January 2, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

A bipartisan group of United States Senators will travel to the Middle East Tuesday night to meet with senior Israeli officials to discuss the state of the Israel-Hamas war.

The lawmakers are members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. They are also expected to talk with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders in Arab countries during the visit, according to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

Gillibrand told CNN that her group is one of several congressional delegations in the region planning to meet with top officials to learn about the latest in the conflict and the impact Israel's military campaign has had on Hamas. She said her group of five senators will also head to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. 

What else to look out for: Later this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also travel to the Middle East to continue discussions with Israeli officials about the next phase of the war in Gaza.

Blinken’s trip is a continuation of a Biden administration initiative of sending its senior-most officials to Israel on a near-weekly basis for direct, in-person meetings with Israel’s war cabinet.

The topic of the war’s trajectory has been at the center of conversations between American and Israeli officials, including a lengthy phone call between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu last week that officials described as very direct and at times strained.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that there was an ultimatum from Hamas on the release of hostages from Gaza and that it has now “softened slightly.” 

He did not provide more details about the ultimatum.

According to the prime minister’s office, he made the remarks during a meeting with representatives of the families of those being held hostage in Gaza.

"The effort continues, there is contact, it has not been cut off,” Netanyahu said.

"There was an ultimatum from Hamas, now it has softened slightly,” he continued. 

He added there is a “contact currently taking place” with Hamas without providing further details. 

The State of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice at The Hague “to dispel South Africa's absurd blood libel,” Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said in a news briefing Tuesday, referring to South Africa’s claim that Israel is committing genocide in its war against Hamas.

“How tragic that the rainbow nation that prides itself on fighting racism will be fighting pro-bono for anti-Jewish racists," Eylon Levy said.

"We have no doubt that after the Jewish state brings to justice the perpetrators of the bloodiest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, history will judge South Africa for abetting the modern heirs of the Nazis. We assure South Africa's leaders history will judge you,” he said.

Some context: On Friday, South Africa filed an application at the International Court of Justice to begin proceedings over allegations of genocide against Israel for its war against Hamas in Gaza, the court said.

In its application, South Africa accuses Israel of being “in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention” and says “acts and omissions by Israel... are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent... to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group,” the ICJ said in a statement.

The Israeli Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, said on a visit to the Gaza Strip that Israel's military operations in the enclave will continue for some time but will change as it assesses the situation.

Gallant made a visit to the soldiers of the 99th Division inside Gaza along the Salah Al-Din route, the central road connecting north and south Gaza. He said it was vital to hold the route “in order to strengthen achievements in the northern area of the Gaza strip, while focusing efforts on the area of Khan Younis,” according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“We must emerge victorious for two reasons — first in order to exact a price, and to ensure that anyone living near the Gaza strip may do so safely. In addition – a scenario in which 1,500 people are killed or taken hostage, must end with clear-cut deterrence and victory, otherwise we cannot live in the Middle East. As such, we are determined to achieve our goals,” Gallant said. 

He contended that there were “several thousand [Hamas fighters] out of the 15 or 18 thousand that were in this area.”

“A large number of terrorists were eliminated, while some fled to the south. This means that in this place, tactically speaking, we will operate via firepower, some maneuvering, special operations, and if necessary, we will hold this area for a period of time. The goal is to exhaust the enemy [Hamas terrorists] and eliminate them," he said.

Gallant asserted that “in the north we destroyed 12 Hamas battalions. This does not mean that we have eliminated all the terrorists – but the scenario in which a terrorist may pick up binoculars, report back, shoot mortars, and then a battalion commander sends over maneuvering forces — this scenario is irrelevant here.”

He added: “In the southern area of the Gaza strip, the reality is different,” and that in Khan Younis operations were focused on what is above the tunnels where “senior Hamas officials are hiding, at great depths."

Gallant insisted that operations were changing, and not stopping.

"We are ending this campaign when Hamas no longer functions as a governing body and certainly not as a military body that sends troops [to conduct attacks]. Now we continue maintaining our capabilities," he said.

Gallant then spoke briefly about the northern border with Lebanon, describing it as an additional threat. “We will begin a preparation process to address this. We are constantly watching the arena and holding a finger on the trigger, as far as what is happening in the northern arena.”

