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That is the end of the liveblog for tonight. Visit the  for more news. Our liveblog will restart at 9am UK time.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirmed Israel's assassination of Hezbollah commander Wissam Hassan al Tawil.

"Concerning the operation in southern Lebanon, we have assumed responsibility. This action is a component of the conflict - targeting Hezbollah terrorists, their infrastructure, and systems established for deterring Israel," Katz said, as reported by the Israeli news outlet Ynet.

At least 249 Palestinians were killed and 510 wounded in attacks by Israel on Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Health Ministry says.

According to the Israeli NGO B'Tselem, 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip are suffering from hunger as a direct result of Israel's declared policy that deprives them of food.

The centre, through its account on the X, said that the residents of Gaza now completely depend on external supplies, as they are almost unable to produce any food themselves.

1/5 The 2.2 million people of Gaza are going hungry. This is not a byproduct of war but a direct result of Israel’s declared policy, which denies them food. Gazans now depend entirely on supplies from outside, as they can no longer produce almost any food themselves.

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem)

Israeli forces target various areas in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip with heavy artillery shelling, Al Jazeera correspondent has reported. 

An Hour Ago: Firebelts over Khan-Younis tonight

— TIMES OF GAZA (@Timesofgaza)

The Supreme Court of Israel has denied a plea from global media entities to permit journalists to report from Gaza.

The Foreign Press Association, representing a number of media organizations active in Israel and Palestinian territories, had submitted a petition previously, demanding Israeli officials to grant journalists entry.

According to AP, the court expressed concerns that journalists in Gaza might compromise soldier safety by revealing troop locations. 

The Israeli government reportedly intends to communicate to Blinken that the return of displaced Palestinians to their residences in northern Gaza is conditional on progress in the release of captives, Axios has reported, citing two unnamed Israeli officials.

A senior Israeli official is quoted as saying, "We will not permit Palestinians to return to their homes in northern Gaza unless there is headway in the release of hostages."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv late Monday to brief Israeli officials on his two days of talks with Arab leaders on the war on Gaza.

He also said he would press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government "on the absolute imperative to do more to protect civilians and to do more to make sure that humanitarian assistance is getting into the hands of those who need it."

Israel must allow displaced Palestinian civilians to return to their homes in Gaza, Blinken said in response to calls by right-wing members of Israel's ruling coalition for them to move elsewhere.

(Reuters)

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has told to his French counterpart that permitting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to escalate the situation into a broader regional conflict is "unacceptable,"according to Reuters.

The only remaining hospital in central Gaza is facing imminent shutdown due to the intense conflict engulfing the area, according to a UN spokesperson.

Recent reports indicate that aid groups have had to evacuate Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, causing widespread alarm among those seeking refuge there.

The Israeli military has declared the areas around the hospital as a "red zone," as reported by the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Gemma Connell, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told the BBC, "Al-Aqsa is the single remaining hospital in the middle area of Gaza," where a "major offensive is under way."

"The situation in the hospital is dire. We have just a single doctor who is working in the emergency room. You have only two surgeons left responding to hundreds of needs in that hospital. You have so many casualties coming in every single hour who are in desperate need of life-saving support," Connell added

World Health Organization (WHO) staff who visited the hospital on Sunday described "sickening scenes of people of all ages being treated on blood-streaked floors and in chaotic corridors," according to a statement by WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Gaza: Few doctors remain at Al-Aqsa Hospital, where hundreds of patients are in need of urgent trauma care.

UN humanitarians say ongoing bombardments are causing significant casualties as medical teams struggle to carry out their life-saving work.

— United Nations (@UN)

The Israeli NGO Yeshin Din recorded that two settlers were seen West Bank town of Awarta stealing olives from privately owned Palestinian land.

The organization reported that this area is near the Itamar settlement and highlighted that "Israeli security forces vehicles drove by and did nothing to stop them."

Earlier today, Yesh Din's field researcher documented two settlers stealing olives from privatley-owned Palestinian land of Awarta residents. As this was taking place near the settlement of Itamar, Israeli security forces vehicles drove by and did nothing to stop them.

— Yesh Din English (@Yesh_Din)

Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) says that four people have been injured in an Israeli shelling that hit its shelter for staff members and their families in Khan Younis.

