Live: Palestinian death toll in Gaza nears 26,000

On Monday, the United States called for an investigation in response to the death of a 17-year-old Palestinian American in the West Bank, who was killed by Israeli forces, according to Palestinian health officials.

At the briefing, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the US has requested an immediate investigation into the death of Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, who was killed on 19 January.

Palestinian health officials reported that the American-born teenager was killed by Israeli security forces in the occupied West Bank. His uncle told Reuters that his death occurred amidst clashes with the Israeli military.

"We are devastated about the killing of 17-year-old US citizen, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, in the West Bank," Patel told reporters."We have called for an urgent investigation to determine the circumstances of his death and accountability... as appropriate," he added.

On Monday, the White House said that Israel is bound by international law to ensure the maximum protection of innocent people in Gaza hospitals, even while conducting operations against Hamas.

"We know that Hamas deliberately uses places like hospitals to store weapons, house their fighters, even to some degree, for command and control. So that places a special need on the Israeli Defense Forces, but also a special burden," White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told a news briefing.

Kirby said Israel had a right to defend itself but added, "We expect them to do so in accordance with international law and to protect innocent people in hospitals, medical staff and patients as well, as much as possible."

US President Joe Biden spoke with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday, discussing topics related to the Red Sea, Gaza, and Ukraine, White House spokesperson John Kirby said.

“They talked about what’s going on in the Red Sea and the need for a continued international multilateral approach to disrupting and degrading Houthi capabilities,” Kirby told reporters in Washington.

According to Kirby, both Biden and Sunak also addressed the importance of reducing civilian casualties and enhancing the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, as well as the critical necessity for additional funding and support for Ukraine.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, said on Monday at a conference focused on combating antisemitism that audits commissioned by the company have shown its platform contains less antisemitic content compared to other social media.

“The outside audits that we have had done... show that there is the least amount of antisemitism on X, if you look at all the other social apps,” he said at the conference.

In September, a collective of 100 Jewish leaders, encompassing notable rabbis and scholars, published an open letter condemning X and Elon Musk, accusing them of facilitating a “new stage of antisemitic discourse”.

According to their letter, Musk has disseminated various posts they characterised as antisemitic, and they highlighted that he has shown support for or amplified other similar remarks.

According to Haaretz, the ultra far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has threatened to pull out of the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, should the war on Gaza end.

"If it's decided to stop the war, I will not be a part of this government," Ben Gvir reportedly said, repeating past threats to topple Netanyahu's government.

Israel has killed more than 25,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are women and children, since it launches its assault on Gaza in October.

Despite racking up the huge death toll, Hamas continues to operate in the territory.

Israel's stated war aims are the release of hostages held by Hamas and the destruction of the Palestinian armed group.

Palestinians in Gaza have little way of communicating with those in the outside world amidst an Israel-imposed communications blackout.

For days, those without international sim cards have had no internet or telecommunications services.

Palestinians say this is a deliberate move by Israel to prevent reports of war crimes from getting out to the world.

The📍#GazaStrip is experiencing the longest communications shutdown since the war began.

People are cut off from loved ones and the rest of the world, increasing the feeling of isolation.

It also impedes humanitarian response and restricts access to lifesaving information. pic.twitter.com/tiY3uwPxsr

— UNRWA (@UNRWA) January 22, 2024

According to the Reuters news agency, Israel is considering building an artificial island with sea and air ports off blockaded Gaza, as a long-term solution to shipping goods into the Palestinian territory, the transport minister said.

Yisrael Katz told Army Radio on Wednesday he wants an international force to control the island for "at least 100 years" and for unloaded cargo to be brought into Gaza along a 4.5-km (3-mile)-long bridge with a security checkpoint to prevent arms smuggling.

Of the 600,000 people facing starvation globally, only five percent live outside of Gaza, according to figures from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

The organisation made up of UN agencies and other non-profit groups also said 90 percent of Gaza's population of 2.3 million people faces food insecurity.

Israel blocked food and energy supplies into Gaza when it began its war on the Palestinian territory in October.

