Live
By Ali Harb
Published On 8 Jan 2024
  • A suspected Israeli drone strike on southern Lebanon killed a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels the region attempting to prevent the outbreak of a wider war.
  • At least 249 Palestinians have been killed and 510 wounded in the previous 24 hours in Gaza, the health ministry says.
9 Jan 2024 - 00:00
 (00:00 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

This live page is now closed. Follow along with our coverage of the Israeli war on Gaza on our new page, here.

To learn more about the significance of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s ongoing tour of the Middle East, watch this video.

To learn more about the assassination of Hamza Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera journalist Wael Dahdouh, in an Israeli air strike, you can read more here.

Wael Dahdouh with his son Hamza in happier times [Al Jazeera]
8 Jan 2024 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s main developments:

  • Israel kills top Hezbollah commander Wissam al-Tawil in south Lebanon, fuelling fears of escalation. Israel also claims to have killed a Hamas commander in Syria.
  • Israel’s attacks continue to bombard central and southern Gaza, with Palestinians reporting drone strikes in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza’s only working hospital.
  • Hamas says it foiled an Israeli attempt to rescue a captive in central Gaza, killing and injuring the soldiers conducting the operation.
  • Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says Israel is moving away from an “intense manoeuvring phase of the war” in Gaza.
  • Israeli forces fatally shoot three Palestinians and injure a fourth in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank.
8 Jan 2024 - 23:35
 (23:35 GMT)

Protest against US president at church stirs debate

Protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza interrupted Joe Biden at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, drawing rebuke from the president’s supporters who accused them of disrespecting the house of worship.

In 2015, a white supremacist gunman killed nine Black worshippers at the historic church.

“Mother Emanuel AME is hallowed ground in the AME church community and in Charleston especially,” commentator Symone Sanders Townsend, a former aide to Vice President Kamala Harris, wrote in a social media post.

“The shock of people in the crowd at protesters yelling out while President Biden was speaking from the pulpit cannot be overstated.”

But others pushed back, saying the church is an appropriate place to stage a protest to stop mass killings and noting that Israel – with Biden’s support – has bombed dozens of churches and mosques in Gaza.

“What better place to speak against the killing of people,” one social media user wrote in response to Sanders Townsend.

8 Jan 2024 - 23:25
 (23:25 GMT)

Remembering Issa al-Souri, a little boy killed when Israel bombed a church

Issa and his parents fled their home in October, heading for the Greek Orthodox Church between Zeitoun and Shujayea where they sheltered with hundreds of Christian and Muslim Palestinians all fleeing Israel’s bombing.

Despite the international ban on targeting places of worship, Israeli forces bombed the church on October 20, killing Issa, his mother Lisa and his father Tariq. He was an only child.

Issa was a gentle, calm, well-mannered seventh-grader with a beautiful smile that lit up his face, which was definitely that of a child. He was not a “big boss” but he was well-loved by the other children in class, always in the middle of a game or joke.

Read more here.

Issa al-Souri [Courtest of family]
8 Jan 2024 - 23:10
 (23:10 GMT)

Israel won’t allow displaced civilians to return without captives’ release: Report

Axios reports, citing two unidentified Israeli officials, that the Israeli government will tell Blinken that displaced Palestinians will not be able to return to their homes in northern Gaza unless there is progress on releasing captives.

“We are not going to allow Palestinians to go back to their homes in northern Gaza if there is no progress with the release of hostages,” one senior Israeli official is quoted as saying.

Blinken and other US officials have repeatedly rejected plans by Israeli officials to permanently displace Palestinians in the territory.

8 Jan 2024 - 22:55
 (22:55 GMT)

Palestinian killed in Tulkarem run over by Israeli military vehicle

By Hamdah Salhut

Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem

The video of the incident is quite graphic – three Palestinian men are shot at an incredibly close range by the Israeli military, their bodies bleeding out in the street. After that, an Israeli military vehicle runs over one of these bodies and you can see the car stop for just a moment and then continue to run over this dead Palestinian man in the street.

This raid started off as Israeli special forces went into Tulkarem undercover with the hopes of arresting one Palestinian wanted fighter. We have since learned that he has also been shot but he has since been arrested by the Israeli military.

Additionally, the Israeli military is now going into the Tulkarem refugee camp. Locals on the ground are saying that the military presence is quite large.

8 Jan 2024 - 22:40
 (22:40 GMT)

Hezbollah releases footage of attacks on Israeli positions

The Lebanese group said the videos show attacks against Israeli forces in the Metula area on the eastern side of the border over the past few days.

8 Jan 2024 - 22:25
 (22:25 GMT)
Analysis

Israel’s objectives in Gaza not being met

That’s according to Andrea Dessi, a professor of international relations at the American University of Rome.

“We have been warning [as analysts] that the objective of militarily eradicating Hamas – a movement which is so well-established within the population of Gaza – is impossible,” Dessi told Al Jazeera. “And this is the problem with regards to the objectives in Gaza and the problem with the US policy of giving a blank cheque to these objectives in Gaza – and actually even buying into these objectives.”

“[Blinken’s trip] will be very difficult, there will be difficult discussions, but I do not see an immediate end to the fighting and let alone a ceasefire, and let alone pressure from the US administration to bring a ceasefire about,” Dessi added.

8 Jan 2024 - 22:10
 (22:10 GMT)

What is on Blinken’s agenda in Israel?

By Hamdah Salhut

Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem

A lot on the agenda for the US Secretary of State as the Americans have been constantly putting the pressure on the Israelis to wind down their military operation in Gaza to a lower intensity, but there are a lot of other things for him to discuss as well, like the Israeli plans for after the war.

