October 31, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

Following the Israeli strike on Jabalya refugee camp several countries in the Middle East have spoken out against the attack.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel's deadly strike in a statement.

“Jordan’s Foreign Ministry condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli aggression that targeted the Jabalya camp in the Gaza Strip this evening, holding Israel, the occupying power responsible for this dangerous development,” the statement, released on X, previously known as Twitter, said.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry “affirmed the Kingdom’s strong rejection and condemnation of this act, which contradicts all human and moral values and the rules of international humanitarian law.”

Saudi Arabia also condemned the airstrike in northern Gaza. 

Saudi Arabia "affirmed that the dangerous humanitarian conditions resulting from the continuous escalation cannot be justified at all,” according to a statement released by the country's foreign ministry.

"Sparing blood, protecting civilians, and stopping military operations are urgent priorities for which any procrastination or disruption cannot be accepted, and failure to immediately adhere to them will inevitably lead to a humanitarian catastrophe for which the Israeli occupation and the international community bear responsibility," the statement added.

Iran "condemned in the strongest terms the barbaric attack" on the Jabalya camp in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement released by Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani.

Kanaani said "This action added another stain to the long list of war crimes committed," by Israel.

Kanaani urged "the international community, especially the United Nations and the Security Council, to immediately fulfill its international responsibility," in stopping the ongoing Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also strongly condemned the Israeli airstrike, warning that “indiscriminate attacks will result in irreparable ramifications in the region."

In a statement, the UAE foreign ministry urged, "an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of life, stressing the importance of protecting civilians, according to international humanitarian law, international treaties, and the need to ensure that they are not targeted during conflict."

The statement also warned that "the continued lack of a political horizon risks catastrophic repercussions, and disregarding the potential consequences would lead to devastating outcomes for the prospects of peace and stability in the region."

Israeli human rights organization B’tselem condemned Israel’s campaign in Gaza on Tuesday following the deadly strike on the Jabalya refugee camp.

B’tselem went on to criticize Israel's operations and the civilians that have been killed.

The statement added, "More than half of them women and children. Entire buildings have collapsed with occupants still inside. Whole families have been wiped out in an instant. This criminal harm to civilians is intolerable and the obvious needs to be stated again and again – not everything is allowed in war, including war on Hamas. Targeting civilians is always prohibited and Israel must stop these attacks now."

The statement was released shortly after an Israeli strike on the densely populated Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza caused many casualties, officials in the enclave said Tuesday.

A United Nations human rights official is leaving his job over what he calls a "genocide" in Gaza that the UN has failed to stop.

Craig Mokhiber, the director of the UN's New York Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a letter that Gaza is a textbook case of genocide. Mokhiber said he lived in Gaza working on human rights for the UN in the 90s.

He accused the United States, the United Kingdom and European countries of giving political and diplomatic cover for Israel’s atrocities. 

In the letter, which began with a statement acknowledging it would be his last official communication in his position, Mokhiber wrote that after witnessing what happened in Rwanda, Bosnia, and to Rohingya civilians in Myanmar, the UN has repeatedly failed to stop genocide.

“High Commissioner, we are failing again,” he added. The letter was sent to the UN’s human rights chief Volker Turk in Geneva. 

The UN Secretary-General press secretary said Mokhiber is retiring as of Tuesday. 

CNN has reached out to Mokhiber for comment

CNN's Tara John contributed reporting to this post.

US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Tuesday that he had no announcements to make about the opening of the Rafah crossing for civilians but noted that “we have made good progress, even in the past few hours.”

Miller said the department was working intensively on the issue, with Ambassador David Satterfield working the matter on the ground.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with his Qatari counterpart Monday about pressing Hamas to allow Americans and other foreign nationals to leave, Miller said.

The official said that once an agreement is reached, his understanding is it is not a process that would occur instantly. He encouraged all Americans in Gaza who wish to leave to register with the State Department.

Blinken told lawmakers earlier Tuesday, that approximately 400 American citizens and their family members – about 1,000 people total – are stuck in Gaza and are seeking to leave. There are about 5,000 other third-country nationals in Gaza who also want to get out, Blinken said.

Some more context: Rafah crossing, a border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, has been touted as the last hope for Gazans to escape as Israel’s bombs rain down, and many Palestinians have begun moving in its direction in anticipation. The crossing at Rafah however, has been closed except for a few occasions when it opened to allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza.

