December 15, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza has moved here.

Children in Gaza have been suffering from hellish conditions, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said in a statement on Friday, warning that the situation could get worse.

 “At the start of this war, UNICEF said Gaza was a ‘graveyard for children and a living hell for everyone else.’ It has only gotten worse as the bombing and fighting have continued,” the statement read. 

Elder, who just returned from a weeks-long mission in Gaza, warned of the severe repercussions of food, water and medicine shortages on children. 

Elder told CNN’s Isa Soares Thursday that parents he’s been talking to in Gaza have realized hospitals are no longer an option for their children due to the continuous attacks that have made hospitals harder to reach. 

“Most crises they impact children terribly because children are the most vulnerable, but most have about a casualty rate of children around 20%, this [Gaza conflict] is 40 [%],” he said. “This is twice as lethal to children as many conflicts we’ve seen in the last 15 or 20 years.” 

CNN cannot independently verify these numbers. 

Context: According to the latest statement on Friday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, which draws its numbers from sources in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Israeli attacks have killed at least 18,700 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7, 70% of whom were children and women. 

The Al Jazeera Media Network issued a statement on Friday condemning the airstrike that resulted in the death of its camera operator Samer Abu Daqqa and the injury of its Gaza bureau chief  Wael Al-Dahdouh in Khan Younis. 

“The Network holds Israel accountable for systematically targeting and killing Al Jazeera journalists and their families,” the statement said. 

CNN cannot independently verify the allegations. CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment but has not immediately heard back.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) data, Daqqa is the first Al Jazeera journalist to have been killed in the latest Israel-Hamas conflict since October 7. 

Four other Al Jazeera journalists were injured, CPJ says, including three in southern Lebanon and Dahdouh, who had also lost his wife, daughter, son and grandson in an Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza in late October. 

Al Jazeera extended its condolences to Daqqa’s family in Gaza and Belgium in its statement, which called for accountability. 

“Al Jazeera urges the international community, media freedom organisations, and the International Criminal Court to take immediate action to hold the Israeli government and military accountable for these acts of carnage and crimes against humanity,” the statement added. 

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the location where Wael Dahdouh’s family was killed. It was Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh recounted the moments when an airstrike hit Khan Younis on Friday, injuring him and resulting in the death of his co-worker cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa who died from his wounds. 

The correspondent said the incident took place when they were heading back to an ambulance belonging to the Palestinian Civil Defense after they were done filming in an area of Khan Younis that was hard to reach.

“Suddenly, something happened, a big thing, I couldn’t tell what it was, I only felt something big happened and pushed me to the ground, the helmet fell and the microphone,” Dahdouh told Al Jazeera while on a hospital bed before knowing about the death of his colleague.
“I saw there was an intense bleeding from my shoulder and arm, and I realized if I stayed, I will be bleeding there in that location, and no one will reach me.”

Dahdouh, who had earlier in the conflict lost his wife, daughter, son and grandson in an Israeli airstrike on Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza in late October, said he pushed himself to walk and eventually managed to reach Civil Defense staff hundreds of meters away.

But he said they were not able to head to where Daqqa was to rescue him at the time.

“I asked them to go back to get Samer Abu Daqqa our fellow cameraman whose voice I was hearing, and he was screaming,” Dahdouh said. “But the ambulance personnel said we should leave immediately and send another vehicle to the location so that we don’t get targeted.”

Al Jazeera said on air that Daqqa was bleeding for five hours and no-one could reach to him due to the situation around him.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the location where Wael Dahdouh’s family was killed. It was Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

Family members of the three hostages killed inside Gaza by Israeli troops had spoken regularly to Israeli TV and news websites since October, sharing their feelings and appealing for their relatives’ safe release.

“During the day I’m busy with communications and PR. At night, in my bed, I let out my grief,” Avi Shimriz told Israel’s Channel 12 earlier this week. He is the father of Alon Shimriz, one of the hostages killed.
“My wife, for most of the day, is sitting and crying,” Avi Shimriz said.

The Shimriz family lived on Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where Alon Shimriz was captured on October 7. Many of the people living in the kibbutzim close to the Gaza perimeter had been advocates of co-existence with Palestinians, a sentiment Avi Shimriz had articulated.

“We are a peace-wishing kibbutz. I have no doubt [that there’s someone to speak to on the other side]. Not everyone’s Yahya Sinwar,” he said, referring to the man seen as masterminding Hamas’ murderous assault two months ago.  

Pressure has been growing on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to do more to get the remaining hostages out of Gaza ever since the first agreement with Hamas – which saw more than 100 people released – collapsed at the start of the month.

As more and more testimonies of life in captivity have emerged, some family members — and Israeli society at large — have had the growing sense of time running out.

That sentiment has only grown in recent days. Even before news that three hostages had been accidentally killed by Israeli troops, Israeli officials had already announced this week the deaths of five other Israelis held inside Gaza, after their bodies were recovered by soldiers.

“On the one hand I’m happy for every hostage who came back [alive]. On the other hand, I’m very mad at the decision makers in our government. They should have already released everyone,” Avi Shimriz told Channel 12. 
“Within our government I don’t trust anyone. Is it their son who is sitting in a tunnel? My son is sitting in a tunnel. My son has no oxygen. My son is having half a pita a day. I want my son here as soon as tomorrow.” 

