December 15, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israel’s military has repeatedly attacked the US-backed Lebanese army to the north over the past two months, prompting alarm in President Joe Biden's administration and sharp rebukes from top United States officials to Israeli leadership.

The Israelis have attacked Lebanese Armed Forces positions more than 34 times since October 7, including with small arms and artillery fire, drones and helicopters, according to US officials, a regional security source, and a list of the incidents compiled by the US and reviewed by CNN.

The Biden administration has told Israel that the strikes are unacceptable, officials said. One senior US official said that the US believes at least some of those strikes have been accidental, intended instead for the powerful Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which also operates along the Lebanon-Israel border and has been hitting Israeli military positions. But the intention of other strikes has been less clear, the official said, and more junior Israeli troops may not be exercising enough restraint.

The scope of the incidents, which has not been previously reported, has frustrated US officials because the US believes the LAF will need to be part of any eventual diplomatic solution between Israel and Lebanon to quiet the current violence. The US is also deeply concerned that the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza could expand to the north, and US officials have been working with Israel and Lebanon to try to contain the war.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Lebanese military is not as strong as Hezbollah, which gets funding, training and weapons from Iran and is one of the most formidable paramilitary forces in the Middle East. But the US backing of the LAF gives Washington a partner in an active region that it can work with on a range of priorities, including counterterrorism. The senior US official noted that the LAF is popular among the Lebanese public and, while not seen as a perfect counterweight to Hezbollah, is a neutral alternative that the US believes will be an important player in any future peace settlement.

US officials believe Israel’s attacks on the Lebanese military have resulted in at least eight injuries and one death since October 7.

Keep reading about the attacks on the Lebanese military.

The president of the European Commission reiterated the European Union's support for a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, saying that "there can be no peace" unless that arrangement is on the table.

Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a news conference in Brussels following a meeting of EU leaders, said there was a “growing consensus” of how the EU should approach “the day after” the conflict ends.

“There can be no forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza,” she said.

Adding that “Gaza cannot be a safe haven for Hamas,” and “Hamas cannot be in the governance structure of a Palestinian state.”

Von der Leyen said that “a reformed Palestinian Authority must govern both West Bank and Gaza,” and there should not be a security presence of Israel in Gaza.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, also discussed how the EU could offer “operational help to strengthen the Palestinian Authority,” so that it could be in a position “where it can be a credible and legitimate power, not just an administrative power, but also political power.” 

Some context: Israel has continued to state that the Palestinian Authority will not assume power in Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it would not happen as long as he is prime minister. 

That idea — of a Palestinian state existing alongside the state of Israel — took off in the 1990s, with a series of agreements known as the Oslo Accords, which created, among other things, the Palestinian Authority, which assumed partial control over the West Bank and Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority was effectively driven out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007.

The Israel Defense Forces says several rockets have been fired toward the Jerusalem area Friday evening local time.

The IDF identified at least six launches, the military told CNN. Three of the rockets were intercepted, and three were not intercepted according to protocol, which usually means they were expected to land in open areas or didn’t pose a threat.

CNN producers in Jerusalem witnessed one of the intercepts.

The attacks mark the first time since October 30 that sirens warning of a rocket threat were activated in Jerusalem.

In a report by CNN's Nima Elbagir, she travels to the West Bank city of Hebron, which remains under Israeli occupation in the shadow of the war against Hamas in Gaza.

Elbagir and her team witnessed how settlers and the Israeli military are working together and creating a culture of fear amongst Palestinian families, despite calls from US President Joe Biden for Israel to sanction "settler extremists."

Watch the report:

Some background: Israel has occupied the West Bank since seizing the territory from Jordanian military occupation in 1967. It later agreed to transfer limited control over parts of the territory to the Palestinian Authority, after agreements signed in the 1990s. But Israel has continued to build settlements there, considered illegal under international law, encroaching into land that Palestinians and the international community view as territory for a future Palestinian state. Israel views the West Bank as “disputed territory,” and contends its settlement policy is legal.

