November 14, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

US President Joe Biden said he believes a deal can be reached to release hostages taken during the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

"I’ve been talking with the people involved every single day. I believe it’s going to happen. But I don’t want to get into detail," Biden told reporters at the White House.

He said his message for families waiting for news on their captive loved ones is:

Where things stand: Biden and top US officials have been working with different leaders — including through talks brokered by Qatar — to secure the release of hostages taken by Hamas and other terror groups.

A senior US official familiar with the talks told CNN on Tuesday that while the parties have inched closer to striking a deal, the talks remained volatile and could still break down.

The broad parameters that are currently being discussed entail Hamas releasing a large group of hostages at the same time Israel frees Palestinian prisoners. The hostages-for-prisoners exchange would take place in the course of a sustained, days-long pause in fighting that could last as long as five days, but many details, including the duration of a pause, remain in flux.

As CNN previously reported, in the deal currently being discussed, hostages would exit Gaza in stages on a rolling basis – with priority placed on extra vulnerable groups like children and women. The process is expected to take multiple days.

Israel recently asked for 100 hostages to be released, according to a Hamas spokesman and a source familiar with the negotiations.

An overnight statement from the Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, said negotiations were focusing on the possible release of 70 women and children in exchange for a pause in the fighting of five days.

A senior Israeli official acknowledged Hamas is looking to release as few people as possible in exchange for the longest possible ceasefire but said Israel would agree to one if there were a "serious deal" offered.

CNN reported in October that release efforts have been further complicated by Israel’s expansion of its ground operations into Gaza. Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu has said there would be “no ceasefire” without the release of hostages. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday stressed hospitals' protected status under international humanitarian law as concerns mount that medical centers in Gaza are being targeted for military action. 

Hospitals are "especially protected" under international humanitarian law due to the "lifesaving function" they provide for wounded and ill people, ICRC Chief Legal Officer Cordula Droege said in a video that was posted Tuesday on X, formerly Twitter.

Droege also pointed to the fact that, under international humanitarian law, hospitals may lose this protective status if they are “used outside of their humanitarian function to commit acts harmful to the enemy.”  

If a hospital has lost its protective status, a warning must be given to "stop the act harmful to the enemy," Droege said. If it persists, there is an obligation to allow for the "safe evacuation of patients and medical staff." And while that's not always feasible, it doesn't give "free license to attack."

Some context: The Israeli military has accused of Hamas of operating command centers from civilian infrastructure like hospitals — a claim Hamas has denied.

On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces claimed the Al-Rantisi hospital's basement was being used to store weapons and potentially hostages taken during the October 7 attacks. 

The hospital's director, Mohammed Zarqout, rejected those accusations, telling CNN he failed "to understand why they consider ‘discovering’ diapers and children's bottles as a great accomplishment.” 

Abdulhaleem Awad, the head of public relations at Gaza's largest flour and wheat manufacturing mill, Al-Salam Mills, told CNN on Tuesday that they are witnessing a “severe crisis,” operating with a capacity of 25% due to electricity and fuel shortages.

Al-Salam Mills is the only one out of five mills still in operation in southern Gaza, Awad said. Before the war, the mill could produce 480 tonnes of wheat per day or 300 tonnes of flour, Awad added, explaining they are now limited to 75 tonnes daily. He also warned production would stop if they don't get fuel in a few days.

Videos obtained by CNN show hundreds of people standing outside the mill hoping to get flour. People can be seen screaming and asking for flour, and crying women were desperately asking to feed their families. Awad claimed around 90% of bakeries in Gaza are now closed due to airstrikes.

Palastine Hakmat, a mother of seven children, was filmed saying she had been waiting outside the mills for hours, hoping to get some flour for her sick husband and her kids.

Ibrahim al-Najar, a father of six kids, said his family is running out of food. 

“It's my third day waiting outside the mills. Every day I wait for hours but could not get any flour. Where shall we go? What are we going to eat?” al-Najar said.

Last week, the United Nations said all bakeries were forced to close in northern Gaza.

Here's a look at the vital services affected by Gaza's fuel shortage:

The United Kingdom and the United States imposed targeted sanctions on half a dozen Hamas leaders and financiers to hobble the organization’s operations in Gaza and elsewhere, according to a statement released Tuesday by Britain’s Foreign Office. 

The UK and the US have hit four of Hamas’ senior leaders and two of its financiers with travel bans, asset freezes and arms embargoes, according to the statement. The UK and the US had already designated Hamas as a terrorist organization. 

According to the statement, the six individuals sanctioned are: 

The statement also reiterated the UK government’s support for “humanitarian pauses” to let “significantly more lifesaving aid to reach Gaza.” 

The US State Department on Tuesday also labeled Akram al-Ajouri, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s militant wing, as a specially designated global terrorist, while the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on “key Hamas officials and the mechanisms by which Iran provides support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).”

An estimated 200,000 people have fled northern Gaza since November 5, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). 