Many hostage family members have taken part in rallies to make sure the government gets the message, but Alon Shimriz’s brother, Yonatan, had expressed his skepticism on social media that the popular demonstrations were having an impact.

“Here in Israel, it’s like speaking to a wall. You can set up demonstrations, hold hands, light candles, make placards, but [the government] just wants to give you the impression it is out of their hands,” he wrote.

Yotam Haim was also taken from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7. His mother, Iris, had told Israel’s Channel 11 earlier this week that she had faith her son would return even without raising her voice at the government. 

“Some people think that if they don’t shout, no one will bring their children back. I tell them: We can do it peacefully and through a respectful dialogue. The children will come back, I have no doubt.”

She had told Channel 11 she felt the government and the army were doing their best.

The third of the kidnapped men killed, Samer Talalka, was a member of Israel’s Bedouin community. His father, Fouad, was among those who visited the United States earlier in the month to raise awareness of his son’s plight.

Speaking to Israeli news website Ynet during his US trip, he described his frustrations and despair at knowing nothing.

The Israel Defense Forces said it accidentally killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza after misidentifying them as a threat.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called their deaths an “unbearable tragedy” and US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the incident “heartbreaking.”

Israeli soldiers are being told to “exercise additional caution” when encountering people in civilian clothes, military spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Friday.

Several dozen people protested outside the Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Friday night, demanding immediate action to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza. 

Here are other headlines you should know:

UK lawmaker Layla Moran said in a statement on Friday that her family members sheltering in Gaza City’s Catholic Church are “beyond desperate and terrified” as conditions continue to worsen.  

“[My family] are reporting white phosphorous and gunfire into their compound,” Moran said. “The bin collector and the janitor have been shot and their bodies are laying outside and remain uncollected.” 

CNN cannot independently verify the conditions in and around the church, nor the allegation of the use of incendiary munitions, which can be illegal in some circumstances.

CNN has reached out to the church and the Israeli military for comment, but has not immediately heard back. 

Citing her family members, the Oxford West and Abingdon member of parliament added that electricity generators have stopped working at the church. 

On November 15, Moran told the UK House of Commons that one of her family members sheltering in the church in Gaza had died.

“Their health deteriorated in the last week, and they couldn’t get to the hospital they needed,” she said.

Iran-backed militant forces Houthi struck two commercial ships on Friday and threatened to attack a third, US Central Command(CENTCOM) said in a post on X. 

The incident took place at roughly 7 a.m. (local time) on Friday morning when Houthi forces “contacted the Motor Vessel MSC ALANYA, a Liberian-flagged vessel that was traveling north in the southern part of the Red Sea and threatened to attack it,” the CENTCOM post said.

The Houthis told the vessel to turn around and proceed south. There were no US ships in the area, CENTCOM said, but US forces “maintained direct communications with the vessel, and the ALANYA continued north.” 

“It is believed to be traveling safely at this time,” the CENTCOM post said. 

Approximately two hours later, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) launched from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen hit the Motor Vessel AL JASRAH, another Liberian-flagged vessel traveling south in the Red Sea.

The ship “broadcast a mayday signal that said the crew was fighting a fire caused by the attack,” though the fire has since been extinguished, CENTCOM said. 

Several hours later, Houthi forces launched two ballistic missiles toward the international shipping lanes in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, CENTCOM said, hitting another Liberian flagged vessel, the M/V PALATIUM 3.

The PALATIUM 3 also broadcast a mayday call and said the vessel was on fire, to which the USS Mason responded. 

“No injuries have been reported by any of the three ships attacked, but this latest round of attacks is yet another demonstration of the great risk to international shipping caused by these Houthi actions,” the CENTCOM post said.

Some context: The Houthis forces already hit another vessel, Maersk Gibraltar, on Thursday that the militant group said was “heading to the Israeli entity.”

The Iran-backed rebel group, a Shia political and military organization that have been fighting a civil war against a Saudi Arabia-backed coalition since 2014, released a statement on Thursday, saying that it had successfully prevented the passage of several ships bound for Israel for at least 48 hours at the time. It said it would continue to do so until Israel “bring in the food and medicine that our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip need.” 

Al Jazeera correspondent Hiba Akila paid tribute to her colleague Samer Abu Daqqa, a cameraman for the same network who died of wounds after an airstrike on a southern Gaza city on Friday.

Daqqa had been trapped in a Haifa school, where he was working on assignment, when it came under fire, the network said earlier Friday.

“Samer was not only an optimistic, joyful person who loved life, but he was also a journalist who upholds his journalistic mission, always giving us a boost whenever we felt pain and desperation,” Akila said in a broken voice as she reported live from Rafah on Friday night.  

Akila said she’d been working closely with Daqqa on the ground in Gaza since the war began in October.

“Samer was working nonstop,” she said. “He was always the beautiful spirit that accompanies us and supplies us with laughter.”   

According to Al Jazeera, Daqqa’s wife and four children are in Belgium. Akila said Daqqa remained positive that one day the family would be reunited in Gaza.

