November 10, 2023 Israel-Hamas war | CNN

November 10, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

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CNN reporter embeds with IDF in Gaza. Here's what he saw
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US shifts messaging as pressure and attacks in Gaza ramp up. Here's what to know

The ferocity of Israel’s military operation shows no sign of letting up. On Friday, Israeli tanks surrounded a Gaza hospital, its director said, as the territory’s largest healthcare facility came under a reported “bombardment.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it is “prepared and operating in any arena that threatens the State of Israel.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Gazan civilians have moved south of the enclave in the last week. Israel had agreed to move forward with daily four-hour pauses of military operations in areas of northern Gaza, the White House said Thursday.

Here’s what to know:

  • Hospital “completely surrounded”:  The director of a hospital in northern Gaza has warned that the medical center is completely surrounded by tanks, making it impossible to leave. Mustafa al-Kahlout, who heads Al Nasr hospital and Al Rantisi pediatric hospital, urged for an evacuation of the doctors and patients inside. His call comes after strikes were reported near at least two other hospitals in northern Gaza. The IDF has said Hamas is embedding itself in civilian infrastructure and that it will strike Hamas “wherever necessary.”
  • Hit on another hospital: The Israeli military claimed that a misfired projectile “launched by terrorist organizations” inside Gaza was responsible for a strike on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Friday. IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said it was aimed at “IDF troops operating in the vicinity.” The Hamas-run media office claimed the IDF carried out the strike, Hecht said. Several social media videos emerged online Friday showing injured people lying on the ground of the outpatient clinic following the strike. 
  • Destruction in Gaza: At least 45% of Gaza’s housing has been destroyed or damaged as of November 4, and as many as 200,000 people no longer have homes, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Northern Gaza has had no electricity or fuel since October 11. Gaza’s sole power plant is out of fuel, and the seawater desalination plant in the north is also down.
  • Evacuations and aid: Roughly 12 children with cancer or blood disorders have been evacuated with their relatives from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan to continue their treatment safely, the World Health Organization said. More children are expected to be evacuated for cancer treatment as part of this initiative, WHO said in a statement. Meantime, the European Union has organized six more flights to get vital aid supplies into the enclave, the bloc announced.
  • Adjusted Israeli death toll: Israel now believes around 1,200 people were killed by Hamas in a series of brutal attacks on Israeli communities and gatherings near Gaza on October 7. The number includes foreign workers and other foreign nationalities, Israel’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said in response to online questions from journalists – and is a downward revision from a previous figure of 1,400. The current estimate is not a final number, Haiat emphasized, because some of the bodies have yet to be identified.
  • Shift in language from the US: United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday gave one of his most direct condemnations of the civilian death toll in Gaza. For weeks, the Biden administration has strongly backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military offensive following Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack, but a rising death count has put the US posture under pressure. Concerns about the conflict widening and the potential for further diplomatic fallout overseas remain top of mind in the US as well.

Estimated 30,000 people fled northern Gaza Friday as situation worsens, UN group says

An estimated 30,000 people fled the areas north of Wadi Gaza — a waterway bisecting the center of the strip — to head southward on Friday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said early Saturday. 

The displaced population fled on foot or used donkey carts when the evacuation corridor the Israeli military had announced along Salah Ad Deen Road opened until 4 p.m. local time Friday, the UN body said in a statement.

The number of displaced persons in Gaza has neared 1.6 million, about 748,000 of which are sheltering in 151 UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) installations across the strip, including 588,000 in the agency’s shelters in southern Gaza, UNRWA said Friday.  

OCHA added that 66 displaced persons were killed and 558 injured in UNRWA shelters since October 7. At least 20 of those who lost their lives and at least 400 of the injured were in southern Gaza, according to OCHA.

WHO "extremely disturbed" by reports of Israeli attacks near Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital

The World Health Organization is “extremely disturbed” by reports of Israeli attacks near Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a statement early Saturday.  

A doctor inside Al-Shifa Hospital posted a video on Instagram late Friday describing what he’s been hearing and seeing amid “heavy bombing” in the vicinity.

Video posted late Friday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah also shows heavy smoke rising from behind the Al-Shifa Hospital and flares in the sky with frequent explosions being heard. 

The Israeli military has claimed that a “misfired projectile launched by terrorist organizations inside the Gaza Strip”was responsible for a strike on Al-Shifa Hospital.