The area had already been under a military blockade since 2007.

Relatives of Israeli captive being held by Palestinian armed groups in Gaza interrupted a meeting of a Knesset Finance Committee on Monday, according to the Times of Israel.

“You will not sit here while our children die,” some of the protesters said.

Around 132 Israeli hostages are believed to be in Gaza after they were seized by Hamas-led Palestinian fighters on 7 October.

Al-Aqsa University campus in Khan Younis opened its doors for the refugees from the north of the Strip following the Israeli assault on 7 October. 

"Today, the university has been bombarded by the Israeli occupation which has led to the death of a number of people," said Birzeit University, based in the occupied West Bank, in a post on X. 

"Birzeit sees this as a blatant violation of all the international charters and laws that incriminate the violation of the sanctity of academic institutions," it added. 

"The Israeli occupation, since Oct. 7, has destroyed more than 390 academic institutions, the last of which was bombing Al-Israa University, and The Islamic University. The university calls on the international world to work in order to stop this genocidal crimes in Gaza," the university said. 

Around 4,000 pro-Palestinian protesters in Melbourne, Australia, rallied on Saturday and Sunday for the 15th week in a row, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and blocking a major freight terminal.

The protest came amid an ongoing blockade of an Israeli ship at the city dock. 

The blockade at the Port of Melbourne has been ongoing for over two days, starting on Friday, and has prevented an Israeli-owned ship from being unloaded. It resulted in four cargo ships being stranded along with 30,000 containers. 

Mohammed Helmy, one of the protest organisers, told Middle East Eye that the protest and blockade has been effective so far and is intended to pressure the government to take action on the atrocities unfolding in Gaza as a result of Israeli aggression. 

"The action has completely blocked the port at the moment to send a strong message to the government that Melbournians are not happy with Zim ships being loaded from the Melbourne port," he said. 

Read more: Pro-Palestine protesters block Israeli ship from port of Melbourne

The manager of the surgical division of Nasser Hospital, in the Gazan city of Khan Younis, speaking to Al Jazeera, said that the hospital has received at least 50 dead bodies and over 100 people wounded in Israeli army strikes over the past 24 hours.

Many of the wounded are in critical condition due to delays in their transportation to the hospital.

The intensive care unit, which includes four beds, is at full capacity and cannot receive any more patients.

At least 25,295 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Its latest update says at least 63,000 have been wounded in attacks by the Israeli military.

The ministry said at least 190 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours and 340 were wounded. 

Israel has intensified its attacks on Khan Younis on Monday, with troops besieging the city from all sides.

The attacks are currently around the Al-Qadisiya area and near al-Kheir hospital, an eyewitness confirmed, speaking to Middle East Eye.

"Bodies of the dead and wounded are being taken to Nasser hospital via carts pushed by young men,” an eyewitness told MEE.

“Until now medical rescue teams find it extremely difficult to extract bodies and wounded from the sites of the attacks, which are random and in residential areas,” he said.

“We’ve sent out lots of calls to help the wounded and extract bodies but the area is very dangerous, the bombardment is ongoing."

The Israeli army is situated on all exits of Khan Younis and has imposed a siege on the city, a resident of the city said.

No one is allowed to enter or exit, he said. "I don't recommend any one from entering or exiting Khan Younis, it’s very dangerous,” he told MEE.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that his country would not normalise relations with Israel without a concrete plan for a Palestinian state.

When asked by the host “are you saying unequivocally that if there is not a credible and irreversible path to a Palestinian state, there will not be normalisation of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel?”

“That’s the only way we’re going to get a benefit, so yes,” Farhan replied. 

When asked if Saudi Arabia would finance reconstruction in Gaza, Prince Faisal gave a similar answer.

“As long as we’re able to find a pathway to a solution, a resolution, a pathway that means that we’re not going to be here again in a year or two, then we can talk about anything. But if we are just resetting to the status quo before October 7 - in a way that sets us up for another round of this, as we have seen in the past - we’re not interested in that conversation.”