“When we were supporting and comforting Samer that soon he will meet his family, he would say, ‘I will not go to them, they will come here, and we will be together in Gaza,’” Akila said. 

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it is alarmed by the drone strike that killed Daqqa and wounded his colleague, Wael Al-Dahdouh, and called on “international authorities to independently investigate the attack and hold those responsible to account.”

Speaking to Al Jazeera, CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg reiterated a call for the protection of journalists and emphasized the importance of their work in Gaza, which she called an “unprecedented” challenge. 

“We’re really only left with Gaza journalists doing this really important documentation work,” Ginsberg said

Context: As of Friday, 64 journalists have been killed, and 13 injured, while covering the Israel’s war with Hamas, making it the most dangerous period for the profession in 31 years, according to the CPJ.

Seven weeks into Israel’s ground operation in Gaza, one of the key challenges facing the Israeli military is the labyrinth of Hamas tunnels that it says spans the entirety of the strip.

In an effort to destroy the underground network, Israel has begun flooding some of Gaza’s tunnels with seawater, a US official told CNN on Tuesday, adding that Israel’s military is “carefully testing out” the method “on a limited basis.”

If successful, flooding could be ramped up to degrade the tunnel network on a larger scale.

The method, however, is difficult and controversial. Even if implemented with sufficient amounts of water at high enough pressure, it may prove only partially successful. It also risks contaminating freshwater supplies and damaging whatever infrastructure remains on the surface.

For the Israeli government, it also risks killing hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be underground.

Israel is unsure whether the method will work, the American official said, but they assured the US that they are being careful to only test it in tunnels where they do not believe hostages are being held.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military for comment.

A spokesperson for Hamas on Thursday said the group had built its tunnels to withstand possible attempts to pump water into them.

“The tunnels were built by well-trained and educated engineers who considered all possible attacks from the occupation, including pumping water,” Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan said at a news conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut.

While the tunnels have been a tool for warfare, they have also acted as an economic lifeline for Gaza’s residents, transporting people, goods and sometimes even American fast food amid a 17-year blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt.

Read CNN’s full report on the Hamas tunnels in Gaza.

Several dozen people protested outside the Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv on Friday night, demanding immediate action to secure the release of the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza. 

The protest was called by families of the hostages after news that three Israelis captives in Gaza were accidentally shot and killed by the Israel Defense Forces in northern Gaza. 

A major thoroughfare in the area was briefly blocked by the protesters, who were chanting “Everyone now.”

Some background: Leaked audio recordings of a meeting between freed Israeli hostages and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released earlier in December had revealed considerable anger at the government’s conduct, as well as the enduring terror of captivity by Hamas in Gaza.

US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the deaths of three Israeli hostages “heartbreaking” after the Israel Defense Forces said it accidentally shot and killed them.

The White House does not have “perfect visibility” on how this happened, Kirby said. US President Joe Biden has been briefed by his national security team on the killings, he added.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s tragic. This news coming out of Gaza today about these hostages being killed in the conduct of a raid. I want to be careful here not to speak to too many specifics because we don’t have perfect visibility on exactly how this operation unfolded and how this tragic mistake was made,” Kirby told reporters Friday.

Kirby added that he believes Israel will examine how this happened but declined to make a “broad judgement about the specific circumstance.” 

The IDF said Friday it mistakenly shot the three hostages after they had been misidentified as a threat.

CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez contributed reporting to this post.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan discussed efforts to increase the flow of humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza during his meeting Friday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, according to the White House.

The top security official also “stressed the importance of enhancing the protection of civilians” during his meeting, according to a readout provided by the White House.  

Sullivan talked to Abbas about the Biden administration’s desire for a peaceful Middle East region and a “path to a two-state solution.”   

“Mr. Sullivan reemphasized President (Joe) Biden’s longstanding vision for a more peaceful, integrated, and prosperous Middle East region, and ultimately a path to a two-state solution that provides for equal measures of justice, freedom, and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” the White House said.

Sullivan also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Thursday. Netanyahu previously publicly rejected American plans for post-war Gaza.

In a news conference Friday morning in Tel Aviv, Sullivan said that Israel will move to a new “phase of this war,” focused on precisely targeting Hamas leadership. 

The Israel Defense Forces said that the name of the third hostage who was mistakenly killed by IDF troops on Friday in Gaza has been approved for publication by his family.  

The Israeli military said the third person was Alon Shimriz, who was kidnapped from kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas on October 7.

The IDF repeated that it “expresses deep remorse over the incident and sends the families its heartfelt condolences.”

New information about other hostages killed: In a statement Friday, the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum also provided more information about the other two hostages who were killed, Samer Fouad Talalka and Yotam Haim.

The forum said Talalka was 25 years old and the oldest of 10 children.

“Samer was an avid motorcyclist who loved to ride around the countryside and spend time with friends,” it said.

Haim, 28, was a gifted musician and a dedicated metal music fan, the forum said. He had played the drums for 20 years and was part of the band Persephore, with whom he was supposed to perform at a music festival in Tel Aviv on October 7.

Yotam left behind two parents, a brother, and a sister.

This post has been updated to reflect the spelling of Shimriz’s name in the latest information provided by the IDF.

Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, traveled to the West Bank Friday following visits to Gaza and Israel earlier in the month. 

