Live: Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 26,000

The Jordanian army has accused Israel of a "flagrant breach of international law" after its field hospital in southern Gaza's Khan Younis was badly damaged by Israeli shelling overnight.

A Palestinian taking shelter with his family in hospital described a night of terror and chaos, as Israeli jets and tanks pummelled areas nearby.

"It was very cold and the bombing was terrifying," Mohammad Rami, a father of three, told Middle East Eye. "Some went to schools but many spent the night on the streets."

Two Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, bringing the death toll among Israeli forces to over 600 since 7 October.

To read a full recap of today's events in Gaza, click below.

Israel pummels Khan Younis, damaging field hospital and razing cemetery

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that the death toll from the morning's Israeli air strike on the West Bank city of Tulkarm has now reached five.

The ministry identified those killed as 18-year-old Ahmed Tariq Noman Faraj; 17-year-old Walid Ibrahim Muhammad Ghanem; 17-year-old Ahmed Musa; 35-year-old Ahmed Moein Deeb Mahdawi; and 22-year-old Ashraf Ahmed Yassin.

A spokesman for the Yemeni group told Reuters that the attacks on ships in the Red Sea heading to Israel will continue despite the designation.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration officially labelled the Houthis as a global terrorist organisation, reversing a move it made in 2021 to remove the designation.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel petitioned the Supreme Court of Justice demanding to be able to hold an anti-war protest in the city of Haifa. 

The protest was organised by the Partnership for Peace (PfP) coalition, which is made up of dozens of organisations, and calls for a captive release deal, according to Haaretz.

The petition was filed after the police refused on Tuesday to approve the protest, for the third time.

The petition states that the police's refusal to approve the protest "joins the systematic oppression of protests, even small demonstrations, that criticise the combat, its results, and demand a diplomatic solution".

The petitioners added that since the start of the war, the "police persistently refuses to approve protests that the Palestinian public wishes to hold".

The statement in the petition also said that Israeli police are "systematically harming freedom of expression and freedom of protest of they who are seen as an exception from the consensus" and "regards legitimate criticism as supporting the enemy". 

The US on Wednesday relisted the Houthis as a terrorist group, US officials announced. 

Officials said the "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" (SDGT) designation, which targets the group with harsh sanctions, was aimed at cutting off funding and weapons the Houthis have used to attack or hijack ships in vital Red Sea shipping lanes, as a response to Israel’s war on Gaza.

"These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism," said one of three administration officials who briefed reporters ahead of the announcement, on condition of anonymity.

The White House’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the designation, which comes into effect in 30 days, could be reevaluated if the Houthis stop their attacks in the Red Sea.  
 

The Israeli military liaison confirmed on Wednesday they would be inspecting the five trucks of medical aid entering Gaza, according to Israeli media. 

The aid includes medicine intended for captives held in Gaza. 

The aid will undergo the check at the Kerem Shalom crossing, according to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.
 

Hamas denounced Germany’s decision to send around 10,000 precision-guided tank shells to the Israeli military in a statement on Wednesday. 

The group decried the decision and said it makes Germany a “direct partner in the war against our people in Gaza”.

The statement added that Germany “bears full political and moral responsibility for the war crimes committed by the Nazi Zionist government”.
 

Palestine Investment Fund chairman Mohammad Mustafa estimated on Wednesday that rebuilding housing units in Gaza would cost at least $15bn.

Mustafa said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that reconstruction efforts will be huge and the financial needs will be significant.
 

Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday that attacks against Israel and its interests by the "Axis of Resistance" will stop if the Gaza war ends, raising concerns over the war heightening tensions across the region. 

"An end to the genocide in Gaza will lead to an end of military actions and crises in the region,"  Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The security of the Red Sea is tied to the developments in Gaza, and everyone will suffer if Israel's crimes in Gaza do not stop… All the [resistance] fronts will remain active."
 

The Knesset has approved the extension of a temporary order that enables the National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to declare a "state of prison emergency" and worsen the confinement condition of prisoners, according to Haaretz on Wednesday.

The extension was approved in second and third readings and allows the minister to decrease the living space of prisoners and admit prisoners to prisons that are already at full capacity.
 

More people in Gaza are likely to die of hunger and famine than war, Palestine Investment Fund chairman Mohammed Mustafa said on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum.

Gaza has been under a telecommunications blackout since 12 January, digital rights activists say, marking the longest period of disruption since the start of the war on 7 October. 

Digital rights activist Mona Shtayya raised concerns on X on Wednesday that the blackout is hindering coverage of atrocities being carried out by Israeli forces in Gaza.
 

Yusuf, a British-Palestinian, has not heard from his parents and siblings in Gaza for five days.

Contact with them over the last few months has been disrupted by frequent communications blackouts, which can last for days at a time.

The most recent outage has been the longest, and the most agonising.

“If I could at least hear from someone who could reassure me they are OK, it would keep me going," he told Middle East Eye. “These have been the worst three months of my life.

“It’s beyond imagination... I feel helpless.”

Despite being a British citizen, Yusuf is struggling to bring his family over to the UK.

Lacking a Ukraine-style visa scheme, British nationals wishing to bring their Palestinian relatives to the UK must apply through existing family visa routes, which are prolonged, costly and often exclude siblings, parents of adult children and extended family.

Read more: 'Neglected and abandoned': British-Palestinians fight to bring family from Gaza to UK

Iran's foreign minister said the target of strikes launched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps inside Pakistan were "terrorists linked to Israel". 

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned that "everyone will be harmed" if Israel's "crimes in Gaza" do not stop immediately. 

Pakistan earlier recalled its ambassador from Iran and denounced the strikes launched by Tehran as "illegal and unacceptable". 

Since the launch of its Al-Aqsa Flood operation, the Palestinian group Hamas has been looking to its allies in the Iran-led "Axis of Resistance" for support in confronting Israel's brutal military force. Notably, many Axis members responded to the calls of the Palestinian resistance, albeit cautiously.

However, Yemen's contribution to the fight against Israeli aggression is perhaps having the most significant impact among the coalition partners.

Since November, Houthi armed forces have focused on maritime operations by blocking or seizing commercial ships they say are en route or linked to Israel.

The group made clear that its objective was to enforce Article 1 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide - ratified by Yemen in 1989 - which requires states to "prevent and to punish" perpetrators of genocide. 

The world has since felt the consequence of Yemen’s geographical position and its impact on international trade, given the close proximity of the Yemeni Perim Island to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

However, rather than force Israel to comply with international law and address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the US and its regional allies, including Egypt, have launched a joint project to transport cargo on land as an alternative trade route to the Red Sea.

Ironically, despite its role in precipitating the maritime clashes and regional tensions more broadly, Israel is positioning its port as the new corridor for global trade. This effort, which intends to divert traffic from the Suez Canal, will result in a major loss of income for Egypt and prove lucrative for Israel.

Red Sea attacks: Why is Egypt helping Israel become the new trade corridor?  -By Walid Abuhelal