November 3, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, standing alongside Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv on Friday, said that his country stood by Israel and that civilians in Gaza must be protected.

A diplomatic source familiar with negotiations told CNN on Friday that Blinken would push Israel for a "pause" in airstrikes on Gaza to “allow for mediation.”

Herzog thanked Blinken for his “moral clarity.”

He acknowledged protesters, who could be heard faintly in the background, demanding action to release hostages held by Hamas and said: “Our heart goes out to them. We understand it. We want their immediate release.”

Blinken and Herzog also said that they “are thinking every single moment of our hostages – so many Israelis, Americans, other foreign nationals."

Herzog sought to emphasize the claim that Israel is following international humanitarian law by showing Blinken a leaflet -- 1.2 million of which he said had been sent to citizens of Gaza. 

Nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces overnight in raids across the occupied West Bank, according to information from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Four men and a 17-year-old were shot dead in Jenin. They were named as Suleiman Steti, 31, Mustafa Na’aniya, 26, Waseem Zyoud, 22, Motaz Abu Al-Nada, 26, and Yamen Jarrar, 17. A sixth person was transferred to hospital with what health officials described as a serious abdominal injury.

Videos obtained by CNN show several Israeli military vehicles entering the Jenin refugee camp on Thursday evening, with sounds of gunshots being fired and piles of rubble strewn around the ground. Another clip shows a roadside explosive being detonated near an Israeli military bulldozer that had been tearing up infrastructure.

An eyewitness told CNN that Israeli forces covertly entered the camp and were spotted by Palestinian gunmen who opened fire. More Israeli military vehicles then came in to support the special unit as reinforcement, the eyewitness added.   

Some context: Israel has stepped up activities against armed Palestinian groups in the West Bank since October 7, with the town of Jenin, in the north of the territory, a particular focus.

In a statement Friday morning, the Israeli army said it had taken part in “counterterrorism activity overnight in the Jenin Camp.”

“During the activity, an aircraft struck an armed cell that had hurled explosive devices at the forces. Several assailants were killed,” the statement added.

In separate incidents overnight, four other Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. They were named as Wadih Al-Najjar, 33 and Muhammad Al-Azza, 36, both killed in Hebron; Ibrahim Zayed, 29, killed in Qalandiya; and Asim Ramadan, 19, who died in Nablus. 

As more foreign nationals make their way out of Gaza, the White House said Thursday that a total of 79 American citizens and family members were among those who had arrived in Egypt through the Rafah border crossing so far. 

In a press briefing on Thursday, John Kirby, the National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, announced the figures, saying that 74 US citizens and family members had crossed the border on Thursday, in addition to five Americans who crossed into Egypt on Wednesday. Kirby also stressed the figures are "changing in real time."

"We obviously continue to be focused on getting as many Americans out as quickly as possible. And we still fully expect that more Americans will be able to depart -- hopefully more today, but certainly we're looking for them to depart at a similar pace... if not better than what we've seen," he said on Thursday.

Earlier Friday, an Egyptian border guard at Rafah crossing told CNN that 99 people had so far transited through from Gaza that morning without specifying any nationalities. More people are expected to arrive throughout the day.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says that the military is advancing in Gaza and destroying Hamas infrastructure.

“IDF forces encircle Gaza from the air, land and sea, surrounding the city of Gaza and its surroundings,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press conference on Friday.

“The fighters are advancing in battles during which they are destroying above ground and underground terrorist infrastructures, and eliminating terrorists.”

Hagari said that IDF forces had located explosives caches.

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. 

Blinken is currently in Israel meeting with top officials and intends to convey that message whilst in country, the source added. 

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."

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are on a “very high level of alertness” at the Lebanese border, a spokesperson said Friday.

His words came hours ahead of a highly anticipated speech by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, and the day after unusually fierce exchanges of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border.

“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.”

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.

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.

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.”

Read more on the increasingly precarious conditions doctors in Gaza are coping with.

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.

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.

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. 

Read more on the decision to send Gazan workers back to the enclave here.