Tag: Live updates: Israel-Hamas war

Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, hostage release deal approved, 4-day Gaza truce

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Many leaders around the globe have been calling for a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas in recent weeks. Following the news that Israel’s government agreed to a hostage deal on Wednesday morning, there was one word on many politicians’ tongues: progress.

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday night that the talks marked “significant progress” but said the country would not “rest as long as Hamas continues to hold hostages in Gaza.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks to the media at Ankara Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey, after his meetings with his Turkish counterparts on November 6. Jonathan Ernst/AFP/Getty Images/File

The United Kingdom‘s Foreign Secretary David Cameron described the agreement between Israel and Hamas as a “crucial step towards providing relief to the families of the hostages and addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has also hailed the deal as a sign of progress.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Post Ministerial conference with Australia in Jakarta on July 13, 2023. (Photo by Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/AFP/Getty Images/File

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel said they welcomed the breakthrough deal between Israel and Hamas on the release of hostages, Michel adding that he was “grateful to Qatar and Egypt who helped broker it.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the deal as “the first good news from Gaza in a very long time,” and added that Russia has consistently advocated for a truce and humanitarian pauses.

China‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said they hoped the deal “will help to alleviate the difficult humanitarian crisis, de-escalate the conflict and ease tensions.”

Qatar — a key negotiator — said it hoped the pause in fighting could help pave the way towards a long-term solution.

Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, Minister of State at Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the country’s priority was now working on efforts to secure a “long-term ceasefire, end the war and work towards lasting peace.”

That sentiment was echoed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who “welcomed the success” of the Egyptian-Qatari-American mediation in implementing a humanitarian truce, but renewed his commitment to finding a “final and sustainable” solution.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi speaks while meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo, Egypt, on October 15. Jacquelyn Martin/Reuters

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also welcomed the hostage deal – but renewed his calls for a full ceasefire, according to state-run Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Remember: Israel and Hamas have agreed to a four-day humanitarian pause to allow the release of at least 50 hostages – women and children – held in Gaza. The deal will also involve the release of 150 Palestinians, including women and children, held in Israeli prisons.

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November 22, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, tunnel videos

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A still from CCTV video released by the Israel Defense Forces that it says shows Hamas fighters bringing hostages into Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7. Israel Defense Forces

The Israel Defense Forces has released CCTV videos and still images it says show Hamas fighters bringing hostages into the Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7.

IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari presented two short videos, along with several still images, which he said show Hamas fighters moving the hostages – one Nepali, one Thai – through the hospital, Gaza’s largest.

One of the CCTV videos shows a hostage being brought into the hospital through the main entrance, Hagari said. The hostage is being marched by force through the building.

Hagari, at a news conference Sunday, said the second CCTV video shows a second hostage – who has a bandaged hand and is clearly bleeding – being pushed on a gurney down a hallway and into a room.

Hagari did not spell out how the IDF had acquired the videos, although he did say Israeli intelligence officers were part of the operation inside the hospital to try to locate the hostages.

CNN cannot independently verify the content of the videos and the stills.

Opposing narratives: The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry responded to the IDF briefing by questioning the authenticity of the videos and stills — but it went on to say that, if true, the pictures showed that hospitals were providing medical care to anyone who needed it.

The IDF spokesman dismissed suggestions the hostages had been brought to the hospital because they were wounded, claiming one of the two hostages was not injured and did not need medical treatment. They had been brought to the hospital first, before being later moved to hiding spots, like nearby apartments, he said.

“If medical care had been given at the hospital, if the hostages had remained there, then the Red Cross would have come, and the people would have been released. None of these things happened,” he said.

In a statement issued Saturday before the release of the CCTV videos, Hamas said it had brought several hostages to hospitals for medical treatment after they were injured in Israeli airstrikes.

Hagari said the latest videos had been shared with diplomats of the hostages’ countries of origin, adding the IDF has not yet located the Nepali and Thai hostages in Gaza.

The Nepali Embassy in Israel and Nepal’s Foreign Ministry had confirmed with CNN before the publication of the video that one Nepali citizen remained missing after the October 7 attack and was believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas.

Ten Nepali citizens were killed and several others injured when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, Nepal’s ambassador to Israel told CNN after the attack.

More context: After raiding Al-Shifa Hospital last Wednesday, the IDF is under tremendous pressure to prove its long-standing assertion that Hamas uses Gaza’s largest medical center for combat and command purposes.

The military also released video Sunday from inside an exposed tunnel shaft at the Al-Shifa compound, showing an underground tunnel extending downward from the shaft opening.

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November 19, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, Rafah fuel deliveries

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A satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows Al-Shifa hospital and surroundings in Gaza City on November 11. Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies/AP

A group of United Nations humanitarian workers visited the Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza on Saturday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a post on X.

