December 2, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

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

Hisham Awartani, one of three Palestinian students who were shot while walking in Vermont is now paralyzed from the chest down, his mother Elisabeth Price tells CNN. 

She had previously shared that her son may not be able to move his legs for the rest of his life after a bullet became lodged in his spine.

Price told CNN that she established a GoFundMe page to provide financial support for Hisham “as he prepares to move into this next phase of his life – recovery.”

“It’s been a gut wrenching and difficult six days, but it’s also been a remarkable and awe-inspiring time – first to watch Hisham and his two childhood friends meet this experience with resilience, strength and even deep concern for others (for each other, for their parents many miles away and for thousands of their people suffering under a brutal military bombardment) and, second, to see and feel the incredible support from all over the world, including messages of love and support from many of you,” Price writes. 

A 20-year-old junior at Brown University, Hisham was coming to terms with the “very long road he has in front of him,” Price said.

She said her son was scheduled to be released from the hospital next week and he will go on to receive rehabilitation care. 

Price also told CNN that Tahseen Ali Ahmad has been released from the hospital and his mother has now joined him after successfully obtaining an emergency visa to travel from Ramallah in the West Bank to the United States.

A photo of Mosab Abu Toha from City Lights Publishers, who published his debut book of poems, "Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear."

Palestinian poet and writer Mosab Abu Toha and his family have been able to leave Gaza after being detained and released last month by the Israel Defense Forces when trying to leave the enclave in the south, a source close to the family told CNN on Saturday.

The source said Abu Toha crossed at Rafah into Egypt.

Abu Toha was taken into custody by the IDF “when he reached the checkpoint while leaving from the north to the south” Gaza on November 20, his brother said on Facebook last month. Abu Toha was released the following day, the IDF announced.

Following his release by the IDF, Abu Toha posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he was safe but alleged he was mistreated.

CNN has asked the IDF for comment about Abu Toha’s allegations.

Abu Toha had been contributing to The New Yorker and other publications with reflections on his life inside Gaza during the war.

Israel has killed the commander of Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion, Wessam Farhat, the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency said in joint news release Saturday. 

Fighter jets from the Israeli air force killed Farhat earlier Saturday by following military and agency intelligence, the release said.

According to the IDF and ISA, Farhat plotted the attack on the kibbutz of Nahal Oz and an IDF post in the community on October 7. Six IDF soldiers were killed in the attack, Israel says.

Farhat began his command over the battalion in 2010 and had previously plotted a 2002 terror attack on Mechinat Atzmona and an attack on a civilian bus in Nahal Oz in 2011, the Israeli officials said.

“Since the beginning of the war, the IDF and ISA have significantly degraded the Shejaiya Battalion’s capabilities, including the elimination of their senior commanders and the striking of terror infrastructure and weapons,” the joint statement read. 

Hamas has not yet publicly commented on the statement from the IDF and ISA. CNN cannot independently verify the claims.

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter the Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Saturday, December 2.

The aid that went into Gaza on Saturday included body bags and blankets as hostilities resumed following a seven-day truce between Israel and Hamas, the Egyptian Red Crescent Society told CNN.

CNN reported earlier that food, medicine and some fuel had gone into Gaza.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, had warned Gaza was running out of body bags earlier in the conflict.

On Saturday, a spokesperson for the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza said at least 15,207 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7. At least 193 Palestinians have died since the truce expired on Friday and Israel resumed its offensive in the enclave, the ministry said.

In his visit to Gaza on November 23, Lazzarini also said internally displaced people in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis told him they had no blankets. 

“(T)hey haven’t been able to change their clothes; 45 days with the same clothes, no blankets, no mattress,” Lazzarini said, citing a father displaced with his wife and five children.

CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed reporting to this post.

The military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, has launched a barrage of rockets toward Tel Aviv, it said in a statement late Saturday local time.

The group claimed the action is in response to what it calls “Zionist massacres against civilians.”

The rockets were fired from a location in the northern Gaza Strip, according to Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau.

Earlier Saturday evening, Israel’s Iron Dome defense system launched at least a dozen intercepts over central Tel Aviv. It was the second round of threats over the city since the truce between Israel and Hamas ended.