Read more about the Rafah crossing here.

At least 66 trucks crossed the border into Gaza in the last 24 hours — the highest single-day delivery of aid to the enclave so far, according to the White House.

While it is an improvement in the amount of aid entering Gaza since the conflict began earlier this month, it's still just a “fraction of the need," National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said Tuesday.

He said President Joe Biden's administration was “obviously watching this as closely as we can." The United States is also pushing for the resumption of essential services in Gaza, including water and the delivery of fuel, Kirby said.  

“Fuel is going to be critical here, certainly in the coming hours and days, as the existing stocks are running low to near empty,” he said. He added that the US is also "supporting efforts for safe passage," but wants to make it clear to civilians that "we will not support any forced relocation of Palestinians outside of Gaza.” 

To that end, Kirby said, Biden would speak to Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday afternoon to discuss “further cooperation with their partners to address this worsening humanitarian situation.” 

An eyewitness to the Israel Defense Forces strike on the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza told CNN he saw an F-16 aircraft fire several missiles at the camp.

“I was waiting in line to buy bread when suddenly and without any prior warning, seven to eight missiles fell from an F-16 on al-Yafawiya neighbourhood in the refugee camp,” Mohammad Ibrahim told CNN.

Photos from the site of the strike showed multiple deep craters, surrounded by destroyed or damaged buildings. Video also showed people searching through the rubble for survivors. 

Dr. Atef al-Kalhout, the head of the nearby Indonesian hospital, where large numbers of the dead and wounded have flooded in, estimated that scores had been killed in the strike. The hospital is the nearest major medical facility to Jabalya and is one of the most damaged in Gaza due to multiple strikes in the vicinity.

Videos from the hospital showed a long line of bodies lying on the floor of the hospital as well as large numbers of wounded people, including children, as doctors rushed to treat their injuries. Many of the injured are seen treated on the floor because of the hospital’s overcrowded conditions.

This post has been updated with new information about the strike.

The Israeli military claimed Tuesday that it had taken out a top Hamas commander — who was one of the leaders of the October 7 attack on Israel — in a strike on the Jabalya refugee camp.

Spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said earlier that the IDF was targeting “a very senior Hamas commander" in the area around the camp.

The IDF said Biari oversaw all military operations in the northern Gaza Strip since it began its ground operation and was also involved in multiple attacks on Israel going back decades.

The IDF said it had carried out a wide-scale strike on terrorists and terror infrastructure belonging to the Central Jabalya Battalion, which it said had taken control of civilian buildings. As part of the strike, Hamas’ command and control and its ability to direct military activity against IDF soldiers in Gaza were damaged.

The IDF also said "a large number of terrorists" were killed in the strike, which also led to the collapse of the underground infrastructure they were using. 

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it “condemns in the strongest terms the new massacre committed by the occupation against our people in the Jabalya camp,” referencing “chilling documented scenes” of children and women. 

What Hamas is saying: Hamas, however, denied Israeli assertions regarding the presence of one of its leaders in the camp, spokesperson Hazem Qassem said in a statement.

Qassem accused Israel of attempting to justify what he described as a "heinous crime against safe civilians, children, and women in Jabalya camp."

Jabalya is the largest of the Gaza Strip's eight refugee camps, according to the main United Nations agency supporting Palestinians in the territory. Photos of the site showed multiple large craters in the ground, surrounded by the rubble of destroyed and damaged buildings.

The US is sending 300 more troops to the US Central Command region, which covers the Middle East and parts of Africa, in the wake of the current Israel-Hamas conflict, according to a Defense Department spokesperson. 

Ryder said that the Defense Department would not disclose where specifically the additional forces will be sent, except to “confirm they're not going to Israel.”

“They are intended to support regional deterrence efforts and further bolster US force protection capabilities,” said Ryder.

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday the Hamas commander who was the target of an airstrike at the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza was “hiding, as they do, behind civilians.”

The strike caused many casualties at Jabalya, the largest refugee camp in Gaza, according to authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

When Blitzer asked the spokesperson about innocent civilians in the refugee camp, Hecht responded, “This is the tragedy of war, Wolf.”

He reiterated the IDF call to evacuate: “Civilians (who) are not involved with Hamas, please move south.”

Hecht said the Hamas commander who was the target of the strike “killed many Israelis.”