November 5, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

Our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war has moved here.

Humanitarian agencies have lost contact with aid workers in Gaza, as the Palestinian enclave faces its third communications blackout of the Israel-Hamas war, according to operators.

The company Paltel announced a “complete interruption” of its telecom and network services in a statement posted on Facebook. It said the interruption was due to “the main routes that were previously reconnected being cut off again from the Israeli side.”

The main United Nations agency supporting Palestinians in Gaza said it lost contact with “the vast majority” of its teams in the strip. The Palestine Red Crescent Society also said it couldn’t reach aid workers in the territory.

Here are some of the day’s other major developments:

Israel’s offensive in Gaza: The Israeli military said it was carrying out a significant strike on Gaza Sunday evening, after its forces reached the enclave’s coast earlier in the day.

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari provided few further details about the nighttime strike, beyond saying it was very extensive and targeted Hamas infrastructure both above and underground.

A CNN team in Sderot, southern Israel, which is not far from the Israel-Gaza border, observed a number of explosions and flares in the direction of Gaza on Sunday evening local time.

Earlier in the day, the IDF said its soldiers had reached the coast as part of an effort to encircle Hamas forces and strike targets in Gaza.

Blinken criss-crosses the region: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s whirlwind diplomatic trip to the Middle East continued Sunday, including an unannounced visit to Iraq.

Blinken met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad for more than an hour, emerging to say the meeting was “productive.”

The leaders discussed making sure the conflict in Gaza does not spread into the wider region, the top US diplomat said. That has been a key concern for the US, which has repeatedly warned Israel’s foes not to take advantage of the fighting with Hamas to launch a multi-front war.

The Iraq stop was the latest in a series of high-level meetings this weekend. Blinken visited Israel on Friday and met with key Arab leaders on Saturday in Jordan. He also met with the Palestinian Authority president Sunday in Ramallah, where the two discussed escalating settler violence in the West Bank.

He has now arrived in Turkey for his last stop of the tour.

Tension rising at Lebanon-Israel border: Tensions continued to flare at the northern Israel border Sunday, with Israel and Lebanon both announcing civilian casualties from the ongoing strikes between the Israel Defense Forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah spoke on Friday about the October 7 Hamas attacks and ensuing war in Gaza. He said Hezbollah would be “prepared for all scenarios,” and that any escalation by the Israeli army at the border would be a “historic folly” that would prompt a major response. But he also said Hezbollah’s “primary goal” was to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza.

IDF accuses Hamas of using civilian infrastructure: The Israeli military released what it said was evidence of Hamas using civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and children’s playgrounds, as shields for its attacks on Israel. Images and video showed what a military spokesperson described as “launch pits” that Hamas used to fire rockets from the civilian areas. Officials with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and the Hamas-controlled government media office in Gaza rejected the claims.

Unrest at Turkey airport: Turkish police broke up a pro-Palestinian protest after demonstrators tried to storm an air base housing US Air Force troops in southern Turkey, according to Turkish state news outlet, Anadolu Agency. 

In a post on its website, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation said it had organized the protest to “amplify the voice of the oppressed in Gaza” and show its opposition to what it described as the “pro-Israel attitude adopted by the United States.”

Police intervened, using tear gas and water cannons, after some protesters broke down barricades and attempted to enter the airbase, Anadolu added. 

Hostages in Gaza: The Israeli military’s current count of hostages being held by Hamas is 240, Hagari, the Israel Defense Forces’ spokesperson, said Sunday. The IDF has said the number can fluctuate based on updated intelligence.

Five more United Nations employees have been killed in Gaza over the past 48 hours, according to the main UN agency in the besieged territory.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has also learned of two staff members who were killed on October 24, it said in a report posted Sunday.

The additional deaths bring the total number of UN relief agency workers killed in Gaza to 79 since Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel, the agency said.

Last week, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the losses amount to the highest number of UN aid workers killed in a conflict anywhere in the world in such a short period of time.

UNRWA paid tribute to its staff in Sunday’s report, highlighting how they “continue to work tirelessly to provide humanitarian assistance” despite the losses and displacement they are experiencing.

