March 14, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

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

The Australian government announced on Friday that it would resume funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) following steps to strengthen the integrity of the organization’s operations.

UNRWA supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees.

In resuming funding, the Australian government said it is “responding to a humanitarian situation in Gaza which is dire,” according to a statement.

It said its decision was in line with steps taken by Canada, Sweden and the EU.”

“It is expected that more countries that have paused will take a similar approach,” the Australian government said.
“In disbursing the $6 million ($3.9 million USD) to UNRWA’s flash appeal, Australia is finalising an updated funding agreement that will include stringent conditions such as guarantees of staff neutrality, and confidence in supply chains.”

Australia paused funding to the UNRWA in January following allegations from Israel that a number of the agency’s staff were directly involved in Hamas’ October 7 attacks.

“The Australian Government will work with UNRWA on an ongoing basis to ensure its integrity and neutrality are beyond reproach,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in statement.

Australia will also deliver 140 parachutes for use in humanitarian airdrops by Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, the Australian government said.

Australia will also provide $4 million AUD ($2.6 million USD) to UNICEF and $2 million AUD ($1.3 million USD) to a new mechanism of the UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, to facilitate expanded humanitarian access into the enclave.

US forces destroyed nine anti-ship missiles and two drones in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Thursday, according to US Central Command.

“It was determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, Iranian-backed Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Gulf of Aden and two more missiles toward the Red Sea, CENTCOM said.

No one was injured and no ships reported any damage.

The White House on Thursday welcomed the appointment of the new prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Dr. Mohammed Mustafa.

“We urge the formation of a reform cabinet as soon as possible,” National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement. “A reformed Palestinian Authority is essential to delivering results for the Palestinian people and establishing the conditions for stability in both the West Bank and Gaza.”

Mustafa replaces former Prime Minister Mohammed Shttayah, who resigned in February along with his government.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denied attacking dozens of people waiting for food aid near the Kuwait roundabout in Gaza City.

“The reports that the IDF attacked dozens of Gazans at an aid distribution point are false,” the military said in a statement shared with CNN early Friday. 

The military added it was assessing “the incident with the thoroughness that it deserves.”

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza reported Thursday that Israeli shelling killed at least 20 people and wounded 155 others while people waited for food aid.

Gazans have reported several such attacks by Israeli soldiers on crowds lining up for aid in recent weeks.

At least 20 people have been killed and 155 others wounded by Israeli shelling as civilians waited for food aid in Gaza City, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza.

The health ministry accused Israeli forces of “targeting a gathering of citizens waiting for humanitarian aid to satisfy their thirst at the Kuwaiti roundabout in Gaza.” The roundabout is known as an area where aid trucks commonly distribute food, attracting crowds of people desperate for supplies.

The health ministry said nearby hospitals didn’t have the staff or supplies to deal with the volume and severity of injuries.

Videos showed dozens of bodies at the scene covered in rubble. Eyewitnesses said the area was struck by what sounded like tank or artillery fire.

Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal also accused Israel of being behind the attack in a statement late Thursday.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. 

Earlier violence at the site: At least seven Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded Wednesday when Israeli forces opened fire on civilians gathered to receive aid at the roundabout, an eyewitness and a doctor at Al-Shifa Hospital told CNN earlier Thursday.

Gazans have reported several such attacks by Israeli soldiers on crowds lining up for aid in recent weeks.

CNN cannot independently verify casualty figures due to the lack of international media access to the enclave. The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday’s alleged shooting.

The post has been updated with details about the shelling and about the Wednesday attack at the roundabout.

Hamas submitted a new response to Egyptian and Qatari mediators in the ongoing talks for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, according to a diplomat familiar with the negotiations and a Qatari official.

It is unclear how Hamas may have countered in order to bridge the significant gaps between the two sides.

CNN previously reported that the first phase of a deal had been expected to include a six-week humanitarian pause, the release of around 40 Israeli hostages, and a large number of Palestinian prisoners. The hostages would be the remaining Israeli women — including Israel Defense Forces soldiers, the elderly, sick and wounded.

