December 14, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israeli forces are battling Hamas militants in close-quarters combat in locations across Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said.

In one incident, IDF troops “fired at and killed Hamas operatives who were spotted observing the soldiers,” according to the Israeli military statement.

IDF troops also searched what they said was a “central operating site” for Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion located inside a school compound, where troops located firing positions used to carry out attacks on IDF troops.

“The troops completed the mission of targeting the terrorists and then dismantled military infrastructure found in the compound,” read the statement, without adding further details.

IDF special forces also carried out targeted raids on several locations in southern Khan Younis where they said they located weapons, grenades and Kalashnikov rifles. The forces “destroyed” two tunnel shafts, a rocket launching pit and a weapons storage facility.

In northern Jabalya, IDF troops “seized weapons and engaged and killed a number of terrorists," the statement added.

IDF combat intelligence troops also “identified a Hamas sniper firing from a building” and the Israeli Air Force was directed to “conduct a precise strike against the sniper inside the building,” it said.

CNN cannot independently verify the details of operations reported by Israel or Hamas.

Some context: As Israeli forces ramp up their military campaign across Gaza, senior US officials have warned against the mounting civilian death toll in the Palestinian enclave.

More than 18,600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in the strip. CNN cannot independently verify that number, but the IDF said it has struck more than 22,000 targets in Gaza since the beginning of the war.

Nine Israeli soldiers were killed in a single attack in northern Gaza on Tuesday, an incident that was among the deadliest for Israeli forces since the beginning of their ground operation on October 27.

The news sent shockwaves through Israel, where many are still grieving from the October 7 terror attack by Hamas. But analysts say it is unlikely the incident will weaken the support for the war among the Israeli public. The stakes, they say, are way too high.

According to the official count, 116 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers have been killed in Gaza combat since the start of the invasion.

“Right now, for the Israeli public, the (threat from) Hamas’ military capabilities is such that we’re willing to go to a relatively high number (of casualties) to destroy it,” security expert and retired IDF Colonel Miri Eisin told CNN.

Eisin’s husband and three children are all currently serving in the IDF. “This doesn’t mean I want to sacrifice my children,” she said.

“No, it means that I don’t know how I can live here unless we destroy Hamas.”

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Why Israel won't stop fighting despite the mounting losses | CNN

A member of an Israeli tank unit was killed during a battle in southern Gaza on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said.

It brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza combat to 116, according to a CNN count.

More than 18,600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in the strip.

CORRECTION: This post has been updated to correct the number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza combat.

Australia batsman Usman Khawaja says he’ll “fight” for approval to wear shoes that say “all lives are equal” during a Test match in Perth, after the International Cricket Council (ICC) told him it would break their rules.

Khawaja, a Muslim with Pakistani heritage, had been pictured in training wearing a shoe with the phrase written across it in red, green and black. The words “freedom is a human right” were reportedly written on the other.

Khawaja said in an Instagram video posted Wednesday that ICC officials told him he couldn’t wear the shoes on the field “because they believe it’s a political statement.”

He did not directly refer to the Israel-Hamas war in his latest video message, but the player has posted in support of Palestinians in recent weeks as Israel continues its bombardment of the Gaza Strip following the October 7 Hamas terror attacks.

When reached by CNN for comment, the ICC referred to page 7 of its regulations titled “Playing: Clothing and Equipment Regulations – Effective May 2023.”

CNN has also reached out to Cricket Australia for comment.

Read more about the controversy.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan discussed Israel's war with Hamas during a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, according to a White House readout.

Sullivan is in the Middle East en route to Israel, where he is scheduled to meet with Israeli officials Thursday amid unprecedented rising tensions between the White House and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government over Israel's prosecution of the war.

Next stop: Sullivan will hold "extremely serious conversations" with Israeli officials about humanitarian aid and the next phase of Israel's military campaign, according to a US official. It comes as the White House struggles to square President Joe Biden's comments about "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza with its insistence that Israel's "intent" is to limit civilian casualties. Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions Israel has used in Gaza have been unguided, according to a US intelligence assessment.

Read more about Sullivan's visit to Israel.

Joe Biden held Israel closer than any American president ever has in the horrific days after the Hamas attacks on October 7.