She met with the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s President Dr. Younis Al-Khatib and his team, according to a post on X, formerly Twitter. The goal of the meeting was “to discuss efforts to assist communities suffering from the effects of conflict,” according to an ICRC press statement on Friday.  

She also met with a committee for detainee affairs to “listen and share with them the ICRC’s persistent efforts to regain humanitarian access to places of detention.” 

“PRCS volunteers have shown enormous courage and dedication to aid people in Gaza. They have @ICRC’s ongoing and firm support,” she added on X.  

Her visit to the West Bank comes a day after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the relatives of missing hostages in Israel on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken of his “deep sorrow” at what he called the “unbearable tragedy” of the deaths of three Israeli hostages in Gaza who were accidentally shot by Israeli soldiers. 

“Along with all the people of Israel, I bow my head with deep sorrow and mourn the death of three of our dear sons who were kidnapped, among them are Yotam Haim and Samer Fouad Al-Talalka,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

“This an unbearable tragedy. The whole state of Israel is grieving this evening. My heart goes out to the families aching during their time of immense grief. I would like to send strength to our brave soldiers focusing on this sacred mission of returning our hostages, even with the price of sacrificing their own lives,” he added.

“Even on this difficult evening we shall dress our wounds, learn the lessons and continue carrying this supreme effort to return all our hostages home safely,” Netanyahu said.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also said his thoughts were with the families of the hostages.

“This is a painful incident for every Israeli,” Gallant said in a statement. “We must remain resilient and continue operating - for the hostages, for our citizens and for our soldiers.”

Gallant said he had spoken to the Israel Defense Forces’ chief of the general staff “in order to learn lessons immediately.”

Israeli soldiers are being told to “exercise additional caution” when encountering people in civilian clothes, military spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Friday, after the Israel Defense Forces said it accidentally killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Conricus’ remarks come after IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said “lessons and relevant instructions concerning the identification of hostages in battle zones have been immediately communicated to all IDF forces across the whole Gaza Strip.”

Conricus claimed “almost all of the RPG crews” and others attacking IDF forces in Gaza “have been dressed in civilian clothes.” 

“What we have told our troops is to be extra vigilant and do one more safety check before dealing with kinetics with any threat that they face on the battlefield,” he said. “But it is a very challenging environment that our troops are in.”

Benny Gantz, a key member of Israel’s war cabinet, has reacted to the news that three Israeli hostages in Gaza were accidentally shot and killed by Israeli troops Friday. 

“The heart is shattered after learning about this tragedy tonight. I ask to embrace the families - all the people of Israel are crying along with you,” Gantz wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “I would like to give strength to all the families of hostages as well as to the soldiers who are deep in the field and conduct a complicated and important mission like no other before, since the country was founded.”

“The pain accompanying the campaign, is now even bigger due to this difficult incident. Our responsibility is to win the war, and part of that victory would be to return the hostages home,” he continued. “We will do everything to return them alive. Everything.”

Remember: Gantz, the former Israeli defense minister and political rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is part of the emergency government and war management cabinet formed after Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. He was among several leading opposition members in Israel’s parliament to join the hastily constructed war cabinet.

CNN’s Sugam Pokharel contributed reporting to this post.

The Israel Defense Forces says that three Israeli hostages in Gaza were mistakenly identified as a threat and shot dead.

“During combat in Shejaiya (in northern Gaza), the IDF mistakenly identified three Israeli hostages as a threat. As a result, the troops fired toward them and they were killed,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said at a briefing Friday.

“During searches and checks in the area in which the incident occurred, a suspicion arose over the identities of the deceased. Their bodies were transferred to Israeli territory for examination, after which it was confirmed that they were three Israeli hostages,” he added.

The hostages have been identified as:

The IDF began reviewing the incident immediately, Hagari said.

Responding to a reporter’s question, Hagari said IDF officials “assume that the three Israelis killed either escaped or were abandoned by the terrorists” during ongoing fighting in Shejaiya.

He said he was unable to answer immediately whether the three men had put their hands up or shouted to the soldiers in Hebrew.

“The IDF emphasizes that this is an active combat zone in which ongoing fighting over the last few days has occurred. Immediate lessons from the event have been learned, which have been passed on to all IDF troops in the field,” Hagari said.

“The IDF expresses deep remorse over the tragic incident and sends the families its heartfelt condolences. Our national mission is to locate the missing and return all the hostages home,” he added.

Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa has died of wounds sustained in an Israeli airstrike on Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the TV network said Friday.

Daqqa had been trapped in a Haifa school, where he was working on assignment when it came under fire, the network said earlier Friday. Ambulances were unable to reach the wounded cameraman, according to journalists in Gaza, and the network said he had been stuck there bleeding for five hours.

Al Jazeera aired video showing friends and family of Daqqa, including his mother, crying over his body at the Al Nasser medical complex near Khan Younis. 

His mother was seen being carried by two people saying, “He hasn’t seen his children, he hasn’t seen his children.” 

According to Al Jazeera, he was born in 1978 and his wife and children — three boys and a girl — are in Belgium.  

An investigative reporter for the outlet, Tamer Almisshal, described Abu Daqqa “as a great cameraman and editor, doesn’t fear anything, and professional.”

