October 12, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

More than 338,000 Palestinians have been displaced by the conflict between Israel and Hamas, said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN's secretary-general.

Nearly 218,000 of those are sheltering in 92 schools run by the UN Relief and Works Agency, Dujarric said Thursday.

Airstrikes have hit at least 88 education facilities, including 18 UNRWA schools and 70 Palestinian Authority schools, according to the UN. Two of the UNRWA facilities were being used as emergency shelters for displaced people, the UN added. 

The UNRWA said 12 of its personnel have been killed since October 7. 

The UN has warned the situation in Gaza is continuing to worsen as humanitarian organizations are unable to bring aid into the sealed-off enclave.

The World Health Organization said the hospitals in Gaza are "at a breaking point."

Earlier Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned hospitals in Gaza "risk turning into morgues" as they lose power during Israel's bombardment of the enclave. And shortages of food, water and electricity have already been putting extra strain on medical facilities.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said it has plans to work with the UNRWA to “reach over 800,000 people across Palestine”. On Wednesday, the WFP said it delivered food to over 175,000 displaced people across 88 shelters.

There is no specific or credible intelligence indicating a threat to the United States as result of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, officials with the US Department of Homeland Security said Thursday.

Still, officials stressed they are keenly aware of how volatile and unpredictable the threat environment might be.

“We are especially vigilant, at this time, against the potential for violence here in the United States from a variety of threat actors,” a Homeland Security official told reporters Thursday, citing the potential for violence driven by anti-Semitic, Islamophobic or anti-Arab sentiments.

In addition to preparing state and local agencies for any potential domestic impacts, the official also alluded to concerns about the situation in Israel developing into a wider conflict on multiple fronts.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris discussed homeland security issues with senior law enforcement and national security officials, according to the White House. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was among the attendees. 

In a keynote address at the Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism’s Inaugural Sports Leaders Convening Thursday, Mayorkas underscored the urgency in confronting anti-Semitism. 

Russia's deputy foreign minister and Middle East envoy Mikhail Bogdanov on Thursday called for the "immediate cessation of hostilities" and the resumption of food and medicine deliveries to Gaza, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. 

His remarks were in a phone conversation about the "emerging catastrophic situation in and around the Gaza Strip” with PLO Executive Committee Secretary General Hussein al-Sheikh, the statement said.

Both parties called “indiscriminate bombing” resulting in numerous civilian casualties “unacceptable," the statement said.

Gaza's humanitarian crisis deepened Thursday amid warnings that the population is at risk of starvation as Israel launched airstrikes in retaliation for the attacks by Hamas on Saturday that killed more than 1,200 people.

The Biden administration said it will begin chartering flights on Friday from Israel to destinations in Europe, as officials scramble to get Americans stranded in the war-ravaged country back home to the US.

Once the travelers get from Israel to Europe – on Israeli, Turkish and other regional airlines – they’ll be ferried home by US-based and other carriers.

Worried about safety, United, American and Delta all ceased operations to and from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel’s lone international airport, earlier this week. The US government charters are expected to open new routes for those fleeing the ongoing violence, however many flights and available seats there may eventually be.

But concerns about the danger, security and insurance coverage are still getting in the way of a more sweeping response to the overwhelming clamor for flights.

A handful of non-US airlines have continued to operate out of Ben Gurion in the week since Hamas militants attacked Israeli civilians, killing at least 1,200 people and triggering a deadly barrage of Israeli strikes in Gaza. With the hostilities ongoing, the Federal Aviation Administration warned that it’s a “potentially hazardous situation” to fly in the region.

European airlines are heeding the warnings. A British Airways flight aborted its approach into Tel Aviv facing rocket fire this week, and then the airline quickly joined the list of international carriers suspending service into Israel. KLM, Lufthansa and Air France have also done so.

