October 28, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

A near total communications blackout has impacted the work of medical staff in Gaza, with paramedics unable to reach the injured and hospitals unable to contact each other.

Dr. Mohamad Al-Rayan, a physician at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, said medics have faced delays in getting to people injured by Israeli airstrikes overnight. 

He told CNN that hospitals in Gaza had also lost contact with one another, making the transfer of patients needing specialist surgery between hospitals even harder. 

A journalist in central Gaza told CNN that Israeli artillery shelling “did not stop” on Saturday. Video filmed by Hassan Eslayeh showed ambulances and cars arriving at the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, with crowds of people waiting outside the hospital entrance. Another video showed a young man lying on the floor of the hospital as doctors operated on him.

Eslayeh said the injured and dead being brought to the hospital were casualties of artillery shelling rather than airstrikes.

Families unable to speak: CNN’s producer in Gaza, Ibrahim Dahman, said he is struggling to contact relatives in the enclave in the face of the blackout. 

“I cannot reach them, and I don’t know anything about them,” Dahman said in one of several short voice recordings sent to CNN colleagues on Saturday using a phone with a foreign SIM card, which allows him intermittent connection via WhatsApp. 

Since fleeing Gaza City with his wife and children on October 9, Dahman has been using WhatsApp to communicate with friends, family and colleagues. 

Now he says “there is no internet throughout the whole of the Gaza Strip” – another cause for concern for him and the other families he is sheltering alongside in the southern city of Khan Younis. 

“Everybody is gloomy, everybody is scared. … This is a big, big shock to everyone,” Dahman said. 

Jawwal and Ooredoo, two mobile phone companies operating in Gaza, and Paltel, a fixed-line operator, said in separate statements Saturday that their services in the strip remained down.   

Israel's military says troops are still fighting in the besieged enclave after launching what it called an expanded ground operation.

Meanwhile, Palestinians last night faced what they said were the most intense round of airstrikes on Gaza since Israel began its retaliatory offensive against Hamas.

Here are the headlines you need to know:

As darkness fell over the Gaza Strip a short while ago, the Israel Defense Forces appeared to step up its bombardment of the enclave.

Intense and near-continuous thunder of explosions can be heard from the direction of the Gaza Strip for the past hour and a half, after more sporadic and less intense fire during most of the afternoon, a CNN team in Ashkelon, Israel, reports.

Fighter jets and military helicopters can be heard flying overheard.

Earlier, sirens indicating incoming rockets sounded across several parts of Israel. CNN observed several interceptions of these rockets by the Iron Dome, Israel’s air defense system.

CNN teams on the ground near the Gaza Strip have also seen tank movements throughout the day. Israeli staging grounds that were previously full with Israeli tanks, armored vehicles and bulldozers appeared mostly empty Saturday, amid what the IDF called an expanded ground operation in northern Gaza.

However, it remains unclear how many Israeli troops are currently in Gaza, as the IDF did not provide any further operational details.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and strike group has passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, entering the Mediterranean Sea, ship tracking data from MarineTraffic.com shows. 

The strike group — the aircraft carrier, a guided-missile cruiser and two guided-missile destroyers — were deployed from Norfolk, Virginia, on October 13. 

It's now the second carrier strike group in the Mediterranean. The USS Gerald R. Ford strike group is currently in the eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Israel.

Some background: As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, the US is seeking to send a strong message to adversaries to prevent the conflict spreading more widely in the region.

CNN has reported that the US has intelligence that Iranian-backed militia groups are planning to ramp up attacks against US forces in the Middle East, as Iran seeks to capitalize on the backlash in the region to US support for Israel.

Roughly 900 US troops have been deployed or are deploying to the Middle East amid the heightened tensions in the region, the Pentagon announced this week, after previously putting roughly 2,000 troops on prepare-to-deploy orders. That is in addition to US troops already in Iraq and Syria – roughly 2,500 and 900, respectively – and Navy assets in the region, now including the Eisenhower and Ford.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has confirmed military operations against Hamas have progressed.

"We moved to a new phase in the war,” he said in a statement delivered in Hebrew.

Some context: Earlier, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israeli ground forces were inside Gaza, having entered the enclave overnight from the north.

