LIVE: Israel kills 28 in Gaza; UN warns aid efforts ‘at breaking point’

• Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza continues, with six people – including a child – killed in its latest attacks on residential buildings, taking the toll from assaults on Monday to at least 28.
• Tom Fletcher, the UN’s relief chief, says efforts to save the lives of survivors in Gaza is “at breaking point” because of continued Israeli attacks on aid workers, including an assault on a World Food Programme convoy on Sunday, and the collapse of law and order in the war-torn enclave.
• Israel’s military has launched a manhunt in the occupied West Bank after gunmen killed three Israelis near an illegal settlement in the Qalqilya governorate.
• US envoy Amos Hochstein says the Israeli military will withdraw completely from south Lebanon after it withdrew from another of the nearly 60 border villages its troops are currently operating in. But Hochstein does not confirm if the Israeli pullout will be completed within the 60-day deadline of the ceasefire deal with Hezbollah.
• Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed at least 45,854 Palestinians and wounded 109,139 since October 7, 2023. At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.
• Israeli army again targets Kamal Adwan Hospital in north GazaA series of Israeli air strikes targeted the vicinity of the destroyed Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza.Three more public hospitals in the northern Gaza governorate were taken out of service from Israeli attacks, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Saturday.Meanwhile, local sources said Israeli tanks also bombed the southern area of the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood in Gaza City. There were no immediate reports of casualties.Last week, a UN report said Israeli strikes targeting hospitals and their surroundings in the Gaza Strip have pushed the territory’s healthcare system “to the brink of total collapse with catastrophic effect on Palestinians’ access to health and medical care”.
• Opposition leader slams Israel’s handling of captives’ returnIsraeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has called Israel’s handling of any deal to return the captives from Gaza “a failure” and “contrary to the political and security interests” of the country.Israeli daily Maariv quoted Lapid as saying Israel needs to clarify goals for its 15-month war on Gaza.“We should have defined many months ago what international coalition we want – mainly with Arab countries with whom we have agreements – to bring into Gaza, to work with them actively,” he said.“The fact that the hostages have not yet been returned home is, first and foremost, a failure. There is no other word. You have unparalleled public support. The percentages of support for the hostage deal, including the cessation of the war, are in numbers I can’t remember ever equaling on controversial issues in Israel.“You have support from the opposition. I’ve said it 1,000 times – he [Prime Minister Netanyahu] will receive a safety net from us, as long as he says what he wants. The main thing is that he brings the hostages home – and he’s not bringing them home.”
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• Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid attends an antigovernment rally in Tel Aviv [File: Jack Guez/AFP]
• How can world powers stop Israel from attacking health facilities?Hospitals in Gaza have become battle zones. Patients and health workers are victims of Israel’s war.The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the north is missing after being detained for questioning. How can the UN and world powers stop Israel from attacking health facilities?
• What are the sticking points in the Gaza ceasefire talks?
  • The captives: Hamas says it has agreed to an Israeli list of 34 captives to be released as part of the first phase of a potential deal. But Israeli officials are demanding Hamas state which of those captives are still alive and are dismissing the group’s call for calm to determine the status of those held in Gaza.
  • The end of the war: Hamas is demanding commitments for a ceasefire and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza. But Netanyahu has said he wants a partial deal that pauses the war and has rejected calls for a full Israeli pullout from the Palestinian enclave. The Israeli PM has pledged his country will fight until “total victory” and Hamas is “eliminated”.
  • Palestinian prisoners: As part of a truce deal, Israel is expected to free hundreds of jailed Palestinians. But the two sides disagree over the exact number and names of the prisoners to be freed. For instance, Israeli officials have ruled out freeing Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian leader from the Fatah faction who is currently serving a life sentence for his role in deadly attacks on Israelis.
  • The return of Palestinians to their homes in Gaza: Israel’s war has displaced more than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people. Hamas wants Israel to withdraw from Gaza’s population centres and allow the displaced to return to their homes, but the extent of the Israeli pullback and the number of people allowed to return are still being worked out, officials told the AP news agency.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/1/7/live-israel-kills-22-in-gaza-launches-manhunt-in-west-bank-after-shooting