December 2, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

The negotiations between Israel and Hamas over hostages held captive in Gaza broke down Saturday after Israel continued to insist on the release of a group of women and Hamas refused, a source familiar with the talks told CNN.

As negotiations stood at an impasse over the women, Hamas pushed to begin negotiations on the release of men — possibly for a different set of terms, according to the source. Israel rejected that idea, insisting that it was imperative that all women be released first. 

Israeli and US officials believe Hamas continues to hold hostage a number of women between the approximate ages of 20 to 30 – many of them kidnapped from the Nova music festival – CNN previously reported. Hamas has been insisting that some of the remaining women they were holding hostage were considered part of the Israel Defense Forces, which Israel denies. 

Earlier Saturday, the Israeli government announced it recalled its team of negotiators from Qatar after reaching a “dead end” in talks.

“The Hamas terror organization did not fulfill its part in the agreement, which included the return of all women and children held hostage, in accordance with a list sent to Hamas and approved by them,” the statement said.

Dozens of people are feared to be dead in northern Gaza’s Jabalya refugee camp after an apparent strike destroyed a multi-story concrete building Saturday.

The blast came after the Israel Defense Forces warned people in the area “to evacuate urgently because it is dangerous for you to remain there.”

The building was housing more than 100 displaced people from northern Gaza, according to Anas Ah-Sharif, a freelance journalist there. 

Pictures from the scene showed the building flattened, with Palestine Red Crescent Society rescuers and local people trying to dig through the rubble — one using a broken frying pan without a handle to shift concrete dust. 

Dozens of victims from the camp were transferred to the nearby Indonesian hospital, while “many others are still being pulled out from under rubble,” Palestinian journalist Khader Za'noon told CNN.

The IDF did not immediately respond to CNN questions about the blast in the Jabalya refugee camp, which is Gaza's largest.

The IDF had urged residents of several northern Gaza neighborhoods to evacuate and move south of Wadi Gaza on Saturday. The warnings were issued in Arabic on social media, but it is not clear that residents were able to receive the messages because electricity, phone signals and internet access are often disrupted in Gaza.

Strikes rain down on Gaza: The Israeli military said Saturday that it had carried out more than 400 strikes in the day since the truce with Hamas broke down on Friday morning.

Fadel Na’im, a doctor at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in northern Gaza, said Saturday more than 150 wounded people had arrived at the hospital from neighborhoods in the area, while at least 100 others had been brought to the hospital dead.

Families of victims there said their neighborhoods had been hit by airstrikes.

Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire across the border of northern Israel and southern Lebanon Saturday, according to statements from both sides, with Hezbollah saying one of its fighters was killed.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was “striking Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanese territory with aircraft, mortar fire and artillery fire.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli forces targeted Hamul, east of Naqoura, with a number of artillery shells. It said this was accompanied by aerial attacks.

Earlier on Saturday, Hezbollah claimed they targeted an Israeli artillery site in an area near the border with Lebanon using rockets.

The IDF confirmed that several of its posts near the border had been targeted. It said the IDF had launched strikes on the source of the attacks.

Remember: Border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have increased in the weeks since Hamas launched its attacks on October 7, with the crossfire becoming increasingly deadly.

A Reuters journalist is among the civilians to have been killed on the Lebanese side of the border.

While Hezbollah has not directly intervened on behalf of Hamas, the powerful Iran-backed paramilitary group is among the proxy organizations that have caused fears of a wider regional conflict.

Washington will not allow for the forced relocation of Palestinians or any redrawing of the current border of the Gaza Strip, US Vice President Kamala Harris said in a meeting Saturday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Israel says its military campaign in Gaza is aimed at destroying Hamas, the militant Islamist group responsible for the October 7 terror attack that left more than 1,200 Israelis dead and saw another 240 taken hostage.

However, regional leaders like Jordan's King Abdullah II have expressed concerns that Israel could use the conflict to seize parts of Gaza or expel its Palestinian residents.