There had been sticking points — among them, Hamas had refused to send Israel a list of all the hostages believed to be alive or dead. Hamas has been asking for a large number of Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged, additional aid into the strip, and the IDF to withdraw from Gaza in a second phase.

A US official tells CNN the administration currently feels “cautiously optimistic” about the direction that the talks are going. But they declined to share any further details.

CNN’s MJ Lee and Becky Anderson contributed reporting.

It will take years to clear nearly 23 million metric tons of debris in Gaza from the destruction of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the United Nations.

Much of the debris is from residential units and other properties across the enclave following Israeli bombardment, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, citing UN humanitarian partners.

It will also take years to “clear up unexploded ordnances,” said Dujarric, to give a scope of the “rebuilding efforts that will be necessary once this conflict ends,” he added.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Thursday to protest the exemption of ultra-Orthodox from mandatory military service.

Ultra-Orthodox Israelis have long held a privileged position in that society. Their religious schools, or yeshivas, receive generous government subsidies. Yet young men of the Haredim, as they are known in Hebrew, are, in all practical terms, exempt from mandatory military service.

In 1998, Israel’s Supreme Court ripped up the longstanding exemption, telling the government that allowing Haredim to get out of conscription violated equal protection principles. In the decades since, successive governments and parliaments have tried to solve the issue, only to be told repeatedly by the court that their efforts were illegal.

Now, those piecemeal attempts to maintain the Haredi exemption may be running out. The latest government attempt to paper over the problem, in place since 2018, expires at the end of March.

Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid has long criticized the exemption, saying in a post on X in March: “It is not possible for 66,000 ultra-Orthodox young men of conscription age to receive a blanket exemption while the working and paying public continues to bear the entire burden.”

CNN’s Mick Krever contributed reporting to this post.

The father of Itay Chen — an Israeli-American soldier who was believed to have been held hostage in Gaza but who the Israeli military recently disclosed was dead — said while the family held hope his son was alive, it was “psychological warfare.” 

“The last five months have been basically psychological warfare that Hamas and ISIS have been doing by not communicating that Itay actually was killed,” Ruby Chen told CNN’s Jake Tapper in his first TV interview since learning Monday that his son was killed on October 7. 

Chen added that he believes Hamas and ISIS used his son “just for the sake of causing more torture” and “as a pawn for some crazy type of negotiation tactics that they have.” 

Chen shared that he has received condolences from President Joe Biden and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and said he appreciates the support. The president, Chen said, shared “how to look forward and how to think of how to put the pieces back together,” recounting the loss of his first wife and daughter in a tragic car accident in 1972.   

Some context: Israel considers people hostages even after death until their remains are returned. Chen’s remains were taken into Gaza after he was killed, the IDF said Tuesday, and he is at least the fourth dual US citizen whose body is being held in Gaza. 

CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji and MJ Lee contributed to this post. 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appointed Dr. Mohammad Mustafa as prime minister to form a new government, according to the official WAFA news agency Thursday.

“I call on you as Prime Minister-designate of the next government to commit to the highest interests of the Palestinian people, preserve their gains, protect their achievements, develop them and advance them,” Abbas said in a presidential decree, as posted by WAFA.

Mustafa has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization since 2022 and has held the positions of deputy prime minister and minister of economy in previous governments, according to WAFA.

UK Secretary of State David Cameron welcomed Mustafa’s appointment.

“The formation of a new Palestinian government for the West Bank and Gaza, accompanied by an international support package, is one of the vital elements for lasting peace,” Cameron posted on X Thursday.

Mustafa will replace former Prime Minister Mohammed Shttayah, who resigned in February along with his government.

Shtayyeh opened the door to a national unity government, including Hamas in his resignation statement back in February, without explicitly naming the militant group.

Israel’s far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir said that the US Treasury Department’s decision to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank is “further proof that the US government does not understand who is the enemy and who is a friend.”

He claimed Tuesday that the settlers “build, settle and bring security to the country” and “deserve a salute not a knife in the back.”

Remember: The US announced new sanctions on three Israeli settlers and two farms in the West Bank on Thursday, as the administration targets threats to peace and security in the area.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is “expected to respect Israel’s elected government and not undermine it,” Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party said Thursday after the US senator criticized the Israeli prime minister and his government, calling for new elections. 

