Israel-Palestine live: Netanyahu rejects Hamas ceasefire proposal, vows ‘total victory’

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that a "real effort" was being made to return captives held in Gaza but that it was too early to say how such a move would play out.

"This is a real effort," Netanyahu said in a meeting with families of the captives, according to a statement released by his office. 

"It's too early to say how it will take place but efforts are being made in these days, in these moments, these very hours."
 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday described the UN Palestinian refugee agency (Unrwa) as "the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza" and appealed to all countries to "guarantee the continuity of Unrwa's life-saving work".

While it is only symbolic, the resolution in Chicago is intended to be a message to US President Joe Biden to call for a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza. 

The resolution expresses support for a UN General Assembly resolution passed last month calling for an immediate ceasefire. 

Hundreds of pro-Palestine activists are already starting to line up outside the City Hall to watch the vote.

Israeli forces killed four Palestinians, including a child, in north Rafah on Wednesday, according to Palestinian reports. 

The four people were inside a vehicle when it was attacked by a drone strike. 

According to Haaretz, the car contained a member of Islamic Jihad.
 

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday warned that halting funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency would entail "catastrophic consequences" for people in Gaza.

"Decisions by various countries to pause funds for Unrwa, the largest supplier of humanitarian aid in this crisis, will have catastrophic consequences for the people of Gaza," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

"No other entity has the capacity to deliver the scale and breadth of assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need. We appeal for these announcements to be reconsidered."

Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir said on Wednesday that he is against a potential deal with Hamas that would see thousands of Palestinians released in exchange for captives held in Gaza. 

He told the Israeli parliament: “We won’t allow thousands of terrorists to be released. The numbers presented [in the media] are meant to prepare the ground for another far-fetching deal.”

He added, Israel has a “moral obligation to return the hostages, but it has an equal duty to provide security for its citizens”.
 

University professors in Yemen’s Sanaa rallied in support of Palestinians in Gaza and Houthi strikes on ships on Wednesday.

The professors waved Palestinian flags and chanted in support of Palestine.

Israeli tanks are surrounding Gaza’s al-Amal Hospital, with drones and heavy machine guns shooting “at every moving object inside the medical compound,” a correspondent for Al Jazeera said on Wednesday.

Earlier today, the Israeli forces stormed the hospital and a security guard was shot dead by one of the quadcopters hovering at a low level in the sky.

The al-Amal Hospital is already out of service due to Israel cutting off fuel, resources and ongoing Israeli bombardment. 
 

South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday that all states have an obligation to stop funding and facilitating Israel's military actions in Gaza.

The minister said that this was particularly important after the ICJ indicated that those actions could plausibly be genocidal.
 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit Egypt next month in a bid to restore ties and discuss aid to Gaza, Bloomberg News reported, citing Turkish officials familiar with the matter.

The two countries are set to discuss steps that could be taken to end the war on Gaza.
 

EU chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday that the UN agency Unrwa’s aid to Gaza plays an “irreplaceable role in delivering humanitarian aid in Gaza”.

“Although an investigation is needed, we shouldn’t let allegations cloud UNRWA’s indispensable and great work,” he said on X.

The EU Observer is reporting that there is growing anger amongst civil servants within the EU in response to the bloc's policy on Gaza.

It said more than 1,500 bureaucrats had signed a letter calling on the organisation to ensure international law was upheld and that weapons supplies to Israel were halted.

"As EU staff and EU citizens, we expect the EU leadership to lead by example and abide by the Treaty on the European Union," the letter read.

A video broadcast by Al Jazeera appears to show Israeli soldiers using a detained man as a human shield during a military operation in the Qalandiya refugee camp near Ramallah.

The man is seen in chains, wearing a medical face mask, military body armour and a soldier's helmet.

Middle East Eye cannot independently verify the footage.

Watch Israeli forces kidnap a Palestinian today, make them put on IOF uniform, tie them up in chains, and use them as a human shield during a raid at Qalandia refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem 🤯 pic.twitter.com/CfP7BChboO

— Tameem | تميم (@TameeOliveFern) January 31, 2024

Bosnian author Lana Bastasic, who earlier this month cut ties with her German publisher over its "silence on Gaza", has been disinvited from a literature festival in Austria, the writer announced on Instagram on Tuesday.

Bastasic received an email from organisers saying that they have been closely following the discussion surrounding her decision to leave the S. Fischer publishing house.

The email states: “As much as we appreciate your books, under the given circumstances, we unfortunately must withdraw our invitation.

"Your stay at Literaturhaus NO and participation in the Literature Festival Salzburg would inevitably imply a positioning on our part that we do not wish for...”

Earlier this month, Bastasic said it was her moral and ethical duty to end her contract with the publisher over its silence on Israel’s war on Gaza, as well as the culture of "systematic censorship" in Germany.

Read more: Bosnian author Lana Bastasic disinvited from Austria literature festival over Gaza views

The Washington Post reported on the potential framework of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.

According to the report, all civilian Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip would be released during a six-week ceasefire backed by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

The proposal includes the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, at a rate of three prisoners for each Israeli hostage, a temporary repositioning of Israeli troops away from high-population areas of Gaza, and a significant increase in humanitarian aid flowing into the enclave.