Dr. Sufyan Tayeh, the president of the Islamic University of Gaza, was killed Saturday by Israeli bombing in the northern Gaza Strip, according to a statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

The ministry expressed its profound grief over the loss, which it said came in an earlier bombing of Jabalya.

Tayeh is a scholar who holds a professorship in the field of theoretical physics and applied mathematics, according to Al-Najah National University, in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Tayeh was classified among the best 2% of researchers in the world based on a study conducted by the international publishing house Elsevier and Stanford University, Al-Najah said.

“He was also appointed holder of the UNESCO Chair in Physical, Astrophysical, and Space Sciences in Palestine,” the university added.

Smoke rises from buildings in Gaza after being hit by Israeli strikes, as seen from southern Israel, on Saturday, December 2.

Saleh Al-Arouri, deputy head of the political bureau of Hamas, conveyed the group’s official stance on negotiations and hostage-prisoner exchanges in an interview with Al Jazeera TV on Saturday. He said “there are no negotiations now” and there will be no more prisoner exchanges until there is a ceasefire in Gaza and “until the Zionist terrorist aggression is completely ended.”

The remaining hostages still being held captive by Hamas are soldiers and former soldiers, according to Al-Arouri, who added that “there will be no negotiations regarding them until the end of the aggression.” 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Saturday that Hamas refuses to release 17 women and children.

Al-Arouri said adult male hostages — “all of whom served in the army, with some still on the reserve list” — are now subjected to different standards by Hamas. The Israeli prime minister’s office said Saturday that 117 men remain captive.

“We said from day one that the price for releasing Zionist prisoners is the liberation of all our prisoners, after the ceasefire,” Al-Arouri added.

More context: The negotiations between Israel and Hamas over hostages held captive in Gaza broke down Saturday after Israel continued to insist on the release of a group of women and Hamas refused, a source familiar with the talks told CNN.

As CNN previously reported, US and Israeli officials believe Hamas is refusing to release a number of women in their 20s and 30s taken at the Nova music festival — claiming those women are considered soldiers, which Israel denies. 

An Israeli tank moves near the border with Gaza on Friday, December 1.

Israel will continue ground operations in Gaza until all of its goals are achieved, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated in a press conference Saturday.

Netanyahu said Israel’s goals are freeing hostages, eradicating Hamas and preventing a “regime of terror” in Gaza.

“We must achieve these goals; this is the only thing that is important to me,” he said.

Netanyahu also spoke of the freed hostages, but declined to provide details on the conditions in which they were kept in Gaza. 

“As evidence has been gathered, you realize they experienced hell,” he said.

Pressure from abroad: Earlier Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said Israeli authorities need “to more precisely define their goal and the final outcome they’re trying to achieve.”

“What does the total destruction of Hamas mean? Does anyone think it is possible?” Macron said, adding that he thinks the eradication of Hamas would take 10 years of fighting.

The US has also pressured Israel to be more targeted in its renewed offensive in the enclave.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin emphasized in remarks Saturday that the protection of civilians in Gaza is crucial to Israel’s long-term success against Hamas. Speaking at a defense forum in California, Austin warned Israel to avoid driving civilians “into the arms of the enemy” and to “shun irresponsible rhetoric” while expanding access to humanitarian aid in Gaza.

“It would compound this tragedy if all that awaited Israelis and Palestinians at the end of this awful war was more insecurity, more rage and more despair,” Austin said.

Message for Hezbollah: Netanyahu also reiterated his warning against Hezbollah becoming more involved in the conflict.  

“In the north, we are operating all the time against Hezbollah, eliminating terror squads bringing terrorists further from the border,” Netanyahu said. 

CNN’s Haley Britzky contributed reporting to this post.

The Iron Dome defense system launches interceptors as sirens warn of incoming rockets over central Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, December 2.

The Iron Dome defense system launched at least a dozen intercepts over central Tel Aviv on Saturday evening local time.

This is a second round of threats over the city since the truce between Israel and Hamas ended.

