Live: Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 26,000

The entire central Gaza area is under heavy Israeli bombardment including all the refugee camps - Maghazi, Bureij and Nuseirat - as well as Az-Zawayda area and the city of Deir el-Balah.

Even the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Hospital, which has now run out of fuel.

People have been arriving at the hospital, even though it is unable to provide proper care.

The north of Gaza faces even worse shortages of food, water and medical supplies. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked his country’s officials to skip this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos over the organisers’ stance on Israel’s war against Hamas, according to people familiar with the matter Bloomberg report on Monday.

Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek was set to attend according to reports, until Erdogan reversed the decision.

Klaus Schwab, the forum’s founder and executive chairman, released a statement following the 7 October Hamas assault which some saw as insufficiently critical of Israel's brutal response which has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians.

At least 132 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours and at least 252 people were also wounded by Israeli attacks during this period, reports Gaza’s Health Ministry.

“A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads and ambulances, and civil defence crews cannot reach them,” the ministry said in a post on Facebook.

The latest casualties bring the total death toll in Gaza since October 7 to 24,100.

Police detained the Antalyaspor player Sagiv Jehezkel after a message written on his wristband marking 100 days since the 7 October assault by Hamas.

The prosecutor launched an investigation into the incident, arguing that the Israeli national might have been trying to incite the public. Jehezkel told police in his official testimony that he wasn’t trying to incite anyone.

“I am not a pro-war person. And after all, there are also Israeli soldiers captured in Gaza,” he said.

“I am someone who believes that this 100-day period should end now. I want the war to end. That's why I showed the sign here," he said. "I am someone who has nothing to do with politics."

Jehezkel said that he wanted to draw attention to the fact that the war should end now."

Turkish Super Lig club Antalyaspor last night announced it would cancel Jehezkel's contract.

After three months of Israel's war on Gaza, and after months of widespread mass protests against the war and calls for US President Joe Biden to support a ceasefire, Washington ordered air strikes on Yemen, an escalatory move that could push the region into a wider war.

The decision by Biden has exponentially increased the level of anger from lawmakers and progressives who have been working since October to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

But anger and dissent aren't limited to the progressive camp. Middle East Eye spoke to congressional staffers from several offices across both chambers, as well as several staffers working in the Biden administration who say that frustration towards Biden and Congress has reached a boiling point.

"The level of anger at Joe Biden is now comparable to the level of anger at Donald Trump," one progressive Capitol Hill staffer told Middle East Eye on the night the US conducted the first strikes on Yemen.

Read more: Internal anger with Biden and Congress reaches boiling point

Israel’s latest attacks in the Gaza Strip has brought the death toll to more than 24,000 since the war began. Over 8,000 people are still missing.

Strikes this morning by Israeli forces killed at least 33 Palestinians. 

This number includes more than 10,400 children. At least 60,317 people are also wounded in the Strip as many go without proper healthcare treatment for their injuries.

China has called for a large-scale and authoritative peace conference on the war in Gaza and the need to renew efforts for a two-state solution.

Speaking in Egypt at the weekend, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for "the formulation of a specific timetable and road map for the implementation of the 'two-state solution' and support for the prompt resumption of Israel-Palestinian peace talks".

Wang, currently travelling through Egypt, Tunisia, Togo and the Ivory Coast, said last week that President Xi Jinping had "in-depth communication" with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iran. 

Israel's continued bombardment of homes in northern Gaza City killed at least 33 people and injured dozens more on Monday morning, Al Jazeera Arabic is reporting. 

Medical treatment is even more limited in northern Gaza, with no hospitals fully functioning in the area, according to the UN.

Palestine’s mission to the United Nations decried the statement made by the US secretary of state for making no mention of the 24,000 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip – about half of them children – in his post to mark 100 days of war.

“Shame on those who remain complicit and not call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Shame on them,” it said in a post on X.

Blinken only said “100 days of captivity in Gaza is far too long” without any acknowledgement of Palestinian suffering. 