The group spent one hour inside the hospital during which time there was heavy fighting in close proximity to the facility, the WHO said.

UN staff described the hospital as a “death zone” where “signs of shelling and gunfire” were evident.

“The team saw a mass grave at the entrance of the hospital and was told more than 80 people were buried there,” it said.

The WHO said that several patients had died over the past two to three days due to the lack of medical services.

“There are 25 health workers and 291 patients remaining in Al-Shifa, with several patient deaths having occurred over the previous two to three days due to the shutting down of medical services,” it said.

It added: “Patients include 32 babies in extremely critical condition, two people in intensive care without ventilation, and 22 dialysis patients whose access to life-saving treatment has been severely compromised.”

Staff and patients who spoke to UN workers were “terrified for their safety and health,” WHO said, adding that they “pleaded for evacuation.”

The WHO says it is “urgently developing plans” to evacuate staff and patients to two hospitals in southern Gaza.

“The vast majority of patients are victims of war trauma, including many with complex fractures and amputations, head injuries, burns, chest and abdominal trauma, and 29 patients with serious spinal injuries who are unable to move without medical assistance,” WHO said.

“Many trauma patients have severely infected wounds due to lack of infection control measures in the hospital and unavailability of antibiotics.”

Some context: Israel launched a “targeted” operation against Hamas early Wednesday morning inside Gaza’s largest hospital, where thousands of displaced Palestinians had been sheltering alongside patients and medical staff.

Israel claims Hamas is using the hospital complex for military purposes and has built a command center under the facility – allegations repeatedly rejected by both Hamas and hospital officials. CNN has not verified the claims of either Israel or Hamas.

The intervening days have seen the hospital turn from civilian sanctuary to battlefield with heavy fighting taking place in and around the complex, amid an already rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation.

Israel is facing mounting international pressure to prove its claims about Hamas’ infiltration of the hospital, in order to justify some of its military decisions, which could otherwise constitute a possible serious violation of international humanitarian law.

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November 18, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war

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The Israeli military is tightening its grip on northern Gaza while negotiating parties are grinding away to try to reach an agreement to release hostages in the enclave. Follow for live updates.

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November 17, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war

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Israeli soldiers walk at the Al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza in this still image from an IDF handout video obtained on November 15. Israeli Defence Forces/Reuters

Gaza’s largest hospital, Al-Shifa, has become a flashpoint in the conflict that began when Hamas militants crossed the border into Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people.

Palestinians say the fighting around Al-Shifa is proof of Israel’s wanton disregard for civilian life in Gaza, while Israel points to the hospital as an example of Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields.

Since launching an operation at Al-Shifa this week, Israel said it found a tunnel shaft and military equipment, but it has not yet shown proof of a large-scale command and control center.

Here’s what we know so far:

What does Israel say? Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of operating from tunnels beneath the vast complex of Al-Shifa hospital.

In a presentation to the media last month, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari claimed that Hamas was directing rocket attacks and commanding operations from bunkers underneath the hospital building, which he said were linked to the network of tunnels that Hamas had dug underneath Gaza City.

The IDF also published an “intelligence-based” illustrated video of what it claims the Hamas headquarters under Al-Shifa looks like. The video shows a 3D diagram of the hospital, which moves to show an animated network of purported tunnels and operation rooms.

The White House has backed Israel’s claims, saying that Hamas was storing weapons and operating a command node from the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, citing US intelligence.

Hamas denials: Israel’s claims have been vehemently denied by Hamas and hospital officials.

The director general of the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry, Dr. Medhat Abbas, told CNN that hospitals in the enclave “are used to treat patients only” and are not being used “to hide anyone.”

After Israel launched its offensive, Hamas accused the US of giving Israel “a green light … to commit more massacres against civilians” by using Israel’s “false narrative” of Al-Shifa being used as a command center.

CNN has not verified the claims of either Israel or Hamas.

What evidence has Israel given? After launching the raid on Wednesday, Israel said soldiers had located a room in the hospital where they found, “technological assets, along with military and combat equipment used by Hamas.”

“In another department in the hospital, the soldiers located an operational command center and technological assets belonging to Hamas,” the statement said, indicating “that the terrorist organization uses the hospital for terrorist purposes.”

Israel released video to back up its claim of a tunnel shaft in the grounds of Al-Shifa. In the footage, the shaft appears to be reinforced with concrete. Exposed pipes and cabling can also be seen close to the surface. Hamas rejected the findings as “baseless lies.”

The bodies of two Israeli hostages – a 65-year-old woman and an Israeli soldier – were found near the vicinity of Al-Shifa hospital this week, Israel’s military said.

