UN rights chief accuses Hamas and Israel of war crimes as civilians flee south. Here's the latest
From CNN staff
Hamas and Israel have both committed war crimes during the past month of fighting, the UN human rights chief said Wednesday.
Volker Türk also urged both sides to agree to a ceasefire to allow aid deliveries to Gaza, the release of hostages by Hamas, and to work toward an "end to the occupation."
Israel's military pushed back against war crimes accusations, saying its strikes on Hamas targets followed international law and sought to minimize civilian casualties.
Meanwhile, the United States and its G7 allies have repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire, putting them at odds with mounting calls from their Arab partners and international aid agencies.
Here's what else to know:
Civilians flee south: Thousands of Palestinians are evacuating northern Gaza as Israel intensifies its ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza City. Some of them described an unbearable reality in the enclave's main urban center, with constant airstrikes and no water. A man who did not provide his name told CNN in southern Gaza that the war "left nothing safe — not churches, not mosques or anything." Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed Tuesday that IDF troops were operating in Gaza City, targeting Hamas infrastructure and commanders there.
Dire humanitarian situation: Doctors in Gaza are running out of medical supplies, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross's chief surgeon, while all bakeries have been forced to close in northern Gaza due to a lack of fuel, water and wheat flour. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said it was able to deliver medical supplies to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City Wednesday despite "relentless bombardments."
Louder calls for a ceasefire: The president of the International Rescue Committee called for a humanitarian ceasefire for at least five days, emphasizing it was the "absolute minimum" needed to allow aid agencies to relieve some of the suffering. Other world leaders have also called for a ceasefire or a "humanitarian pause" in recent days. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated US opposition however, saying, "Those calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring."
Hostage negotiations: A deal to secure the release of a large number of hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza appears elusive, despite negotiations involving the US, Israel, Qatar and Hamas. The multi-party talks have been ongoing for weeks and have so far produced many ideas, but any proposal involving hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting is not on the table, a US official and other diplomatic sources said. IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the military’s current count of hostages being held by Hamas is 239.
Rafah border latest: The crossing between Gaza and Egypt was closed Wednesday due to a “security circumstance,” the US State Department said. A total of 637 foreign nationals were evacuated to Egypt Tuesday, an Egyptian official said.
Gaza's future: The US believes the Palestinian Authority “is the appropriate place to look for governance eventually” of Gaza, a State Department official said Wednesday. That's in line with Blinken's comments that "Israel cannot occupy Gaza," but "there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict." Israeli Prime Minister benjamin Netanyahu claimed this week that Israel will have the "overall security responsibility" in Gaza for an "indefinite period."
4 hr 1 min ago
UN rights chief says war crimes have been committed by both Israel and Hamas
From CNN's Michael Rios
Both Hamas and Israel have committed war crimes since the conflict erupted last month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Wednesday.
“The atrocities perpetrated by Palestinian armed groups on 7 October were heinous, brutal and shocking, they were war crimes — as is the continued holding of hostages,” commissioner Volker Türk said. “The collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians amounts also to a war crime, as does the unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians.”
Türk delivered the remarks after visiting the Rafah border crossing, which he called a symbolic lifeline for the 2.3 million people in Gaza.
“The lifeline has been unjustly, outrageously thin,” he said as he called for more humanitarian aid to be delivered to the enclave.
Türk also urged both sides to agree to a ceasefire on the basis of three human rights imperatives: the delivery of aid to Gaza, the release of hostages by Hamas as well as the implementation of “a durable end to the occupation, based on the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis to self-determination and their legitimate security interests."
“Even in the context of a 56-year-old occupation, the current situation is the most dangerous in decades, faced by people in Gaza, in Israel, in the West Bank but also regionally,” he said.
The Israeli military commented on accusations of war crimes saying:
"The IDF’s strikes on military targets are subject to relevant provisions of international law, including the taking of feasible precautions and after an assessment that the expected incidental damage to civilians and civilian property is not excessive in relation to the expected military advantage from the attack."
