February 15, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has moved here.

President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the “ongoing hostage negotiations” and the “situation in Rafah,” according to a White House readout released Thursday.

“The President also raised the situation in Rafah, and reiterated his view that a military operation should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the civilians in Rafah,” the readout said.

CNN previously reported that all eyes are on Rafah, where well over a million Palestinian refugees are taking shelter in a massive tent city.

Despite international pressure, Netanyahu has continued to convey that the Israel Defense Forces will move into the Rafah area at some point. Many fear that military action in the refugee tent city could spark the exodus, but also result in the deaths of thousands of civilians.

Biden also raised the “ongoing hostage negotiations” in his call with Netanyahu as well.

“The President and the Prime Minister discussed ongoing hostage negotiations,” the White House said. “The President reaffirmed his commitment to working tirelessly to support the release of all hostages as soon as possible, recognizing their appalling situation after 132 days in Hamas captivity.”

The two leaders spoke last on Sunday and, in that call, discussed a deal to secure the release of hostages in Gaza at length, according to a senior administration official.

Relatives, colleagues and loved ones of Palestinian journalists Sari Mansour and Hasona Saliem, who were killed while working, attend the funeral ceremony in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on November 19, 2023.

The conflict in Gaza fueled a surge in journalist and media worker deaths in 2023, according to a report released Thursday by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ.)

More than 75% of the 99 journalists and media workers who lost their lives across the globe died in the conflict. The overall death toll is the highest recorded by CPJ since 2015.

Jones explained that the investigation was difficult to conduct because people who could have provided more information about how their colleagues or loved ones died had also been killed or fled the territory.

“Many journalist victims’ families were killed along with them in Gaza, their colleagues died or fled, and Israeli military authorities adamantly deny targeting journalists or provide only scant information when they acknowledge press killings,” Jones writes.

Almost all of the journalists killed in the war were Palestinian, according to the report, and Jones says CPJ “raised concerns about the deliberate targeting of members of the media by the Israeli military.” CPJ classifies such killings as “murder,” the report said.

Videos analyzed by CNN show journalists were wearing body armor clearly labeled as “press” when Israeli forces struck Lebanon in October.

Jones said the committee looked into evidence that suggests the Israel Defense Forces targeted around a dozen other journalists for their work.

In response to the CPJ report, the IDF said they have made efforts to mitigate harm to journalists.

“The IDF takes all operationally feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians including journalists. The IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists,” the military said in a statement.

An Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp, located in central Gaza, left at least 12 people dead on Thursday, according to a spokesperson for Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Ten of those killed were women and children, the spokesperson and a doctor at the hospital said. The other two casualties were elderly men, they said. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the alleged airstrike. 

Meanwhile, Egypt is building a massive, miles-wide, buffer zone and wall along its border with Gaza, new satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies shows. The images, taken in the last five days, shows a significant section of Egyptian territory between a roadway and the Gaza border has been bulldozed. 

Here are the latest developments:

Egypt is building a massive, miles-wide, buffer zone and wall along its border with Gaza, new satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies shows. 

The images, taken in the last five days, shows a significant section of Egyptian territory between a roadway and the Gaza border has been bulldozed. 

When the buffer zone is completed — it stretches from the end of the Gaza border to the Mediterranean Sea — it will completely engulf the Egyptian-Rafah border crossing complex. At the actual border, multiple cranes were seen laying sections of wall.

Additional satellite imagery reviewed by CNN shows that bulldozers arrived on site on February 3, and that the initial excavation of the buffer zone began on February 6. There has been a significant uptick in excavation in the last five days. 

Videos released by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights show construction of the border wall, which they claim is 5 meters (16 feet) high. The organization – which describes itself as a non-governmental human rights group made of activists, researchers and journalists – said two local contractors told them the border wall was commissioned by the Egyptian armed forces. CNN has reached out to the Egyptian government for comment on the buffer zone and wall construction. 

The construction comes as fears that the already horrific humanitarian situation in Gaza will worsen, causing thousands of deaths and an mass exodus of Palestinians over Egypt’s border. 

