Live Blog Update| Israel's war on Gaza
This is an entry from: Live: Israeli forces detonate 20 homes in Jenin

Evening recap

21 January 2025 23:57 GMT

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

  • Civil defence teams in Gaza are still uncovering the horrific toll of Israel’s war on Gaza, recovering bodies that had been left to rot beneath the ruins. “We retrieved 120 decomposed bodies over the past two days. They’re completely decomposed with only skeletal remains,” said Haitham Hams, a civil defence worker, speaking to The Associated Press.

  • The Palestinian Ministry of Health has confirmed that 10 Palestinians were killed and around 40 others wounded in yet another Israeli assault on Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

  • Israeli forces have raided Beit Furik, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, storming at least 15 homes and arresting 13 people, Wafa news agency reported.

  • The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) confirmed that 897 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, marking the third day of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

  • Herzl Halevi, Israel's military chief, has resigned, citing failures in relation to Hamas' surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. His resignation will take effect on 6 March. 

  • Israeli human rights organisation Gisha has slammed Israel’s blockade of Gaza, stating that the sudden influx of humanitarian aid following Sunday’s ceasefire proves access was deliberately restricted.

  • Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s staunchly pro-Israel nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations, has pledged to block American funding for what she says are "antisemitic" international organisations, echoing debunked Israeli accusations that UN agencies like Unrwa are linked to Palestinian resistance groups.

  • Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations, has openly endorsed Israel’s claim to the entire occupied West Bank, citing a so-called “biblical right”.

  • During her Senate confirmation hearing, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen pressed Stefanik on whether she still supported the extreme views of Israeli far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who advocate full annexation. “Yes,” she replied without hesitation, confirming her alignment with Israel’s most hardline factions.

  • Israel’s 15-month-long bombing campaign has reduced 80 percent of northern Gaza to rubble, according to Naji Sarhan, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza.

  • Israeli far-right politicians praised US President Donald Trump after he reversed US sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank implemented last year by his predecessor Joe Biden.

  • Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he “strongly condemns any attack and violence against Palestinians” and regrets the shooting of two Israeli men by a police officer during a settler attack in the West Bank on Monday, The Times of Israel reported.

  • The rebuilding process in Gaza will "take an awful lot of time" despite the promised surge in humanitarian deliveries, a UN official in Gaza told the BBC.

  • Turkey could restart trade with Israel "if peace is permanent", Nail Olpak, head of the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board (Deik), said on Tuesday.