US President Joe Biden’s administration will “pursue every effort” to secure the release of the hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza, including American citizens who remain unaccounted for, a senior administration official said on the heels of negotiations in Doha, Qatar, breaking down.

The White House has said there is one American woman and seven men unaccounted for following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel.

So far, four Americans have been released since the start of the war: 4-year-old Abigail Edan on November 26;  Liat Beinin on November 29; and Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan, on October 20.

As CNN previously reported, US and Israeli officials believe Hamas is refusing to release a number of women in their 20s and 30s taken at the Nova music festival — claiming that those women are considered soldiers, which Israel denies. 

The refusal not only violates the terms of the deal initially struck by Israel and Hamas, but is “totally unacceptable” given “credible allegations of sexual violence linked to Hamas and the October 7 atrocities,” the official said.

CNN has reported that Israeli police are using forensic evidence, video and witness testimony and interrogations of suspects to document cases of rape amid the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. Women and girls caught in the rampage were brutalized sexually, as well as physically tortured and killed, witnesses to the aftermath say.

Police Superintendent Dudi Katz said officers have collected more than 1,000 statements and more than 60,000 video clips related to the attacks that include accounts from people who reported seeing women raped. He added that investigators do not have firsthand testimony, and it is not clear whether any rape victims survived.

People mourn as they collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza, on Saturday, December 2.

At least 15,207 Palestinians have been killed in total as a result of Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, according to a spokesperson for the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza.

At least 40,652 others have been injured in Gaza during the conflict, and 70% of the victims are children and women, Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra said in a news conference Saturday.

At least 193 Palestinians have been killed since a truce between Hamas and Israel expired on Friday and Israel resumed its offensive in the enclave, the ministry said.

Some background: CNN cannot independently verify the numbers released by the ministry in Gaza, which is sealed off by Israel and mostly sealed by Egypt.

Israel has said it is targeting Hamas operatives in Gaza, repeatedly accusing Hamas of embedding in civilian infrastructure and using civilians as human shields — a defense echoed by officials from its close ally the United States.

But the US has also acknowledged the devastating civilian toll in Gaza and urged Israel to take more care to protect civilians in the next phase of its war. “Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed,” US Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday.

Hospitals in peril: Twenty hospitals in the Gaza Strip are still out of service, despite some medical centers partially resuming operations after receiving fuel during the now-expired truce, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank said in a statement.

Al-Qudra said the bed occupancy in Gaza’s hospitals was at 171%, while the intensive care unit occupancy is 221%.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attends a media briefing in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 16.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant blames Hamas for breaching the truce agreement with Israel, he said in a news conference Saturday. 

“Hamas explicitly violated the agreement we reached with the US, Egypt and Qatar,” Gallant said. 

The truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed after Hamas promised to return the remaining 15 women and two children but did not follow through, Gallant said.  

Gallant also addressed Hamas’ Wednesday claim that two young children — 4-year-old Ariel and 10-month-old Kfir Bibas — had been killed in an Israeli airstrike, stating only that they had been photographed alive earlier.

“This is their obligation because we agreed on it,” he said. 

CNN earlier reported that the negotiations between Israel and Hamas broke down Saturday after Israel continued to insist on the release of a group of women and Hamas refused, according to a source familiar with the talks. As negotiations stood at an impasse over the women, Hamas pushed to begin negotiations on the release of men — possibly for a different set of terms, according to the source. Israel rejected that idea, insisting that it was imperative that all women be released first. 

Israeli and US officials believe Hamas continues to hold hostage a number of women between the approximate ages of 20 to 30 — many of them kidnapped from the Nova music festival — CNN previously reported. Hamas has been insisting that some of the remaining women they were holding hostage were considered part of the Israel Defense Forces, which Israel denies. 

IDF operations in Gaza won’t stop, Gallant says: The defense minister added that the Israel Defense Forces operations in Gaza will continue.  

When asked about whether Israeli bombardment of Gaza could impact the remaining hostages, Gallant expressed that the “aggressive action” taken by the IDF is necessary. 

“We take everything into consideration,” he said. 

