Live
By Linah Alsaafin, Tamila Varshalomidze and Brian Osgood
Published On 8 Feb 2024
  • US says it won’t support Israeli assault on Rafah without civilian protection plan while at least 14 have been killed there today in air strikes.
  • UNRWA chief says 300,000 at risk of famine in north Gaza as Israel has blocked “half” of aid missions there since beginning of year.
9 Feb 2024 - 09:51
 (09:51 GMT)

Israeli army says it targets fighters in Khan Younis

The Israeli military says it continues to fight Hamas members in Gaza with fighting particularly intense around Khan Younis.

In a statement on X, the army said soldiers raided Hamas sites in the western part of the city.

Israeli paratroopers killed 15 Hamas operatives during the raids, in which weapons and equipment were seized, according to the military.

A drone spotted a Hamas fighter placing explosive devices near soldiers and he was then killed in an air attack, the military said.

Also in Khan Younis, intelligence units saw two fighters and directed an air attack on them, the statement said without specifying which part of the city the incident took place.

Paratroopers also directed air strikes on several booby-trapped buildings.

Meanwhile, in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, a group of gunmen near a Hamas position were spotted and hit by an air attack.

9 Feb 2024 - 00:00
 (00:00 GMT)

Thanks for joining us

This live page is now closed. Follow along with our ongoing coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

To learn more about international negotiations on a possible ceasefire, watch this video.

And you can always read more about the conflict here.

8 Feb 2024 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

We will be closing the live blog soon. Here’s a recap of the day’s main events.

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to prepare for an assault on Rafah, where the UN says more than half of Gaza’s population is hemmed in with nowhere to flee. Rights groups and the Biden administration have expressed concern that such an expansion of Israeli operations could have dire consequences for Palestinian civilians.
  • UNRWA says that Israel has blocked half of all aid missions to northern Gaza since the beginning of the year, where 300,000 Palestinians are at risk of famine.
  • An Israeli drone strike killed a Hezbollah commander in the village of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, the latest move to spur concerns over a possible escalation between the Lebanese group and Israel. Hezbollah launched a barrage of missiles towards Israel later in the day.
  • The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says 21-year-old ad-Dhahiriya resident Muhammad Ahmad Ratib al-Sabbar has died in an Israeli prison, and that more than 6,920 Palestinians have been arrested and detained by Israel in the occupied West Bank over the past four months.
8 Feb 2024 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

Two Palestinians killed in Israeli attack on home in Deir el-Balah: Wafa

The Palestinian state news agency said that the attack had targeted the home of the al-Zarii family in the central Gaza Strip.

Video verified by Al Jazeera shows ambulance crews rushing to the scene of the strike in an attempt to rescue those injured.

 

8 Feb 2024 - 23:15
 (23:15 GMT)

WATCH: Mapping Israel’s destruction of Gaza

8 Feb 2024 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

Civilians in Gaza moved around like chess pieces, says Save the Children country director

Jason Lee, the charity’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territories, told Al Jazeera that the situation in Rafah was extremely difficult for civilians in light of Israel’s continued attacks.

“The situation in Rafah continues to deteriorate day after day,” Lee said. “We’re now facing a massive displacement of people – over 1.3 million people are estimated to be in Rafah, where there is no shelter, there is absolutely nowhere for them to live. Civilians are living in tents, in makeshift shelters all along the sides of streets, in car parks, next to mosques, next to schools, next to hospitals, wherever they can find space.”

Lee decried the constant displacement that Palestinians in Gaza have faced as they escape Israeli bombardment.

“Where is there left for the population to go? They have been already moved from the north of Gaza, from the central areas of Gaza – moved around like pieces on a chess board to achieve military objectives. There is nowhere left for them to move.”

Lee added that if the military attack on Rafah escalated, civilians would be forced to flee to areas already destroyed by Israel, where significant risks existed, particularly for children, such as the presence of unexploded ordnance.

8 Feb 2024 - 22:45
 (22:45 GMT)

Nasser Hospital doctor sniped while in operating room

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Akram Al Helo reports that the doctor, Dr Nusseib, sustained a gunshot wound to his chest and is currently in critical condition.

