Mass relocation of Gazans is "war crime of forcible transfer," says Norwegian Refugee Council
CNN’s James Frater in London
Israel's order for 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes – ahead of a potential ground invasion – would "amount to the war crime of forcible transfer," the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland said Friday.
The relocation order “must be reversed," he said.
Egeland called Western and Arab Nations “who have influence over the Israeli political and military leadership” to “demand that the illegal and impossible order to relocate is immediately rescinded.”
“The collective punishment of countless civilians, among them children, women, and the elderly, in retaliation for acts of horrible terror undertaken by armed men is illegal under international law,” Egeland said.
Egeland stressed “the loss of civilian lives caused by deliberate or indiscriminate use of force is a war crime for which the perpetrators will have to answer.”
5:55 a.m. ET, October 13, 2023
Blinken meets Jordanian King and says Hamas does not stand for Palestinians
From CNN’s Akanksha Sharma in Hong Kong
Jordan's King Abdullah II meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Amman on October 13. Royal Hashemite Court/Reuters
Continuing his trip to the Middle East, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken underscored during his meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II on Friday that “Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people's right to dignity and self-determination,” according to a readout from State Department spokesperson Matt Miller.
During the meeting, Blinken and King Abdullah discussed Saturday’s Hamas attack on Israel and efforts since then to “secure the release of all hostages and prevent the conflict from widening,” Miller said.
Blinken and King Abdullah also discussed “ways to address the humanitarian needs of civilians in Gaza while Israel conducts legitimate security operations to defend itself from terrorism,” he said.
Blinken expressed appreciation for Jordan’s “special role in Jerusalem and as a force for stability in the region,” Miller added.
5:48 a.m. ET, October 13, 2023
Hospitals in Gaza "at breaking point," WHO warns
From CNN's Sharon Braithwaite in London
Hospitals in Gaza are "at breaking point" and "time is running out" to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Friday.
"Without immediate entry of aid, essential health care services will come to a halt," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
"I visited Gaza in 2018. Access to care was already difficult," Tedros said. He stressed that a mass evacuation to the enclave's south – which Israel ordered overnight Thursday – "would be disastrous – for patients, health workers and other civilians left behind or caught in a dangerous and maybe a deadly mass movement."
"We appeal for the reversal of the decision," he said.
WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic stressed that hospitals "have only a few hours of electricity each day as they are forced to ration depleting fuel reserves and rely on generators to sustain the most critical functions."
"Even these functions will have to cease in a few days, when fuel stocks are due to run out. The impact would be devastating for the most vulnerable patients, including the injured who need lifesaving surgery, patients in intensive care units, and newborns depending on care in incubators," Jasarevic said in a statement.
WHO called for an end to hostilities and for the "immediate opening" of a humanitarian corridor to ensure unimpeded access for health and humanitarian supplies, as well as for personnel, and the evacuation of patients and the injured.
5:37 a.m. ET, October 13, 2023
Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem unusually empty as Friday prayers begin
From CNN’s Ivana Kottasova in Jerusalem
The al-Aqsa compound was unusually empty on Friday as Israeli police appeared to have restricted access to some worshippers. Ivana Kottasova
It’s noon in Jerusalem and tensions are running high. There is a palpable sense of nervousness as the Holy City marks the first Friday since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Fridays can be a fraught time in Jerusalem, with protests and clashes often erupting in the Old City. Friday congregational prayers are a significant ritual for Muslims, who pray at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque.
It appears that Israeli police are restricting access to the compound. Access from the West Bank has been restricted and the police are being selective about who is let in.
The compound is significantly emptier than what is expected on Fridays, even as the prayers are about to start.
Many streets in Jerusalem remained deserted on Friday with a significant police and military presence visible across the city.
Some context: The al-Aqsa compound is one of the most revered places in Islam and Judaism. The sacred grounds, known to Muslims as Al Haram Al Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount have been a flashpoint of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians for decades.
Only Muslims are allowed to pray in the compound under a status quo arrangement originally reached more than a century ago. Non-Muslim visitors are allowed visits at certain times and only to certain areas of the complex.
But many in the Muslims world fear that the right to be the sole worshipers there has been eroded and that the sites themselves are being threatened by a growing far-right Jewish movement and Israel’s far-right government.
Clashes have frequently broken out at the site between Palestinian worshipers and Israeli forces. Police raided the compound several times over the last year.
In a statement, Hamas said it had launched Saturday's "Al-Aqsa Storm" attack on Israel in part to defend the holy site.
