Gaza: Fears for newborns at Al-Aqsa Hospital as war nears day 100

This live blog on Day 99 of Israel's war on Gaza has concluded. Make sure to follow us for the latest news on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

Thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv late Saturday calling for the release of hostages being held in Gaza by Hamas, on the eve of the 100th day of their captivity.

Separately about 100 people gathered to call for an end to the war, brandishing signs saying: "Revenge is not victory," and: "No to the occupation."

Senior Hamas member Mousa Abu Marzouk said that his group will respect the decision of the International Court of Justice if it calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

France's President Emmanuel Macron called Saturday for fresh talks for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip

In a video posted online and broadcast at a meeting in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages, Macron said his nation was determined that all the hostages of the October 7 attacks are freed.

"France does not abandon its children," he added. "That is why we have to resume negotiations again and again for their release."

President Joe Biden said on Saturday the United States had delivered a private message to Iran about Iran-backed Houthis responsible for attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

"We delivered it privately and we're confident we're well-prepared," Biden told reporters at the White House before departing to the Camp David presidential retreat for the weekend.

A Hamas official thanked Qatar on Saturday for sending medicine to the Gaza Strip "in light of the many risks that threaten the lives of Palestinians."

"Some medicine will be used to treat Israeli prisoners," Osama Hamdan, a Lebanon-based Hamas leader, told a news conference in Beirut.

Israel had announced on Friday that it had made an arrangement with Qatar that will allow the delivery of medicines to hostages held in Gaza by Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules the Strip.

Hamdan said the priority was the citizens of Gaza. "First, we believe our people are more deserving and in need of medicine, and secondly, there are security issues this presents."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that a decision had yet to be made about a potential military takeover of the "Philadelphi Corridor" along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt.

Telling reporters that sealing off the zone to isolate Hamas was an aim of the Gaza war, Netanyahu said "there are a number of options," including moving forces into Philadelphi.

"We have looked into these and have yet to make a decision," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday that no one will stop Israel from achieving victory in its war in the Gaza Strip.

"No one will stop us - not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil (a reference given by the the US and Israel to Iran and its allies) and no one else. It is possible and necessary to continue until victory and we will do it," Netanyahu told a televised press conference as the war in Gaza moves into its 100th day on Sunday.

A top UN official said Saturday that the Gaza war was staining humanity, as the conflict in the besieged territory moves into its 100th day.

"The massive death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss and grief of the last 100 days are staining our shared humanity," the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, said in a statement as he visited the Gaza Strip.

"It's been 100 days of ordeal and anxiety for hostages and their families," Lazzarini said.

Lazzarini said an entire generation of children were being "traumatised" and would take years to heal.

"People live in inhumane conditions, where diseases are spreading, including among children," he said.

"They live through the unlivable, with the clock ticking fast towards famine."

Ashraf al-Qudra, the health ministry’s spokesman in the Gaza Strip, has warned that the southern city of Rafah is reaching a breaking point due to the influx of hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians and their families.

“Rafah’s infrastructure, services, and health infrastructure are fragile and cannot handle the needs of 1.3 million citizens and displaced people,” al-Qudra said in a post on Telegram.

The government information office in the Gaza Strip says that Gaza City and areas in the north need 1,300 food trucks per day.

Before the war started on October 7, an average of 2,000 trucks used to enter the Gaza Strip on a daily basis through the Rafah border crossing in the south.

That number has severely declined over the past three months, already exacerbating a worsening humanitarian crisis as nearly half of the territory’s population faces famine.

A new strike hit the Yemeni Red Sea port city of Hodeida on Saturday following rocket fire by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, security sources said.

A military source allied with the rebels told AFP "the site from which a Houthi rocket was launched on the outskirts of Hodeida was hit", adding that it was not clear whether the strike came from the sea or the air. A police source confirmed the new strike.

The Lebanese group Hezbollah said it attacked the settlement of Shtola near the Lebanese border, damaging one of its buildings.

In a statement via its Telegram channel, the group said that the attack it carried out on a civilian building was in response to Israel’s "attacks on homes and southern villages, the most recent of which was the bombing of the town of Yarin".

Seven Palestinian men sustained injuries on Saturday during the ongoing Israeli incursion into the Al-Far'a refugee camp, located in the West Bank province of Tubas, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa. 

The incursion has been going on for more than six hours, reportedly.

US actor Mahershala Ali and two-time Oscar winner is raising money for Mohammed al-Qudwa, a young Palestinian poet hoping to leave war-torn Gaza with his family.

In collaboration with the Palestinian Festival of Literature, Ali has recorded a video of himself reciting al-Qudwa’s poem "Looking for Haifa," and asking his followers to donate to al-Qudwa’s fundraiser so that the poet’s family have a chance of making it out of the besieged territory.

At the time of writing, al-Qudwa said he needed less than $2,000 to reach his goal.

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of London to protest the ongoing war carried out by Israel in Gaza, which is nearing its 100th day.

Many called for a ceasefire and for freedom for the Palestinian territories, while drawing attention to the increasing death toll and dire conditions in the territory, where famine and disease risk exacerbating the death toll.