“I spoke to him a few days ago and told him, ‘Why don’t you join your family abroad?’ And he told me they will be back soon when this war is over,” the journalist said.

Daqqa had told him, “I won’t leave Gaza,” Almisshal said, adding that he had worked for more than 20 years for Al Jazeera.

At least 17 people were killed and dozens of others were wounded early Friday after artillery fire struck the Haifa school and a residential home in Khan Younis.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on its military operations in the area. 

Khan Younis has been heavily bombarded by the Israeli military since a fragile truce between Hamas and Israel broke down on December 1.

Workers killed: Three civil defense workers in Gaza whose rescue efforts were being covered by the Al Jazeera team were also killed Friday, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior.

“Three members of our crews were martyred as a result of being bombed by Israeli occupation aircraft during their humanitarian work while rescuing citizens in Farhana School in central Khan Yunis Governorate,” the ministry said on Telegram.

Fellow journalist wounded: The airstrike also wounded Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh, the Qatar-based news network said in a statement to CNN. Al Jazeera broadcast video of Dahdouh receiving treatment at a hospital for wounds in his right arm and abdomen while he cried out in pain.

In October, an Israeli airstrike killed Dahdouh’s wife, son and grandson, the network said. He received the news while he was on air covering the Israel-Hamas war.

Dozens of journalists have been killed covering the Israel-Hamas war, making it the most dangerous period for the profession in 31 years, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

This post has been updated to include the deaths of three civil defense workers, according to the Hamas-controlled interior ministry.

The biggest concern of the World Health Organization in Gaza is the “major degradation” of the local health system “at a time when the health needs are soaring,” regional emergency director Richard Brennan told CNN.

People in Gaza face a “toxic mix” of trauma, lack of access to healthcare and increasingly infectious diseases and potentially hunger, he said.

Massive number of patients at few hospitals: Approximately 50,000 injured patients are currently overwhelming the reduced number of hospitals in Gaza, he said. “Prior to the conflict, there were 36 hospitals operating across Gaza. Now we have 11 partially operating hospitals and three, what we would call, ‘minimally operating.’ So, that with that massive new trauma load, you can just imagine the pressures that the doctors and nurses are working under,” he said.  

He applauded the “incredible dedication” of medical staff working tirelessly over more than two months to provide care “in perhaps the toughest environment that I’ve ever experienced.”

Poor sanitary conditions: With over 80% of the strip’s population displaced and overcrowding shelters, Brennan also highlighted the poor hygiene conditions. “In some of these settlements, there’s only one toilet for 300 to 400 people. So, you can imagine what the sanitation system is like,” he said.

Fear of disease spread: “We’re seeing increased rates of infectious diseases such as respiratory infections, diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, which would give us concerns about dysentery, jaundice, which would give us concerns about hepatitis,” he said. 

Food insecurity: There are also “massive food deficits” in Gaza, according to Brennan, who welcomed the “good news” that the Kerem Shalom crossing will open to bring aid into Gaza. “We’re only at around 100 trucks a day. Currently, we need to be at least 500,” said Brennan, adding that priorities are food, clean water, shelter, and medicine.

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 United States has been clear we do not want to see this conflict spread to Lebanon and we continue to urge the Israelis do all they can to be targeted and avoid civilians, civilian infrastructure, civilian farmland, the UN, and the Lebanese Armed Forces,” a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council told CNN. “The United States is proud of its partnership with the LAF, an essential institution, not only to the stability and security of Lebanon, but of the entire region.”

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:

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08:01 - Source: cnn

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. 

“As part of the agreement to release our abductees, Israel undertook to deliver food and humanitarian aid from Egypt to the civilian population in Gaza, a volume of 200 trucks per day,” according to the statement. “The Rafah crossing is only able to pass 100 trucks a day during an Israeli security check that is already being carried out today at the ‘Kerem Shalom’ crossing.”

“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.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that there will be a transition to another phase of the war that is focused on “more precise ways” of targeting Hamas leadership.

Sullivan also said at a news conference in Tel Aviv that the US wants to see results on Israel’s intent to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza.

He made his comments prior to a planned trip to the West Bank on Friday as part of his push to demonstrate continued US support for Israel in its fight.

Sullivan added that the Palestinian Authority needs to be “revamped and revitalized,” signaling the US vision for post-war Gaza.

Elsewhere, Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two soldiers who were abducted to Gaza during Hamas’ attack on October 7, the military said in a statement Friday. The total number of IDF soldiers killed in the Gaza ground offensive now sits at 118.

Here are the other key developments:

The Israeli soldier looks directly into the camera, then turns around and sets a pile of food supplies on fire.

“We turn on the light against this dark place and burn it until there is no trace of this whole place,” he says as another soldier fuels the flame.

The soldiers say they are in Shejaiya, a neighborhood in Gaza City, deep in the besieged enclave. They are filming themselves burning food in a place where the humanitarian situation is now so bad that international organizations are warning people are at risk of dying of starvation.

This video is only one of several circulating online and reviewed by CNN that show Israeli soldiers in Gaza behaving in offensive and disrespectful ways toward the civilian population. Others show:

A photo shared online shows a soldier standing next to a Hebrew sign spray painted on a wall in Gaza that says: “Instead of erasing graffiti, let us erase Gaza.”

