November 11, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

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

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

French President Emmanuel Macron called on his people to stand up against “the unbearable resurgence of unbridled antisemitism,” in a letter published Saturday night by French newspaper Le Parisien.

More than one thousand antisemitic acts were committed in France in one month, Macron wrote, adding that this number is three times more than the number of hate attacks executed against French Jews all of last year.

Macron emphasized that this in turn has caused the Jewish community to experience “legitimate anguish,” saying they are going as far as to erase their names to protect themselves.

Macron went on to reiterate his belief that Israel has the right to defend itself, saying “putting Hamas out of harm’s way is a necessity,” while simultaneously stressing that “this defense must be accompanied by the resumption of political dialogue and ensure the protection of civilians and hostages in Gaza.”

The letter was released on the eve of Sunday’s historic march against antisemitism being held in the French capital. Macron addressed the march in his letter saying he sees it “as a reason for hope.”

This comes a day after Macron called for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying it is “the only solution” to the war between Israel and Hamas.

At least 126 people were arrested in London on Saturday following a large pro-Palestinian demonstration and counter-protests, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.

Police intercepted a group of 150 people who were launching fireworks toward the end of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PCS) march that attracted over 300,000 people, Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said in a statement issued Saturday afternoon.

Arrests were made after some of the fireworks struck officers in the face, the statement read.

A CNN team on the ground also heard shouts and observed a heavy police presence as a group of far-right protesters tried to storm a war memorial, the Cenotaph, on Armistice Day.

The English Defense League (EDL) is a far-right group founded by Tommy Robinson who, according to Robinson’s account on X, was at the Cenotaph to pay his respects on Saturday.

Nine officers were injured while confronting the violent crowd getting to the Cenotaph while a remembrance service was taking place, Twist explained. Two officers will require hospital treatment after sustaining a fractured elbow and a suspected dislocated hip.

Several officers are still deployed across central London in case of anymore “outbreaks of disorder,” Twist concluded.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak condemned the violent scenes in London on Saturday in a statement posted to social media.

“I condemn the violent, wholly unacceptable scenes we have seen today from the EDL and associated groups and Hamas sympathisers attending the National March for Palestine. The despicable actions of a minority of people undermine those who have chosen to express their views peacefully,” said Sunak.

People carry posters during a demonstration calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, on November 11.

The families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government to do more to bring the hostages and missing persons home.

Families of the hostages held a rally on Saturday in Tel Aviv, Israel, which also included in attendance the former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin.

More than 200 hostages were taken into Gaza following the Hamas attack on October 7.

The families are demanding that the international community and the Red Cross ensure medical assistance for the hostages, “as they do for Hamas,” the press release said.

“Two hundred and thirty nine innocent people went to sleep on the night of October 6 and within less than 24 hours we lost all contact with them, without a drop of information. Where is the Red Cross, the organization that is supposed to care for human rights? Why haven’t they demanded to see the condition of the infants,” said Maayan Zin, mother of Dafna (15) and Ella (8) who were kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz in Israel with their father.

People take part in a demonstration demanding the release of hostages in Tel Aviv on November 11.

Noam Perry, whose 79-year-old father, Haim Perry, was taken from his home in Kibbutz Nir Oz in Israel said there can be no healing until the release of all the hostages.

Rivlin said he joins the families in the demand to return all hostages home, and urged world leaders to get information and act within all arenas to free the hostages.

The former president said he also contacted the Red Cross this week and asked them, “How should we respond to your demand to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza when you do not compel Hamas to allow you to visit all the hostages?”

Orly Gilboa, mother of 19-year-old Daniela Gilboa, who was kidnapped from a party in Re’im, Israel said, “I’ve finished the stage of hugs and empathy. I want to see actions that will bring my daughter and the rest of the hostages home now.”

A relative bids farewell during the funeral of Palestine TV journalist Mohammad Abu Hattab and eleven family members the day after they were killed in the southern Gaza Strip on November 3.

The number of journalists killed in the Israel-Hamas conflict since October 7 has increased to 40, according to a statement by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Saturday.

The most recent to lose his life was photojournalist Ahmed Al-Qara who was killed in a strike near Khan Younis on Friday, the CPJ said, citing the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate and the Cairo-based Al-Dostor newspaper.

The death toll of journalists is comprised of 35 Palestinians, four Israelis, and one Lebanese, according to the CPJ.

The journalism advocacy group says the conflict since October 7 has been the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ starting tracking in 1992.

