November 17, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israel's war cabinet approved a measure on Friday allowing two fuel tankers a day to enter Gaza for water and sewage system support, according to Israel's national security adviser.

Those systems are "on the verge of collapsing, considering the lack of electricity and ability to operate the sewage and water systems," Tzachi Hanegbi said in a Friday briefing.

The deliveries will amount to 140,000 liters of fuel entering Gaza every 48 hours, a US State Department official told CNN.

The vast majority will be deposited into a depot in Rafah, where — in addition to the water and sewage uses — it will be used by United Nations relief agency trucks and for waste disposal, bakeries and hospitals in southern Gaza, according to the US official.

A smaller portion, about 20,000 liters every 48 hours, will be used to power Paltel generators for cell phones and internet, the official said.

In consulting with the Israel Defense Forces and Israel's International Security Academy about whether the decision damaged operational objectives or supported Hamas, the answer "was that the American request can be accepted," Hanegbi said. 

The decision to allow two fuel tankers per day into Gaza, "was taken due to (Israel’s) willingness to avoid the spread of pandemics," Hanegbi added.

The decision, which was reported by Israeli media earlier on Friday, has already been criticized by members of the Israeli government. 

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sent a letter, which he also released on X, to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking for the policy to be reversed and for the government to continue to prevent fuel from entering the Gaza Strip.

Remember: While some aid has reached Gaza through Egypt, those deliveries included food, water and medicine – but not fuel. Israel had refused to allow fuel to enter Gaza since Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack, saying it would only be used by the militant group to fuel its fight against Israel.

According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), roughly 70% of people in Gaza are now drinking “salinized and contaminated” water. Raw sewage has also started flowing through the streets in some areas as UN waste disposal systems are also impacted by the fuel shortages.

Allowing fuel to enter Gaza was a key topic of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's meetings in Tel Aviv earlier this month. In the two weeks since, the US had been pushing Israel to actually make it happen, according to an official. The Israeli government delayed in part because it claimed there was still fuel in southern Gaza, and it had also tied the fuel issue to that of hostages held by Hamas. The US did not see the two issues as being linked, the official said, noting that Hamas does not care about the humanitarian plight of the people of Gaza.

This post has been updated with further details on the fuel deliveries from a US official.

CNN's Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

The United Nations' Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths outlined what support is needed — including a ceasefire and continuous aid — to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“Call it what you will, but the requirement, from a humanitarian point of view, is simple. Stop the fighting to allow civilians to move safely. Do it for as long as possible, to facilitate an unimpeded humanitarian response. Give the people of Gaza a breather from the terrible, terrible things that have been put on them these last few weeks. And, without condition, release all the hostages,” he said.

Griffiths also spoke about the number of hospitals which have ceased operations since the beginning of the conflict on October 7, and how fuel and a “continuous flow of aid” is needed to help as many people as possible in Gaza.

The humanitarian chief also requested that there also be “more crossing points into Gaza,” along with an increase in humanitarian aid and resources to help expand shelters and “establish relief distribution hubs.”

Israel's actions in Gaza "point to a genocide in the making," a group of independent United Nations human rights experts said Thursday, in an allegation rejected by the Israeli foreign ministry. 

The experts — many of whom are known as UN special rapporteurs — said “grave violations committed by Israel against Palestinians in the aftermath of 7 October, particularly in Gaza, point to a genocide in the making,” according to a news release from the UN Human Rights Special Procedures group.

The experts described Israel's actions as “the use of powerful weaponry with inherently indiscriminate impacts, resulting in a colossal death toll and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure,” and argued in the statement that these actions could not be justified as self-defense.

Israel responds: The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the assessment in a statement Friday.

It was Hamas that put Gazans "in harms way," the statement continued, adding that the "only genocidal acts during this conflict are those of Hamas when they slaughtered, raped and tortured innocent people in Israel on October 7th."

UN chief declines to comment: The office of UN Secretary-General António Guterres will not comment on statements made by independent experts, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Thursday.

"These experts … are independent from the secretary-general," Dujarric said. "On the issue of genocide, we are very clear on our position, which is that a genocide can only be labeled by a competent court."

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Families of those missing and kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attack are marching from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Friday, demanding that the government guarantees hostages are returned safely. 

A large crowd is walking along a highway toward Jerusalem, according to Reuters video, with some people holding signs of pictures of missing people captioned “Bring them home now.”

One of the participants in the march, Shelly Shem Tov, told CNN that Hamas abducted her son. She said the march had started three days ago in Tel Aviv and that the group was on the way to Jerusalem to demand that the government “bring our families back home safely, alive.”

Shem Tov said that she has heard "nothing" from the Israeli government since it told her that Hamas had kidnapped her son.

As of 9 a.m. ET, the march is in Sho'eva, Israel, according to a map posted by the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.

More background: The Israel Defense Forces said on Friday that the military’s official estimate of hostages being held in Gaza is 237. The IDF has previously said that the number can fluctuate based on updated intelligence. 

