Live: Israeli forces detonate 20 homes in Jenin

Israel carried out 520 attacks on hospitals in Gaza during the 15-month war, according to a statement from Al-Awda Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The statement said that more than 100 ambulance teams were targeted, 2,260 medical staff arrested, and six workers at Al-Awda Hospital killed during the military’s siege of the facility.

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates on Israel's war on Gaza:

• Israeli forces have arrested 22 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

• Israeli forces have killed Qutaiba al-Shalabi and Mohammed Nazal, residents of the Qabatiya town in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin governorate.

• Gaza’s Civil Defence said 162 bodies have been recovered in the enclave since the implementation of the ceasefire on Sunday.

• In its latest update, the UN humanitarian agency, Ocha, says one of the challenges for Gaza’s recovery will be clearing land mines which would take “$500 million over 10 years to clear” and other unexploded ordnance left behind.

• Israeli authorities have extended a ban preventing Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the detained director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, from meeting with his lawyers until 6 February, the Palestinian Al Mezan Center for Human Rights said.

• Israel’s forces killed two Palestinians during a raid in the town of Burqin in the West Bank near the city of Jenin.

• The Philippine president said 17 Filipinos are among the 25 crew members of the Galaxy Leader ship that Yemen’s Houthis have released, and they are now working on their immediate repatriation to Manila.

• The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said it is examining "criminal complaints" against visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who is attending the World Economic Forum at the Swiss resort of Davos this week, AFP reported.

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Gaza’s Ministry of Education has revealed the devastating toll of Israel’s assault on the enclave, reporting that more than 15,000 school-age children have been killed or are missing, alongside over 800 education workers.

• Israeli forces killed two Palestinians during a raid in Wadi Burqin, near Jenin, on Wednesday, before demolishing the building they were in.

• The United Nations has confirmed that 808 aid trucks carrying food, fuel, and medical supplies entered Gaza on Wednesday, as humanitarian workers rush to assist Palestinians suffering under Israel’s months-long blockade.

• Gaza’s education ministry has condemned the world’s inaction as Israel’s relentless assault has devastated the enclave, accusing the international community of allowing “killing, destruction, and burning” on a scale unseen since World War II.

• Israel's ongoing military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank has displaced 2,000 families since mid-December and left the camp "nearly uninhabitable", according to Roland Friedrich, director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa).

• The Israeli army’s Givati Brigade has announced it is “preparing for the next mission” after weeks of brutal combat in Jabalia, northern Gaza. The infantry unit admitted to losing 86 soldiers since launching its assault on the besieged territory in October 2023.

• Israel is lobbying former US President Donald Trump for permission to maintain a military presence in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement requiring its full withdrawal by Sunday, according to Israel’s Channel 13.

• Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, has raised concerns over the potential consequences of Israel's raids in the West Bank.

• Israeli forces have arrested at least 25 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since Tuesday evening, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

• Israeli security chiefs and the head of Egyptian intelligence have reached an agreement for the Palestinian Authority (PA) to oversee Gaza's side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, according to an unnamed source cited by Asharq Al-Awsat.

• Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Walla news site that he is prepared to begin talks on the second stage of the Gaza ceasefire deal as soon as possible, ahead of the scheduled deadline for negotiations.

• Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy has announced plans to visit the region as part of what he called “an inspection team” tasked with overseeing compliance with the Gaza ceasefire.

The Lebanese army has completed its deployment in Kfarchouba, a village on Lebanon’s border with the occupied Golan Heights, following Israel’s withdrawal.

The move comes after a ceasefire agreement in November, which reaffirmed UN Security Council resolution 1701, ending the 2006 conflict and mandating the Lebanese military to be the sole armed presence at the border.

The Lebanese army has urged locals to avoid areas where Israeli forces recently retreated until their troops can secure roads and clear unexploded ordnance.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military continued its attacks in nearby villages, particularly southwest of Kfarchouba, with reports confirming the destruction of at least three homes in the Christian-majority village of Deir Mimas.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right former national security minister who resigned in protest over the ceasefire agreement, has condemned reports that the military instructed soldiers to remove offensive graffiti in Gaza.

The former minister labelled the move a "disgrace" and voiced his continued opposition to the ceasefire.

Ben-Gvir took to social media platform X, calling the ceasefire a "reckless surrender" and a "national humiliation." He insisted that Israel must abandon this approach and resume military action to "destroy" its enemies.

US President Donald Trump has re-designated Yemen's Houthi movement as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

The White House confirmed that this decision would direct USAID to sever ties with entities that have funded or supported the Houthis or obstructed international efforts to address the group's actions.

Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy to the Middle East, is committed to implementing the Gaza ceasefire and getting it to the second phase, he said in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.

He plans to head to Israel, where he will join an inspection team that will travel to the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors in Gaza, both areas held by Israel.

“I’m actually going to be going over to Israel. I’m going to be part of an inspection team at the Netzarim corridor and also at the Philadelphia corridor,” Witkoff said, adding that the inspectors will be there to ensure there is safety at the corridors and no one entering those areas is armed.