UNICEF is calling for the protection of hospitals and children in Gaza amid “deeply worrying reports” of the situation in the biggest hospital in the strip.

The UN agency, responsible for providing humanitarian aid to children worldwide called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza also reported early Sunday shelling in the vicinity of the Al-Shifa Hospital, warning that it is endangering the lives of patients and the displaced people sheltering inside.

CNN cannot independently verify this claim. The Israeli military earlier said there were “clashes” between its troops and Hamas militants around the hospital on Saturday, and rejected suggestions the hospital is under siege.

Earlier, three newborn babies died in the Al-Shifa Hospital after it went “out of service” amid intense fighting in the area, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza.

After more than a month of fierce fighting in the Gaza Strip, only seven out of 18 ambulances run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) are still working, according to a statement from the PRCS on Saturday.

The few remaining ambulances still working are at risk of “completely ceasing operations in the coming hours” due to a lack of fuel, the statement said.

On November 4, Israel claimed responsibility for an attack on a convoy of ambulances outside Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, according to CNN at the time.

The PRCS said one of its ambulances was damaged in that attack when a shell fell near the convoy.

Israel said it had targeted the ambulance convoy because it was being used by Hamas, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at the time of the attack.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has lost communication with its contacts in Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the reports on the situation at Gaza’s biggest hospital as “deeply worrisome and frightening.”

On Saturday, Doctors Without Borders said hostilities around Al-Shifa were “non-stop.”

“The ambulances can no longer move to collect the injured, and non-stop bombardment prevents patients and staff from evacuating,” the organization said in a statement.

Medical aid was air-dropped to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza.

Jordan’s Air Force used parachutes to air-drop medical aid to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza for a second time, the Prime Ministry of Jordan announced in a statement early Sunday local time.

The operation comes hours after Jordan, the UAE, Qatar and other countries partaking in the Joint Arab and Islamic summit in Riyadh issued a statement demanding an end to what was described as Israeli “war crimes and barbaric, brutal and inhumane massacres” in Gaza.

On November 6, Jordan air-dropped its first medical aid package to the field hospital in the strip.

The UN’s top humanitarian aid chief Martin Griffiths on Saturday condemned attacks on healthcare facilities after recent strikes in the Gaza Strip.

“There can be no justification for acts of war in healthcare facilities, leaving them with no power, food or water, and shooting at patients and civilians trying to flee,” he said. 

Griffiths also said that people using and working at Gazan healthcare facilities “must trust that they are places of shelter and not of war.”

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City is surrounded on all four sides by Israeli forces and under “complete siege,” a senior official at the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza told CNN Saturday.

Hostilities around the hospital, Gaza’s largest, “have not stopped,” according to Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders. Constant bombardment is preventing patients and staff from evacuating and has kept ambulances from collecting the wounded, according to the organization.

A freelance journalist told CNN the situation is dire, with medics working by candlelight, food being rationed, and other resources dwindling.

The Israeli army told CNN it is engaged in “ongoing intense fighting” against Hamas in the vicinity of the hospital complex, but denies firing at the northern Gaza medical center and rejected suggestions the hospital is under siege. Israel has said it is in touch with hospital leaders and has offered assistance with evacuations.

CNN has been unable to confirm whether anyone was able to leave the hospital complex over the course of the day.

Here are other headlines you should know:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with soldiers as he visits an army base in Tze'elim, Israel, on November 7.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he opposes a role for the current Palestinian Authority government in Gaza once the war between Israel and Hamas ends.

In response to a question about whether the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the occupied West Bank, may govern Gaza after the war, Netanyahu said: “There will be full security control (in Gaza), with the (Israel Defense Forces’) ability to enter whenever we want, to kill terrorists who can re-appear. I can tell you what will not be: There will not be Hamas.”

“Moreover, there will not be a civilian authority there that educates its children to hate Israel, to kill Israelis, eliminate the state of Israel,” he said.

Some context: Israel is at war with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza and carried out devastating terror attacks in Israel on October 7.

The Palestinian Authority is a separate government body, which operates out of 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 — which is designated as a terrorist organization by the US, European Union and other countries — presents itself as an alternative to the Palestinian Authority, which has recognized Israel and has engaged in multiple failed peace initiatives with it.

Recent US comments: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken about the need to focus on “the day of” and the “day after” the war ends in Gaza, and has suggested the Palestinian Authority could play a role in Gaza’s future if Hamas is eliminated.

