Live Blog Update| Israel's genocide in Gaza
This is an entry from: Live: Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 26,000

Late night recap

20 January 2024 23:50 GMT

Hello MEE readers, 

Israel continued on Saturday its bombing of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city. The Palestinian Red Crescent said that Israeli forces targeted the vicinity of the city’s al-Amal Hospital with air strikes and artillery shelling.

The Israeli army has claimed that captives are being held in tunnels in the area.

Meanwhile, Israelis took to the streets again today, calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down and for new elections to be held amid frustrations over how he has handled the recent crisis. 

Netanyahu directly contradicted US President Joe Biden in a statement on X, rejecting the US leader’s claim that his Israeli counterpart recently told him he was open to a possible two-state solution. Several top-level Israeli officials made similar statements against future Palestinian statehood.

The comments challenge long-held foreign policy stances of most Israeli allies, which place a two-state solution at the heart of Middle East policy. 

In response, US Senator Bernie Sanders called on Biden to end his administration’s :unconditional support to Israel" given the Netanyahu government’s "illegal and inhumane actions". 

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne stood firmly against Netanyahu's remarks, posting to X that Palestinians have the right to a state, and that France will "remain faithful to its commitment to achieve this goal".

Other developments today include: 

  • Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the UN, again called for a ceasefire in a post to X. "People in Gaza are dying not only from bombs and bullets, but from lack of food & clean water, and hospitals without power & medicine. This must stop," he said.

  • US personnel suffered minor wounds and one member of Iraq's security forces was seriously wounded in an attack on Iraq's Ain al-Asad airbase on Saturday, a US official said, citing initial assessments.

  • An Israeli missile strike killed five members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards in Syria. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi warned that Israel's strike would not "go unanswered".

  • Israeli planes dropped leaflets on Gaza's Khan Younis, showing photos of captives and asking people to come forward with information on their whereabouts.