More than 60 US citizens among dozens of foreign nationals set to leave Gaza, Egypt says
From CNN's Tim Lister
The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza will open Thursday for dozens of foreign nationals and dual citizens to exit the war-torn strip, according to Egyptian authorities.
A list published by the Egyptian Authority for Crossings and Borders includes 63 US citizens alongside nationals of Romania, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
It also includes 13 United Nations personnel intending to enter Gaza.
Rafah is the only border crossing in Gaza not controlled by Israel. It has been a vital lifeline for aid to enter the enclave and for people to escape the fighting since Israel's war with Hamas began in October.
1:02 a.m. ET, December 7, 2023
UK defense minister to visit Israel and West Bank in push for Gaza aid
From CNN's Jennifer Hauser
Grant Shapps speaks during a joint press conference in Mountain View, California, on December 1. Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images
UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps will visit Israel and the occupied West Bank this week in a push for humanitarian aid to be delivered quicker to war-torn Gaza, the British government said Thursday.
In a news release, the government said Shapps will discuss delivering aid by sea directly to the strip during upcoming talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
"We are working to find the best way to get aid and support to those in desperate need in the quickest and most direct route. That includes options by land, sea and air," Shapps said.
Four Royal Air Force flights carrying more than 74 metric tons of aid for Palestinians have landed in Egypt, the release added.
Shapps is also expected to discuss progress on recovering hostages, including several Britons who were taken by Hamas in the October 7 attack.
12:51 a.m. ET, December 7, 2023
2 Israeli soldiers killed in Hamas war, IDF says
From CNN's Kareem El Damanhoury
Two Israeli soldiers were killed Wednesday amid Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli military said.
One of the men was killed in battle in central Gaza, while the other died a day after he was wounded in southern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.
Four other Israeli soldiers were seriously injured in Gaza on Wednesday, the IDF said.
Dozens of Israeli troops have been killed since Israel expanded its ground operations in the Palestinian enclave in October. More than 16,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the strip since October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
12:01 a.m. ET, December 7, 2023
UN agencies warn of increasingly desperate situation in Gaza as Israeli forces surround Hamas leader's home. Here's the latest
From CNN staff
Multiple United Nations agencies are warning of the dire situation for residents of war-torn Gaza as Israel approved a "minimal" increase in the amount of fuel permitted to enter the strip to prevent a "humanitarian collapse and the outbreak of epidemics" in the south.
In separate statements Wednesday, the World Health Organization chief said Gaza's health system is "on its knees" and nearing total collapse, while the head of the World Food Programme said the humanitarian system in the strip is collapsing and, "Everyone in #Gaza is hungry."
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it is advancing in the south of the enclave, where it says it has surrounded the home of Hamas' leader in Gaza in what a senior adviser to Israel's prime minister told CNN was a "symbolic victory."
Here's what else you need to know:
On the ground: Israeli forces have breached Hamas "defense lines" in the southern city of Khan Younis, a spokesperson for the military claimed Wednesday. It comes after the IDF said the Israeli military had begun carrying out raids against "Hamas strongholds" in the territory’s second-largest city. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF had encircled the house of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. The IDF would not say where it believes Sinwar is, but that he was “underground.”
Israel-UN spat deepens: UN Secretary-General António Guterres invoked a rarely used rule to refer the situation in Gaza to the UN Security Council, urging members to "avert a humanitarian catastrophe." Israel’s envoy called the move "a new moral low" and, along with the country's foreign minister, called on Guterres to resign. The United Arab Emirates also submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council urging a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.
Civilian deaths: Israel is taking some “important steps” to better protect civilians during its offensive in southern Gaza, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with CNN. “I said to them very clearly when I was there just a week ago, we cannot have a repeat of what happened in the north in the south in terms of harm being done to civilians,” Blinken said. However, the number of civilian casualties in Gaza remains too high, US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Wednesday. More than 16,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Amnesty claims: An investigation by Amnesty International alleges that a US-made weapons guidance system was used in two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in October in which 43 civilians are said to have been killed. Fragments of the US-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions guidance system were found in the rubble of destroyed homes in the neighborhood of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, according to a report released Tuesday by the human rights organization.
Gaza's future: Israel's Netanyahu said Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) assuming power in Gaza will not happen as long as he is prime minister, highlighting differences between Israel and the US over governance of the enclave after the war. On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris' national security adviser underscored the US "commitment to the future establishment of a Palestinian state and made clear that the Palestinian people must have a hopeful political horizon."
11:45 p.m. ET, December 6, 2023
Gaza's health system "on its knees" and nearing total collapse, WHO says
From CNN's Kareem El Damanhoury, Lina El Wardani and Ibrahim Dahman
Relatives of dead Palestinians mourn at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, on Wednesday. Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Gaza's health system is "on its knees" and nearing total collapse, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on Wednesday.
"#Gaza cannot afford to lose any more hospitals…and yet another one is on verge of closing," he added in another statement in reference to the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza. "This will deprive thousands of people of essential lifesaving care."
On Tuesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah accused the Israeli military of placing the Kamal Adwan hospital under siege.
CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for a response. In previous statements, Israel had maintained it targets Hamas infrastructure in the strip.
WHO has reported at least 212 attacks on Gaza's health sector since October 7. As a result, only 14 hospitals are partially functioning and three are minimally functioning in the strip, while 19 have gone out of service, the WHO chief added.
