The Palestine Chronology

In the West Bank, a Palestinian man succumbs to injuries sustained from Israeli forces in Kafr Ain on 1/22. Israeli settlers throw stones at Palestinian vehicles traveling near Bizarya, causing damage. Israeli settlers also assault Palestinian shepherds in Umm al-Khair, causing injuries. Elsewhere, Israeli settlers raid Huwwara, vandalizing homes and vehicles. Israeli forces shoot and kill a Palestinian man and injure another at the Dayr Sharaf checkpoint; Israel claims the dead man opened fire at Israeli soldiers. Israeli forces also punitively demolish the family home in Hebron of a Palestinian man killed by Israeli forces in Beit Jala on 11/16/2023; the demolition is carried out with explosives, damaging other apartments in the building. Elsewhere, Israeli forces demolish an agricultural structure in Yatma. Israeli forces also arrest 5 Palestinians during a raid in Jenin. In East Jerusalem, Israeli forces arrest 10 Palestinians, including 4 children, at the Haram al-Sharif compound. In Gaza, Israeli forces bomb Gaza City, Rafah, Maghazi, Dayr al-Balah, and Khan Yunis, killing at least 130 people. Israeli forces also shoot and kill a Palestinian doctor while his is operating on a patient in the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. In Lebanon, Hezbollah attacks 2 Israeli bases, injuring 3 soldiers in Kiryat Shmona. 30 rockets are also fired at Ein Zeitim and Dalton. Israeli forces kill a Hezbollah member in an airstrike on Nabatieh, others are reportedly injured. Israel also attacks Khiam and Kafrhamam. In Yemen, the U.S. military says it has conducted 7 airstrikes. (AJ, AJ, AP, HA, NYT, NYT, REU, UNOCHA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 2/8; AJ, AP, HA, REU 2/9)

More than 27,840 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, including at least 11,500 children and 7,200 women, and around 67,317 have been injured since 10/7. At least 8,000 people are missing in rubble, including 1,700 children. 383 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 10/7, including 96 children. More than 4,426 people have been injured. Israel reports that 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5,400 have been injured in Israel since 10/7, including Israeli soldiers. In addition, 225 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 1,314 injured in Gaza since the ground invasion began on 10/27. Over 1.93 million Palestinians, nearly 85% of the population of Gaza, have been displaced since 10/7. There has been a complete electricity blackout in Gaza since 10/12 due to the Israeli blockade. At least 70,000 housing units have been destroyed and 290,000 have been damaged in Israeli airstrikes since 10/7, constituting over 60% of all housing units. UNOCHA says 650,000 Palestinians in Gaza have no homes to return to and that there are an estimated 12 million tons of debris from Israeli bombings that needs to be cleared. (HA, UNOCHA, UNOCHA, WAFA 2/8; AJ 2/9)

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says Muhammad Ahmad al-Sabar, a Palestinian held in administrative detention since May 2022, has died in the Ofer Prison. Al-Sabar is the eighth prisoner to die in Israeli custody since 10/7/2023. (AJ, UNOCHA, WAFA 2/8)

Israeli forces release 71 Palestinians from Gaza at the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing. The New York Times reports that U.S. intelligence officers told Congress that they believe Israeli forces have killed a third of Hamas militants. (AJ, HA, NYT, WAFA 2/8; AJ, HA, NYT 2/9)

A Hamas delegation led by political bureau deputy leader Khalil al-Hayya arrives in Cairo for meetings with Qatari and Egyptian officials on a ceasefire deal. The Israeli war cabinet discusses the Hamas response to the ceasefire proposal. (AJ, HA 2/8)

UN high commissioner for human rights Volker Turk says Israel’s destruction of homes to create a buffer zone in Gaza “amounts to a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and [is] a war crime.” (AJ, NYT 2/8)

U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken meets with Israeli war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot and opposition leader Yair Lapid on the second day of his visit to Israel. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says Israel moving its troops to Rafah “without due consideration for their [Palestinians sheltering there] safety would be a disaster and we would not support it.” President Joe Biden issues a memorandum saying countries receiving U.S. military aid must assure the U.S. that they are adhering to international law and requiring the state and defense departments to send a report to Congress within 90 days on the use of U.S.-supplied weapons. Biden also says in a speech that Israel’s response in Gaza has been “over the top,” and that innocent people in Gaza are “starving, in trouble and dying. It’s got to stop.” In the speech, Biden mistakenly calls Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi the president of Mexico. (AJ, AJ, AP, AP, HA, NYT 2/8; AJ, AJ, AP, HA, HA, NYT, REU 2/9)

The U.S. Senate advances a supplemental foreign aid only bill, including $14 billion to Israel in a procedural 67-32 vote. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) is the only Democrat to vote against it. (HA, REU 2/8)

The ICJ says Nicaragua has requested to join South Africa in the genocide case against Israel. (AJ, WAFA 2/8)

In Gaza, Fatah-Hamas fighting escalates for the 4th day, leaving at least 24 armed Palestinians, 4 civilians dead and more than 100 wounded (the highest 1- day total in 18 mos. of factional fighting), as gunmen on both sides continue to ignore appeals by their political leaders to halt the violence. (Egyptian mediators try to broker another cease-fire, but the Hamas delegation cannot reach the talks because of Fatah roadblocks.) By evening, Hamas is reported to be in control of most of n. Gaza. During the day, Hamas gunmen and ESF mbrs. surround secondary Fatah and PA security posts across Gaza. In light of increasingly coordinated Hamas attacks, Abbas accuses Hamas of attempting to stage a coup, for the 1st time orders his security forces to defend their positions. Of note: Hamas stages major assaults on Fatah’s security headquarters in Khan Yunis and Gaza City, where some 200 Hamas mbrs. firing mortars and RPGs seize the post from 500 Fatah fighters. After dark, 100s of Hamas gunman raid a major hilltop NSF post in Jabaliya r.c., using small arms and grenades, taking the post after an intense gunfight that leaves 21 dead and 60 wounded (included in the figures above). PA presidential guardsmen fire RPGs at Haniyeh’s home in what Hamas condemns as an assassination attempt (no one is injured); in retaliation, Hamas mbrs. fire mortars toward Abbas’s Gaza residence, causing no damage or injuries (Abbas is in Ramallah). Hamas mbrs. also attack the home of PSF cmdr. Hassan Muhsin (not home at the time), killing his wife, son, daughter, and niece; ransack the vacant home of PC mbr. Nabil Shaath; occupy a PA-funded TV station in Gaza City. Human Rights Watch issues a statement accusing both factions of war crimes for executing captives and killing bystanders. In the West Bank, Fatah and Hamas kidnap rival mbrs. (including the AMB kidnapping of Hamas-affiliated Dep. Transportation M Fadi Shabanah); PA presidential guardsmen attack, close a Hamas TV station in Ramallah. Palestinians in Ramallah stage a demonstration against the interfactional fighting. On the Israeli-Palestinian front, Palestinians fire several rockets fr. Gaza into Israel, lightly injuring 1 Israeli. The IDF fires on stonethrowing youths nr. Nablus, wounding an 11-yr.-old Palestinian bystander. More than 1,000 Jewish settlers, escorted by the IDF, reoccupy the evacuated Homesh settlement site nr. Nablus, closing the local stretch of the Nablus–Jenin road to Palestinian traffic. Inside Israel, the Israel Lands Authority demolishes a home in the Israeli Palestinian neighborhood of al-Jawarish in Ramla built without a permit. (MENA, MNA, OCS, PSCT 6/12 in WNC 6/13; NYT, OCHA, WP, WT 6/13; PCHR 6/14)