December 18, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israel's government said more than 80,000 Israeli citizens living in areas near the country’s northern border with Lebanon have been displaced since October 7 amid cross-border fire exchanges with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Israel and Hezbollah — an Iran-backed armed group that dominates southern Lebanon — have been engaged in daily cross-border exchanges of fire along the Lebanon-Israel border after Hamas' on October 7 attack — raising fears that the fighting could escalate into a regional war. 

Since October 7, Hezbollah has carried out “hundreds” of attacks on Israel, including rocket, anti-tank missile and drone attacks on communities and military positions in northern Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement Monday.  

Five Israeli civilians have so far been killed in such attacks, according to the IDF.  

The US has been working with Lebanon to try to quell the violence between Israel and Hezbollah and quiet the northern border.

Israel wants Hezbollah to retreat north of the Litani River, which is about 18 miles away from the border, Gallant has previously said. 

Israeli leaders have given a stark warning to Hezbollah in recent days.  

Hezbollah's leadership has expressed support for Palestinians and condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza but has yet to directly intervene on Hamas' behalf. 

Hamas' military wing, the Qassam Brigades, released a video on Monday showing three Israeli male hostages in captivity in Gaza.  

One of them is 79-year-old Chaim Peri. The other two men in the video were identified as Yoram Metzger, 80, and Amiram Cooper, 84.

In a brief message, Peri urged their unconditional release. He spoke of their tremendous suffering and their fear of the air strikes in Gaza.

The video displays a caption that reads, “Do not discard me in my old age.” 

It is not clear when or where the video was filmed.  

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reacted to the footage, calling it a “criminal terror video.” 

Hagari said the release of the video "reflects Hamas’s cruelty against elderly and innocent civilians, in need for medical treatment." 

"The world must act to transfer medical equipment and ensure the condition of hostages," he added. 

Kibbutz Nir Oz, where the three men lived before being kidnapped, said it appreciates "any sign of life from the hostages, but time is running out."

The release of the video comes at a highly sensitive moment. United States, Qatari and Israeli officials have been meeting in Europe to discuss the possibility of a new truce in Gaza in exchange for the release of more hostages.

The video also follows the accidental shooting of three hostages by the Israeli military last Friday, which prompted fresh demonstrations by the families of hostages demanding their immediate release.

Hamas has said no more hostages will be released until there is a ceasefire.

Israel’s military on Monday appeared to deny responsibility for the deaths of two women killed at the Holy Family Parish complex in Gaza on Saturday.

As CNN previously reported, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which oversees Catholic churches across Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Gaza and the Palestinian territories, reported an Israeli sniper shot and killed a mother and daughter who were sheltering inside the church. 

In a carefully worded statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) appeared to suggest that while there had been a conversation between itself and the church on Saturday morning about blasts in the area, the church had not reported fatalities.

CNN has been unable to reach the Latin Patriarchate for clarity over this apparent discrepancy. 

When pressed for more information, the IDF on Monday evening told CNN it had nothing more to add beyond its original statement.

The IDF’s original statement also said it was conducting a review of a separate incident that took place Saturday afternoon near a second church in northern Gaza.

“When reviewing incidents that may have taken place in the vicinity of churches in Gaza, it was found that an incident took place during yesterday afternoon (Saturday) in another area in Gaza, near the Latin Church in the Shejayia area,” it said.

“An initial review suggests that IDF troops, who were operating against Hamas terrorists in the area, operated against a threat that they identified in the area of the church. The IDF is conducting a thorough review of the incident," the statement said.

Israel will gradually transition to the next phase of the war and expects displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza to return to their homes before those from the south, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Monday.   

His comments come as the United States continues to put pressure on Israel to transition to a more targeted campaign in Gaza to reduce civilian casualties. 

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled from northern Gaza to the south during the war.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reported earlier this month that almost 1.9 million people, more than 80% of the enclave's total population, have been displaced since the beginning of the war. 

While much of northern Gaza has already been decimated from the fighting and airstrikes, Israel has made clear it is determined to finish its military operations there. 

At a joint news conference with his US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Tel Aviv, Gallant also said that post-war Gaza governance plans were discussed.  

Austin said he discussed with Israeli officials pathways “toward a future for Gaza after Hamas,” the protection of civilians in Gaza and the need “to take urgent action to stabilize the West Bank.” 

He did not mention the Palestinian Authority (PA) by name. 

Israel has continued to state that the PA will not assume power in Gaza, with Benjamin Netanyahu saying it would not happen as long as he is prime minister.  

The PA was effectively driven out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007 but US President Joe Biden’s administration has made increasingly clear it believes the PA should resume governance of the enclave when the war is over. 

CNN's Haley Britzky contributed to this report.

The US raised concerns with Israel after an Israeli military sniper shot and killed two women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza on Saturday, according to the White House.

He said the US raised its concerns about the specific incident with the Israeli government, and about the broader need for injured and wounded civilians to be able to be evacuated and receive appropriate medical care. 

Over the weekend, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said a mother and daughter were walking to the Sister’s Convent when gunfire erupted. 

Most of Gaza’s Christian families have taken refuge in the complex since the start of the war, according to the patriarchate, which oversees Catholic Churches across Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.