The agency also provided an update on the death toll from separate strikes in the vicinity of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza on November 2 and 4.

The agency said it established that 27 people were killed in the strike near a UNRWA school in the camp on November 2. The November 4 strike on a UNRWA school in the camp resulted in the deaths of 15 people, the report said. 

A picture shared by US Central Command appears to show a guided missile submarine in the Suez Canal passing under the Al Salam Bridge northeast of Cairo.

In a rare announcement, the US military said a guided missile submarine has arrived in the Middle East, a message of deterrence clearly directed at regional adversaries as the Biden administration tries to avoid a broader conflict amid the Israel-Hamas war.

US Central Command said on social media Sunday that an Ohio-class submarine was entering its area of responsibility. A picture posted with the announcement appeared to show the sub in the Suez Canal northeast of Cairo.

The social media post did not name the sub, but the US Navy has four Ohio-class guided missile submarines, or SSGNs, which are former ballistic missile subs converted to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles rather than nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.

Each SSGN can carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, 50% more than US guided-missile destroyers pack and almost four times what the US Navy’s newest attack subs are armed with.

Each Tomahawk can carry up to a 1,000-pound high-explosive warhead.

The magnitude of that firepower was shown in March 2011, when the guided missile sub USS Florida fired almost 100 Tomahawks against targets in Libya during Operation Odyssey Dawn. The attack marked the first time the SSGNs were used in combat.

The military rarely announces the movements or operations of its fleet of ballistic and guided missile subs. Instead, the nuclear-powered vessels operate in near-complete secrecy.

Read more about the sub.

CORRECTION: AN earlier version of this post misidentified the type of US vessel that surfaced in the Middle East. It is a guided missile submarine.

The World Health Organization is “very concerned” about reports of another communications outage in Gaza, the organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a post on social media Sunday.

The main United Nations agency supporting Palestinians in Gaza has lost contact with the “vast majority” of its team in the territory, it said earlier Sunday.

Attacks on health care: The WHO has documented 102 attacks on health care establishments in the Gaza Strip since October 7, it said in a separate post Sunday.

The WHO said these attacks have killed hundreds of people, wounded hundreds more, and caused damage to dozens of health care facilities, while also damaging ambulances that serve the strip.

“Over half of health attacks and over a half of hospitals damaged were in Gaza City,” the WHO said, referring to the main population center in the territory.

Jordan air-dropped a medical aid package to a Jordanian field hospital in Gaza, King Abdullah II said on social media.

“Our fearless air force personnel air-dropped at midnight urgent medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza. This is our duty to aid our brothers and sisters injured in the war on Gaza. We will always be there for our Palestinian brethren,” King Abdullah II said.

The king has been critical of Israel’s assault on Gaza and repeatedly called for a ceasefire.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib speaks to CNN on Sunday.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told CNN on Sunday that the government is working with Hezbollah and Palestinian groups in Lebanon to prevent a war. 

“We are working with Hezbollah and other Palestinian organizations here to prevent a war, and we’d like the US also to pressure Israel not to start a war,” he told CNN. 

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that “all scenarios” are possible on the Lebanon-Israel border, warning Israel against further escalation of its operations on the Lebanese border, as he repeated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Bou Habib said Israel provokes Lebanon “every day” and said he believes Hezbollah does not want a war. 

He said he believes Hezbollah when it says it had no prior knowledge to the October 7 attack by Hamas but conceded that that doesn’t mean the two groups don’t have relations with one another. 

“One small incident can start a war. Hopefully not, Lebanese do not want war, I don’t think Hezbollah wants a war … hopefully the Israelis don’t start a war with us,” he said. 

Some background: There has been an ongoing exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah across the border over the past weeks following the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at an airport in Ankara, Turkey, just after midnight local time on November 6.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Turkey just after midnight Monday local time (4 p.m. ET on Sunday) — his last stop in the region before heading to Asia.

Blinken is expected to meet with Turkish officials Monday morning to discuss the Israel-Hamas war. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been immensely critical of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, calling the actions “crimes against humanity” and saying this weekend he was suspending communications with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Turkey has also recalled its ambassador to Israel for “consultations.” 