Good morning readers of Middle East Eye,

We are on day 101 of the Israeli war on Gaza and the Palestinian death toll in Gaza stands at least 23,968 deaths recorded by hospitals, 10,600 of them children and 7,200 women.

At least 60,317 people are also wounded in the Strip many go without proper health care treatment.

More than 8,000 missing who are believed to be dead and buried under rubble. 

Here are the major developments from the last few hours: 

• The Israeli military killed five Palestinians, three of them teenagers, in different incidents across the occupied West Bank
• The US military says it shot down a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile fired from Yemen towards the USS Laboon warship in the Red Sea
• Bangladesh becomes the latest country to express support for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice
• Colombian president says South Africa’s legal team deserves Nobel Prize
• Egypt blames Israel’s ‘stubbornness’ for blocking aid through Rafah

Middle East Eye’s live coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza will shortly be closing for the evening.

Here are the day’s key developments.

Sunday marked the grim milestone of 100 days since the start of the conflict.

It saw at least 125 Palestinians killed and 265 injured.

According to the Palestinian government media office in Gaza, there have now been 23,968 deaths recorded by hospitals, 10,600 of them children and 7,200 women.

The media office also released figures saying that the Israeli army had committed 2,000 massacres (a massacre refers to an attack that leads to the mass killing of at least three people).

Late on Sunday, Hamas aired a video showing three Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza. The film ended with the chyron: "Tomorrow, we will inform you of their fate."

Hamas had said earlier on Sunday it had lost contact with some hostages amid Israeli shelling of Gaza which, it said, may have killed them.

Earlier, Israeli troops killed four gunmen who crossed into a disputed border area from Lebanon. Haaretz reported that the men were from a Palestinian group in Lebanon called the “Alez al-Islami” brigade.

Later, an anti-tank missile fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon killed two Israelis in the northern town of Kfar Yuval.

In Israel, it was announced that Ronen Bar, the head of the Israeli internal security agency Shin Bet, would resign after the war on Gaza. It has been claimed that Bar took responsibility for Shin Bet missing the warning signs that led to the 7 October attack.

In the US, President Joe Biden is facing huge anger from Congress over his decision to order air strikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The decision by Biden has exponentially increased the level of anger from lawmakers who have been working since October to push for a ceasefire in Gaza.

And at Johannesburg’s international airport, the South African legal team that had been presenting its case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague was filmed receiving a rapturous welcome by cheering crowds waving South African and Palestinian flags.

Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation against Israeli football player Sagiv Jehezkel on charges of "inciting people to hatred and hostility" over a gesture, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Sunday.

"A judicial investigation has been initiated by Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office against Israeli football player Sagiv Jehezkel for 'inciting people to hatred and hostility' due to his ugly gesture supporting Israel's massacre in Gaza after scoring a goal in the Antalyaspor-Trabzonspor Super Lig match," Tunc said on X (formerly Twitter).

Israeli player Jehezkel, 28, showed his bandaged hand after scoring a goal against Trabzonspor on Sunday. "100 days, 7.10" was written on his bandage, referring to the Hamas attack on 7 October.

Videos posted online showed crowds of supporters gathering at OR Tambo International Airport to welcome the team, with many waving South African and Palestinian flags.

Hamas aired a video on Sunday showing three Israeli hostages it is holding in Gaza appealing to their government to stop the offensive against the Palestinian Islamist group and bring about their release, as both sides marked the 100th day of the war.

The 37-second video of Noa Argamani, 26, Yossi Sharabi, 53, and Itay Svirsky, 38, talking in Hebrew and calling on the Israeli authorities to act for their return home, ended with the chyron: "Tomorrow we will inform you of their fate."

It was unclear when the footage was filmed.

Hamas said earlier on Sunday it had lost contact with some hostages amid Israeli shelling of Gaza which, it said, may have killed them.

Yemen's Houthis said US aircraft have been observed flying close to Yemeni airspace and coastal areas on Sunday.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam described the activity by "enemy" aircraft as a blatant violation of national sovereignty.