November 3, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

Twenty ambulances from the Egyptian Red Crescent passed through the Rafah border crossing into Gaza to pick up wounded Palestinians on Friday morning, an Egyptian border official told CNN on the ground.

The official said the ambulances are expected to bring back 29 people, including nine children suffering from cancer.

Three wounded Palestinians crossed through the Rafah border to receive treatment in Egyptian hospitals on Thursday, bringing the total number who have been transferred to Egypt for treatment to 48.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with Israel's war cabinet in Tel Aviv, following a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the State Department.

Blinken arrived in Israel on Friday for meetings with Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. He is accompanied by newly confirmed US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew.

This is Blinken's third visit to Israel since the October 7 Hamas attack.

In remarks to the media before departing Washington on Thursday, Blinken said he planned to talk to the Israeli government about “the ongoing campaign against the Hamas terrorist organization” and “steps that need to be taken to protect civilians.” 

Read more here.

This post has been updated.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah on Friday will make his first public remarks since the Hamas-Israel war erupted on October 7. 

The widely anticipated speech comes as his powerful Iran-backed armed group has been engaged in daily exchanges of fire with the Israeli military on the Israel-Lebanon border, raising the specter of a regional war.  

The skirmishes are the most significant escalation between Hezbollah and Israel since a 32-day war between the two countries in 2006. The hostilities began shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel and the Israeli bombardment of Gaza that followed. 

The crossfire has so far been restricted to the border region. On Thursday, the skirmishes intensified, and the flare-up zone appeared to widen slightly, stoking fears of a broadening conflict. 

Hezbollah is widely considered to be the regional wildcard that could tip the Hamas-Gaza war into a regional conflict. It is has a more sophisticated arsenal than Hamas, and its increased involvement in the war could rope in Iran’s paramilitary partners in Iraq and Yemen. 

US aircraft carriers that were deployed to the eastern Mediterranean shortly after the onset of the war are believed to serve as a deterrent for the group, and much Western diplomatic effort has been expended to prevent an all-out war. 

Nasrallah’s silence over the past three weeks has lent an unsettling ambiguity to the future of the region’s security. Many Western embassies, including those of the US and the UK, have called on their citizens to leave the country and have issued advisory warnings about travel to Lebanon. 

Several airlines have also suspended flights to the country. 

It is unclear what Nasrallah may announce in Friday’s speech, but Hezbollah-owned media have been effusive in their support for Hamas since October 7. Observers will watch the speech for signs of a new phase in the conflict, or modifications to the loosely defined rules of engagement that extend beyond the current tit-for-tat. 

In anticipation of the address, White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday, “Our message to him or to anybody else is that they're thinking about widening and escalating and deepening this conflict: You shouldn't do it.”

Israel will return Gazans working in the country back to the besieged Palestinian enclave, Israel’s Security Cabinet announced on Thursday, adding that it would also sever contact with Gaza.

Prior to Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks and kidnapping rampage, about 18,000 Gazans had permits to cross into Israel and work, where they could earn significantly more than in Gaza.

The statement did not detail how or when the workers would return to what is now an active warzone that is being bombarded hundreds of times per day.

Read more about the Israeli announcement.

At least 21 people were injured at Gaza City's Al-Quds Hospital following Israeli airstrikes on the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said Friday.

It follows two straight days of Israeli airstrikes near the enclave's second-largest hospital, where up to 14,000 displaced people are sheltering, according to doctors.

Video posted by the Red Crescent shows shattered glass on the ground as health workers carried children and medics tended to a woman with a leg injury.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment but did not immediately hear back. 

The IDF has repeatedly said it is targeting Hamas commanders or infrastructure and that it urges civilians to evacuate south when CNN has asked about specific airstrikes in northern Gaza.

Evacuation zones and warning alerts from the Israeli military have not guaranteed safety for civilians in the densely populated coastal strip.

Extremist groups could "take advantage" of the conflict in Israel and Gaza and cause more regional violence, a United Arab Emirates minister warned Friday, adding her country was working "relentlessly" for a humanitarian ceasefire.

Speaking at a conference in Abu Dhabi, Noura al-Kaabi, from the UAE's Foreign Ministry said: "We cannot ignore the wider context and the necessity to turn down the regional temperature that is approaching a boiling point."

Israel has maintained its bombardment and expanded ground operation in Gaza despite growing international condemnation, a steadily mounting civilian death toll, and wide calls for a humanitarian ceasefire.

Al-Kaabi said the UAE, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, would continue efforts to achieve a pause in the fighting.

Thirteen Democratic senators are calling for a “short-term cessation of hostilities that pose high-risk to civilians, aid workers or humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza,” according to a statement from the lawmakers. 

While the senators stressed that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas, they said it must “minimize harm to civilians and allow humanitarian aid to reach those who are suffering.” 

The senators stated three goals they hoped would be accomplished with a short-term cessation of hostilities:

The statement comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel Friday to press the Israeli government on its ongoing offensive in Gaza. US President Joe Biden and his top advisers have warned Israel with growing force that it will become increasingly difficult for it to pursue its military goals in Gaza as the global outcry intensifies about the scale of humanitarian suffering there.

Aside from Markey, the statement was signed by Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) 

Thailand said Thursday it has secured "full support" from three Middle Eastern countries to help negotiate the release of Thai hostages held by Hamas in Gaza following their abduction from Israel in the October 7 attacks.

At least 23 Thai hostages, many of them migrant workers, are being held captive in Gaza, with no information available on whether they are "in a safe area or not," according to a Thai government news release.

The Thai government said Iran, Qatar and Egypt had all "committed their full support ... in assisting with the negotiation for the release of the Thai hostages to the best of their abilities, as well as their readiness to fully assist and care for” them, during Foreign Minister Parnpree Bhahiddha-Nukara's visit to the region this week.

Iran agreed to raise Thailand’s request with Tehran-backed Hamas; Egypt said it would “consider facilitating access to the Rafah border crossing once the Thai hostages are released,” and Qatar expressed hope that Thais will be among the first group to be released, the Thai statement said.

All three countries also called for a ceasefire that would aid the safe release of hostages, the statement said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel Friday for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials.

Blinken touched down in Tel Aviv, accompanied by newly confirmed US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew. It is his third visit to Israel since the October 7 Hamas attack.

In remarks to the media before departing Washington on Thursday, Blinken said he planned to talk to the Israeli government about “the ongoing campaign against the Hamas terrorist organization” and “steps that need to be taken to protect civilians.” 

He also intends to discuss, as he did in past trips, the hostages held by Hamas and the prevention of a wider regional conflict.

The continued flow of that humanitarian aid and ongoing departure of civilians will be another key focus of his conversations in Israel, Blinken said Thursday.