October 16, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has ordered that roughly 2,000 troops prepare for a potential deployment to Israel to help with tasks like medical and logistical support, according to multiple defense officials.

The order does not mean that the troops definitely will deploy, or that any will serve in a combat role if they do go to Israel, officials said.

But Austin’s decision has shortened the time the identified troops will have to prepare for a deployment if they are ordered to go, officials said. 

The order to be ready for potential deployment comes as the US military is bolstering its presence in Middle East, including deploying a second aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean Sea sending Air Force fighter jets to the region.

Austin issued the order on Sunday night and asked the services and combatant commands to report back how many troops they can provide and from where. 

No plans for direct involvement: US officials have made clear there are no plans for US troops to become directly involved in any Israeli military operations against Hamas.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report about the potential deployment of troops to Israel. Asked about the possible movement, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said on Monday: “I don’t have more to provide at this time. I might be able to give you more details later, but at this time I just don’t have anything more specific to add to.”

The Pentagon is trying to be careful about how it talks about the potential deployment of US troops to Israel, officials said, since it does not want to give the impression that American forces could become directly involved in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. 

Officials stressed that the US servicemembers would not take part in the war between Israel and Gaza, which Israeli officials have warned could be prolonged and difficult. But it does suggest the type of assistance the US could provide in an ongoing conflict, including managing logistics away from the front lines and offering medical support.

US military bolstering presence: The preparations come just days after Austin ordered that a second aircraft carrier be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean, as Israel fights a war against Hamas. The first carrier strike group, led by the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived off the coast of Israel last week.

In addition, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid reaction force capable of conducting special operations, is making preparations in case it is ordered closer to Israel to bolster the US force posture there, multiple US officials told CNN. 

The unit, which is on board the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan, is composed of more than 2,000 Marines and sailors and would be capable of supporting a large-scale evacuation. Among the mission essential tasks for a Marine Expeditionary Unit are evacuation operations and humanitarian assistance.

When Palestinians in north Gaza heeded the warnings issued in the Israeli military's phone calls, text messages, and fliers advising them to head south, they thought they were fleeing to potential safety.

The Israeli Defense Forces issued the guidance Friday, telling all civilians in north Gaza to evacuate to areas south of Wadi Gaza "for your own safety and the safety of your families" as the IDF continues "to operate significantly in Gaza City and make extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians." 

However, some Palestinians who followed the evacuation warnings and fled their homes in search of safety suffered the very fate they were running from: Israeli airstrikes killed them outside of the evacuation zone. 

The killings underscore the reality that evacuation zones and warning alerts from the Israeli military haven't guaranteed safety for civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have no safe place to escape Israeli bombs. 

In the early hours on Friday, Aaed Al-Ajrami and his nephew, Raji, received a phone call from an Israeli military official, warning him to get everyone he knows and head southwards immediately, the nephew told CNN. Despite following the instructions and successfully fleeing south of the evacuation zone, Aaed's family was killed by an Israeli airstrike the next day.

An audio recording of the phone call obtained by CNN reveals the details of the brief conversation — which included the IDF's instructions to flee south of the evacuation zone and no guidance on how to get there. Raji said once they realized who was calling, they recorded the conversation so they could share it with other family members.

Aaed wanted to know which road would be safe to take and what time they should leave. 

"It doesn't matter which road," the officer replied. "Do it as fast as you can. There is no time left."

Aaed heeded the warning. By sunrise on Friday, he headed south with his family and relatives to stay with friends in Deir Al Balah, a city roughly eight miles south of Wadi Gaza and outside the evacuation zone. 

The next day, an Israeli airstrike in the area destroyed parts of the building where Aaed's family sought refuge — killing him and 12 other members of his family, including seven children. 

His nephew Raji, 32, was staying in a different building nearby when he heard the explosion and feared the worst. He rushed to the scene after receiving a call telling him that his uncle's family members were amongst the victims. 

"The destruction was massive," Raji said. "We started digging people out who were hit by the explosion, some of them were still alive ... the gunpowder smell was very strong, the dust was everywhere." 

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment about the airstrike outside of the evacuation zone, including Deir Al Balah.

Read more of the report.

Hamas is holding between at least 200 and 250 hostages captured in the October 7 attacks, according to Abu Odaida, the spokesperson of Hamas' militant wing, Al-Qassam Brigades. 

Abu Obaida said in a video statement Monday that the Al-Qassam Brigades has about 200 hostages, while the rest are being held by other "militant formations" in Gaza.

He added that they cannot determine the exact number of hostages in the strip due to constant Israeli bombardment. 

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli military said at least 199 people are being held hostage in Gaza. 

Abu Obaida also claimed 22 of the hostages in Gaza were killed in Israeli airstrikes, including an Israeli artist who he said died on Saturday. 

