February 9, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

An Israeli undercover operation on a hospital in the occupied West Bank last month may amount to a war crime, according to five United Nations special rapporteurs.  

The experts said that outside active hostilities, “at most Israeli forces may have been entitled to arrest or detain them,” and were only entitled to use force “if strictly necessary to prevent an imminent threat to life or serious injury.”  

About the deadly raid: On January 30, undercover Israeli forces infiltrated the Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin and killed three Palestinian men, according to the hospital and the Palestinian state news agency.  

Dramatic CCTV video captured around a dozen commandos disguised as nurses, women in hijabs, and others, with one pushing a wheelchair and another carrying a baby car seat, as they stormed a hospital corridor carrying assault weapons.  

Hamas said the three men were sleeping at the time of the attack.

Last month, Israel's Defense Forces chief of staff Herzi Halevi claimed the men who were shot and killed were involved in a terrorist cell planning to carry out a “serious attack” on Israeli civilians.  

The Israeli Security Agency, better known as Shabak, which conducted the raid was not immediately available for comment on the UN experts’ statement. 

CNN's Abeer Salman and Richard Greene contributed reporting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the military to plan for the evacuation of the more than 1.3 million people the United Nations estimates are in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, his office said Friday.

In the statement, his office said that it was not possible to both eliminate Hamas and leave “four Hamas battalions in Rafah.”

Here's what you need to about this and other developments in the Israel-Hamas war:

Where will the civilians go?: Rafah is the last major population center in Gaza not occupied by the Israel Defense Forces and it has rapidly become home to a huge population of displaced Palestinians. Satellite images showed this week how a tent city has swelled in size in just a few weeks. CNN has also previously reported on Palestinian civilians who followed evacuation orders being killed by Israeli strikes, underscoring the reality that evacuation zones and warning alerts from the Israeli military haven’t guaranteed safety for civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have no safe place to escape Israeli bombs.

Here's what the United States has said: “To conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in an area where there is sheltering of a million people would be a disaster,” Deputy State Department Spokesperson Vedant Patel told a news briefing Thursday. Also, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns about the expansion into Rafah during meetings with Netanyahu and other Israeli officials this week, two Israeli officials told CNN on Wednesday.

Non-governmental organizations issue warnings: Several non-governmental organizations have warned about the humanitarian consequences of Israeli operations in Rafah. For instance, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said the city, which borders Egypt, could soon turn "into a zone of bloodshed and destruction that people won’t be able to escape."

Hostage families frustrated: With hopes for a new deal to return Israeli hostages from Gaza in doubt, many, including the families of those hostages still held by Hamas, have directed their anger at Netanyahu, who dismissed the terms of a ceasefire and hostage deal put forward by Hamas.

Half of UNRWA requests to deliver aid in Gaza denied: The UN's main relief agency in Gaza said Friday that half of its aid mission requests to deliver aid in Gaza since the beginning of the year have been denied. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has not been able to deliver aid in Gaza since January 23, agency Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on X, adding that people in the territory are on the verge of famine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has directed the military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah alongside the defeat of Hamas in that southern Gaza city, his office said in a statement on Friday. 

More than 1.3 million people are believed to be in Rafah, the majority displaced from other parts of Gaza, according to the United Nations. 

Netanyahu on Thursday said that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would “soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion.”

In the statement issued Friday, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said that it was not possible to both eliminate Hamas and leave “four Hamas battalions in Rafah.”

“On the other hand, it is clear that a massive operation in Rafah requires the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat zones,” it added. “That is why the Prime Minister directed the IDF and the defense establishment to bring to the Cabinet a dual plan for both the evacuation of the population and the disbanding of the battalions.”

Rafah is the last major population center in Gaza not occupied by the IDF.

Previous reporting from CNN's Ivana Kottasova in Khan Younis, Jennifer Hansler in Washington, and Vasco Cotovio and Lauren Kent in London.

Israeli forces in Gaza on Friday entered and began to search Al Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said in a statement.

“The occupation forces stormed Al-Amal Hospital and began to search it,” the PRCS said. The organization on Thursday reported “intense and continuous gunfire” near the hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not yet commented on the claim. CNN has asked the Israeli military about the operation. The IDF on Friday said that its troops were “continuing to conduct targeted raids in western Khan Yunis.”

Where things stand: Around 220 patients and staff remain at the hospital following an evacuation last week, according to the PRCS.

