December 7, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israeli forces in recent days have arrested and questioned hundreds of suspects in Gaza allegedly involved in terror activities, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said on Thursday.  

He also said that Israeli forces are “advancing the fighting” in Hamas strongholds in the southern and northern Gaza Strip.  

On the Israel-Lebanon border: Following the death of an Israeli civilian in northern Israel from an anti-tank missile from Lebanon, Israeli fighter jets struck “a series of terror targets” of Hezbollah on Thursday — in which several operatives of the militant group were killed, he claimed.  

Israeli military is on a “high alert” in the country’s border with Lebanon and “will severely respond to any terrorists act against Israel,” Hagari said.  

The United Nations aid chief has said that the organization's operation in southern Gaza is unable to function properly.

"Our humanitarian program is no longer a functioning one. It is one of response to opportunity," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths stressed Thursday. 

Meanwhile, the pace of the Israeli military operation is a direct "repeat of the assault in northern Gaza," Griffiths said.

Since Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces has been operating in the southern city of Khan Younis, engaged in "intense battles" with Hamas fighters. Video obtained by the Reuters news agency Thursday showed a slew of injured Palestinians rushing into the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis following a barrage of Israeli strikes.

"None of us can see where this will end. None of us can see where the people crammed into that southern pocket of Gaza will go — those 2 million people," Griffiths said.

The Israeli prime minister said Wednesday that Israeli forces had surrounded the house of Yahya Sinwar, potentially closing in on the top Hamas official in Gaza – and the man most wanted by Israeli authorities.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sinwar was not in the house and was believed to be hiding underground in Gaza, but a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that it was “only a matter of time before we get him.”

Israel has publicly accused Sinwar of being the “mastermind” behind Hamas’ terror attack against Israel on October 7 — though experts say he is likely one of several — making him one of the key targets of its war in Gaza.

A longtime figure in the Islamist Palestinian group, Sinwar was responsible for building up Hamas’ military wing before forging important new ties with regional Arab powers as the group’s civilian and political leader.

He was elected to Hamas’ main decision-making body, the Politburo, in 2017 as the political leader of Hamas in the Gaza branch. However, he has since become the Politburo’s de facto leader, according to research by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

He has been designated a global terrorist by the US Department of State since 2015 and has been recently sanctioned by the United Kingdom and France.

Early days: Sinwar was born in 1962 in a refugee camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. His family was displaced from a Palestinian village during the Arab-Israeli war.

He joined Hamas in the late 1980s and became one of the founders of its feared internal intelligence apparatus, known as the Majd.

He was convicted in 1988 of playing a role in the murder of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians suspected of collaboration with Israel, and spent more than two decades in Israeli prison.

Sinwar later said he had spent those years studying his enemy, including learning to speak Hebrew.

Back in Gaza, Sinwar has risen through the ranks and quickly became a key player within Hamas. He became known for his brutality and the violence he inflicts on anyone he suspects of betrayal or collaboration, said Harel Chorev, senior researcher at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University.

Learn more about Sinwar and why Israel calls him a "dead man walking."

King Abdullah II of Jordan called for an “immediate ceasefire” and emphasized the need to protect civilians in Gaza in a phone call with US President Joe Biden on Thursday, the Royal Hashemite Court said in a statement.

King Abdullah II also expressed deep concern that the humanitarian situation could worsen significantly if military operations persist, the statement said. The conversation also delved into ensuring the swift delivery of humanitarian and relief aid to Gaza.

The leaders discussed the importance of coordination to bring an end to the ongoing war and establish lasting peace, according to the statement.

The king also reaffirmed Jordan's rejection of any attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians within or outside Gaza, and opposed any endeavors to reoccupy parts of the strip. 

Investigations by two news organizations and two human rights groups made public on Thursday say that Israeli tank shells killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists in southern Lebanon in October.

The reports by Reuters, AFP, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch drew on forensic analysis, witness testimony and interviews with government officials, lawyers and medical professionals.

The findings are in line with a CNN analysis of the events conducted at the time. A CNN team that was nearby in southern Lebanon reported at the time that the projectile that hit the journalists on October 13 came from Israel. 

CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the allegations.

Eylon Levy, a spokesperson for the Israeli government, said Thursday that he was “not familiar” with the new reports.

