Israel-Hamas war rages as outcry grows over Gaza crisis
Updated 12:01 a.m. ET, November 8, 2023
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1 min ago
Israel touts Gaza military gains as criticism grows louder. Here are the top headlines to know
From CNN staff
Israeli troops are now operating inside Gaza City, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also said they have killed "thousands of terrorists, from above and under the ground."
Meantime, dozens of civilians evacuated to the southern part of the enclave during a four-hour window allotted by the Israel Defense Forces. Some people carried white flags, signaling their hope for a safe passage, video shows.
Israel is under mounting international pressure to consider a humanitarian pause in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza but the Israeli army insists there will be no ceasefire and it is prepared to strike the militant group "wherever necessary," including civilian infrastructure.
Here's what else to know:
Israeli movement: The IDF said it has “attacked over 14,000 terrorist targets” in the past month, eliminating many Hamas militants and destroying key infrastructure and weapons. Eyewitnesses described multiple explosions caused by Israeli airstrikes in central and southern Gaza on Tuesday. In the north, IDF troops are at the "heart of Gaza City" and targeting Hamas commanders, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said. Netanyahu later said "Gaza City is encircled" and the IDF are "operating in it" and "advancing the pressure applied on Hamas every hour and every day."
Health care rocked: Some doctors in Gaza have been performing operations, including amputations, without anesthesia, a World Health Organization spokesperson said. "Nothing justifies the horror being endured by civilians," they added. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its humanitarian convoy came under fire when it was delivering essential medical supplies to health facilities in Gaza City. Doctors Without Borders also said one of its colleagues and several of his family members were killed in a blast at the Al Shati refugee camp.
Border latest: A total of 637 foreign nationals were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday, an Egyptian official said. It's the highest daily number since evacuations began last week. In addition, 15 wounded Palestinians arrived in Egypt for treatment through the crossing, the official added.
Gaza death toll: More than 70% of the 10,305 people killed in Gaza since October 7 were children, women, and the elderly, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said in a report Tuesday. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder defended the accuracy of the death toll numbers being reported out of Gaza, saying the organization's numbers closely align with that of the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in the enclave.
More calls for ceasefire: Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure in Gaza are "disproportionate" and "not acceptable," specifically referencing an Israeli attack on the Jabalya refugee camp. A Kremlin spokesperson called for "humanitarian pauses," expressing deep concern over the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation. The UN Secretary-General also reiterated his calls for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire." IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that there would be no ceasefire and repeated Israel's claim that Hamas is using "its population as a human shield."
Post-war scenarios: The White House is cautioning Israel against reoccupying Gaza after Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will have the "overall security responsibility" in the strip for an “indefinite period" after the war ends. The White House said reoccupation is "not good for Israel; not good for the Israeli people." Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, later said Israel's post-war plan is not an "ongoing occupation" of Gaza, instead, describing something "more fluid" and flexible.
3 min ago
Some doctors performing operations without anesthesia in Gaza, WHO says
From CNN's Sharon Braithwaite, Hamdi Alkhshali and Tamara Qiblawi
Some doctors in Gaza have been performing operations, including amputations, without anesthesia, a World Health Organization spokesperson said Tuesday.
"Nothing justifies the horror being endured by civilians in Gaza," WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday during a press briefing in Geneva, stressing their "desperate need for water, fuel, food and safe access to health care to survive."
Lindmeier reiterated the United Nations' calls for "unhindered, safe and secure access" for some 500 trucks of aid a day — not only across the border but also “all the way through to the patients in the hospitals,” where surgeries including amputations were being performed without anesthesia.
The level of death and suffering is “hard to fathom,” he added.
Lindmeier also said that at least 16 health care workers have been killed while on duty, stressing that any attacks on health care are forbidden by international humanitarian law.
Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, said Tuesday that one of its colleagues and several of his family members were killed in a blast at the Al Shati refugee camp.
Mohammed Al Ahel, an MSF laboratory technician and several members of his family died in the blast Monday, the organization said.
MSF said in a statement that it is “gravely concerned for all of our colleagues in Gaza, many of whom are still working in hospitals across the Strip providing lifesaving care.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also said Tuesday that its humanitarian convoy came under fire when it was delivering essential medical supplies to health facilities in Gaza City.