“An estimated 200,000 have moved since 5 November through a “corridor” opened by the Israeli military, according to OCHA monitoring,” the organization said in a situation report published Tuesday. 

The Israeli military has been operating a series of humanitarian corridors which, it says, are enabling people in northern Gaza to move safely to the south. 

The OCHA highlighted that those who have moved to the south have been grappling with ”overcrowding and limited access to shelter, food and water,” creating “increasing concern.” 

According to the OCHA, “hundreds of thousands” of people “who are either unwilling or unable to move to the south remain in the north.”

Law enforcement has ramped up security ahead of the arrival of tens of thousands demonstrators expected Tuesday at the National Mall in Washington, DC, to denounce antisemitism at the "March for Israel."

There are no credible threats or counter demonstrations identified for Tuesday’s march, according to a US Capitol Police intelligence assessment obtained by CNN.

But the Department of Homeland Security has determined the event will require “extensive federal interagency support,” according to law enforcement sources.

The agency has deemed the march a “Level 1” security event, the highest in its ranking system, which takes into account national importance, potential threats and the level of resources required to ensure public safety, the sources said.

That designation allows the federal government to fill possible gaps in local security, including explosive detection, cyber risk assessments and venue screening.

Jewish community leaders and celebrities are scheduled to speak at the event, which comes amid heightened tension in the US and around the world over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Keep reading about the march in DC today.

The US State Department on Tuesday labeled Akram al-Ajouri, the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s militant wing, as a specially designated global terrorist, while the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on “key Hamas officials and the mechanisms by which Iran provides support to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).”

Tuesday’s actions are the latest punitive measures taken in response to the October 7 Hamas attack against Israel, and both the designation and sanctions are aimed at impeding the individuals' and organizations' access to resources and funding.

Al-Ajouri also serves as PIJ Deputy Secretary General, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. A separate statement by the US Treasury said he "coordinated the militant training and recruitment operations for PIJ in Gaza, Syria, Sudan, Lebanon, and Yemen.”

Meantime, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Mahmoud Khaled Zahhar, “a senior member and co-founder of Hamas who has worked closely with Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.”

Another person, Mu’ad Ibrahim Muhammed Rashid al-Atili, was sanctioned Tuesday “for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hamas.”

Treasury also imposed sanctions on PIJ Representative to Iran Nasser Abu Sharif, Muhjat AlQuds Foundation — “a PIJ-run, Iran-funded organization whose primary mission is to provide financial support to the families of PIJ fighters and prisoners” — and the foundation’s leader, Jamil Yusuf Ahmad ‘Aliyan.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned Lebanon-based money exchange company Nabil Chouman & Co, which it says Hamas uses to transfer money from Iran to Gaza, as well as its founder Nabil Khaled Halil Chouman, his son Khaled Chouman and another Lebanon-based money exchanger Reda Ali Khamis.

The United Nations says only one hospital out of roughly 30 is functioning in northern Gaza, as Israeli strikes pound the Palestinian enclave.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday that Palestinian health centers "must be protected," as a growing chorus of world leaders condemn the scale of civilian deaths in Gaza.

Israel has accused Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities. CNN cannot verify these claims.

An Israeli military spokesperson invited news media, including CNN, to visit a medical center for children on Monday, where he alleged parts of the basement had been a Hamas “command and control center” and may have been used to hold hostages. Hamas has repeatedly denied that its fighters hide under hospitals, as have Gazan health officials and hospital directors.

Here are the latest developments:

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) is unsure its staff is still alive as teams are "trapped" inside the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City, a spokesperson for the organization told CNN on Tuesday. 

“When I'm talking to you now, I'm not sure if they still are alive or not,” PRCS spokesperson Nebal Farsakh told CNN’s Max Foster during an interview.

The organization, based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, has struggled to reach its teams inside the hospital for more than six days. The PRCS has only been able to communicate with its team via high-frequency radio waves, which Farsakh described as “unstable” and prone to “constant distortion.”

Farsakh said the roughly 300 patients in the hospital and PRCS medical staff are all “unable to leave,” adding that all the surrounding roads remain closed. She said all those inside are “trapped,” hearing continuous bombardment and shooting in the surrounding area.

A PRCS convoy had attempted to travel on Monday from southern Gaza to the Al-Quds Hospital to evacuate staff and patients. During the interview with CNN, Farsakh claimed that after searching the PRCS vehicles and giving them the go-ahead to travel to Al-Quds, the Israeli military then informed the convoy that it couldn’t travel there because there was an ongoing “military operation” in the area.

CNN could not independently verify the PRCS claims regarding the convoy. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment but has yet to hear back. 

Also on Monday, the Israeli military said it had killed a group of Hamas fighters “embedded” among civilians at the hospital after its troops were fired on from the entrance. The PRCS, however, disputed the Israeli military's claims, saying, "There are no armed individuals inside the hospital and no shots were fired from inside."