November 1, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

An initial group of foreign nationals, including US citizens, have departed Gaza and are in Egypt, US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Wednesday.

He declined to give details on the number of US citizens who have departed, citing “operational security” concerns. 

Americans are expected to leave Gaza today and others are being told to be “ready to go,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One.

Kirby also pushed back on the suggestion that the United States would support a permanent settlement outside of Gaza for Palestinians.

Some context: The departures of injured Palestinians and some foreign nationals followed a deal brokered by Qatar between Israel, Hamas and Egypt, in coordination with the US, according to sources familiar with the talks.

The deal to release foreigners from Gaza into Egypt is not part of any potential deal to secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas, multiple sources emphasize to CNN. Those talks are still ongoing and one US official said they would caution against drawing any comparisons between the two parallel missions.

At least 361 foreign nationals have entered Egypt through the Rafah border crossing, an Egyptian government official tells CNN.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The official said 76 are now on their way to Cairo, where some will catch flights back to their home countries, while the rest are still at the crossing completing the necessary paperwork.

According to the official, 491 foreign nationals were registered to arrive in Egypt today, but the remaining 130 either didn’t make it to the border crossing or refused to cross without their families, whose names were not registered on the list.  

As of Wednesday evening, the Rafah crossing remains open, and the rest of the foreign nationals registered to cross today will continue crossing through. 

The breakdown for the nationalities of the 76 individuals en route to Cairo is the following:  

More context: The release of the foreign nationals is the result of a deal brokered by Qatar between Israel, Hamas and Egypt, in coordination with the US, that would allow for the release of those individuals, alongside critically injured civilians from Gaza, according to sources familiar with the talks. The agreement is separate from any hostage negotiations, the source added.

Sources close to the matter had also told CNN that up to 500 foreigners were expected to cross out of Gaza at Rafah.

Jack Lew is set to begin his new role as the United States ambassador to Israel by the end of the week after he was officially appointed to the post by President Joe Biden on Tuesday night.

“The president officially appointed Jack Lew last night. And tomorrow there will be a small, informal swearing-in ceremony in DC so that he can immediately get to work,” White House deputy press secretary Emilie Simons told reporters aboard Air Force One. 

She said Lew will "immediately advance our efforts to support the defense of Israel" once he is sworn in, including continuing to negotiate the release of hostages being held in Gaza and evacuating Americans from the enclave.

She thanked the Senate for their work to confirm Lew, who was first nominated in September.

There has been a “significant increase" in threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab Americans in recent weeks, the United States attorney general said, reiterating the Justice Department's commitment to prosecuting perpetrators.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Wednesday at a hate crimes forum that in his daily briefings, he has noticed an increase in the "volume and frequency" of threats against these groups. 

The attorney general cited the arrest of Cornell University Student Patrick Dai, a 21-year-old junior, for threats he allegedly posted in an online discussion forum this weekend against the university’s Jewish students.  

Garland said Dai was arrested and charged with threatening to kill or injure Jewish people at Cornell University.

Dai is scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday afternoon.

“I recognize the fear, frustration and isolation that many of you have felt over the past few weeks, and that you continue to feel as we join us here today. I want to reiterate a core principle of this Justice Department: No person and no community in this country should have to live in fear of hate-fueled violence,” Garland said.

Connectivity is being restored in the Gaza Strip, the internet monitoring site Netblocks said Wednesday, after two Palestinian internet providers earlier announced a "complete interruption" of communications and internet services in the enclave.

Asked by CNN to respond to the communications outage, the Israeli military said, "There is no comment on this."

Internet and communication services have been repeatedly impacted in Gaza, with independent internet monitoring groups telling CNN that blackouts have worsened since the Hamas attack on October 7. 

US President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that some American citizens will be departing Gaza as soon as today and hailed US leadership in efforts to help some Gazans and foreign nationals leave amid an escalating ground offensive.

CNN previously reported that, while Americans were not initially expected to be among the first batch exiting, given the fluid nature of the situation, some Americans may leave Wednesday, according to one US official.

 Approximately 400 American citizens plus their family members—about 1,000 people total—are stuck in Gaza and are seeking to leave, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday. There are about 5,000 other third-country nationals in Gaza who also want to get out, he said.

The deal to release foreigners from Gaza into Egypt is not part of any potential deal to secure the release of hostages being held by Hamas, multiple sources told CNN. Those talks are still ongoing and one US official said they would caution against drawing any comparisons between the two parallel missions. 

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez contributed reporting to this post.

The commissioner general of the United Nations agency coordinating humanitarian aid operations in Gaza reported "terrible conditions" in the enclave.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), managed to enter Gaza after “weeks of pleading with different parties."

Once inside, he visited one of UNRWA’s shelters that house thousands of people, the agency’s director of communications Juliette Touma said.

UNRWA has had to ration its fuel in Gaza because they are running out of the “very little reserves” they have, Touma said. She added that at least 670,000 people are taking refuge in UNRWA shelters, schools, medical facilities and even warehouses across the Gaza Strip.

The UNRWA communications director also told CNN she was not able to determine how many people were killed in Israel’s airstrike on the Jabalya refugee camp Tuesday because of a communications blackout.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Wednesday that 70 of their staff members have been killed in Gaza since October 7.

The agency also reaffirmed its commitment to staying in Gaza.

"My firm message to all our staff and to the people in Gaza: @UNRWA is staying," the agency posted with photos on X showing UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini Lazzarini visiting staff members in Gaza. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Juliette Touma, the communications director for the UNRWA told CNN that "there is no place that is safe across the Gaza strip. No Place. Not the north, not the south, and not the middle areas. No place is safe."

Touma also said, "Some of her colleagues were killed in the line of duty and some were killed at home." 

Touma mentioned one of the recent UN colleagues who was killed at home "with his wife and eight children when his UN car, clearly marked as UN was parked outside of his house."

Some foreign nationals have started crossing the border from Gaza into Egypt, officials and Egyptian media said, in the first sanctioned exodus from the besieged enclave in weeks.

Here's where they're from:

Italy: Four Italian nationals have safely left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday, according to Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani. 

The four Italians include volunteers from international NGOs. One of them is married to a Palestinian woman, according to Tajani. 

A spokesperson for the ministry said 10 more Italian citizens remain inside the Gaza Strip, including two pregnant women who the ministry hopes will be released by the end of the week. 

Three Italian-Israeli citizens were killed in the October 7 terrorist attacks, according to the ministry. 

France: Five French citizens left Gaza through the Rafah border crossing on Wednesday, the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

The group was not accompanied by any non-French relatives or Palestinian workers from the French cultural center, the ministry said. 

The citizens were received by a team from the French embassy in Egypt, according to the statement. 

France has been working to evacuate some 170 people from Gaza, including citizens, their relatives and Palestinian workers, French officials have previously said.