“At some point, what would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza,” he said at a recent congressional hearing.

Negotiations to release more hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks are moving in a positive direction, but the situation remains fluid — and the continued bombardment of Gaza isn’t helping matters, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said Saturday.

Qatar, a key US ally in the Middle East, has a close relationship with Hamas, and has emerged as a broker of sorts as negotiations over the release of hostages and humanitarian aid into the Gaza strip continues.

During a Saturday call, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Qatar to press Hamas on allowing more dual nationals to leave Gaza — particularly US dual nationals, according to a source familiar with the call. Al-Thani told Blinken that Qatar will continue to negotiate with Hamas to make that happen.

CNN has previously reported 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, a senior US official said.

CNN’s MJ Lee contributed reporting to this post.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected growing international calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying Saturday that Israel’s battle against Hamas will continue, “with all our force, with all our might.”

The leader said Israel will “continue until the victory.” 

Hostilities around Al-Shifa Hospital Saturday “have not stopped,” according to Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders.

“The ambulances can no longer move to collect the injured, and non-stop bombardment prevents patients and staff from evacuating,” the organization said in a statement.

A freelance journalist based at the hospital told CNN there were still dozens of bodies at the hospital awaiting burial, but that people feared going outside to bury them. 

Medics inside the hospital are working by candlelight, Sarsour said. Other resources are also getting scarce.

Some background: The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the hospital was under “complete siege” Saturday, and that a floor of the complex’s surgery building was heavily shelled. The ministry says three newborn babies died at the hospital after it “went out of service” due to heavy damage.

Israel’s army has said there is “ongoing intense fighting” around the vicinity of Al-Shifa Hospital, but denied claims it was firing at or laying siege to the complex.

It has also said it is in touch with the hospital director and willing to help people leave. Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Saturday evening that the hospital staff has requested help evacuating babies from the pediatric department, and that the IDF “will provide the assistance needed” Sunday.

CNN has been unable to confirm whether anyone was able to leave the hospital complex over the course of the day.

This post has been updated with additional comments from an IDF spokesperson.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society received 53 aid trucks packed with vital supplies —including food, water, relief items, medical equipment and medications, but no fuel — the group said Saturday.

Ambulances queue to cross the Rafah border from the Egyptian side on November 6.

Operations at the Rafah land crossing will resume Sunday for the departure of foreign passport holders, the General Authority for Crossings and Borders in Gaza said in a statement Saturday.

Only people whose names are specifically included on a list that was released November 1 will be permitted to travel through the Rafah crossing, the authority emphasized.

The Rafah crossing failed to open Friday for foreign nationals wishing to leave Gaza, highlighting once again the frustrations facing diplomats looking to get their nationals out of the strip.

One diplomatic source in Egypt described the process as “long, non-transparent and arduous.”

Remember: Rafah is the only Gazan border crossing that isn’t controlled by Israel, which shut its crossings with the territory following Hamas’ October 7 attack. It has emerged as a crucial location as the humanitarian situation in the territory worsens.

For the first few weeks of the Israel-Gaza war, the Rafah crossing remained shut – leaving Palestinians and other people stranded in the strip with no way out of the enclave.

But it was partially opened late last month to allow a small number of aid trucks into Gaza, and has briefly reopened at times in November to allow safe passage to a limited amount of injured Palestinians and foreign nationals.

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

The Israeli military denies it is firing at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, and rejected suggestions the hospital is under siege. 

In a video sent out by the Israel Defense Forces to accompany the written statement, Tetro said there were, “clashes between IDF troops and Hamas terrorist operatives around the hospital.” 

He added that he was in “constant contact” with the director of Al-Shifa, and had told him the IDF could coordinate evacuations from the hospital.

CNN has been unable to confirm whether anyone was able to leave the hospital complex over the course of the day.

What officials in Gaza have said: A senior official at the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza told CNN earlier Saturday that Al-Shifa is surrounded on all four sides by Israeli forces, under “complete siege.”

In a separate statement sent to CNN Saturday, the ministry said the hospital was “out of service,” with the fifth floor of the surgery building heavily shelled and medical staff unable to move within the complex.

People attend a pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on November 11.

A huge pro-Palestinian demonstration is underway in London as hundreds of thousands of people march through the center of the city Saturday, according to a CNN team on the ground.

A spokesperson for London’s Metropolitan Police told CNN that an estimated 300,000 people attended the rally.