All eyes are on Rafah, situated along the new buffer zone, where well over a million Palestinian refugees are taking shelter in a massive tent city. Despite international pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continued to convey that the Israel Defense Forces will move into the Rafah area at some point. Many fear that military action in the refugee tent city could spark the exodus, but also result in the deaths of thousands of civilians. 

It also comes as Netanyahu continues to rail against Egypt for not closing the Philadelphi Corridor — the strip of land between Egypt and Gaza and the Strip’s only non-Israeli controlled border. In a press briefing on January 13, Netanyahu said that Israel would not consider the war over until it was closed.

Antonio Guterres speaks at a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting in New York City on January 23.

António Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, has condemned the Israeli military raid on a Khan Younis hospital, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters on Thursday.

“We reiterate once again that hospitals must be kept free of combat, must not be subject to any sort of military action, any type of military action on a hospital must be condemned,” Dujarric said.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) raided Nasser Hospital in Gaza on Thursday and said it detained several suspects.

At least 12 people died following an Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp, located in central Gaza, on Thursday, according to a spokesperson for Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Ten of those killed were women and children, the spokesperson and a doctor at the hospital said. The other two casualties were elderly men, they said. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the alleged airstrike.  

CNN video from Al Aqsa hospital shows the deceased being brought from the camp to the facility in Deir Al-Balah. The bodies of small children shrouded in blankets were carried on stretchers, the video shows.

Members of the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) are seen treating shell-shocked survivors, who were covered in dust and blood as their loved ones tried to comfort them.  

“We heard an airstrike and then a big explosion,” said Mohammad Badawya, an ambulance driver. “We headed to the area and pulled out a number of martyrs and tens of injuries. Now we are looking for those who are missing under the rubble with the minimum tools that we have.”

In another CNN video showing the aftermath of the attack, dozens of Palestinian men and young boys could be seen standing in a landscape of crushed buildings. Civilians carried the injured while clambering over sheets of fallen concrete, upturned vehicles and barbed wire.  

Thursday’s attack came after a separate strike in Nuseirat on Wednesday evening, which killed at least 16 people and injured tens of others.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday and said his country is “deeply concerned” about the loss of civilian life in Gaza, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

Sunak also expressed the UK’s concern on the “potentially devastating humanitarian impact” of an Israeli military operation in Rafah, the spokesperson said.

Sunak “reiterated that the immediate priority must be negotiating a humanitarian pause to allow the safe release of hostages and to facilitate considerably more aid going to Gaza, leading to a longer-term sustainable ceasefire,” the Downing Street spokesperson added.

The prime minister urged Israel to open “the Kerem Shalom crossing and allow the maritime delivery of international aid through Ashdod port,” the spokesperson said.

Additionally, Sunak stressed the need for Israel to abide by International Humanitarian Law and protecting civilian infrastructure like hospitals and shelters,” the spokesperson said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference with Albania's Prime Minister in Tirana on Thursday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered his “deepest condolences” Thursday on two American teenagers “who reportedly were killed” in the West Bank and said that there must be an investigation into their deaths.

CNN previously reported that two 17-year-old Palestinian Americans had been reportedly killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces in less than a month.

In addition, an American woman was taken from her home in the West Bank and detained more than a week ago by Israeli forces. Her family alleges that she was beaten and denied medication in custody. A spokesperson for the Israel Prison Service told CNN that she was “being held in accordance with the law” and had been “given medical treatment for medical problems that arose even before her arrest.” 

Two other Americans were detained by Israeli forces during a raid of a home in Gaza last week, according to a family member in the US.

“With regard to detainees, there is a limit to what I can say because of the privacy laws and the requirements that flow from that,” Blinken said.  

“I can just say in general, without reference to specific cases, we insist that people be treated fairly, that they be treated with due process, and that they be treated humanely,” he said. “That’s something that, regardless of where an American citizen might be detained, we insist on. And we’ll continue to insist on.”

Some background: The US State Department said Tuesday that an American died in the West Bank on Saturday, but did not provide a name or the circumstances of their death. The group “Defense for Children – Palestine” said the American was 17-year-old Mohammad Ahmed Mohammad Khdour. The organization said he was shot in the head by Israeli forces on Saturday while traveling by car in the town of Biddu in the West Bank.