Israel said it is still working to expose tunnel infrastructure and added it will provide further evidence.

UN urges access: The United Nations human rights chief has called on Israel to grant his team access to Gaza to investigate the competing claims about Al-Shifa being used as a Hamas base.

“We need to look into this by having access. We cannot rely on one or the other party when it comes to this,” Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told CNN’s Becky Anderson when asked about allegations by the Israeli military that Hamas was hiding weapons at the hospital.

He said the situation needs an “independent international investigation, because we have different narratives.”

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November 17, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, raid on Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza

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US President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a news conference at the Filoli Estate on November 15, in Woodside, California. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

US President Joe Biden accused Hamas of committing a “war crime” for operating what the US and Israel have claimed is a command node under the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

Biden said he discussed the dangerous situation at the hospital, Gaza’s largest, during his meeting with China’s leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday.

��You have a circumstance where the first war crime is being committed by Hamas by having their headquarters, their military hidden under a hospital. And that’s a fact. That’s what’s happened,” Biden told reporters during a press conference Wednesday.

Some context: Israeli forces launched a raid early Wednesday morning on Al-Shifa, after accusing Hamas of operating from tunnels beneath the vast complex – a claim denied by the militant group and hospital officials.

CNN cannot verify either side’s claims.

Israel said its troops found “military equipment used by Hamas,” the military said in a statement but offered no evidence yet of a vast tunnel network it claimed was used by the militant group.

Israel said it will present more evidence to support their claims of a Hamas command center, an adviser to the prime minister told CNN Wednesday.

Conditions at Al-Shifa, which has run out of fuel and is no longer considered operational, have deteriorated rapidly in recent days amid intense fighting, with doctors warning of a “catastrophic” situation for patients, staff and displaced people still inside.

Wednesday’s raid has also sparked widespread international criticism.

Biden noted that the US has called on Israel to be “incredibly careful” as it targets Hamas in the area, but suggested that action was justified.

“We discussed the need for them to be incredibly careful. You have a circumstance where you know there is a fair number of Hamas terrorists. Hamas has already said publicly that they plan on attacking Israel again, like they did before.”

The president also noted the savagery of Hamas’ October 7 attacks in Israel. “And so, the idea that they’re going to just stop and not do anything is not realistic,” he added.

Israeli forces, he suggested, are “bringing in incubators” and “other means to help the people in the hospital,” adding that there have been efforts to get doctors, nurses, and other personnel out of harm’s way.

Evidence: In a follow up exchange with CNN, Biden told MJ Lee, “Yes,” he was absolutely confident based on intelligence he’d seen that Hamas was operating a command center under the Al-Shifa hospital, but declined to share details on the evidence.

“No, I can’t tell you—I won’t tell you,” he told CNN.

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November 16, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital

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The Israeli military said it is conducting a raid inside Gaza’s biggest hospital Al-Shifa as it targets Hamas militants it claims are operating beneath the structure — which the militant group and hospital officials deny.

Thousands of Palestinians are believed to be sheltering in and around the hospital, where conditions have rapidly deteriorated with doctors working by candlelight and wrapping premature babies in foil to keep them alive.

Here’s what we know so far:

The raid: On early Wednesday morning, local time, the Israeli military said it was “carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital” in Gaza.

Hospitals are protected in times of war under international humanitarian law, but Israel said in a statement that Hamas’s “continued military use of the Shifa hospital jeopardizes its protected status.”

Israel believes it has given Hamas operatives sufficient time to cease their alleged activities inside the building, according to the statement.

The United States on Tuesday cited intelligence suggesting Hamas has a command node under the hospital, seeming to back Israel’s assertion. CNN cannot independently verify the US or Israeli claims.

Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner told CNN the presence of civilians at the hospital makes the ground operation there “challenging.” He said Israeli forces were trying to “mitigate” the impact, citing the presence of medics and Arabic speakers among those carrying out the raid.

What’s happening on the ground: Khaled Abu Samra, a doctor at the hospital, told CNN they were given 30 minutes’ warning before the Israeli operation on the complex began.

“We were asked to stay clear of the windows and the balconies. We can hear the armored vehicles, they are very close to the entrance of the complex,” he said.

Khader Al Za’anoun, a journalist inside the hospital, told CNN that Israeli tanks had moved into the hospital complex, and there were gunfire exchanges across the yard. It’s unclear whether there are IDF soldiers inside the hospital buildings, Al Za’anoun said.

What Palestinian authorities have said: Palestinian Health Minister Dr. Mai Al-Kaila said Wednesday the raid represented “a new crime against humanity, medical staff, and patients.”

It could have “catastrophic consequences” for patients and medical staff, she said. Her health ministry is based in Ramallah and falls under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) — and is separate from the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza.