This photo taken from southern Israel near the border with Gaza on Saturday, December 2, shows an explosion and smoke billowing over Gaza during an Israeli strike.

Israel has recalled its team of negotiators from Qatar after reaching a “dead end” in talks, according to a statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

The negotiations broke down Saturday after Israel continued to insist on the release of a group of women and Hamas refused, a source familiar with the talks told CNN.

After the negotiations broke down, Hamas blamed Israel and the US for the resumption of war. The group said Israeli authorities had made a “predetermined decision to resume the criminal aggression.” Israel, meanwhile, says Hamas did not uphold its end of the truce agreement.

The resumed fighting has brought new horrors to Gaza, which Israel has pounded with strikes since the deal collapsed Friday.

Here are other headlines you should know:

This post has been updated with the latest number of aid trucks to reach Gaza on Saturday.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a press conference during the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Saturday, December 2.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the total destruction of Hamas would take 10 years of fighting, adding that Israel needs to further define its end goal with the war.

Speaking at a press conference at the COP28 climate talks in Dubai, Macron said he would be traveling to Qatar to “work together on a new truce as soon as possible.”

Israel on Saturday recalled its team of negotiators from Qatar after reaching a “dead end” in talks, according to a statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Macron said there needs to be a permanent ceasefire.

“If this is the case, the war will last 10 years, and I don’t think that anyone is really able to define that goal. So it will need to be better defined,” he added.

Macron has reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself, but he said “the right for defense does not give you, in any way, the right to attack civilians.”

The Israel Defense Forces has said it doesn’t target civilians.

An Israeli Air Force helicopter fires a missile while flying over the border with Gaza, near southern Israel, on Saturday, December 2.

While the US supports Israel’s “legitimate military objectives” in Gaza, the civilian suffering in the enclave has been too high, US Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday.

Harris, who met several key leaders in the region on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, said she spoke with them in depth Saturday about what expectations the US will have in regard to post-conflict planning. 

“As Israel pursues its military objectives in Gaza, we believe Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians,” she added.

Palestinians mourn their relatives killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, at a hospital in Khan Yunis on Saturday, December 2.

The post-war vision for Gaza: Harris, who met several key leaders in the region on the sidelines in Dubai, said she spoke with them in depth Saturday about what expectations the US will have in regard to post-conflict planning. 

Harris and US President Joe Biden are already having discussions with their national security team and partners in the region about what a future path forward could look like for Gaza and the West Bank, Harris told reporters.

There are five principles currently guiding their approach: No forcible displacement of the Palestinian people, no reoccupation of Gaza, no siege or blockade, no reduction in territory, and no use of Gaza as a platform for terrorism, she said. 

“I’ve had a number of in-depth conversations with Arab leaders here in Dubai. Specifically, I proposed three areas of focus,” Harris said, pointing first to the reconstruction of critical infrastructure in Gaza, then strengthening the Palestinian Authority’s security services, and lastly, revitalizing the PA’s governance structure. 

Remember: The Palestinian Authority is a government body with limited self-rule in the West Bank. It was established in the 1993 Oslo Accords, a peace pact between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that saw the PLO give up armed resistance against Israel in return for promises of an independent Palestinian state.

Hamas controls Gaza and presents itself as an alternative to the PA, which has recognized Israel and engaged in multiple failed peace initiatives with it.

After talks on a fresh truce broke down Saturday, Hamas said Israeli authorities had made a “predetermined decision to resume the criminal aggression.”

A Hamas spokesperson said the group had offered to exchange prisoners and hand over the bodies of hostages it said died during Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, but that Israel “refused to consider all these offers.”

“The occupation and the US administration are the ones responsible for the resumption of the war and the continuation of the massacres in Gaza,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

What Israel is saying: Israel recalled its negotiators from Qatar on Saturday because of what it described as a “dead end” in the talks.

The Israeli prime minister’s office said in a statement that Hamas didn’t “fulfill its part in the agreement, which included the return of all women and children held hostage, in accordance with a list sent to Hamas and approved by them.”

Reported sticking point: The negotiations broke down Saturday after Israel continued to insist on the release of a group of women and Hamas refused, a source familiar with the talks told CNN.