Last month, another American, 17-year-old Tawfic Abdel Jabbar was fatally shot in the head and the chest, his father told CNN. The IDF and Israeli police told CNN at the time it received a report that an off-duty police officer and an Israeli civilian fired toward a “Palestinian individual suspected of hurling rocks in the area of Al-Mazra’a ash-Sharqiya.”

His father, Hafiz Abdel Jabbar, pushed back on Israeli claims in an interview with CNN, saying there was no way his son could have thrown rocks at them from where he was. Abdel Jabbar added that he had video evidence of the incident, which he has sent to the United States Consulate and some senators, saying that finding answers about his son’s death has not been easy so far. 

Israeli special forces have raided Nasser Hospital, the largest functioning hospital in Gaza, after laying siege to the facility for days.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had “apprehended a number of suspects,” with spokesperson Daniel Hagari saying there was “credible intelligence from a number of sources, including from released hostages,” that Hamas had previously held hostages at the hospital. The military did not publicly release that evidence.

Hamas rejected those claims, denying to CNN that it was operating at the hospital. Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, said Israeli bulldozers were digging up mass graves within the complex walls.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what to know:

Lebanon strikes: Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander and a number of operatives in an airstrike in Lebanon late on Wednesday. Hezbollah said Thursday that a number of its fighters had been killed, but did not specify how, where and when they were killed. Israel has continued its strikes in Lebanon throughout Thursday on what it called “Hezbollah terror targets.”

Panic in Rafah: Rajaa Musleh, the Gaza representative for the non-profit organization MedGlobal, currently based in Rafah, says that health workers who are still alive “may still be breathing, but we are dying inside.” The city is the last remaining refuge in Gaza for displaced Palestinians, and panic is soaring as many decide whether to stay or leave ahead of a planned Israeli offensive.

Yemen strikes: The United States conducted four “self-defense strikes” on several targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including on missiles prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea, according to a statement from US Central Command. An explosion was reported on a ship off the Yemen coast on Thursday afternoon, though it is not clear what nationality the ship is.

Politicians reject Palestinian state: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, as well as other Israeli politicians have publicly rejected a purported plan to provide a pathway for a Palestinian state, taking to social media to argue against a two-state solution.

Charity request: Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has called for Israeli forces to “immediately” stop the attack on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, after MSF staff reported “an undetermined number of people” were killed and injured. It said the hospital was shelled “despite Israeli forces having told medical staff and patients they could remain in the facility.”

Hamas response: Israel earlier this week gave feedback on a proposed Gaza ceasefire deal, which would see the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and Qatar is waiting for a response from Hamas, a source familiar with the negotiations tells CNN. Israel’s negotiating team on Tuesday left Cairo, where indirect talks between Israel and Hamas are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

Israel soldiers: The number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war has risen to 233, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday.

The number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza since the beginning of the war has risen to 233, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday.

It comes weeks after the military experienced the deadliest day for its troops in the war so far when 24 Israeli soldiers were killed.

Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis in Gaza, on December 22, 2020.

Israeli special forces raided Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza on Thursday, the largest functioning hospital in the enclave, after laying siege to the facility for days.

The IDF said they “apprehended a number of suspects” in the hospital, adding that the operation was ongoing.

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said they had “credible intelligence from a number of sources, including from released hostages,” that Hamas had previously held hostages at the hospital, and that the bodies of deceased hostages may be at the hospital. The military did not publicly release that evidence.

He claimed that “Hamas terrorists are likely hiding behind injured civilians inside Nasser hospital right now,” and said the operation would be “precise and limited.”

Hamas has denied to CNN that it is operating at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

“Hamas has no business in the hospital,” Muhammad Nazzal, a member of the Hamas Political Bureau, told CNN on Thursday.

Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, said: “The Israeli occupation storms the Nasser Medical Complex and turns it into a military barracks after demolishing the southern wall and entering from it.” 

Israeli military bulldozers are digging up the mass graves that had been dug inside the complex walls, Dr. Al-Qidra said.

He said Israeli forces had forced nearly 200 patients to be housed under “harsh and terrifying conditions, without food, without infant formula, and with severe water shortages.”