Asked by CNN about the videos, the Israel Defense Forces did not dispute their veracity, location or that IDF soldiers were involved. It condemned the soldiers’ behavior, which it said does not align with its rules, adding that the perpetrators will be punished.

In its statement to CNN, the IDF said that “disciplinary measures will be taken regarding the soldiers involved.” Asked for details about the measures, the IDF did not respond to CNN’s questions.

The videos, many of them posted on social media apparently by the soldiers themselves, are adding to the international outcry over the IDF’s conduct as the military offensive against Hamas continues in Gaza. Since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, 18,412 have been killed in Israeli attacks in the enclave as the IDF has said it has struck more than 22,000 targets in Gaza in the first six weeks of the war.

CNN’s Gianluca Mezzofiore, Abeer Salman, Alex Marquardt and Michael Conte contributed reporting.

European Union leaders will ask Israel to show “maximum restraint” in Gaza in a bid to pare back its assault on the enclave, according to Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo.

Although Israel has “the right to eliminate the terrorist threat that is originating from Gaza,” it must do so “with restraint and respecting international humanitarian law,” de Croo told reporters ahead of an EU leaders debate on the Israel-Hamas war Friday.

Since the last meeting of the European Council in late October, “the situation has worsened in a dramatic way,” highlighting the “many civilian killings” that have occurred, De Croo said, adding the bloc’s position will be to ask Israel “for maximum restraint” in Gaza.

Earlier this week Belgium alongside Ireland, Spain and Malta sent a letter to the European Council chief Charles Michel calling for a discussion on the necessity of a ceasefire in Gaza.

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pointed out that “the majority of EU countries are now calling for a ceasefire” in Gaza, and those that haven’t “believe that it would prevent Israel from pursuing Hamas terrorists.”

“I don’t agree with that interpretation,” Varadkar said. “You can pursue terrorists without engaging in the kind of war and destruction that Israel is engaging in at the moment in Gaza.”

Varadkar advised the EU to “really pressurize Israel and say that their failure to allow the Palestinians to have their own state is going to affect the relationship between Israel and the EU into the future.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday announced the death of another soldier killed in a battle in southern Gaza on Friday.

Sgt. 1st Class (res.) Shay Uriel Pizem, 23, from Ein HaNetziv was a tank commander in the 401st Brigade’s 9th Battalion, according to the IDF.

According to a CNN count, this brings the total number of IDF soldiers killed in the Gaza ground offensive to 118.

On Friday, the IDF announced the death of Sgt. Oz Shmuel Aradi, 19, from Kibbutz Hatzor. Arady was a member of the 603rd Engineering Battalion, according to the statement.

Lama Ali Hassan Alloush and her family followed orders to leave northern Gaza and seek shelter in the south. But then their shelter was struck. Now, she is in hospital, her right leg amputated.

She is being treated at a field hospital in Rafah, in southern Gaza, set up by the United Arab Emirates government. It was constructed rapidly in a soccer stadium, but its staff and state-of the-art equipment make its 150 beds highly sought after.

Dealing with trauma victims is central to the medics’ work, but at this mission dubbed “Operation Gallant Knight 3,” they are also seeing the consequences of the local health systems falling apart and the poor, crowded conditions that are leading to infectious diseases and other problems sweeping through communities.

“Someone came with an injury to his head and worms coming out of the wound,” the hospital’s medical director, Dr. Abdallah Al-Naqbi, said. “We can’t explain what kind of environment they were exposed (to), and medically I can’t explain how dirty was that situation. Even our surgeon was shocked.”

Within 15 minutes of CNN arriving at the hospital, there is a loud crack of a nearby airstrike. The doctors don’t even flinch. “That’s real life,” said Al-Naqbi, adding that they hear at least 20 strikes a day. “I think we got used to it.”

Soon, a man and a 13-year-old boy, both with missing limbs due to the bombing, are wheeled in. The notes handed over from the paramedics were smeared with blood. The teams worked quickly to replace the bandages that were being used as improvised tourniquets.

Inside the hospital it is almost calm, with organized staff efficiently caring for their patients, in wards, intensive care units and operating rooms. But the war is ever present. The Israeli military says that since October 7, it has hit more than 22,000 targets in Gaza – an enclave just about 25 miles long and seven miles wide – far surpassing anything seen in modern warfare in terms of intensity and ferocity.

Read more about a CNN team’s visit to a field hospital in southern Gaza.

The Palestinian Authority needs to be “revamped and revitalized,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a press conference in Tel Aviv on Friday.

“We do believe that the Palestinian Authority needs to be revamped and revitalized, needs to be updated in terms of its method of governance, its representation of the Palestinian people,” Sullivan said. 
“And it will be up to those leaders of the Palestinian Authority to work through the types of steps that they need to take to reform and update the authority for the situation we face today,” Sullivan added.

He also said that the control, administration and security of Gaza should transition to the Palestinians.

Some context: Netanyahu has been asked repeatedly for his vision for a post-war Gaza in interviews with international media since October 7, telling CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview last month that he did see a role for “some kind of civilian Palestinian authority,” albeit one that had been “reconstructed.”

