarian assistance,” it read.

The statement also said Blinken emphasized US opposition to displacing Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and the need to provide civilians protection from violence.

Miller’s statement said the secretary also shared in the meeting that the US is committed to finding peace and security for both Israelis and Palestinians, specifically through the “establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”?

From?Jordan, Blinken?heads?to Qatar?where he will meet Sunday with Qatari Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and the?Prime Minister?and Foreign Minister?Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.?

Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh hugs his daughter during the funeral for his son Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh in Rafah, Gaza, on January 7.

The son of Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh was killed in an apparent Israeli airstrike on Sunday.

His son’s death comes just months after his wife, two children and grandchild were killed in a strike he himself reported on before he learned of their deaths.

The network reported that Wael’s photojournalist son Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh, 27, was killed west of Khan Younis on Sunday, alongside Al Jazeera employee Mustafa Thuraya. Their driver was also killed and another person was critically injured, local journalists told CNN.

“There is nothing more painful than losing your own blood and especially your own eldest son. Hamza was me, my soulmate and everything,”?Al-Dahdouh said during a live interview on?Al Jazeera on Sunday.?

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said even before their deaths that more journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Hamas war than had ever been killed in a single country in an entire year.

Al-Dahdouh also spoke?at his son’s funeral on Sunday, saying that?he hoped Hamza’s death would be the last.

“I wish that the blood of my son will be the last of those journalists killed and those killed in this massacre,” he said in video broadcast by Al Jazeera. Pictures from the funeral showed Al-Dahdouh, wearing his press vest, holding his son’s lifeless hand and kissing it repeatedly as he wept.

Al-Dahdouh’s own hand was bandaged. He was injured in an attack that killed his colleague Samer Abu Daqqa in December.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a CNN question about the apparent airstrike that killed the two Al Jazeera employees on Sunday.

The Israeli military has said in the past that it never intentionally targets journalists.

But the CPJ, which promotes press freedom worldwide, said 77 journalists and media workers were killed in Gaza between October 7 and December 31. Of those 70 were Palestinians, four Israeli and three Lebanese.

Wael Al-Dahdouh’s wife, son, daughter, and grandson were killed in October in an explosion at the house where they were sheltering in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. The IDF told CNN it had carried out an airstrike in an area of Gaza where Al-Dahdouh’s relatives were killed while it was targeting “Hamas terrorist infrastructure.”

Seven?Palestinian?men?were?killed?in?an Israeli?airstrike?near?Jenin?in?the occupied West Bank, the?Palestinian?Ministry of Health?in?Ramallah said Sunday. Israel confirmed it had carried out an?airstrike, calling the?men?“terrorists.”

Four of the dead were brothers, the official?Palestinian?news agency WAFA said.

Palestinian?factions called a general strike?in?the West Bank?in?response to Sunday’s killings, and funeral processions for the?six?men?were being held Sunday morning.

The IDF did not say why it identified all the victims as terrorists.

But the?Palestinian?militant group Islamic Jihad said they were “engaged?in clashes with bullets and explosive devices”?in?the Jenin?camp, according to a statement by the PIJ’s Al-Quds Brigades?in?the West Bank.

The IDF also said an Israel Border Police officer was?killed?when her vehicle drove over an explosive device during the operation, and that other officers were?injured. The IDF identified the dead officer as Sgt. Shay Germay, and said her family has been notified.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, violence in the West Bank has been on the rise. At least 334 people have been killed by either soldiers or Israeli settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The Peace Palace, which houses the United Nations International Court of Justice, in The Hague, Netherlands, on September 19.

Israel has appointed British lawyer Malcolm Shaw to represent it at the International Court of Justice where this week it will fight genocide allegations, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat told CNN Sunday.

Shaw has a long history of representing national governments in international courts and has appeared before the European Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Justice, the Court of Final Appeal (Hong Kong), the High Court of Ireland, and the UK Supreme Court, in addition to the ICJ, according to the law firm where he works.?

He has represented the United Arab Emirates at the ICJ, and Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Ireland, Malaysia and Cameroon in other courts, his Essex Court Chambers biography says.?

Some context: South Africa filed an application against Israel at the ICJ last month, accusing?Israel of being “in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention” because of its war in Gaza.?

Filing its case, South Africa said it was “gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants.”

Israel firmly rejected the accusations and said it would appear before the court “to dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel.”

South Africa and Israel are both parties to the Genocide Convention, according to the ICJ, which is also known as the World Court and is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

CNN’s Amir Tal contributed to this post.

Smoke rises over?Gaza, as seen from southern Israel, on January 4.

Three months ago, speaking to citizens rocked by a?horrific day of attacks?by Hamas, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a promise.

Now, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is shifting to?a new phase?of its war on Hamas in Gaza – and there are signs its objectives are changing too.