IDF forces also destroyed two ambulances, the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-controlled enclave alleged on Thursday. They claimed the forces “stormed the maternity building and conducted a search operation inside.” 

CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces for its response to those allegations. The IDF has not so far responded to any allegations by the ministry.

It comes a day after hundreds of civilians were forced by Israeli forces to leave the hospital, which they had been using as a shelter. 

Palestinian patients arrive in Rafah, Gaza, after they were evacuated from Nasser hospital in Khan Younis due to the Israeli ground operation, on February 15.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin attends the Ash Wednesday mass at the Santa Sabina Basilica in Rome, Italy, on February 14.

Israel has lashed out at the Vatican over comments made by a senior official, in which he referred to Israel’s war in Gaza as “carnage” and “disproportionate.”

Holy See Secretary of State Pietro Parolin made the remarks Tuesday at a reception celebrating the anniversary of the recognition of Vatican City as a sovereign city state. He condemned the October 7 attacks and “all forms of antisemitism” but then questioned whether Israel’s reaction was appropriate. 

“Israel’s right to self-defense has been invoked to justify that this operation is proportional, but with 30,000 dead, it’s not,” he said.

The Israel embassy to the Holy See called Parolin’s comments “regrettable“ in a statement issued on Thursday in English. In an earlier Italian version, the embassy used the term “deplorable,” but softened the language in the English version to “regrettable.”

“Judging the legitimacy of a war without taking into account ALL relevant circumstances and data inevitably leads to wrong conclusions,” the unsigned statement reads.

It then lists what it refers to as “relevant data,” saying that “Gaza was transformed by Hamas into the biggest terrorist base ever.” 

“There was hardly any civilian infrastructure that was not used by Hamas for its criminal plans. This includes hospitals, schools, places of worship and many others,” it says. 

The statement goes on to say that the Israeli response has been “in full compliance with international law” and that “three civilians lost their lives for every Hamas militant killed.”

Rescuers check a building targeted overnight by an Israeli air strike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on February 15.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it killed a senior commander and two operatives belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces in an airstrike conducted late Wednesday in Lebanese territory.

The airstrike, carried out on a Hezbollah military structure in Nabatieh, resulted in the deaths of all three individuals, according to the IDF. Ali Muhammad al-Debs, whom they describe as a senior Hezbollah commander, his deputy, Ibrahim Issa and a third unnamed “terror operative” were killed in the airstrike, it said.

“Al-Debs was amongst those who directed the terrorist attack at the Megiddo Junction in Israel in March 2023. He led, planned, and carried out terrorist activity toward the State of Israel, especially during this war,” the IDF said.

Hezbollah said Thursday that a number of its fighters were killed without specifying how, where and when they were killed. One of those killed is Ali Muhammad al-Debs, Hezbollah said. They did not identify him as a “commander.”

“With greater pride and honor, the Islamic Resistance mourns the martyr, the Mujahid Ali Muhammad al-Debs, born in 1976 from the town of Balat and resident of the town of Zabdin in southern Lebanon, who rose as a martyr on the road to Al-Quds,” a Hezbollah statement read.

Hezbollah also claimed that it carried out additional strikes on Israeli army positions on Thursday.

Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli military along the Lebanon-Israel border since October, which it says is to support its Palestinian ally Hamas amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

An explosion near a ship 85 nautical miles east of Yemen’s port city of Aden was reported on Thursday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said in its latest advisory note.

“The Master reports an explosion in close proximity to the vessel. The crew and the vessel are reported safe and the vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” the UKMTO said.

It is unclear what nationality the ship is.

In recent weeks, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been stepping up their strikes on ships in the Red Sea, which they say are retaliation against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza.

On Monday, Houthi rebels fired on a Greek-owned commercial vessel headed for Iran, according to US Central Command and the US State Department.

Earlier on Thursday, the US said it had struck targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen that “presented an imminent threat,” iincluding on missiles prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.

Israel earlier this week gave feedback on a proposed Gaza ceasefire deal, which would see the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and Qatar is waiting for a response from Hamas, a source familiar with the negotiations tells CNN.

