More Houthi attacks expected, says senior US military official
A senior US military official has said more attacks by the Houthis are expected. The director of the US joint staff, Lt Gen Douglas Sims, told reporters in a virtual meeting that the Houthis had fired at least one missile already in response to the US–UK attacks.
As reported by the Qatar-based media network Al Jazeera, Sims said: “Their rhetoric has been pretty strong, and pretty high, and we expect that they will attempt some sort of retaliation. I would hope that they don’t retaliate, but we’re prepared in the event that they do.”
Key events
Jamie McGoldrick, a humanitarian coordinator for the UN office of coordination of humanitarian affairs, has visited southern Gaza where over 1 million Palestinians displaced by Israeli attacks are sheltering amid shortages in food, water and electricity.
Speaking from Al Mawasi camp, McGoldrick said:
“The Palestinian Red Crescent have set up these tents behind us but there’s not enough tents for the people who are here, the numbers who have arrived. And secondly…the services that are coming in to the camps are not sufficient, [there] are key things that are missing, water and sanitation supply, food supply and medical supplies. I know the Palestinian Red Crescent is trying to work on that but we need more assistance, we need more supplies of essential material.”
Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim Jamie McGoldrick visiting southern #Gaza, speaking on the difficult conditions in which internally displaced persons live, on what they need, and the efforts to support them. pic.twitter.com/PFz07SXKly
— OCHA oPt (Palestine) (@ochaopt) January 13, 2024
Thousands of pro-Palestine protestors marched in London in calls for a ceasefire in Gaza where nearly 24,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7.
PA Media reports:
Hundreds of police officers are on duty in the capital on Saturday, with protesters warned that they face arrest if they “intentionally push the limit” on placards and slogans.
Demonstrators converged on Queen Victoria Street before making their way along Fleet Street.
Speaking at Parliament Square, Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, accused the British government of “complicity” with Israel.
Zomlot told the protesters Palestine was a “nation of freedom fighters”, saying: “I stand before you with a broken heart but not a broken spirit.”
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Summary of the day so far
It is 6.03pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
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The US carried out an additional strike against Yemen’s Houthi forces early on Saturday after President Joe Biden’s administration vowed to protect shipping in the Red Sea.
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A senior US military official has said more attacks by the Houthis are expected. The director of the US joint staff, Lt Gen Douglas Sims, told reporters in a virtual meeting that the Houthis had fired at least one missile already in response to the US-UK attacks.
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The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, urged maximum restraint by all parties involved in Yemen and warned of an increasingly uncertain situation in the region.
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Houthis say US strikes, including the latest one on a military base in Sana’a, will have no impact on their Red Sea attacks. The Houthi Ansarullah official Nasruldeen Amer, speaking to Al Jazeera, said there were no injuries in the latest US strike in Yemen and vowed a “strong and effective response”.
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“Hundreds of thousands” marched in London on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Metropolitan police said it had made two arrests, both in relation to offensive placards.
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Demonstrators have been gathering in cities across the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Images have been shared of protests in a number of locations, including London, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Jakarta and Lahore.
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Israel pounded the Gaza Strip on Saturday amid a dire humanitarian situation as it also grappled with a telecommunications blackout on the 99th day of the war. Witnesses reported Israeli bombardment of Gaza in the early morning, and an AFP journalist said on Friday that strikes and shelling had hit areas between Gaza’s southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah, crowded with people who have fled from the north.
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Hospitals across the Palestinian territory are facing shortages of crucial medical supplies. A doctor at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis described the health system as having “collapsed”, citing shortages in medical supplies and beds, and staff that are exhausted and unwell.
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Only six remaining ambulances are in operation in the entire Gaza Strip, says the health ministry.
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135 Palestinians were killed and 312 wounded in the past 24 hours, according to the latest figures released on Saturday by the Gaza health ministry. It brings the total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes to at least 23,843 and the number of wounded to 60,317 people since 7 October.
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An 18-year-old man, Khaled Ahmed Zubaidi, was severely beaten and killed by Israeli forces after they raided the occupied West Bank town of Zeita, near Tulkarem, said the Palestinian health ministry.