In another video posted early Saturday local time, the health ministry reported heavy bombardment near the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza. The video shows two men in medical scrubs running into a building for cover as heavy bombing can be seen and heard near the hospital. 

The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Interior in Gaza said the Israeli military struck near the Indonesian Hospital late Friday.  

Earlier in the day, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said an Israeli military attack targeted the Al-Quds Hospital, killing one displaced person and injuring 28 others, including two in critical condition.

Most of the casualties were children, PRCS added. 

The WHO said it has verified more than 250 attacks on the health sector in Gaza and the West Bank since October 7, including five hospital attacks in the strip on one day last week. 

CNN reached out to the Israeli military for comment and has not immediately heard back. The Israeli military has previously maintained that it is targeting Hamas infrastructure across the strip.  

Some context: This comes as Israeli tanks have surrounded the Al Nasr hospital and Al Rantisi Pediatric hospital in northern Gaza, its director Mustafa al-Kahlout told CNN, heightening fears Friday that Israel’s military campaign is further endangering Gazan patients and medical staff.

Patients and babies in the intensive units of Gaza City’s Al-Quds Hospital could die as it faces shut down in coming hours due to lack of fuel supplies, PRCS has also warned.

So far, at least 18 out of Gaza’s 35 functioning hospitals have gone out of service, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah on Thursday. 

Saudi Arabia will host a joint Arab Islamic summit Saturday

Saudi Arabia will host a Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Saturday in response to the “unprecedented circumstances in Gaza,” according to a statement released by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs early Saturday local time.

Saudi Arabia was initially going to host Arab and Islamic Summits separately on Saturday but has decided to combine the two after consultations with the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. 

French president calls for Gaza ceasefire and urges other world leaders to join him

French President Emmanuel Macron attends an EU summit in Brussels on October 27.

French President Emmanuel Macron called for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling it “the only solution” to the war between Israel and Hamas. 

While he said Israel had the right “to protect itself and react” to the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas, he also said that Israel should comply “with international rules of war and humanitarian international law.”

Macron added that he hopes other world leaders will join his call for a ceasefire. 

Some background: The US administration, for its part, has resisted calling for a ceasefire, although officials have worked to ramp up aid going into Gaza and pushed for humanitarian pauses to allow more assistance to flow into the enclave and to allow civilians to flee away from the fighting.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday gave one of his most direct condemnations of the civilian death toll in Gaza and said more needs to be done to “minimize harm to Palestinian civilians.”

Although Blinken commended Israel for its announcement of daily military pauses in areas of northern Gaza and two evacuation corridors, he said that “there is more that can and should be done to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians.”

ICU patients and babies “will lose their lives" at Gaza City hospital facing shutdown, Palestinian group warns

Gaza City’s Al-Quds Hospital could shut down in the coming hours, threatening the lives of patients and babies, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) warns.

On Wednesday, PRCS said it was scaling back most operations amid a fuel shortage to ensure the provision of minimal services.  

So far, at least 18 out of Gaza’s 35 functioning hospitals have gone out of service, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah on Thursday. 

The Israeli military has said Hamas is embedding itself in civilian infrastructure and that it will strike Hamas “wherever necessary.”

CNN’s Lucas Lilieholm contributed reporting.

Negotiators discuss dayslong pause in fighting in exchange for freeing large group of hostages

People look at an installation called "Empty Beds" on November 9 in Tel Aviv, Israel, where beds represent around 240 hostages seized in the attack by Hamas gunmen.

The parties involved in the ongoing negotiations to secure the release of hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza are working toward a deal that would entail a sustained, dayslong pause in fighting in exchange for a large group of hostages being freed, a senior US official familiar with the talks told CNN Friday.

If a deal were to be struck, the hostages would exit Gaza in stages on a rolling basis – with priority placed on extra vulnerable groups, like children and women – in a process that is expected to take multiple days, the official said.

Still, they repeatedly cautioned that the talks could at any point stall or deteriorate: “It’s been close before. There’s no certainty at all.”

Many details have yet to be worked out — and it would still likely be days, even in the best-case scenario, before a deal could be reached, the official said. But even as a deal was being considered, Israel did not relent in its Gaza offensive. CNN reporters witnessed a heavy bombardment by Israeli forces in Gaza late Friday.

Remember: The US, Israel and Hamas – with Qatar playing a significant mediating role – have been engaged in talks for weeks to free the hostages from Gaza.

Read more about Gaza hostage negotiations here.

UN Security Council addresses dire humanitarian situation in Gaza

The United Nations Security Council holds a moment of silence before meeting at UN headquarters in New York on November 10.