Blinken has traveled to Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, Cyprus, and Iraq so far as part of a whirlwind diplomatic trip.

From left: Hesham Kaoud with his brothers, Jamal, Esam and Nezam, and his nephew, Ameer Kaoud.

A Texas pizza shop owner who was stranded in Gaza with limited supplies for weeks was able to safely cross into Egypt on Saturday, his wife told CNN Sunday.

Palestinian-American Hesham Kaoud had been stuck in the besieged area after traveling to visit family in Gaza with his brothers Jamal, Esam and Nezam — along with Esam’s adult son, Ameer Kaoud — who are all American citizens.

Jamal Kaoud was able to leave Gaza last week, as was their brother Mohd, who had already been in Gaza, Hesham’s wife Haifa Kaoud told CNN.

The three others remain in Gaza as of Sunday.

When asked if she was relieved, Haifa said, “Sure, however, we are still waiting for the others.”

Hesham and his wife live in Waxahachie, Texas, where they own Milano’s Pizza.

They have two adult sons and an 8-year-old daughter.

Jamal, Esam and Nezam and Ameer live in California, and the family has been in the United States for more than 50 years, Haifa said.

Some Palestinians and foreign nationals were finally able to exit Gaza beginning last Wednesday after the Rafah crossing with Egypt partially opened following weeks of intense negotiations, CNN previously reported.

The partial opening happened through a Qatar-brokered deal between Israel, Hamas and Egypt in coordination with the United States.

Rafah, the only Gazan border crossing that is not controlled by Israel, has become a crucial location as the humanitarian situation in the territory worsens.

Israel closed its crossings with the territory following Hamas’ October 7 attack.

CNN’s Caroll Alvarado, Abbas Al Lawati, Mohammed Abdelbary and Rob Picheta contributed to reporting to this post.

US CIA Director Bill Burns testifies during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, in 2021.

US CIA Director Bill Burns is traveling to several countries in the Middle East to meet with “multiple intelligence counterparts and country leaders,” according to a US official.

The visit comes in the midst of the war between Israel and Hamas, as the US seeks to prevent a wider conflict and negotiations over hostages taken from Israel to Gaza continue.

Tensions continue to flare at the northern Israel border, with Israel and Lebanon announcing civilian casualties Sunday as a result of ongoing strikes between the Israel Defense Forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

IDF chief Herzi Halevi said in a statement Sunday that the military is ready to shift into “an offensive mode” in the north at any moment.

Both Israel and Lebanon — where the powerful paramilitary group Hezbollah operates in the south — said civilians had died along the border Sunday.

In Lebanon: Lebanon state-run NNA news said an Israeli strike hit a civilian vehicle in southern Lebanon and killed four relatives, including three children.

The vehicle had been on a road between the villages of Ainata and Aitaroun, near the border with Israel, when it was hit, according to NNA.

A grandmother and her three grandchildren were killed in the attack, according to the Lebanese state media outlet. The mother of the children was also injured and was transferred to a nearby hospital.

The Israel Defense Forces said it “identified and engaged a suspicious vehicle in Lebanon” but that it was still looking into claims that civilians were inside.

Hezbollah said in a statement that it shelled Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel at 7:20 p.m. local time (12:20 p.m. ET) with multiple rockets in response to the strike.

In Israel: An Israeli citizen was killed as a result of the Hezbollah attack, according to an IDF spokesperson for the Arab media, Avichay Adraee.

“Today, Hezbollah continued to attack Israeli military sites and civilian towns without distinguishing between civilians and military personnel. One of the attacks resulted in the death of an Israeli citizen,” Adraee said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Adraee accused Hezbollah of destabilizing security on the northern border, saying the group “targets the residents of the north indiscriminately, risking stability in southern Lebanon.”

Some background: There has been an ongoing exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah across the border over the past weeks following the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7.

The group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, spoke for the first time about the Hamas attacks and ensuing war in Gaza on Friday.

He said Hezbollah would be “prepared for all scenarios,” and that any escalation by the Israeli army at the border would be a “historic folly” that would prompt a major response.