Israeli and US officials believe Hamas continues to hold hostage a number of women between the approximate ages of 20 to 30 – many of them kidnapped from the Nova music festival – CNN previously reported. Hamas has been insisting that some of the remaining women they were holding hostage were considered part of the Israel Defense Forces, which Israel denies. 

An Israeli tank maneuvers near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from southern Israel, on Saturday, December 2.

The negotiations between Israel and Hamas over hostages held captive in Gaza broke down Saturday after Israel continued to insist on the release of a group of women and Hamas refused, a source familiar with the talks told CNN.

As negotiations stood at an impasse over the women, Hamas pushed to begin negotiations on the release of men — possibly for a different set of terms, according to the source. Israel rejected that idea, insisting that it was imperative that all women be released first. 

Israeli and US officials believe Hamas continues to hold hostage a number of women between the approximate ages of 20 to 30 – many of them kidnapped from the Nova music festival – CNN previously reported. Hamas has been insisting that some of the remaining women they were holding hostage were considered part of the Israel Defense Forces, which Israel denies. 

Earlier Saturday, the Israeli government announced it recalled its team of negotiators from Qatar after reaching a “dead end” in talks.

“The Hamas terror organization did not fulfill its part in the agreement, which included the return of all women and children held hostage, in accordance with a list sent to Hamas and approved by them,” the statement said.

Smoke rises in Jabalya, Gaza, as Israeli strikes continue on Saturday, December 2.

Dozens of people are feared to be dead in northern Gaza’s Jabalya refugee camp after an apparent strike destroyed a multi-story concrete building Saturday.

The blast came after the Israel Defense Forces warned people in the area “to evacuate urgently because it is dangerous for you to remain there.”

The building was housing more than 100 displaced people from northern Gaza, according to Anas Ah-Sharif, a freelance journalist there. 

Pictures from the scene showed the building flattened, with Palestine Red Crescent Society rescuers and local people trying to dig through the rubble — one using a broken frying pan without a handle to shift concrete dust. 

Dozens of victims from the camp were transferred to the nearby Indonesian hospital, while “many others are still being pulled out from under rubble,” Palestinian journalist Khader Za’noon told CNN.

The IDF did not immediately respond to CNN questions about the blast in the Jabalya refugee camp, which is Gaza’s largest.

The IDF had urged residents of several northern Gaza neighborhoods to evacuate and move south of Wadi Gaza on Saturday. The warnings were issued in Arabic on social media, but it is not clear that residents were able to receive the messages because electricity, phone signals and internet access are often disrupted in Gaza.

Strikes rain down on Gaza: The Israeli military said Saturday that it had carried out more than 400 strikes in the day since the truce with Hamas broke down on Friday morning.

Fadel Na’im, a doctor at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in northern Gaza, said Saturday more than 150 wounded people had arrived at the hospital from neighborhoods in the area, while at least 100 others had been brought to the hospital dead.

Families of victims there said their neighborhoods had been hit by airstrikes.

Smoke rises on the Lebanese side of the border with Israel, as seen from Tyre, Lebanon, on Saturday, December 2.

Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire across the border of northern Israel and southern Lebanon Saturday, according to statements from both sides, with Hezbollah saying one of its fighters was killed.

The Israel Defense Forces said it was “striking Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanese territory with aircraft, mortar fire and artillery fire.”

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli forces targeted Hamul, east of Naqoura, with a number of artillery shells. It said this was accompanied by aerial attacks.

Earlier on Saturday, Hezbollah claimed they targeted an Israeli artillery site in an area near the border with Lebanon using rockets.

The IDF confirmed that several of its posts near the border had been targeted. It said the IDF had launched strikes on the source of the attacks.

Remember: Border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have increased in the weeks since Hamas launched its attacks on October 7, with the crossfire becoming increasingly deadly.

A Reuters journalist is among the civilians to have been killed on the Lebanese side of the border.

While Hezbollah has not directly intervened on behalf of Hamas, the powerful Iran-backed paramilitary group is among the proxy organizations that have caused fears of a wider regional conflict.