Hamas blamed both Israel and the US for the Israeli raid in a statement, claiming that the US had given Israel “a green light … to commit more massacres against civilians” by using Israel’s “false narrative” of Al-Shifa being used as a command center.

The statement also accused the United Nations of failing to defend Palestinians, saying: “The silence of the United Nations and the betrayal of many countries and regimes will not deter our Palestinian people from clinging to their land and their legitimate national rights.”

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November 14, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, outcry grows over Gaza hospital crisis

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Abigail Edan has been identified as the 3-year-old US citizen being held hostage by Hamas, according to her family. Courtesy Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali

The 3-year-old United States citizen being held hostage by Hamas has been identified as Abigail Edan, a family member said.

Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, the child’s great aunt, says Abigail is the child President Joe Biden was referring to in a recent call with the Emir of Qatar.

The White House did not disclose additional information about the toddler. However, a White House official said the toddler is the youngest American hostage and the only known US minor child currently being held.

Abigail’s father, Roy Edan, was holding her outside their home at Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas terrorists began their attack on October 7, Naftali told CNN.

“Abigail’s siblings saw their mother being killed by Hamas terrorists in their home. They ran out to their father, who was holding Abigail, and he was murdered,” she said, adding that her niece, Smadar Edan — the child’s mother — had also been killed in the attack.

Naftali relayed accounts she heard from the siblings — ages 10 and 6 — as they recalled running back inside their home and locking themselves in a closet for over 12 hours. The children believed their younger sister was dead until the family heard from a witness of the attack, Naftali said.

“Abigail survived the shooting and walked to her neighbors. The neighbors took her in, a husband and wife with three kids. They put her in the bomb shelter,” Naftali said, according to what a witness told the family.

Naftali said the husband was injured while defending the kibbutz and a witness told the family that they saw a terrorist taking the wife and their three children along with Abigail away from the home.

President Biden discussed the war in Gaza and efforts to free hostages with the Emir of Qatar on Sunday.

“The two leaders agreed that all hostages must be released without further delay,” the White House said in a readout from the call.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.

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November 14, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza evacuations, Al-Shifa Hospital

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People stand outside the emergency ward of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 10. Khader Al Zanoun/AFP/Getty Images

None of the operating rooms at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza are functioning due to lack of electricity, the medical center’s director told Al-Araby TV on Sunday.

“The operating rooms are completely out of service, and now the wounded come to us and we cannot give them anything other than first aid,” Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya said.

“Whoever needs surgery dies, and we cannot do anything for him.”

The hospital director said staff were trying to keep premature babies at the hospital alive after oxygen ran out and they had to be moved from the neonatal unit’s incubators.

“I was with them a while ago. They are now exposed, because we have taken them out of the incubators. We wrap them in foil and put hot water next to them so that we can warm them,” Abu Salmiya said.

The doctor said several children have died while in the intensive care unit and the nursery over the last day.

More background: Heavy fighting near Gaza’s largest hospital has left it in a “catastrophic situation,” with patients and staff trapped inside, ambulances unable to collect the wounded and life-support systems without electricity, health officials and aid agencies report.

The World Health Organization says Al-Shifa has been without power for three days.

“It’s been three days without electricity, without water and with very poor internet, which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential care,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on the social media platform X.

“Regrettably, the hospital is not functioning as a hospital anymore,” he said.

Dispute over fuel offer: The Israeli military said it put 300 liters of fuel at the entrance to the Al-Shifa Hospital complex on Sunday, but that Hamas had blocked the hospital from receiving it.

Abu Salmiya, the hospital director, told Al-Araby TV that Israeli officials had indeed called him to offer the fuel — which he said would provide power to run the generators for only 30 minutes — but that staff had been too scared to go get it.

The Israel Defense Forces released a video it said showed soldiers delivering the jerry cans to a curbside location near the hospital entrance. It also released an audio recording, purportedly of a hospital official accusing a Hamas leader at the Health Ministry of refusing to allow it to be collected.

Abu Salmiya said it was the presence of Israeli tanks that prevented collection.

“Of course, my paramedic team was completely afraid to go out,” he said, adding, “We want every drop of fuel, but I told (the IDF) that it should be sent through the International Red Cross or through any international institution.”

Hamas dismissed the allegations and said the Israeli fuel delivery was a propaganda stunt.

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November 13, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza evacuations, hospital crisis

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Supporters watch Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah deliver an address in Lebanon on November 11. Aziz Taher/Reuters

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gave his second speech since the Hamas-Israel war started via video link from an undisclosed location Saturday, in which he addressed the situation in Gaza and clashes on the Lebanon-Israel border.