3 hr 53 min ago
Videos released by Hamas show clashes with IDF in Gaza City
From CNN's Paul P. Murphy
Even though IDF forces have encircled Gaza City and spent more than a month targeting Hamas positions and tunnels, footage of attacks recently released by Hamas and analyzed by CNN help illustrate how difficult it will be to stop the Islamist militants.
CNN has geolocated a number of the clashes seen in the Hamas videos to three main locations: the Al-Shati refugee camp, Atatra and Beit Hanoun. The videos were released after the Israeli ground invasion began.
The remaining fights CNN was unable to geolocate were either in incredibly dense city streets or rural areas — mainly olive groves.
The overall success of the Hamas attacks depicted — whether the bulk of their fighters survive and whether they are causing IDF personnel casualties or disabling equipment — is unclear from the videos, which are heavily edited and redacted propaganda. Hamas only touts its successful missions in its videos.
However, Hamas publishing body camera footage of its fighters carrying out an ambush does indicate that at least one of their fighters survived and brought back footage.
CNN military analyst and retired US Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling reviewed the videos and said that Hamas was likely utilizing shape-charge rocket-propelled grenades, which have the potential to be specifically devastating to some military vehicles, like armored personnel carriers.
An IDF spokesperson declined to comment on the number of military vehicles that have been disabled or destroyed during the ground invasion, citing "operational security considerations."
"Whack-a-mole": Clearing Hamas' tunnels with weapons stockpiles and fighters inside will likely take months. Additionally, Hamas fighters can now also use the aftermath of the Israeli military strikes — the ruins of buildings — as cover to carry out their ambushes.
Hertling said that trying to stop these ambushes would be like "whack-a-mole" unless the IDF was able to knock out every single tunnel complex, tunnel opening or shaft.
"It's going to take months to do that," he said, noting that clearing operations can't be done by vehicles.
IDF soldiers will have to clear each building individually, which will expose them to rifle and sniper fire from Hamas and, in turn, risk a skyrocketing casualty rate.
Hamas says the videos were taken on November 2, 3, 5, and 6. A CNN analysis could not independently confirm that time period, but the length and direction of the shadows in the videos also indicate many of the ambushes either occurred on different days or took place many hours apart.
At most of the sites, Hamas fighters are seen carrying out multiple ambushes, at different times throughout the day.
2 hr 11 min ago
IDF claims it destroyed 130 Hamas tunnel shafts in Gaza
From CNN's Tamar Michaelis in Jerusalem
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday claimed it has destroyed 130 Hamas tunnel shafts since the start of the war, as Israel continues the "expansion" of its ground operation in Gaza.
"Combat engineers fighting in Gaza are destroying the enemy's weapons and are locating, exposing and detonating tunnel shafts. With the expansion of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, the soldiers are thwarting Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure," the IDF said in a press release on Wednesday.
"As part of the ground forces' activity in the Gaza Strip, IDF soldiers are currently working to expose and destroy Hamas’ tunnels," the statement said. "Since the beginning of the fighting, 130 tunnel shafts have been destroyed."
The IDF added that Hamas' "preparation for a prolonged stay in the tunnels can be seen based on water and oxygen means found in the tunnels."
School claim: One destroyed tunnel was near a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) sponsored school in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza, the IDF claimed.
The IDF also shared a video allegedly showing the destruction "near the school" through a drone camera.
CNN cannot verify the IDF’s claims. CNN has reached out to UNRWA for comment.
4 hr 23 min ago
"Nothing is left": Palestinians fleeing south in Gaza describe unbearable situation in Gaza City
From CNN stringer in Gaza and CNN’s Abeer Salman in Jerusalem
Thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza on Wednesday, traveling miles on foot through the battered enclave in a growing exodus prompted by Israel’s intensified ground and air campaign.
Streams of people — women, children, the elderly and disabled — made their way down Salah Eddin Street, one of the two north-south highways in Gaza, along an evacuation corridor announced by the Israel Defense Forces.
One teenage girl compared the mass movement to the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, the Arabic term for the expulsion of Palestinians from their towns during the founding of Israel.