5:34 a.m. ET, October 13, 2023
"Lebanon’s security is Iran’s security," Iran’s foreign minister tells Lebanese counterpart
From CNN’s Adam Pourahmadi in Abu Dhabi
Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian attend a joint press conference in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 13. Mohamed Azakir/Reuters
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said “Lebanon’s security is Iran’s security” during a meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Abdallah Bou Habib in Beirut on Friday.
Amirabdollahian is on a regional tour following the eruption of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The Iranian foreign minister called Israel’s recent actions in Gaza a war crime and said the recent operation by Hamas was “100% a Palestinian act.”
“Despite Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, the Palestinian resistance announced it has great facilities that can stand up against the Zionist regime for a long time, and many of those facilities have not yet been used,” Abdollahian said in a readout of the meeting.
He said that “the Palestinian operation was a response to the continuous extremism and crimes of the Zionist regime and the extremist government of this regime against the Palestinian nation and the repeated attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
“If the crimes of the Zionist regime are continued, the reaction of the Islamic world will be strong,” Abdollahian said.
5:21 a.m. ET, October 13, 2023
Hamas claims 13 Israeli hostages killed by Israeli airstrikes
From CNN’s Abeer Salman and Richard Allen Greene in Jerusalem
Hamas said 13 Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been killed by “random” Israeli bombings on parts of Gaza over the past 24 hours.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it could not confirm or deny the claim.
Hamas said six of the 13 were killed in the north of Gaza and seven were killed elsewhere in the strip. Hamas did not provide further details on who the hostages were.
Asked about the Hamas statement, IDF chief spokesperson rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said “we have now intelligence looking at that” and that “protecting the kidnapped is the priority.”
“We will not address this kind of message of Hamas. We will answer it when we have reliable information that is based on our sources,” Hagari said.
“When we have a credible source we will address it," he added.
Hamas is holding as many as 150 people hostage in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
5:13 a.m. ET, October 13, 2023
Third Filipino confirmed killed in Hamas attacks
From CNN’s Kathleen Magramo in Hong Kong
A third Filipino has been confirmed among those killed in Hamas’ brutal attacks on Israel last weekend, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said Friday.
The victim is a 49-year-old Filipino woman from Negros Occidental province, who was working as a caregiver in Israel, de Vega said.
The first Filipinos to be repatriated from Israel will depart on Monday, de Vega said.
The Philippine Embassy in Amman, the capital of Jordan, updated its figures, saying there are 131 Filipino citizens stuck in Gaza, including three tourists. The previous figure was 137.
Not one has been repatriated yet because of the fact that Gaza is under a blockade but we are working on it,” de Vega said.
“We are working with our diplomatic partners to see if a humanitarian corridor can be allowed for people to exit... through the Rafah border with Egypt,” he added.
5:04 a.m. ET, October 13, 2023
Palestine Red Crescent calls for global help to stop "humanitarian catastrophe" in Gaza
From CNN’s Abeer Salman and Niamh Kennedy
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has called on the world to help “prevent a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, stressing there are “no safe areas” to evacuate civilians after Israel told half the population to migrate south.
“PRCS calls on the world leaders and the international community to intervene immediately to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding right now,” it said in a Friday statement.
“We do not have the means to evacuate the sick and the wounded in our hospitals, or the elderly and the disabled. There are no safe areas in the whole of the Gaza Strip.”
The PRCS described the Israeli evacuation order as “shocking and beyond belief.”
The whole people in Gaza feel that the world has turned their back on them,” the group continued.
The PCRS called on international aid organizations on the ground in Gaza including the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene with governments to “protect humanity and humanitarian space” and put pressure on “Israel to rescind this order.”
4:18 a.m. ET, October 13, 2023
UK urges citizens in Gaza to relocate south
From CNN's Sharon Braithwaite
The British Foreign Office updated its travel guidance on Friday, telling its citizens in Gaza to follow the advice from Israeli authorities to relocate south.
"The Israeli military announced on the morning of 13 October that the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza," the Foreign Office said in its latest update. "We advise following this advice issued by the Israeli authorities. We recognise this is a fast-moving situation that poses significant risks."
Israel's military on Friday warned all civilians in Gaza City to evacuate "southwards," as the UN said an order for the mass evacuation of northern Gaza was "impossible" without major humanitarian consequences.Hamas militants told Palestinians living in the besieged Gaza Strip not to leave their homes.
