November 13, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

The Israeli military said on Monday it had killed a group of Hamas fighters “embedded” among civilians at Gaza’s Al-Quds Hospital after its troops were fired on from the hospital entrance.  

The IDF said its forces fired towards the fighters, some of whom were killed in the exchange. 

“During the incident, approximately 21 terrorists were killed and there were no casualties to our forces,” the IDF said. 

CNN cannot confirm whether any civilians were injured during the firefight. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), however, disputed the Israeli military's claims, saying, "There are no armed individuals inside the hospital and no shots were fired from inside."

“The Palestine Red Crescent Society condemns the false claims by the Israeli occupation army regarding armed militants launching shells from inside Al-Quds Hospital,” the PRCS said in a statement. “It considers these claims as clear incitement to continue targeting and besieging the hospital, in clear violation of international humanitarian law.”

The IDF also sent journalists a highly edited video, apparently shot from a drone, showing what it said was a video of a man carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher at the entrance to the hospital and aerial footage purporting to show an RPG being launched at an IDF tank. “After the terrorists fired RPGs, they returned to hide in the hospital,” it said.  

CNN has verified that the video shows that this is the hospital entrance steps. 

The PRCS said the video “clearly shows that the militants came from the street while Israeli tanks were stationed in front of the hospital, putting the lives of medical teams and patients at risk.”

The PRCS called on the international community to protect the medical teams it said were trapped inside Al-Quds.

Some background: The Al Quds hospital is the second largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip and is no longer operational because of the lack of fuel and electricity. 

Earlier Monday, the PRCS had said “intense gunfire” was continuing in the vicinity of the Al-Quds hospital. A convoy accompanied by the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) to evacuate patients and staff from Al Quds Hospital had to turn back because of the "relentless bombardment and dangerous situation” in the area, the PRCS said.

This post has been updated with the latest statement from the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

The Lebanese state-run news agency (NNA) said two Israeli missiles struck a convoy of media in the town of Yaroun on Monday near the Israeli-Lebanese border.

There were no reported injuries, according to NNA. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

Journalists in the convoy were reporting on recent exchanges across the border between the Israeli military and Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

The Lebanese TV news channel Al-Jadeed was broadcasting live from the area when an explosion occurred, starting a fire nearby. Several vehicles in the convoy appeared to have been damaged, according to video from the scene.

In the aftermath of the explosion, media personnel were urgently advised to leave the area to "avoid further attacks," NNA reported. 

Last month, Reuters cameraman Issam Abdallah was killed and others injured when a media convoy was hit in southern Lebanon.

Tensions rising: The incident on Monday comes amid rising cross-border exchanges. The IDF reported Monday that “in response to the launches over the past day, IDF fighter jets struck a number of Hezbollah military sites and terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon. These targets included terror infrastructure, weapons storage compounds, and an operational command center used by Hezbollah.”

Earlier on Monday, Hezbollah announced that it had targeted a site in Al-Ramtha within the Shebaa Farms area, claiming a direct strike. It also said that one of its fighters had been killed, but did not say where or when.

Additionally, the Lebanese state news agency reported Monday that two civilians were killed and several others injured in an Israeli air strike that hit a house in the settlement of Eyeta.

An employee of the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) was killed Sunday in Hezbollah’s missile attack on Dovev in northern Israel, the company said in a statement Monday.

The electric supplier said that “an anti-tank missile hit a team of employees of the electric company while they were working, in coordination with the security forces, in the area of Moshav Dovev to repair power lines damaged by previous firing.”

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack with anti-tank missiles on northern Israel on Sunday, saying it was aimed at a military logistical team setting up communication towers. The group, which has fired anti-tank missiles across the border on multiple occasions over the past month, claimed in its statement that the attack killed and injured an unspecified number of individuals.

Israel responded to the attack by striking what it described as "a terrorist cell embedded in a civilian area in Lebanon."

Some background: Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Islamist movement with one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East. The group, which has its main base on the Israel-Lebanon border, could become a wildcard player in the Hamas-Israel war, and spark a wider regional conflict.

Doctors at Al-Shifa hospital in northern Gaza have refused a mandatory evacuation order of the hospital from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), because they fear the approximately 700 at-risk patients will die if left behind, according to Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, director-general of the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza.

