Israel-Gaza war live updates: Iran attacks alleged Israeli spy site in Iraq; Houthis strike U.S. container ship

Israel plans to slow its military operations in southern Gaza and focus on uprooting Hamas leadership, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a news conference Monday. He added that the Israeli military is still “working to eliminate pockets of resistance” in northern Gaza.

U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said that “accounts of sexual violence committed by Hamas and others” on Oct. 7 must be “rigorously investigated and prosecuted.” He added: “Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians. Nothing can justify the launching of rockets toward civilian targets.”

Warning of a looming famine, Guterres condemned what he called “clear” obstacles to aid caused by fighting and logistical constraints imposed by Israel. “I am deeply troubled by the clear violation of international humanitarian law,” he said in a statement Monday. About a quarter of Gazans are “literally starving,” World Food Program chief economist Arif Husain told ABC in a televised interview.

At least 24,100 people have been killed in Gaza and 60,834 wounded since the war began, the Gaza Health Ministry said Monday. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.