The trip will be Witkoff's first official visit to the Middle East and comes as the first phase of the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel continues to hold. Witkoff and his team joined the negotiations in Qatar that led to the deal in the last days of the previous Biden administration, and he is widely credited for pushing the deal through.

After being inaugurated, US President Donald Trump on Monday said he wasn't confident the ceasefire would make it into its second phase.

Read more: Witkoff says Trump directed him to get Gaza ceasefire to next phase

France has voiced concern over Israel’s deadly military operation in Jenin, which claimed the lives of at least nine Palestinians this week.

French authorities have called on Israel to exercise restraint in its actions in the occupied West Bank.

Jean-Noel Barrot, France’s foreign minister, is expected to raise the issue of Israeli settlers in the West Bank during an upcoming European Union meeting on 27 January, according to a statement from the French foreign ministry.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has condemned Israel’s ongoing assaults in the occupied West Bank, warning that the violence is inflicting severe physical and psychological harm on Palestinians while blocking access to urgent medical aid.

Following the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza, Israeli forces have intensified their raids, with ambulances and medical workers struggling to reach the wounded.

“What we are seeing in Jenin camp is horrific,” an MSF-trained paramedic said. “People are targeted while being evacuated, and [the] wounded cannot be reached by ambulance. We are running out of electricity, and we will soon be unable to use our electric vehicles to transport and stabilise patients.”

MSF said the escalation comes as the organisation has already been forced to halt operations in Jenin and cut back activities in Hebron and Nablus due to Israeli restrictions on movement.

The United Nations has confirmed that 808 aid trucks carrying food, fuel, and medical supplies entered Gaza on Wednesday, as humanitarian workers rush to assist Palestinians suffering under Israel’s months-long blockade.

“Humanitarian partners are carrying out rapid assessments in newly accessible areas to identify people’s most urgent needs, including water, hygiene, sanitation, and healthcare. They are also stepping up disease surveillance efforts,” the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) said.

Before the ceasefire began on Sunday, Israeli forces had choked off aid deliveries, with as few as 13 trucks allowed in on some days in January. The blockade left civilians without access to basic necessities, worsening the humanitarian disaster.

Throughout the war, Israeli attacks also targeted Palestinian police officers who had been escorting aid convoys, creating chaos as criminal gangs looted supplies and sold them at extortionate prices.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinians during a raid in Wadi Burqin, near Jenin, on Wednesday, before demolishing the building they were in.

The Israeli military said the men were “terrorists” and that they died in an exchange of fire with soldiers but no evidence was provided to support this allegation.

Hamas commander Hussein Fayyad, whom the Israeli military claimed to have killed last May, has appeared in a newly surfaced video, according to the Palestinian media outlet Arab48.

The footage, widely shared on social media on Wednesday, shows a man resembling Fayyad speaking at a funeral in northern Gaza, standing amid the ruins of a bombed-out building, with a group of men listening.

Fayyad is the commander of Hamas’s Beit Hanoun Battalion. Beit Hanoun was one of the first areas targeted by Israel in 2023.

In his speech, he praised Gaza’s resistance against Israel’s military assault, saying, “When the strong doesn't achieve its goals, it is defeated, but the weak, which prevented the strong from achieving its goals - it is the victor.”

He also dismissed Israel’s offensive as futile.

Read more: Senior Hamas commander appears on video despite Israeli claim he was killed

Gaza’s Ministry of Education has revealed the devastating toll of Israel’s assault on the enclave, reporting that more than 15,000 school-age children have been killed or are missing, alongside over 800 education workers.

The ministry also said that at least 50,000 students have been wounded, while 95 percent of Gaza’s schools and educational facilities have suffered direct damage.

With 85 percent either completely or partially destroyed, the education system has been left in near-total collapse.

Israel is lobbying US President Donald Trump for permission to maintain a military presence in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire agreement requiring its full withdrawal by Sunday, according to Israel’s Channel 13.

The report says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is seeking Trump’s blessing to keep five military outposts in Lebanon, effectively prolonging the Israeli occupation of parts of the country.

Under the terms of the truce reached with Hezbollah in November, all Israeli forces were supposed to leave Lebanese territory, yet Israel has continued its near-daily attacks, violating the agreement.

Hezbollah, despite these provocations, has largely held back from major retaliation, launching only a single “warning” strike on an Israeli base. The group’s leadership has made it clear they are giving the Lebanese government space to resolve Israel’s breaches diplomatically.

However, frustration is growing. Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, a senior Hezbollah official, said on Wednesday that “Monday will be a different day” if Israeli forces refuse to leave Lebanon, signalling that patience may be running out.

Fierce fighting erupted in the town of Burqin, west of Jenin, after Israeli special forces attacked a Palestinian home, Palestinian news source Wafa has reported.

Israeli troops unleashed heavy gunfire on the house belonging to the family of Ahmed Masad, a Palestinian who was killed, in an assault that sent shockwaves through the community, reports say.

Eyewitnesses accused Israeli soldiers of seizing a group of Palestinian women and forcing them to act as "human shields" during the attack, a tactic that has drawn widespread outrage in the past.