Nasrallah called the situation unfolding in Gaza “big, exceptional and dangerous in this region and the world,” adding that what will emerge from the death and destruction in Gaza “will be generation after generation of resistance fighters.”

“This painful event and these grave crimes are an expression of Israeli revenge. This is the spirit of a vicious revenge that have no moral or humanitarian or legal limits. It expresses the true nature of the entity (Israel),” he said.

“This isn’t just revenge, it’s not just lashing out. It is aggression with an objective. One of the main objectives is to impose submission, not just Gaza’s people, but also to grind the people of Palestine, Lebanon and the region to submission,” Nasrallah said.

On clashes at the Israel-Lebanon border: Hezbollah’s strikes on Israeli territory have increased in number and employed more advanced weaponry over the last week of cross-border fire between Israel Defense Forces and the powerful, Iran-backed armed group, Nasrallah said in a speech Saturday.

“In the last week, without a doubt, there was an elevation in resistance activities (on the border). Numerically and in the kinds of weapons that we used,” said Nasrallah.

Hezbollah has in recent days struck deeper into Israeli territory, Nasrallah said, marking an escalation in the month-long flareup, where the fighting has largely stuck to a 4-kilometer (about 2-mile) radius around the border.

He said Hezbollah used self-detonating, explosive-laden drones in an attack on Israeli positions for the first time in the paramilitary group’s history. (The Israeli military has acknowledged Hezbollah’s use of an attack drone in at least one of the strikes claimed by the Lebanese armed group.)

Supporters of Nasrallah gather to listen to his address in Lebanon, on November 11. Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters

Hezbollah has, also for the first time, fired Iran-made Burkan missiles, which have a payload of up to 500 kilograms (about 1,100 pounds), on Israeli positions, Nasrallah said. Hezbollah this week released video showing a large explosion caused by a Burkan missile.

Nasrallah accused Israel of hiding its casualty figures from Hezbollah’s attacks on the border.

“The southern front in Lebanon will continue to be a front that applies pressure (on Israel),” he said.

On the US: Nasrallah accused the US of “administering” the Israeli operation in Gaza and chastised it for supporting the continuation of Israel’s operation in Gaza.

Nasrallah said “all pressure” to bring about a ceasefire should be directed toward the US. He praised militant actions against US positions in Iraq in recent weeks and said they would only “stop” if the US pushes for a ceasefire in Israel.

Hezbollah’s chief described Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria as having created “supporting fronts” for Hamas in Gaza.

CNN reported earlier this month that the US intelligence community believes – for now – that Iran and its proxies are calibrating their response to Israel’s military intervention in Gaza to avoid direct conflict with Israel or the US while still exacting costs on its adversaries. But the US is also keenly aware that Iran does not maintain perfect control of its umbrella of proxies – in particular over Lebanese Hezbollah, the largest and most capable of the various groups. Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas, the group that attacked Israel on October 7, and has long positioned itself as fighting against Israel. US officials are deeply concerned that the group’s internal politics may cause Hezbollah to escalate simmering tensions.

Nasrallah’s speech last Friday: In his first public, in-person speech since 2006 — when a monthlong war erupted between Lebanon and Israel — Nasrallah said “all scenarios” are possible on the Lebanon-Israel border, warning Israel against further escalation of its operations there. He also urged for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling it Hezbollah’s first priority.

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November 11, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Palestinian death toll in Gaza, calls for ceasefire

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Scores of Palestinians evacuated northern Gaza and headed south during a four-hour window allotted by the Israel Defense Forces for safe passage on Tuesday, as seen in video from the scene, including one published by the IDF.

Children, women and elderly people held up their identification cards, while some carried white flags, the video showed.

Salah Eddin Street serves as one of the two primary highways in Gaza, linking the north to the south. The IDF has repeatedly called on civilians to move south of Wadi Gaza as it intensifies its assault on Hamas in Gaza City and northern Gaza.

Speaking to CNN before crossing an IDF checkpoint set up on Salah Eddin Street, evacuees said they had been walking for hours. Some people carried nothing but water bottles, while others held white flags, signaling their hope for safe passage.

Wedad Al-Ghoul, traveling with her young son, said she had walked 8 to 9 kilometers so far (roughly 5 miles) from her home on Gaza’s coast.

“I am carrying my ID because I was told it (the passage) will be safe, I don’t know if I am going to be allowed to enter or arrive to the south,” she said.

Um Zaher, a mother of four traveling in a horse-drawn carriage, recounted her harrowing experience to CNN.

“I am a resident of Al-Shejaiya neighborhood. … We saw death in our own eyes, the floor was exploding from under us. I have only one son and three daughters, I can’t walk, where do we go? No house, no food, no water; they left us with nothing,” Zaher said.