“Qatar are talking to Hamas in Doha and waiting for their response to the Israeli feedback from the Cairo meeting,” the source said, adding that “the major sticking point remains the Israeli withdrawal of troops from Gaza.”

Israel’s negotiating team on Tuesday left Cairo, where indirect talks between Israel and Hamas are being mediated by Qatar and Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said Hamas must change its negotiating position before talks can continue in Cairo.

A diplomat familiar with the discussions told CNN Wednesday that Israel had told mediators they will continue to engage in talks but have so far rejected a counterproposal made by Hamas that demanded a large release of Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinian medics stand outside a Red Crescent ambulance during an Israeli army military operation inside the Tulkarem Palestinian refugee camp in the occupied West bank on January 17.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has rejected Israeli military accusations against it and objected to arrests of staff at a hospital in the south Gazan city of Khan Younis earlier this month.

The IDF said that during an operation at al-Amal hospital last week, its forces “detained approximately 20 terrorists, including members of the Hamas terrorist organization who were hiding in the hospital.”

It was, the IDF alleged, “further evidence of Hamas’ cynical exploitation of the Gazan civilian population, with Hamas’ use of hospitals and civilian infrastructure as shields for its terrorist operatives and activities.”

The PRCS said nine of its medical and administrative staff were arrested, along with several patients and their companions.

But, the organization said its employees “do not carry out any work outside the scope of their humanitarian mission.”

“The occupation forces’ methods of defaming medical teams and accusing them of performing actions that fall outside the scope of their humanitarian mission are nothing but a poor attempt to justify their commission of war crimes by killing medical personnel in addition to bombing and destroying hospitals,” the PRCS said in a statement Thursday.

“The PRCS believes that these accusations are only part of a series of excuses fabricated by the occupation forces to justify the siege, bombing, storming of hospitals, and killing of PRCS medical staff and others in the Gaza Strip.”

Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), has called for Israeli forces “immediately” to stop the attack on the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, after MSF staff reported “an undetermined number of people” were killed and injured.

The hospital “was shelled in the early hours of this morning, despite Israeli Forces having told medical staff and patients they could remain in the facility,” the charity said Thursday on social media, adding that thousands of displaced people were ordered to evacuate the hospital on February 13.

“Following shelling this morning, our staff reported a chaotic situation, with an undetermined number of people killed and injured,” MSF said, adding that since the attack, one of their colleagues remains unaccounted for.

MSF called on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to “immediately stop this attack, as it endangers medical staff and patients who are still stuck inside the facility.”

“Our medical staff have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind. Israeli Forces set up a checkpoint to screen people leaving the compound; one of our colleagues was detained at this checkpoint. We call for his safety and the protection of his dignity,” MSF also said.

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli special forces entered Nasser Hospital. The IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, on Thursday said that “Hamas terrorists are likely hiding behind injured civilians inside Nasser hospital right now.” Hamas has denied to CNN that it is operating at the hospital. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pictured at the Chancellery on March 16, 2023 in Berlin, Germany.

A spokesperson in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Thursday has rejected any discussion, for the moment, about a Palestinian state.

“Now is not the time to be speaking about gifts for the Palestinian people,” Avi Hyman, spokesperson for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, told CNN during a press briefing.

CNN had asked Hyman about reporting by The Washington Post that the Biden Administration and “a small group of Middle East partners” are working to formulate a comprehensive peace plan, which “could be announced as early as the next several weeks.”

“Here is Israel, we’re still in the aftermath of the October 7th massacre,” Hyman said.

“Now is the time for victory – total victory against Hamas. And we will continue on the path to victory. All discussions about the day after Hamas will be had the day after Hamas.”

US President Joe Biden has made clear that he hopes that a ceasefire deal, which would see the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, could lead to a more lasting peace “on the basis of the two-state solution.” 

An aerial view of the Knesset building, Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, on October 23 2018.

Israeli politicians, including far-right ministers in government, have publicly rejected a purported plan to provide a pathway for a Palestinian state, taking to social media to argue against a two-state solution.

The Washington Post on Wednesday reported that the Biden Administration and “a small group of Middle East partners” are working to formulate a “comprehensive plan” for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, which would include a pathway to a Palestinian state.