According to ICRC, two trucks were damaged in the attack, and a driver sustained minor injuries.
"These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work," William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC delegation in Gaza, said in a statement. "We are here to bring urgent assistance to civilians in need. Ensuring that vital aid can reach medical facilities is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law."
4 hr 24 min ago
Israel is not planning an "ongoing occupation" of Gaza, Netanyahu adviser says
From CNN staff
Israel's post-war plan is not an "ongoing occupation" of Gaza, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.
"I think you could expect something more fluid, something more flexible where we can move in and move out as need be to deal with the security situation," adviser Mark Regev told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. "We're not talking about any sort of ongoing occupation of the Gaza Strip."
Asked about Netanyahu’s comments on ABC News on Monday that Israel will have the "overall security responsibility" in Gaza for an "indefinite period" after the war ends, Regev said: "We have to distinguish between a security presence and political control."
"When this is over and we have defeated Hamas, it is crucial that there won’t be a resurgent terrorist element, a resurgent Hamas. There is no point doing this and just going back to square one," Regev said. "There will have to be an Israeli security presence, but that doesn’t mean Israel is re-occupying Gaza, that doesn’t mean that Israel is there to govern the Gazans. "On the contrary, we are interested in establishing new frameworks, where the Gazans can rule themselves, where there can be international support for the reconstruction of Gaza. Hopefully, we can bring in countries — Arab countries as well — for a reconstruction of a demilitarized, post-Hamas Gaza."
4 hr 27 min ago
Palestinians evacuate to southern Gaza, with some holding white flags, videos show
From CNN's Abeer Salman and Eyad Kourdi
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.
4 hr 33 min ago
89 UNRWA aid workers killed in Gaza since war began, Guterres says
From CNN's Hande Atay Alam
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said 89 staff members of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began a month ago.
More UN aid workers "have been killed in recent weeks than in any comparable period in the history of our organization," he wrote Monday on X, formerly Twitter. "I join in the mourning of 89 of our @UNRWA colleagues who have been killed in Gaza – many of them with members of their family."
UNRWA also said on Tuesday that at least 26 staff had been injured.
"We are beyond devastated. Our colleagues will be greatly missed, and they will not be forgotten. We share this grief with each other and with the families," the agency said on X.
4 hr 35 min ago
White House cautions Israel against reoccupying Gaza after Netanyahu hints at post-war plan
From CNN's Priscilla Alvarez
The White House maintained Tuesday that it doesn’t believe Israeli forces should reoccupy Gaza following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments that the country will have the “overall security responsibility” in Gaza for an “indefinite period” after the war ends.
“The president still believes that a reoccupation of Gaza by Israeli forces is not good. It’s not good for Israel; not good for the Israeli people,” said National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby on “CNN This Morning.”
“One of the conversations that Secretary (Antony) Blinken has been having in the region is what does post-conflict Gaza look like? What does governance look like in Gaza? Because whatever it is it can’t be what it was on October 6. It can’t be Hamas,” he added.
The latest warning from the White House comes after Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas” before adding, “I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it.”
It was one of the first hints Netanyahu has given about his vision for a post-war Gaza and suggests a divergent view than that of the US, including President Joe Biden’s own statements about what the future of the strip would look like.
"Gaza City is encircled" and Israeli troops are "operating in it," Netanyahu says
From CNN's Tamar Michaelis in Jerusalem and Lauren Kent
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said "Gaza City is encircled" and the Israel Defense Forces are "operating in it" and "advancing the pressure applied on Hamas every hour and every day."
It's unclear based on comments from Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — who said that troops are at the "heart of Gaza City" — exactly where the IDF is operating inside Gaza.
"So far, we’ve killed thousands of terrorists, from above and under the ground," Netanyahu said in a press conference. "Hamas is finding out that we’re getting to places it didn’t think we’d reach. And the campaign is still underway."
"On the diplomatic front, we’re operating around the clock to allow the IDF the leeway for the remaining military operation," Netanyahu added. "We will not stop until the victory."
Netanyahu also warned Hezbollah against entering the war on Israel's northern front.