Avichay Adraee, the IDF spokesperson for Arabic media, said via X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday that safe passage was allowed on Salah Eddin Street from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. Accompanying the announcement, he posted a video showing displaced persons walking past an Israeli tank on the same street.

About 5,000 people fled to southern Gaza by foot during a four-hour window on Monday, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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November 7, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Palestinian death toll in Gaza, calls for ceasefire

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More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive following Hamas’ October 7 attack, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said. Follow for live updates.

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November 7, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Palestinian death toll in Gaza, calls for ceasefire

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People search through buildings destroyed during Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Monday, November 6. Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Monday it has struck hundreds of Hamas targets and taken control of a military compound in Gaza over the last 24 hours.

“Over the last day, IDF fighter jets struck over 450 Hamas targets, including tunnels, terrorists, military compounds, observation posts, anti-tank missile launch posts and more,” the IDF said in a statement on Monday.

The IDF captured additional territory inside Gaza, the statement added.

“Overnight, IDF ground troops took control of a Hamas military compound in the Gaza Strip. The compound contains observation posts, training areas for Hamas operatives and underground terror tunnels.”

Israeli forces are conducting a significant strike in the enclave targeting Hamas infrastructure above and underground, as well as militants and senior commanders, army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Sunday.

Some context: The IDF launched a relentless bombardment on Gaza, following the Hamas’ attack that killed 1,400 in Israel on October 7.

Israeli strikes have hit civilian areas including residential neighborhoods, hospitals, refugee camps and schools, killing more than 9,700 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, using data drawn from medical sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. At least 4,800 of the fatalities are children, the ministry added.

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November 6, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza crisis, Blinken’s Middle East visit

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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Qatar, as well as the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization November 4, in Amman, Jordan. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on a multinational trip Saturday after visiting Israel for the third time since the October 7 Hamas attack.

Meanwhile, a US official told CNN that Hamas is blocking foreign nationals from leaving Gaza after an Israeli airstrike on an ambulance near a hospital Friday.

Here are some of the latest headlines:

Blinken meets with Arab leaders: The top US diplomat has reiterated his country’s rejection of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, instead calling once again for “humanitarian pauses” to get aid into Gaza. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his government opposes any temporary ceasefire in Gaza unless Hamas frees all the hostages it holds, adding that it would continue to block fuel from entering the enclave.

Blinken met with foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Qatar, as well as the Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Egyptian and Jordanian leaders made remarks after the meetings strongly condemning Israel’s offensive. Blinken, who acknowledged differences with Arab leaders on their approaches to the conflict, will also travel to Turkey.

Hamas stopping foreigners from leaving, official says: Hamas is blocking foreign nationals from departing Gaza until Israel guarantees that ambulances from the Palestinian enclave can reach the Rafah crossing to Egypt, a US official familiar with situation told CNN Saturday.

The demand comes after Israel admitted on Friday that it attacked an ambulance outside Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the enclave. The vehicle had been in a convoy headed for Rafah, which is the only remaining option for getting in and out of Gaza during Israel’s siege of the territory. Israel claimed the ambulance was being used by Hamas fighters, which the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza has rejected.

More than 700 foreign nationals were expected to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing Saturday, according to an official source on the Egyptian side of the crossing.

CNN reported Friday that initial efforts to secure safe passage for foreign nationals in Gaza were stymied in part by Hamas including its own members on a list of wounded Palestinians designated to pass through the Rafah crossing, according to a senior US official.

UN chief on Israel’s ambulance attack: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement he was “horrified” by the strike, while calling for a ceasefire and release of hostages.

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan accused Guterres of rushing to comment “without even bothering to ask” about the context of the strike. “You completely ignore the fact that Hamas intentionally exploits ambulances for terror,” Erdan wrote on Saturday in post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Strikes near hospital and school shelter: Israeli airstrikes have damaged a building located in front of the emergency entrance of Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, injuring 21 people, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said Saturday.

A UN-run school serving as a shelter in a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip was also struck Saturday, according to the main UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees in Gaza.

Humanitarian situation: The number of people who have fled from north of Wadi Gaza to the southern part of the enclave is estimated to be 800,000 “to perhaps a million,” the US special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues, David Satterfield, said Saturday. There has been no new fuel into Gaza since the war began, he said.

The US is looking at the prospect of establishing field hospitals in south Gaza, Satterfield said, and Israel is engaging with countries about putting hospital ships offshore of Gaza.

IDF says Hamas fired on safe route: The Israeli military accused Hamas of using an announcement telling Gaza residents to move safely south as an opportunity to fire on soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces.

The IDF had called on Gaza residents via its Arabic account on X, formerly known as Twitter, to use the main Salah-al-Din Road to move south for a three-hour period from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. local time. It’s unclear how many Gaza residents had access to internet to see the message.