CNN cannot confirm The Washington Post’s reporting.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called it “a reward for the terrible massacre they [Hamas] did to us” on October 7. “The message is that it pays very well to massacre Israeli citizens,” Smotrich – who also holds a position within the Defense Ministry – said on X.

Additionally, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right Israeli Security Minister, expressed his rejection of the plan on X, saying “1,400 are murdered and the world wants to give them a state. Not going to happen!”

But, it is not only far-right ministers rejecting the purported plan.

Gideon Sa’ar, a center-right politician who left Likud and is now part of Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, said that the reported plan would “not only not resolve the conflict but will make it intractable.”

“The Palestinians will receive recognition in the state without paying the price of compromise and will continue the conflict from an upgraded position that will harm Israel’s right to self-defense,” Saar said on X.

Ze’ev Elkin, who is also a member of National Unity, said it was “not going to happen!” and that creating the state would lead to the “risk of a repeat of the events of 7.10 for the entire country” on X.

The United States conducted four “self-defense strikes” Wednesday on several targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, including on missiles prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea, according to a statement from US Central Command.

The US targeted seven mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, three mobile unmanned aerial vehicles and one explosive unmanned surface vessel that were determined to present “an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” according to CENTCOM.

The strikes were conducted between 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. local time Wednesday (5 a.m. and 12 p.m.ET), according to the statement.

“These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels,” CENTCOM said in the release.

Over the last month, the US has carried out dozens of strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen and over the Red Sea as the rebel group has repeatedly attacked vessels traveling through the key shipping route in response to Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian children wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen in Rafah, Gaza, on February 13.

Rajaa Musleh, the Gaza representative for the non-profit organization MedGlobal, currently based in Rafah, has painted a vivid picture of the situation in the besieged town, saying that health workers who are still alive “may still be breathing, but we are dying inside.” 

The city is the last remaining refuge in Gaza for displaced Palestinians, and panic is soaring as many decide whether to stay or leave ahead of a planned Israeli offensive. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu directed the country’s military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah after saying the IDF would “soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion.”

“The situation we are enduring in Rafah is horrific and getting worse every day. We do not have water to drink or food to eat, and our healthcare facilities can hardly operate,” Musleh said.

She said the surviving healthcare workers are struggling “as we work to save ourselves and our patients in urgent and dire need of physical and psychological care.”

The Israeli Air Force, for a second day, struck what it called “Hezbollah terror targets” in Lebanon, following a deadly rocket attack in Israel that killed one soldier.

Hezbollah has neither commented on nor claimed responsibility for that attack on an Israeli base near Safed.

“A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck dozens of Hezbollah terror targets in the area of Wadi Saluki, including launch posts, military structures, and terrorist infrastructure,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on Thursday.
“Additionally, this morning, fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the area of Labbouneh. Furthermore, a Hezbollah military structure in the area of Taybeh was struck overnight.” 

Israel’s strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday killed 12 people, including children, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency.

One IDF soldier was killed Wednesday when a rocket coming from Lebanon struck a base in northern Israel.

In this screen grab obtained from social media video, a man blocks an entrance at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, on February 15.

An Israeli strike killed at least one person and wounded “many” others after hitting the orthopedic department at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

“The oxygen tube was damaged and oxygen leaked, which led to a decrease in oxygen pressure in the Nasser Medical Complex, especially in the intensive care department,” the ministry said.

Footage shared with CNN by Dr. Ahmad Moghrabi from inside the hospital showed bloodied patients, covered in dust, being wheeled through a corridor while the hissing sound of compressed air could be heard.

In another video, a man with his face covered in blood is carried through a darkened hallway.

In a video filmed by journalist Mohammad Salama, hospital staff can be seen helping move patients out of a damaged area in the facility. Sections of the roof have collapsed and there is thick dust in the air. In some hallways, the lights have gone out.

A separate statement from the health minister in Ramallah, Mai Al-Kailah, said Israeli soldiers had also stormed the courtyard of the complex and fired on the building.

“The displaced people took refuge in the Nasser Medical Complex to escape the brutal occupation aggression, and there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip, and international humanitarian law guarantees the right of every safe person in civil institutions protected under the Geneva Conventions,” she said.