CNN cannot independently verify those claims. 

He added that Al-Qassam Brigades will be releasing hostages holding foreign citizenship when “the opportunity arises on the ground,” and said Al-Qassam is “committed” to protecting them. 

He also warned that any foreign national serving with the Israeli military will be considered a "direct enemy."

Meanwhile, former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal claims Hamas has "enough hostages," including high ranking officers from the Gaza division of the Israeli Defense Forces, to release thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, Meshaal told Alaraby TV in a live interview on Monday. 

“One of this battle’s goals was to take Israeli soldiers and officers hostage to clear Zionist prisons from our own people,” Meshaal said, adding that Hamas will be dealing with civilians and foreign nationals differently. 

“Military hostages have their own calculations, civilians and foreign nationals have others,” Meshaal said. “Hamas leadership will deal with hostages in accordance with international and humanitarian law.” 

CNN cannot verify Meshaal’s claims about how hostages are being treated.

CNN’s Kareem El Damanhoury contributed reporting to this post.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has just returned from Tel Aviv, urged the Senate to pass an aid package for Israel quickly, as well as confirm the administration’s nominee for Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew as soon as possible.  

He noted that he has been speaking to the administration about the need for an aid package for Israel.

“We want to move this package quickly. The Senate must go first. I know that the House is in disarray, but we cannot wait for them,” he added, referencing the House Republicans’ struggle to nominate a speaker candidate that can prevail on the floor.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell echoed Schumer’s sentiments in his Monday floor remarks, saying that the US needs to “reaffirm our commitment” to Israel.

“The surest way to stop violence against Israelis and oppression of Palestinians is to wipe terrorists like Hamas from the face of the earth,” McConnell said. “As Israel's closest ally, the United States must lead by our example, in supporting its efforts to defend itself, for as long as it takes.”

Schumer, meanwhile, also called for the Senate to confirm Jack Lew as the new Ambassador to Israel "as soon as possible, without any costly partisan delays, so we can bring him to the floor and confirm him with all due haste,” Schumer said. “Mr. Lew has proven himself a strong public servant, a ferocious ally of Israel. So delaying him would be egregious at a time like this, we must move him quickly.”

He added that he will bring up a resolution this week to highlight US support for Israel.

“I urge every single member of the Senate — Democrat and Republican, Independent — to unanimously support the resolution championed by Chairman (Sen. Ben) Cardin, Ranking Member (Sen. Jim ) Risch, Leader McConnell and myself, condemning Hamas and affirming that we stand with Israel and their right to defend themselves,” Schumer said.

On a more personal note, Schumer spoke about how speaking with the families of hostages taken by Hamas affected him as the descendant of Holocaust survivors.

Schumer highlighted the importance of destroying Hamas and defended Israel’s right to take military action in order to defend itself from the terrorist group.

“I believe our trip went a significant way in pushing back against the dangerous false equivalency between what Hamas is doing and the response against them,” he said. “Let us be clear, Hamas is an evil organization that wants to see Israel wiped off the face of the map. They don't believe in a two state solution. They want no Israel and no Jews living between the Jordan and the Mediterranean. Eliminating Israel is part of their charter. So is the killing of Jews.”

However, he also echoed the administration’s urging that Israel do what it can to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza.

Hamas is barred from many social media platforms. But its following has surged on popular messaging app Telegram since its October 7 terror attack on Israel.

One account belonging to the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, has seen its following triple, and there has been a ten-fold increase in the number of views of videos and other content posted by the account.  

Hamas is a designated foreign terror organization in the United States, and new internet laws in the European Union mean large social media platforms can face penalties for hosting terroristic content.

Meta and Google prohibit Hamas accounts, but Telegram, a company founded by a Russian entrepreneur which is now based in Dubai, has decided to allow the group to continue use its service.  

X, formerly Twitter, says it also has a ban on Hamas and has removed "hundreds" of "Hamas-affiliated accounts." Last week, however, the European Union announced it was opening an investigation into the company about disinformation and illegal content about the conflict on its platform. 

Because of its very loose content moderation rules, Telegram has become popular among extremist groups internationally and among far-right groups in the United States, said Brian Fishman, who formerly ran the team at Meta that tackled terrorist and other dangerous organizations and who now works at Cinder, a trust and safety company he co-founded. 

Telegram's popularity in the US began to grow after the January 6th attack on the US Capitol when prominent peddlers of election conspiracy theories began using the platform after they were kicked off sites like Facebook and Twitter. Some 800 million people use Telegram globally, its founder says.  

Fishman said while the huge growth in the number of people following Hamas' Telegram accounts is concerning, it doesn't mean all the followers are supporters — pointing out that many journalists, researchers and others are likely following the accounts.  

But he said Telegram can be an effective propaganda tool.

