October 29, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

The death toll in Gaza has risen to 7,960, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced on Sunday, drawing the data from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

The enclave has been pummelled by Israeli strikes since October 7, which has also resulted in over 20,000 injured, the ministry said. 

Nearly three-quarters -- 73% -- of those killed are from vulnerable populations, including children, women, and elderly individuals, according to the ministry report. 

The ministry added that the total number of dead includes 116 medical personnel. Additionally, 24 hospitals, which together have a capacity of 2,000 beds, have been instructed to evacuate in the northern part of Gaza. 

The updated figures come as Israel said the next stage of its war with Hamas had begun after it expanded its ground operations in the enclave. "The war inside Gaza is going to be long," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Saturday.

Video from the ground in central Gaza shows the aftermath of the destruction of a mosque and adjacent houses in the Al-Nuseirat refugee camp on Sunday.

The video, obtained by CNN from a Gaza-based journalist, shows a large amount of destruction at the site of an airstrike at Bilal Bin Rabbah mosque and people searching through the rubble to look for survivors.  

According to medical sources at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir Al-Balah, Gaza, an Israeli strike hit the mosque, killing 13 people and leaving "dozens" of other people injured. 

CNN cannot independently verify the number of casualties. 

Medical sources added that the victims were from several families who were taking shelter in houses around the site of the mosque after they were displaced from northern Gaza. The mosque in Al-Nuseirat is south of Wadi Gaza.

Additional footage that CNN obtained from the journalist on the ground shows people praying over several bodies that are wrapped in shrouds outside of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, as well as some of the victims' funerals.

Another survivor, Mohammad Ahmad, said in an interview that people from at least three families staying next to the mosque in "Block C" of the camp were killed. 

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment. 

In a statement earlier on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck more than 450 targets in the past day, including command centers, observation posts, and missile launch sites, as Israel continues to expand its ground incursion into Gaza. 

One video segment the IDF released along with its statement appears to show a missile hitting a building next to a mosque. It is not clear if that is the Bilal Ben Rabbah mosque.

The United Nations has warned that civil order is starting to break down in the besieged Gaza Strip, with thousands breaking into warehouses to take basic supplies including wheat flour and hygiene products.

“People are scared, frustrated and desperate," said Thomas White, director of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) affairs in the Gaza Strip.  

Below are the latest developments...

The Israeli military said Sunday it expects more aid trucks to begin entering Gaza soon, and denied that there were shortages of food, water or medicine, despite the complete closure Israel imposed on the territory in response to the October 7 Hamas attack.

Israel has set up a joint mechanism with the United Nations, the United States and Egypt to "facilitate the access of humanitarian assistance from Egypt to Gaza," said Colonel Elad Goren, head of the Civil Affairs Department for COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), at a press briefing on Sunday.

Despite a growing chorus of aid agencies that have released dire warnings about shortages of food, water and medical supplies, Goren stated there was “no food shortage in Gaza,” and insisted there was also enough water and medicine.

A US official who spoke on background regarding private conversations with Israeli officials questioned those assertions.

The main UN agency in Gaza reported Sunday that "thousands" of people had broken into some of its warehouses, "taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies."

Director Thomas White warned that "civil order is starting to break down" as people are "scared, frustrated and desperate."

Three Palestinian men were killed in Israeli military incursions into the West Bank overnight, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Sunday.

That brings the number of Palestinians killed in the territory since October 7 to 114. The Ministry announced the deaths of three men in a short post on its Facebook page.

Some context: Tensions, which were already high before the Hamas attack, have been boiling over in the occupied West Bank, where residents previously told CNN they are fearful of a wave of violence from the Israeli military and security forces, as well as revenge attacks by the estimated 700,000 Israeli settlers living in the area.

Violence has been particularly acute this year, with the number of Palestinians – militants and civilians – killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces since the year began at its highest in nearly two decades.

The main United Nations agency in Gaza has warned civil order is breaking down, saying "thousands" of people have broken into some of its warehouses "taking wheat flour and other basic survival items like hygiene supplies." 

One of the warehouses in the city of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, is where the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) stores supplies from humanitarian convoys coming from Egypt, the agency said in a statement. 

"Tensions and fear are made worse by the cuts in the phones and internet communication lines. They feel that they are on their own, cut off from their families inside Gaza and the rest of the world," White added. 

The "massive" displacement of people from northern Gaza to the south "has placed enormous pressure on those communities, adding further burden on crumbling public services," the agency said. Some families have received as many as 50 relatives who are taking shelter in one household, it said. 

Just over 80 trucks of aid have crossed into Gaza in one week so far, and on Saturday there was no convoy due to the blackout in communications, the agency said. 

“The current system of convoys is geared to fail. Very few trucks, slow processes, strict inspections, supplies that do not match the requirements of UNRWA and the other aid organizations, and mostly the ongoing ban on fuel, are all a recipe for a failed system," White said. 

Following the restoration of internet services, UNRWA teams in Gaza "will reassess the situation with the aim of resuming convoys and distribution of assistance," the agency said. 

Israel Defense Forces continued their campaign of heavy bombing against the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, combining artillery strikes with air power and tanks.

A CNN team on the ground on the edge of the closed military zone, about a kilometer from the border, heard constant explosions and sporadic machine gunfire on Sunday morning.

The IDF was firing artillery rounds and mortars from outside the border to the east, while machine gunfire was heard from within the Gaza Strip.

Drones, helicopters and F-16 fighter jets were seen flying overhead.

The IDF said that helicopters, under the direction of IDF tanks, were striking Hamas targets in the north of the Gaza Strip.

The CNN team also saw a column of military vehicles, tanks and armored personnel carriers moving towards the northern border of the enclave.

Artificial smoke has been seen billowing from near the perimeter, likely intended to obscure the visibility from across the border.

IDF soldiers stationed by an artillery position about three kilometers east of the Gaza Strip told CNN there has been regular incoming fire coming from Gaza towards Israel as Hamas continues to launch rockets even after three weeks of continuous IDF strikes against its infrastructure in the enclave.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Representative and Country Director for Palestine Samer Abdeljaber told CNN that 40 more aid trucks are expected to enter Gaza on Sunday amid a worsening humanitarian situation.

“We hope today we will be able to allow more trucks into Gaza – 40 trucks are expected to be crossing. However, we have to also note that that's not enough compared to the soaring needs... at the moment in Gaza, we need more than that,” Abdeljaber said.

The trucks going into the strip include food, water and medical supplies, but not fuel, according to Abdeljaber.

Abdeljaber went on to say that the blackout that happened with telecommunication over the weekend presented a “major challenge” for the World Food Programme. 

“We couldn't coordinate on the ground to facilitate for the trucks to go in," he said.

Communications in the enclave -- including cellular and internet connectivity -- were partially restored on Sunday morning, according to two service providers and a monitoring group.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) struck more than 450 targets over the past day, including command centers, observation posts, and missile launch sites, as Israel steps up its operation in Gaza, according to a statement Sunday.

Additionally, the IDF said an officer was severely injured by a mortar shell in the northern Gaza Strip and was evacuated for medical treatment.

Some context: Gazans described Friday night's intense bombardment as the most intense round of airstrikes since Israel began its retaliation of the October 7 Hamas attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Saturday that the second phase of the war had begun, as his forces aim to "destroy" Hamas, in what will be a "long" war.