The West Bank has seen a surge in settler attacks this year, including one that an Israeli military commander called a “pogrom.” The issue has concerned United States officials, with President Joe Biden saying that the US was prepared to issue visa bans against “extremists attacking civilians in the West Bank,” in a Washington Post.

Even by the standards of the West Bank, the situation in Hebron is complicated. A predominantly Palestinian city, it has Israeli settlements right in the center. The result is both a physical and legal segregation between the hundreds of Jewish settlers and the thousands of Palestinians who live on the streets around the old city.

CNN's Tara John contributed reporting to this post.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for attacks on two more cargo vessels sailing near the coast of Yemen en route to Israel on Friday.

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said fighters used missiles to attack the MSC Alanya and MSC Palatium III as they sailed near the Bab al-Mandab Strait — the outlet of the Red Sea between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

The attack on the vessels was launched after the crews aboard the ships “ignored” communication attempts and warning signals from the Houthi naval forces, Saree claimed in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

"We reassure all ships heading to all ports in the world, except for Israeli ports, that no harm will befall them, and they must keep the communication devices open," Saree added.

Some context: The Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are a Shia political and military organization that have been fighting a civil war against a Saudi Arabia-backed coalition since 2014.

There has been an uptick in their maritime activities since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 and the ensuing Israeli offensive in Gaza, with the group declaring any ship heading to Israel was a “legitimate target.”

The Houthis are among the Iranian proxy groups that have raised concerns that the Israel-Hamas war could spill into a broader regional conflict.

Firm pauses shipping after attack: Danish shipping and logistics firm Maersk has paused all its shipping through the area due to the “escalated security situation in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.”

Maersk cited a “near-miss incident involving Maersk Gibraltar yesterday and yet another attack on a container vessel today,” in a statement to CNN explaining the decision. Houthi forces claimed to have executed a successful drone strike on the Maersk ship Thursday, though the company said at the time that its crew and the vessel were safe.

The firm has now “instructed all Maersk vessels in the area bound to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait to pause their journey until further notice.”

The shipping company said the recent attacks on commercial vessels in the area were “alarming and pose a significant threat to the safety and security of seafarers.”  

Tamar Michaelis and CNN's Heather Chen contributed reporting to this post.

A convoy of 106 trucks carrying humanitarian aid crossed into Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Friday, an Egyptian official confirmed to CNN. This included five trucks carrying fuel. 

A total of 445 individuals left the Gaza Strip, comprising 441 foreigners and four injured Palestinians, the Egyptian official added. 

The current number of trucks aligns with the daily average that has been allowed over the past week.

Remember: Before the conflict, the United Nations had reported that an average of 455 trucks were delivering aid supplies each day. 

For the first time since October 7, humanitarian aid will be allowed to cross directly into Gaza from Israel, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said.

The cabinet “temporarily approved the unloading of the trucks on the Gaza side of the ‘Kerem Shalom’ crossing instead of returning them to Rafah” on Egypt’s border with Gaza, the office said in a statement Friday.

Kerem Shalom is one of two Israeli crossings where humanitarian aid trucks have been inspected over the past few days, but not allowed to enter Gaza directly. Instead, they have been sent back to Rafah. 

“Until today, these trucks had to return to the Rafah border crossing, which created congestion and prevented the implementation of the agreement between Israel and the US,” it continued.

The statement said that only humanitarian aid from Egypt will be delivered to the strip in this manner.

“The US has pledged to finance the upgrading of the Rafah border crossing as quickly as possible so that humanitarian aid can only be transferred through it subject to an Israeli security inspection,” it added.  

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, who’s traveling in Israel and the West Bank this week, welcomed the news. 

“President Biden raised this issue in recent phone calls with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and it was an important topic of discussion during my visit to Israel over the past two days,” Sullivan wrote Friday, and added that the hope is “this new opening will ease congestion and help facilitate the delivery of life-saving assistance to those who need it urgently in Gaza.”