The shooting, which Al Helo says was a deliberate targeting, occurred while the doctor was at work in the operating room at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

“Even doctors are now the target of the occupation forces while carrying out their responsibilities in operating rooms. How much longer will this silence last?” he wrote.

The Nasser Hospital has been under a state of siege for over two weeks. Today we reported accounts of medical staff being pinned down by Israeli sniper fire inside the medical complex, as well as an Israeli drone attack there that killed displaced civilians.

8 Feb 2024 - 22:40
 (22:40 GMT)

Israeli military says 30 rockets launched from Lebanon, confirming previous reports

The Israeli military has confirmed to the news outlet AFP that about 30 rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon earlier in the day, confirming earlier reports that a barrage of rockets had been fired towards Israel.

“We can confirm that around 30 rockets were fired from Lebanon toward the areas of Ein Zeitim and Dalton in the north of Israel,” an army spokesperson told the outlet.

8 Feb 2024 - 22:30
 (22:30 GMT)

UN special rapporteur celebrates Palestinian journalists

UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese has said that she met with Palestinian reporters Wael Dahdouh and Motaz Azaiza in Doha, celebrating the contributions of Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

“During my brief time in #Doha I had the privilege to meet @azaizamotaz9 & @WaelDahdouh. May their voices continue to be heard,” Albanese said in a social media post.

“I also visited hospitalised Gaza children -some [without] limbs or [paralysed] due to [Israeli] munitions- the sense of ‘irreparable harm’… is everywhere.”

8 Feb 2024 - 22:15
 (22:15 GMT)

South Africa’s Ramaphosa renews call for Gaza ceasefire, Palestinian state in State of the Nation Address

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has reaffirmed his country’s commitment to helping secure a ceasefire in the war on Gaza and an eventual two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, during his annual State of the Nation Address.

Speaking before lawmakers at Cape Town City Hall on Thursday, the president said that “guided by the fundamental principle of human rights and freedom”, South Africa had taken up the Palestinian cause “to prevent further deaths and destruction in Gaza”.

South Africa has filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. Last month, the court issued an interim ruling, saying it has jurisdiction to hear the case and ordering Israel to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts.

Read more here.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his 2024 State of the Nation Address in Cape Town, South Africa, February 8, 2024 [Esa Alexander/Reuters]
8 Feb 2024 - 22:00
 (22:00 GMT)

Video shows moments after residential home targeted by Israeli strike

Earlier, we reported on a strike on a home belonging to the al-Zarii family in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.

Palestinian journalist Yosef Basam has shared a video showing the moments after the home was targeted.

The video shows ambulance crews rushing to the scene to rescue the injured. Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that at least one Palestinian was killed in the strike.

8 Feb 2024 - 21:45
 (21:45 GMT)

CAIR calls on Biden administration to secure release of citizens in Gaza detained by Israel

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a US-based civil rights group, has called on the Biden administration to secure the release of US citizens taken from their homes during an overnight raid by Israeli forces in Gaza.

“When the Biden administration provides political and material support for the far-right Israeli government’s indiscriminate campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing, it is endangering the Americans who are trapped or held captive in Gaza, as well as the two US citizens who were just kidnapped by Israeli forces,” director Nihad Awad said in a statement.

“We call on our government to protect all endangered American citizens in Gaza by demanding and securing an immediate ceasefire.”

The cousin of the two detained young men has said that the Israeli soldiers tied up and blindfolded the women and children in the family during the raid, according to Sky News.

8 Feb 2024 - 21:30
 (21:30 GMT)

Report: Blinken cancelled Karem Abu Salem crossing visit amid continued aid protests

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled a planned visit to Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing with Gaza after Israeli officials told him they could not guarantee that aid convoys would not be disrupted by Israeli protesters who have been trying to block humanitarian aid from entering the beleaguered Strip for more than a week.

The demonstrators have been demanding an end to the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where health and assistance officials say that Israel’s campaign has created a humanitarian catastrophe and put hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians at risk of starvation.