"We will not comply with a reality in which Hezbollah or Hamas in Lebanon will hurt our communities and civilians. We’ll continue responding with fierce fire against any attack," Netanyahu said. "If Hezbollah chooses to enter the war, this will be the biggest mistake in its life."
Netanyahu added that he is in "constant touch" with US President Joe Biden, saying, "We highly appreciate his support and of the American administration and people."
More than 600 foreign nationals were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing Tuesday, an Egyptian official told CNN, the highest daily number since evacuations began last week.
Israeli troops are now operating inside Gaza City, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also said they have killed "thousands of terrorists, from above and under the ground."
Meantime, dozens of civilians evacuated to the southern part of the enclave during a four-hour window allotted by the Israel Defense Forces. Some people carried white flags, signaling their hope for a safe passage, video shows.
Israel is under mounting international pressure to consider a humanitarian pause in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza but the Israeli army insists there will be no ceasefire and it is prepared to strike the militant group "wherever necessary," including civilian infrastructure.
Here's what else to know:
Israeli movement: The IDF said it has “attacked over 14,000 terrorist targets” in the past month, eliminating many Hamas militants and destroying key infrastructure and weapons. Eyewitnesses described multiple explosions caused by Israeli airstrikes in central and southern Gaza on Tuesday. In the north, IDF troops are at the "heart of Gaza City" and targeting Hamas commanders, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said. Netanyahu later said "Gaza City is encircled" and the IDF are "operating in it" and "advancing the pressure applied on Hamas every hour and every day."
Health care rocked: Some doctors in Gaza have been performing operations, including amputations, without anesthesia, a World Health Organization spokesperson said. "Nothing justifies the horror being endured by civilians," they added. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its humanitarian convoy came under fire when it was delivering essential medical supplies to health facilities in Gaza City. Doctors Without Borders also said one of its colleagues and several of his family members were killed in a blast at the Al Shati refugee camp.
Border latest: A total of 637 foreign nationals were evacuated from Gaza to Egypt through the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday, an Egyptian official said. It's the highest daily number since evacuations began last week. In addition, 15 wounded Palestinians arrived in Egypt for treatment through the crossing, the official added.
Gaza death toll: More than 70% of the 10,305 people killed in Gaza since October 7 were children, women, and the elderly, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said in a report Tuesday. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder defended the accuracy of the death toll numbers being reported out of Gaza, saying the organization's numbers closely align with that of the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in the enclave.
More calls for ceasefire: Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Israeli strikes on civilian infrastructure in Gaza are "disproportionate" and "not acceptable," specifically referencing an Israeli attack on the Jabalya refugee camp. A Kremlin spokesperson called for "humanitarian pauses," expressing deep concern over the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation. The UN Secretary-General also reiterated his calls for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire." IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that there would be no ceasefire and repeated Israel's claim that Hamas is using "its population as a human shield."
Post-war scenarios: The White House is cautioning Israel against reoccupying Gaza after Netanyahu said Monday that Israel will have the "overall security responsibility" in the strip for an “indefinite period" after the war ends. The White House said reoccupation is "not good for Israel; not good for the Israeli people." Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, later said Israel's post-war plan is not an "ongoing occupation" of Gaza, instead, describing something "more fluid" and flexible.
Some doctors in Gaza have been performing operations, including amputations, without anesthesia, a World Health Organization spokesperson said Tuesday.
"Nothing justifies the horror being endured by civilians in Gaza," WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said Tuesday during a press briefing in Geneva, stressing their "desperate need for water, fuel, food and safe access to health care to survive."
Lindmeier reiterated the United Nations' calls for "unhindered, safe and secure access" for some 500 trucks of aid a day — not only across the border but also “all the way through to the patients in the hospitals,” where surgeries including amputations were being performed without anesthesia.
The level of death and suffering is “hard to fathom,” he added.
Lindmeier also said that at least 16 health care workers have been killed while on duty, stressing that any attacks on health care are forbidden by international humanitarian law.
Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, said Tuesday that one of its colleagues and several of his family members were killed in a blast at the Al Shati refugee camp.
Mohammed Al Ahel, an MSF laboratory technician and several members of his family died in the blast Monday, the organization said.