Palestinian Minister of Health Mai Al-Kaila said Tuesday that none of the hospitals in northern Gaza can accommodate surgical operations, while the capacity has surpassed 216% in hospitals in the south.
CNN's Kareem Khadder contributed reporting to this post.
11:00 p.m. ET, December 6, 2023
Amnesty claims Israel used US-made weapon in airstrikes that killed dozens of civilians in Gaza
From CNN staff
An investigation by Amnesty International alleges that a US-made weapons guidance system was used in two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in October in which 43 civilians are said to have been killed.
Israel uses a wide variety of American weapons and munitions, but Amnesty's report is one of the first attempts to tie an American-made weapon to a specific attack that left a significant number of civilians dead.
The JDAM is a “guidance tail kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurate, adverse weather ‘smart’ munitions,” according to the US Air Force.
Amnesty said its weapons experts and a “remote sensing analyst” examined satellite imagery and photos of the homes that show the “fragments of ordnance recovered from the rubble” and the destruction, the report explains. Amnesty’s fieldworkers took the photos.
As a result of these two attacks, 19 children, 14 women, and 10 men were killed, the report claims.
The human rights organization said it "did not find any indication there were any military objectives at the sites" of the airstrikes or that the individuals living in the homes were legitimate military targets.
“The organization found that these air strikes were either direct attacks on civilians or civilian objects or indiscriminate attacks,” the report says, calling for the attacks to be investigated as war crimes.
In a statement to CNN, the Israel Defense Forces called the report “flawed, biased and premature, based on baseless assumptions regarding the IDF’s operations.”
“The assumption that intelligence regarding the military use of a particular structure does not exist unless revealed is contradictory to any understanding of military activity, and the report uses this flawed assumption to imply equally flawed and biased conclusions regarding the IDF, in line with existing biases and prior problematic work by this organization,” the IDF said.
"Everyone in Gaza is hungry," World Food Programme chief says amid severe food and water shortages
From CNN’s Kareem El Damanhoury
People wait while a woman prepares food in southern Gaza on Wednesday. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
World Food Programme (WFP) Chief Cindy McCain is warning of the limited access to food and water in the Gaza strip.
The humanitarian system is collapsing," McCain said in a statement on Wednesday. "Everyone in #Gaza is hungry."
WFP said 97% of Palestinian households in the northern areas of the strip and 83% in the south reported inadequate food consumption — with many having spent at least one day without eating.
“Around 88 percent of the households in the Northern governorates and around 54 percent in the Southern governorates reported spending at least one full day and night without eating in the past four weeks, because there was not enough food,” WFP said in its latest report, adding that 20% in the north and 14% in the south had to do this more than 10 times.
The lack of cooking gas in Gaza has also led many to rely on waste burning, firewood and wood rubbish, which can have negative health repercussions, including high risks of respiratory diseases, according to WFP's data.
Additionally, the average daily clean water consumption levels range between 1.5-1.8 liters per person across the strip, which is way below the 15 liters minimum average volume of water for drinking and hygiene per person daily.
11:19 p.m. ET, December 6, 2023
"Too many Palestinian civilians continue to be killed" in Gaza, US official says
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler and Michael Conte
Palestinians perform funeral prayer for people killed during Israeli airstrikes in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza ,on Wednesday. Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The number of civilian casualties in Gaza is too high, US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Wednesday.
"Too many Palestinian civilians continue to be killed" in Gaza, he said.
Speaking several days into the renewed offensive by Israeli forces in southern Gaza, Miller said the United States wants "to see the civilian death toll lower than it has been."
"A good component of this is the problem presented by Hamas embedding in civilian sites in Khan Younis just as it did in Gaza City, but that doesn't lessen the burden that's on Israel to do everything it can to reduce civilian harm," he said during a news briefing.
Miller noted the conflict in southern Gaza was "still at an early stage," and would not say whether the US believes Israeli forces are carrying out this part of their offensive differently than in the north.
Miller said the State Department had "some very frank conversations with the government of Israel about that when we were there last week," during US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit.
"We continue to have very frank discussions with them about this question, and I think I'll leave it at that," he said.
Blinken said last week that Israel must prosecute the war differently in the south than it did in the north.
7:42 p.m. ET, December 6, 2023
Israeli forces have breached Hamas "defense lines" in Khan Younis, IDF spokesperson says
From CNN's Tamar Michaelis, Mick Krever and Sugam Pokharel
Israeli forces have breached Hamas "defense lines" in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where they have been involved in a fierce battle with the militant group since Tuesday, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said Wednesday.
“Over the last 48 hours, these three divisions (98, 36, 162) along with another division in the east, are fighting with high intensity against terrorists. We have breached the defense lines of Jabalya, Shuja'iyya and the Khan Younis area,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said during his daily press conference.
It comes after the IDF said the Israeli military had begun carrying out raids against "Hamas strongholds" in the center of Khan Younis, the territory’s second-largest city.
Within a few hours after Israeli troops surrounded the city, “the soldiers pierced through the defensive lines of the Khan Younis Brigade, encircling it and for the first time began to operate in the heart of the area,” the military said.
The Khan Younis Brigade is one of Hamas' two most significant battalions, according to the Israeli military.
Hamas leader "underground": Earlier Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli forces had encircled the house of Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. The IDF would not say where it believes Sinwar is, but that he was “underground.” Sinwar is originally from Khan Younis but it is unclear if he is currently there.