United Nations officials addressed the humanitarian situation in Gaza as Israeli and Palestinian UN representatives accused one another of targeting medical facilities during a UN Security Council briefing Friday. 

The meeting began with a minute of silence for the deaths of Palestinians, Israeli citizens and foreign nationals, as well as UN officials and journalists in Gaza and the West Bank.

While describing the dire situation unfolding in Gaza, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesussaid there are “morgues overflowing; surgery without anesthesia; tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering at hospitals.”

Ghebreyesus said the WHO has verified more than 250 attacks on health care in Gaza and the West Bank since October 7. The WHO also identified 25 attacks on health care in Israel, he said. 

Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, and Ambassador Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, attend a UN Security Council meeting on November 10.

Lana Nusseibeh, the UN representative for the United Arab Emirates, was the person who asked for the meeting to take place. She called on Israel to “end its siege on Gaza.”

The Israeli and Palestinian UN representatives traded accusations of targeting medical facilities. 

Ambassador Riyad Mansour, the Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN,  pleaded for UN countries to “stop the massacre.” 

Mansour accused Israel of driving the displacement of Palestinians. 

Wearing a yellow star with the words “Never Again,” Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan harshly rebuked UN officials who brief the council.

Erdan accused Hamas of targeting hospitals and using hospitals as bases and using ambulances as taxis.

Israel lowers its estimated death toll from Hamas attacks on October 7 to 1,200

Israeli workers show the coolers at the military morgue in Ramla, Israel, on October 15.

Israel now believes around 1,200 people were killed by Hamas in a series of brutal attacks on Israeli communities and gatherings near Gaza on October 7.

The number includes foreign workers and other foreign nationalities, foreign ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said in response to online questions from journalists – and is a downward revision from a previous figure of 1,400.

The current estimate is not a final number, Haiat emphasized, because some of the bodies have yet to be identified.

The spokesperson’s online communication did not include a reason for the reduction, and he did not immediately respond to subsequent requests for an explanation.

This post was updated to take out comments reported in the Times of Israel, which the online newspaper appears to have removed.

Israeli forces "operating in any arena" that threatens the country, IDF spokesperson says

Two weeks after Israel launched ground operations inside the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces are “prepared and operating in any arena that threatens the State of Israel,” a military spokesperson said.

“At this stage, the forces are operating deep in Gaza City, taking control of Hamas strongholds and fighting terrorists,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said Friday during a briefing. “This is complex and difficult warfare.”

Hundreds of thousands of Gazan civilians have moved south of the enclave – but Hamas is doing “everything in its power to prevent them from doing so,” Hagari said, reiterating that Hamas is using civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, as shields for its attacks on Israel. 

Over the last two days, more than 100,000 Gaza residents have fled southwards, Hagari said.  

In the north of the country, Israeli forces are conducting “a very extensive strike” targeting Hezbollah infrastructure, following the infiltration of three drones into Israeli territory, Hagari said. One was intercepted and the other two fell, he said. 

Hagari also mentioned the IDF strike on a site in Syria in response to a drone strike on a building in the southern Israeli city of Eilat.

Israel claims misfired projectile launched from inside Gaza was responsible for hit on al-Shifa hospital

The Israeli military claimed that a misfired projectile launched from inside Gaza was responsible for a strike on al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Friday. 

The IDF said that an examination of its operational systems indicated that “a misfired projectile launched by terrorist organizations inside the Gaza Strip hit the Shifa Hospital.” 

Hecht went on to claim that the projectile had been aimed at “IDF troops operating in the vicinity.” 

Several social media videos emerged online Friday showing injured people lying on the ground of the outpatient clinic following the strike. 

The director-general of the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, Medhat Abbas, told CNN the videos showed “the waiting area covered by corrugated metal sheet under which internally displaced persons had taken refuge.”

A World Health Organization spokesperson also said Friday that al-Shifa hospital was “coming under bombardment.” 

Shortly before 12:30 p.m. ET, United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths condemned what he called the “horrific” attack carried out on the al-Shifa hospital. 

In his post, Griffiths highlighted how the “lives of thousands of patients, staff and displaced civilians are at risk” after the attack.

Israel is launching a heavy bombardment on northern Gaza this evening

Smoke and flares rise over Gaza City during an Israeli strike on November 10.

Heavy bombardment and flares fired by Israeli forces can be seen in the northern part of Gaza late Friday, according to CNN’s Nic Robertson and his team, who are reporting from Sderot, Israel.