But remember, the Israeli Knesset, the coalition, the cabinet – they have not decided what that is going to look like.

Additionally, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he wants to talk about a future peace, one that is lasting for Israel and one that is aspirational for the Palestinians and that could, perhaps, pave the way for a Palestinian state.

He’s also going to talk about the number of civilians and casualties that Gaza has been experiencing as well as the push for more humanitarian aid to go to the enclave.

8 Jan 2024 - 21:55
 (21:55 GMT)

UNICEF renews calls for ceasefire

The UN children’s agency says the “world cannot stand by and watch” the suffering in Gaza.

“Intensifying conflict, malnutrition and disease in Gaza are creating a deadly cycle that is threatening over 1.1 million children,” UNICEF said in a social media post.

8 Jan 2024 - 21:40
 (21:40 GMT)

Israeli drone attacks reported next to hospital in central Gaza

Al Jazeera’s crew in Rafah, in southern Gaza, have been able to contact people in the centre of the Strip, which has been under heavy Israeli bombardment.

Tareq Abu Azzoum said that they had reported drones opening fire on Palestinians walking on the street adjacent to Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, the only remaining hospital in central Gaza, which has been attacked by Israeli forces over the past few days.

Our correspondent also reported that people in other areas of central Gaza, such as the refugee camps of al-Maghazi, al-Nuseirat and al-Bureij, said that mosques and houses had also been attacked.

Ambulances have struggled to reach those wounded in attacks in the past few hours due to conditions on the ground, according to Abu Azzoum, who said explosions could be heard across the enclave.

8 Jan 2024 - 21:25
 (21:25 GMT)

Palestinians ‘must not be pressed to leave Gaza’: US State Department

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, “Palestinian civilians must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow.”

In a post on X, he added, “We must build a more secure, a more stable, a more peaceful future for the region.”

8 Jan 2024 - 21:10
 (21:10 GMT)

‘The war must stop and not be expanded’: Top EU diplomat

Josep Borrell said that during a trip to the Middle East, he “took stock of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza with unbearable numbers of civilian casualties and the risk of regional escalation”.

“The only way to prevent these tragedies from happening again is to reach a political solution to the conflict. The war must stop and not be expanded,” he wrote on social media.

8 Jan 2024 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Haaretz calls for probe into Israeli tank fire during October 7 attack

The leading Israeli newspaper’s editorial board said the Israeli army should investigate an incident where witnesses say an Israeli tank fired at a house in Kibbutz Be’eri with Hamas fighters and Israeli captives inside.

“Above all, it must disclose whether the so-called Hannibal Directive – which states that hostage-taking should be prevented even at the price of harm to our own forces – was used against the Israelis held hostage in that house,” the newspaper said.

The editorial board stressed that a probe must be conducted now, not after the war, because it relates to the fate of the remaining captives who are being held captive in Gaza.

8 Jan 2024 - 20:50
 (20:50 GMT)
Developing

More on Tulkarem shootings

Aside from the three Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, a fourth has been wounded and detained.

A statement released by the rapid response group of the Tulkarem Battalion, an armed group affiliated with Fatah, identified one of those killed as a fighter.

Palestinian factions have declared a general strike in the city on Tuesday in response to the killings.

Since October 7, 60 Palestinians have been killed in Tulkarem, out of a total of 340 in the wider occupied West Bank.

8 Jan 2024 - 20:40
 (20:40 GMT)

Hamas offers condolences to Hezbollah for slain commander

The Palestinian group has paid tribute to al-Tawil, saying he was killed while performing duties in support of Gaza.

“We affirm that the Zionist enemy’s escalation and targeting of resistance leaders in different arenas will not deter the resistance, which will continue to target this hubristic enemy and make it pay a heavy price for its violations,” Hamas said in a statement.

8 Jan 2024 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

‘Israeli aggression on Gaza has exceeded all limits’: Jordan’s foreign minister

In a phone call with France’s top diplomat, Jordanian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ayman Safadi said: “The Israeli aggression on Gaza has exceeded all humanitarian, legal and moral limits in a way that invalidates any argument used for the Security Council not to take a binding decision to stop it.”

France presides over the UN Security Council this month.

Translation: Safadi stressed that the risk of the war widening in scope increases every day that Israel continues its killing and destruction in Gaza and that the inability of the international community to shoulder its legal and moral responsibilities and take a strict position that imposes an end to the aggression reflects a double standard and dangerous selectivity in the application of international law and causes great damage to its standing and to the reputation and interests of many Western countries.

8 Jan 2024 - 20:22
 (20:22 GMT)
Houthi

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Tel Aviv on the latest stop of his regional tour.

8 Jan 2024 - 20:20
 (20:20 GMT)

Israeli singer and actor wounded in Gaza

Idan Amedi, an army reservist who starred in the Israeli TV show Fauda, was “severely” injured in Gaza fighting, Haaretz reports.

His injuries were not life-threatening, according to the newspaper.

 

8 Jan 2024 - 20:10
 (20:10 GMT)

Israel denies WHO’s request to deliver medical supplies

The World Health Organization (WHO) says Israeli authorities have denied a request it made to deliver medical supplies to the Central Drug Store in Gaza City and al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia.

“This marked the fourth denial of a mission to the al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia and Central Drug Store in Gaza City since December 26, leaving five hospitals in northern Gaza without access to life-saving medical supplies and equipment,” the WHO said.