October 28, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

The Israeli military's expansion of its ground operation in Gaza has alarmed families of hostages seized during the Hamas attacks.

"It was a long and sleepless night, against the backdrop of the major IDF operation in the Strip, and absolute uncertainty regarding the fate of the hostages held there, who were also subject to the heavy bombings.

Here's what we know about the hostages:

Efforts continue: The White House said Friday that it would continue to work to secure the release of hostages. “We are working as hard today as we were yesterday and the day before and the day before to get these hostages home,” National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby told CNN. Kirby maintained the US still supports a humanitarian pause – or pauses – in fighting for the release of hostages, but refused to discuss Israeli military operations. It comes after US President Joe Biden earlier this week denied asking Israel to hold off a ground invasion while hostages remain in captivity.

What the IDF is saying: Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Friday to "disregard rumors" when asked about a possible deal to release the hostages in Gaza, saying that "any relevant information will be given to the families first once it’s confirmed, and then we’ll notify the public." Hagari said the IDF had notified the families of 310 fallen IDF soldiers and 229 hostages of the expanding ground operations in the Gaza Strip. “We’re committed to the national task of returning all hostages,” he said.

Earlier reports of progress: Prior to the expanded ground campaign, diplomatic sources familiar with the negotiations told CNN that there has been “significant progress” in the talks, but there were issues still remaining. A US official told CNN there had been progress on the hostages but it’s still “all very touch and go.” They voiced caution around the idea that there has been a “breakthrough.” Qatar and Egypt have been mediating between Israel, the US and Hamas to release the hostages.

Four freed: Hamas has released a total of four hostages since its October 7 attacks. Last Friday two American hostages, Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan, were released following negotiations between Qatar and Hamas. On Monday, Yocheved Lifshitz, a frail 85-year-old grandmother, was released alongside her neighbor and friend Nurit Cooper, 79. Lifshitz said she "went through hell" and described being taken to a network of tunnels.

Scores remain captive: Among those being held are people from countries including Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Germany and Thailand, as well as Israeli civilians and soldiers. Among them is Mia Schem, a 21-year-old French-Israeli woman, who last week appeared in a video clip released by Hamas. Speaking into the camera, Schem, who looks pale but is sitting up straight with her head held high, says she was injured and taken to Gaza, then pleads to be returned to her family.

Around 300 people were arrested Friday after a large group of demonstrators from a Jewish group gathered in New York City's Grand Central Terminal calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to police. 

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department told CNN the arrests range from charges of disorderly conduct to trespassing. Some were given a criminal court summons. 

The NYPD said the exact number of charges is unknown at this time. Police were not able to estimate the total number of demonstrators in the area Friday evening. 

The Israeli military has reiterated its call for residents in northern Gaza to evacuate.

In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, "This is an urgent military advisory from the Israel Defence Forces. For your immediate safety, we urge all residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to temporarily relocate south.” 

Hagari made reference to what he described as a coming IDF operation against Hamas in Gaza.  

Some background: The latest warnings from Israel came after the IDF said Friday it would expand its ground operation following the October 7 Hamas attacks.

A ground offensive has been widely expected following the attacks, but it does not appear as though any major operation aimed at seizing and holding significant amounts of the territory is yet underway.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Saturday of potentially “catastrophic consequences” in Gaza if Israel pushes further with large-scale ground operations. 

The commissioner said that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza Friday night took “this terrible crisis to a new level of violence and pain” and that damaging communications infrastructure put the population of Gaza in “grave danger.”

He said more violence was not the answer and called on “all parties as well as third States” to do what they could to de-escalate the conflict. 

Some context: The Israeli military said ground forces were inside Gaza Saturday morning, after announcing Friday it would expand its ground operation following the October 7 Hamas attacks that left 1,400 dead and over 200 taken hostage. 

Gaza residents told CNN that Friday’s airstrikes were the most intense they had experienced since Israel began to retaliate against Hamas around three weeks ago. 

Since then, at least 7,650 people have been killed and over 19,000 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to figures released Saturday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah drawn from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that health workers, patients, and civilians in Gaza spent the night “in darkness and fear,” due to a communications and electrical blackout across the Gaza strip.