The team also saw intense flares over the area near the Jabalya refugee camp.

About 200,000 people have lost homes in Gaza, where 45% of housing is damaged or destroyed, UN office says

People search through rubble after Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza, on Friday.

At least 45% of Gaza’s housing has been destroyed or damaged as of November 4, and as many as 200,000 people no longer have homes, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Gaza is one of the most densely populated places in the world, with more than 500 people per 100 square meters in many areas, according to the European Commission.

Israel has carried out multiple airstrikes about a kilometer from the Rafah crossing — the only way in and out of Gaza that isn’t controlled by Israel. The crossing, which is controlled by Egypt, has been mostly closed since Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7.

Northern Gaza has had no electricity or fuel since October 11. One-third of hospitals have had to close, and those that remain open are often operating with limited electricity and without anesthesia or clean water, the UN humanitarian office said. All bakeries in the north have had to close, either due to damage or lack of fuel.

Gaza’s sole power plant is out of fuel, and the seawater desalination plant in the north is also down. Drinking water is running out for hundreds of thousands of civilians. Most sewage pumping facilities are not operating. UN officials report that 14 hospitals and 71% of primary care facilities across Gaza are closed.

As fighting intensifies across Gaza and Israel, CNN is visualizing the war through maps, charts and more.

Read more about the destruction in Gaza.

Top US diplomat brings notable shift in language toward Israel as pressure mounts

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the press in New Delhi on Friday.

When United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken lamented the civilian death toll in Gaza on Friday, it marked a subtle but notable shift in US language toward the Israeli government.

For weeks, the Biden administration has strongly backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military offensive following Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack, but a rising death count in the besieged enclave, enormous pro-Palestinian protests across the globe and increasing discomfort inside the White House has put considerable strain on the US’ posture.

“To that end, we’ll be continuing to discuss with Israel the concrete steps to be taken to advance these objectives,” Blinken added.

Administration officials argue they have had success in some areas as they work to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The White House said Thursday that Israel had agreed to move forward with daily four-hour pauses of military operations in areas of northern Gaza.

The number of Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 has surpassed 11,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah, drawing from sources in the Hamas-controlled territory.

The ferocity of the military operation shows no sign of letting up. On Friday, Israeli tanks surrounded a Gaza hospital, its director told CNN, as the territory’s largest healthcare facility came under a reported “bombardment.”

The IDF has said Hamas is embedding itself in civilian infrastructure and that it will strike Hamas “wherever necessary.” CNN cannot verify those claims.

Netanyahu insisted Thursday that there would be “no ceasefire” without the release of hostages held by Hamas.

Meanwhile, major world cities — including London, Istanbul, New York, Baghdad and Rome — have seen their centers filled with pro-Palestinian demonstrators calling for a ceasefire, with more protests planned this weekend.

Concerns about the conflict widening and the potential for further diplomatic fallout overseas remain top of mind in the US as well. The Biden administration has received stark warnings from American diplomats in the Arab world that its strong support for Israel’s military campaign “is losing us Arab publics for a generation,” according to a diplomatic cable obtained by CNN.

Read more about the current US stance on the war.

More than 100 UN workers killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began, agency says

At least 101 employees of the main United Nations agency working in the Palestinian territories have been killed in Gaza since October 7, the agency said Friday.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it was “devastated” by the deaths of more than 100 colleagues in a post on social media Friday.

“Mothers, fathers, teachers, nurses, doctors, guards, logisticians, support staff, all at the service of their community,” UNRWA said. “We honor their memory and their service.”

Earlier Friday, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini also said he was “devastated” by the deaths of colleagues and called for a humanitarian ceasefire. 

The UN agency has more than 10,000 people working in its Gaza Field Office, according to the UNRWA website.

More background: UNRWA runs the largest humanitarian operation in the Gaza Strip and provides assistance and protection for registered Palestinian refugees.

EU organizes more flights to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza

Humanitarian aid for Gaza is loaded on a French Air Force plane at Orleans Air Base, France, on November 4.

The European Union has organized six more flights to get vital aid supplies to Gaza, the bloc announced Friday.

In a news release, the EU said that “humanitarian air bridge flights are now scheduled for the coming days.”

Two of these flights are set to depart from Brindisi in southern Italy on Friday and Saturday and will carry “55 tonnes of items donated from the EU to the World Food Programme (WFP),” according to the statement.

