Blinken will push Israel for pause in fighting to allow for mediation, diplomatic sources say
From CNN's Becky Anderson in Doha
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will push Israel for a "pause" in airstrikes on Gaza to "allow for mediation," a diplomatic source familiar with the negotiations told CNN.
The timeline for the pause is unclear at this stage.
A Jordanian diplomatic source also told CNN that in talks with the US Secretary of State, “Jordan will forcefully be demanding an immediate ceasefire."
7:18 a.m. ET, November 3, 2023
Israeli military on "very high level of alertness" at Lebanese border
From CNN's Mick Krever
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are on a “very high level of alertness” at the Lebanese border, a spokesperson said Friday.
“We are at a very high level of readiness in the north – on a very, very high level of alertness to respond to any event that occurred today and in the days to come,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press briefing.
He said that the IDF was “in the middle of a wide-scale operation on the northern border.”
“Yesterday we launched a very broad attack and hit a number of terrorist cells of Hezbollah in response to the shooting carried out by the Hezbollah organization at Kiryat Shmona and Safed,” he said. “We will continue to respond firmly against any harm to the citizens of the State of Israel.”
Some background: A CNN team in northern Israel on Thursday saw an increase in the pace of rocket fire from Lebanon, with Israel's Iron Dome engaging with two of them. Israel and Hezbollah — an Iran-backed armed group that dominates southern Lebanon — have been engaged in daily cross-border exchanges of fire since the start of the conflict between Israel and Hamas on October 7, raising fears that the fighting could escalate into a regional war.
7:07 a.m. ET, November 3, 2023
Al-Shifa hospital shuts down major services as it’s plunged into darkness, doctor says
From CNN's Muhammad Darwish
A doctor at Gaza City’s Al-Shifa hospital said that low fuel stocks have plunged wards into darkness and cut off major, basic functions like oxygen generation.
Only one operating theatre, the emergency department, and the intensive care unit (ICU)continue to function, Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, director of the hospitals in Gaza, said in a video obtained by CNN.
In the wake of Hamas’ October 7 attack, Israel has prevented any fuel from entering Gaza. The Israeli government accuses Hamas of stockpiling fuel, to the detriment of civilian services.
Filming an almost pitch-black building, Abu Al-Rish points out the services that are affected.
“This is the maternity hospital, there, which is containing the neonatal ICU. And this is the rest of the hospital. And this is the surgical department building,” he says.
“We are just trying to keep the hospital working... Even the admin part now, as you see, it’s in complete darkness.”
He said that they were “trying our best” to extend the fuel as long as they can.
“All the other services directly related to the electricity will stop. For example, the oxygen generator, as there is no fuel, it stopped.”
Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, also at Al-Shifa hospital, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the hospital is currently running on just one generator after the fuel shortage led to another generator being switched off.
“Unless there's electricity, this hospital will turn into a mass grave,” Abu-Sittah said. “It's as simple as that. If we cannot keep the ventilators running, if we can't take our critically wounded patients back to the operating room, then there's nothing for this place other than to come and die.”
Abu Al-Rish, in his video, said that pleas for help had gone unanswered.
“No one responds,” he said. “No one can imagine even how the nurses will complete their job to give the medication, to have follow up, without an electromechanical system. Without the light even. It’s very catastrophic.”
Nearly 50 UN buildings and assets impacted by war in Gaza, UNRWA says
From CNN’s Martin Goillandeau
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Friday that nearly 50 of its buildings and assets across Gaza have been impacted, with some being “directly hit.”
“This includes UN schools and buildings being used as shelters, where UNRWA is currently hosting around 700,000 people,” UNRWA said in a post on social media.
Earlier on Friday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement that Israeli airstrikes on Thursday have killed at least 23 people sheltering in four UNRWA facilities that are hosting nearly 20,000 displaced people in Gaza. Since October 7, 72 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza.
Previous reporting from CNN's Kareem El Damanhoury.
6:17 a.m. ET, November 3, 2023
Gazans return through Kerem Shalom crossing Friday following Israeli Security Cabinet decision
From CNN's Abeer Salman in Jerusalem
Residents of Gaza who worked in Israel, and were in Israel on October 7, returned to the enclave on Friday through the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Israel, following an Israeli Security Cabinet decision to expel them.
Dozens of Gazan men of all ages can be seen entering Gaza in CNN footage filmed on the Gazan side. Some pray or kiss the ground, some greet friends and family, some tell of alleged mistreatment in Israel.
“What happened to us never happened to any human being before,” one of the men told CNN. “They suspended our permissions. We tried to go to the West Bank. They detained us and put us in places we never knew where we were."
CNN is reaching out to the Israeli government for a response to his allegations.
On Thursday, Israel announced it would be "severing all contact with Gaza” and that there would be "no more Palestinian workers from Gaza," according to the Israeli government press office.
“Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza,” the press office said.
Previous reporting from CNN's Mariya Knight and Tamar Michaelis.
Increased police presence as Friday prayers get underway
From CNN's Ivana Kottasova and Adi Koplewitz in East Jerusalem
Friday prayers have started in Jerusalem, often a moment of tension between Palestinian residents of the ancient city and the Israeli police.
As in the previous weeks, the authorities areseverely restricting access to the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest place in Islam.
There’s a heavy police presence in Wadi Juz neighborhood in East Jerusalem, where many of those turned away from the al-Aqsa compound congregate to pray in the streets.
Moments ago, the police fired a number of tear gas canisters deep into the neighborhood, in an apparent attempt to prevent any gathering from taking place.
The midday prayers on Friday are congregational worship, the most important moment of the Muslim week.
7:14 a.m. ET, November 3, 2023
20 ambulances pass through Rafah crossing into Gaza to pick up wounded Palestinians
From Asmaa Khalil in Rafah and CNN’s Zeena Saifi in Jerusalem
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.
5:45 a.m. ET, November 3, 2023
Blinken meets with Netanyahu and Israel war cabinet
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler
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.”
Chief of Hezbollah, the regional wildcard, to make first public address since October 7
From CNN’s Tamara Qiblawi in London and Aileen Graef in Washington DC
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.”
“Well, we'll wait to see what he says. I mean, I don't think he's calling in asking for our talking points. So we'll see what he has to say,” Kirby stated, adding: “We've got significant national security interests at play here. We've proven in the past we'll protect and defend them. We'll do it again in the future.”