February 16, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

US President Joe Biden told reporters at the White House Friday that he’s had “extensive conversations” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the last several days, where he relayed his position “that there has to be a temporary ceasefire” to secure the safe release of hostages still held by Hamas.

Biden also said his "hope and expectation" is that a hostage and ceasefire deal will be reached. "The deal is being negotiated now, and we're gonna see where it takes us," he said.

US conversations with Israel: CNN reported earlier this week that US officials have been direct in their talks with Israeli counterparts that the estimated 1.3 million people currently in the southernmost city of Rafah simply “have nowhere to go” ahead of an expected ground offensive, according to a senior administration official.

The Biden administration is highly skeptical about whether Netanyahu’s direction to Israel’s military for an “evacuation of the population” out of Rafah before Israel forces enter is even remotely feasible.

Israel released more details on Friday about the 12 employees of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees that it has accused of participating in the October 7 terrorist attacks and kidnappings, including their names, photos, and alleged roles with Hamas.

The additional details included screengrabs of what Israel said were two United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) employees — a social worker and math teacher — in Israel on October 7. The defense ministry also provided identification photos of 10 other alleged Hamas members, their positions and alleged involvement in the attack, but did not provide any supporting evidence to back up its claims.

CNN could not independently verify the identity of the men or Israel’s allegations about their involvement with Hamas.

An UNRWA spokesperson said the United Nations' highest investigative authority is investigating the matter, but declined to comment on the additional details provided by Israel on Friday due to the investigation.

Some background: Israel presented the United Nations, the United States and other allies with a dossier last month that included allegations about these 12 UNRWA employees — out of 13,000 in Gaza — leading more than a dozen countries to suspend funding to the agency, which plays a central role in feeding and sheltering hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the strip.

UNRWA quickly fired 10 of the 12 staff members accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 attacks and launched an investigation into the allegations in hopes of keeping international funding to the agency flowing at a critical time. The United Nations said two of the 12 had died.

Read more details about Israel's allegations.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel has “no intention” of sending Palestinians into Egypt as part of an evacuation of Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, where Israel has said it will concentrate its next military offensive.

Gallant’s comments come amid reports that Egypt is building a miles-wide buffer zone along its border with Gaza as part of a contingency plan in case large numbers of Palestinian refugees flood into Egypt.

Israeli officials have said the military is working on a detailed plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah ahead of a planned offensive there, but they have yet to share any details of the plan.

Gallant provided no details about a potential evacuation on Friday, but said, “we are thoroughly planning future operations in Rafah, which is a significant Hamas stronghold.”

Israeli war cabinet minister and former Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel “won’t stop” until all hostages in Gaza are returned, even if that means continuing hostilities during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“I would like to convey a message to all citizens of Israel and to the families of the hostages: We don't stop — until they are returned,” Gantz said in a video on Friday. “There will not be a ceasefire even for one day until our hostages are returned.”

Gantz said the fighting would continue, regardless of the time of the year.

Gantz added Israel is preparing for a ground offensive into Rafah and will act “in dialogue” with its partners, including Egypt, and “direct the population to protected areas.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that the operation in Rafah must be completed by the start of Ramadan on March 10, an Israeli official told CNN on Saturday.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday issued a stern warning in a televised speech condemning recent Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, which left number of civilians killed or wounded, as "unacceptable."

Nasrallah said that the killing of civilians would not go unanswered and vowed that Hezbollah's retaliation would be swift and decisive.

“The enemy (Israel) must know that it went too far by its targeting of civilians. The price for the blood of our civilians, particularly the women and children, is blood,” Nasrallah said.

Israeli airstrike: The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Thursday that it eliminated a senior commander and two operatives belonging to Hezbollah's Radwan Forces in a precise airstrike on a Hezbollah military structure in Nabatieh that was conducted late Wednesday in Lebanese territory.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency described the structure hit in Nabatieh by the IDF as a residential building, adding that at least seven people from the same family, including a child, were killed.

Some background: Prior to October 7, Nasrallah had not spoken publicly in person since 2006, when a month-long war erupted between Lebanon and Israel. In November 2023, Nasrallah called for a ceasefire and praised Hamas' attacks on Israel, adding that they were fully planned and executed by the militant group.

The World Health Organization says it is working through the United Nations and in coordination with Israel to gain access to the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

“The military raid at Nasser Medical Complex and reports emerging from the hospitals are deeply alarming,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said in Geneva on Friday.

“(The) UN is coordinating with Israeli authorities to urgently access the hospital,” Jarasevic added.

The WHO spokesperson also said hospitals must neither be militarized or attacked, adding that the health of patients must be “prioritized and uninterrupted,” calling for a “safe environment” for care to be ensured. 

According to the WHO, Nasser is already “barely functional,” with limited ability to provide urgent care. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed "international dictates" on the creation of a Palestinian state in a social media post.

“⁠Israel outright rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians. Such an arrangement will be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions,” he said in the post on X, formerly Twitter, in the early hours of Friday morning local time (around 6 p.m. ET Thursday).

Netanyahu said that his government would oppose any “unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” adding that any such move would constitute a “huge reward to unprecedented terrorism” in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attacks and prevent a future peace agreement.

The prime minister’s statement was posted after a phone call with US President Joe Biden on Thursday afternoon.

Last month, Netanyahu also publicly rejected calls for Palestinian sovereignty following talks with Biden about Gaza’s future, suggesting Israel’s security needs would be incompatible with Palestinian statehood.

According to a report by the Washington Post on Wednesday, the Biden administration and Middle East partners are working to formulate a “comprehensive plan” for peace, which would include a “firm timeline” for the establishment of a Palestinian state. But many Israeli politicians, including far-right ministers in the government, have publicly rejected that idea.

An anti-ship ballistic missile was fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Thursday afternoon toward a bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden, US Central Command announced Friday.

The missile was launched toward the MV Lycavitos, a Barbados-flagged, UK-owned bulk carrier, CENTCOM said. The vessel reported minor damage and no injuries from the attack.

Also on Thursday, the US conducted two self-defense strikes on three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen that were preparing to launch against ships in the Red Sea.

The missiles were determined to present "an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region," the CENTCOM release said.

Remember: Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been launching attacks that they say are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza.

After dozens of strikes over the last month against Houthi targets both over the Red Sea and inside Yemen, CNN was told that the US military still does not know exactly how much of the Houthis’ capabilities have been destroyed—or how long it will take to deter them for good.

Five patients have died at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis because of failure in the power generators and the oxygen supply system amid an Israeli military raid on the facility, the Ministry of Health in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Friday.

The ministry accused Israeli forces of forcing male patients to relocate without their belongings to the maternity building, "which has been converted into a military barracks."

The ministry had also said two pregnant women delivered children in the hospital “under extremely challenging and inhumane conditions.”

In an earlier statement, the ministry said that six intensive care patients and three in nursery incubators could die "at any moment as a result of the cessation of their oxygen" after electrical generators had stopped.

Hospital raid: Israeli special forces raided Nasser Hospital, Gaza’s largest functioning medical facility, on Thursday after laying siege to the facility for days.

The Israel Defense Forces took control of the complex after saying it had “credible intelligence” that Hamas had held hostages at the hospital, and that the bodies of dead hostages may be on the property. The military did not publicly release evidence to support this.

Spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had not found any hostages at Nasser Hospital so far, but were continuing to scan the facility.

The IDF said earlier it was continuing its operation inside the hospital, but claimed it would continue to operate in accordance with international law against Hamas.

This post has been updated with the latest death toll.