A five-year-old daughter of a staff member was among the injured and is now in critical condition, according to the charity.

"The staff and their families have moved to another location," the organisation said.

BREAKING from Gaza:

This morning, a shell broke through the wall of an MSF shelter housing over 100 staff and their families in Khan Younis.

An MSF staff member's 5-year-old daughter is in critical condition - she's among 4 people who were injured.

— Doctors w/o Borders (@MSF_USA)

Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces shooting in the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry has reported.

forces opened fire at 3 young men in the , city of Tulkarm and prevented paramedics from reaching them for 2 hours until they died.

After one of them was shot, the Israeli Occupation vehicle drove back and forth over him..

— Belkisse Rym Ennada khettache بلقيس ريم الندى ختاش (@Belkissek)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that the current conflict will persist "for many more months" in a joint statement released = by Netanyahu's office.

"The war is not close to ending, neither in Gaza nor in the north. It will continue for many more months," the statement said.

The Israeli army announced the killing of Hamas operative, Hassan Hakashah, alleging his involvement in rocket attacks launched from Syria against Israel.

The Israeli military confirmed in a statement that Hakashah was targeted and killed in Beit Jinn, Syria, for being "central figure responsible for rockets fired by Hamas from Syrian territory toward Israel in recent weeks."

The statement added, "We will not allow terrorism from Syrian territory and hold Syria responsible for all activity emanating from its territory."

Joe Biden's speech at the Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina, was disrupted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The protesters urged the US president to demand an end to Israel's military actions in Gaza, chanting for an immediate ceasefire.

"I understand their passion," as security escorted the protesters out of the church. He then added, "I've been quietly working, quietly working with the Israeli government to get them to reduce significantly and get out of Gaza," Biden responded.

The UN rights office expressed its deep concern over the high number of journalists killed in the Gaza conflict, particularly following the recent deaths of two Al Jazeera reporters in a supposed Israeli attack on their vehicle.

In a statement, Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based media network, announced the deaths of Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria, who were on assignment when the incident occurred. Additionally, a freelance journalist, Hazem Rajab, sustained injuries.

Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, tragically lost his father, mother, two siblings, and a grandchild in an Israeli strike last October.

In a post on X, the UN Human Rights office stated, "Very concerned by high death toll of media workers in Gaza," and emphasized the need for a thorough, independent investigation into the deaths of all journalists, including Hamza Wael Dahdouh and Mustafa Abu Thuria.

Very concerned by high death toll of media workers in . Killings of all journalists, incl Hamza Al-Dahdouh & Mustafa Abu Thurayya in reported IDF strike on car, must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance w/ intl law, & violations prosecuted

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights)

The armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, says it has attacked Tel Aviv “with a barrage of rockets”, according to Al Jazeera.

Israeli media broadcast video of the rockets in flight and the interception of a number of them by Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system.

Four-year-old Ruqaya Ahmad Odeh Jahalin was shot in the back by Israeli forces while sitting in a shared taxi van, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP).

The shooting took place near an Israeli military checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Beit Iksa, northwest of occupied East Jerusalem.

The DCIP said that after Ruqaya and her mother drove through the checkpoint, a car driving behind them did not stop for inspection by Israeli forces. Israeli forces opened fire on both vehicles, striking Ruqaya and killing two Palestinians in the other car.

Ruqaya, who had previously been reported to be three years old, is the third Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank in 2024, according to documentation collected by the DCIP.

An Israeli drone strike killed 17-year-old Wadea Yaser Hasan Asous in Jenin on Sunday, and 17-year-old Usaid Tareq Anis Rimawi was shot and killed by Israeli forces on Friday in Beit Rima.

Israeli forces shot and killed 4-year-old Ruqaya Ahmad Odeh Jahalin yesterday around 5:30 p.m. at an Israeli military checkpoint northwest of Jerusalem. Ruqaya was in the backseat of a car with her mother when Israeli forces shot her in the back.

— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine)

Hezbollah has made public a series of photographs of Wissam Tawil showing him with top Hezbollah commanders who were killed before him and senior officials, including the group’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah.

One photo shows al-Tawil sitting next to top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020. The pictures were not dated.