A senior US official familiar with the talks told CNN on Tuesday that Israel and Hamas are moving closer to a deal to secure the release of hostages taken during the Hamas attacks on Israel in exchange for a sustained, days-long pause in fighting. The official stressed that while the parties have inched closer to striking a deal, the talks remained volatile and could still break down, saying that “it’s closer but it’s not done.”

Most of the intensive care unit patients, who were on ventilators due to the lack of fuel and oxygen at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, have died, the doctor who leads the burns department at the hospital told Al-Jazeera over the phone from inside the facility on Friday. 

Dr. Ahmad Mofeed Al-Mokhalalati noted a significant decrease in the number of premature babies in their care, with little hope for the survival of the remaining infants under the current conditions. 

The hospital, which is Gaza's largest, is grappling with a severe shortage of basic necessities — no water and no electricity in the main buildings of the compound, the doctor said.

As a result, surgical operations have come to a halt due to the lack of electricity. This has led to an increase in suffering, especially among children who are now facing severe intestinal infections, a direct consequence of the unavailability of clean water, Al-Mokhalalati added. 

And although he noted that Israeli forces promised to provide food, the supply delivered was grossly insufficient, catering to for only 40% of those inside the hospital, he said.

The situation escalated when the Israeli forces stormed two buildings within the medical compound, with tanks still present in the area, the doctor said. Snipers have been deployed around the hospital, adding a layer of fear and uncertainty according to Al-Mokhalalati.

The Israeli military is tightening its grip on northern Gaza, as its war on the Hamas militant group is showing no signs of abating.

Almost six weeks into the conflict, however, Israel is yet to offer a clear post-war plan for the territory.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last week said the Israel Defense Forces has effectively cut the strip in two, and on Tuesday claimed Hamas had lost control in northern Gaza, including in Gaza City.

But what is Israel’s plan for Gaza if and when it achieves its aim of eliminating Hamas? Some experts say Israel may not have a clear idea.

“They (Israel) would argue they have time to figure that out after the military operation,” Lowenstein said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered little information about his post-military operation plan for Gaza. The 74-year-old leader, who has been at the forefront of several Israel-Gaza conflicts, told CNN his military operation has two goals: to destroy Hamas and retrieve the more than 200 hostages kidnapped on October 7 by the group, which also killed some 1,200 people in Israel during its unprecedented assault.

Beyond those vague hints, Netanyahu has not provided a defined strategy for the territory, where more than two-thirds of its 2 million inhabitants are now internally displaced, and where more than 40% of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, citing the Ministry of Housing in Gaza.

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Netanyahu said that Gaza could ultimately be governed by some form of Palestinian civilian government, albeit one that fully cooperated with Israel’s security objectives, which he described as “over-riding, over-reaching military envelope.” He did not provide details of what exactly that meant.

Read more about Israel's military tightening of its grip on northern Gaza, as its war on Hamas is showing no signs of abating.

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A UN human rights official has called on Israel to stop using water as a “weapon of war” in Gaza, emphasizing on Friday that the enclave’s lack of fuel is hindering the provision of clean water. 

Arrojo-Agudo said he wanted to “remind Israel that consciously preventing supplies needed for safe water from entering the Gaza Strip violates both international humanitarian and human rights law.” 

For days, humanitarian organizations including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have emphasized the necessity of fuel to operate desalination stations and water pumps in Gaza. 

According to UNRWA, roughly 70% of people in Gaza are now drinking “salinized and contaminated” water. Raw sewage has also started flowing through the streets in some areas as UN waste disposal systems are also impacted by the fuel shortages.

Dehydration and waterborne diseases are now surging in Gaza due to “salinated and polluted water consumption from unsafe sources,” Arrojo-Agudo warned Friday. 

“Coupled with the massive displacement of thousands of people in recent days, this is the perfect scenario for an epidemic that will only punish innocents, once again.”

The body of a second Israeli hostage was recovered early Friday morning near Al-Shifa Hospital, Israel has said, amid calls from the United Nations for Israel to grant access to Gaza to investigate competing claims about the complex. 

The Israel Defense Forces claims to have found military equipment inside the hospital and released footage of a tunnel shaft discovered nearby.

Hamas has rejected the allegations.

CNN cannot verify either side's claims. The Israeli military has not yet shown evidence of a larger-scale command structure at Al-Shifa, but it says its investigations are ongoing.

Below are the latest developments:

558 foreign nationals and 45 injured Palestinians, along with 40 companions, have arrived in Egypt after leaving Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Friday, an Egyptian border official told a journalist working with CNN in Rafah. 

Additionally, a truck carrying 16,000 liters (about 4,227 gallons) of fuel entered Gaza from Egypt the official added.

Earlier Friday, the Egyptian border official also said that more than 20 aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip, carrying essential supplies including food, water, medical equipment, medication and other relief items.

Some context: Prior to the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, about 455 trucks entered Gaza daily with aid supplies, according to the United Nations.

Located in Egypt’s north Sinai, the Rafah crossing is the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. It falls along an 8-mile (12.8-kilometer) fence that separates Gaza from the Sinai desert.

The crossing has been seen as the last hope for Gazans to escape as Israel’s bombs rain down on the strip.

This post has been updated with the latest information provided by authorities.