October 16, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

The UN's emergency relief chief Martin Griffiths reiterated Monday the desperate need for aid to get into Gaza.

Blinken has been on a whistle-stop tour of several Middle Eastern nations over the past few days, as part of an urgent effort to prevent Israel's war against Hamas and a resulting civilian catastrophe in Gaza from escalating into a widening regional conflict.

After meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday, Blinken promised that the Rafah crossing into Egypt -- the last remaining exit for Gazans -- "will be open."

Griffiths said he will go to the region Tuesday to help with the crisis.

At least 199 people are being held hostage in Gaza, an Israeli official said Monday, in a sharp revision up from the previous count of 155.

The families of the 199 hostages have been informed, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Monday.

The communications director of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA has called for border crossings with Gaza to be opened to allow humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians.

She said 1 million people in Gaza had been forced to flee their homes with at least half of them sheltering in UN facilities and that the need for food and fuel was dire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told CNN on Sunday that Israel has restored water to southern Gaza.

On Monday, the director of Gaza’s water authority Munther Shublaq disputed that claim, telling CNN that water has not been supplied to the enclave.

Five empty UN petrol trucks are waiting at the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, hoping to cross over into Egypt and refuel, a Palestinian official responsible for the Rafah crossing told CNN on Monday.

The official stressed that “nothing has come through Egypt” yet either, as multiple aid trucks congregate on the Egyptian side of the border hoping to cross over to deliver supplies to Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister’s office denied Monday the existence of any arrangements for the opening of the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

The Rafah crossing is the last remaining exit for Palestinians in Gaza, but Cairo has as yet been reluctant to open it.

Ten people were killed after an Israeli airstrike on Al Kizan neighborhood of Khan Younis on Monday, doctors in Nasser Hospital told CNN.

They were all members of a single family, the doctors said, adding 23 people had been injured.

Khan Younis is in southern Gaza, which has become increasingly crowded with displaced civilians after Israel told people to evacuate northern Gaza.

CNN has reached out to the Israeli military about the reported strike.

Water supply has not been restored to Gaza, the director of the enclave's water authority told CNN on Monday. 

“I strongly deny the news of supplying Gaza Strip with water, these are false allegations and lies,” Munther Shublaq said. 

His remark comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office told CNN that Israel had turned on water to southern Gaza. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Sunday also shared the possible development with CNN.

It was unclear if Israel cutting electricity in Gaza had affected the water supply but the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Saturday that most people in Gaza had no access to water. 

 "As a last resort, people are consuming brackish water from agricultural wells, triggering serious concerns about the spread of waterborne diseases," it said in a statement. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Tel Aviv, where he is expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli war management cabinet. His first meeting with Netanyahu is scheduled for around 6 a.m. ET.

The US top diplomat was in Israel last week, days after Hamas launched its deadly attacks in Israel, in a show of support from the Biden administration as it seeks to reinforce the country's defenses and prevent the conflict from escalating further.

Blinken's return Monday comes as the US seeks to help American citizens trapped in Gaza make their way across the only remaining exit from the besieged strip, the Rafah crossing to Egypt. The US is also working with regional partners to help secure the release of hostages, including American citizens, taken by Hamas during their brutal attack on October 7.

Earlier Monday, the Israeli prime minister's office denied there were any arrangements to open the Rafah border crossing.

On Sunday Blinken promised the crossing “will be open” and that the US was working with the UN, Egypt, Israel and others to coordinate aid efforts.

China's special envoy on the Middle East issue, Zhai Jun, will visit the region next week, Chinese state media reported Sunday.

In an interview with CGTN, he said he would promote peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to provide further details Monday.

A UN humanitarian team is waiting on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing in the hopes that it will be given the green light to deliver aid supplies to Gaza.

In a situation update Monday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said it has sent “an advance team to Egypt to prepare for the possible opening of a humanitarian corridor to bring humanitarian aid supplies into the Strip.”

“For the fifth consecutive day, Gaza has had no electricity, pushing vital services, including health, water and sanitation to the brink of collapse, and worsening food insecurity,” the UNRWA statement added.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is the only remaining outlet for supplies, but it has been closed for much of the past week.