October 15, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

Israel is in the process of working with the United Nations to create a humanitarian zone in Gaza, Michael Herzog, Israeli ambassador to the United States, told CNN on Sunday.

“We are in the process of establishing a humanitarian zone, a big humanitarian zone in the southern part of Gaza, with the UN. We are working very closely with UN agencies so that they will go there — it will be a humanitarian zone and they will get all the essential provisions like water, medicine, food, and things like that,” Herzog said.

The zone would be able to host hundreds of thousands of people, Herzog said.

“We are operating under international law and any essentials that the Palestinian population needs, we’re facilitating. That’s why we’re establishing this safe zone,” Herzog said.

CNN has reached out to the UN for comment.

Herzog added Israel does not intend to occupy Gaza after the conflict.

“We have no desire to occupy or reoccupy Gaza. We have no desire to rule over the lives of more than two million Palestinians,” Herzog said.

Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Sunday, October 15.

Israel’s military airstrikes have killed at least 2,670 people and wounded 9,600 others since October 7, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said in a statement Sunday.

The health ministry further accused the Israeli military of “direct targeting of medical staff and their families.”

Palestinian health officials have previously accused Israeli forces of targeting medical workers. CNN cannot independently verify those claims, and has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

The health ministry urged the world to send medical teams.

A man mourns during the funeral of Ben Fishman in Kfar Saba, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sunday, October 15.

The Israel Defense Forces told CNN on Sunday the number of people killed in the surprise October 7 Hamas attack is now known to be more than 1,400.

People gather on the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing on October 14.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised Sunday that the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt “will be open” after meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Israel has closed its two border crossings with Gaza and imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, blocking supplies of fuel, electricity and water. That has left the Rafah crossing as the only viable outlet to get people out of the enclave — and supplies into it.

Officials from several countries have been involved in the talks around when, and to what extent, the crossing can be opened. Catch up on the issue here.

Aid efforts: Blinken also announced President Joe Biden’s appointment of David Satterfield, former US ambassador to Turkey, to help coordinate aid efforts. Blinken said Satterfield will be in Israel on Monday to begin coordinating.

Blinken, who has met with various regional leaders including those of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, said he had “very good conversations” with both el-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

He added every nation he spoke with shared the administration’s goal of preventing an escalation and securing aid to civilians stuck in Gaza.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media in Cairo on Sunday, October 15.

US support for Israel: Blinken said while the US supports Israel’s right to defend itself, he hopes Israel responds “in a way that affirms the shared values that we have for human life and human dignity.”

Asked if the US would come to Israel’s defense in the event of an escalation, Blinken said, “I don’t think we could be more clear than we’ve been, that when it comes to Israel’s security, we have Israel’s back.”

He added, “We will stand with it today, tomorrow, and every day.”

Military presence in the Middle East: Blinken assured US strike groups mobilized in the region are not intended “to provoke anyone, but to send a very clear message of deterrence, that no one should do anything that widens this conflict in any way, or that furthers aggression against Israel from any other direction.”

“No one should do anything that could add fuel to the fire in any other place. I think that’s very clear,” he added.

Aid convoy trucks loaded with supplies are seen waiting for the Gaza-Egypt border to open, in El-Arish, Egypt, on October 15.

Egypt is facing mounting pressure to act as neighboring Gaza gets pummeled by Israeli strikes after last weekend’s brutal assault in Israel by Hamas.

In the wake of the Hamas attacks, Israel closed its two border crossings with Gaza and imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, blocking supplies of fuel, electricity and water.

It has left the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt as the only viable outlet to get people out of the enclave — and supplies into it.

But the crossing has been closed for much of the past week: Neither Gazans nor foreign nationals have been able to cross.

A Palestinian border official told CNN Egypt had blocked the gates of the crossing with concrete slabs. Egypt has denied reports it closed its side of the crossing, and said the Gaza side had been damaged by repeated Israeli airstrikes.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told CNN on Saturday the crossing was open, but aerial bombardment had rendered the roads “inoperable” on the Gaza side.

Aid is stuck at the crossing: Tons of vital humanitarian supplies for people in Gaza are piling up on the Egyptian side of the border.

Aid flights from Jordan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the World Health Organization and the Red Cross have arrived in the Egyptian city of El-Arish, approximately 45 kilometers (23 miles) away from Rafah, according to footage aired on Egyptian state television Saturday.

The Red Crescent has warehouses full of humanitarian aid, and the El-Arish stadium has been prepared to accommodate more aid, an official said Saturday.

A World Health Organization plane carrying medical supplies also landed in Egypt on Saturday, the WHO director-general said. However, the organization is still waiting for humanitarian access through the crossing.

Diplomatic efforts: Shoukry, the Egyptian foreign minister, told CNN the country has tried to ship humanitarian aid to Gaza but has not received the proper authorization to do so.

Egypt said Sunday it would intensify its efforts to try and help relief organizations deliver aid to Gaza, though a statement from the Egyptian presidency said “national security is a red line and that there is no compromise in its protection.”