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More than 30 Palestinians, including young children, were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight into Saturday, say health and rescue officials
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At least 10 Palestinians have been killed in Khan Younis and bombing is ongoing, reports an Al Jazeera journalist. Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Rafah, writes that “today has been a very bloody day as Israel scales up its military attacks across the Gaza Strip”.
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The Palestine Red Crescent Society has provided medical services to 4,800 patients and injured individuals in the southern Gaza Strip.
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Turkey conducted overnight airstrikes on nearly 30 “terrorist targets” in northern Iraq and Syria after nine of its soldiers were killed in a military base in Iraq, the defence ministry said on Saturday.
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Israeli forces killed three armed Palestinians who were trying to break into a settlement in the occupied West Bank overnight between Friday and Saturday, the Israeli military said.
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The anti-poverty charity Global Justice Now criticised the US-UK strikes against Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, saying: “‘Bomb first, think later’ is again the guiding principle for British and American policy in the Middle East.”
Only six working ambulances left in Gaza, says health ministry
There are only six remaining ambulances in operation in the entire Gaza Strip, reports Al Jazeera, citing a statement from the health ministry. “We are still struggling to operate some essential services, including intensive care units and nurseries,” it said.
The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas, and it has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
UN envoy to Yemen expresses ‘serious concern’ and urges ‘maximum restraint’
The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, urged maximum restraint by all parties involved in Yemen and warned of an increasingly uncertain situation in the region, reports Reuters.
In a statement cited by the news agency on Saturday, Grundberg said he “notes with serious concern the increasingly precarious regional context, and its adverse impact on peace efforts in Yemen and stability and security in the region”.
‘Hundreds of thousands’ march in London calling for a ceasefire in Gaza
Posting an update and video of the march in London on X, The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said hundreds of thousands of people had joined the protest on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The video shows protesters marching down a road in central London on the way towards Parliament Square, shouting “ceasefire now” and chanting.
Two arrests made during London protest march, says the Met
Two arrests have been made, both in relation to offensive placards being carried during a London march on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, say the Metropolitan police.
In a statement published on X, the Met said the front of the march had now reached Parliament Square and a significant number of people continued to make their way along the route.
The front of the march has reached Parliament Square. A significant number of people continue to make their way along the route.
So far two arrests have been made. Both in relation to offensive placards being carried.
— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) January 13, 2024
In an earlier post on the social media site, the Met said 1,700 officers would be on duty today to keep people safe and to deal with any offences.
A Palestinian teenager has been beaten to death, says health ministry
An 18-year-old male, Khaled Ahmed Zubaidi was severely beaten and killed by Israeli forces after they raided the occupied West Bank town of Zeita, near Tulkarem, reports Al Jazeera citing a statement from the Palestinian health ministry.
The Qatar based news network also reports that bombing is ongoing in Khan Younis, with at least 10 Palestinians killed there since the early hours of the morning. In a piece posted by their correspondent, Tareq Abu Azzoum reporting from Rafah, he writes that “today has been a very bloody day as Israel scales up its military attacks across the Gaza Strip”.
Azzoum adds that a number of houses in Nuseirat and Maghazi camps had been attacked, while on the western road linking Khan Younis to Rafah, a car was targeted by an Israeli missile, killing and injuring a number of Palestinians.
Demonstrators have been gathering in cities across the world calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Here are some of the images coming in:
With Sunday marking 100 days of the Israel-Hamas war, Associated Press has spoken to a number of people affected by the war. They have published a detailed piece speaking to a Palestinian doctor working at the Kuwaiti hospital in Gaza.
Dr Suhaib Alhamss, a urologist by training, said the Israel-Hamas war had exposed him, his staff and the people of Gaza to a scale of violence and horror unlike anything they had seen before.
Speaking to Associated Press over the phone between surgeries, Alhamss said his home town of Rafah was now unrecognisable.
You can see the exhaustion, the nervousness, the hunger on everyone’s face. It’s a strange place now. It’s not the city I know. This is a disaster that’s bigger than all of us.
Alhamss also described how he and other medical staff have had to be resourceful with a lack of supplies. He told the reporter that he dressed patients’ wounds with burial shrouds:
Each day I have people who die before my eyes because I don’t have medicine or burn ointment or supplies to help them.