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in West Bank has provided its latest update on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Its information is draw from data supplied by hospitals and other sources in the Hamas-controlled territory.

The ministry cautions that obtaining accurate data is difficult given how many people are now living in the streets.

The latest update says:

CNN is unable to confirm figures provided by the ministry.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says several people have been killed by Israeli bombardment of its headquarters in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

Khan Younis is currently a focus of Israeli military operations.

The PRCS says there were also others wounded among the 14,000 displaced individuals housed in the PRCS’s premises and the adjacent Al-Amal Hospital.

A spokesperson for the PRCS, Raed Al-Nims, told CNN:

“There is difficulty in communication with Khan Younis. The numbers are not final.”

Al Nims said that medical teams are still working to rescue the wounded.

Separately, a spokesperson at the nearby Nasser hospital told CNN it had received five bodies and several more injured people “due to an Israeli bombing of the upper floor of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society HQ in Khan Younis."

CNN has sought comment from the Israel Defense Forces.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says its units have secured a Hamas intelligence and control center in Gaza City but sustained casualties in close-quarter fighting. 

The IDF says the 401st Brigade conducted a “targeted raid on the central building of the Eastern Military Post in Gaza City. The Eastern Military Post is a strategic stronghold of Hamas in Gaza City, in which there were operational command and control rooms.”

The IDF also said the brigade had discovered an underground Hamas bunker, from which it “managed the war in the Gaza Strip. The underground compound was 20 meters deep and included large operational rooms and hideouts for the Hamas’ leaders.”

CNN is unable to verify details provided by the IDF.

In the Eastern Military Post, the 401st discovered five central tunnel shafts dozens of meters deep which were inter-connected and provided entrance to the underground control center compound. An engineering unit had destroyed the tunnel route.

The IDF also spoke of close quarter fighting around the Eastern Military Post. “During the targeted raid, the forces engaged the enemy, during which terrorists fired at them from the upper floors. The forces returned fire while evacuating the wounded soldiers.”

Three IDF soldiers had been killed in close-quarter combat.

There has been intense fighting, accompanied by multiple Israeli air strikes, in several parts of central Gaza in recent days.

Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 22,185 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intensifies its military campaign in the central part of the territory.

In the past 24 hours, at least 207 people were killed and 338 were injured, the health ministry in Gaza said. The figures from the ministry do not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

CNN is unable to independently confirm the figures provided by the health ministry in Gaza due to restricted access to the region and the difficulty in verifying accurate numbers amidst the ongoing war. 

The Israel Defense Forces has expanded operations in central Gaza and on Monday said it was now able to draw down the number of soldiers deployed in the enclave.

Some context: US officials have urged Israel to begin a more targeted phase of fighting against Hamas, as the civilian death toll in Gaza spirals. US intelligence assessments suggest nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel used in Gaza have been unguided.

CNN previously reported that in the first month of its war in Gaza, Israel dropped hundreds of massive bombs, many of them capable of killing or wounding people more than 1,000 feet away.

Human rights groups and NGOs have said Israel's "indiscriminate" bombing is making it "impossible to sustain human life" in the densely populated Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli military said fighter jets struck targets belonging to the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah in the area of Yaroun in southern Lebanon, where crossfire has intensified since Israel launched its war on Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) added that it hit “military infrastructure belonging to the Syrian Army" in response to launches Monday toward Israeli territory.

In addition, two launches were identified crossing from Lebanon toward the area of Shlomi, northern Israel, it said.

Hezbollah claimed an attack on an Israeli military barracks near the border on Monday at Zar’it, in northern Israel. There have been no reports of injuries or damage.

Separately, Lebanon’s official news agency reported Israeli artillery bombardment of hills between Shebaa and Kafr Shuba.

Some background: Combat between the IDF and Iran-backed Hezbollah is concentrated in northern Israel and southern Lebanon -- separate from Israel's military campaign further south in Gaza.

However, fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has flared since October 7, raising concerns that the war in Gaza could evolve into a wider Middle East conflict.

Hezbollah's leadership has expressed support for Palestinians and condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza but has yet to directly intervene on Hamas' behalf. 

CNN's Charbel Mallo, Sugam Pokharel and Tamar Michaelis contributed reporting.