The Biden administration has held talks with Israel and Egypt about getting aid to Gaza and ensuring safe passage for Americans and other civilians out of the territory.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on Sunday Egypt was willing to allow Americans to cross at Rafah but a group of them had been blocked by Hamas.

Egypt’s concerns: Egypt, which already hosts millions of migrants, is uneasy about the prospect of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees crossing into its territory. More than two million Palestinians live in Gaza.

Egyptian media outlets have sounded alarms about the prospect of allowing Palestinian refugees into the country, warning it may forcefully displace Gazans into Sinai.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi echoed those sentiments Thursday. “There is a danger” when it comes to Gaza, he said, “a danger so big, because it means an end to this (Palestinian) cause … It is important that (Gaza’s) people remain standing and on their land.”

The Rafah crossing is pictured at the bottom of the map below, which shows the extent of the Israeli blockade on Gaza:

Fighter jets have struck Hezbollah military infrastructure in Lebanon, Israel Defense Forces said in an update Sunday.

Earlier, the IDF said it was responding to fire coming from Lebanon. 

“At the same time, a report was received regarding a shooting toward IDF soldiers along the border of Lebanon,” it said, adding IDF soldiers in the area were “responding with live fire.”

More context: This fighting is centered on northern Israel and southern Lebanon — separate from Israel’s fighting with Hamas farther south, which is centered around Gaza.

But an uptick in clashes with Hezbollah has raised fears the powerful Lebanese paramilitary group could actively participate in the conflict. Hezbollah has unambiguously supported the Palestinian militants and roundly condemned Israel’s large-scale airstrikes on Gaza, but it has not intervened on behalf of Hamas so far.

US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on October 11.

President Joe Biden said the US can provide support to Israel and Ukraine while still maintaining, “our overall international defense,” in an interview excerpt aired Sunday morning.

“We have the capacity to do this and we have an obligation to, we are the essential nation,” Biden said on CBS News, paraphrasing a famous quote from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

A pillar of Biden’s presidency has been to reassert America’s global leadership, which is supported, the White House argues, by the president’s lifetime of experience and worldview, and which his allies said will guide his next steps through remarkably uneven geopolitical crosscurrents of aid for Israel, funding for Ukraine and relations with Iran, CNN previously reported.

The full interview airs on CBS “60 Minutes” tonight.

Additional US attack aircraft have arrived in the Middle East as part of a plan to bolster American defense posture in the region, US Air Combat Command announced Sunday.

The deployment of additional A-10 Warthog attack aircraft, along with other US fighter jets, is intended to deter any Iranian aggression or an expansion of the fighting beyond Israel’s borders, a US official previously told CNN.

“A-10s from the 354th EFS have arrived to the US Central Command AOR (Area of Responsibility),” Air Combat Command posted on social media Sunday.

Last week, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the US would “augment” its fighter squadrons in the Middle East under US Central Command.

In addition to F-35s and F-15s, Austin also said F-16 and A-10 squadrons in the region would be bolstered.

Graves are prepared at a cemetery in Rafah, Gaza, on Octobers 15.

The death toll in Gaza increased to 2,450 people and 9,200 injured, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said.

A bipartisan US Senate delegation was forced to take shelter in Tel Aviv amid rocket fire on Sunday, according to a social media post by US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Schumer, who is leading the delegation on a trip to meet high-level Israeli officials and show US support for Israel, posted a photo of senators and staffers standing in an Israeli shelter.

The Israel Defense Forces warned the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to “watch very closely what is happening to Hamas,” following the recent exchanges of fire along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

“With Hezbollah, we have had several skirmishes along the border over the last few days,” IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday.

“Even today, during the day, we’ve had anti-tank guided missiles fired at forces indeed causing some casualties. So, we need to be prepared,” Lerner said.

On Sunday, Hezbollah launched an attack on the northern Israeli town of Shtula, killing one Israeli, according to medics.

Hezbollah said Sunday’s attack was launched as a response to the killing of a Reuters journalist during Israeli shelling in Lebanon.

Israel is also keeping a close eye on Iran, Lerner said, accusing them of using “millions and millions of dollars” to “fund terrorist organizations.”

More background: This fighting is centered on northern Israel and southern Lebanon — separate from Israel’s fighting with Hamas farther south, which is centered around Gaza.

But an uptick in clashes with Hezbollah has raised fears the powerful Lebanese paramilitary group could actively participate in the conflict. Hezbollah has unambiguously supported the Palestinian militants and roundly condemned Israel’s large-scale airstrikes on Gaza, but it has not intervened on behalf of Hamas so far.

Hamas has been stopping Americans from leaving Gaza through the Rafah crossing to Egypt, even though Cairo has agreed to let US citizens cross into the country, the White House said Sunday.

Sullivan said while the Egyptians have agreed to allow Americans to depart to get safe passage through the Rafah crossing and the Israelis agreed, “to ensure that the area around there would be safe, at least as far as they were able to do so,” when a group tried to cross yesterday, it “was actually Hamas taking steps to try to stop that from happening.”

“But we are continuing to work this around the clock, and we are doing all that we can to make sure that American citizens who are in Gaza can get through that border crossing,” Sullivan said. He added US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Egypt Sunday to meet with the country’s president, and it was “at the top of his list to help get those American citizens out of Gaza.”