“The record is not very friendly to military campaigns seeking to eradicate political military movements that are deeply rooted,” Bilal Y. Saab, an associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa at Chatham House, told CNN.

Israel has seen some successes in that regard; its forces claim to have killed thousands of Hamas fighters, including some high-ranking members, and have dismantled some parts of the group’s vast tunnel network under the enclave.

But challenges remain and an endgame is far from sight. Few countries at war set deadlines. Israeli officials have warned of a lengthy war that could stretch through the entirety of 2024 and beyond.

It will unfold in front of an international community that is increasingly aghast at the extraordinary humanitarian crisis and spiraling civilian deaths in Gaza.

And as international pressure increases, so too could domestic unease towards Netanyahu – an embattled prime minister eager to point to tangible victories.

“There is a race against time,” said Saab, outlining the key questions facing Israel’s leadership. “At what price is this tactical success going to come, and how much time do the Israelis have to achieve that tactical success without suffering from more significant international outrage?”

Read more: Israel is shifting to a new phase of its war on Hamas.

A Palestinian child cries next to his mother after they were rushed into Nasser hospital, following an Israeli strike, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on November 13, 2023.

It’s been three months since the devastating Hamas attack that sparked Israel’s war in Gaza, and the deadly fighting has led to a dire humanitarian crisis in the area.?

The Israeli military began an offensive on the Palestinian enclave after Hamas militants launched a brutal assault on Israel on October 7, with gunmen killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 200 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

In the three months since the attack, more than 22,700 people in Gaza have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Here’s a look at some of the key moments in the conflict:

October 7: Hamas’ attack.?Hamas’ surprise October 7 assault marked the biggest terrorist attack in Israel’s history. At least 1,500 Hamas fighters poured across the border into Israel by land, sea and air using paragliders. Soon after, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was “at war.”

Rockets are fired from Gaza City towards Israel on October 7, 2023.

October 9: Israel orders the “complete siege” of Gaza.?Two days afterwards, Netanyahu said the Israeli military would?attack Hamas with a force “like never before,”?with the goal of destroying the militant group.

October 13: A growing exodus.?Israel’s military told 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes immediately, as it stepped up its response. Since the conflict began, the UN estimates?up to 1.9 million people have been displaced.

Palestinians carrying their belongings flee to safer areas in Gaza City after Israeli air strikes, on October 13, 2023.

October 17: Hundreds killed at Gaza hospital.?A deadly blast?tore through Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, which was sheltering thousands of displaced people.?CNN found?that the blast was likely caused by a malfunctioning rocket fired by Palestinian militants rather than an Israeli strike.

October 27: Israel expands its ground offensive.?After a war largely conducted from the air, the Israel Defense Forces announced it was “expanding ground operations” in Gaza.

Smoke and fire rise from a leveled building after an Israeli strike on Gaza, on October 26, 2023.

November 15: Al-Shifa hospital raid.?Israel?launched a “targeted” operation?against Hamas inside Gaza’s largest hospital, where thousands of Palestinians were believed to be sheltering.?Conditions at the hospital deteriorated rapidly in the days of fighting. The raid sparked international criticism.

November 24: A truce begins.?After days of careful negotiations, a truce between Israel and Hamas brought a pause to fighting. As part of the truce, civilian hostages held captive by militants were released, with groups of hostages being released each day.

Members of the Red Cross prepare to transport hostages released by Hamas in Rafah, southern Gaza, on November 28, 2023.

December 1: The truce collapses.?One week later, the Israeli military resumed fighting against Hamas in Gaza, accusing the group of breaking the terms of the truce. Israel’s focus began shifting from northern to southern Gaza.

December 15: Hostages killed in botched?raid.?Israeli soldiers shot and killed?three Israeli hostages in northern Gaza after misidentifying them as threats. The IDF said the shooting was against its rules of engagement and that the soldiers involved would face disciplinary procedures.

The three hostages killed are identified as, from left to right, Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz, and Samer Talalka.

January 1: Israel announces partial withdrawal.?On the first day of the new year,?Israel announced?it would soon begin pulling thousands of soldiers out of Gaza in preparation for a new phase of the conflict, although a top official warned that he expected the fighting to continue throughout the year.

The Israel Defense Forces has dropped new flyers in neighborhoods in central Gaza urging Palestinians to evacuate to the nearby city of Deir al-Balah.?

The IDF said people in the neighborhoods of Al-Amal, Al-Sdera, Al-Basateen, Al-Farouq and Ain Jalout are in a dangerous war zone.

United Nations officials have previously said there is?nowhere safe for civilians?to go in Gaza. Many displaced residents have already fled to Deir al-Balah. Gazans told CNN this week that?living conditions there are dismal, despite instructions from the Israeli military that it would be safer there.