Three further flights will depart from the Romanian capital of Bucharest next week, carrying tents and mattresses donated by Romania. The final flight will depart from Ostend in Belgium at the end of month, transporting supplies from United Nations agencies and other humanitarian partners, according to the press release.

The bloc’s leadership has continuously highlighted the need for more humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen telling EU ambassadors Monday that “the volumes remain too small to match the massive humanitarian needs in Gaza.”

On Friday, the EU’s Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič warned that the world is currently “witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.”

Despite quadrupling its humanitarian funding and amping up its engagement with partners, the bloc remains limited by the “dramatically insufficient and unsafe access of humanitarian aid,” Lenarčič added.

As part of its commitment to humanitarian aid, the EU is also working on other routes to get aid into Gaza, including a maritime corridor, von der Leyen said Friday.

British doctor sent back to Gaza after his name was not on the list of evacuees at the Rafah crossing

A British doctor who escaped Gaza with his family has been sent back to the war zone after Egyptian officials told him his name wasn’t on the list of evacuees, according to a British Member of Parliament.

Dr. Ahmed Sabra was in Gaza when Israel declared war on Hamas following the militant group’s October 7 attacks, said Geraint Davies, the local MP for Swansea West in Wales, where Sabra lives and works as a National Health Service consultant.

Davies shared video and voice notes Sabra recorded as he made the perilous trip with his wife and children to the Rafah crossing, where they had hoped to cross into Egypt and find safety before returning home.

But Davies said while Sabra’s family was allowed through, he was not on the approved list of foreign nationals.

“I’m calling for the British government to do their duty and evacuate myself and other British nationals to safety to go back home,” he added.

Davies told CNN that neither he nor Sabra knows why he was not included on the list, and the MP said he has raised the matter with the UK Foreign Office.

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office told CNN on Thursday: “We’re working round the clock to ensure all British nationals in Gaza who want to leave are able to.”

“This involves submitting all details of British nationals and eligible dependents to the Israeli and Egyptian authorities. The authorities then review all cases and give permissions to cross.”

The statement said that the office is in contact with British Nationals in Gaza and UK teams are sent to the border to receive anyone allowed to leave.

It made no mention of Sabra’s case. CNN also contacted the British Embassy in Egypt for comment.

About a dozen children with cancer or blood disorders evacuated from Gaza, WHO says

Roughly 12 children with cancer or blood disorders have been evacuated with their relatives from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan to continue their treatment safely, the World Health Organization said Friday. 

More children are expected to be evacuated for cancer treatment as part of this initiative, the WHO said in a statement.

Jordan’s Prime Ministry announced on Tuesday that children with cancer would arrive in Jordan soon to receive treatment at the King Hussein Cancer Center. 

The WHO and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital worked in coordination with Egyptian, Israeli, Jordanian, Palestinian and American officials to facilitate the evacuation of the children from Gaza, the United Nations agency said. 

The two specialized hospitals that offer care to cancer patients in Gaza have been “overwhelmed, undersupplied, exposed to attacks and, due to insecurity, forced to close,” according to the WHO statement, adding that the conflict between Israel and Hamas has severely restricted the entry of essential medical supplies, including chemotherapy. 

CNN previously reported that Gaza’s leading cancer hospital, the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital, stopped operating due to Israeli bombardment and fuel shortages, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health said in a statement on November 1. Israel’s military denied striking the hospital.

Before Israel’s war with Hamas, about 100 patients per day were referred for treatment outside of Gaza, according to the WHO. 

Poll suggests most Israelis want to negotiate for hostages but continue fighting

An increasing number of Israelis say their country should immediately begin negotiations with Hamas for the release of hostages held in Gaza – but should continue fighting while negotiating, a new survey out Friday suggests.

Nearly four out of 10 Israelis (38%) expressed the opinion in a survey by the Viterbi Family Center for Public Opinion and Policy Research at the Israel Democracy Institute

That’s a rise from 32% saying Israel should negotiate while fighting when the survey was last conducted about two weeks earlier.

Another 22% – about one in five – said Israel should not negotiate at all to trade Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails for hostages. 

One in 10 (10%) said Israel should negotiate only when the fighting is over, while about one in five (21%) said Israel should begin negotiations immediately, even if it meant halting the fighting. 

The survey of 606 men and women was carried out online and by phone on November 5-6, 2023. Some 502 interviews were in Hebrew and 104 were in Arabic. The margin of error on the full sample is four points.