A man who did not provide his name told a CNN stringer in southern Gaza that he and his neighbors had lived through “horrifying days.” He said they had left their home in northern Gaza and moved several times, but that it was impossible to escape the airstrikes.
“This war left nothing safe — not churches, not mosques or anything. Today, they dropped the leaflet ordering us to leave to the alleged safe area. Now we are beyond this area of Wadi Gaza, and we are still hearing bombardments. There is no safe place in Gaza,” he said.
“We are seven families. All of our houses are gone. Nothing is left. We couldn't take anything — no clothes, no water, nothing. The way here was very difficult. If something falls, you are not allowed to pick it up. You are not allowed to slow down. Dead bodies everywhere.”
UN chief says something is "clearly wrong" with Israel's Gaza operation, pointing to civilian deaths
From CNN's Michael Rios
The number of civilian deaths in Gaza during the past month of war between Israel and Hamas means something is "clearly wrong" with Israel's military operation, the United Nations secretary general said Wednesday.
“Nothing should reduce our total rejection for the horrible things that Hamas did” in its October 7 attacks that killed about 1,400 people, Secretary-General António Guterres said in an interview with Reuters. “But we need to distinguish: Hamas is one thing, the Palestinian people (are) another.”
“There are violations by Hamas when they have human shields,” he said. “But when one looks at the number of civilians that were killed with the military operations, there is something that is clearly wrong.”
Israel’s operations must be conducted with full respect to the laws of war, Guterres said, while allowing for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
“To a certain extent, the sympathy that is generated in the world is being put into question by the images that every day we have in which we see people in a dramatic humanitarian situation," he said, also calling for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas.
Deaths in Gaza: About three-quarters of the 10,515 people killed in Gaza since the conflict began are children, women and the elderly, according to a report Wednesday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, which draws on sources from the Hamas-controlled enclave. It's unclear how many combatants are included in that total.
Hamas and Israel have both committed war crimes during the past month of fighting, the UN human rights chief said. Volker Türk also urged both sides to agree to a ceasefire to allow aid deliveries to Gaza, the release of hostages by Hamas, and to work toward an "end to the occupation."
Israel's military pushed back against war crimes accusations, saying its strikes on Hamas targets followed international law and sought to minimize civilian casualties. Meanwhile, the US and its G7 allies have repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire, putting them at odds with mounting calls from their Arab partners and international aid agencies.
Thousands of Palestinians have fled south from northern Gaza on foot in recent days in a growing exodus prompted by Israel’s intensified ground and air campaign. "Nothing is left," one evacuee told CNN.
The main UN agency operating in Gaza said it was able to deliver medical supplies to the enclave's largest medical facility despite "relentless bombardments." UNRWA described the conditions at Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital as "disastrous."
Hamas and Israel have both committed war crimes during the past month of fighting, the UN human rights chief said Wednesday.
Volker Türk also urged both sides to agree to a ceasefire to allow aid deliveries to Gaza, the release of hostages by Hamas, and to work toward an "end to the occupation."
Israel's military pushed back against war crimes accusations, saying its strikes on Hamas targets followed international law and sought to minimize civilian casualties.
Meanwhile, the United States and its G7 allies have repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire, putting them at odds with mounting calls from their Arab partners and international aid agencies.
Here's what else to know:
Civilians flee south: Thousands of Palestinians are evacuating northern Gaza as Israel intensifies its ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza City. Some of them described an unbearable reality in the enclave's main urban center, with constant airstrikes and no water. A man who did not provide his name told CNN in southern Gaza that the war "left nothing safe — not churches, not mosques or anything." Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed Tuesday that IDF troops were operating in Gaza City, targeting Hamas infrastructure and commanders there.
Dire humanitarian situation: Doctors in Gaza are running out of medical supplies, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross's chief surgeon, while all bakeries have been forced to close in northern Gaza due to a lack of fuel, water and wheat flour. The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said it was able to deliver medical supplies to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City Wednesday despite "relentless bombardments."
