November 3, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah is now speaking in Lebanon, marking his first public remarks since the Israel-Hamas war erupted.

Nasrallah called the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel a "great, blessed operation."

In his speech on Friday, Nasrallah addressed speculation about whether Iran-backed factions were part of the attacks, saying that the planning and execution of the attacks were "100 percent Palestinian," adding that it did not bother Hezbollah that the operation was kept secret from them. Nasrallah said he understood Hamas' need for the element of surprise. 

Nasrallah said October 7 caused a "political earthquake" in Israel and that it will have "lasting effects" on the conflict with Israel, adding his view that the attacks exposed the country's military weaknesses. 

He added that the lives lost in Gaza, the West Bank and other fronts were "worthy sacrifices" because they established a "historic new stage" in the conflict. 

Nasrallah said the United States sending "fleets of warships" to the eastern Mediterranean also exposes Israel's weaknesses and its reliance on allies. 

The US has sent two carrier strike groups to the Mediterranean.

Nasrallah is speaking via video link from an undisclosed location, and the speech is being broadcast to a large crowd of supporters gathering in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

As the speech began, a CNN team on the ground in Beirut heard celebratory gunfire. 

He has not spoken publicly in person since 2006, when a month-long war erupted between Lebanon and Israel.  

His speech comes amid escalating skirmishes between his powerful, Iran-backed armed group and Israel, sparking concern of a potential broader regional war. 

A total of 353 foreign nationals have arrived in Egypt from Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on Friday, an Egyptian border official told CNN on the ground. 

The border crossing remains open, but it is unclear if more will cross through today. 

It was not immediately clear what nationalities had crossed into the country from the besieged enclave. 

Some background: The exodus of the foreign nationals is the result of a deal announced Wednesday brokered by Qatar between Israel, Hamas and Egypt, in coordination with the US, that allows for the departure of those individuals, alongside critically injured civilians from Gaza, according to sources familiar with the talks. The agreement is separate from any hostage negotiations, the source added.

Earlier Friday, a convoy of Egyptian Red Crescent ambulances entered Gaza to retrieve wounded Palestinians, an Egyptian border official told CNN. So far, 48 injured Palestinian civilians have been transferred to Egypt for treatment.

The post has been updated with the latest numbers of foreign nationals crossing into Egypt from Gaza.

Fifteen injured Palestinians entered Egypt through the Rafah border crossing on Friday, an Egyptian government official told CNN. 

They will be transferred to hospitals across the country for treatment, the official added. 

By a CNN count, this brings the total number of wounded Palestinians who have been transferred to Egypt for treatment to 63. 

Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf said he is “hugely relieved” that his in-laws were able to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Friday morning. 

“We are grateful to all of those who have assisted our parents over the last few weeks, including the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) crisis team,” he added in a statement posted to social media on Friday signed by himself and his wife, Nadia El-Nakla. 

Yousaf previously told UK media that his in-laws, who live in Dundee in Scotland, went to visit family in Gaza about a week before the October 7 attacks and subsequently could not leave the strip. 

Yousaf went on to say that the last four weeks “have been a living nightmare” for his family, adding that he is thankful “for all the messages of comfort and prayers” received from across the world and “from across the political spectrum in Scotland and the UK.” 

“We reiterate our calls for all sides to agree to an immediate ceasefire, the opening of a humanitarian corridor so that significant amounts of aid, including fuel, can flow through to a population that have suffered collective punishment for far too long, and for all hostages to be released,” he added. 

“Families in Gaza and Israel are suffering after the loss of entirely innocent men, women and children,” said Yousaf. “We pray for them all, and pray that the international community at least focuses on achieving a lasting peace in the region: one that recognises that the rights and lives of Palestinians and Israelis are equal."

CNN's Livvy Doherty contributed reporting to this post.

When the Hamas-Israel war started, Western leaders almost immediately turned their sights to Lebanon’s southern border with Israel. This is the home turf of the Middle East’s most powerful paramilitary group, Hezbollah, and it is widely believed to be a possible launching pad for a regional war. 

Since the war began, Hezbollah’s charismatic leader Hassan Nasrallah — and the only real spokesman of his own party — has been noticeably quiet. 

There has been a weeks-long, limited flare-up between Hezbollah and Israel in the volatile border region. The United States, France and others have repeatedly called on the group to refrain from entering the fray of the Hamas-Israel war. Two US aircraft carriers — including the nuclear-powered USS Gerald Ford — were dispatched to the eastern Mediterranean in an apparent bid to deter Hezbollah.

But Hezbollah’s involvement in the larger conflict remained murky. Nasrallah’s domestic, regional and international observers were left to dissect the trickle of information that was coming out. 