8 Feb 2024 - 21:25
 (21:25 GMT)
Developing

Large rocket barrage fired from southern Lebanon

Our correspondent reports that over two dozen rockets have been fired towards Upper Galilee in Israel.

Israeli army radio corroborated this report, saying that air raid sirens had been triggered in the region and that “dozens” of rockets were seen heading towards the Meron area.

8 Feb 2024 - 21:15
 (21:15 GMT)

Heavy bombardment in central Gaza

Al Jazeera’s correspondents are reporting clashes and Israeli bombings throughout the central area of the strip.

A “violent” bombing shook the city of Deir el-Balah, and an Israeli air strike targeted a residential home belonging to the al-Zarii family.

In the southwestern areas of Gaza City, our correspondent says that heavy clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces are occurring, along with intense bombing.

Violence in central Gaza has ramped up in the last several weeks, even after the Israeli army withdrew from pockets of the area and allowed residents to return to their homes.

8 Feb 2024 - 21:00
 (21:00 GMT)

Protesters in Tel Aviv hang huge banner demanding truce deal

The banner reads “a deal or a death sentence” over the faces of Israeli captives still held in Gaza, sending the message to officials that delays in striking a deal with Hamas to secure their release endanger the captives’ lives.

Local sources report that Israeli police deployed tear gas to break up the demonstration.

Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed an official Hamas response to a proposed deal for a truce that would include the release of captives, along with a pause in fighting and a beginning of an end to the war in Gaza after last week assuring the families of the captives that everything possible was being done to bring their loved ones home.

Translation: In the beginning a huge sign was hung: a deal or a death sentence

8 Feb 2024 - 20:45
 (20:45 GMT)

Michigan community leaders met with Biden administration officials over Gaza policy

Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan in the United States, has said that he was among those who met Biden administration officials earlier today to discuss anger in the state’s Arab and Muslim communities over the US administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Some had called for community leaders to boycott the meeting altogether, but Hammoud said that the group remained unflinching in their beliefs and that it would have been “irresponsible to walk away from difficult policy conversations that can lead to saving the lives of innocent men, women, and children”.

“This meeting was held to ensure that the White House and those with the ability to change the course of the genocide unfolding in Gaza very clearly hear and understand the demands of our community – directly from us,” Hammoud said in a social media post.

Michigan, home to a sizable Arab-American population, will be a key state for US President Joe Biden to win in the 2024 elections, coming this November, if he wishes to stay in power.

8 Feb 2024 - 20:30
 (20:30 GMT)

US Senator Bernie Sanders says US employing double standard on Ukraine and Gaza

US Senator Bernie Sanders has said that a Senate funding package that includes $14bn for Israel will allow the Israeli government to continue “indiscriminate bombing in Gaza”.

“How can we, with a straight face, rightly criticize Putin’s war crimes in Ukraine, while ignoring the killing of 27,000 Palestinians?” Sanders asked in a social media post.

The left-wing senator voted against the Senate bill earlier today.

Sanders has been criticised by many pro-Palestinian voices for refusing to call for a permanent ceasefire, although he has pushed to tie US aid to Israel to its conduct in Gaza.

8 Feb 2024 - 20:20
 (20:20 GMT)

Drone attack kills civilian at Nasser Hospital

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that one Palestinian is dead and several others are wounded in the strike on the Khan Younis hospital.

Sources at the hospital said an Israeli drone opened fire on a group of people who gathered on an upper floor in an attempt to access the internet.

 

8 Feb 2024 - 20:15
 (20:15 GMT)

PRCS says 10 days have passed since disappearance of ambulance crew searching for six-year-old girl

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance crew went missing while searching for a six-year-old girl whose family was killed when Israeli forces opened fire on their car.

“It has been 10 days since we have heard anything from our colleagues Youssef Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoon, the PRCS ambulance team who went to rescue 6-year-old Hind,” the group said in a social media post today.

“We want answers, we want the truth, we need the painful silence to end. Help us find our team. Help us find Hind and return her to her mother.”

Hind desperately called the PRCS from the car asking for help, with her other family members dead in the vehicle with her. She has not been heard from since.