“Israel is not a banana republic but an independent and proud democracy that elected Prime Minister Netanyahu,” reads the Likud statement. “Contrary to Schumer’s words, the Israeli public supports a total victory over Hamas” and “opposes the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza,” it said. 

Remember: In its annual report released Monday, the US intelligence community assessed that the distrust in Netanyahu’s leadership has “deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections.”

Meanwhile, Israeli war cabinet minister and the head of the National Unity party Benny Gantz also criticized the remarks. 

Schumer “is a friend of Israel, who helps it a lot, also in these days, but he was wrong in his statement,” Gantz said. “Israel is a strong democracy, and only its citizens will determine its leadership and future. Any external intervention in the matter is not right and unacceptable.”

Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the US, said Thursday, “As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7.”

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said he does not believe that the remarks will make it more difficult for the US to deal with Netanyahu, pointing out that the Israelis know that the comments did not come from the executive branch.

The post was updated with information from the US intelligence report released Monday.

A large collection of activist groups in the greater Chicago area sent a harshly critical letter to the White House ahead of a meeting between officials in US President Joe Biden’s administration and Arab and Muslim leaders.

“There is no point in more meetings. The White House already knows the position of the aforementioned groups and our allies across the nation,” the letter states.

The signees demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and said a meeting “would only act to whitewash months of White House inaction followed by meek handouts.”

“We are interested in serious action,” the activists said.

A few dozen coalitions and community leaders signed the letter. Tarek Khalil, an attorney and board member with American Muslims for Palestine-Chicago, was among those who spearheaded the letter. Khalil was not personally invited to the White House meeting, but suggested “a good portion” of the signatories were. 

It was not immediately clear who would be represented at the meeting, and the White House declined to provide a list of attendees. 

“You cannot play firefighter and arsonist at the same time,” Khalil said of the US policy on the conflict.

A White House official did not directly address the letter when asked for comment. The White House has declined to provide a list of attendees at the meeting.

Remember: The US has strongly supported Israel through its war in Gaza. The rising death toll, widespread destruction and unfolding humanitarian crisis have cast a shadow on Biden’s 2024 reelection bid, as seen in Michigan, where Democratic primary voters cast protest ballots.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has criticized Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and called for new elections in a speech about the war on the Senate floor.

In the speech, Schumer said Israelis needed to consider whether they should change course on how Israel is waging its war on Hamas and suggested new elections were the way to do so.

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said it was “grotesque and hypocritical” for Americans to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader, while the White House did not weigh in on Schumer’s remarks.

The comments come as Israel says it intends to move 1.4 million displaced Palestinians from the southern city of Gaza to “humanitarian enclaves” before a planned military assault there. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the Rafah offensive was “something we need to do” but the timing will depend on “the conditions to allow it.”

A potential offensive in the city has drawn international criticism — including from US President Joe Biden.

If you’re just joining our coverage, here are the latest headlines:

Correction: This post has been updated to clarify the occupied Palestinian territories where the health ministry says Palestinians were killed.

At least seven Palestinians were killed, and 86 others injured, when Israeli troops opened fire while civilians waited for humanitarian aid in Gaza City on Wednesday, according to an eyewitness and a doctor at a nearby hospital.

Many of the people transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital from the aid site suffered bullet wounds, according to Fathi Obaid, a doctor in the medical center’s emergency department. Obaid said the hospital struggled to treat all the patients because of medicine and equipment shortages.

Nimr Abu Atta, a patient at the hospital who was shot in the stomach, said he had been hit with “gunfire from an Israeli tank.”

Abu Atta said he went to an area in Gaza City known as the Kuwait roundabout — where aid trucks commonly distribute food, attracting crowds of people desperate for supplies — to pick up flour for his children when he was hit.

“My wife was killed two months ago in the war, and I am caring for my seven children,” he said. 

The Israel Defense Forces has not yet responded to a CNN query about the alleged shooting.

Violence at aid sites: Gazans have reported several deadly attacks by Israeli soldiers on crowds of civilians lining up for aid in recent weeks.