Hezbollah has not released details about al-Tawil’s rank other than referring to him as a “leader”.

Read more about Tawil and his assassination here:

Gaza’s Government Media Office has confirmed the deaths of two more Palestinian journalists – Abdullah Baris and Muhammad Abu Dayer.

“They were martyred by the ongoing Israeli occupation bombing of the Gaza Strip,” it said.

The total number of journalists killed in Gaza since October 7 has now reached 112, the office said

A team from B’Tselem, also known as the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, accompanied Germany’s foreign minister on a trip to the occupied West Bank.

In a post on X, the group said German FM Annalena Baerbock saw the impact of “state-backed settler violence on Palestinians”.

“The minister spoke with two land owners, Muhammad and Samhan Shreiteh, who described the harm they have endured for decades as settlements were built on their land, and most recently, being removed from their homes and land by the Israeli army under the guise of the Gaza war,” the post read. 

B'Tselem's team accompanied , the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, on a visit of the village al-Mazra'ah al-Qibliyah, to demonstrate the impact of state-backed settler violence on Palestinians in the West Bank >>

— B'Tselem בצלם بتسيلم (@btselem)

HAPPENING NOW: Members of Jews For Racial & Economic Justice, and many fellow New Yorkers, are currently blocking the Holland Tunnel to call for now for a permanent, lasting and end to occupation and apartheid.

— Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (@JFREJNYC)

Islamic Jihad’s military wing has released a pre-recorded message by a man who said he is from the kibbutz of Nir Oz and has been held by the group in Gaza since October 7.

He makes a statement in both English and Hebrew in which he addresses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying: “You have left me in captivity. You left me to face death”

The UN voiced alarm Monday at the many journalists killed in the war raging in Gaza, a day after two Al Jazeera reporters were killed in an alleged Israeli strike on their car.

"Very concerned by high death toll of media workers in Gaza," the UN rights office said on X, formerly Twitter, demanding that all such cases be "thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance with international law, and violations prosecuted".

Very concerned by high death toll of media workers in . Killings of all journalists, incl Hamza Al-Dahdouh & Mustafa Abu Thurayya in reported IDF strike on car, must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance w/ intl law, & violations prosecuted

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights)

The member of Israel’s Knesset Ahmad Tibi says that “this is how the Nazis spoke about the Jews”, as reported by Al Jazeera.

“The finance minister said that there are two million Nazis in Gaza,” Tibi says, referring to recent statements by Bezalel Smotrich. “This is how you legitimise genocide.”

Tibi’s comments come after another member of knesset, Oded Forer, said he is working on having lawmaker Ofer Cassif expelled from parliament over his public support for a South African motion accusing Israel of genocide before the International Court of Justice.

Both Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir have called for the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza, while Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu had suggested that Israel could drop a nuclear bomb on the coastal territory.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib says his country is ready to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1701, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The resolution, which was adopted after the 2006 July War between Hezbollah and Israel, states there should be a demilitarised zone between Lebanon’s Litani River and the so-called Blue Line, which separates the country from Israel.

According to the newspaper, the minister said Israel “must fully withdraw from all the Lebanese territories and stop its land, sea and air violations.

Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right Israeli finance minister, says Israel must resettle the Gaza Strip or it will need to contend with “two million Nazis who want to annihilate us”.

Smotrich, a champion of illegal West Bank settlements, has repeatedly made inflammatory remarks about Israel’s post-war intentions in Gaza. He recently sparked an international outcry over his comments calling for Palestinians in Gaza to leave.

The mother of��Al-Araby TV's��Gaza correspondent Ahmed Al Batta was killed alongside other members of his family after an Israeli strike targeted the city of Khan Yunis.

Al-Batta's mother, sisters, nephews, and nieces were killed in intense Israeli bombardments over the weekend across Gaza,��Al-Araby TV,��������'s Arabic-language sister channel����on Monday.

Khan Younis, south of the strip, was a key target of Israeli bombing on Monday morning, killing at least 22 people.

������showed a distraught Al-Batta receiving news of their killings over the phone. In�����ɾ��ٳ���Al-Araby TV, he said he was preparing a safer place for them to relocate to shortly before they were killed.

