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Tag: Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages

  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, Gaza braces for potential Rafah offensive

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, Gaza braces for potential Rafah offensive

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    The Tal El Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City is pictured on February 10. CNN

    Israeli operations in northern Gaza left “total destruction,” according to residents in the Tal El Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, with some saying they have had to drink from toilets due to a lack of water.

    Abdul Kareem Al-Qaseer has been displaced for two months from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza to the “industrial area” southeast of Gaza City, where some industrial factories are located, he told a local journalist working for CNN on Saturday.

    Al-Qaseer said the Israel Defense Forces “hit the whole area, (resulting in) a large number of martyrs and wounded people” where he was sheltering. 

    “We were besieged. We tried to go back to the north, but we were besieged here,” he said. “Every day there were martyrs. Every day there was shelling. Every day there was hunger.”

    “We even had to drink water from the toilets. We had to drink from it and make our children drink from it. There was no food, no drink,” Al-Qaseer added.
    Abdul Kareem Al-Qaseer speaks in Gaza City's Tal El Hawa neighborhood on February 10.
    Abdul Kareem Al-Qaseer speaks in Gaza City’s Tal El Hawa neighborhood on February 10. CNN

    Olfat Hamdan said she had witnessed bodies lying in the streets of Gaza City, noting that “nobody was able to drag them or move them.”

    “What have I seen? Total destruction — look at of the scale of the destruction,” she said in a video commissioned by CNN, as she pointed to damaged buildings and rubble around her. 

    Another Gaza City resident, Main Naim, also said he had seen dead bodies on the streets, describing some as having been there for 10 days.

    Main Naim speaks in Gaza City's Tal El Hawa neighborhood on February 10.
    Main Naim speaks in Gaza City’s Tal El Hawa neighborhood on February 10. CNN

    “Nobody is able to move them,” he said. “They destroyed these areas, as you can see yourself,” he added, pointing to rubble in the video. 

    Fighting has continued sporadically in northern Gaza. Earlier this month, the IDF reported further operations in the northern Gaza Strip, where it said “IDF troops are continuing to enter Hamas military compounds and eliminate terrorists.” 

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  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages

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    A view of the damaged UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters building after Israeli tanks fire in Khan Younis, Gaza on January 26. Jehad Alshrafi/Anadolu/Getty Images

    An oil tanker went up in flames in the Gulf of Aden after being hit by a missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group Friday.

    The Houthis say they are retaliating for recent strikes on their infrastructure in Yemen by the US and UK militaries. Those attacks have been aimed at stopping the Houthis from disrupting global shipping in the region.

    It all stems from Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza: The Houthis say their actions are aimed at pressuring Israel to stop its ground offensive and widespread bombardment of the Palestinian enclave.

    The US sent a destroyer — which had itself been the target of Houthi fire Friday, according to US Central Command — to respond to the commercial ship’s distress call.

    It’s just the latest example of flaring tensions in the Middle East, where world leaders are trying to contain the ripple effects of the war in Gaza.

    Here’s what else to know today:

    Allegations against UN workers in Gaza: Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it expects the main United Nations relief agency in Gaza to conduct an urgent internal investigation after it fired staff members allegedly involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack against Israel.

    Israel has shared all the information it has about the 12 staffers at the center of the stunning allegations with both the US and UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), an Israeli official told CNN Friday.

    The head of the UNRWA had previously vowed to probe the claims. The allegations have jeopardized the group’s ability to offer desperately needed humanitarian aid in the enclave.

    Growing pressure to free hostages: There are no “imminent developments” on an agreement to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza, the US says, even as it orchestrates a flurry of diplomatic efforts to reach a deal.

    The White House coordinator for the Middle East wrapped up meetings in the region Friday, while CIA Director Bill Burns is set to meet in the coming days with Israel and Egypt’s intelligence chiefs and the Qatari prime minister to discuss a deal.

    Hamas, meanwhile, released a heavily edited video showing three female hostages, in an apparent attempt to ramp up pressure on Israeli leaders.

    Deteriorating conditions for Gaza medical workers: Vital medical services “have collapsed” at Nasser Hospital, the largest functioning hospital in the Gaza Strip, according to Doctors Without Borders. Intense fighting around the hospital has made it perilous to resupply the medical center.

    Fewer than half of Gaza’s hospitals are still partially functioning, the UN said Thursday. Those that remain open face shortages of staff, basic medical supplies, fuel, food and drinking water.

    Today’s ruling by the UN’s top court: The UN secretary-general said he hopes Israel will comply with today’s order from the International Court of Justice, which called on the country to prevent a genocide in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the ruling as a rejection of what he called “discrimination” against his country, while the Palestinian Authority and South Africa said it represented a victory for human rights.

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  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, hostages talks, Gaza crisis

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, hostages talks, Gaza crisis

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    As the Gaza war nears its fifth month, with more than 25,000 Palestinians — civilians and combatants — dead and Israel nowhere close to achieving its objective of destroying Hamas, no one seems to have come up with a concrete proposal that’s palatable to both parties to pause the conflict, let alone end it. But there are suggestions, however half-baked, from both sides, that show a willingness to talk.

    Indeed, Qatar — the main go-between — says there are “serious discussions” with Israel and Hamas, and is receiving “constant replies” from both sides. They’re not “negotiations” yet, says the White House. But with indirect talks ongoing, we seem to be inching toward what Ofer Shelah, senior researcher with Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), describes as a “Zopa” — a zone of possible agreement.