Here are some other key updates:

Israeli soldiers watch Gaza City from a position on the Israeli border with northern Gaza on January 1.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed Saturday that it had completed dismantling Hamas’ command structure in northern Gaza.

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the IDF was now focused on dismantling Hamas in central and southern Gaza.?

Hagari told a press conference that around 8,000 Hamas militants had been killed in northern Gaza.?

CNN cannot independently verify the IDF claim that it has dismantled the Hamas command structure in northern Gaza or that 8,000 Hamas militants have been killed.??

At least 22,722 people have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israeli military operations that began following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

Almost 70% of those individuals killed in Gaza are women and children, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report released in December.

Hagari said the IDF would continue its effort to dismantle Hamas, but this would take time.?

Palestinians walk past tents at a makeshift camp housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza, on January 2.

Almost 90% of Palestinians in Gaza have been forcibly displaced due to Israel’s war on Hamas, according to the?United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

About two million people live in Gaza. The civilians there “lack everything,” the UNRWA said.

A Houthi operated helicopter, bearing a Palestinian and a Yemeni flag, flying over protesters during a march in solidarity with the people of Gaza, in the Houthi-controlled capital of Sanaa in Yemen on January 5.

Iran is facing an “all-out battle” with an “enemy” actor, a top Iranian commander said, as Western nations vow to tackle the recent slew of attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

Salami did not name the enemy during the televised speech, according to Reuters.??

On January 2, the Iranian Navy dispatched a military destroyer to the?Red?Sea as?tensions in the waterway soared. Although Iran?did not officially provide a reason for the deployment, state affiliated Tasnim News Agency said the destroyer was dispatched as part of a series of vessels taking part “in regular missions in international waters.”?

This comes as the UK-based maritime security group, Ambrey Analytics, said in an alert Saturday that it had received a report of “a?maritime security event in the Bab al Mandab area” in the Red Sea.???

“Crews are advised to minimize deck movements and only essential crew should be on the bridge,” it said.?

This is just one of several similar events to take place in the Red Sea in recent weeks. The Houthi rebels, considered to be one of Iran’s proxies, have launched several?attacks against commercial and merchant vessels in the Red Sea in what the group have called a revenge campaign against Israel’s war in Gaza.???

A coalition of 11 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, condemned the “illegal” and “profoundly destabilizing” attacks in a joint statement Wednesday. The coalition outlined their serious intention to “hold malign actors accountable” for “unlawful seizures and attacks.”????

The UK’s finance minister underlined the severity of the situation during an interview with BBC Radio 4 Saturday, acknowledging that attacks “may have an impact” on prices in the country.?

Finance minister Jeremy Hunt said the UK and its partners have made it “very clear to the Houthis” that the rebel group’s actions in the Red Sea will bear “consequences.”??

“We will not?just sit back and accept that because it’s so vital for global trade,” Hunt warned.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a Cabinet meeting at the Kirya, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defense, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on December 31, 2023.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Saturday that the war against Hamas “must not be stopped” until Israel achieves three main objectives: “eliminate Hamas, return our hostages and ensure that Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel.”

In a statement released Saturday by his office, the prime minister said Israel will “not give Hamas immunity anywhere, and we are fighting to restore security in both the south and the north.”

Israel’s plans for new phase of war: Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday unveiled plans for the next phase of the war in Gaza. In the third phase, Israel Defense Forces soldiers in northern Gaza will adopt a “new combat approach” encompassing “raids, the destruction of terror tunnels, aerial and ground activities, and special operations,” according to Gallant.

In southern Gaza, the Israeli military will continue its pursuit of Hamas leaders in the region “for as long as necessary,” Gallant said. Israeli forces stationed in the south will also focus on “enabling the return of the hostages” still in captivity, he added.?

Gallant also provided details of the fourth and supposed final phase of the war, entitled the “Day After.” The post-war phase announced by Gallant envisages a Gaza Strip no longer controlled by Hamas, which would no longer “pose a security threat to the citizens of Israel.”?

Once the “goals of the war have been achieved” there would be “no Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip,” according to his plan.?Israel would, however, maintain its “operational freedom of action in the Gaza strip” and continue to “carry out the inspection of goods entering the Gaza strip,” the plan stated.?

Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, speaks at a joint press conference with Lebanon's foreign minister following their meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, on January 6.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, stressed that it is “absolutely necessary” to avoid Lebanon “being dragged into a regional conflict” as the paramilitary group Hezbollah engages in intensifying clashes with Israeli forces across the Lebanese border.

Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah were further inflamed this week by the?killing of a senior Hamas leader in Beirut.?

Borrell also said the entire international community needs to work toward “change in the Middle East,” adding that “we cannot continue with the deplorable, awful track record of the last year or the last decade” in the region.?

Bou Habib also spoke at the news conference, telling reporters that he “strongly reaffirm(s) that peace for Lebanon is essential and that all Lebanese (people) are attached to peace.”?