There was heavy police presence in central London’s Hyde Park Corner as protesters chanted “free, free Palestine” and “ceasefire now.” They were also heard chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

Police arrested 82 counter-protesters in London who attempted to confront those taking part in the rally. The Metropolitan Police said the people were apprehended “to prevent a breach of the peace.”

Police said they had “faced aggression from counter-protesters” who stormed the area “in significant numbers” ahead of what could be the biggest march yet since the Israel-Hamas conflict began about a month ago.

Elsewhere in Europe, thousands of people in Brussels and Paris also attended pro-Palestinian demonstrations Saturday.

Meanwhile, in the US: A group of pro-Palestinian protesters on Saturday gathered near the street where President Joe Biden lives in Delaware to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

The crowd began forming at roughly 11 a.m. ET. Many are carrying Palestinian flags, and there are large cellophane balloons spelling out “ceasefire now.”

Biden is currently at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia for Veterans Day events. He’s expected to travel to his Wilmington home later on Saturday.

On Friday, about 2,000 people attended a demonstration in New York City, gathering in Columbus Circle before marching to the area around Times Square and eventually to Grand Central, where demonstrations temporarily closed access to the terminal.

CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed reporting to this post.

Supporters watch Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah deliver an address in Lebanon on November 11.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gave his second speech since the Hamas-Israel war started via video link from an undisclosed location Saturday, in which he addressed the situation in Gaza and clashes on the Lebanon-Israel border.

Nasrallah called the situation unfolding in Gaza “big, exceptional and dangerous in this region and the world,” adding that what will emerge from the death and destruction in Gaza “will be generation after generation of resistance fighters.”

“This painful event and these grave crimes are an expression of Israeli revenge. This is the spirit of a vicious revenge that have no moral or humanitarian or legal limits. It expresses the true nature of the entity (Israel),” he said. 

On clashes at the Israel-Lebanon border: Hezbollah’s strikes on Israeli territory have increased in number and employed more advanced weaponry over the last week of cross-border fire between Israel Defense Forces and the powerful, Iran-backed armed group, Nasrallah said in a speech Saturday.

Hezbollah has in recent days struck deeper into Israeli territory, Nasrallah said, marking an escalation in the month-long flareup, where the fighting has largely stuck to a 4-kilometer (about 2-mile) radius around the border.

He said Hezbollah used self-detonating, explosive-laden drones in an attack on Israeli positions for the first time in the paramilitary group’s history. (The Israeli military has acknowledged Hezbollah’s use of an attack drone in at least one of the strikes claimed by the Lebanese armed group.)

Hezbollah has, also for the first time, fired Iran-made Burkan missiles, which have a payload of up to 500 kilograms (about 1,100 pounds), on Israeli positions, Nasrallah said. Hezbollah this week released video showing a large explosion caused by a Burkan missile.

The Hezbollah leader accused Israel of hiding its casualty figures from Hezbollah attacks on the border.

Nasrallah accused Israel of hiding its casualty figures from Hezbollah’s attacks on the border.

On the US: Nasrallah accused the US of “administering” the Israeli operation in Gaza and chastised it for supporting the continuation of Israel’s operation in Gaza.

Nasrallah said “all pressure” to bring about a ceasefire should be directed toward the US. He praised militant actions against US positions in Iraq in recent weeks and said they would only “stop” if the US pushes for a ceasefire in Israel.

Hezbollah’s chief described Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and Syria as having created “supporting fronts” for Hamas in Gaza.

CNN reported earlier this month that the US intelligence community believes – for now – that Iran and its proxies are calibrating their response to Israel’s military intervention in Gaza to avoid direct conflict with Israel or the US while still exacting costs on its adversaries. But the US is also keenly aware that Iran does not maintain perfect control of its umbrella of proxies – in particular over Lebanese Hezbollah, the largest and most capable of the various groups. Hezbollah is an ally of Hamas, the group that attacked Israel on October 7, and has long positioned itself as fighting against Israel. US officials are deeply concerned that the group’s internal politics may cause Hezbollah to escalate simmering tensions.

Nasrallah’s speech last Friday: In his first public, in-person speech since 2006 — when a monthlong war erupted between Lebanon and Israel — Nasrallah said “all scenarios” are possible on the Lebanon-Israel border, warning Israel against further escalation of its operations there. He also urged for a ceasefire in Gaza, calling it Hezbollah’s first priority.