Turkey latest to recall ambassador: Turkey has recalled its ambassador to Israel for “consultations” due to the “unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza” and continuing Israeli airstrikes, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday. Several other countries, including Honduras, Colombia, Chile, and Bahrain, have also withdrawn their ambassadors.

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November 4, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, crisis in Gaza, Bolivia cuts Israel ties

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Palestinians inspect the site of a strike in Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza on October 31. Abdul Qader Sabbah/AP

Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, which was hit on Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a Hamas leader, was always known to journalists covering Gaza for the sheer number of children there.

Over several visits there over the years I found them to be curious and excited when strangers showed up. Crowding around our CNN teams, asking questions, trying their English and jumping in front of the camera. Often my TV producer, driver and fixer would have to keep the children busy and distracted as we attempted to report or record a shot on camera.

Like Gaza’s other refugee camps, these crowded built-up areas have houses, shops, and apartment buildings jammed up against one another, the roads between them in many areas barely wide enough for a car to pass. The open-air markets were always busy.

Even in the best of times though, life was tough in Jabalya. Schools were so crowded classes were held in two shifts a day. The tap water wasn’t fit for human consumption. Unemployment was high and most families were dependent on food aid provided by the United Nations. Yet one rarely got the feeling that people had given up hope.

Once when I was in Jabalya, after another round of fighting between Hamas and Israel in the spring of 2021, we stopped at a shawarma shop the day after the fighting ended. The shop had just opened and was doing a bustling business. Its owner, Amjad, greeted us heartily.

Two years later, in 2023, I was back after another reporting trip, and the shop had expanded. Amjad greeted us like long lost friends and snapped orders to the waiters to get our food.

Above our table was a television running on a loop an advertisement for a local school promising a top-quality education to ensure a shining future for the children of Gaza.

Yes, Jabalya was crowded and noisy and dusty — one of the poorer areas in Gaza — but it was a place where, despite the problems of Gaza, you always came away feeling that someday, somehow, the people there would be able to live a better life.

I can’t go back right now with Israel and Egypt blocking entry into Gaza, but I fear that optimism against all odds may now have been shattered.

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October 31, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, crisis in Gaza

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Israeli soldiers are seen mustering near Gaza on October 29. Yossi Zeliger/TPS/Latin America News Agency/Reuters

US officials are intently focused on trying to secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza — among them American citizens — a task that sources say is now further complicated by Israel’s expansion of its ground operations into Gaza.

The US remains a part of the ongoing talks that include Israel, Qatar, Egypt and Hamas to get a large group of hostages out of Gaza, and officials are now contending with Israel pressing forward with ground operations into the strip.

Officials with US President Joe Biden’s administration have been calling on Israel to consider so-called “humanitarian pauses” that can allow for civilians in Gaza, including hostages, to exit and for aid to get in.

Offering a glimpse into how unpredictable and fluid the situation remains, a senior US official told CNN on Monday they believed the prospects of getting hostages out could be described as “50/50.”

“The parameters are all there,” this official said about a potential deal. But efforts to negotiate with Hamas — mediated significantly by the Qataris — has been slow-going, in no small part because it simply takes a long time for messages to be transmitted from Doha to Hamas.

Majed Al-Ansari, the spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and adviser to the Qatari prime minister, told CNN on Saturday that Israel’s escalation on the ground is making the situation “considerably more difficult.”

Israel has said the intensifying ground offensive puts additional pressure on Hamas, and therefore may ultimately be helpful in the ongoing efforts to free hostages.

A US official said there could in fact be some benefit to this approach.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said on Sunday that Hamas has “not been forthcoming about allowing these hostages to go,” but the administration believes there is still a “pathway” for securing their release.

“Even though we’ve started to see Israel moving on the ground, that has not changed our basic view that this has to remain a paramount priority that we have to keep working at,” Sullivan said.

One source familiar with the discussions said the talks have centered on freeing hostages in exchange for prisoners being held by Israel.

Al-Ansari, the Qatari spokesperson, also said there have been active discussions about a “prisoner exchange” for the hostages.

The source added the negotiations also include getting Hamas to open the Rafah gates for dual nationals to leave Gaza.

“We are optimistic that the talks are headed more towards all civilian hostages,” al-Ansari said. “But obviously, it is a fluid situation … And we still don’t know will happen.”

As the talks continue, there remains real skepticism about how serious Hamas is about the negotiations, the senior US official said. “It’s Hamas after all.”

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October 31, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza death toll mounts, IDF on the ground

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Israel has “crossed the red lines” in Gaza, which “may force everyone to take action,” Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday, while US national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned of an “elevated risk” of a spillover conflict in the Middle East.

