January 17, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

US President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday re-designated the Houthis as a specially designated global terrorist (SDGT) entity amid continued attacks by the Yemen-based militia.

Administration officials said the designation is aimed at deterring the Houthis from their ongoing aggression in the Red Sea. It is the latest in a series of US actions targeting the Iranian-backed group, and comes as the specter of a wider regional war in the Middle East looms large amid Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

Mohammad Abdul Salam, the official spokesperson for the Houthis said the group had anticipated the designation, which he described as being driven by political motives in a call with Al-Jazeera on Wednesday. The Houthis said they used the attacks to try and garner "leverage" to halt the war in Gaza, underscoring that the US designation "would not weaken" their "unwavering support" for the Palestinian cause.

The administration removed the Houthis’ SDGT designation and de-listed it as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in February 2021, after it was designated by former President Donald Trump's administration in its final weeks.

Keep reading about the Houthi re-designation.

At least three people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a car in Balata refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

The Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet, released a statement on Wednesday saying that "during joint IDF and ISA activity in the Balata camp in the city of Nablus, a terrorist cell headed by Amed Abdullah Abu-Shalal was eliminated during a precise airstrike."

Eyewitnesses in the area told the official Palestinian agency WAFA that the occupation forces "abducted" the bodies of two young men from the vehicle before withdrawing from the area.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a statement that the Israeli forces surrounded the targeted vehicle with military jeeps, preventing ambulance crews from approaching, and opened fire on Red Crescent teams who were present at the scene.

The PRCS said that its teams were able to reach the vehicle after the Israeli withdrawal from the area, where they retrieved the remains of one of the young men. And the health ministry in Ramallah later said that an unidentified "burnt body arrived at Rafidia Government Hospital in Nablus, as a result of the occupation's shelling of a vehicle near Balata camp."  

CNN is unable to independently confirm the identity of the deceased men. 

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Wednesday that if there is an end to the conflict in Gaza, other attacks in the region will also cease.

Amir-Abdollahian said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah told him that Hezbollah attacks would stop if Israel ceased its attacks on Hamas in Gaza. The Iranian minister told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that in the last 100 days, he has held talks twice with Nasrallah.

Amir-Abdollahian added that maritime security and shipping safety in the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf are important to oil exporter Iran, also claiming that Iran has information that the Yemenis and Saudis are nearing "a real substantive peace agreement."

Israeli forces appear to have withdrawn from the area around the largest hospital in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, after their approach towards the medical compound late on Tuesday prompted panic among the thousands of people sheltering there.

People on the scene told CNN that there were no more military vehicles in the area around the Al Nasser Hospital compound as of Wednesday morning.

Around 7,000 people are sheltering at the compound, according to the World Health Organization. 

Late on Tuesday, Israeli forces began moving towards the hospital, prompting crowds of people to flee. Multiple videos from the scenes showed people carrying blankets, mattresses and other personal belongings making their way out of the compound. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) did not respond to CNN’s questions on Wednesday about its operations in and around the Al Nasser Hospital compound.

But the IDF said on Tuesday that Hamas had recently carried out a launch from within the hospital compound towards Israeli forces in Khan Younis. It also said that IDF “commando forces have been operating in the Khan Younis area in order to locate and dismantle terror infrastructure.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Wednesday that 253 people had been taken hostage to Gaza on October 7, announcing a firm number for the first time. 

Previously Israel had been saying “more than 250,” Netanyahu’s office told CNN.

Hamas and other militant groups operating in Gaza seized the hostages in a surprise attack, killing about 1,200 others that day.

Following hostage releases and one rescue, Israel now believes 132 hostages from October 7 are still being held in Gaza – 105 of them alive and 27 dead.

A solution in Gaza will "allow for the de-escalation in other parts of the Middle East," said United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Speaking to CNN's Julia Chatterley at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, Guterres warned that he is "extremely worried about Lebanon."

"We cannot have in Lebanon another Gaza," said Guterres, adding that he sees serious efforts being made by the Lebanese government, the United States and other parties.

Guterres also called for a humanitarian ceasefire in order to facilitate the liberation of hostages "immediately and unconditionally," to provide "effective humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza" and to "facilitate a serious negotiation for de-escalation in Lebanon."

The situation in Gaza is "gut-wrenching," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, adding the "suffering we are seeing among innocent men, women and children breaks my heart."

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos Wednesday, Blinken said there remained questions on the most effective ways to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza and how to minimize civilian casualties.

When asked whether Jewish lives matter more than Palestinian lives for the US, he said: "No. Period."

He also described the Israel-Gaza war as a "profound opportunity for regionalization in the Middle East," adding that more Arab countries were willing to have a relationship with Israel.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned about the impact of the Red Sea disruption on the global economy if the situation escalates.

Some context: Attacks by Iran-backed militants in the Red Sea effectively closed one of the world’s main trade routes to most container ships. The Houthi militants, based in Yemen, say they are taking revenge for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

As Israel’s war against Hamas enters its fourth month, the Israeli government has said little of substance, at least in any official way, on its plans for post-war Gaza.

Into that void has stepped a group — once fringe, but now in the governing coalition — that hopes for full Israeli control, to resettle Gaza and even expel Palestinians. And its ideas are permeating mainstream debate.

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a position in the defense ministry, says that Israel “will rule there. And in order to rule there securely for a long time, we must have a civilian presence.”

Read the full story here.