But he also said Hezbollah’s “primary goal” was to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, and said it was incumbent on the US — which he held directly responsible for the bloodshed in the Palestinian enclave — to implement the cessation of hostilities.

US officials have repeatedly warned Nasrallah and other foes of Israel not to take advantage of the current fighting to launch a broader conflict in the region. Deterring a multi-front war was a central focus of the US secretary of state’s whirlwind diplomacy trip through the Middle East this weekend.

The Israeli military is currently conducting a significant strike in the Gaza Strip, spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Sunday.

The strike, which Hagari described as very extensive, is targeting Hamas infrastructure above and underground, as well as militants and senior commanders, he said.

A CNN team in Sderot, southern Israel, which is not far from the Israel-Gaza border, observed a number of explosions and flares in the direction of Gaza on Sunday evening local time.

Earlier today, the Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers had reached positions along the coast of Gaza as part of the expansion of its ground operations.

Palestinians inspect a damaged house after an Israeli military incursion in the city of Abu Dis in the occupied West Bank on November 5.

Three Palestinians were killed in the city of Abu Dis in the occupied West Bank just outside Jerusalem after Israeli forces carried out a military incursion early Sunday morning, according to a statement by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health.

The men killed were identified as Nabil Halabia, 20, Musa Zarour, 22, and Muhannad Affana, 20. Several others were injured, the statement added. 

Scenes on the ground: According to eyewitnesses and videos obtained by CNN, Israeli military vehicles entered the town of Abu Dis and encircled the house of Nabil Halabia.

One video shows Israeli forces perched on a nearby roof engaged in heavy fire toward the house. Eyewitnesses say an Israeli bulldozer was used to demolish the house, which sparked confrontations with Palestinians in the area.

Images of the aftermath show debris all around, blood splattered on the floor and walls, and scars of bullets scraping the ceiling. 

What Israel is saying: According to a statement from the Israeli police, the border police troops and Israel Defense Forces entered Abu Dis “to apprehend a wanted person who carried out a shooting attack against IDF troops in the area.”  

The statement said Israeli forces “identified the suspect in the village,” chased him and then “operated around his residence.”

“The terrorist shot towards the troops, who responded with fire, and encircled his house,” the statement continued.

The statement confirmed that Israeli forces demolished the suspect’s house and killed him, without naming him. 

“In addition, while the troops cleared the scene, riots took place, which included hurling of explosive devices at the troops, who responded with fire and hit three suspects,” it added. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Baghdad, Iraq, on November 5.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Iraq Sunday — a significant stop on his whirlwind trip through the region.

Blinken met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in Baghdad for more than an hour.

He also visited the US Embassy, where he received a security briefing on the threat to US facilities.

Some context: US officials have repeatedly warned against other parties becoming involved in the conflict in Israel. In the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack, Iranian-backed proxy groups have scaled up attacks aimed at US troops in Iraq and Syria. 

Ahead of his stop in Iraq, Blinken made stops in Israel, Jordan, the West Bank and Cyprus. From Iraq, he will travel on to Turkey.

More from Blinken: Speaking to reporters after the Iraq meeting Sunday, Blinken said his discussion with the prime minister was “good” and “productive,” and added that he made clear that attacks by Iranian-backed militias against US personnel are totally unacceptable.

They also discussed making sure the conflict in Gaza does not spread into the wider region, the top US diplomat said.

Regarding Gaza, Blinken said negotiations on a humanitarian pause in the fighting are a “process,” but that US and Israeli teams are meeting Sunday to “work through the specifics, the practicalities of these pauses.”

“Israel has raised important questions about how humanitarian pauses would work. We’ve got to answer those questions. We’re working on exactly that,” he said.

Communications in Gaza have been disrupted for a third time since the current Israel-Hamas conflict began, with telecom operators reporting outages Sunday and aid agencies saying they can’t contact their teams in the strip.

The operator Paltel announced a “complete interruption” of its telecom and network services in a statement posted on Facebook. It said the interruption was due to “the main routes that were previously reconnected being cut off again from the Israeli side.”