The Gaza-based Government Media Office claimed Tuesday that at least 400 people have been killed in such incidents since the beginning of the war.

CNN cannot independently confirm the Gaza government’s numbers due to the lack of international media access to the strip. The IDF did not immediately provide a comment on the figures.

Journalist Khader Al-Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed to this report.

The White House did not weigh in on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s criticisms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his calls for new elections in the country. 

“We know that Leader Schumer feels strongly about this,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters during a call on Thursday. “So, we’ll certainly let him speak to it and to his comments.”

Kirby said the Biden administration was going to “stay focused on making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself while doing everything that they can to avoid civilian casualties.”

Kirby added that the administration is also “still focused laser focused on trying to get a temporary ceasefire in place so that we can get the hostages out and get more aid.”

Fresh satellite images have shown the site of the jetty where the first aid ship, the Open Arms, is likely to dock in Gaza on Thursday.   

Images taken by satellite image company, Maxar have shown evidence of a jetty at a site in central Gaza —which was not visible in early March. 

According to Maxar, construction on the jetty which extends approximately 50 meters from the shoreline began on or after March 10. 

The jetty lies roughly less than half a mile from the Wadi Gaza checkpoint which is the Israeli checkpoint separating southern and northern Gaza. 

It’s also less than one mile from one of the main locations of the deadly aid incident, now known as the “Flour Massacre,” which took place last month. 

More than 100 people were killed on February 29 after Israeli troops opened fire near civilians who had gathered around an aid truck. 

The non-governmental organization, World Central Kitchen, which organized the aid ship, told CNN that the jetty was constructed using rubble from Gaza. 

Clarification: This post has been updated to clarify a comment from World Central Kitchen about the construction of the jetty.

US Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell responded critically to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s speech where he called for a new election in Israel on Thursday.

“It is grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel. This is unprecedented. We should not treat fellow democracies this way at all,” McConnell said, after Schumer harshly criticized the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

McConnell went on to accuse the Democratic Party of having an “anti-Israel problem” saying, “Israel is not a colony of America whose leaders serve at the pleasure of the party in power in Washington. Only Israel’s citizens should have a say in who runs their government.”

What Schumer said: The majority leader, who is the highest-ranking Jewish official in the US, said he believes Netanyahu has “lost his way” and that Israel needs to consider whether it should change course in how it is waging war against Hamas in Gaza.

He said an election would give Israelis the opportunity for a “healthy and open decision-making process about the future” of their country.

The US State Department announced new sanctions on three Israeli settlers and two farms in the West Bank on Thursday, as the administration targets threats to peace and security in the area.

“Since the horrific terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, violence in the West Bank has increased sharply,” State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said. “Today, we are taking further action to promote accountability for those perpetuating violence and causing turmoil in the West Bank by imposing sanctions on three Israeli individuals and two associated entities involved in undermining stability in the West Bank.”

The latest sanctions follow an executive order signed by President Joe Biden last month aimed at targeting violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank whom he has said have undermined stability in the area.

Miller reiterated the US position that there is “no justification for extremist violence against civilians or forcing families from their homes, whatever their national origin, ethnicity, race, or religion.”

More on US sanctions: One of the individuals sanctioned, Moshe Sharvit, “repeatedly harassed, threatened, and attacked Palestinian civilians and Israeli human rights defenders in the vicinity of MOSHES FARM, an outpost in the West Bank,” a fact sheet from the State Department explained. 

Another farm that was sanctioned, Zvis Farm, is used as a base to “perpetrates violence against Palestinians and prevents local Palestinian farmers from accessing and using their lands,” the fact sheet noted. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has criticized Israel’s government and called for new elections in a speech about the Israel-Hamas war on the Senate floor.

“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7,” he said, adding that the world has radically changed since the October attacks.

Schumer said he respected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extraordinary bravery for Israel on the battlefield as a younger man” and believed his “highest priority is the security of Israel.”

“However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,” Schumer said.  

In his speech, Schumer said Israelis needed to consider whether they should change course on how Israel is waging its war on Hamas and suggested new elections were the way to do so.

“I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government.”

The US and Jordanian militaries dropped more aid into northern Gaza on Thursday morning local time, US Central Command announced. 

