December 7, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

In northern Gaza, 97% of households have inadequate food consumption and approximately 83% in southern Gaza are "adopting extreme consumption strategies" to survive as the Israel-Hamas war has caused "unimaginable loss, destruction and misery" in the strip, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said Thursday

"Everyone in Gaza is hungry," WFP chief Cindy McCain warned on social media platform X, formerly called Twitter. She also reiterated support for the UN Secretary-General António Guterres' appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire.

In a report, the WFP said 9 out of 10 people in northern Gaza are going a full day and night without food consistently. CNN has reported on starving residents in Gaza digging for food, supplies under the rubble.

The report also made the following assessment:

The WFP said it was able to conduct a rapid food security assessment using a remote survey during the truce which ended on December 1. After this period, the situation has deteriorated further.

The US is considering beefing up protections for commercial ships around a vital Red Sea shipping route amid a series of recent missile attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants operating out of Yemen, according to military officials.

The US has discussed ways to increase security in the area with members of the Combined Maritime Forces, a multi-national naval task force charged with protecting commercial shipping in the Red Sea. US officials have said publicly that discussions have centered on the possibility of escorting ships operating in the Red Sea and through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait into the Gulf of Aden — the narrow channel that separates Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

Seven members of the task force — made up of 39 nations that rotate command — have already offered to help, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told an audience at the Atlantic Council in Washington on Monday. US officials have declined to say which nations have stepped forward.

The discussions about bolstering the task force reflect growing concern in the region over the Iran-backed Houthis’ interference with the vital channel, through which millions of barrels of oil passes daily.

The Houthi rebels, who are funded and trained by Iran, have repeatedly attacked commercial ships with drones and missiles in recent weeks, and in November seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship, taking its crew hostage. They have also launched missiles toward Israel, one of which was intercepted by a US Navy destroyer in October.

Sanctions: The US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on 13 individuals and entities with ties to a network providing tens of millions of dollars to the Houthis.

Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement that "the Houthis continue to receive funding and support from Iran, and the result is unsurprising: unprovoked attacks on civilian infrastructure and commercial shipping, disrupting maritime security and threatening international commercial trade."

"Treasury will continue to disrupt the financial facilitation and procurement networks that enable these destabilizing activities," he said.

CNN’s Haley Britzky and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

Clashes and Israeli strikes are continuing in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, according to reports on Thursday. Meanwhile, video geolocated by CNN shows heavy gunfire at the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

It comes as the Rafah border crossing is set to open today for dozens of foreign nationals and dual citizens to exit the war-torn Strip, according to Egyptian authorities.

Here are some of the other developments:

This post has been updated with new reporting on the death toll in Gaza.

Several students were wounded after an Israeli airstrike hit the town of Kounine in south Lebanon, the Lebanese national news agency (NNA) reported Thursday. NNA said students at the Kounine Institute were injured by shattered glass.

Kounine sits several kilometres away from the country’s border with Israel.  

Video obtained by CNN shows the aftermath of the strike, with thick black smoke billowing above the town, with people running to safety on the streets. 

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the incident. 

Hezbollah also said they targeted the Israeli kibbutz of Ma'yan Baruch on Thursday morning, which sits close to the border with Lebanon, to “support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their brave and honorable resistance.”

Hezbollah also claimed on Thursday to target another town that borders south Lebanon. 

Protesters in the United Kingdom have blocked entrances at four weapon factories that provide Israel with weapons and supplies, activist group Workers for a Free Palestine said on social media Thursday.  

Dozens of demonstrators with Palestinian flags are staging the blockades at the BAE Systems factory in Glasgow, the L3Harris factory in Brighton and at sites in Bournemouth and Lancashire. 

They are also calling for the British government to back a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

The UK is a key supplier for Israel’s military, providing 15% of the components for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets, according to a reported published by UK-based organization Campaign Against Arm Trade (CAAT) on October 17. 

The total value of these contracts is estimated to be $422 million (£336 million) since 2016, according to CAAT. 

Video geolocated by CNN shows heavy gunfire at the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza on Thursday.

The footage shows civilians running in the street as the gunfire echoes through the area.

Other video also geolocated by CNN shows damage to the nearby Al-Yemeni Saeed hospital, where the walls appear to have been impacted by shelling. It’s unclear when the damage was sustained.

Accurate information about the strikes and clashes in Gaza, as well as about casualties and the state of hospitals, is difficult to obtain because of sporadic communications.

However, a journalist in northern Gaza, Khader Al Za’anoun, told CNN that Israeli airstrikes had destroyed the Othman bin Qushqar mosque in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City. There were also injuries in nearby houses, Za’anoun said.

He added that the Israeli army was deploying tanks in Palestine Square in Gaza City. 

Al-Za’anoun said there had been heavy casualties in several neighborhoods on northern Gaza, including in Shuja'iya, Zaytoun and Al-Daraj, and it was difficult for ambulances to reach the affected areas because of the gunfire.

CNN is reaching out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on ongoing operations and deployments in northern Gaza and the claims that the Othman bin Qushqar Mosque has been destroyed. 

Elsewhere, there are reports of clashes and Israeli strikes continuing in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, where the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the military had encircled the house of the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. 

The IDF posted video Thursday of troops moving through buildings geolocated by CNN as in the north of Khan Younis.

At least 94 people have died and 406 been injured in Lebanon as a result of “the Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon” between October 8 – when Hezbollah began firing rockets at Israel – and December 5, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.

In a report released on Wednesday, the ministry added that 92% of wounded people are males and 96% of wounded people are Lebanese,

The Israeli military has regularly exchanged fire with militants in southern Lebanon over the past two months, saying when it is fired upon, it will return fire.

The Lebanon Disaster Risk Management Unit as of Wednesday had registered 20,000 displaced people from villages in Tyre district, south Lebanon, Lebanon state-run NNA news said on Thursday.

Those displaced people are distributed among five shelter centers in the city of Tyre, not including thousands who were displaced to other areas and were not registered within the Disaster Risk Management Unit, NNA added.

The unit said that there is a lack of resources to provide services, saying nearly 40 villages on the border with Israel are still not safe for civilians to return.

Israel has also evacuated communities on its side of the border in response to rockets fired from Lebanese territory.

Eight Thai nationals are now believed to be held hostage by Hamas, according to Thailand's foreign affairs ministry.

That figure is one less than previously reported after it was discovered that one person was safely in Israel the whole time.

Twenty-three Thai nationals held hostage in Gaza were released by Hamas under a deal brokered with Israel with the help of foreign mediation. The agreement saw a pause in fighting and the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza will open Thursday for dozens of foreign nationals and dual citizens to exit the war-torn strip, according to Egyptian authorities.

A list published by the Egyptian Authority for Crossings and Borders includes 63 US citizens alongside nationals of Romania, the United Kingdom, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

It also includes 13 United Nations personnel intending to enter Gaza. 

Rafah is the only border crossing in Gaza not controlled by Israel. It has been a vital lifeline for aid to enter the enclave and for people to escape the fighting since Israel's war with Hamas began in October.