The Kuwaiti hospital is one of two in Rafah and with just four intensive care beds before the war, it now receives about 1,500 wounded patients each day and at least 50 people dead on arrival. He told the reporter of harrowing scenes that have stayed in his mind: the vacuous stare of a young boy who survived a strike that killed his entire family, a newborn rescued from his dead mother’s womb.
The father of three said he saw his children once a week when they would leave the shelter of their grandmother’s home to come and give him a hug at the hospital. “I am terrified for them,” he said.
Three months of Israeli bombardment and a tightened siege in Gaza have left hospitals across the Palestinian territory facing shortages of crucial medical supplies. The number of people seeking shelter and treatment has increased, putting a strain on already inadequate resources.
A doctor at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis describes the health system as having “collapsed”, citing shortages in medical supplies and beds, and staff that are exhausted and unwell.
In London, large crowds have gathered in the City, calling for a ceasefire.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign said thousands of people had joined the march by about noon.
Sunday will mark 100 days of the Israel-Hamas war. News agency Associated Press has spoken to the families of Hamas hostages and have provided the following report:
It has become a daily ritual.
Every morning, before she’s even out of her pyjamas, Rachel Goldberg-Polin tears a piece of masking tape off the roll, grabs a marking pen and in thick black strokes writes down the number of days her son, Hersh, has been held hostage by Hamas militants. Then she sticks the tape to her chest.
“I find it so remarkable how nauseating it is every single time,’’ she said. “And it’s good. I don’t want to get used to it. I don’t want anybody to get used to the fact that these people are missing.’’
Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was last seen on 7 October, when militants loaded him into the back of a pickup truck with other people who were abducted from a southern Israel music festival where more than 300 attendees were killed. The native of Berkeley, California, lost part of an arm when the attackers tossed grenades into the shelter where a group of young people had taken refuge.
Sunday will mark 100 days since he and about 250 others were taken hostage by the militants who stormed across the border from Gaza, triggering the latest war between Israel and Hamas. While dozens of women, children and foreigners were released during a week-long November ceasefire, and a number of hostages have been confirmed dead, 132 others remain in captivity. The Red Cross hasn’t been permitted to see them, and almost nothing is known about their conditions.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin, 54, now spends her days trying to bring Hersh and the other hostages home. The mother of three has spent the past three months in relentless motion, crisscrossing the globe, reminding anyone who will listen that her child is more than just an inconvenient statistic: He is her only son, a music lover, a young man who deserves the chance to fulfil his dream of traveling the world.
Goldberg-Polin and her family, who moved to Israel from the US when Hersh was seven, have met with US President Joe Biden, Pope Francis, Elon Musk and dozens of journalists. She’s spoken at the UN, gone to protests and carried placards.
The plight of the hostages has gripped Israel’s attention, and the tireless campaign by families has gained widespread support and sympathy, ratcheting up pressure on the Israeli government to make concessions to win their release.
The Goldberg-Polin family plans to attend the start of a 24-hour rally for the hostages in Tel Aviv on Saturday and another Sunday on the Jerusalem promenade, a collection of parks and walkways overlooking the city. Similar events are scheduled in cities outside Israel, including London, New York and Paris.
But so far, nothing has stopped the number on the masking tape from going up. The ritual began on day 26, when Goldberg-Polin stuck the makeshift badge to her chest to show everyone that the excruciating, ever-increasing tally was the focus of her life, not just a factoid for news stories.
“It defines me anyway,’’ she told the Associated Press on Wednesday, when her badge read 96. She likened it to a name tag, in the fashion of “Hello my name is.’’ “This is who I am,” she said. “My identity is the number of days he’s been stolen.″
Ahead of the 100-day milestone, Goldberg-Polin asked people around the world to adopt her routine on Sunday, hoping the show of solidarity would help her and the other families bear the pain and anguish of waiting yet another day for their loved ones to return.
Goldberg-Polin’s masking tape badge was inspired by childhood memories from 1979, when the US was transfixed by the fate of 52 people held hostage at the US embassy in Iran. ABC News opened its coverage every night with a running count of how many days the crisis had lasted. The hostages were finally released after 444 days.
