November 3, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

The Israeli government is warning its citizens to reconsider foreign travel and to exercise caution while abroad in light of an increase in antisemitic incidents and violence in recent weeks. 

The Israeli National Security Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement it had observed a “significant rise in antisemitism and anti-Israel incitement alongside life-threatening violent attacks on Israelis and Jews around the world,” including in countries that do not have “terrorism-related travel warnings.” 

The NSC said Israelis should abide by its recommended conduct while abroad.

Some context: Earlier this week, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that antisemitism is reaching “historic levels” in the United States.

US-based advocacy groups are reporting a spike in hate incidents against Jewish and Muslim individuals amid the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. The Council on American-Islamic Relations also said it is collecting data and has seen an uptick in reports.

The Anti-Defamation League also cited some 312 antisemitic incidents between October 7 and October 23, 190 of which were linked to the fighting in Israel and Gaza. By comparison, there were 64 incidents over the same time frame in 2022.

CNN's Tori Morales Pinales and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed reporting to this post.

There are dozens of casualties after an incident near Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, according to multiple videos from the scene and the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

The cause is not immediately clear. 

Multiple videos from the scene show at least a dozen bloodied casualties strewn across the ground near an ambulance. There appears to be some shrapnel damage to at least one of the cars on the scene.

CNN has geolocated the videos to the edge of a compound that includes the hospital. There is so far no video evidence of any crater from a munition.

CNN has inquired about the incident with the Israel Defense Forces.

A spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza, who was at the hospital, said that Israel was responsible for the attack. 

Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra said that authorities had organized a medical convoy from the hospital, traveling to the Rafah border crossing, and informed the International Committee of the Red Cross about the move.

At least two rockets were seen making a direct hit in the Israeli city of Sderot on Friday evening, with one striking the courtyard of a kindergarten. Shrapnel hit the windows of the building as well as several nearby cars.  

That rocket hit less than 100 meters (about 328 feet) from where some journalists are positioned in the city, overlooking Gaza. 

There were no reported casualties. 

Families of eleven victims of the Hamas attack on October 7 have accused the perpetrators of “crimes against humanity” in a complaint filed to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Relatives of the victims, who were all civilians, have also called on International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan to investigate Hamas’ actions as “war crimes” that were carried out as part of a “genocidal plan,” according to a press statement shared with CNN by their lawyer Francois Zimeray on Friday.

The complaint concerns 11 victims who were either killed or injured within Israeli borders. Several had been at the Nova music festival, where Hamas gunmen killed more than 260 people.

According to Zimeray's law firm, Zimeray & Finelle, “the material facts cannot… be disputed” as Hamas has “amply documented and broadcast” its actions, which shocked the “universal conscience.”

Zimeray asked the prosecution to "consider the advisability of issuing an international arrest warrant for the leaders of Hamas, following the example of the warrant issued for the Russian President in relation to the aggression in Ukraine." 

The development comes days after Khan visited the region and where, from Cairo, he gave a speech in which he said that impeding the flow of aid into Gaza could constitute a war crime. 

The United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) released audio interviews with three women currently taking shelter in Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza describing their desperate situation.

The recordings were made over the last few days in Al Shifa Hospital, UNFPA said.

One woman says she was forced to flee her home while heavily pregnant and another lost a child in utero during an airstrike. 

Gaza is home to 50,000 pregnant women and "some 5,500 of these women are due to give birth in the coming month," according to an October 12 report from UNFPA. "That is equal to 166 births per day, taking place with inadequate access to healthcare or even clean water."

"I am two months pregnant, and I had a hemorrhage before," 24-year-old Reham Rashad Bakr said. "There is a treatment that I should take but I am not able to take it,” she said in the audio interview. "Pregnant women like me should be drinking milk and eating eggs. All bakeries have been bombed. There is no bread, no water.” 

Alaa Al Bayaa, a 30-year-old pregnant Palestinian woman, said when she went to the doctor, she was told her baby had died.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to Israel on Friday for his third trip to the country since the October 7 Hamas attack, where he met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials.