Experts say that while Iran is wary of being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war, it may not be in full control if the militias it backs in the region — like the Lebanese paramilitary group Hezbollah — independently intervene as Hamas suffers heavy blows and the death toll in Gaza continues to mount.

“What connects all these groups to Iran is their anti-Israel policies,” said Sima Shine, head of the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, noting that while Iran has varying levels of influence over the groups, it doesn’t dictate all their actions.

Raisi’s comments were not the first warning from an Iranian official of the potential for a broader conflict.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has also warned that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza could have far-reaching consequences, saying that if Israel does not halt its airstrikes, “it is highly probable that many other fronts will be opened.”

“This option is not ruled out and this is becoming increasingly more probable,” he told Al Jazeera in a recent interview.

Last Monday, Abdollahian said the US has sent Iran two messages regarding escalation in the region.

“The first message said that the United States is not interested in expanding the war, and the second message asked Iran to have self-restraint and insisted that Iran should also ask other countries and other sides to have self-restraint,” Abdollahian said during a news conference in Tehran, without saying how and when the messages were delivered.

He added that while the US says it wants to de-escalate, it has contradicted itself by continuing to support Israel.

Trita Parsi, vice president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC, said there is no appetite or desire from either Iran, the US or Israel for a wider war, but that Washington’s failure to restrain Israel may inadvertently drive the region toward escalation.

Read more on Iran’s role in the region.

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October 29, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza deaths, IDF ground incursion preparation

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The health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza on Thursday published a 212-page report listing thousands of names described as “documented deaths since October 7” in the enclave, which it blamed on Israeli military “aggression.”

The list, which does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but which does list age and gender, followed US President Joe Biden’s comments that he had “no confidence” in the figures of civilian casualties reported by the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel, along with the US, has expressed doubts about the casualty numbers being reported out of Gaza, but has not provided evidence that they are exaggerated.

White House spokesperson John Kirby called the Gaza-based ministry “a front for Hamas,” though when asked he did not dispute that thousands of Palestinians, many innocent civilians, had been killed.

The prime minister of the US-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said the PA’s own health authority considers the numbers to be “correct.”

“They are our numbers,” Shtayyeh said in an interview Thursday with Al Jazeera. “These numbers are fed to us from the hospitals of Gaza every single day (and) are received by our Ministry of Health.”

Some context: The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority is run by a rival faction to Hamas, and operates the umbrella Ministry of Health, which maintains a relationship with the ministry in Gaza. Death tolls for Gaza are released both in Gaza and Ramallah daily.

Israeli strikes have killed more than 6,850 people in Gaza, including thousands of children, since October 7, according to figures released Thursday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, drawn from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

CNN is not able to independently verify the death toll tabulated in Gaza.

More than 2 million people trapped in Gaza are living through a deepening humanitarian crisis, hastened by daily airstrikes and an Israeli blockade of life-saving fuel, following Hamas’ brutal terror attacks and kidnapping rampage that killed over 1,400 people in Israel and saw over 200 people taken to Gaza as hostages.

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October 26, 2023
Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Gaza deaths, António Guterres remarks

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Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh mourns the loss of his family members who were killed in a strike on October 25, at al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Gaza. CNN

Al Jazeera says its bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh, lost his wife, son and daughter in what it said was Israeli airstrike. The blast hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip where the family was taking shelter after being displaced, according to Al Jazeera.

“Members of the family of our colleague Wael Al-Dahdouh, including his wife, son, and daughter, were martyred in an Israeli bombing,” Al Jazeera wrote in an on-air message Wednesday.

Al Jazeera reported Al-Dahdouh’s grandson Adam was declared dead two hours later.

CNN cannot independently confirm the source of the blast at the house and Al Jazeera did not provide evidence linking it directly to an Israeli strike.

The Israel Defense Forces has not yet responded to CNN requests for comment,

Al Jazeera anchor Abdisalam Farah announced the deaths on air, visibly struggling to keep his composure and tearing up.

The Al-Dahdouh family were displaced from Tal El Hawa to Nuseirat refugee camp which they thought would be a safe place for them to stay, Al Jazeera’s office in Ramallah told CNN.

Advocacy groups react: The International Press Institute (IPI) has condemned the killing of the Al-Dahdouh’s family, calling it “horrifying and outrageous news,” in a statement on Wednesday.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also issued a statement calling for the protection of all journalists shortly after the family was killed in what it said was an Israeli airstrike.

“During any conflict, journalists and media workers are civilians under international humanitarian law,” CPJ said, without naming Al-Dahdouh.

According to a CPJ statement released earlier Wednesday, at least 24 journalists have lost their lives in the Israel-Hamas war since October 7, including 20 Palestinians, three Israelis and one Lebanese.

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October 25, 2023