So far, US and Jordanian forces have performed 10 airdrops of aid into the enclave as many face extreme food shortages.

“The combined joint operation included Jordanian provided food and a US Air Force C-130 aircraft,” CENTCOM said. “A US C-130 dropped 13,900 meal equivalents, providing life-saving humanitarian assistance.”

More context: Levels of critical hunger are compounded in the north of the enclave, where Israel concentrated its military offensive in the early days of the war. Palestinians told CNN they resort to eating water-based soup mixed with herbs, custard, or finger-sized biscuits because they have no access to nutrient-rich foods.

Humanitarian officials have warned that airdropping aid into the enclave falls far short of addressing the need in Gaza. While airdrops evade the rigorous examinations carried out at land crossings, they are costly and have limited delivery capacity. They can also create chaos on the ground as they drift unpredictably from the sky.

Critics have called on the US to instead pressure ally Israel to lift its severe restrictions on aid entry by ground.

CNN’s Niamh Kennedy contributed reporting to this post.

At the start of this month, Hazem Saeed Al-Naizi’s family in northern Gaza was surviving by eating bread made from animal feed. Two weeks later, even the animal feed has run out.

“Unfortunately, the animal feed has run out from the market and is no longer available,” said Al-Naizi, in text messages sent to CNN. 

His comments follow warnings from the Red Cross of other Palestinian families in Gaza resorting to eating animal fodder, something experts say brings risks of infection and gastrointestinal issues. 

Al-Naizi was separated from his family in November, when he fled to Khan Younis with one of his sons, age 6, and the children he cares for as director of an orphanage in Gaza City.

His wife and other children tried to flee together but he says they were prevented from crossing by Israeli soldiers. His wife did not want to attempt crossing again, due to the difficulty of the journey and because she suffers from thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder.

Since then, they have stayed in the north while he cares for the orphans in the south.

“My wife and children there suffer from hunger and malnutrition,” he said.

He added that ever since the animal feed ran out in the markets, they have had to resort to eating plants like hibiscus.

“There are only a few wild plants left to eat, and they may be running out.”

Here are photos shared with CNN showing how the family turned the feed into a form of bread:

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN that a number of armed individuals emerged from an alley in the occupied West Bank near the Jenin government hospital area and fired at its forces on Wednesday.

“Our forces responded by firing, and hits were detected,” the IDF added.

On Wednesday, two Palestinian men were killed, and four others injured in an Israeli military raid on the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

The men were killed after Israeli soldiers shot at a group of civilians standing in front of the Jenin government hospital’s emergency department, the hospital director said.

Food aid group World Central Kitchen (WCK) hopes to load pallets containing over 300 tons of food aid onto a second Gaza-bound ship by the end of Thursday, the organization confirmed to CNN.

A spokesperson said they were expecting to have the pallets screened and loaded onto the ship docked at the Cypriot port of Larnaca by the end of Thursday.

If successful, the ship would be loaded with 50% more aid than the first ship, the Open Arms, which set off towards Gaza with 200 tons of aid on Tuesday morning. 

It is unclear when this second ship will set off towards the besieged enclave. 

The focus for the moment remains on the Open Arms which is expected to land in Gaza late Thursday or early Friday.

A huge team of volunteers and contractors has been engaged by WCK to build a jetty to receive the shipment. The jetty is being constructed using rubble from Gaza, the WCK spokesperson told CNN. 

Clarification: This post has been updated to clarify a comment from World Central Kitchen about the construction of the jetty.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it killed a Hamas commander at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) food distribution center in Rafah, southern Gaza, in a strike that reportedly left at least five people dead including a UNRWA worker.

The IDF and Israel Security Agency named the commander as Muhammad Abu Hasna in a joint statement and claimed he was a “combat support operative in Hamas’ military wing.” Hamas also confirmed the killing of Abu Hasna on Wednesday, identifying him as deputy police operations officer. 

“Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine. Every day, we share the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said Wednesday.

CNN has reached out to UNRWA about the allegations that a Hamas operative was at their facility.

UNRWA allegations: Israel in January accused 12 UNRWA workers of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks. UNRWA is the main UN agency in Gaza, and employs about 13,000 people in the enclave. It fired 10 of the 12 and said the other two had died. 