Last week, he published a handwritten letter that praised his fighters who died in combat on the border, and made only a passing reference to the ongoing war, reinforcing the sense of his deafening silence. 

On Sunday, he appeared as a shadowy figure walking in and out of frame in a 12-second video, nodding slightly at a hulking Hezbollah poster as he rushed past. Many interpreted it to mean that Nasrallah intended to move on to a new phase of the conflict. 

Hours later, Hezbollah media finally scheduled their leader’s first speech since October 7. 

Today, he is set to deliver that hotly anticipated televised address, and observers will look to it to answer some pressing questions: 

Hezbollah is backed by Iran, but it has grown to a regional power in its own right. It is a more sophisticated fighting group than Hamas, and boasts more advanced weaponry, including precision-guided missiles and drones. On Thursday, it said it had used a self-detonating drone in an attack on an Israeli military position for the first time in its history. 

Today’s speech is expected to be long and fiery. Western leaders will monitor it for signs of what lies in store for this conflict. Nasrallah is unlikely to show his entire hand — but will reveal enough to keep everyone guessing.  

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, standing alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv on Friday, said that his country stood by Israel and that civilians in Gaza must be protected.

A diplomatic source familiar with negotiations told CNN on Friday that Blinken would push Israel for a "pause" in airstrikes on Gaza to “allow for mediation.”

Herzog thanked Blinken for his “moral clarity.”

He acknowledged protesters, who could be heard faintly in the background, demanding action to release hostages held by Hamas and said: “Our heart goes out to them. We understand it. We want their immediate release.”

Blinken and Herzog also said that they “are thinking every single moment of our hostages – so many Israelis, Americans, other foreign nationals."

Herzog sought to emphasize the claim that Israel is following international humanitarian law by showing Blinken a leaflet -- 1.2 million of which he said had been sent to citizens of Gaza. 

Nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces overnight in raids across the occupied West Bank, according to information from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Four men and a 17-year-old were shot dead in Jenin. They were named as Suleiman Steti, 31, Mustafa Na’aniya, 26, Waseem Zyoud, 22, Motaz Abu Al-Nada, 26, and Yamen Jarrar, 17. A sixth person was transferred to hospital with what health officials described as a serious abdominal injury.

Videos obtained by CNN show several Israeli military vehicles entering the Jenin refugee camp on Thursday evening, with sounds of gunshots being fired and piles of rubble strewn around the ground. Another clip shows a roadside explosive being detonated near an Israeli military bulldozer that had been tearing up infrastructure.

An eyewitness told CNN that Israeli forces covertly entered the camp and were spotted by Palestinian gunmen who opened fire. More Israeli military vehicles then came in to support the special unit as reinforcement, the eyewitness added.   

Some context: Israel has stepped up activities against armed Palestinian groups in the West Bank since October 7, with the town of Jenin, in the north of the territory, a particular focus.

In a statement Friday morning, the Israeli army said it had taken part in “counterterrorism activity overnight in the Jenin Camp.”

“During the activity, an aircraft struck an armed cell that had hurled explosive devices at the forces. Several assailants were killed,” the statement added.

In separate incidents overnight, four other Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. They were named as Wadih Al-Najjar, 33 and Muhammad Al-Azza, 36, both killed in Hebron; Ibrahim Zayed, 29, killed in Qalandiya; and Asim Ramadan, 19, who died in Nablus. 

As more foreign nationals make their way out of Gaza, the White House said Thursday that a total of 79 American citizens and family members were among those who had arrived in Egypt through the Rafah border crossing so far. 

In a press briefing on Thursday, John Kirby, the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, announced the figures, saying that 74 US citizens and family members had crossed the border on Thursday, in addition to five Americans who crossed into Egypt on Wednesday. Kirby also stressed the figures are "changing in real time."

"We obviously continue to be focused on getting as many Americans out as quickly as possible. And we still fully expect that more Americans will be able to depart -- hopefully more today, but certainly we're looking for them to depart at a similar pace... if not better than what we've seen," he said on Thursday.

Earlier Friday, an Egyptian border guard at Rafah crossing told CNN that 99 people had so far transited through from Gaza that morning without specifying any nationalities. More people are expected to arrive throughout the day.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says that the military is advancing in Gaza and destroying Hamas infrastructure.

“IDF forces encircle Gaza from the air, land and sea, surrounding the city of Gaza and its surroundings,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press conference on Friday.

“The fighters are advancing in battles during which they are destroying above ground and underground terrorist infrastructures, and eliminating terrorists.”

Hagari said that IDF forces had located explosives caches.