Fellow operators Jawwal and Ooredoo Palestine also said in statements that their entire telecom and internet services had been disrupted Sunday.  

The internet monitoring firm NetBlocks posted shortly before noon ET, warning “live network data” showed a “new collapse in connectivity in the #Gaza Strip with high impact to Paltel, the last remaining major operator serving the territory.” 

The main United Nations agency supporting Palestinians in Gaza said it lost contact with its workers.

“UNRWA is not able to get through to the vast majority of our team,” the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said in a post on the social media platform X shortly after 7:30 p.m. local time (12:30 p.m. ET). 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society also said it lost contact with its teams in Gaza due to the blackout. 

“Unfortunately, we’ve lost contact with our #Gaza teams during the third telecom blackout since the escalation began,” the humanitarian organization said in a post on X shortly before 7 p.m. local time (noon ET). 

Rockets are fired from Gaza toward Israel on November 5.

The Israel Defense Forces has released what it said was evidence of Hamas using civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and children’s playgrounds, as shields for its attacks on Israel. 

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military, claimed during a news briefing Sunday that the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, among others, is used by Hamas as a shield against Israeli response to its rockets.

Hagari showed aerial images of the hospital, pointing out what he said were rocket launchers nearby.

“Only 75 meters, 80 meters to the hospital. Here, the IDF identified a launch pad, meaning, they launched rockets from here,” Hagari claimed, charging that the Palestinian militant movement places launchers there knowing that Israeli airstrikes on those targets would damage the hospital. 

Hagari also showed aerial images of what he said was a tunnel opening at Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani Hospital. 

“A tunnel that was being used for terror infrastructures in the Qatari hospital. If it wasn’t enough … the terrorists also shoot at our soldiers from within the hospital,” Hagari claimed.

Earlier Sunday, the IDF said it had identified “launch pits” and “rocket launchers in an old children’s playground in the Gaza strip.”  

The IDF included nighttime video of what it said were four launching barrels for rockets, “only five meters from a children’s swimming pool.” 

A CNN safety expert reviewing the footage said it did appear to show what the IDF was claiming.  

Palestinian officials reject claims: The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Health Mai Al-Kaila rejected the Israeli military’s claims, saying Israel aims “to create excuses for targeting (hospitals).”

“Israel always creates excuses and comes up with theories and lies to legitimize their plans and actions,” she told CNN.

The head of the Hamas-controlled government media office in Gaza, Salama Marouf, also rejected the claims in a news conference outside the Al-Shifa Hospital Sunday night.

“(Israel) is conducting massacres against hospitals,” he said, as ambulances were bringing casualties in for treatment behind him. “Over the past hour, there have been extensive airstrikes in the vicinity of hospitals in the Gaza Strip.”

Some background: The IDF made the accusations against Hamas after intense criticism of the barrage of strikes it has launched against the densely populated enclave, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.

Israel launched its war on Hamas after the militant group killed about 1,400 people in Israel in a surprise attack last month. More than 200 people are still being held captive, Israel says.

Israel’s more than 11,000 strikes in Gaza since then have damaged civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, United Nations shelters and refugee camps, killing and wounding civilians. More than 9,700 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since October 7, according to Dr. Mai Al-Kaila, the Palestinian minister of health in Ramallah, using data drawn from medical sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

The IDF says it is targeting Hamas leaders, fighters and infrastructure. 

On Gaza evacuations: Hagari also accused Hamas of trying to stop civilians from leaving for the south of Gaza, as the IDF has urged. He said recent “corridors” established by Israel for safe passage of evacuating civilians have had to be closed because of Hamas attacks in the area.

Hagari said over 1.5 million multi-colored flyers — to signal different messages—have been dropped into the Gaza strip.

More than 19,734 phone calls, warning people to leave certain areas, have been made, he said, and over six million recorded messages have been sent in Arabic, urging civilians to evacuate south. 

A US special envoy in the Middle East, David Satterfield, said Saturday that between 800,000 and a million people have fled from the north to southern parts of the Gaza Strip, deepening the humanitarian crisis. Critical supplies remain in short supply during Israel’s siege on the territory, and the IDF has struck targets south of the evacuation line.