Just a few days earlier, Al-Batta said several of his relatives were killed when their house near the University College of Science and Technology in Khan Younis was targeted by Israeli warplanes.

Read the full report here:
��

Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, has announced that he has met with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in order to continue making “steps to translate the international consensus on the two-state solution into action”.

“The path will be difficult, but there is no alternative to peace,” Borrell wrote on X.

With we spoke about our joint peace initiative and steps to translate the international consensus on the two-state solution into action. The path will be difficult, but there is no alternative to peace

I invited Prince Faisal to the FAC in Brussels on 22 January

— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF)

 Sri Lanka's navy said Monday it was joining a US-led maritime taskforce to protect international shipping against attacks by Yemen's Houthis.

"We will be joining 'Operation Prosperity Guardian' led by the US Navy," naval spokesman Gayan Wickramasuriya said, with the deployment of a patrol vessel crewed by more than 100 people.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that Houthi attacks had raised freight costs and were impacting exports of garments and tea.

The South Asian island nation is emerging from its worst economic crisis in 2022, when months of street protests led to the ouster of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The country defaulted on its $46 billion external debt and is now being supported by a $2.9 billion four-year bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Wickramasuriya said the move would add no additional cost as the vessel was already patrolling Sri Lanka's vast maritime boundary.

The US-led maritime force announced late last month includes Britain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and other nations.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler on Monday before heading to Israel as part of efforts to stop the Gaza war spiralling into a regional conflict.

Blinken will discuss Red Sea attacks by the Houthis in Yemen, Saudi Arabia's southern neighbour, during his talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Their meeting will also touch on a potential normalisation of ties between Saudi Arabia and Israel after initial discussions were put on hold by the Gaza crisis, a senior official said.

After his talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, Blinken is flying to Al Ula, a historic oasis city in western Saudi Arabia.

G7 countries should try to limit Palestinian civilian casualties in Gaza and pressure Israel to end its military operations, Italy's foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday, saying he discussed the issue with British and French counterparts.

"G7 countries are working with the Israeli government to find a rapid way out of the military phase," the Italian Foreign Ministry quoted Tajani as saying in a statement, as Italy begins its one-year presidency of the Group of Seven. 

Pope Francis has condemned "war crimes" perpetrated against civilians in conflicts such as in Gaza and Ukraine, and said those killed should not be considered "collateral damage".

"The distinction between military and civil objectives is no longer respected," the 87-year-old pontiff said in his New Year's address to diplomats at the Vatican.

"There is no conflict that does not end up in some way indiscriminately striking the civilian population. The events in Ukraine and Gaza are clear proof of this," he added.

"We must not forget that grave violations of international humanitarian law are war crimes", he continued, in a speech dominated by calls for an end to conflicts around the world.

Francis said people "need to realise more clearly that civilian victims are not 'collateral damage' but men and woman, with names and surnames, who lose their lives."

"Were we to be able to look each of them in the eye, call them by name, and learn something of their personal history, we would see war for what it is -- nothing other than an immense tragedy," he said.

 Jordan's King Abdullah said on Monday that Israel had created a whole generation of orphans by a "brutal" war in Gaza where he said around over 30,000 people, mostly women and children, had been killed or were missing as a result of the conflict.

In remarks at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda, where the monarch spoke of "unspeakable crimes" during that African conflict, Abdullah said a lesson to be drawn was that Israel's "indiscriminate aggression" in Gaza would never guarantee its security.

His remarks were carried on state media following a statement by the royal palace.

Israel’s defence minister is quoted as saying the country is not just battling Hamas in Gaza and accused Iran of planning an attack from the north.

“My basic view: We are fighting an axis, not a single enemy,” Yoav Gallant told the . “Iran is building up military power around Israel in order to use it.”

Gallant's comments as Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in Lebanon, further escalating tensions and increasing the chances of all out war between Tel Aviv and the Iran-backed group.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II says “everyone must acknowledge the brutality of what was committed in Gaza before we work to achieve peace”.

“Resignation to reality reaches the point of complicity,” he added in a follow-up post on X

King Abdullah urged US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday to push for a ceasefire in Gaza and bring an end to the humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory, as the months-long war continues to rag

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he held a meeting with Emirati President Mohamed Bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi.

