March 15, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Relatives of hostages are gathering in protest outside the Israeli military headquarters on Friday after reports emerged that the latest Hamas response to a ceasefire and hostage release deal is being considered by the Israeli war and security cabinets. 

The protest is being organized by The Hostages Families Forum, a group who have been lobbying extensively for the release of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. 

The group told CNN that its members would gather outside the headquarters of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) when the Israeli War Cabinet and Security Cabinet meet to consider the proposal submitted by Hamas.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said a meeting had been convened on Friday morning.

Protestors called on the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "make a decision that will save our beloved ones." 

Photos from the protest showed large crowds carrying signs inscribed with slogans including: "Get Them Out of Hell" and "Stop the world-the hostages are still there."  

32 out of the 130 hostages taken on October 7 are thought to be dead, according to CNN records.

The first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem concluded without incident.

An estimated 80,000 Muslim worshippers attended the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to the Islamic endowment department in Jerusalem.

Al-Aqsa Mosque, located in the Old City of Jerusalem, holds profound religious significance for Muslims worldwide as the third holiest site in Islam.

It comes after debate raged in Israel over whether to reduce the number of Muslim worshippers at Al-Aqsa during Ramadan.

Netanyahu said at the beginning of a security establishment meeting on preparations for Ramadan that the government prioritizes freedom of worship for all religions. 

Ben Gvir, leader of the extreme nationalist Jewish Power party, had been advocating to limit the number of Muslim worshippers permitted to visit the compound over the holiday.

Netanyahu’s decision not to reduce the number of Muslim worshippers “endangers” Israelis, Ben Gvir said in a statement earlier this month.

The decision “shows that Prime Minister Netanyahu and the small cabinet think that nothing happened on 7/10. This decision endangers the citizens of Israel and may allow a picture of victory for Hamas,” the statement said.

Before the war, Raghad Ezzat Hamouda enjoyed spending time with her friends and going to the movies. These days, she struggles to find time for herself in the chaos of an improvised shelter in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza.

Women and girls in the enclave face “acute” survival challenges in the face of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the British Medical Journal.

Palestinian women and health workers told CNN they use rags to manage their periods because they have no access to sanitary towels, causing vaginal infections and skin diseases.

Muslim women who wear the hijab have limited privacy in sprawling displacement camps. Others say they struggle to deal with the exhaustion of trying to survive a war. “When it’s my period time, I feel so exhausted, so tired,” Aseel, 25, a journalist displaced in Rafah, in southern Gaza, told CNN in February. “I need painkillers ... but it’s not available in the pharmacy, or even clinics."

Doctors previously told CNN starving mothers in Gaza are unable to produce enough milk to breastfeed their babies. “Women in Gaza must be protected,” said Hamouda. “I miss my freedom.”

A diplomatic source tells CNN that mediation efforts on a ceasefire in Gaza are moving in a positive direction “but are not there yet.”

The source was referring to a Reuters report early Friday that said that Hamas had presented a Gaza ceasefire proposal to mediators in which the first stage would include releasing Israeli women, children, elderly, and sick hostages in exchange for the release of 700-1000 Palestinian prisoners.

The releases would include 100 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons and the release of Israeli "female recruits” held in Gaza, according to Reuters, which said it had seen the proposal.

CNN reported late Thursday that Hamas had sent a new response to Egyptian and Qatari mediators in ongoing contacts over a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza. 

CNN has previously reported that the first phase of a deal had been expected to include a six-week humanitarian pause, the release of around 40 Israeli hostages, and a large number of Palestinian prisoners.

A US official tells CNN that the administration currently feels “cautiously optimistic” about the direction that the talks are going. But they declined to share any further details.

The Israel Defense Forces says that a preliminary review has found that Israeli forces “did not open fire at the at the aid convoy in Kuwait Square” in northern Gaza on Thursday night, when more than 20 people waiting for food aid were reported killed.