“This makes people very uncomfortable because you know what? Human beings like a countdown,” Goldberg-Polin said. “We like to countdown to vacation. We like to count down in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.”
“We do not like a count-up. A count-up of humanity’s failure of getting these human beings out of captivity is something that makes people very uncomfortable. And you know what? Join the club. I’ve been uncomfortable for 96 days.”
Even so, the 100-day mark has offered a moment to direct the world’s attention back on the hostages. Goldberg-Polin hopes that someone, somewhere is caring for her injured son.
She has a message for Hersh, just in case it might reach him. “I would say: There has not been one second since you were taken that we are not working, turning over every single stone on the planet Earth and running to the ends of the Earth to get you back,” she said. “So we need you to stay strong. And survive and stay alive. And we are coming.”
More Houthi attacks expected, says senior US military official
A senior US military official has said more attacks by the Houthis are expected. The director of the US joint staff, Lt Gen Douglas Sims, told reporters in a virtual meeting that the Houthis had fired at least one missile already in response to the US–UK attacks.
As reported by the Qatar-based media network Al Jazeera, Sims said: “Their rhetoric has been pretty strong, and pretty high, and we expect that they will attempt some sort of retaliation. I would hope that they don’t retaliate, but we’re prepared in the event that they do.”
More than 30 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, say health and rescue officials
More than 30 Palestinians, including young children, were killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip overnight into Saturday, say health and rescue officials, as concerns grow over a lack of fuel and supplies for overburdened hospitals.
Rescue workers searched through the twisted rubble of a home in Gaza City by flashlight after it was hit by an Israeli attack, reports the news agency Associated Press.
Footage provided by Gaza’s civil defence authorities, and viewed by Associated Press, reportedly showed them carrying a young girl wrapped in blankets with injuries to her face, and at least two other children who appeared dead.
Civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said that the attack on the home in the Daraj neighbourhood killed at least 20 people in total. Another strike near the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border killed at least 13 people, including two children.
The bodies of those killed, primarily from a displaced family from central Gaza, were taken to the city’s Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital, where they were seen by an Associated Press reporter.
With the war in Gaza entering its 100th day on Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) says only 15 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are still partially functional.
The main hospital in central Gaza, Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah, went dark Friday morning after running out of fuel.
Staff were able to keep ventilators and incubators operating with solar-charged batteries during the day, and received a small emergency shipment of fuel from another hospital late Friday.
Fuel was expected to run out again on Saturday unless the WHO is able to deliver a promised shipment, hospital officials said. Aid deliveries were being disrupted by a renewed drop in telecommunications connectivity in much of Gaza, which began late Friday.
PRCS provided medical services to 4,800 patients in the southern Gaza Strip
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has provided medical services to 4,800 patients and injured individuals in the southern Gaza Strip, it said.
The national humanitarian organisation is providing medical services to patients and displaced individuals in its al-Mawasi clinic in Rafah and in two mobile clinics in al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis, reaching those unable to access hospitals.
A video posted on the PRCS’s X account shows a number of people queuing for treatment.
The Palestine Red Crescent continues to provide medical services to patients and displaced individuals in the southern #Gaza Strip. 📍This is done through the PRCS’s clinic in Al-Mawasi in Rafah in addition to two mobile clinics in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Yunis, reaching… pic.twitter.com/nuE1SnN5Ja
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 13, 2024
You can view the US central command’s statement on Saturday’s strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen below, as posted on its X account:
At 3:45 a.m. (Sana’a time) on Jan 13., U.S. forces conducted a strike against a Houthi radar site in Yemen. This strike was conducted by the USS Carney (DDG 64) using Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles and was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes… pic.twitter.com/YE5BKJLGBv
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) January 13, 2024
135 Palestinians killed and 312 wounded in the last 24 hours, says Gaza ministry
The latest figures released on Saturday by the Gaza health ministry state that 135 Palestinians were killed and 312 wounded in the previous 24 hours.
It brings the total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes since 7 October to at least 23,843, according to the latest figures by the ministry. More than 60,317 people have been wounded, it said.
The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas, and it has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.