March 26, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder has expressed frustration about getting aid to those who "desperately" need it in the Gaza Strip due to the complicated security process. 

There have been "a lot of arguments and discussions in the media and on social media about the obstructions to getting lifesaving aid to people in desperate need here in the Gaza Strip," Elder said in a video he filmed from the enclave and posted to Instagram on Monday.

He said UNICEF staff "waited at checkpoints for hours. We've been given apparently the green light. We've gone forward. We've been told to come back."

"This is the reality, day in and day out, as we try, often in vain, to get aid to those who desperately, desperately need it," Elder said.

Some background: Humanitarian workers and government officials overseeing aid distribution in Gaza previously told CNN a clear pattern has emerged of Israeli obstruction. They say the Israeli agency that controls access to Gaza has imposed arbitrary and contradictory criteria. 

On the eve of the Israeli military raid last Monday on Al-Shifa Hospital, an eyewitness spotted hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad members inside the hospital.

The eyewitness, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, estimated about 400 to 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad members and their families arrived at the hospital in mid-March. Some of them appeared to be members of Hamas' political branch, while others were armed militants.

The eyewitness said some of the militants were carrying guns inside the hospital.

CNN has asked the Gaza Health Ministry for comment.

The Israeli military launched a major operation at Al-Shifa last Monday, alleging that Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants had embedded themselves within the hospital.

As the military operation enters its second week, the Israeli military says it has detained “approximately 500” Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants in and around the hospital and killed about 170 militants.

Thousands of civilians were also sheltering inside the medical complex at the time of the raid and eyewitnesses said medical personnel and other civilians were also detained by Israeli troops.

Hundreds of those sheltering were stranded inside the hospital for days — with little food or water — and warned by the Israeli military that they would be shot if they exited the hospital without first receiving instructions to evacuate.

The Israeli military said it killed 180 people it described as "terrorists" in and around Gaza City's Al-Shifa medical complex in its raid on the site, which is now in its second week.

Daniel Hagari, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson, said Monday that those killed had been "fighting," that Israeli forces had been fired upon from the yard of the emergency and the maternity wards, and that the militants remained barricaded inside the wards.

He said "no patients, doctors, medical teams were harmed," but some buildings had been destroyed by militants using explosives. 

He also reiterated that 500 people had been detained.

CNN is unable to independently verify the numbers due to a lack of reporting access to Gaza. Due to the ongoing siege, communication with people inside Al-Shifa has been very limited.

A high-ranking IDF officer said Saturday the raid will finish "only when the last terrorist is in our hands — alive or dead."

Yaron Finkelman said the raid, which started last Monday, "struck hundreds of terrorists, apprehended hundreds of terrorists and brought in significant operational and intelligence assets."

Patients trapped: Gaza's Health Ministry said patients were trapped inside "without water, or food, or medical services and the rest of the wounded and injured are in a dire situation."

Five patients at Al-Shifa died on Saturday as a result of the Israeli raid on the facility, the ministry said.

Witnesses told CNN that hundreds of civilians, including patients and medical staff, were trapped.

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz has said that Israel "will not cease fire" after the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, and "the urgent need to expand the flow" of aid into Gaza.

Israel "will destroy Hamas and continue to fight until the last of the hostages returns home," Katz said on X on Monday.

Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan from the White House on Monday that the outcomes of the war in Gaza "will impact the region for decades to come."

"The meeting was held in private, over a period of one-and-a-half hours," according to a statement released by the Israeli government. 

Tensions between the US and Israel were exposed on Monday when Washington stood aside and allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The US decision to abstain from the vote prompted Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a scheduled trip to the US by two of his top advisers, two Israeli officials said.

Israel’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Ron Dermer, a member of the war cabinet and close adviser to Netanyahu, had been scheduled to travel to Washington on Monday night to discuss a planned ground offensive in Rafah and US alternatives, but the visit was canceled after the vote.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller called the cancelation “surprising and unfortunate.”

Read more about the UN vote and Israel's response.

At least two people were killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon on Monday, according to Lebanon's state-run NNA news. 

The airstrikes hit an area in the town of Meiss El Jabal, near the border with Israel, NNA said in the report. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Monday that "IDF fighter jets struck a Hezbollah military structure in the area of Meiss El Jabal."

According to figures released by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health on March 20, at least 316 people have been killed since October 8 as a result of the "Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon." 

At least 91,300 people have been displaced from areas and towns close to the border with Israel since the conflict started, the country's Health Ministry said in its report. 

Hamas said it has informed mediators that it will hold to its original "position and vision," that it presented on March 14 on a complete ceasefire in Gaza.

The group said that Israel has not responded to "a complete ceasefire, withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced people," according to a Hamas statement released on Monday.

Hamas said they are holding Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government "full responsibility for thwarting all negotiation efforts and obstructing reaching an agreement so far."

US officials remain in Doha to continue discussions over a ceasefire deal after CIA Director Bill Burns traveled to the Qatari capital for meetings with Israel’s intelligence chief and fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar, according to a source familiar with the discussions.

CNN previously reported that technical teams remained after Mossad Director David Barnea left Doha on Saturday.

The source also confirmed that the current proposal is for 40 Israeli hostages to be released by Hamas in exchange for around 700 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, dozens of whom have life sentences.

CNN affiliate Channel 11 (Kan News) and CNN analyst Barak Ravid reported the number of those with life sentences could be as high as 100.  

Separately, a US official said Monday that progress was made over the weekend and expressed optimism that an agreement will come together.

Aside from the ratio of hostages to prisoners being negotiated, the official said, there are discussions about the ability of Palestinians to move around Gaza once the expected six-week ceasefire starts, about getting more humanitarian aid in, and the location of Israeli troops.

The discussions are tedious and slow, the official added, because Hamas representatives engaging in the talks in Doha and elsewhere then have to send the proposals into Gaza for the head of Hamas there, Yahya Sinwar, to respond.

Sinwar is believed to be hiding in part of Gaza’s extensive tunnel system, US and Israeli officials say.