Meanwhile, some travelers have been able to leave the country on one of the regional carriers, including the Israeli airlines El Al and Arkia. Also still operating are the UAE’s Emirates airline, Turkish Airlines and the Russian airline Red Wings, according to data compiled by CNN from the tracking site FlightAware and the flight data provider Cirium.

Read more about the evacuations.

At least 36 people have died, and more than 650 have been injured, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since Saturday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah.

The deaths occurred in clashes from Israeli “aggression,” the ministry said. The Ministry of Health also confirmed that many of those killed sustained injuries from bullets.

CNN previously reported violence has risen in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since Israel declared its war on Hamas and continued to strike Gaza since Saturday.

The United Kingdom will send a "significant support package" to deter attempts to further escalate the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The two leaders spoke Thursday evening to discuss the UK's "steadfast support for Israel" in the wake of Hamas' continued attacks, according to a Downing Street statement released Thursday. 

During this meeting, Sunak also confirmed that the UK had authorized sending a support package, consisting of three Merlin helicopters and a detachment of Royal Marines. 

"The additional military assistance would be deployed in the coming days to bolster security in the wider region and mitigate any attempts to escalate the conflict," the statement read. 

South First Responders in Israel said on Thursday it obtained footage from cameras found on the bodies of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants that shows the Saturday morning assault on the Israeli kibbutz Kfar Aza.

CNN geolocated the footage to the kibbutz. 

In one of the videos, militants wearing bullet-proof vests and wielding rifles can be seen walking through the community and yelling as gunshots are heard in the background. 

"There are men inside, be careful," someone is heard yelling in Arabic. "The fighters and the Mujahideen have killed them."

In another video, several militants are seen positioned next to a tree inside the community with a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) that appears to have malfunctioned. 

“What’s wrong with it, what’s the defect?," a militant says. 

As gunshots are heard, it appears as if militants are entering a home in the background of the video.    

Houses in Kfar Aza were ransacked and set ablaze, CNN has previously reported. At least 1,200 people have died in Israel since the conflict erupted, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson, said Wednesday.

CNN's Celine Alkhaldi contributed to this report.

When he heard that Hamas militants were attacking a music festival his family was attending, Ben Ovadia said Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, for his mother.

Over WhatsApp, he watched, helpless, as his mother and younger brother sent updates for eight hours, telling him that they were hiding in small bushes, hearing gunfire and people walking past saying “Allahu Akbar."

Eventually, Ovadia heard of a secure location and sent the map to his brother. The mother and son managed to escape the festival. 

The next morning, Ovadia flew to Israel from London, where he lives with his British wife and 9-year-old twins.

He is one of many Israelis returning home from abroad as their country’s long-running conflict with Hamas escalates into a war not seen on this scale for a generation. To cope with the increasing demand, Israeli airlines El Al, Israir and Arkia added more flights on Tuesday to repatriate military reservists, Reuters reported. 

Cutting short holidays or uprooting their everyday lives overseas, these Israelis are returning for funerals, to help protect their communities, in preparation for call-ups in the military reserves, and to carry supplies home.

Straight after seeing his family when he landed in Israel, Ovadia went to Lod, a city about 9 miles southeast of Tel Aviv, where there had previously been outbursts of violence.

There, he joined friends in forming an impromptu neighborhood watch to ensure the situation remained calm. He has since helped deliver donated food. He is planning to drive to the south of the country, as there aren’t enough drivers to take people to their families.

Read more about Israelis returning home to face the war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Amman, Jordan, early Friday local time.  

The top US diplomat will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II later in the day. 

The intensive shuttle diplomacy comes as the US seeks to stop the conflict between Hamas and Israel from expanding, tries to secure the release of the hostages, and works with Egypt and Israel to open a humanitarian corridor from Gaza.

After Jordan, Blinken will travel to Qatar to meet with senior officials on Friday.

As CNN has reported, Qatar has been one of the key actors in talks with Hamas to try to secure the release of hostages from the terrorist group.