Louder calls for a ceasefire: The president of the International Rescue Committee called for a humanitarian ceasefire for at least five days, emphasizing it was the "absolute minimum" needed to allow aid agencies to relieve some of the suffering. Other world leaders have also called for a ceasefire or a "humanitarian pause" in recent days. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated US opposition however, saying, "Those calling for an immediate ceasefire have an obligation to explain how to address the unacceptable result that would likely bring."
Hostage negotiations: A deal to secure the release of a large number of hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza appears elusive, despite negotiations involving the US, Israel, Qatar and Hamas. The multi-party talks have been ongoing for weeks and have so far produced many ideas, but any proposal involving hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting is not on the table, a US official and other diplomatic sources said. IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the military’s current count of hostages being held by Hamas is 239.
Rafah border latest: The crossing between Gaza and Egypt was closed Wednesday due to a “security circumstance,” the US State Department said. A total of 637 foreign nationals were evacuated to Egypt Tuesday, an Egyptian official said.
Gaza's future: The US believes the Palestinian Authority “is the appropriate place to look for governance eventually” of Gaza, a State Department official said Wednesday. That's in line with Blinken's comments that "Israel cannot occupy Gaza," but "there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict." Israeli Prime Minister benjamin Netanyahu claimed this week that Israel will have the "overall security responsibility" in Gaza for an "indefinite period."
Both Hamas and Israel have committed war crimes since the conflict erupted last month, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said Wednesday.
“The atrocities perpetrated by Palestinian armed groups on 7 October were heinous, brutal and shocking, they were war crimes — as is the continued holding of hostages,” commissioner Volker Türk said. “The collective punishment by Israel of Palestinian civilians amounts also to a war crime, as does the unlawful forcible evacuation of civilians.”
Türk delivered the remarks after visiting the Rafah border crossing, which he called a symbolic lifeline for the 2.3 million people in Gaza.
“The lifeline has been unjustly, outrageously thin,” he said as he called for more humanitarian aid to be delivered to the enclave.
Türk also urged both sides to agree to a ceasefire on the basis of three human rights imperatives: the delivery of aid to Gaza, the release of hostages by Hamas as well as the implementation of “a durable end to the occupation, based on the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis to self-determination and their legitimate security interests."
“Even in the context of a 56-year-old occupation, the current situation is the most dangerous in decades, faced by people in Gaza, in Israel, in the West Bank but also regionally,” he said.
The Israeli military commented on accusations of war crimes saying:
"The IDF’s strikes on military targets are subject to relevant provisions of international law, including the taking of feasible precautions and after an assessment that the expected incidental damage to civilians and civilian property is not excessive in relation to the expected military advantage from the attack."
Even though IDF forces have encircled Gaza City and spent more than a month targeting Hamas positions and tunnels, footage of attacks recently released by Hamas and analyzed by CNN help illustrate how difficult it will be to stop the Islamist militants.
CNN has geolocated a number of the clashes seen in the Hamas videos to three main locations: the Al-Shati refugee camp, Atatra and Beit Hanoun. The videos were released after the Israeli ground invasion began.
The remaining fights CNN was unable to geolocate were either in incredibly dense city streets or rural areas — mainly olive groves.
The overall success of the Hamas attacks depicted — whether the bulk of their fighters survive and whether they are causing IDF personnel casualties or disabling equipment — is unclear from the videos, which are heavily edited and redacted propaganda. Hamas only touts its successful missions in its videos.
However, Hamas publishing body camera footage of its fighters carrying out an ambush does indicate that at least one of their fighters survived and brought back footage.
CNN military analyst and retired US Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling reviewed the videos and said that Hamas was likely utilizing shape-charge rocket-propelled grenades, which have the potential to be specifically devastating to some military vehicles, like armored personnel carriers.
An IDF spokesperson declined to comment on the number of military vehicles that have been disabled or destroyed during the ground invasion, citing "operational security considerations."
"Whack-a-mole": Clearing Hamas' tunnels with weapons stockpiles and fighters inside will likely take months. Additionally, Hamas fighters can now also use the aftermath of the Israeli military strikes — the ruins of buildings — as cover to carry out their ambushes.