The US continues to believe that a handful of Americans were taken hostage by Hamas but there is nothing known about the conditions of the captives, a US official tells CNN. 

The administration’s ongoing efforts to ascertain information about those American hostages remain very much in the “same place,” the official said, and consultation with partners in the region continues.

The US also continues to operate under the assumption that these hostages may not be gathered in one place, the official added. 

Since Hamas’ devastating surprise attack on Israel began last weekend, the administration has had minimal information about Americans taken hostage by Hamas. In fact, it took several days for US officials even confirm that Americans were among the hostages – a sign of the extraordinary challenge the administration confronts when it comes to the prospects of recovering missing Americans. 

More on hostages: Israel said Monday that it believes 199 hostages are being held in Gaza and that it had notified all the families. It's not clear exactly how many Americans are among the captives.

On Friday, US President Joe Biden spoke with family members of the Americans who are "unaccounted for" in Israel and pledged that he would do everything possible to ensure their safe return.

No United Nations fuel trucks have entered into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) spokesperson said Monday.

UNRWA has been moving its limited amount of fuel inside Gaza and plans to make it available to health providers, UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma told reporters. 

UNRWA has been unable to bring in any supplies into Gaza since the Israel-Hamas conflict began on October 7 and Touma called for Israel to end the siege of the Palestinian enclave.

Meanwhile, one million people have been displaced within Gaza and there continues to be no water for the vast majority of the two million people living in the enclave.

The majority of the 14 UNWRA staffers who have been killed were teachers, Touma said. The staffers who remain in Gaza are living in fear want to be taken out of this “hell hole,” and the level of desperation is going up, Touma said.

Time is running out for hospitals in Gaza, relief workers say, as they struggle to field mass casualties, diminished electricity supplies and rampant drug shortages caused by Israel's siege on the Palestinian enclave.

Civilians who fled to southern Gaza, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told them to leave northern parts of the densely-populated strip following the deadly Hamas attacks, have been killed by Israeli strikes at evacuation sites, health workers reported.

More than half a million people have been displaced inside Gaza, the Palestinian Authority said on Monday. Israel's assault has killed at least 2,750 people and injured more than 9,700, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Monday.

Human rights bodies warned the IDF's evacuation order is in violation of international law.

Mahmoud Shalabi, the senior programme director for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), said Israeli attacks were concentrated in southern Gaza overnight on Monday.

In one instance, a doctor working inside Al-Aqsa Hospital told Shalabi 80 Palestinians were killed, including 60 who were internally displaced people from Gaza City.

The doctor was working in the largest hospital in the middle area of Gaza, located south of Wadi Gaza, where the Israeli military encouraged civilians to flee for safety ahead of an anticipated ground assault.

"Many internally displaced people have died last night in those alleged safe areas," Shalabi said on Monday. "When the Israelis are talking about safe shelters, there are no safe shelters."

Israeli airstrikes also killed five firefighters in Gaza who were trying to rescue people from a destroyed house, Shalabi said, adding that many ambulances have been hit.

An Israeli blockade on fuel, food and water entering Gaza has choked the health care system inside the strip, as rights groups ramp up calls for an emergency corridor to be established for the transfer of humanitarian aid.

Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a British-Palestinian surgeon working with MAP in Gaza, said the sight of lone Palestinian children whose families have been killed by Israeli strikes, is "one of the most heartbreaking things you can ever see."

“You have difficulty understanding how, while the emergency department is full of screaming relatives and patients and doctors and nurses rushing round, then you come to this quite place, where there is a trolley and a wounded child — and no one around them except the medical staff," he said, while working inside Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, on Sunday.

“This is a war against children. Even the survivors, they will spend the rest of their lives on their own," he said.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the enclave, in response to the October 7 terrorist attacks that killed 1,400 people. Israel also said Monday at least 199 people are being held hostage in Gaza.

CNN’s Abeer Salman and Manveena Suri contributed reporting.

The European Union is launching a humanitarian air bridge operation to Egypt that will bring supplies to Gaza, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced Monday.

The EU air bridge will be “consisting of several flights to Egypt to bring lifesaving supplies to humanitarian organizations on the ground in Gaza,” the commission said.

The operation begins this week with two flights carrying humanitarian cargo from United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) including shelter items, medicines and hygiene kits, according to the EU.

The European Commission president also announced this weekend that the EU is raising its humanitarian aid to 75 million euros ($79 million) to support civilians in need in Gaza. 

The EU said “the funding will be channeled through selected EU humanitarian partners operating on the ground taking into account capacity and access.”

More on the border: The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is the only viable outlet to get people out of the enclave and supplies into it.

But the crossing has been closed for much of the past week, with neither Gazans nor foreign nationals able to cross, and tons of vital humanitarian supplies for people in Gaza piling up on the Egyptian side of the border.