CNN’s Kareem El Damanhoury, Abeer Salman and Kareem Khadder contributed reporting to this post.

This post has been updated with the response from Hamas and Palestinian Authority government representatives.

The Israeli military said Sunday that its soldiers had reached positions along the coast of Gaza as part of the expansion of its ground operations.

The 36th Division of the Israel Defense Forces reached the coast as it worked to encircle Hamas forces and strike targets in Gaza, the IDF said in a news release.

Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog said Sunday that Israel is “making every effort” to get the civilian population in Gaza “out of harm’s way.”

Herzog called the deaths of civilians “tragic,” but said Israel cannot “allow Hamas immunity because they hide behind civilians.”

Herzog said Israel would be open to the idea of a humanitarian pause if it means getting hostages out of Gaza, but said Hamas is “not serious” about a hostage release agreement and is “playing for time.”

Outcry over Gaza crisis grows: Israel’s military said it gave Gaza civilians a four-hour window Sunday to move south, as its ground offensive and heaviest bombardment target Gaza City and the northern strip. Officials say the flight of displaced residents to southern Gaza has only deepened the humanitarian crisis, and the IDF has struck targets south of the evacuation line.

US President Joe Biden and his top advisers are warning Israel with growing force that it will become increasingly difficult for it to pursue its military goals in Gaza as global outcry intensifies about the scale of humanitarian suffering there.

American officials also believe there is limited time for Israel to try to accomplish its stated objective of taking out Hamas in its current operation before uproar over the humanitarian suffering and civilian casualties — and calls for a ceasefire — reach a tipping point.

More from the Biden administration: Jon Finer, the US deputy national security adviser, said Sunday that Hamas operating in densely populated areas “places a higher burden” on the Israel Defense Forces to protect civilians, but the US will continue to hold Israel to operating within humanitarian law.

Finer told ABC that during his trip to the Middle East this weekend, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made clear to the Arab countries calling for a ceasefire, that the United States does not believe “now is the time for an overall ceasefire,” but still supported humanitarian pauses to get aid in and hostage out.

Finer also said there is ongoing talks to get the hostages still held by Hamas released, and the administration still thinks it is “possible,” but they have not reached an agreement.

The Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom slammed the United States on Sunday for failing to be an “honest mediator” in the Israel-Hamas war.

Zomlot, who also served as the last Palestinian ambassador to the US, said Blinken’s meeting with Abbas was tense.

“Our president demanded an immediate ceasefire to the atrocious, murderous assault by Israel on our civilians and people. This is not a war against Hamas,” Zomlot said. “It’s clear since it started that it’s a war against our people, not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank.”

The ambassador also slammed the US for refusing to call for a ceasefire and instead opting for the term “humanitarian pause.”

“This whole talk, Margaret, about ‘humanitarian pauses’ is simply irresponsible,” he told CBS’ Margaret Brennan. “Pauses of crimes against humanity — we’re going to pause for six hours killing our children, and then we resume killing the children? I mean, this doesn’t stand even international laws.”

Zomlot declined to formally condemn the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and instead called on the US to “empower the state of Palestine that will be able to protect its people.”

Zomlot said he does not consider the conflict to be a war, because “a war does not happen between the occupied and an occupier” and “only happens between two sovereign states.”

He said the situation in the West Bank is “very volatile and dangerous” and that he is concerned about it escalating into a broader regional war.

“Every minute we wait, there is a risk of spreading over,” he warned.

Medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza are trying to provide care to more than 60 injured children, including 13 on mechanical ventilation, despite a lack of medical supplies and after the hospital’s main generator stopped working due to lack of fuel, a pediatrician at the hospital told CNN on Saturday. 

Most of the children who came to the emergency department on Saturday were in “very critical” condition, said Dr. Husam Abu Safyia, a pediatrician at the medical center. 

The main hospital generator stopped working Friday and the hospital is relying on a small electric generator that is being used “just for intensive care units,” he said in a message to CNN. 

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah warned Saturday of a “catastrophe within Gaza hospitals,” adding that wounded people are “taking their last breaths” due to the lack of medical resources and fuel.