Timeline of the Gaza War (2008–2009)

The meeting lasted four hours,[39] and resulted in a press statement calling "on the parties to stop immediately all military activities ... [and] to address the serious humanitarian and economic needs in Gaza and to take necessary measures, including opening of border crossings.

[52] According to the IDF, Israel permitted a number of Turkish-donated ambulances from the West Bank to be transported to the Gaza Strip, as well as Red Cross, UNRWA, World Food Programme and Doctors Without Borders medical supplies.

[72][73] Palmor also said that the fact that the ship was carrying journalists, including a CNN crew that had already broadcast live three times, proved that the incident was a provocation on the part of the media.

[66] In a written statement, the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast USA, based in Atlanta, Georgia, said that McKinney "has taken it upon herself to commit an act of provocation", endangering herself and the crew, and called her behavior "irresponsible".

[91][92] According to UN humanitarian coordinator Max Gaylard, Gaza's hospitals were facing severe strain dealing with "their largest ever trauma caseloads under some of the most adverse conditions imaginable".

The Israel Defense Forces has distributed flyers to the Palestinian population in Gaza, warning civilians not to stay close to any Hamas related buildings, for their own safety.

[100] Ninety-three trucks carrying medicine, medical supplies and food donated by Jordan and international organisations were allowed entry to the Gaza Strip, through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

[109] An Israeli warplane dropped a one-ton bomb on the home of Nizar Rayan, a senior Hamas political leader, in the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing him, 9 women (including his four wives), his 11 children,[110] and wounding another 30.

[115][116] According to ynet, recent deliberations by the IDF resulted in a decision that striking homes used as weapons storages when sufficient warning is given to the residents falls within the boundaries of international law and is legitimate.

[116][119][120][121] Ninety trucks carrying food and medical supplies provided by international organisations entered the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

They claimed to have destroyed more than 500 targets including one-third of the underground passages built by Hamas and other militant groups to smuggle and store rockets, weaponry, and other supplies.

[5] Thirteen Palestinians, including six children, were killed and dozens wounded when the Israeli Air Force bombed the Maqadna Mosque in Beit Lahiya, in which about 200 people had gathered for evening prayers.

[150] Additionally, Palestinian health ministry officials stated that at least 17 people were killed and 130 injured when Israeli shells fell near a school and the main market in Gaza City.

[150][154][155][156] Also on 4 January, the director of Israel's internal security agency, the Shin Bet, told the cabinet that Hamas leaders both at home and in exile felt that their organisation was facing an "existential threat" and was "willing to reach an agreement" on a ceasefire.

[160] The Daily Telegraph reported that in the Zeitoun district, early in the morning of 4 January, Israeli troops evacuated about 110 members of the Samouni, an extended family clan, into a Samouni-owned warehouse, where they waited without running water or food for 24 hours.

[162] A few survivors, some wounded, others carrying some of the dead or dying, managed to reach Gaza's main north-south road where passing cars stopped to take them to the hospital.

48 hours after the attack, ICRC ambulances searching 100 yards from where Israeli soldiers were stationed found four children, too weak to move, that had taken refuge near corpses believed to be those of their family.

[194] An official from the Danish charitable organization DanChurchAid reported that three mobile clinics set up to help hospitals in Gaza cope with the wounded were bombarded in Israeli airstrikes, despite being clearly marked as humanitarian vehicles.

[216] Time magazine reported, "The IDF gave the names of two Hamas combatants it says were killed inside the school — Imad and Hassan Abu Askar — who allegedly fired the mortars.

[221][222] Days earlier Gunness had said that the UNRWA was "99.9% certain" that there were no terrorists or military activity in the school, adding that this "does not necessarily contradict Israel's claim that the militants were operating close by".

[236] The United Nations Security Council met and passed a resolution "stressing the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza", and welcoming the Egyptian initiative, among other points.

According to reports, Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists ambushed IDF forces in Sheikh Ajalin, which led to "some of the heaviest fighting" since phase two of the operation began.

[256] Vice Premier Haim Ramon in an interview with Army Radio added that Hamas is using Shalit as a "bargaining chip" hoping for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the captured soldier.

Israeli forces stopped several attempts to smuggle prohibited goods into Israel, namely electronics, since Defense Minister Ehud Barak said they do not classify as humanitarian aid.

[271] Israel's bombardment continues for a 19th day, with overnight air raids on 60 targets, including 35 weapons-smuggling tunnels on the border with Egypt and an unknown number of rocket-launching sites.

[272] Israeli tanks and troops advance deep into Gaza City after an intense bombardment in the early hours, sending hundreds of terrified civilians into the streets to try to flee the fighting.

[275] Palestinian sources said that the head of Islamist terrorist group's security apparatus, Salah Abu Shreh, and its military commander in Gaza City, Mahmoud Watfah, were also killed in the attack.

United Nations officials say two children, aged five and seven, were killed when Israeli tank fire hit a UN school where hundreds had taken shelter in the northern town of Beit Lahiya.

[285] Hamas made a televised announcement of a ceasefire issuing their own demands of Israeli withdrawal within a week, reopen Gaza border crossings, and provide aid.

[289] On the same day, another Palestinian farmer was shot dead by the IDF while approaching his farm in Jabalia and two children were killed in an explosion of an Israeli bomb left behind in Gaza City.