October 13, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

The Israeli military on Friday called on all civilians in Gaza City to evacuate "southwards" as it maintains its bombardment of the coastal enclave in response to Hamas terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 people.

The United Nations warned Thursday that an Israeli military order to evacuate the entire 1.1 million population of northern Gaza to the south of the besieged enclave was "impossible" without causing major humanitarian consequences.

In its statement Friday, the IDF said evacuated civilians will be able to return to Gaza City "only when another announcement permitting it is made."

“Hamas terrorists are hiding in Gaza City inside tunnels underneath houses and inside buildings populated with innocent Gazan civilians,” the IDF said, claiming that Hamas militants “are using” civilians of Gaza as “human shields.”

Israel has amassed more than 300,000 reservists along its southern border with Gaza but has not confirmed whether it is planning for an intensified military operation.

It comes as Gaza's humanitarian crisis deepens amid warnings from UN experts that people are at risk of starvation under Israel's bombardment.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The airstrikes have also displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

After Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, Israel responded by ordering a "complete siege," of Gaza, cutting off food, electricity, fuel and water supplies.

The UN said in a statement released Thursday that residents in Gaza "have lived under unlawful blockade for 16 years," and condemned this "further tightening" of the blockade. 

Here's how Israel is cutting off Gaza:

Donald Trump’s inflammatory and artless comments about Hamas’ horror in Israel emphasize the defining characteristic of his attitude toward foreign policy and his entire political world view: It’s all about him.

Trump criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lauded Hezbollah militants as “very smart” and sought political gain from the attacks that killed 1,200 people by claiming that if the last election was not “rigged,” he’d be the American president and they’d never have happened.

The ex-president openly admitted a grievance against Netanyahu, complaining he had pulled out at the last minute from joining the US air attack that assassinated Iranian intelligence chief Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020. Trump had previously fumed over the Israeli leader’s perceived disloyalty in recognizing he lost the election.

Trump is now a private citizen, and it’s possible he wouldn’t have addressed the situation in the same way if he were president — although there were multiple examples of his tone deafness and indiscretion when he was in the White House. But he’s also the 2024 Republican front-runner for president and his statements are therefore scrutinized for clues over how he would behave in office.

His latest comments add to plentiful evidence that a second Trump term would be even more riotous at home and globally disruptive than his first four years in power.

Read the full analysis here.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sought clarity Thursday night from Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan after Israel issued an order to vacate northern Gaza within 24 hours, a source familiar with the situation tells CNN.

Israel gave the message to the UN team in Gaza just before midnight local time Thursday, which applied to approximately 1.1 million people, the UN said. 

According to the source, Guterres, in at least two phone calls after, asked for clarity regarding how the order could be carried out after the UN said publicly it was "impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences."

In a statement after midnight, Ambassador Erdan called the UN's response "shameful" and accused the body of "preaching to Israel."

Israel has amassed more than 300,000 reservists along its southern border with Gaza but has not confirmed whether it is planning for an intensified military operation.

The UN says an Israeli military order to evacuate the entire 1.1 million population of northern Gaza to the south of the besieged enclave is "impossible" without causing major humanitarian consequences.

Israel has amassed more than 300,000 reservists along its southern border with Gaza but has not confirmed whether it is planning for an intensified military operation.

Gaza's humanitarian crisis is deepening with warnings people are at risk of starvation as Israel maintains its bombardment in response to Hamas terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 people, including at least 27 Americans.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The airstrikes have also displaced 338,000 people, the UN said.

Here's what else you should know:

Horrors of Hamas' attack on border communities are emerging, with children found "butchered" in a kibbutz, the Israeli military said, and at least 1,200 people killed in Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel is hammering Gaza with airstrikes, hitting hundreds of targets, reducing neighborhoods to rubble and killing more than 1,500 people, according to Palestinian officials.

Here are the areas impacted by the fighting:

An Israeli military order to evacuate the entire population of northern Gaza is "impossible" without causing major humanitarian consequences, the United Nations said Thursday.

The Israeli military told the UN just before midnight local time Thursday that "the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours," according to Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General.

Israel has amassed more than 300,000 reservists along its southern border with Gaza but has not confirmed whether it is planning for an intensified military operation.

Meanwhile, Gaza's humanitarian crisis is deepening with warnings people are at risk of starvation as Israel maintains its siege and bombardment in response to Hamas terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 people.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The airstrikes have also displaced 338,000 people, the UN said. More than 2 million Palestinians live in the Hamas-run enclave, which has been under a land, sea and air blockade by Israel since 2007.

The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday said it will investigate Hamas' use of training camps in Gaza after locations were reported by CNN, according to IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus.

A CNN investigation analyzing two years of Hamas training videos identified six training camps that the militant organization and its affiliates used to train for Saturday's attacks. Two of the camps were discovered less than 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) from the most fortified and patrolled section of the Gaza-Israel border, the Erez Crossing. 

Another camp was found 720 meters — or less than half a mile — from the border.  

When originally presented with the reporting, Conricus told CNN that identified camps were "nothing new," that Hamas had many training areas and that they had "struck many training areas over the years in the different rounds of escalation."

Conricus said the IDF could not answer CNN’s questions “since they relate to the complex analysis of intelligence at the same time that we are fighting a war.”

The footage is from the last two years, but it is chillingly prescient. In a December 2022 video, Hamas fighters can be seen flooding a training area, shooting rockets and capturing pretend prisoners as they surround mock Israeli buildings.

The camp, CNN analysis shows, had just been constructed, and was very close to Erez Crossing, the pedestrian passageway between Gaza and Israel that Hamas fighters ultimately breached last weekend in a bloody attack which killed over 1,200 people in Israel.

Another video taken more than a year ago, shows Hamas fighters practicing take-offs, landings and assaults with paragliders — the same unusual assault mode that Hamas deployed with lethal effect in the same October 7 attack.

A CNN investigation has analyzed almost two years of training and propaganda video released by Hamas and its affiliates to reveal the months of preparations that went into last week’s attack, finding that militants trained for the onslaught in at least six sites across Gaza.

Read the investigation here.