The two discussed efforts to prevent Israel’s war on Gaza widening and addressed humanitarian needs in Gaza.

“I underscored our continued commitment to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Blinken added.

I met with Emirati President in Abu Dhabi today to discuss efforts to prevent the conflict in the region from widening and address humanitarian needs in Gaza. I underscored our continued commitment to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken)

Israel killed a top commander of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in a strike on south Lebanon, a security source told AFP Monday, adding to fears the conflict in Gaza could spill over.

The commander "had a leading role in managing Hezbollah's operations in the south," the security official said requesting anonymity for security concerns, adding he "was killed in an Israeli raid targeting his car in the south".

Fears are rising over the status of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Deir el-Balah, where 600 patients and��healthcare staff went missing

The international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, says it evacuated its medical staff. A bullet penetrated a wall of the hospital’s intensive care unit on Friday and “drone attacks and sniper fire were just a few hundred metres from the hospital”, said Carolina Lopez, MSF’s emergency coordinator there.

The hospital received 150 to 200 wounded people daily in recent weeks.

The International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestinians said it was also forced to withdraw from the hospital. “The amount of injuries being brought in over the last few days has been horrific,” surgeon Nick Maynard with the IRC medical team said.

Pope Francis called for a “ceasefire on every front, including Lebanon” in his annual speech to diplomats.

In the long address, sometimes called his State of the World speech, he condemned the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel and renewed his call for the immediate liberation of those still being held in Gaza.

However, he said Israel’s military response caused an “exceptionally grave humanitarian crisis and inconceivable suffering for civilians”.

The pope added hospitals, schools and places of worship in Gaza must “receive all necessary protection."

An Iran-backed Iraqi militia has claimed to have hit targets in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group comprising pro-Iran militias active in Iraq and Syria, said in a statement on Telegram yesterday that it “attacked a vital target in occupied Haifa with a long-range Arqab (advanced Cruise) missile in recent days.” 

There have not been reports in Israeli media about such an incident. 

The group also said it had targeted two US bases in the region, namely Ain al-Asad in Iraq’s Anbar and Qasrak in Syria’s Hasakah, in addition to an Israeli “military position” in the occupied Golan Heights, using “appropriate weapons”. It said the attacks were part of its resistance against the US military presence in the region and in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Hamas has said the killing of two of Al Jazeera journalists is “a deliberate Zionist war crime aimed at terrorising and discouraging journalists from reporting the truth and covering their crimes”.

The channel yesterday relayed the killing of the son of its chief Gaza correspondent Wael al-Dahdouh, Hamza, and journalist Mostafa Thuraya in an Israeli strike that hit their car in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. 

Multiple relatives of Dahdouh have been killed previously in Israeli strikes on Gaza.

In a statement posted on its Telegram channel yesterday, Hamas also called on international human rights organisations to document the “crimes” against journalists in Gaza.

Bolivia has become the latest country to announce it is supporting South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of crimes of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Bolivia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it was joining the case as a signatory to the Genocide Convention “committed to peace and justice”.

Turkey and Malaysia have also announced support for the case.

“South Africa took a historic step in the defence of the Palestinian people,” Bolivia’s statement added.

The statement also noted that Bolivia, together with South Africa, Bangladesh, Comoros and Djibouti, presented a request to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – a separate international court that prosecutes individuals – to investigate the situation in Palestine on November 17.

Comunicado en respaldo a la solicitud presentada por Sudáfrica ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia (CIJ).

🔗 Léelo aquí:

— Cancillería de Bolivia (@MRE_Bolivia)

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri is lamenting that Arab and Islamic countries have yet to back South Africa’s call for genocide proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

“‎We hope that there will be a remedy, otherwise this official silence will constitute a mandate for the occupation to eradicate what remains of Gaza,” he said in a post on X.

South Africa last month filed a case saying Israel’s action in Gaza were “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.

As members of the UN, both South Africa and Israel are bound by the court

Seventy-three Palestinians were killed and 99 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza in the past 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Monday, according to the Reuters news agency.

Almost 200 Palestinians have been killed or injured in the same period of time.