According to WHO, hospitals across Gaza are operating at maximum capacity, unable to take in new patients whilst also “sheltering thousands of civilians.”

“There are more [people] wounded every hour,” WHO said. “But ambulances cannot reach them in the communications blackout. Morgues are full. More than half of the dead are women and children.”

WHO reiterated its call for “immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” writing that safe passage must also be ensured for “desperately needed medical supplies, fuel, water and food into and across Gaza.”

“WHO appeals to the humanity in all those who have the power to do so to end the fighting now, in line with the UN resolution adopted yesterday, calling for a humanitarian truce, as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians held captive.”

Some context: Many are struggling to get in touch with people in Gaza after communications links were badly disrupted by an aerial assault overnight.

The last standing major internet operator in the region, Paltel, experienced damage to its international routes, according to NetBlocks, an internet outage monitoring firm based in London.

A group lobbying for the families of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas say they are racked with anxiety that Israel’s expanded ground operation will put the hostages in more danger.

Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old American who was wounded and kidnapped by Hamas at an Israeli music festival, said in a separate statement that the expansion of Israel’s ground operation in Gaza was “of extreme concern to us.”

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters on Friday that they had notified the families of the hostages about the expanded operations.

Some context: The Israeli military's expansion of its ground operation in Gaza has thrown into question the fate of the more than 200 hostages who remain inside the besieged enclave.

Hamas has released a total of four hostages since its October 7 attacks, but the IDF estimates that 224 remain trapped inside Gaza.

The hostages include Israeli civilians and soldiers as well as foreign nationals and children as young as 9 months. Among them are scores of hostages holding foreign passports from 25 different countries, including Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Germany and Thailand, according to the Israeli government.

Near the Gaza border, staging grounds once teeming with hundreds of Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers have mostly emptied out. Logistics support vehicles and armored personnel carriers flowed toward Gaza. 

Meanwhile, other tanks traveled north, returning to those same staging grounds north of the border after a night of heavy fighting in Gaza.

These are the scenes CNN observed Saturday morning, more than 12 hours after Israel launched what it described as an “expanded ground operation” in northern Gaza.

The signs of Israel’s incursion into northern Gaza the previous evening were clearly visible as CNN returned to multiple staging grounds north of the Gaza Strip, which days earlier were filled with tanks and armored personnel carriers pointed toward Gaza.

Near the staging grounds, north-south tread marks on the surrounding roads marked the routes where tanks charged forward toward Gaza. Fields once teeming with tanks and armored personnel carriers were mostly filled with the trash left behind by troops given orders to mobilize. 

CNN also observed some tank units returning from the direction of Gaza, back to their forward operating positions. But unlike the tank raids the IDF carried out inside Gaza the two previous nights, many troops that charged into Gaza Friday night remained inside enemy territory as the IDF said its troops were still fighting Hamas inside Gaza Saturday morning.

The Israeli military says it is inside Gaza after announcing Friday it would expand its ground operation following the October 7 Hamas attacks. A spokesman said “the forces are in the field and continue the fighting."

Israel has pounded the territory with more airstrikes after what Gazans called Friday night the heaviest bombardment of the conflict so far.

Below are the latest developments...

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight, after the militant group fired rockets towards Israeli territory on Friday. 

“Yesterday (Friday), Hezbollah terrorists attempted to launch rockets toward Israeli territory. The rockets fell in Syria. Overnight in response, an IDF fighter jet struck Hezbollah's military infrastructure in Lebanon,” the IDF said in a statement. 

In a separate update on Saturday morning, the Israeli military said it used a UAV to strike a “terrorist cell” in Lebanon on Saturday after that “cell” tried to launch anti-tank missiles towards Israel. 

“A short while ago, a terrorist cell attempted to launch anti-tank missiles from Lebanon toward northern Israel, near Kibbutz Hanita,” the IDF said in a statement. “An IDF UAV struck the cell.” 

The IDF and Hezbollah have exchanged fire repeatedly along the Israel-Lebanon border in tit-for-tat skirmishes since the war began.

On Friday, Hezbollah said it used guided missiles to attack Israeli military positions in the disputed Shebaa farms area – controlled by Israel but claimed by Lebanon – as well as several other Israeli border locations.