Hertling said that trying to stop these ambushes would be like "whack-a-mole" unless the IDF was able to knock out every single tunnel complex, tunnel opening or shaft.
"It's going to take months to do that," he said, noting that clearing operations can't be done by vehicles.
IDF soldiers will have to clear each building individually, which will expose them to rifle and sniper fire from Hamas and, in turn, risk a skyrocketing casualty rate.
Hamas says the videos were taken on November 2, 3, 5, and 6. A CNN analysis could not independently confirm that time period, but the length and direction of the shadows in the videos also indicate many of the ambushes either occurred on different days or took place many hours apart.
At most of the sites, Hamas fighters are seen carrying out multiple ambushes, at different times throughout the day.
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday claimed it has destroyed 130 Hamas tunnel shafts since the start of the war, as Israel continues the "expansion" of its ground operation in Gaza.
"Combat engineers fighting in Gaza are destroying the enemy's weapons and are locating, exposing and detonating tunnel shafts. With the expansion of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, the soldiers are thwarting Hamas’ terrorist infrastructure," the IDF said in a press release on Wednesday.
"As part of the ground forces' activity in the Gaza Strip, IDF soldiers are currently working to expose and destroy Hamas’ tunnels," the statement said. "Since the beginning of the fighting, 130 tunnel shafts have been destroyed."
The IDF added that Hamas' "preparation for a prolonged stay in the tunnels can be seen based on water and oxygen means found in the tunnels."
School claim: One destroyed tunnel was near a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) sponsored school in the Beit Hanoun area of northern Gaza, the IDF claimed.
The IDF also shared a video allegedly showing the destruction "near the school" through a drone camera.
CNN cannot verify the IDF’s claims. CNN has reached out to UNRWA for comment.
Thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza on Wednesday, traveling miles on foot through the battered enclave in a growing exodus prompted by Israel’s intensified ground and air campaign.
Streams of people — women, children, the elderly and disabled — made their way down Salah Eddin Street, one of the two north-south highways in Gaza, along an evacuation corridor announced by the Israel Defense Forces.
One teenage girl compared the mass movement to the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, the Arabic term for the expulsion of Palestinians from their towns during the founding of Israel.
A man who did not provide his name told a CNN stringer in southern Gaza that he and his neighbors had lived through “horrifying days.” He said they had left their home in northern Gaza and moved several times, but that it was impossible to escape the airstrikes.
“This war left nothing safe — not churches, not mosques or anything. Today, they dropped the leaflet ordering us to leave to the alleged safe area. Now we are beyond this area of Wadi Gaza, and we are still hearing bombardments. There is no safe place in Gaza,” he said.
“We are seven families. All of our houses are gone. Nothing is left. We couldn't take anything — no clothes, no water, nothing. The way here was very difficult. If something falls, you are not allowed to pick it up. You are not allowed to slow down. Dead bodies everywhere.”
The number of civilian deaths in Gaza during the past month of war between Israel and Hamas means something is "clearly wrong" with Israel's military operation, the United Nations secretary general said Wednesday.
“Nothing should reduce our total rejection for the horrible things that Hamas did” in its October 7 attacks that killed about 1,400 people, Secretary-General António Guterres said in an interview with Reuters. “But we need to distinguish: Hamas is one thing, the Palestinian people (are) another.”
“There are violations by Hamas when they have human shields,” he said. “But when one looks at the number of civilians that were killed with the military operations, there is something that is clearly wrong.”
Israel’s operations must be conducted with full respect to the laws of war, Guterres said, while allowing for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza.
“To a certain extent, the sympathy that is generated in the world is being put into question by the images that every day we have in which we see people in a dramatic humanitarian situation," he said, also calling for the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas.
Deaths in Gaza: About three-quarters of the 10,515 people killed in Gaza since the conflict began are children, women and the elderly, according to a report Wednesday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, which draws on sources from the Hamas-controlled enclave. It's unclear how many combatants are included in that total.