MSF said in a statement that it is “gravely concerned for all of our colleagues in Gaza, many of whom are still working in hospitals across the Strip providing lifesaving care.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also said Tuesday that its humanitarian convoy came under fire when it was delivering essential medical supplies to health facilities in Gaza City.
According to ICRC, two trucks were damaged in the attack, and a driver sustained minor injuries.
"These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work," William Schomburg, the head of the ICRC delegation in Gaza, said in a statement. "We are here to bring urgent assistance to civilians in need. Ensuring that vital aid can reach medical facilities is a legal obligation under international humanitarian law."
Israel's post-war plan is not an "ongoing occupation" of Gaza, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.
"I think you could expect something more fluid, something more flexible where we can move in and move out as need be to deal with the security situation," adviser Mark Regev told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. "We're not talking about any sort of ongoing occupation of the Gaza Strip."
Asked about Netanyahu’s comments on ABC News on Monday that Israel will have the "overall security responsibility" in Gaza for an "indefinite period" after the war ends, Regev said: "We have to distinguish between a security presence and political control."
"When this is over and we have defeated Hamas, it is crucial that there won’t be a resurgent terrorist element, a resurgent Hamas. There is no point doing this and just going back to square one," Regev said. "There will have to be an Israeli security presence, but that doesn’t mean Israel is re-occupying Gaza, that doesn’t mean that Israel is there to govern the Gazans. "On the contrary, we are interested in establishing new frameworks, where the Gazans can rule themselves, where there can be international support for the reconstruction of Gaza. Hopefully, we can bring in countries — Arab countries as well — for a reconstruction of a demilitarized, post-Hamas Gaza."
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.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said 89 staff members of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began a month ago.
More UN aid workers "have been killed in recent weeks than in any comparable period in the history of our organization," he wrote Monday on X, formerly Twitter. "I join in the mourning of 89 of our @UNRWA colleagues who have been killed in Gaza – many of them with members of their family."
UNRWA also said on Tuesday that at least 26 staff had been injured.
"We are beyond devastated. Our colleagues will be greatly missed, and they will not be forgotten. We share this grief with each other and with the families," the agency said on X.
The White House maintained Tuesday that it doesn’t believe Israeli forces should reoccupy Gaza following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments that the country will have the “overall security responsibility” in Gaza for an “indefinite period” after the war ends.
“The president still believes that a reoccupation of Gaza by Israeli forces is not good. It’s not good for Israel; not good for the Israeli people,” said National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby on “CNN This Morning.”
“One of the conversations that Secretary (Antony) Blinken has been having in the region is what does post-conflict Gaza look like? What does governance look like in Gaza? Because whatever it is it can’t be what it was on October 6. It can’t be Hamas,” he added.
The latest warning from the White House comes after Netanyahu told ABC News on Monday that Gaza should be governed by “those who don’t want to continue the way of Hamas” before adding, “I think Israel will, for an indefinite period, will have the overall security responsibility because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have it.”
It was one of the first hints Netanyahu has given about his vision for a post-war Gaza and suggests a divergent view than that of the US, including President Joe Biden’s own statements about what the future of the strip would look like.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said "Gaza City is encircled" and the Israel Defense Forces are "operating in it" and "advancing the pressure applied on Hamas every hour and every day."
It's unclear based on comments from Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — who said that troops are at the "heart of Gaza City" — exactly where the IDF is operating inside Gaza.
"So far, we’ve killed thousands of terrorists, from above and under the ground," Netanyahu said in a press conference. "Hamas is finding out that we’re getting to places it didn’t think we’d reach. And the campaign is still underway."
"On the diplomatic front, we’re operating around the clock to allow the IDF the leeway for the remaining military operation," Netanyahu added. "We will not stop until the victory."
Netanyahu also warned Hezbollah against entering the war on Israel's northern front.
"We will not comply with a reality in which Hezbollah or Hamas in Lebanon will hurt our communities and civilians. We’ll continue responding with fierce fire against any attack," Netanyahu said. "If Hezbollah chooses to enter the war, this will be the biggest mistake in its life."
Netanyahu added that he is in "constant touch" with US President Joe Biden, saying, "We highly appreciate his support and of the American administration and people."