IDF spokesperson Richard Hecht on October 14 called Abdallah’s death “a tragic thing” without naming him directly or acknowledging Israel’s involvement. The same day, the IDF said, "A report was received that during the incident, journalists were injured in the area. The incident is under review.”

AFP and HRW claim in their reports that the strike was a "deliberate," targeted attack by Israel on the journalists. In a statement to Reuters, Hecht said, "We don't target journalists." He did not provide further comment, the news agency reported.

Abdallah, 37, was killed and six other reporters were wounded while filming the Israeli border from southern Lebanon. AFP photographer Christina Assi had her leg amputated and remains in the hospital, according to AFP.

After analysis of weapon fragments found at the scene, the reports say the journalists were killed and wounded by a 120mm tank round of Israeli origin "that is not used by any other groups in the region."

According to official statements and CNN’s video analysis and geolocation of the incident, at least six other journalists from AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera all wearing body armor clearly labeled as “press” were injured in the blast.

Amnesty International’s investigation did not find "any indication that there were any fighters or military objectives at the site of the strikes.”

What the United States is saying: The Pentagon continues to urge Israel to protect innocent civilians, including members of the press, but it has not conducted its own assessment of the death of the Reuters journalist.

Singh said the protection of civilians and the need to uphold the laws of armed conflict have repeatedly come up in both public and private conversations with Israeli officials.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the incident should be investigated. The top US diplomat said it was his understanding that Israel has begun such an investigation, and stressed the importance of seeing it through.

CNN's Oren Liebermann and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

This post has been updated with the latest comments from the Pentagon and Antony Blinken.

The US has now resumed drone flights over Gaza in support of Israel’s hostage recovery efforts, a Pentagon spokesperson said, after pausing them last month as part of a week-long truce between Israel and Hamas.

Israel and the US had been flying surveillance drones over Gaza for weeks before the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The British government announced on Saturday that it will also begin conducting surveillance flights over the eastern Mediterranean and Gaza to help locate the hostages, which include British nationals. 

“Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages,” the UK statement said, adding that “only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue.”

Israel Defense Forces said Friday that there are 136 hostages still being held in Gaza, including 17 women and children.

Two senior Hamas members were killed “a few days ago” in an Israeli attack in Gaza, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed in a statement Thursday.  

Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who IDF says is a senior operative from Hamas’ military intelligence unit, along with another senior member Ahmed Aiush were killed in an attack at Hamas’ central intelligence command center, the military said.  

CNN is reaching out to Hamas about the Israeli military claim.

The IDF didn’t specify the location in Gaza where the two Hamas members were killed.  

Israel believes it is having some success removing senior Hamas military operatives, which a senior IDF official discussed with journalists about two weeks ago. 

The official said that Israel assessed Hamas’s military wing was made up of 24 battalions — 10 of which had been “hurt significantly” by Israeli strikes since October 7.  

Some battalions in the north of the Gaza Strip had lost more than four of their commanders, the official said, representing a loss to those battalions of more than half their senior command.  

Among other things, this made it harder for Hamas’ military leadership to issue orders for counterattacks, the official said, because there was increasingly no one available to direct operations. 

Replacing commanders in the middle of a war was not possible, the official added.

CNN's Andrew Carey contributed reporting to this post.

The Lebanon National News Agency (NNA) alleged Thursday that Israeli artillery shelled the outskirts of the town of Rmeish, in southern Lebanon, with "phosphorus."

The town is in the far south, close to the Israeli border.

Video obtained by CNN shows columns of white smoke above the outskirts of the hilltop town. CNN is unable to confirm the use of phosphorous munitions. 

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

What is white phosphorus? It's 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. 

Some context: Last month, 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.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Thursday morning with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, commending the Israeli security cabinet for agreeing to allow more fuel into Gaza but saying that more needs to be done to get humanitarian assistance into the war-torn strip, according to a senior State Department official. 

Blinken also told Dermer that the Israeli government must do more to protect civilians, the official said.

Israel's security cabinet on Wednesday approved a "minimal" increase in the amount of fuel entering Gaza.

In an interview on CNN's "King Charles" on Wednesday, Blinken said that Israeli is taking some “important steps” to better protect civilians, but more action is required.