In late February, Lazzarini said Israel still had not provided UNRWA with evidence for its claims. As a result of Israel’s allegations, UNRWA’s main donor, the United States, and a number of countries paused funding to the organization, although two – Canada and Sweden – have since resumed.  

A vessel has reported an explosion “at a distance” from it while sailing 50 nautical miles southeast of the port of Aden in Yemen, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organization said Thursday in an advisory note.

According to the UKMTO, the vessel “did not sustain any damage and the crew was reported safe. The vessel is proceeding to its next port of call,” it said.

“Authorities are investigating,” it added.

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.

Israel intends to move 1.4 million displaced Palestinians from Gaza’s southern city of Rafah to “humanitarian enclaves” before a planned military assault there, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters on Wednesday.

He said the Rafah offensive was “something we need to do” but also that the timing of the assault depends on “the conditions to allow it.”

More than half of Gaza’s population is now sheltering in Rafah, which borders Egypt, after fleeing the north and center of the enclave.

“What are the conditions? We need to make sure at 1.4 million people will move to humanitarian enclaves that we will create with the international community. They will provide them with temporary housing, food, water, field hospitals,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it is necessary to advance into Rafah to destroy Hamas’ remaining military battalions.

Hagari refused to give the timing of any IDF invasion of the city, where people are living with severe shortages of food, water, medicine and shelter.

“We are strengthening our readiness. I do not want to mention time. It will be the best time for Israel,” Hagari said.

Israeli officials told CNN on Monday that an invasion was not imminent and that the cabinet had not yet approved military plans for it.

Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 433 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.

About 4,700 more people were also wounded in that period, the ministry said.

At least 1,208 Palestinians have been displaced by settler violence and access restrictions since October, affecting at least 198 households, it said.

Another 537 Palestinians, including 238 children, have been displaced due to the destruction of 82 residential buildings in operations carried out by Israeli forces across the occupied Palestinian territories, the ministry added.

The death toll over the past five months is much higher than in 2022, when 171 Palestinians were killed in the occupied territories, according to the ministry — the highest number in a single year since 2005, during the Second Intifada.

Since October 7, 15 Israelis — including four members of Israeli forces — have been killed and 99 injured in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Israel, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

CNN has asked Israeli authorities for comment.

Settler violence: Even before Israel’s war with Hamas, the West Bank was boiling. About 500,000 Israeli Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and many settlements are heavily guarded, fenced-off areas that are off-limits to Palestinians. Most of the world considers these settlements illegal under international law and Israel has been criticized for allowing their expansion.

Correction: This post has been updated to clarify the occupied Palestinian territories where the health ministry says Palestinians were killed.

Delta has said it will resume daily flights between Tel Aviv and New York on June 7.

The service will provide nearly 2,000 weekly seats, Delta said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The route was suspended in October last year after Hamas’ attack on Israel triggered the ongoing war.

Delta said the decision to resume the service “follows an extensive security risk assessment by the airline.”

“Delta continues to closely monitor the situation in Israel in conjunction with government and private-sector partners,” it said.

Delta was among multiple airlines that halted services to Tel Aviv following the October 7 attack, including American Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Air Canada.

More children were killed during four months of war in Gaza than in four years of conflict worldwide, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini called the number “staggering” on social media and shared a graph comparing the number of children killed in global conflicts between the years of 2019 and 2022 to the number of those killed between October 2023 and February 2024 in Gaza, citing the UN and Palestinian health officials.

A total of 12,193 children were killed between 2019 and 2022 globally, and a total of 12,300 children were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and February 2024, according to those figures. 

Here are the major developments in the conflict:

US forces destroyed four drones and one surface-to-air missile in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Wednesday, according to US Central Command, the latest in a series of repeated attempts fend off attacks launched by the Iran-backed militant group against commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

The strike on the Houthi weapons came after the group fired an anti-ship ballistic missile from Yemen into the Gulf of Aden, CENTCOM said.

The missile did not hit any ships and there were no injuries reported.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has wiped out entire neighborhoods, crushed the medical system and razed hundreds of mosques – turning religious sanctuaries into relics of war.

