December 13, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israeli officials told the US that, going forward, they will give detainees their clothes back "immediately" if strip-searches are conducted, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Wednesday.

The remark comes after images emerged last week of men in Gaza who were detained by Israeli forces, blindfolded, and stripped down to their underwear. 

Miller also said that Israeli officials told the US that the photos should not have been taken or released, "and they made it clear going forward that that will not be their practice."

"Those are obviously the appropriate steps to take," Miller said at a press briefing.

"They have informed us is that they conduct searches on detained individuals in Gaza to ensure that they are not wearing suicide vests, that they don't have other weapons, and that they pose no danger to (Israel Defense Forces) forces," he said.

Asked if the US is OK with the continued strip-searching of detainees, Miller said:

Additional inspections points for humanitarian aid bound for Gaza are helping accelerate shipments through the Rafah border crossing – with the amount of fuel being allowed in to rise by about one-third, Egypt said.

On Tuesday, Israeli authorities began inspecting humanitarian aid trucks at two crossings between Israel and Gaza, but the trucks must still cross from Egypt through Rafah into Gaza.

The additional inspections should allow 60 to 80 more trucks to enter Gaza every day, said Diaa Rashwan, chair of Egypt's State Information Service. He added that there was also agreement on increasing the amount of fuel entering the strip daily from 129,000 liters (about 34,000 gallons) to 189,000 liters (about 49,900 gallons), in addition to two domestic cooking gas trucks. 

The amounts are still far lower than what international aid agencies say is required amid a growing humanitarian crisis exacerbated by overcrowding in makeshift encampments and cold, wet weather.

Since aid began crossing into Gaza, 3,866 tonnes of medical help had been sent in, as well as 22,799 tonnes of food; 13,936 tonnes of water; 48 ambulances; and 2,678 tonnes of fuel, Rashwan said.

The families of American hostages held by Hamas offered effusive praise for President Joe Biden's administration after meeting at the White House with the president Wednesday.

“It was a terrific, terrific meeting, conversation,” Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son, Sagui Dekel-Chen, was captured by Hamas on October 7. “I think we all came away feeling that, as families of hostages of American Israeli hostages, which are eight out of a total of 138 hostages, we felt — we felt before, and we were only reinforced, seeing and believing, that we could have no better friend in Washington or in the White House than the president himself.”

Liz Naftali, the great-aunt of Abigail Edan, the 4-year-old Israeli American hostage released by Hamas last month, called her great-niece “a miracle, a light in this very dark time,” adding Biden and his administration “have been bringing out light in this dark time.”

She also thanked Pope Francis for calling for the safe release of all hostages in Gaza.

Dekel-Chen said the administration has been in “frequent, very transparent contact” with the families of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, but told reporters the families are “going to keep the content of the conversation private.” 

While he declined to weigh in on calls for a ceasefire, Dekel-Chen said the meeting with the president “only reinforced that they are willing and ready to do all that they possibly can, by any number of means, to get the hostages out.”

Naftali, for her part, thanked members of the administration for centering the humanity of those still being held hostage.

“And that is what the president and (US Secretary of State Antony) Blinken understand — is that they are just not numbers and they're just not faces, they are sons,” she said. “They are sons. They are grandparents, they are mothers, and that is what the president and his team understand.”

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the overwhelming vote at the UN General Assembly in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza makes clear "that the world wants this conflict to end, which is a goal that we share."

The US vetoed the resolution, as well as a resolution in the Security Council last week calling for a ceasefire.

"We don't want to see it go on a day longer than is necessary," Miller said at a press briefing Wednesday, but added that the US does not believe stopping Israel's military campaign now "is in the long-term security interests of anyone in the region."

Miller also said that while Hamas can be defeated, "you can't defeat an idea on the battlefield."

"It is incumbent upon Israel, it is incumbent upon other countries in the region, it is incumbent upon the United States and other every country around the world who wants to be the responsible player to present a better idea" than Hamas, Miller added.

The US believes that the Palestinian Authority "is the representative of the Palestinian people, and a revitalized, reformed, revamped Palestinian Authority is the proper path forward for governance of a reunited West Bank and Gaza," Miller re-iterated with the caveat that "obviously, the Palestinian Authority is not in position to step in tomorrow and begin to administer Gaza."

This post has been updated with additional remarks from the US State Department spokesperson.

Two people have been killed and one injured in an attack involving "enemy aircraft targeting and destroying a house" in the town of Yater in southern Lebanon, the country's National News Agency reported on Wednesday. 

Yater is about 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) from the border with Israel.