Israeli forces “went into the Gaza Strip and expanded the ground operation where infantry, armor and engineer units and artillery with heavy fire are taking part,” Hagari said during a press briefing in Tel Aviv. 

“The forces are in the field and continue the fighting,” he said, without giving further details. 

Additionally, the Israeli military reissued a call for civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate. That statement made reference to an impending IDF operation against Hamas in Gaza.  

A ground offensive has been widely expected following the attacks, but it does not appear as though any major operation aimed at seizing and holding significant amounts of the territory is yet underway.

The Palestinian Water Authority told CNN that a second line has been turned back on to bring water from Israel to central Gaza.

Gaza has three lines that bring water it purchases from Israel to the enclave. All of the lines were shut off at one point. A line that runs to southern Gaza was turned back on 10 days ago, according to the authority. 

The Palestinian Water Authority said a second line has now been restored. It has a production capacity of 15,000 cubic meters per day. 

The Palestinian Water Authority said it is working to ensure that the water reaches communities in central Gaza, but that task is difficult because it has lost communications with colleagues on the ground.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters streamed onto London's streets on Saturday in a national "March for Palestine," calling for a ceasefire over Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

The organizers of the march, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said on Saturday afternoon that “hundreds of thousands” of people had gathered at the march. The London Metropolitan Police has not released any figures related to this procession.

In videos online, marchers were heard chanting for a “ceasefire now.”

London’s Metropolitan Police said that it was aware of the procession and that it had deployed more than 1,000 officers to police the event.

The Met also said that nobody involved in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign march would be allowed to gather near the Israeli embassy in London.

In another pro-Palestinian solidarity march that took place last Saturday, up to 100,000 people were estimated to have attended, according to police estimates. 

The Israeli military's expansion of its ground operation in Gaza has alarmed families of hostages seized during the Hamas attacks.

"It was a long and sleepless night, against the backdrop of the major IDF operation in the Strip, and absolute uncertainty regarding the fate of the hostages held there, who were also subject to the heavy bombings.

Here's what we know about the hostages:

Efforts continue: The White House said Friday that it would continue to work to secure the release of hostages. “We are working as hard today as we were yesterday and the day before and the day before to get these hostages home,” National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby told CNN. Kirby maintained the US still supports a humanitarian pause – or pauses – in fighting for the release of hostages, but refused to discuss Israeli military operations. It comes after US President Joe Biden earlier this week denied asking Israel to hold off a ground invasion while hostages remain in captivity.

What the IDF is saying: Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Friday to "disregard rumors" when asked about a possible deal to release the hostages in Gaza, saying that "any relevant information will be given to the families first once it’s confirmed, and then we’ll notify the public." Hagari said the IDF had notified the families of 310 fallen IDF soldiers and 229 hostages of the expanding ground operations in the Gaza Strip. “We’re committed to the national task of returning all hostages,” he said.

Earlier reports of progress: Prior to the expanded ground campaign, diplomatic sources familiar with the negotiations told CNN that there has been “significant progress” in the talks, but there were issues still remaining. A US official told CNN there had been progress on the hostages but it’s still “all very touch and go.” They voiced caution around the idea that there has been a “breakthrough.” Qatar and Egypt have been mediating between Israel, the US and Hamas to release the hostages.

Four freed: Hamas has released a total of four hostages since its October 7 attacks. Last Friday two American hostages, Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan, were released following negotiations between Qatar and Hamas. On Monday, Yocheved Lifshitz, a frail 85-year-old grandmother, was released alongside her neighbor and friend Nurit Cooper, 79. Lifshitz said she "went through hell" and described being taken to a network of tunnels.

Scores remain captive: Among those being held are people from countries including Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Germany and Thailand, as well as Israeli civilians and soldiers. Among them is Mia Schem, a 21-year-old French-Israeli woman, who last week appeared in a video clip released by Hamas. Speaking into the camera, Schem, who looks pale but is sitting up straight with her head held high, says she was injured and taken to Gaza, then pleads to be returned to her family.

Around 300 people were arrested Friday after a large group of demonstrators from a Jewish group gathered in New York City's Grand Central Terminal calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to police. 

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department told CNN the arrests range from charges of disorderly conduct to trespassing. Some were given a criminal court summons. 

The NYPD said the exact number of charges is unknown at this time. Police were not able to estimate the total number of demonstrators in the area Friday evening.