At least 1,000 of 1,200 mosques, including ancient sites, have been partially or completely destroyed as of February, the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs in Gaza told CNN.

Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 have killed more than 100 preachers, including religious scholars, imams, muezzins (those who perform the call to prayer) and hafiz (Muslims who have memorized the Quran), according to the ministry.

Residents told CNN they cannot find enough space to attend nightly taraweeh prayers because places of worship have been destroyed. Taraweeh prayers are performed every night of Ramadan in a congregation.

Limited access to water means others cannot make the obligatory ablution before prayer.

Many are unable to share communal meals with relatives because forced displacement has separated families across the enclave.

Mohammed Hamouda, a displaced health worker in Rafah, told CNN he is struggling to explain to his young children why they will not be able to feast on traditional Palestinian dishes or receive gifts this Ramadan.

“Ramadan usually has a lot of dinner invitations for our extended families. Nowadays, everybody from the family is in a different place,” Aseel Mousa, 26, a journalist displaced in Rafah, told CNN.

Read more about how Ramadan is anything but normal for Gazans this year.

Palestinians told CNN the war in Gaza has crushed hopes of observing a peaceful month of fasting, festivities and worship during Ramadan this year.

Some are grappling with the reality that they will not find enough sustenance to break their fast as Israel’s siege diminishes critical supplies, inflicting deadly hunger on Palestinians.

These days, Jihad Abu Watfa, 27, finds himself riding his bicycle along the dusty streets of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza. He watches as hungry children scavenge for food – but he cannot help them.

“No one can afford to buy flour, neither rich nor poor, because they do not have such money,” he said.

Children often search for food in the garbage, he said.

“There are many people who (already) fast like it’s Ramadan,” he told CNN in February, as the holy month approached.

Levels of critical hunger are compounded in the north of the enclave, where Israel concentrated its military offensive in the early days of the war.

Palestinians told CNN they resort to eating water-based soup mixed with herbs, custard or finger-sized biscuits because they have no access to nutrient-rich foods.

Read more about how Palestinians are struggling during the Muslim holy month.

Senior White House officials are planning to meet with Arab, Muslim and Palestinian-American community leaders in Chicago on Thursday, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told CNN, as President Joe Biden continues to grapple with anger and concern across the country about the Israel-Hamas war. 

Thursday’s meeting is part of the Biden White House’s efforts to hear concerns about the Gaza situation from these communities, though that is hardly expected to be the only issue discussed.

Officials are also expected to more broadly discuss concerns about Islamophobia in the US in the aftermath of October 7. 

Some context: Along with Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden and other top US officials have escalated calls for a ceasefire and more humanitarian aid in recent weeks, urging Israel to do more to protect civilians. 

But negotiations remain stalled, even as the humanitarian toll of Israel’s war in Gaza rises. Biden is confronting mounting discontent within his own party over his handling of the conflict, including young and progressive voters and voters in battleground states like Michigan that will be critical to his 2024 coalition.

The White House declined to comment.

Read more about the planned meeting.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to continue the fight against Israel, saying the Israeli military has been secretive about its losses in the north.

“[Our southern front] continues to carry out its task of pressuring the enemy at the human, material, military and economic levels,” Nasrallah said in a televised statement Wednesday.

The fighting has continued since October 7 on Lebanon’s southern border with Israel between the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group and the Israeli military. As a result, Israel has ordered the evacuation of communities along the Lebanese border.

The Israeli military has said it killed numerous Hezbollah militants and commanders since October 7. On Monday, it said it struck two Hezbollah compounds in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, the farthest north Israel has struck in Lebanon since the latest Israel-Hamas conflict began. 

Nasrallah said the Israeli prime minister has “lost the war” in Gaza, and that an Israeli invasion of Rafah would not change that.

“After five months of fighting, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] was unable of presenting any spectacle of victory,” he said, adding that Hamas has not been defeated and is still able to impose its conditions on the negotiations.

The Hezbollah leader also decried the US stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict, labeling it as “hypocritical.”