It comes after further Israel-Hezbollah crossfire was reported between the border of Israel and Lebanon on Wednesday.

Several launches from Lebanon toward the area of Yiftah in northern Israel were identified, the Israel Defense Forces said. The rockets fell in open areas, and the IDF was targeting the sources of the fire in Lebanon.

A Hezbollah cell had been hit in Lebanon, and a fighter jet had struck a Hezbollah military compound, the IDF added.

Earlier Wednesday, the IDF said sirens sounded in kibbutz Rosh HaNikra in northwestern Israel, which is a few hundred meters away from the Blue Line — the border between Israel and Lebanon. The IDF said it detected several launches from Lebanon toward Israel, but those launches landed within Lebanon.

Hezbollah on social media said it had targeted a location near the border area on the Mediterranean Sea. 

Meanwhile, NNA said an Israeli shell had landed in Muhaybeb, Lebanon.

This post has been updated to include the number of deaths and injuries as reported by NNA.

Haraz Coffee House in Dearborn, Michigan, is usually teeming with customers eager for a taste of its delicious Yemeni coffee – but on Monday there wasn’t a single person in sight.

The popular café on Michigan Avenue was closed, as its owner and employees participated in a global strike calling for a ceasefire in the devastating war in Gaza.

“Today is the day to put everything that matters in our lives aside to focus on the lives of those in Gaza and to call for an immediate ceasefire,” owner Hamzah Nasser told CNN. He closed all 12 locations of his cafés in Michigan, Kentucky, Texas, Illinois and California.

Palestinian groups announced the global strike on Saturday, one day after the United States vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The strike on Monday and Tuesday saw businesses temporarily close, employees call out of work, consumers refrain from shopping and students skip classes.

Alex Tarzikhan, a legal adviser at a human rights organization in Washington, DC, says she called out of work in solidarity with Palestinians and other people of conscience.

Tarzikhan says she regularly checks on Bisan Owda, and other Palestinian journalists, and is often left feeling helpless by the graphic and heart-wrenching images they post on social media.

CNN’s Natasha Bertrand contributed to this report.

The US government on Wednesday imposed sanctions on eight Hamas officials in its latest punitive measure following the October 7 attack on Israel.

The new round of US Treasury Department sanctions target key officials. This includes:

Wednesday's sanctions were imposed in coordination with the United Kingdom. They are the fourth round of sanctions imposed by the US since October 7.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron emphasized that this latest batch of sanctions "will continue to cut off their access to funding and isolate them further."

As part of this effort to clamp down on individuals who have “financed Hamas,” Algerian national, Aiman Ahmad Al Duwaik, who the UK says “helped run the organisation’s overseas investment portfolio” was also included in the list.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Islamist militant group was also targeted in the list through the inclusion of Akram al-Ajouri who is the group's Syria-based Deputy Secretary General and the leader of its military wing, the Al-Quds Brigades.

Hamas has been unresponsive to overtures made in recent days to try to restart hostage negotiations, a source familiar with the efforts told CNN, as the US and other mediators try to resurrect talks that would see more hostages who were abducted on October 7 be released from captivity.

Qatar — which continues to play the role of interlocutor — has relayed to Hamas new ideas to try to get more hostages out of Gaza, including a potential deal that would include the release of not just the remaining women hostages, but men as well, according to one source familiar with the efforts and a senior US official.

But Hamas has not been responsive to the outreach, the source familiar said.

Qatar speaks with Hamas political officials in Gaza who then relay messages to the group’s leadership inside the strip who are actively trying to avoid detection by Israel. US officials had said getting answers from Hamas was an incredibly cumbersome process during the first round of negotiations that led to a series of hostages being released. It may now be even harder for Hamas leaders to engage in talks now given the Israeli focus on hunting them down. 

At the same time, Israel, which resumed its military operation against Hamas after a seven-day truce, believes that its offensive targeting southern Gaza – and particularly Khan Younis – should exert additional pressure on Hamas that could prove to be helpful in the release of more hostages, sources said. Some US officials agree the military pressure may have the effect of eventually driving Hamas back to the negotiating table.

It “may be a moment for Hamas to reconsider coming back to the table in a real way,” the senior US official said.

In a sign of the growing differences between two staunch allies, US President Joe Biden has warned that Israel is starting to lose global support for its war on Hamas due to the "indiscriminate bombing that takes place," in his sharpest words yet for Israel.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly rejected American plans for post-war Gaza.

Elsewhere, at least nine Israeli soldiers have died in a single incident in northern Gaza, marking one of the deadliest for Israeli forces since the conflict began.

Below are the other updates you need to know: