November 12, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

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

A bus carrying Canadian nationals recently evacuated from Gaza prepares to depart the Rafah crossing on November 12.

Hospitals across Gaza are running out of electricity and supplies, with staff working in dire conditions while thousands of residents pack into medical centers, seeking shelter from a seemingly endless barrage of airstrikes.

Gaza’s second-largest hospital — Al-Quds in Gaza City — is no longer operational, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

In Gaza’s biggest hospital, Al-Shifa, patients and staff are trapped inside due to fighting nearby, according to health officials and aid agencies. The hospital is rapidly running out of electricity, food and medical supplies, a senior official at the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza told CNN on Saturday.

Israel said it opened an evacuation corridor outside Al-Shifa Sunday, but the International Committee of the Red Cross said no one had left through it. CNN cannot independently verify whether any people have been able to evacuate.

Here are more key developments from today in the Israel-Hamas war:

US President Joe Biden discussed the war in Gaza with the emir of Qatar on Sunday, including Qatari-brokered efforts to free hostages.

In a readout of the call, the White House revealed that one of the hostages being held is a 3-year-old American toddler whose parents were killed by Hamas during its October 7 attacks in Israel.

“The two leaders agreed that all hostages must be released without further delay,” the White House said in a readout of the call.

Biden “affirmed his vision for a future Palestinian state where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side with equal measures of stability and dignity” in Sunday’s phone call, according to the readout.

“He noted that Hamas has long been an impediment to that outcome,” the White House statement reads.

None of the operating rooms at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza are functioning due to lack of electricity, the medical center’s director told Al-Araby TV on Sunday.

“The operating rooms are completely out of service, and now the wounded come to us and we cannot give them anything other than first aid,” Dr. Muhammad Abu Salmiya said.

The hospital director said staff were trying to keep premature babies at the hospital alive after oxygen ran out and they had to be moved from the neonatal unit’s incubators.

“I was with them a while ago. They are now exposed, because we have taken them out of the incubators. We wrap them in foil and put hot water next to them so that we can warm them,” Abu Salmiya said.  

The doctor said several children have died while in the intensive care unit and the nursery over the last day.

People stand outside the emergency ward of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 10.

More background: Heavy fighting near Gaza’s largest hospital has left it in a “catastrophic situation,” with patients and staff trapped inside, ambulances unable to collect the wounded and life-support systems without electricity, health officials and aid agencies report.

The World Health Organization says Al-Shifa has been without power for three days.

“It’s been three days without electricity, without water and with very poor internet, which has severely impacted our ability to provide essential care,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on the social media platform X.

Dispute over fuel offer: The Israeli military said it put 300 liters of fuel at the entrance to the Al-Shifa Hospital complex on Sunday, but that Hamas had blocked the hospital from receiving it. 

Abu Salmiya, the hospital director, told Al-Araby TV that Israeli officials had indeed called him to offer the fuel — which he said would provide power to run the generators for only thirty minutes — but that staff had been too scared to go get it. 

An Israeli army soldier walks towards a building structure carrying gallon containers, as they say, while delivering fuel to Al Shifa hospital, in a location given as Gaza, in this screengrab taken from a handout video released on November 12.

The Israel Defense Forces released a video it said showed soldiers delivering the jerry cans to a curbside location near the hospital entrance. It also released an audio recording, purportedly of a hospital official accusing a Hamas leader at the health ministry of refusing to allow it to be collected.

Abu Salmiya said it was the presence of Israeli tanks that prevented collection.

“Of course, my paramedic team was completely afraid to go out,” he said, adding, “We want every drop of fuel, but I told (the IDF) that it should be sent through the International Red Cross or through any international institution.” 

Hamas dismissed the allegations and said the Israeli fuel delivery was a propaganda stunt.

The Israeli ground operation expanded deeper within Gaza City today, army spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a news briefing.

Infantry and combat engineering forces reached the outskirts of Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza, Hagari said. Meanwhile, army forces coordinated with the Israeli Navy to raid the Gaza marina area.

“They are fully encircling the area,” Hagari said

The Israeli army is “locating long-range rocket launchers aimed at Israel,” according to the spokesperson.

While destroying anti-tank launching pads, tunnel shafts and terror infrastructure, Hagari said Israeli forces arrested alleged members of Hamas, who were brought back to Israel for investigation.

He said the army — along with Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet — had arrested 20 detainees, including “terrorists that were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack.”

Palestinians flee to southern Gaza on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij, Gaza, on November 10.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued an urgent appeal Sunday for the protection of civilians in Gaza — emphasizing the perilous situation faced by those attempting to evacuate or remaining in conflict zones. 

The ICRC expressed grave concern in its statement for the safety of vulnerable populations, including medical staff, patients, infants, people with disabilities and the elderly, as hostilities escalate in densely populated urban areas, including around hospitals.

The ICRC highlighted the precarious conditions under which evacuations occur, with displaced individuals, including women and children waving white flags, navigating through dangerous areas without access to necessities such as food and water.

The organization stressed the importance of preventing the separation of family members during evacuations.

The ICRC also called for an unimpeded flow of humanitarian assistance to the enclave, as approximately 100,000 displaced people now lack essentials like shelter, food, water and hygiene.

The Red Cross has intensified its emergency response in Gaza, deploying a surgical team and delivering critical medical supplies to support health care facilities throughout the strip, according to the statement.

The organization has also coordinated evacuation convoys for hospital patients and displaced people from northern Gaza in recent days.

A bus carrying Canadian nationals recently evacuated from Gaza prepares to depart the Rafah crossing on November 12.

More than 800 foreign nationals passed through the Rafah crossing into Egypt on Sunday, an Egyptian border official told a journalist working for CNN, marking the largest number that has passed through the crossing in a single day since evacuations from the enclave began.

It is the first evacuation of foreign nationals since Thursday, when more than 300 left Gaza through the crossing, according to a border official.

More background: Located in Egypt’s north Sinai, the Rafah crossing is the sole border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. It falls along an 8-mile (12.8-kilometer) fence that separates Gaza from the Sinai desert.

As the only route in and out of Gaza that is not closed due to Israel’s siege, Rafah has played a key role in efforts to get aid in and people out of the enclave.

CNN’s Abbas Al Lawati, Mohammed Abdelbary and Rob Picheta contributed to this report.

Israeli soldiers are seen at the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday, November 12.

Israel is looking ahead to a long-term plan for Gaza and is discussing the issue with the United States, according to Ambassador Michael Herzog.

The Palestinian Authority would have to undergo reform, Herzog said.

The ambassador said Israel is not interested in occupying or governing Gaza, adding that security is the main priority.

Herzog claimed Israel is “very targeted” in its operation in Gaza.

“People have to understand Gaza is the biggest terror complex around the globe with over 500 kilometers (about 310 miles) of terror tunnels. … We are not targeting the population,” Herzog said.

“I believe that what we see today with more and more people moving to the south indicates to us that these people do not want to serve as human shields for Hamas. They understand they don’t like us, but they don’t like Hamas either,” he added. 

Some context: More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive nearly a month ago, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in the Palestinian enclave said last week.

It’s unclear how many combatants are included in the total. CNN cannot independently verify the numbers released by the ministry in Gaza, which is sealed off by Israel and mostly sealed by Egypt.

Thousands of Gaza residents have fled northern areas of the strip as Israel’s military urges them to move south, but there are no fully protected zones in Gaza. Eyewitnesses and hospital officials have described recent blasts in central and southern areas despite the calls to evacuate there.

Smoke rises over Lebanon on November 12.

The Israel Defense Forces said its fighter jets attacked several Hezbollah targets within Lebanon on Sunday, in response to attacks carried out by the Lebanese militant group in northern Israel. 

Israeli forces said Hezbollah military infrastructure was among the targets it attacked. 

Earlier today, the IDF said it was launching artillery strikes in response to anti-tank missiles that had been fired from Lebanon into Dovev, located in northern Israel. 

A CNN team in southern Lebanon heard outgoing rocket fire Sunday and observed Israel’s air defense system, the Iron Dome, intercepting two rockets over Rosh HaNikra in northern Israel. 

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted a military logistical team that was about to start setting up communication towers and surveillance equipment.

More context: The IDF’s clashes with the Iran-backed paramilitary group are central to fears of the Israel-Hamas war spreading into a wider Middle East conflict.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gave his second speech since the war started via video link Saturday, saying his group would keep up the pressure on Israel at its border.

CNN’s Zeena Saifi and Amir Tal contributed to this report.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during a press conference in New York City on November 6.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has responded to claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with CNN on Sunday.

The Israeli leader said Guterres laid blame on Israel and should instead be demanding that Hamas obey international law. But Guterres insisted later Sunday that he has condemned Hamas “since the very beginning.”

He went on to say that there were Palestinian grievances which “related to 56 years of occupation,” although “none of these grievances justify the barbaric attack of Hamas.”

Speaking about the UN’s potential role in mediation once the war is over, Guterres said that the international community needs to come together, and the UN can “play a part” in that.

There will need to be a transition “that is acceptable to Israel from the point of view of the guarantee of the security of Israel,” he said, adding that it should “at the same time allow for the transfer to an effective Palestinian Authority.”

The exact make-up of this “is not obvious at this moment,” he said.

Guterres said it was essential to “take profit” of the situation and “finally query the possibility of a two-state solution.”

“The two-state solution is, in my opinion, the only way out,” he added.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah released its daily report on Sunday, saying it was unable to update casualty figures in Gaza after losing contact with hospitals.

“On 11 November, following the Israeli occupation forces’ cutting of services and communications at hospitals in the north of Gaza, the MoH is not able to update casualty figures,” the report said. 

The report went on to outline the dire impact strikes are having on health care to patients at hospitals in Gaza.

The Ministry of Health in Ramallah draws data from medical sources in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

More background: The health care crisis is deepening in Gaza. Health officials say the largest medical center in the enclave, Al-Shifa Hospital, has devolved into a “catastrophic situation,” while the Palestine Red Crescent Society said the territory’s second-largest hospital is also out of service.

Thirteen Palestinians were killed by an airstrike in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza on Sunday, according to the head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza.

The airstrike hit a residential building in the city, which is close to the Egyptian border, Dr. Eyad Abu Zahr told CNN.

Khan Younis is south of Wadi Gaza — in the area the Israeli military has told people in the north to evacuate to for safety.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the airstrike claim.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with CNN on Sunday, November 12.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Sunday on CNN that Hamas is only calling for humanitarian pauses in Gaza to let up the fighting against the group.

Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash if Israel would consider implementing longer pauses in fighting to allow the evacuation of more civilians from fighting hotspots in Gaza, Netanyahu said:

Netanyahu also addressed other key wartime topics during the interview:

Netanyahu reiterated that Israel will not agree to a “ceasefire in the entire area” of Gaza until all Israeli hostages have been released.

He also outlined Israel’s primary objectives in Gaza, saying they were to:

He then accused the Palestinian Authority (PA), which used to control Gaza and is based in the occupied West Bank, of failing “on both counts,” seeming to rule out a post-war role for the PA in Gaza — an idea US officials have indicated they would support.

On the crisis at Al-Shifa Hospital: The prime minister claimed the embattled Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest in Gaza, is being used as a Hamas command center, and that civilians should be evacuated.

“There’s no reason why we just can’t take the patients out of there instead of letting Hamas use it as a command center for terrorism,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister said Israel is helping patients “by creating safe corridors” for evacuation.

While the Israeli military earlier Sunday said one such corridor was opened in the area of Al-Shifa, the International Committee of the Red Cross said no one had left through it.

Heavy fighting near the medical center has left it in a “catastrophic situation,” with patients and staff trapped inside, ambulances unable to collect the wounded and life-support systems without electricity, health officials in Gaza and aid agencies are reporting.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has described the situation as a “complete siege” of the hospital.

On civilian casualties: Netanyahu said Sunday that civilian casualties in Gaza are being “reduced” because of Israel’s calls for civilians to move south. 

“I think the number of civilian casualties is actually being reduced because people are heeding our calls to leave the area,” Netanyahu said.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its military offensive nearly a month ago, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in the Palestinian enclave said last week.

It’s unclear how many combatants are included in the total. CNN cannot independently verify the numbers released by the ministry in Gaza, which is sealed off by Israel and mostly sealed by Egypt.

People attend a rally for Israeli hostages on November 11 in Tel Aviv.

Organizers say tens of thousands of people attended a rally Saturday evening for Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

The demonstration – held in Tel Aviv and attended by, among others, the former President Reuven Rivlin — was the biggest since October 7, Israeli media reported.

On the face of it, it had the appearance of the huge protests seen earlier in the year against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his plans to take power away from the country’s Supreme Court.

And there was anger, with many there demanding the government do more to bring home the hostages.

For sure, Netanyahu is under great pressure. 

October 7 happened on his watch, and opinion polls suggest he will pay heavily for that when the time comes to hold a general election.

Infuriatingly for many Israelis, he still refuses to accept responsibility, telling CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday that he would “answer all the questions” when Hamas was defeated.

But it would be a big mistake to see the large crowds on Saturday evening as indicative of any growing unease among Israelis at the prosecution of the war.

While a ceasefire might, in theory, be an attractive option to secure the hostages’ release, overall support in Israel for the war, if not the war leader, remains very high.

Conditions are deteriorating further at Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest medical center, according to accounts from inside the embattled enclave.

Sarsour added that there was “trash in every corner of the hospital building complex. Before the electricity went out, there was a burner (incinerator) at the back of the hospital where the trash was burnt.”

He said the smell was “beyond imagination.”

Sarsour told CNN there are more than 15,000 displaced people, medical staff and patients inside Al-Shifa. 

He said there were tanks some 200 meters north of the complex and heavy gunfire.

CNN is unable to verify accounts about military operations in the vicinity of Al-Shifa.

Remember: Heavy fighting near Gaza’s largest hospital has left it in a “catastrophic situation,” with patients and staff trapped inside, ambulances unable to collect the wounded and life-support systems without electricity, health officials and aid agencies are reporting.

According to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza, staff and patients have been unable to leave the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as the complex remains under “complete siege.”

On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces spoke of “ongoing intense fighting” around the vicinity of Al-Shifa, but denied claims it was directly firing at or laying siege to the complex.

Thousands of displaced civilians are still thought to be in the hospital compound, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society and hospital officials.  

People attend an event calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Jerusalem on November 7.

Israel is “doing everything we can around the clock” to get its more than 200 hostages released by Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday.

Bash asked Netanyahu what he would say in regard to the thousands of Israelis, including the families of the hostages, that rallied this weekend, frustrated that they are not getting more information on their loved ones who were abducted by Hamas on October 7.

He responded, saying: “It’s understandable. They’re under tremendous distress. They’re under — just, torture.”

When asked whether he’s doing enough, Netanyahu said: “We’re doing everything we can around the clock, and I can’t, you know, talk about it.”

“I personally met with … families of hostages several times and it tears your heart out,” he added.

Netanyahu said “the entire world should join us” in attempting to free hostages, adding that the only ceasefire that will be considered “is one in which we have our hostages released.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to answer whether he would take responsibility for failing to prevent the October 7 attack on Israel, saying there would be time for such “difficult” questions once the war is over.

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Netanyahu acknowledged that it is “a question that needs to be asked.”

“And we’re going to answer all these questions,” he insisted, adding: “Right now, I think what we have to do is unite the country for one purpose; to achieve victory.

“Let’s focus on victory – that’s my responsibility now.”

Some context: Netanyahu has been under pressure for failing to anticipate the deadliest attack since Israel’s founding, which saw Hamas gunmen killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 200 people hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

At a protest on Saturday, families of hostages called on Netanyahu and the government to do more to secure their release.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

When asked about Israel’s post-war plans for Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to rule out handing control to the Palestinian Authority (PA), saying the organization had failed to “demilitarize” and “de-radicalize” Gaza in the past.

He told CNN’s Dana Bash that Israel’s first priority was to destroy Hamas.

Netanyahu continued that once that is achieved, then there has to be “an overriding Israeli military envelope,” to avoid a resurgence of terrorism.

“A civilian authority has to cooperate in two goals; one is to demilitarize Gaza and the second is to de-radicalize Gaza,” he said.

“And I have to say that the Palestinian Authority has unfortunately failed on both counts.”

He instead described putting in place a “reconstructed civilian authority,” to avoid falling into “the same rabbit hole.”

He described aiming for a future of “peace” and “cooperation.” “We have to give Gaza a better future, let’s not bring it to a failed past,” he said, adding, “Let’s create a different reality there.”

What happens to Gaza after the conflict is a major open question. This week the US floated the possibility of the Palestinian Authority taking a role.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks with CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday, November 12.

Asked about hospitals in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the country is helping patients by establishing evacuation corridors amid fighting on the ground, but insists that no immunity will be given to Hamas terrorists.

“We have designated routes to a safe zone south of Gaza City,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday. “We want all civilians to be moved out of harm’s way.”

However, he stressed that Hamas is “doing everything in its power to keep them in harm’s way.”

“We’ve called to evacuate all the patients from that (Al-Shifa, Gaza’s largest) hospital, and 100 or so have already been evacuated,” Netanyahu told CNN.

“There’s no reason why we can’t just take the patients out of there.”

Some context: CNN cannot verify Netanyahu’s claims about evacuations from Al-Shifa.

Israel earlier announced a corridor near the hospital, but the International Committee of the Red Cross said it could not confirm any evacuations had taken place.

Heavy fighting near the medical center has left it in a “catastrophic situation,” with patients and staff trapped inside, ambulances unable to collect the wounded and life-support systems without electricity, health officials in Gaza and aid agencies are reporting.

At the top of the hour – 9 a.m. ET – CNN will be speaking to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He’s being interview live on State of the Union by Dana Bash. Follow us for updates on what he has to say.