    On Monday, Axios reported Israel had proposed a two-month truce in exchange for the release of all the 100-plus hostages still held in Gaza. Later that day, CNN learned that Mossad chief David Barnea had suggested allowing Hamas leaders to go into exile as part of a broader ceasefire.

    On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal said Hamas was now open to releasing some of the hostages in exchange for a pause in the fighting. And Reuters reported that Israel and Hamas had agreed in principle to a one-month truce, during which abductees would be freed and Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails released.

    Read more on how Israel and Hamas may be inching toward a deal to end the war.

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  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, Gaza deaths mount, US passes resolution

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, Gaza deaths mount, US passes resolution

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    Israeli armored vehicles take part in an operation at a location given as northern Gaza in this still image taken from handout video released on October 26. Israel Defense Forces/Reuters

    Israeli troops carried out a “targeted raid” with tanks in northern Gaza on Thursday before withdrawing from the enclave, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

    Video published by the IDF showed tanks and armored vehicles, including a bulldozer, moving on a road near a fence. The tanks fired artillery, and some destruction could be seen nearby. 

    The IDF said the raid was “part of preparations for the next stages of combat.”

    “The soldiers exited the area at the end of the activity,” the statement said.

    IDF spokesperson Peter Lerner described the raid as large but limited in scope, saying it was “a clear and sweep operation intended to create better terms for ground operations if and when that comes in.”

    “We actually engaged the enemy, killing terrorists who were planning to conduct attacks against us with anti-tank guided missiles,” he told CNN.

    IDF preparations: Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, in response to its October 7 deadly terror attacks and kidnap rampage in which 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.

    In a televised address Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israeli is “preparing for a ground incursion,” into Gaza following nearly three weeks of airstrikes on the coastal strip.

    The Israeli strikes have killed more than 6,400 people, and injured a further 17,000, according to information from Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza and published by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

    Limited skirmishes between Israel and Hamas militants have already taken place on the ground in Gaza. An Israeli soldier killed in a clash with Hamas on Sunday is the first publicly announced Israeli military death inside the enclave since October 7, the IDF said Tuesday.

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  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, Gaza deaths mount, two Israeli hostages released

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, Gaza deaths mount, two Israeli hostages released

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    Yocheved Lifshitz speaks to members of the press a day after being released by Hamas militants, at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday, Octover 24. Ariel Schalit/Reuters

    Yocheved Lifschitz, who was held captive in Gaza for more than two weeks before being released Monday evening, appeared to criticize Israel’s security failure that allowed Hamas gunmen to pour into Israel on October 7.

    Speaking to journalists outside Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Center on Tuesday, Lifschitz accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of not taking threats from Hamas “seriously.”

    “I could not have known that we (could) get into this stage,” she said.

    Since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it has spent billions of dollars securing the border from attacks.

    “It didn’t help,” Lifschitz said of the costly border fence that was breached on October 7.

    “The lack of awareness by Shin Bet (the Israel Security Agency) and the IDF hurt us a lot,” she said. “They warned us three weeks beforehand, they burned fields, they sent fire balloons and the IDF did not treat it seriously,” she added, referring to Hamas.

    Lifschitz explained how this culminated in the attack on her kibbutz of Nir Oz in southern Israel on October 7.

    “All of a sudden on a Saturday morning, everything was very quiet. There was a hard pounding on the settlement,” she said.

    Not long after, “hordes” of Hamas fighters broke through the kibbutz’s “expensive” fences and kept coming in their “droves” before placing Lifshitz on a motorbike and driving away, she said.

    “It was very, very difficult and unpleasant,” a visibly upset Lifshitz added. 

    Speaking in the wake of the October 7 attack, IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus admitted “the entire system failed.”

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  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, Biden to make Oval Office address

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war rages, Biden to make Oval Office address

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    Joe Biden delivers remarks in Tel Aviv on October 18. Evan Vucci/AP

    President Joe Biden plans to argue the US should continue funding wars in both Israel and Ukraine during an Oval Office address Thursday, according to two administration officials.

    The primetime address will take place the eve of the White House requesting north of $100 billion from Congress to deliver aid and resources to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and the US border with Mexico. Biden is expected to make the argument that supporting Israel and Ukraine is a matter of US national security at a time when the world is at an inflection point.

    “He’s going to make the case that the cost of inaction and the cost of walking away is much higher,” according to one official.

    Public opinion has been mixed on the conflicts. In a recent CNN poll, nearly all respondents were sympathetic with the Israeli people in the wake of surprise attacks launched by Hamas, but there was no clear consensus on the right level of US involvement. One-third (35%) said the US is providing the right amount of assistance — and another 36% were unsure whether the level of US assistance is appropriate. The US has long provided security assistance with Israel, which receives roughly $4 billion annually under a 10-year memorandum of understanding. The new request would provide billions more.

    By contrast, support to sustain aid to Ukraine has waned significantly. An August CNN poll found 55% of respondents said Congress should not pass more funding to aid Ukraine. The partisan divide has been deepening, too: Nearly three-quarters of Republicans opposed more funding for Ukraine, while 62% of Democrats supported it.

    Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the White House and Congress have provided more than $75 billion in funding to Kyiv, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

    The Biden administration in August delivered its last so-called supplemental funding request, which encapsulates unique requests beyond traditional government programs. The proposal requested $24.1 billion to aid Ukraine through the end of the year, but Congress failed to approve it during a process to greenlight short-term federal funding.

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pledged to European leaders that the US would be able to secure support for additional aid and, in an interview with Sky News, said Washington could afford financing two wars at once.

    “American(s) can certainly afford to stand with Israel and to support Israel’s military needs, and we also can and must support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia,” Yellen said.

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