January 17, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

The Israeli government did not link the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes in northern Gaza to the release of hostages held by Hamas during meetings with Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week, the US State Department spokesperson said Wednesday.

Israel said "they did not want to see Palestinians displaced from their homes," according to spokesperson Matt Miller.

Before the Blinken meeting, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who sits on the Israeli security cabinet, proposed that Palestinians not be allowed to return home until all the remaining hostages are freed.

On escalation: More generally, Miller said that the US has been working "to prevent the region from tipping into a full-blown conflagration" and asserted that that effort has been successful so far.

Last week, Blinken pushed back on the idea that the conflict was "escalating," but acknowledged that "there are lots of danger points."

In the days since, the Houthis and US have been engaged in tit-for-tat strikes in the Red Sea and Yemen, respectively, and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has hit targets in Iraq and Pakistan.

A Hamas official acknowledged the agreement with Israel brokered by Qatar to allow medication into Gaza for Israeli hostages — but said the arrangement is dependent on there also being enough medication for Palestinians in the enclave.

The Red Cross proposed delivering medical supplies to the Israeli hostages inside Gaza, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior member of Hamas, said on social media Wednesday. It is not clear from the agreement how the medical supplies will be delivered into Gaza or who will transport the medication. 

The Hamas terms of the agreement included a stipulation that for every one box of medication given to Israeli hostages, 1,000 boxes of medication are also provided for Palestinians in Gaza. 

People in Gaza are living through what is now the longest sustained telecoms internet disruption in the enclave since the start of the war with Israel, a monitoring site reports.

A near-total internet blackout in the Gaza Strip has now passed 120 hours, according to Netblocks, with most residents unable to contact the outside world since January 12.

On Monday, the Hamas-run government office in Gaza said the disruption also makes it harder for the emergency services that are still functioning to reach the wounded.

Israel did not respond to CNN’s multiple requests for comment on the communications blackout.  

Houthis will not stop their attacks on what they are referring to as Israeli-linked vessels in the Red and Arabian Seas, according to a written statement on Hizam al-Assad, a member of the Houthi political bureau's X account.

“The operations of our naval forces in the Red and Arabian Seas will continue to target Israeli ships linked to the enemy entity,” Al-Assad said. 

Al-Assad declared that the group will continue its assaults as long as the conflict in Gaza persists. 

"As long as the American Zionist aggression and siege on our people in Gaza continues the attacks will not stop,” Al-Assad added.

“What should be designated as terrorism is the crimes of genocide committed by the Israeli occupation army, with American support and participation, against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” Al-Assad said. 

Tensions are escalating in the Middle East and beyond after Iran conducted a series of missile strikes within the region.

Pakistan strongly condemned an Iranian airstrike inside its borders that killed two children, calling it an “unprovoked violation of its airspace” and warning of retaliation.

The attack in Pakistan comes after Iran launched missiles in northern Iraq and Syria Monday, in the latest escalation of hostilities in the Middle East where Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza risks spiraling into a wider regional conflict.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that an end to the war in Gaza may put an end to other attacks in the region, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Amir-Abdollahian also said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah — whom he has twice spoken to since the war in Gaza began — told him that Hezbollah attacks would stop if Israel ceased its attacks on Hamas in Gaza.

If you're just joining us, here are today's latest headlines:

A cemetery in Khan Younis in southern Gaza was severely damaged during a period of time when the Israel Defense Forces said it conducted operations in the area.  

A video of the cemetery that was geolocated by CNN shows the area bulldozed, with some graves apparently disturbed. The IDF has not responded to CNN’s repeated questions about the apparent damage to the cemetery.  

A satellite image of the cemetery taken by Maxar on Monday shows the cemetery undisturbed, indicating the damage must have happened between then and Wednesday morning, when it was first reported. 

The IDF said on Tuesday that its “commando forces have been operating in the Khan Younis area in order to locate and dismantle terror infrastructure.”

Health care facilities nearby: The Jordanian Armed Forces also said that a field hospital it runs that is located next to the cemetery in Khan Younis sustained "severe material damage" as a result of “continuous Israeli bombardment in the hospital's surroundings overnight and into Wednesday morning.”

The Al Nasser Hospital compound is also near the cemetery. The IDF was operating in the area on Tuesday evening and into Wednesday morning, and its approach toward the medical complex had brought on panic among the thousands sheltering there.

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."