Last month, Netanyahu made it clear that he rejected American plans for post-war Gaza, saying Israel will have the “overall security responsibility” in Gaza for an “indefinite period” after the war ends.

The White House maintains that it doesn’t believe Israeli forces should reoccupy Gaza. “The president still believes that a reoccupation of Gaza by Israeli forces is not good. It’s not good for Israel; not good for the Israeli people,” said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on “CNN This Morning” last month.

The United States wants to see results on Israel’s intent to avoid civilian casualties in Gaza, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a press conference in Tel Aviv on Friday.

“Israel selects targets and tries to distinguish between targets that hit Hamas, and those that that might take the lives of innocent civilians,” Sullivan said in response to a question from CNN’s Alex Marquardt.
“What we have consistently said is that Israel has the intent to make sure that it is drawing those distinctions clearly and in a sustainable way. And we want to see the results match up to that,” Sullivan added.

Also during the Tel Aviv press conference, Sullivan said that Hamas embedding themselves among civilians creates an “incredible burden” on the Israel Defense Forces.

“Now that burden does not lessen the IDF’s responsibility to act in a way that distinguishes between terrorist targets and innocent people and to take every precaution to protect civilians and minimise the loss of life,” Sullivan added.
“It also doesn’t lessen the burden, by the way, to ensure that humanitarian assistance flows in sufficient quantities so that the Palestinian people have access to the food, water medicine, sanitation,” Sullivan said, which they “deserve as a basic matter of dignity of human beings.”

Sullivan added that the US has conveyed these messages “quite clearly” to the Israeli people.

Some context: Sullivan will travel to the occupied West Bank on Friday in his push to demonstrate continued US support for Israel in its fight against Hamas, while also urging the Israeli government to take meaningful steps to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza.

A US official told CNN that Sullivan would meet with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah on the second day of his trip to the region.

Sullivan previously met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top government officials on Thursday.

This post has been updated.

Israel believes 132 hostages are in Gaza – 112 of whom are thought to be alive and 20 are thought to be dead, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told CNN Friday.

Israel considers those declared dead to still be hostages, the prime minister’s office said.

Out of the 132 kidnapped, 113 are men and 19 women, among them:

The prime minister’s office also provided an update on the 118 hostages released or recovered.

According to the statement, 110 were released alive, of which 86 were Israelis and 24 foreigners. Eight of the abductees were killed and had been located by IDF soldiers, according to the prime minister’s office.

Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two soldiers who were abducted to Gaza during Hamas’ attack on October 7, the military said in a statement Friday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement named the soldiers as Cpl. Nik Beizer and Sgt. Ron Sherman.

Around 240 people were taken hostage during Hamas’ attack on Israel. Dozens have been freed, but Israeli authorities believe more than 130 hostages remain in Gaza.

A 19-year-old Israeli soldier was killed in combat in southern Gaza on Thursday, the Israeli military said Friday.

Sgt. Oz Shmuel Arady, 19, from Kibbutz Hatzor was a member of the 603rd Engineering Battalion, it said in a statement.

It brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza ground offensive to 117, 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 enclave.

Israeli special forces have recovered the body of a hostage in Gaza, the military said Friday.

Elia Toledano had been taken hostage by Hamas during its October 7 attacks on Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement. He was 28.

“Our national mission is to locate the missing and return all the hostages home. We are working together with security agencies, and with all intelligence and operational means in order to return all of the hostages home,” the IDF said.

Around 240 people were taken hostage during Hamas’ attack on Israel. Dozens have been freed, but Israeli authorities believe more than 130 hostages remain in Gaza.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will travel to the occupied West Bank on Friday in his push to demonstrate continued US support for Israel in its fight against Hamas, while also urging the Israeli government to take meaningful steps to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza.

A US official told CNN that Sullivan would meet with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah on the second day of his trip to the region. Sullivan previously met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top government officials on Thursday.

Sullivan, the official said, “will discuss ongoing efforts to promote stability in the West Bank, including through efforts to confront terrorism, support for the Palestinian Authority Security Forces through the U.S. Security Coordinator for Israel and the Palestinian Authority, ongoing efforts to revamp and revitalize the Palestinian Authority, and initiatives to hold extremist settlers accountable for violence against Palestinians.”

Vice President Kamala Harris’ national security adviser, Phil Gordon, previously met with Abbas and other Palestinian leaders last week.

The Palestinian Authority is the Palestinian governing body in the West Bank. Hamas controls Gaza and presents itself as an alternative to the PA.

Sullivan’s meeting with Abbas comes amid a public rift between Biden and Netanyahu, who differ on whether the Palestinian Authority should have governing power in Gaza once Israel’s war with Hamas ends. The US has said the Palestinian Authority should assume governance responsibilities in Gaza after the end of Israeli military operations, but Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected that idea.

Sullivan’s visit to Israel, his second since the deadly Hamas attack against the country on October 7, comes as Biden has become increasingly vocal about his desire to see the Israeli government take more concrete steps to eliminate civilian casualties in Gaza and called for Netanyahu to change his hardline positions.