Around 8,000 displaced people were last week evacuated from Al Amal Hospital and PRCS’ Khan Younis headquarters, according to the PRCS.

As civilians brace themselves for a potentially imminent Israeli incursion into the border city of Rafah, several non-governmental organizations have issued warnings about the humanitarian consequences for the city.

The Israel Defense Forces will “soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday. The US would not support an Israeli military operation in Rafah “without serious planning,” US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Thursday.

An estimated 1.3 million people are currently in Rafah, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has estimated.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC): Rafah could soon turn "into a zone of bloodshed and destruction that people won’t be able to escape," it said in a press release Thursday. "Attacks in areas where they provide food, water and shelter means this life-saving support will be impeded, if not entirely stopped," cautioned Angelita Caredda, an NRC regional director.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF): The UN agency also shared its fears for the over 600,000 children sheltering in Rafah, many of whom have "been displaced from other parts of Gaza."

As months of heavy fighting in the north have practically wiped out healthcare and humanitarian facilities in the north, officials are calling for the scant services that remain in the south to be protected.

"We need Gaza’s last remaining hospitals, shelters, markets and water systems to stay functional. Without them, hunger and disease will skyrocket, taking more child lives," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell implored in a statement published Thursday.

Israel had bombed Rafah four times and damaged the crossing, therefore preventing the entry of aid into Gaza, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

The statement was issued in response to US President Joe Biden's remarks on Thursday, saying that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi Sisi did not want to “open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in” but he “talked to him.”

The presidency said that once the Israeli bombing stopped, it repaired the crossing to allow the entry of aid into Gaza.

The deadly Hamas attacks of October 7 united a shocked, grieving Israel behind its leaders, burying at a stroke the divisions that had riven the country for years. Four months into the war and with hopes for a new deal to return Israeli hostages from Gaza in doubt, those divisions are re-emerging – and Israelis are increasingly ready to speak their mind.

Many, including the families of those hostages still held by Hamas, direct their anger toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who dismissed the terms of a ceasefire and hostage deal put forward by Hamas in forthright terms.

Survivors of the October 7 terror attack and the families of hostages were furious at the uncompromising repudiation of a deal that – ultimately – could have resulted in the return of all the remaining hostages in Gaza.

Adina Moshe, 72, who was released during a ceasefire deal agreed in November, was among five former hostages who spoke out against Netanyahu on Wednesday.

"Mr. Netanyahu, I’m turning to you. It’s all in your hands. You are the one. And I’m really afraid that if you continue the way you do, the destruction of Hamas, there won’t be any hostages to release,” Moshe said at a news conference for the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Read more about how families of hostages held by Hamas are speaking out against Israel's handling of negotiations.

The UN's main relief agency in Gaza said Friday that half of its aid mission requests to deliver aid in Gaza since the beginning of the year have been denied.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has not been able to deliver aid in Gaza since January 23, agency Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on X, adding that people in the territory are on the verge of famine.

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) warned Thursday on X that "2.2 million people in Gaza live in inhumane conditions, facing starvation, famine, disease" and "the winter cold is adding to their suffering."

Remember: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that the UNRWA mission "has to end" following allegations by Israel that some of its staff were involved in Hamas’ October 7 attack.

The UN Secretary General has appointed a group to conduct an independent review of UNRWA, which will be done alongside a current investigation by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services into the allegations. A spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Friday welcomed the review, but said that the probe was “long overdue” and questioned its scope.

CNN has reached out to Israel’s Coordinator of the Government Activities in the Territories and Israeli Defense Forces for comment on Lazzarini’s statement.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday to discuss the ongoing operations in Gaza, including the military's "major efforts" focused on the southern part of the enclave, according to the readout from the Israeli Minister of Defense's office. 

The discussion between Gallant and Austin follows comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week that Israeli soldiers will soon shift the focus of their offensive to Rafah, a southern Gaza Strip city close to the border with Egypt, despite US concerns.

"Minister Gallant opened the discussion by expressing his sincere condolences following the passing of five U.S. Marines," said the readout, released on Friday. "In this regard, he emphasized the importance of U.S. leadership in addressing Iran’s regional aggression and ambitions."

Gallant also reiterated the Israeli military's war aims, "including the return of hostages and the destruction of Hamas’ military and governing capabilities," according to the readout.