But more than two months later, following days upon end of Israeli strikes in Gaza that have killed thousands of civilians, unprecedented tensions are widening between the White House and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biden accused Israel, for example, of carrying out “indiscriminate” bombing in an off-camera political event this week. He used exceedingly blunt language, which typically causes pushback from Israel’s leaders, who insist they try to spare civilians but accuse Hamas of using innocent Palestinians as cover.

The next big geopolitical question over the war in Gaza is not whether it will isolate Israel internationally — that’s already happened. It’s whether the White House’s firm support for the operation will also alienate the United States from its friends in a way that could severely compromise wider national security goals.

And the unrelenting toll on Palestinians is also increasing the political price that Biden is paying at home for his backing of Israel — and raising doubts about his capacity to invigorate his political coalition ahead of the 2024 election.

This is the sensitive backdrop of a trip to Israel on Thursday by Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, who will meet Netanyahu and other key officials following strikingly direct criticisms of the right-wing Israeli coalition from the president.

Read Collinson's full analysis of the US-Israel tensions.

Israel has canceled a planned trip to Qatar by the head of its foreign intelligence service to restart talks on a possible second hostage release deal, a source familiar with the negotiations confirmed to CNN.  

Mossad director David Barnea will not travel to the Qatari capital Doha, where previous talks on the release of hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza have taken place, the source said, confirming a report by Israel's Channel 13 on Wednesday.  

Hamas is being unresponsive to overtures made in recent days to try to restart hostage negotiations, a source familiar with the efforts told CNN, as the US and other mediators try to resurrect talks that would see more hostages who were abducted on October 7 be released from captivity.

On Wednesday, the Israeli prime minister's office said hostage Tal Chimi, 41, had been pronounced dead. The office believes 135 hostages remain in Gaza, 116 of whom are alive. 

Here's what else you need to know:

Biden administration staffers held a vigil in front of the White House on Wednesday to call on President Joe Biden to support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

More than three dozen people attended, including political appointees, administration staffers and civil service career staff, with participants wearing sunglasses and masks to conceal their identities.

Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned from his job in October over disagreement with the Biden administration’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war, delivered opening remarks. 

A former administration staffer also read a statement given to him by a group of Palestinian administration officials who did not want to be identified.

The United States has repeatedly blocked ceasefire calls at the United Nations Security Council. Its stance is at odds with most countries, which voted Tuesday to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire at the UN General Assembly.

The group that organized the vigil Wednesday called the violence that has unfolded in Gaza over the last few weeks “unacceptable.”

Last month, more than 700 staffers and political appointees signed a letter calling on the president to support a ceasefire.

Israel visit: US national security adviser Jake Sullivan will visit Israel on Thursday for "extremely serious conversations" about humanitarian aid and the next phase of Israel's military campaign, a US official said. It comes as the White House struggles to square Biden's comments about "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza with its insistence that Israel's "intent" is to limit civilian casualties. Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions Israel has used in Gaza have been unguided, according to a US intelligence assessment.

Israel has canceled a planned trip to Qatar by the head of its foreign intelligence service to restart talks on a possible second hostage release deal, a source familiar with the negotiations confirmed to CNN.  

Mossad director David Barnea will not travel to the Qatari capital Doha, where previous talks on the release of hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza have taken place, the source said.  

Israel’s Channel 13 first reported Wednesday that the Israeli war cabinet, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had called off the trip and that senior Israeli officials would not go to Qatar to restart negotiations. 

CNN has reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office about Barnea’s canceled trip. The Mossad answers directly to the Prime Minister. 

The war cabinet felt “conditions are not right” to try to restart the talks, an Israeli official said. The source asked not to be named discussing internal government deliberations.

Around 240 people, from infants to octogenarians, were taken hostage during Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7. Dozens have been freed but many more remain missing, presumed to be held by the Palestinian militant organization and other groups in Gaza, following the breakdown of a temporary truce last month. 

The Israeli prime minister’s office believes 135 hostages remain in Gaza, 116 of whom are alive. 

Formal negotiations have not resumed since hostage talks that had been taking place in Doha broke down earlier this month. 

But Israel, the United States and Qatar have continued to discuss ways to try to jump start the discussions, multiple sources said. “We never stopped,” one source familiar with the talks said. 

Families of some of the Israeli hostages were outraged by the decision to cancel Barnea's trip and demanded answers. “We are fed up with the indifference and deadlock,” they said in a statement. 

Tamar Michaelis, Kaitlan Collins, and Katie Bo Lillis contributed to this report.