October 20, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

Iran warned the US about the consequences of sending weapons to Israel, saying it would further complicate the situation in Gaza, according to Iran's state-aligned news outlet Tasnim.

Bagheri also said that “serious action” is needed to prevent war crimes and called for humanitarian aid to be sent to Gaza, Tasnim reported. 

Seven hospitals and 21 primary care health centers in Gaza are "out of service," and 64 medical staff have been killed as Israel continues its airstrikes, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Friday.

"Due to the Israeli violations, seven hospitals are out of service and 21 Primary Health care centers as well. 64 medical staff were killed and 23 ambulances were destroyed," said the health ministry spokesperson Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra.

CNN cannot independently verify the extent of the casualties.

On Thursday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that more than 60% of primary care facilities are shut down, and hospitals in Gaza are on the brink of collapse due to the shortage of power, medicine, equipment and specialized personnel.

Conditions in Gaza are worsening by the hour as fears continue to grow over a catastrophic humanitarian crisis unfolding in the enclave.

Multiple rights groups are warning of the deadly consequences of ongoing shortages in the Gaza Strip and urging for vital supplies to be allowed through the Rafah crossing.

Here’s where things stand:

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The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in a statement Friday implored all parties "to allow the rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for all civilians in need, wherever they are." 

A spokesperson for the human rights group expressed concern about continuing Israeli strikes across Gaza, including in the south.

It also expressed concern about the rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel and the alarm at the "rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the occupied West Bank and the increase in unlawful use of lethal force.”

Citing reports of ill-treatment and lack of due process, it called for the end of "arbitrary arrests of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Arab Israelis in Israel." 

Utility shortages in Gaza “are going to kill many, many people,” said Avril Benoît, executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also known as Doctors Without Borders.

Benoît told CNN that it often loses contact with its team in the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza due to lack of electricity, inability to charge phones and cell signal often being cut out, making it “difficult to get real-time information.”

“What we do know is our medical coordinator was warning that the fuel was reaching catastrophic lows,” she said.

Benoît added that there is a lack of painkillers, something which she said has “been going on for quite a time.” 

People in Gaza are “exhausted, including the medical teams who have been working around the clock,” Benoît said. “Everyone is dehydrated, malnourished, hungry,” she said. “It’s really a difficult circumstance in which to be able to even focus on a mass casualty response that’s needed.”

“It’s absolutely life or death at this point. Hour by hour it’s essential for that humanitarian assistance to be brought in,” Benoît continued. “We are deeply concerned for the fate of everyone who happens to be in Gaza right now, where nowhere is safe.”

Dozens of bodies of victims of the October 7 Hamas terror attack are still lying near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, a search and rescue volunteer told CNN in Be’eri, an Israeli kibbutz that was attacked close to the border.

They have not been recovered yet because of rocket attacks by Hamas from Gaza, said Yossi Landau, the head of the southern command of ZAKA, the Israeli volunteer-run emergency rescue service.

The group has been working non-stop trying to retrieve the bodies of the victims of the massacre last week. More are found and identified every day, he said.

Rocket attacks continue to be launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, even as the Israel Defense Forces continue to pound the enclave with heavy strikes.

Smoke rising from the Gaza Strip is visible from kibbutz Be’eri,

The Biden administration stands poised to request $105 billion in funding from Congress Friday to deliver aid and resources to Ukraine and Israel as both countries are embroiled in domestic wars.

The request includes $14 billion to Israel, which officials say reflects requests Biden received while traveling to the region Wednesday. 

Here's the breakdown of the $105 billion that the White House will request: 

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday morning that "more delays will result in more suffering and more deaths” in Gaza, amid questions over when the crossing between Gaza and Egypt will open to humanitarian aid trucks.

Ghebreyesus said in a social media post that the WHO “continue[s] to ask for access to deliver lifesaving supplies.”

A CNN team on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing earlier saw trucks arriving from several aid groups loaded with desperately needed supplies. Road repair vehicles from Egypt were also spotted amid ongoing work to repair both sides of the crossing.

The crossing is not expected to open Friday for a vital convoy of humanitarian aid to get to Gaza, multiple sources have told CNN, despite expectations voiced by US President Joe Biden and others that it would be open.

US officials now expect that the first convoy will cross the border this weekend, possibly by Saturday. However, a US official cautioned that the situation remained fluid as preparations continued to allow the humanitarian aid through.

The streets in Jerusalem's Old City were quiet on Friday as only a few worshippers made their way to al-Aqsa mosque for prayers. 

A CNN producer reported seeing an increased Israeli police presence and some worshippers were stopped from entering, despite the fact that there are no official restrictions. 

The occupied West Bank has been closed since October 7 and people from there wishing to worship at the mosque cannot do so. 

Shops are mostly closed as shopkeepers are on strike following the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. 

Some context: The al-Aqsa compound is one of the most revered places in Islam and Judaism. The sacred grounds, known to Muslims as Al Haram Al Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount have been a flashpoint of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians for decades.

Only Muslims are allowed to pray in the compound under a status quo arrangement originally reached more than a century ago. Non-Muslim visitors are allowed visits at certain times and only to certain areas of the complex. 

But many in the Muslim world fear that the right to be the sole worshipers there has been eroded and that the sites themselves are being threatened by a growing far-right Jewish movement and Israel’s far-right government. 

Clashes have frequently broken out at the site between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli forces. Police raided the compound several times over the last year.