Several thousand people have been sheltering in the hospital compound, according to doctors in the hospital.

The evacuation order, according to Dr. Al-Bursh, is not coordinated with any international humanitarian agencies, such as the International Red Cross. The lack of coordination raises concerns about the safety and feasibility of transferring such a large number of patients, many of whom are in critical condition and will die in transport, he said. 

Earlier on Monday, the IDF announced that a safe passage for the inhabitants of northern Gaza had been reopened. IDF spokesperson Richard Hecht said on Sunday that the majority of Rantisi and Al-Nasr hospitals, both in Northern Gaza, are almost completely evacuated. 

On Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told CNN it could not confirm any evacuations from Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.

Some context: Israel has repeatedly claimed that underneath the embattled Al-Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza, there is a Hamas command center, which Hamas and hospital officials have denied.

CNN has requested comment from the IDF regarding al Bursh’s allegation that it has ordered the hospital’s evacuation.

The two largest hospitals in Gaza are both out of service as a health crisis in the territory continues to worsen, and an uptick in military activity at the Israel-Lebanon border has revived fears that escalation could spark a regional conflict.

Here are the latest headlines:

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reports "intense gunfire" near the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City on Monday. 

"Intense gunfire continues in the vicinity of Al-Quds Hospital in the Tel Al-Hawa area of Gaza City, and sounds of shelling and violent explosions are heard in the area," the PRCS said in a post on X shortly before 5.30 a.m. ET. 

Attempts to evacuate staff and patients from the hospital were thwarted on Monday when a convoy of PRCS vehicles, accompanied by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was stopped in the Al-Wusta Governorate in central Gaza after setting off from southern Gaza, the PRCS said. 

"The convoy is still waiting for the situation to settle down in the surrounding area of the hospital to be able to reach it to start the evacuation process," the PRCS added.

CNN is reaching out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the possible evacuation of Al-Quds.

On Sunday the PRCS announced that the hospital, which is the second largest in the Gaza Strip, had gone completely out of service. In a statement, the PRCS said the hospital was "no longer operational" due to fuel depletion and a power outage. 

On Saturday, the PRCS said its teams of medics were trapped inside the hospital and could not leave, claiming it was "surrounded by tanks from all sides."

When asked by CNN about the situation at Al-Quds Saturday, the IDF said it was “in the midst of ongoing intense fighting against Hamas in the vicinity of the area in question," and was "taking all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians.” 

Some context: The situation at Al-Quds Hospital is part of a deepening health care crisis in Gaza. Conditions at Gaza's largest hospital, Al-Shifa, deteriorated into a “catastrophic” situation over the weekend, as staff, patients and thousands of sheltering residents were trapped inside due to heavy fighting, aid agencies and Hamas health officials said, though Israel insists people are safe to leave the hospital by following an evacuation corridor eastwards out of the complex.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) says two mortars launched from Lebanon landed in open territory in northern Israel Monday.

The IDF said it was striking back at the source of the launches.

A CNN team in southern Lebanon has heard frequent detonations in the border area Monday.

The IDF also reported the launch of an anti-tank missile from Lebanon toward the area of Netu'a in northern Israel.

“In response, IDF artillery is striking the sources of the fire,” the IDF said.

The IDF also said that overnight an “armed terrorist cell” was hit in southern Lebanon, just over the border from the Israeli area of Biranit.

The Lebanese militia Hezbollah says it attacked Israeli infantry close to the border "and achieved direct hits" on Monday morning.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported six separate incidents of incoming fire Monday, five in the western sector and one in the east around Mhaibib where it says that "phosphorous" was used.

CNN is unable to confirm the use of phosphorous munitions Monday.

Remember: White Phosphorus is an incendiary weapon used to set fire to military targets. Its use is restricted under international humanitarian law - it can't be fired at or near civilian areas or civilian infrastructure. 

Last week, the IDF responded to accusations about the use of white phosphorus in Lebanon, dismissing reports that the substance had been used for setting fires, but acknowledging that it does use it in some circumstances.

Some context: On the face of it, the crossfire on Lebanon’s border with Israel appears marginal, dwarfed by the scale and intensity of the Hamas-Israel war further south.