“The Lebanese government is actively seeking to de-escalate” the situation at the border, he said.

Borrell will travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, he said at Saturday’s news conference, where he will be discussing “concrete steps that could galvanize a serious international peace effort.”?

“Nobody will win from a regional conflict,” he said, referencing growing fears that the Israel-Hamas war could spill into a wider conflict involving Iranian proxy groups like Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Israeli troops move out of Gaza as smoke rises during Israeli bombardment as seen from the Israeli side of the border on January 5, in southern Israel.

The head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, says he hopes US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be “more focused” on ending Israeli “aggression” in Gaza during the top diplomat’s multi-country visit to the region.

Blinken is undertaking another shuttle diplomacy tour amid heightened fears that the Israel-Hamas war may spill over into a wider regional conflict. Attacks in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq this week have spiked tensions in the region as Iranian proxy groups Hezbollah and the Houthis increase their threats against Israel.??

In a video message shared by Hamas on Saturday, the Doha-based Hamas political leader said he hopes the US has “realized the extent” of its “mistakes” in supporting Israel.???

Haniyeh said Hamas hopes Blinken — in his fourth trip to the region since Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 — will be “more focused this time to end the aggression” being carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip.??

Earlier this week, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant unveiled the third phase of the war campaign in Gaza, which includes a new combat approach in the north and a commitment to keep pursuing Hamas leaders in southern Gaza for “for as long as necessary.”??

Haniyeh also said that leaders of Arab nations who meet Blinken should “stress to the US administration that the future and stability” of the region is linked to the “Palestinian cause.”???

He reiterated Hamas’ view that the Palestinian people should have a “completely independent state” with “complete sovereignty.”??

More on Blinken’s trip: Indirect back-channeling to Iran will also be a key focus of Blinken’s trip, a senior State Department official said Friday. The top US diplomat will make clear to the leaders with whom he meets that the US does not want to see the conflict escalate nor do they intend to escalate it. The US expects that message to then be conveyed to Iran and Iranian proxies through the countries that have a relationship with them, the official said.

The secretary of state met with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip?Erdogan. After going to Greece, he will travel to Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Egypt.?

Warning leaflets are dropped by Israeli forces over Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, on January 4.

The Israel Defense Forces dropped new flyers on neighborhoods in central Gaza on Saturday, urging Palestinians to evacuate to the nearby city of Deir al-Balah.?

The IDF said people in the neighborhoods Al-Amal, Al-Sdera, Al-Basateen, Al-Farouq and Ain Jalout are in a dangerous war zone.??

The IDF has frequently dropped leaflets to warn residents of Gaza to leave their neighborhoods. Given poor communication systems across Gaza, it is not clear how effective the leaflets are.

United Nations officials have previously said there is nowhere safe for civilians to go in Gaza.

Dismal conditions in Deir al-Balah: Many displaced residents have already fled to Deir al-Balah. Gazans told CNN this week that living conditions there are primitive at best, despite instructions from the Israeli military that it would be safer there.

Generations of Palestinians are camped out among the rubble of flattened buildings in the central city.

Abu Adnan, a displaced civilian who now lives on the streets of Deir al-Balah, told CNN he wishes he had “stayed at home and got shot.”

“I tried to go back home twice but my children pulled me back,” he said. “There are no toilets, no food, no water, no clothes. With all this, I prefer to go back home and die with dignity than dying this way.”

CNN’s Sana Noor Haq contributed reporting to this post.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah says it fired a total of 62 rockets at an Israeli observation post along the Israel-Lebanon border on Saturday as an “initial response” to the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Beirut earlier this week.???

In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters launched an attack shortly after 8 a.m. local time (1 a.m. ET) on the Meron Air Surveillance Base in northern Israel as an “initial response” to the killing of Saleh Al-Arouri in southern Beirut on Tuesday.???

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that “approximately 40 launches” from Lebanon toward the area of Meron in northern Israel were identified after sirens sounded in northern Israel on Saturday.

Red alerts - warning of potential incoming rocket fire including where intercept shrapnel may fall - were issued for over 100 locations in northern Israel on Saturday morning.???

The Israeli military then struck the Hezbollah fighters who “took part in the launches,” the statement added.???

Fears of a wider war: Earlier this week, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told CNN that his government hoped Hezbollah wouldn’t respond to the Beirut attack, stressing Lebanon did not want “any escalation in the war.”???

Israel has not taken responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, with Mark Regev, a senior adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling MSNBC that?whoever masterminded the attack “has a gripe with Hamas” itself.???

But if Israeli involvement is confirmed, Arouri would be the most senior Hamas official killed by Israeli forces since the start of the war sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

In addition to dealing a blow to Hamas’ leadership, the apparent attack also risks further broadening the arena of the Israel-Hamas conflict.