The UN special envoy for Yemen on Saturday urged maximum restraint by all parties involved in Yemen and warned of an increasingly uncertain situation in the region.

The envoy, Hans Grundberg, "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," he said in a statement.

The United States carried out a fresh strike on Saturday on a Houthi rebel target in Yemen, the US military said, after the Iran-backed militants warned of further attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

The strike on a Houthi radar site came a day after US and British forces hit scores of targets across the country, heightening fears that Israel's war in Gaza could engulf the wider region.

US Central Command said Saturday's strike was "a follow-on action on a specific military target" related to the previous day's strikes.

The Huthis' official media earlier said Al-Dailami airbase in Yemen's rebel-held capital of Sanaa had been struck in the latest bombardment.

The Palestinian team hope to reach the knockout stage of the Asian Cup for the first time to "put a smile on the faces of the Palestinian people", one of its players said on Saturday.

The tournament in Qatar is taking place against the backdrop of the Israel's relentless war in Gaza, and Palestinian skipper Musab Al-Battat is aware the team's performances have a meaning beyond football.

"We as players are part of the Palestinian people and live through the same suffering as the people," Battat said on the eve of their opening match against Iran.

He added: "We wish this (the war) will end soon and for this to be an exceptional tournament for us so we can put a smile on the faces of the Palestinian people."

Some Palestinian players have lost loved ones in the war, which has killed at least 23,843 people.

Palestine have been at the Asian Cup twice previously, and are yet to win a game, but their coach Makram Daboub said they hope to spring a surprise despite their troubled build-up.

US federal employees across are planning to walk off the job on Tuesday to protest the Biden administration’s handling of Israel's war in Gaza, according to organisers of the dissent effort who spoke to news site Al-Monitor. 

The group — calling itself Feds United for Peace — is made from dozens of government employees who will be observing a day of mourning to mark 100 days of Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza, which has killed close to 24,000 people. The organisers said they expect "easily hundreds" of others to join in their walkout, Al-Monitor added.

The groups include the Executive Office of the President, the National Security Agency, the Departments of State, Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs as well as US Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Naval Research Laboratory. 

Egypt’s ambassador to Lebanon said Israeli claims that Cairo is responsible for blocking the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip are "desperate" deflections.

Alaa Moussa stressed it was "another desperate attempt to evade responsibilities as an occupying authority and deflect the repercussions of aid not reaching Gaza despite multiple UN resolutions on the matter", according to Lebanon broadcaster LBCI.

Israeli forces are intensifying military measures in and around Hebron, following the killing of three Palestinian teenage boys on Friday night.

Security sources said that Israeli forces have tightened their military measures following the deadly shooting on the main roads and streets leading to bypass roads and those close to the illegal Israeli settlements.

Scores of wounded Palestinians are lining up to receive care at the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) clinic in Rafah and several mobile clinics near Khan Younis, as many patients are unable to reach hospitals due to ongoing Israeli bombardment.

PRCS says it has helped treat 4,800 Palestinians who cannot get care in overcrowded and understaffed hospitals, with a number of them destroyed and damaged by Israeli attacks.

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

Yemen's Houthis' spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam told Reuters that US strikes on Yemen, including the latest one on a military base in Sanaa, had no significant impact on the group's capabilities to continue preventing Israel-affiliated vessels from passing through the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.

The health ministry in Gaza said Saturday at least 23,843 have been killed in the territory in 99 days of war waged by Israel.

The ministry said it had registered 60,317 wounded since war erupted on October 7, while thousands remain trapped under rubble.

The Israeli army said it staged attacks in southern Lebanon late on Friday, in Marwahin and the Yaroun area.

The army said a helicopter raided the area, while the military fired artillery rounds at a suspected "Hezbollah cell".

Israeli strikes have killed dozens across Gaza during overnight attacks, namely in Gaza City in the north and Nuseirat in the centre, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

In the Daraj neighbourhood of Gaza City, an Israeli air strike killed 20 Palestinians.

Meanwhile, in the al-Dawa neighbourhood near Nuseirat, Israeli strikes killed or injured dozens more.

Israeli strikes have also hit areas of Maghazi and Deir el-Balah, according to the news agency, as Israeli forces also move closer to Al-Aqsa Hospital.

The Israeli army on Saturday detained six Palestinians, including a child, amid a military raid carried out in Bethlehem, West Bank, local sources said, as cited by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

17-year-old Ahmed Soman was arrested by the army, in addition to four siblings after raiding and inspecting their families' houses.

Forces reportedly seized a motorcycle belonging to a local citizen after conducting a search into his home.

The three Palestinian teenagers killed earlier near the illegal "Adora" settlement in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, have been identified.

The three killed were 19-year-old Ismail Ahmed Yousef Abu Jahisha and his cousin Mahmoud Arafat Yousef Abu Jahisha, 16, as well as Adi Isma’in Yousef, also 16, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The news agency said the three were shot near the illegal settlement, contradicting reports that the three had "infiltrated" the settlement.