November 13, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Ten buses carrying 564 foreign nationals departed the Gaza Strip for Egypt via the Rafah crossing on Monday, an Egyptian border official told a journalist working with CNN at the crossing. 

In addition, a total of 154 aid relief trucks also made their way into the Gaza Strip on Monday, loaded with essential supplies such as food, water, relief items, medical equipment, and medications, an Egyptian border official said. 

Before the conflict, the United Nations reported that about 455 trucks on average would enter daily with aid supplies. 

The official said that four injured Palestinians have been allowed entry into Egypt, each accompanied by another person. 

Among the injured evacuees Monday was a 59-year-old with grave head injuries who was transported in an ambulance. Another evacuee, a 38-year-old woman, arrived with a fractured right limb and meningitis, conditions she developed after being trapped for six days under the rubble of her bombed house, according to someone accompanying her.

This post has been updated with the latest number of aid trucks that entered Gaza on Monday.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the occupied West Bank has reported updated casualty figures in Gaza.

In its update Monday, the ministry, which is based in Ramallah, said that 11,180 Palestinians, including 4,609 children and 3,100 women, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, citing medical sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. 

Injuries from the attacks have affected 28,200 individuals, the ministry said. 

According to the ministry, 15 patients at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza have died in recent days, among them six newborns, due to power outages and a shortage of medical supplies. Previously health officials at the hospital had said three neo-natal babies had died.

Additionally, 202 health care workers have lost their lives, and 53 ambulances have been disabled, the ministry added.  

The ministry did not issue a daily report on the death toll on Sunday, saying it was unable to update casualty figures due to Israeli attacks on hospitals. 

The Ministry of Health in Ramallah draws data from medical sources in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

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.