The Nasser complex is the largest remaining functioning medical facility in Gaza. More than 1,500 displaced people are still inside, according to the health ministry. 

The IDF said Wednesday that its soldiers had “opened a secure route to evacuate the civilian population taking shelter in the area of the Nasser Hospital toward the humanitarian zone.” 

Doctors and medical officials in Gaza have said Israeli snipers shot dead multiple people as they tried to leave the complex in recent days.

Read more about the besieged hospital here.

A picture shows the damages to a building targeted overnight by an Israeli airstrike in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh on February 15.

A series of Israeli airstrikes across southern Lebanon killed 12 people, including children, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Seven members of the same family were killed in a residential building in Nabatieh, the third time the southern Lebanese city has been targeted since October, according to the agency.

A child who survived the strikes was found under the rubble after more than four hours of search and rescue operations.

In the town of Souwaneh, three members of one family were killed, including a two-year-old and a 13-year-old boy, the agency reported.

The strikes came after the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday said that it had struck “Hezbollah terror targets” in Lebanon in response to a deadly rocket attack on the Israeli city of Safed that they said originated from Lebanese territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a media conference in Tel Aviv on October 12, 2023. 

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday reiterated his intention to order concerted military operations in Rafah, vowing that his country will fight “until the absolutely victory.”

Netanyahu said “powerful action” would come in the southern Gazan city after the evacuation of civilians from “battle zones.”

A growing number of world leaders and NGOs have called on Israel to avoid a ground operation in what is now Gaza’s most populated city, with a Red Cross official saying “countless lives are hanging in the balance.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemned Israel’s planned ground offensive, saying it would create a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

It comes as the Israeli military said Wednesday that it has struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, as the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff warned of an ongoing offensive against targets in the neighboring country. The strikes follow an earlier deadly rocket attack from Lebanon on a northern Israeli city.

Here are the latest headlines:

Men walk through the rubble of a mosque that was destroyed during Israeli bombardment in Rafah, Gaza, on February 14.

Israel’s plans to launch a ground offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah would be “catastrophic,” the prime ministers of Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned in a joint statement Thursday.

 “We are gravely concerned by indications that Israel is planning a ground offensive into Rafah,” the statement said, adding that any military action in an area where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are taking refuge “would be catastrophic.”

The world leaders called on Israel to heed “growing international consensus” and not “go down this path,” as “there is simply nowhere else for civilians to go.”

They cited the International Court of Justice, which ordered Israel to ensure the delivery of essential humanitarian aid and the protection of civilians in Gaza.

The group added that “any ceasefire cannot be one sided” and reiterated calls for the release of all Israeli hostages.

Doctors and medical officials in Gaza said Israeli snipers had shot dead a number of people as they tried to leave the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern city of Khan Younis over recent days.

An eyewitness to the shootings, who is a trauma surgeon at the hospital, said at least two people were killed by snipers on Tuesday, with more shot and wounded.

The Israel Defense Forces ordered hospital staff and patients to evacuate and said it had “opened a secure route” for civilians to leave.

But at least eight people trying to escape along the route came under gunfire on Tuesday, said the surgeon, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

In a series of voice notes, the surgeon said medical teams had been under bombardment for at least three days. His testimony was shared with CNN by his colleague.

Among those wounded, the surgeon said, was a 16-year-old boy shot with four bullets at the hospital gate.

“The tanks and the snipers (are) surrounding the hospital from all directions,” the surgeon said Wednesday. “They threatened to bomb the hospital within half an hour,” he said.  

In a video seen by CNN, adults and young children wearing rucksacks frantically gathered their belongings to evacuate the hospital, as Israeli drones buzzed overhead.

The Nasser complex is the largest remaining functioning medical facility in Gaza. More than 1,500 displaced people are still inside, according to the health ministry. 

The IDF confirmed to CNN that Israeli troops were operating in the area of the Nasser Medical Complex but did not respond directly to the allegations.

Mick Krever contributed reporting. 

US President Joe Biden speaks on the Senate's recent passage of the National Security Supplemental Bill, which provides military aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, in the State Dining Room of the White House on February 13, in Washington, DC.