Yet this barely populated swathe of mountainous terrain could be the launching pad of a regional war, drawing in a myriad of actors, including Iran and the United States.

Hezbollah – an Iran-backed armed group that is also a regional force in its own right – dominates south Lebanon. It also operates alongside Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, where the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights separates Israel from Tehran-aligned fighters.

Meanwhile, the US has deployed two of its largest aircraft carriers — including the nuclear-powered USS Gerald Ford — to the eastern Mediterranean. It is an ominous sign of what may come if the situation on the Lebanon-Israel border combusts into a full-scale war.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says that an evacuation corridor for residents of northern Gaza is open again Monday.

It’s unclear how far the announcement of the corridor is known in Gaza, where there is little internet connectivity or cellular service.

Accounts from inside Gaza indicate that some civilians are afraid to leave places such as hospitals where they have taken shelter, while others are reluctant to leave their homes.

Avichay Adraee, the Arabic spokesperson for the IDF, said “the safe passage remains open today between 09:00 am and 04:00 pm (2 a.m. - 9 a.m. ET) for humanitarian purposes through Salah El-Din axis in the direction of the area south of Wadi Gaza" in a post on X.

Salah El-Din is the main north-south route through Gaza.

It’s unclear how many residents have moved south over the past few days. Last week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that 50,000 were on the move in one day.

The IDF post on Monday added that “in light of the ongoing fighting in Al-Shati area which is controlled by the IDF forces and for the sake of all those who are unable to leave the area and move to the safe zone, the IDF calls on you to go between 10:00 am and 04:00 pm to Youssef Al-Azmeh Street and then to Salah Al-Din Street and from there to the south of Wadi Gaza.”

The IDF post said that military activity would be suspended for a six-hour period until 4 pm local time “in the city of Rafah in the area west of Salah Al-Din Street.”

The leader of the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation will arrive at the White House on Monday bearing a message for US President Joe Biden about the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who is traveling to Washington for talks after meeting with Arab and Muslim leaders in Saudi Arabia, has called for a ceasefire.

He said before departing Jakarta he would convey to Biden the outcomes of the Riyadh summit, where leaders criticized Israel.

"I will be delegated to tell President Joe Biden that the Hamas-Israel war should immediately be stopped,” Widodo said, according to Reuters.

That sets up a major point of difference with Biden, who has refused calls for a ceasefire and has instead advocated for "humanitarian pauses."

The US president, who is looking to deepen ties with Indonesia, will “listen carefully” to Widodo’s perspective and his account of the weekend summit in Riyadh, a senior administration official said.

“It is undeniable that Indonesia's views, its values and its approach not just to Gaza, but the Middle East, is very important, and how we think about our own next steps,” the official went on to say, adding Biden is planning to “ask Indonesia to play a larger role and to assist us as we go forward” in the Middle East.

The conflict in Gaza has consumed much of Biden’s time over the past month, but he is turning this week to Asia.

That includes Monday’s meeting with Widodo, Wednesday’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and a large gathering of Pacific leaders in California on Thursday and Friday.

His strategy for the region centers around bolstering American alliances, including with Indonesia, with which the US will formally elevate its relationship on Monday.

The “comprehensive strategic partnership” will place Washington in the same tier of relations as Beijing, and include an expanded defense partnership.

The US undertook a similar move with Vietnam when Biden visited earlier this fall. Both come as Washington seeks to enhance its presence in the region amid Chinese military and economic aggression.

As Biden prepares to meet Xi in the Bay Area this week, US officials said they believed countries like Indonesia are looking for improved, stable ties between the two powers.

“They want communication, they want dialogue. And they want an appropriate level of engagement between Washington and Beijing. And I think that's what President Biden is seeking to do,” the senior administration official said.

The US also hopes to deepen ties in the areas of critical minerals and climate, and is working closely with Indonesia as it develops next steps for how to deal with “untenable” crisis in Myanmar, the senior administration official said.

On Monday, Georgetown University will announce it is opening a campus in Jakarta, the first US university to do so in Indonesia.

And the US will announce it is helping restore Indonesia’s national museum after a fire in September damaged its collection of historical and archaeological artifacts.