“I don’t think anyone on earth believes that [US President Joe] Biden cannot stop the war on Gaza,” he said, adding that Biden can stop the fighting by ceasing military aid to Israel and not obstructing United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for ceasefire.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Tuesday with the parents of Itay Chen — an Israeli-American hostage killed on October 7.

“No one should have to go through what they’ve gone through and what the other hostage families continue to go through,” Blinken said. “It’s another reason why getting the ceasefire would be so crucial to enable us to bring the hostages home.”

Blinken said that there is a “very strong proposal on the table right now,” but said the ball is in Hamas’ court to accept it.

“The question – will Hamas take it? Does Hamas want to end the suffering that it’s provoked?” he asked. “The question is there but I can tell you that we’re intensely engaged every single day, almost every single hour with Qatar, with Egypt, to see if we can get a ceasefire agreement that will get the hostages out, get more aid in and create a pathway perhaps for a more lasting, secure solution.”

The top US diplomat also said that ensuring Israel can “effectively defend itself” is “an enduring commitment that’s not going to go away.” Blinken said the US remains focused on trying “to make sure that October 7 never happens again.”

He also reiterated that Israel must take steps to protect civilians and get humanitarian aid to those who need it.

The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) called for an investigation into attacks against UN facilities, emphasizing “the need for accountability.”

Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini’s call follows an Israeli strike that killed five Palestinians and wounded another 22 people at a UNRWA food distribution center in Rafah, the agency said.

At least one UNRWA staff was among those killed, the agency said.

“Today’s attack on one of the very few remaining UNRWA distribution centres in the Gaza Strip comes as food supplies are running out, hunger is widespread and, in some areas, turning into famine,” Lazzarini said.

He said the coordinates of all UNRWA facilities across Gaza are shared “with parties to the conflict.”

“The Israeli Army received the coordinates including of this facility yesterday,” Lazzarini said.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the “very survival” of the population in Gaza is at stake now, as he met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department. 

“We need to act. The very survival of the population in Gaza is at the stake today,” Borrell said.

Borrell thanked Blinken for his “personal efforts” to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza, but also pressed that routes into Gaza by land must be opened. 

“We need to clear the humanitarian nexus through sea, by air, that’s good. That’s not enough. You cannot replace hundreds of trucks by sending parachutes. The most important thing is to open the borders by land. And continue working, or start working on a two-state solution that both of us – US and EU – endorse. The only way for lasting peace,” Borrell said. 

For context: While airdrops evade the often rigorous and lengthy examinations carried out at land checkpoints, aid agencies say their drawbacks overwhelmingly outweigh their benefits. They are more expensive, have limited delivery capacity and may culminate in chaos.

The US is moving forward with a plan to establish a temporary pier off Gaza’s coast for aid delivery, but the Pentagon said it will take about 60 days for it to be completed and operational. 

More children were killed during four months of war in Gaza than in four years of conflict worldwide, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini called the number “staggering” in a post Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter.

Lazzarini shared a graph comparing the number of children killed in conflicts around the world between the years of 2019 and 2022 to the number of those killed between October 2023 and February 2024 in Gaza, citing the UN and the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

According to the figures, a total of 12,193 children were killed between 2019 and 2022 globally, and a total of 12,300 children were killed in Gaza between October 2023 and February 2024. 

Death toll: According to numbers published by Palestinian health officials, the amount of children killed in Gaza since October 7 is greater than that shared by Lazzarini. The Ministry of Health in Ramallah in a report Wednesday said the number of children killed has reached 13,450. And the health ministry in Gaza said Wednesday that 72% of a total of 31,272 deaths are women and children.

CNN cannot independently confirm the numbers due to the lack of international media access to Gaza.

Hamas operative Hadi Ali Mustafa was killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The IDF said Mustafa was responsible for “Hamas’ international terrorist activities, directing terrorist cells and activities in the field, and advancing terror attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets in various countries around the world.”

Hamas’ military wing, Al-Qassam Brigades, confirmed Mustafa’s death, saying he was killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday.

The Lebanese National News Agency reported on Wednesday a “hostile drone” strike in Sur Al-Hosh in southern Lebanon, resulting in the deaths of a Palestinian and a Syrian who happened to be riding a motorcycle nearby.