The Biden administration has signaled it wants Israel to do more to protect civilian lives and enter a lower-intensity phase of its war on Hamas, according to a senior US official. With more than 18,000 people killed in the Gaza Strip in less than three months, there is a growing international outcry about the rising toll.

But Israeli officials are warning the war likely won’t be over any time soon. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will keep fighting until Hamas is eliminated. And Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the war would last “more than several months.”

Meantime, CNN got a rare look at what it was like inside a field hospital in southern Gaza where doctors warned of severe consequences of the health system collapsing.

Here’s what to know:

Hamas built its tunnels to withstand possible attempts to pump water into them, a spokesperson for the militant group said.

The comments from Osama Hamdan at a news conference in Beirut on Thursday were in response to reports of potential flooding of tunnels by Israeli forces inside Gaza.

“The tunnels were built by well-trained and educated engineers who considered all possible attacks from the occupation, including pumping water. (The tunnels) are an integral part of the resistance, and all consequences and expected attacks have been taken into account,” Hamdan said.

Israel has told the United States it has begun “carefully testing out” flooding some of Hamas’ tunnels with seawater “on a limited basis” to assess whether the operation could be scaled up to degrade the group’s tunnel network on a larger scale. 

Israeli officials have assured their American counterparts that they’re only doing this in tunnels where they do not believe hostages are being held.

Separately, Hamdan addressed the issue of possible fresh talks aimed at releasing more hostages held inside Gaza, appearing to lower any expectations of progress.

“There will be no negotiations and no return of the prisoners until after the complete cessation of the aggression against Gaza and responding to the demands of the resistance,” Hamdan said.

There are still more than 130 hostages held inside the enclave.

A top United States national security official was briefed on the details of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza on Thursday, according to a White House readout.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in Tel Aviv.

The briefing on Israel’s military operations included details on its “objectives, phasing, and setting conditions for shifts over time from high-intensity clearing operations to lower intensity surgical operations against Hamas remnants,” the readout said.

Some more background: During his meetings with the Israeli prime minister, the White House previously said Sullivan asked “hard questions” about the Israeli offensive, including efforts to be more surgical and precise in the Israel Defense Forces’ targeting.

He also raised the imperative of moving to a new phase of the conflict, which has killed thousands of civilians in Gaza, US officials said.

The Biden administration has been signaling to Israel that it wants it to transition to a lower intensity phase of its war on Hamas within weeks, a senior US official said.

Next, Sullivan will go to the West Bank on Friday to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to an administration official.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s “days are numbered,” a senior US official said, as Israel looks to eliminate the highest-ranking leader in Gaza. 

“I think it’s safe to say his days are numbered. I also think it’s safe to say it doesn’t matter how long that takes,” the official said on Thursday, following meetings in Israel between United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Israeli officials.

Noting that several Americans were killed in the October 7 attacks by Hamas, the official said Sinwar had US “blood on his hands.”

Israel has publicly accused Sinwar of being the “mastermind” behind Hamas’ terror attack against Israel – though experts say he is likely one of several – making him one of the key targets of its war in Gaza.

While in Israel, Sullivan held extensive meetings with Israeli leadership, including the war cabinet and the Mossad intelligence chief that lasted two hours.

The talks included “heavy discussion” on protecting civilians, and the Israelis briefed Sullivan on efforts to separate civilians from Hamas.

The talks also included detailed discussions of efforts to free hostages held in Gaza.

“There are a number of initiatives now being pursued” to secure the release of additional hostages, the official said, though could not “state with any confidence which initiative might gain traction.”

US President Joe Biden said Thursday that he wants Israel to focus on saving civilian lives when asked if he wants Israel to scale back its assault on Gaza.

“I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives. Not stop going after Hamas but be more careful,” Biden said responding to a reporter’s question after he concluded his formal remarks at the National Institutes of Health.

The comments come in the wake of the White House struggling to clarify comments from the president this week criticizing how Israel has handled the war.

Biden did not answer an additional shouted question on whether he thinks Israel is violating international humanitarian law. The president spoke for approximately 14 minutes. 

Some background: On Wednesday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was asked multiple times by reporters about the president’s blunt claim that Israel was beginning to lose global support in its war against Hamas because of the “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza.

Kirby repeatedly emphasized that the Biden administration sees Israel’s “intent” to minimize civilian deaths, despite Biden himself saying Israel was not being deliberate and careful. 

Asked by CNN’s MJ Lee why the White House insists on saying Israel has the “intent” to minimize civilian casualties, Kirby responded that “sometimes in war… the best-laid plans don’t get executed exactly the way you want.”

Four alleged Hamas members suspected of plotting terror attacks on European soil have been arrested by German and Dutch authorities, Germany’s federal prosecutor said in a statement on Thursday.

Three people were arrested in Germany and one in the Netherlands on suspicion of planning attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe, the prosecutor said.

Hamas is classified by the United States, the European Union and other nations as a terrorist organization.

Of the three arrested in Germany, two were Lebanese nationals and one was an Egyptian national, said the prosecutor. The person arrested in the Netherlands was described as a Dutch national.

The prosecutor outlined the first names of the individuals arrested, but in line with German privacy law is not disclosing surnames of the suspects. CNN is not naming the individuals.

CNN has reached out to Lebanese, Egyptian, and Dutch authorities for comment.