Kirby said President Joe Biden and other senior US officials have raised the need for deconfliction channels with Israel as it conducts its military operations against Hamas.

He said such channels were important for reducing miscalculation and misunderstanding during conflicts.

“We’re going to continue to urge them to do more in that vein, in the deconfliction vein,” he said.

Pope Francis on Sunday addressed the deaths at the Holy Family Parish, lamenting that “unarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire” in Gaza and invoking scripture on war.

“I continue receiving very serious and sad news about Gaza. Unarmed civilians are targets for bombs and gunfire. And this has happened even within the parish complex of the Holy Family, where there are no terrorists, but families, children, people who are sick and have disabilities, sisters,” he said during a weekly prayer.

As the incident of Israeli forces killing three hostages is being investigated, the White House said it could potentially necessitate adjustments to the Israeli Defense Force’s rules of engagement. 

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) admitted that they made a mistake very, very soon after. They made a mistake and I have no doubt that they will do the forensics on this to learn what happened and how to avoid it happening again,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, calling it a “traumatic event.”

The IDF, he said broadly, will need to assess how the situation was handled and whether it will require adjustments to rules of engagement.

Forensics on this specific incident will determine whether this is the result of a systemic issue, an individual issue or a “misunderstanding, miscalculation, fog of war," he said.

He cautioned the United States should “be careful at this early stage … to point the fingers at the exact rules of engagement.”

More humanitarian aid trucks were inspected and transferred to the Gaza Strip on Monday through a crossing from Israeli territory, Israel said.

Sixty-four trucks were inspected and transferred to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, the Israeli office for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said on X, formerly Twitter.

A further 127 trucks were inspected at the Nitzana crossing but their cargoes were transferred to Gaza via the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza.  

The amount of aid entering Gaza is less than half of pre-war levels, according to the United Nations.

The number of aid trucks "is well below the daily average of 500 truckloads (including fuel and private sector goods) that entered every working day prior to 7 October," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement Sunday.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will convene a virtual meeting with other defense ministers in the Middle East to discuss the ongoing Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, he said Monday.

“Regarding the Houthis, these attacks are reckless, dangerous, and they violate international law. So we’re taking action to build an international coalition to address this threat,” Austin said. “And I’d remind you this is not just a US issue, this is an international problem, and it deserves an international response.”

Houthi forces in Yemen have been targeting commercial ships in the Red Sea, claiming its attacks are in revenge for Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis and Hamas are both Islamist groups that receive backing from Iran.

CNN has reported that the US is considering beefing up protections for commercial ships around the vital shipping route, according to military officials, with members of the Combined Maritime Forces – a multi-national naval task force charged with protecting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

The discussions about bolstering the task force reflect growing concern in the region over the Houthis’ interference in the Red Sea through which millions of barrels of oil pass daily. US officials have said publicly that discussions have centered on the possibility of escorting ships operating in the Red Sea and through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait into the Gulf of Aden — the narrow channel that separates Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, calling it a “war crime" in a report released Monday — a charge that an Israeli government spokesperson dismissed as “a lie.”

Human Rights Watch’s Israel and Palestine director, Omar Shakir, told CNN that Israeli authorities "have for months been deliberately depriving Gaza’s population of food and water, willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, intentionally destroying objects indispensable to survival, including bakeries, grain mills and water and sanitation facilities, and apparently razing agricultural areas." 

The report is based on interviews with 11 displaced Palestinians in Gaza, public statements by members of the Israeli government and statements by organizations including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Food Programme, Oxfam and the Norwegian Refugee Council. 

"Statements from high-level Israeli officials show that this is a deliberate policy to starve civilians as a weapon of war," Shakir said.

The Human Rights Watch report notes that "high-ranking Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and Energy Minister Israel Katz have made public statements expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water and fuel" and that this "policy" is "being carried out by Israeli forces." 

Other Israeli officials have publicly stated that humanitarian aid to Gaza "would be conditioned either on the release of hostages unlawfully held by Hamas or Hamas’ destruction," Human Rights Watch added. 

"That is an abhorrent war crime, compounding its collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and blocking of humanitarian aid, which are also war crimes," Shakir told CNN. "World leaders should speak out and take urgent action to prevent further atrocities—the lives of hundreds of thousands hang in the balance.”

What Israel is saying: Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy forcefully dismissed the watchdog's claims on Monday, saying Hamas was to blame for any shortages in Gaza. 

"This is a lie,” he said in response to a social media post from Shakir on X. “Israel has excess capacity to inspect more than twice as many aid trucks as are entering Gaza. We’re still pumping water into Gaza through two pipelines and have placed no restrictions on entry of food and water," Levy said. "Direct your anger to Hamas, which hijacks aid.” 

Human Rights Watch also referenced a United Nations World Food Programme Gaza food security assessment published on December 6, which found that 9 out of 10 households in northern Gaza and 2 out of 3 households in southern Gaza had spent at least one full day and night without food.

CNN is not able to independently verify those numbers. 

According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, intentionally starving civilians by “depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies” is a war crime, Human Rights Watch said in its report.