At least 17 people were killed and dozens of others were injured early Friday morning after artillery fire struck a school and a residential home in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis. 

Two artillery strikes hit Haifa School – where displaced residents were sheltering – and killed 12 people — “the majority of those children,” Nahedd Abu Etaimah, one of the directors of the Al-Nasser Hospital, who spoke with some of the injured, told CNN Friday.

Earlier, five people, including children, were killed after a house in western Khan Younis was hit, Abu Etaimah said.

Videos circulating on social media showed doctors treating two injured children at a hospital. In one particular video, a young boy who appears to be unconscious is brought in on the back of a mini truck. He is carried into the hospital by a paramedic and laid down on the floor as doctors treat him. 

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.

Remember: Khan Younis is in southern Gaza. Civilians from northern Gaza fled to this area in thousands when Israel asked them to evacuate to escape strikes. Now, as Israel has expanded its ground operations to the south, it repeatedly asks civilians in several blocks — numerical units in a map designed by the IDF to designate areas inside Gaza — to evacuate. In the past week, it once asked civilians in some areas to go to a coastal area with few facilities, and another time it asked them to move to displacement shelters.

Since Israel launched its war on Hamas on October 7, the Israel Defense Forces said it had struck more than 22,000 targets in Gaza. As a result, almost 1.9 million people — more than 85% of the enclave’s total population — have been displaced, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Many live in makeshift shelters as temperatures drop and rain conditions are expected for the next few months. Others struggle to find drinking water and adequate food. And yet others are also battling spread of disease.

CNN spoke to some civilians and aid workers about their conditions:

Salwa Tibi: The 53-year-old aid worker recalls how she covered several miles on foot in southern Gaza, in a desperate search for blankets and sheets that might help keep her four children and other young relatives warm at night. She is staying in a rented house with at least 20 relatives including eight children and babies – the youngest of whom is three months old.

Rana Al-Najjar: As winds, heavy rains and cooler temperatures descend on Gaza from November to February, the 13-year-old girl — who was walking around barefoot — told CNN, “We are nine people living in this tent. Our tent is flooded with water, my siblings are freezing, and we don’t know what to do. We want to go back to our homes and not drown."

Shadya Arafat: The 51-year-old civilian in Deir Al-Balah told CNN she used to enjoy the rain. “Now we say ‘God have mercy on us,’” said the grandmother. “We have no beds, no blankets, the children are sleeping on the floor only lying on a sheet.” She is staying in a tent with 14 other people, most of whom are children. “I go around begging for a blanket (and) spend the night carrying a pot to collect the water so it doesn’t soak the children,” she added.

Hazem Saeed Al-Naizi: The director of an orphange in Gaza City decided to flee south to Rafah with 40 people under his care – most of whom are children and infants living with disabilities. He recalled being too fatigued to hold a bag — crammed with baby milk, biscuits, dates, diapers, water and clothing — at the same time as carrying one of the orphans, 8-year-old Ayas. He said he threw away the bag.

Shadi Bleha: The 20-year-old student, displaced from northern Gaza to Rafah, is sheltering in the courtyard of a school. “We are staying in a tent (made) from separate pieces of nylon,” he said, noting he is with at least 23 relatives, including five children ages 5 to 12. On some nights, he sleeps outside next to a fire because there is not enough room for them all, he said.

Islam Saeed Muhammad Barakat: The 48-year-old displaced civilian did not have time to gather the belongings his family needs for winter when they fled their home in Gaza City. He said he and many of his children got sick with several viruses that have spread recently, including flu and other "unknown but painful and contagious viruses." Barakat called on the international community to protect Palestinian lives, in the hope that peace will return to Gaza.

CNN’s Abeer Salman, Jomana Karadsheh, Vasco Cotovio, Ibrahim Dahman, Mostafa Salem, Kareem Khadder, Eyad Kourdi, Derek Van Dam and Niamh Kennedy contributed reporting.

Read the full story here.