US President Joe Biden granted Palestinians in the United States temporary protection from deportation amid the ongoing conflict overseas, according to a new memo.

The move comes as the White House faces immense pressure from the Arab-American community over the situation in Gaza.

Late last year, Democrats urged Biden to extend temporary protections to Palestinians in the US, arguing that those already in the country “should not be forced to return to the Palestinian territories, consistent with President Biden’s stated commitment to protecting Palestinian civilians.”

The president has the discretion to authorize what’s known as deferred enforced departure, which protects those covered from removal from the US for a period of time. Those who qualify are also eligible for work permits. 

“In light of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian needs on the ground, President Biden signed a memorandum directing the deferral of removal of certain Palestinians who are present in the United States, giving them a temporary safe haven,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement Wednesday. 
“Specifically, President Biden is granting deferred enforced departure for 18 months to Palestinians that are currently in the United States,” the statement continues.

Those convicted of felonies or who pose a public safety threat are not eligible for deferred enforced departure.

Displaced Palestinians stand outside their tents in Rafah, Gaza on February 14.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock condemned Israel’s plans to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, saying it would create a “humanitarian catastrophe.” 

Speaking during a news conference after she met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Baerbock drew attention to the plight of displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah. 

“More than half of Gaza’s population is currently seeking shelter in Rafah. 1.3 million people are waiting there in a very small space. They don’t really have anywhere else to go right now,” Baerbock said.
“These people cannot simply vanish into thin air. If the Israeli army were to launch an offensive on Rafah under these conditions, it would be a humanitarian catastrophe in the making,” she said.

This comes as Netanyahu promised a “powerful action” in Rafah after the civilian population is evacuated, according to a statement posted on X. 

During her talks, Baerbock said she pushed for “more border crossings be opened quickly” so more humanitarian aid and medical supplies can reach people in Gaza. 

The foreign minister also laid out Germany’s support for a ceasefire, saying it would create “a window of opportunity to free the hostages and to get more humanitarian aid in.” 

UN Security Council convenes an emergency session to deliberate on the escalating conflict in Gaza at the UN headquarters in New York on February 5.

Arab countries at the United Nations are preparing to introduce a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, they said Wednesday.

The resolution would also call for unimpeded humanitarian relief and would block any transfer of residents of Gaza to a different location — which Arab countries insist is forced collective punishment against international law.

The United States has publicly stated it opposed the draft resolution. 

Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said the group had good, frank talks with the US Ambassador. Mansour said it is “high time” for the UN to act with a ceasefire resolution. and said the “internal business of the US is their business.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, December 10, 2023.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his intention to order Israel’s military to go into Rafah after the civilian population is evacuated, according to a new statement posted on X Wednesday.

“We will fight until the absolutely victory and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones,” Netanyahu said.

Some background: US President Joe Biden told Netanyahu previously that an operation in Rafah “should not proceed” without ensuring the safety of the people sheltering there, the White House said.

Some other world leaders and NGOs including the United Nations have called on Israel to avoid a ground operation in what is now Gaza’s most populated city.

French president Emmanel Macron and World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday appealed to Israel not to move forward with a Rafah ground operation.

Netanyahu said on Sunday that Rafah is “Hamas’s last bastion,” and that Israel will get the “remaining Hamas terrorist battalions” there, in an interview with ABC News.

The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it had struck “Hezbollah terror targets” in Lebanon, as the IDF chief of staff warned of an ongoing offensive against targets in Lebanon.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group that is a regional force in its own right, has not claimed responsibility for, nor commented on the attack.

“The next campaign will have a very strong offensive, and we will use all our tools and capabilities,” the IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said during a meeting with local leaders in northern Israel. “There is still a long way to go, and we will do it together.”

The strikes followed a deadly rocket attack on the northern Israeli city of Safed, which the IDF said originated from Lebanese territory.

“A short while ago, IDF fighter jets struck a series of Hezbollah terror targets in the areas of Jabal el Braij, Houneh, Dunin, Aadchit, and Souaneh,” an IDF statement said. “Among the targets struck were military compounds, operational control rooms, and terror infrastructure used by Hezbollah terrorists. Several targets belonged to the Redwan Forces.”