The IDF said that on Thursday it had “facilitated the passage of a convoy of 31 humanitarian aid trucks containing food and supplies intended for distribution to civilians in the northern Gaza Strip.”

“Approximately one hour before the arrival of the convoy to the humanitarian corridor, armed Palestinians opened fire while Gazan civilians were awaiting the arrival of the aid convoy. As aid trucks were entering, the Palestinian gunmen continued to shoot as the crowd of Gazans began looting the trucks. Additionally, a number of Gazan civilians were run over by the trucks.”

The statement said the IDF is continuing to review the incident. It also accused Hamas of a smear campaign “with the aim of spreading baseless misinformation for the sake of instigating violence in other arenas.”

What Gaza health ministry says: The ministry says at least 20 people were killed and 155 wounded by Israeli shelling as they waited for aid late on Thursday, as desperate Palestinians increasingly face deadly violence in their search for food. 

Graphic footage from the immediate aftermath of the scene filmed by an eyewitness showed multiple bodies with traumatic injuries as well as pools of blood on a street strewn with rubble and dust. 

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said Friday he is hoping for a ceasefire in Gaza “in the next few days, at most.”

The president said there must be an increase in the entry of aid into Gaza, and Palestinians displaced in central and southern Gaza should be allowed to move back to the north. 

Some background: Talks around a ceasefire appeared to be at a standstill after CNN reported last week that a ceasefire deal in Gaza was unlikely to happen by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which the Biden administration had been aiming for, according to sources familiar with the negotiations.

The United States has drafted a fresh resolution to put to the UN Security Council that expresses concern about any Israeli ground offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza and says that an initial truce, if and when agreed, should “lay the foundation for a sustainable ceasefire.” 

It proposes that the Security Council “unequivocally supports international diplomatic efforts to establish an immediate and sustained ceasefire as part of a deal that releases the hostages, and that allows the basis for a more durable peace to alleviate humanitarian suffering." 

Elsewhere in the draft resolution, the United States proposes that the Security Council emphasize “its concern that a ground offensive into Rafah would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement including potentially into neighboring countries, and would have serious implications for regional peace and security.”

Key context: The draft is subject to further changes and amendments and is not yet scheduled for a vote.

As proposed, the draft suggests that the US is underlining its insistence that a temporary halt in hostilities be linked to efforts to reach a long-term ceasefire.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s warning that Israel risked becoming a “pariah” and his call for new elections marked a momentous moment in modern US-Israel relations.

Schumer’s rebuke of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday contained extraordinarily strong language for a senior US politician criticizing the Israeli government. It was all the more remarkable coming from the New York Democrat who has a long record of staunch support for the Jewish state.

The Senate floor speech was also an unmistakable sign of increasing frustration among top Democrats about Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas terror attacks that killed 1,200 people and his unwillingness to listen to US advice. It also reflects political realities in the United States.

The deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians in the conflict, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, have outraged US progressives, Arab Americans and younger voters in the US – all key parts of President Joe Biden’s coalition as he seeks reelection.

Read the full analysis here.

The latest response from Hamas in the talks for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza will be submitted to the Israeli War Cabinet and Security Cabinet on Friday, Israel's Prime Minister's Office said.

In response to the latest proposal, the office said that "Hamas is continuing to hold to unrealistic demands."

CNN has previously reported that the first phase of a deal had been expected to include a six-week humanitarian pause, the release of around 40 Israeli hostages, and a large number of Palestinian prisoners. The hostages would be the remaining Israel women - including IDF soldiers, the elderly, sick and wounded.

Sticking points: Hamas had refused to send Israel a list of all the hostages believed to be alive or dead. Hamas has been asking for a large number of Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged, additional aid into the strip, and the IDF to withdraw from Gaza in a second phase.

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari told CNN’s Becky Anderson this week that the two sides are “engaged in constructive dialogue between both sides, the situation on the ground is very much difficult, and we are nowhere near a deal at the moment.”