February 29, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

US administration and intelligence officials are concerned that Israel is planning a ground incursion into Lebanon that could be launched in the coming months if diplomatic efforts fail to push Hezbollah back from the northern border with Israel, senior administration officials and officials familiar with the intelligence said.

While a final Israeli decision has yet to be made, the worry is acute enough inside the Biden administration that the prospect of an incursion has made its way into intelligence briefings for senior administration officials, according to one person who received a briefing and was told an operation could happen early summer.

The leadership of Hezbollah, a powerful Iran-backed paramilitary group, has expressed support for Palestinians and condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza.

There have been months of daily, deadly cross-border strikes by both Israel and Hezbollah that have displaced tens of thousands of Lebanese and Israeli residents from their homes. Israel has fired artillery and launched jets and drones to strike targets while Hezbollah has used some of its vast arsenal of rockets and missiles.

While the US is a key mediator in discussions over a pause in the fighting in Gaza, the Biden administration has also been leading parallel discussions with Israeli and Lebanese officials that if successful would create a miles-wide buffer zone inside southern Lebanon. That deal would likely postpone an Israeli incursion, US officials believe.

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The United States considering airdropping aid into Gaza as the humanitarian crisis there worsens and aid fails to reach people in the war-torn territory, two US officials told CNN on Wednesday.

US officials have consistently said that much more must be done for critically, necessary assistance to reach people in Gaza, where more than 2 million people are at “imminent risk” of famine, according to the United Nations. 

Hospitals face dire conditions, and at least six children have died in recent days as a result of dehydration and malnutrition in Gazan medical facilities, according to the enclave's health ministry. 

Earlier this week, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar and France airdropped aid in various areas in Gaza, in a sign of how desperate the situation has become. Top US officials have called on Israel to open more crossings to allow aid to enter Gaza, as the flow of trucks into the enclave trickled down to less than 100 per day last week, according to USAID chief Samantha Power.

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Fifty-five foreign news correspondents have signed a letter calling for international media to be allowed "free and unfettered" access to Gaza to conduct comprehensive on-the-ground reporting on Israel's war with Hamas.

The letter is addressed to the governments of Israel and Egypt and was delivered to their embassies in London.

Those who signed the letter include CNN's Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour and Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward. Dozens more international correspondents from Sky News, BBC, Channel 4, ITN, CBS, NBC and ABC also signed the letter.  

The letter also emphasized the importance of on-the-ground reporting.

"There is intense global interest in the events in Gaza and for now the only reporting has come from journalists who were already based there," the letter says.

Reporting restrictions: Foreign media have been allowed limited access to Gaza, which has been either embedded with the Israeli military on condition of viewing and approving unedited raw footage or, in rare instances, with humanitarian aid convoys into the enclave.

There has been no public response to the letter from Israel or Egypt.

The New Zealand government designated all of Hamas as a “terrorist entity” on Thursday, broadening its policy on the Islamist group.

The country now considers Hamas' political wing a "terrorist entity". It designated the military wing of Hamas a "terrorist entity" in 2010.

“What happened on 7 October reinforces we can no longer distinguish between the military and political wings of Hamas,” New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said.

He said that the “organisation as a whole bears responsibility for these horrific terrorist attacks.”

The move means that any assets of Hamas in New Zealand will be frozen, and any financial or property transactions or material support to Hamas is now a criminal offense in the country.

Calls to end violence: New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon clarified that “this designation targets Hamas, not the provision of private humanitarian support to Palestinian civilians.”

It will also not hinder New Zealand's efforts to provide humanitarian and development assistance to the civilians in Gaza, Luxon said.

Consular support to New Zealand citizens or permanent residents in the conflict zone will also not be affected.

Peters said that Wellington remains “gravely concerned” about the impact of the conflict on civilians in Gaza and called “for an end to the violence and an urgent resumption of the Middle East Peace Process.”

The United States is looking into possible airdrops of aid into Gaza as the humanitarian crisis there worsens and aid fails to reach people in the war-torn territory, two US officials told CNN on Wednesday.

US officials have consistently said that much more must be done for critically necessary assistance to reach people in Gaza, where more than 2 million people are at “imminent risk” of famine, according to the United Nations. 

One US official said the prospect of airdrops is being seriously considered based on conditions on the ground. Axios first reported that the US is exploring the move.

Earlier this week, Jordan, Egypt, the UAE, Qatar and France airdropped relief aid on various areas in the Gaza Strip, in a sign of how desperate the situation has become. 

Top US officials have called on Israel to open additional crossings to allow aid to enter Gaza, as the flow of trucks into the enclave trickled down to less than 100 per day last week, according to Samantha Power, administrator for the US Agency for International Development.

Power met on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, one of the US officials told CNN.

Israeli airstrikes on central Gaza killed at least 20 people on Wednesday, according to health officials at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

The death toll could rise, as many people remain under the rubble, the officials said.

Several witnesses told CNN on Wednesday that airstrikes hit residential buildings in Al Bureij and Nuseirat in central Gaza.

CNN cannot independently verify the number of casualties.

A video obtained by CNN from Al-Aqsa Hospital shows multiple deceased people being brought from the area to the facility. It shows the bodies of several people being wrapped in white cloth.

The footage showed family members weeping and crying hysterically near the bodies. 

The video also shows several wounded people being carried on stretchers.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on the airstrike.

The United States called on Israel to sign a letter pledging it will not commit human rights violations with US weapons, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said.

He noted the request is not specific to Israel, but applies to all nations who receive US military assistance.

He said the letter calls on countries receiving US assistance to "provide us written assurances that recipients, number one, will use the weapons in accordance with the US with a law of war and, number two, will facilitate and not arbitrarily deny or restrict humanitarian assistance."

“It requires a 45-day timeline for these countries to provide written assurances, so we’re going about that process now,” he said.

More context: Israel has come under immense scrutiny for the way it has prosecuted its war in Gaza. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and US officials have repeatedly called on Israel to do more to decrease the death toll. There are growing calls from Congress to condition military aid to Israel. Nations around the world are sounding the alarm against a potential military offensive in Rafah, where more than a million people have been displaced.

Miller previously confirmed that the US is assessing civilian harm from US weapons in Israel.

At least six children died in recent days as a result of dehydration and malnutrition in Gazan medical facilities, the health ministry said.

At least four children died at Kamal Adwan Hospital over the past few days, and two children died at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex on Wednesday, according to the health ministry and a local doctor.

Safiya said the generators would stop working tonight because of the hospital's fuel shortage, "which means our incubators and oxygen supply will stop and only will run on solar panels during the day."

Safiya also pointed out the lack of medical aid and baby formula in the hospital and said babies are getting milk that's "diluted and not concentrated" every five or six hours instead of the recommended three to four hours.

Mothers are unable to produce natural milk "due to dehydration and lack of nutritional food," Safiya said.

The United Nations is urging an investigation into indiscriminate Israeli fire that killed half of a family in Gaza, after a CNN report about it was published Wednesday.

“We call for a full investigation into what was reported,” the UN secretary-general’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday during a news conference, in response to a question from CNN. 

The UN does not have its own information on the incident, “but they need to be investigated,” Dujarric said, reiterating the UN’s plea for Israel to allow more journalists in Gaza.