Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 88

Here’s how things stand on Tuesday, January 2, 2024:

Latest updates

• Israel’s National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi has said that Israel will not boycott the International Court of Justice case launched by South Africa.

• The Israeli Supreme Court has struck down a highly disputed law passed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in July, designed to roll back the power of the country’s high court.
• Authorities in Gaza have issued a list of 127 Egyptian and Omani nationals who can travel through the Rafah crossing with Egypt today at 7am local time (05:00 GMT).
• The Gaza health ministry has published a list of 19 people who have been approved for medical evacuation from Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt today. These include children and patients with severe illnesses, including cancer.
• UN agency OCHA reported the first case of the demolition of Palestinian property in 2024, in al-Maniya in Bethlehem. In 2023, 1,119 structures were demolished in the West Bank.

• The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change has denied an Israeli news report claiming that Blair would take the lead in resettling refugees from Gaza in Arab and other countries.
• “No such discussion has taken place. Nor would Tony Blair have such a discussion, the idea is wrong in principle. Gazans should be able to stay and live in Gaza,” the institute wrote on X.

Human impact and fighting

• Abdul Rahman al-Bahsh, 23, who was in prison since May 2022, has been announced dead by the Israeli prison service, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reported, from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank.
• He is the seventh prisoner to die in an Israeli jail since the outbreak of violence on October 7.
• Israeli air strikes have reportedly hit several neighbourhoods in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.
• The Israeli army is reportedly shelling the Maghazi refugee camp and the Rafah coastline.
• On Monday, at least 21 people were killed and dozens were injured as a result of the bombardment in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
• At least 15 of these deaths were in the Magazhi refugee camp. Six people were killed in Jabalia’s Bir al-Naja area, added Wafa.
• The Syrian state news agency (SANA) has reported that Israel carried out air strikes early on Tuesday morning, causing some material damage along the outskirts of Damascus city.
• Wafa also reported that the Jerusalem Governorate published an annual report, detailing violations against the residents of Jerusalem by the Israeli government and military.
• According to the report, in 2023, 51 residents were killed and about 3,081 were arrested. The report said 55,158 settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque “with heavy protection from heavily armed special occupation forces”.

Raids in the West Bank

• The Israeli military has prevented ambulances and medical personnel from reaching a Palestinian man wounded during a raid in the city of Qalqilya, Al Jazeera correspondent Hamdah Salhut reports.
• Medical personnel were reportedly shot at while they tried to reach the injured Palestinian in Qalqilya, where clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers broke out during the raid.
• Wafa reports that on Monday evening, the Israeli forces seized a house and turned its roof into an observational point in Bethlehem’s town of al-Khader.