It's also unclear what role Israel plans to play after the conflict ends. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN in November that Israel's security role in a post-war Gaza would be an “over-riding, over-reaching military envelope,” but did not explain what that meant.

During their meeting, Harris and Sisi discussed "ideas for post-conflict planning in Gaza including efforts on reconstruction, security, and governance," the statement said.

"She (Harris) emphasized that these efforts can only succeed if they are pursued in the context of a clear political horizon for the Palestinian people towards a state of their own led by a revitalized Palestinian Authority and have significant support from the international community and the countries of the region."

Israel has recalled its team of negotiators from Qatar after reaching a “dead end” in talks, according to a statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

The negotiators were from Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. The statement said it was the head of the agency, David Barnea, who recalled the team.

Remember: An agreement between Israel and Hamas was reached with the help of foreign mediation and saw a seven-day pause in fighting, with the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. More aid was also able to flow into the enclave during the truce.

The pause began on November 24 and was renewed twice before ending on Friday morning.

Fifty-five aid trucks with medicine and food and three trucks of fuel have entered Gaza from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on Saturday, a spokesperson for Rafah crossing Wael Abu Omar told CNN.

The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed the crossing on its official Facebook Page, adding their crews have “now received aid trucks through the Rafah crossing from our partners in the Egyptian Red Crescent”.

The deliveries come despite the collapse of a truce between Israel and Hamas that also saw hostages freed.

More aid entered Gaza during the pause in fighting but the UN said the level was "completely inadequate," with more than two millions people living in the territory.

Civilians have flooded hospitals in Gaza following the resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, further overwhelming the medical infrastructure in the war-torn territory.

Most of the victims of the bombardments in Gaza since the truce ended on Friday are women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.  

Israel says its military strikes are targeting Hamas, not civilians.

Conditions are also worsening in southern Gaza. Israel has recently started carrying out strikes there after previously concentrating military activity in the enclave's north.

“Hospitals in the southern regions of the Gaza Strip have become unable to provide medical services. The emergency department is unable to receive more casualties,” the director of the European Hospital in Khan Younis, Dr. Youssef Al-Akkad said in a statement.

The seven-day Israel-Hamas truce ended on Friday after negotiations reached an impasse and Israel accused the Palestinian militant group of violating the agreement by firing at Israel.

What happens next is unclear. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week vowed that Israel would fight until the end. His government had informed the United States before the truce ended that it intended eventually to turn its focus on the southern part of the enclave after fighting resumed.

Washington, however, has made it clear to Israel that scale of devastation should not be repeated.

Analysts say the war is bound to continue until Hamas is crushed, and it may be much fiercer this time.

It is unclear if there will be another truce, but with more than 100 hostages still in Hamas captivity, it could theoretically be revived for several days if both parties agree to extend by one day for every 10 hostages released, analysts said.

Read more:

RELATED

The Israel-Hamas truce is over. Here's what could happen next | CNN

The Israel Defense Forces said it struck more than 400 targets across Gaza in the first 24 hours following the collapse of a week-long truce with Hamas.

The targets, according to the IDF, included a weapons storage compound and terror infrastructure used by Hamas; Hamas military targets in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah in southern Gaza; a mosque reportedly being used as a command center by another militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad; and what the IDF said was a terrorist cell ambushing Israeli troops.

The 400-plus strikes included both artillery and munitions dropped from aircraft, the IDF said.

Before the truce, the IDF said they were striking similar numbers of targets each day. The Israel military reported it carried out 300 strikes the day before the truce began.

What officials in Gaza are saying: In an update late Friday, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza said at least 178 people have been killed, with hundreds more wounded, since Israel resumed military operations.

Civilians have flooded hospitals in Gaza following the resumption of hostilities, further overwhelming the medical infrastructure in the war-torn territory.

Fadel Na’im, a doctor at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in northern Gaza, said more than 150 wounded people had arrived at the hospital from neighborhoods in the area Saturday, while at least 100 others had been brought to the hospital dead. Their families said they were the victims of airstrikes.

This post has been updated with statements from the Hamas-run health ministry and hospital officials in Gaza.