Standing alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv on Friday, Blinken said the US stood by Israel but called for Gazan civilians to be protected amid intensifying Israeli bombardment.

Here are the top headlines right now:

CNN's Niamh Kennedy contributed reporting to this post.

This post has been updated with new details about Nasrallah's remarks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that his government opposed any temporary ceasefire in Gaza unless Hamas freed all the hostages it holds.

He also said that it would continue to block fuel from entering Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tel Aviv on Friday said the US believes efforts to get humanitarian assistance in and hostages out “would be facilitated by humanitarian pauses.”

Blinken also said during the news conference that the US and Israel have "identified mechanisms" to get much-needed fuel to Gaza's hospitals.

The Israeli military on Friday said 241 hostages are believed to have been taken by Hamas on October 7.

The military also said Friday the death toll of Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza is up to 25.

CNN’s Becky Anderson contributed reporting to this post.

Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, called in a speech Friday for people to "work day and night" to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, saying it is Hezbollah's "primary goal."

Nasrallah said the powerful Iran-backed Lebanese paramilitary group's secondary goal is for Hamas to emerge "victorious" in Gaza.

He also described the war as a "turning point."

"The victory of Gaza means a victory for Palestine, for Jerusalem, for Aqsa and the Holy Sepulcher and all the neighboring countries," Nasrallah said.

Warning of a new front: Nasrallah went on to say Hezbollah has been in an "unprecedented battle" with Israel on the Israel-Lebanon border since October 8, adding that "the possibility of the Lebanese front escalating into broad battle is a realistic option."

"Israel should take this into account," he said in his speech.

Nasrallah described Hezbollah's operations at the Lebanese border as a "deterrent" to Israel and said "all scenarios" are possible in the region, warning Israel against escalating its military activity there. The Hezbollah leader said any such escalation would be "a historic folly" by Israel.

Some background: Hezbollah is an Iran-backed Islamist movement with one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East. The group, which has its main base on the Israel-Lebanon border, could become a wildcard player in the Hamas-Israel war and spark a wider regional conflict.

Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in tit-for-tat skirmishes across the border in northern Israel and southern Lebanon since the war began. The Lebanese group has voiced support for Hamas' cause but not yet directly intervened on its behalf, linking its clashes with Israel to attacks on Lebanese soil.

US intelligence officials were watching Nasrallah's speech closely Friday for signals about Hezbollah’s intentions, an intelligence source told CNN on Thursday.

United States and Israeli officials have "identified mechanisms to enable fuel to reach hospitals and other needs," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday, as the situation in Gaza's healthcare facilities continues to deteriorate.

The issue of getting fuel into Gaza was expected to be a key focus of Blinken’s conversations in Tel Aviv, and a source familiar with the discussion told CNN that it was one of the top US diplomat’s most notable pushes.  

It is unclear when the mechanisms may be put into action. The source said Israel’s wartime cabinet was not very receptive given the difficulties in ensuring that fuel is for humanitarian purposes. Israeli officials have repeatedly said they believe Hamas will steal the fuel.

“Israel has raised appropriate concerns, concerns that we share” about Hamas siphoning off the fuel, Blinken said at a press conference in Tel Aviv, adding that the group’s “cynicism knows no bounds.”

Blinken said conversations would continue “about getting assistance to flow, including with help from the United Nations.”

The situation in Gaza's hospitals: A woman sheltering in Gaza’s largest medical facility told CNN that piles of both trash and people line the hospital’s corridors, with many “sleeping on the floors because residents feel hospitals are safe.”

“The smell of death is everywhere,” she said. “The smell of blood is everywhere.”

Gaza’s leading cancer hospital, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital, has stopped operating due to Israeli bombardment and fuel shortages, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health said in a statement Wednesday.

Israel has claimed that there is fuel in Gaza, but that it is under Hamas’ control. CNN cannot independently verify the amount of fuel in the enclave.

Hospitals in the heavily battered enclave are “hanging by a thread,” the UN said Monday, adding that around 10 hospitals in Gaza are still operational. But those facilities are constantly receiving evacuation orders, the UN added.