“Anyone who is a US citizen should have the right to free passage through there, and then have the US government facilitate their travel home,” he said.

Key context: Egypt is facing mounting pressure to act as neighboring Gaza gets pummeled by Israeli airstrikes after Hamas’ brutal October 7 terror attacks on Israel.

In the wake of the Hamas attacks, Israel closed its two border crossings with Gaza and imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, blocking supplies of fuel, electricity and water.

It has left the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt as the only viable outlet to get people out of the enclave — and supplies into it. But it’s unclear if even the crossing is operational.

The Egyptian foreign minister told CNN Saturday the crossing was officially open on the Egyptian side, but aerial bombardment had left the roads to the crossing “inoperable” on the Gaza side. He emphasized the need for humanitarian shipments to use the crossing.

CNN spoke to several Gaza residents Saturday who said they tried to leave via the Rafah crossing but were eventually turned away.

CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim contributed reporting to this post.

People collect water from a tap in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 15.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office told CNN Sunday Israel has restored water to southern Gaza, but the director of the Palestinian Water Authority said he could not be sure it was true, because electricity has not been restored.

“To enable the stations to receive and distribute water, we need electricity, which is currently cut off. The alternative is fuel to power the generator, which we also do not have. There may be pressure to restore the water supply, but I cannot confirm anything until the stations are ready.”

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan shared the development with CNN earlier Sunday.

“I can tell you this morning that I have been in touch with my Israeli counterparts just within the last hour who report to me that they have in fact turned the water pipe back on in Southern Gaza,” Sullivan told CNN.

Sullivan was pressed by CNN’s Jake Tapper to identify — from the Biden administration perspective — the difference between Russia cutting off supplies to civilians in Ukraine and Israel doing the same in Gaza.

More context: The US has held diplomatic conversations with the United Nations, Jordan, Egypt and others to allow access of humanitarian supplies to flow into Gaza as the crisis deepens.

Trapped residents in the Gaza Strip — the coastal enclave Hamas controls — have been pummeled by airstrikes since Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” on the area, including halting supplies of electricity, food, water and fuel.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Sunday afternoon it is responding to fire from Lebanon.

“Following reports regarding sirens sounded in northern Israel, nine rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the IDF said in a statement.

According to the statement, the IDF’s Aerial Defense Array intercepted five rockets.

Remember: This fighting is centered on northern Israel and southern Lebanon — separate from Israel’s fighting with Hamas farther south, which is centered around Gaza. But an uptick in clashes with Hezbollah has raised fears the powerful Lebanese paramilitary group could actively participate in the conflict. Hezbollah has unambiguously supported the Palestinian militants and roundly condemned Israel’s large-scale airstrikes on Gaza, but it has not intervened on behalf of Hamas so far.

Displaced families from northern and central Gaza evacuate towards southern Gaza on October 13.

Israel’s military is seeing a “strong flow” of people moving out of northern Gaza after it said civilians should evacuate southward, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, told CNN in an interview Sunday.

“Hamas has turned Gaza City into a fortress, a mechanism of brutal murder. They cannot be permitted to remain there, so they need to be removed,” Lerner said. “And what will come afterward is first of all, safety and security to the State of Israel.”

When asked if Israel was coordinating with any aid organizations to get civilians in Gaza water, food, and other necessities, Lerner said the IDF needed to leave “the diplomacy for the diplomats.”

Multilateral organizations such as the United Nations have highlighted the devastating impact of the blockade on Gaza which has failed to receive any fresh humanitarian aid since fighting broke out just over one week ago.

Meanwhile, the UN and several humanitarian groups have sharply criticized Israel’s evacuation push. The World Health Organization said in a Saturday statement Israel’s calls to evacuate “are a death sentence” for sick and injured people in Gaza.

“If there’s one thing I would say to the international organizations (it) is: Utilize your institutions, your abilities and capabilities to facilitate the shifting of people to go south. You must not side with Hamas and say ‘No, stay’ or ‘It’s impossible,’” Lerner told CNN on Sunday.

Palestinians wait in line to buy bread from a bakery in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on Sunday.

The UN World Food Programme said it has helped more than half a million displaced people in Gaza, but warned it is running out of supplies and cannot guarantee the safety of its staff.

The shutdown of Gaza’s power plant forced bakeries and shops to close, the WFP said Saturday. Every bakery contacted by the WFP reported a shortage in wheat flour, electricity, or water.

“There are rules, even in war, and we have to make the protection of humanitarian workers and civilians a priority. Civilians will starve without our help,” she said.

The WFP said it is “ramping up” the distribution of bread and canned food as of Friday and providing additional cash transfers to more than 100,000 displaced people.

The program has received more than 3,500 calls on its interagency hotline, WFP said, with half the calls requesting food and cash assistance. The rest of the calls included requests for shelter, according to WFP.

Israel called for more than one million Palestinians living in the north of Gaza to leave their homes and evacuate southward on Friday, ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive in response to Hamas’ terror attacks on October 7.

A convoy of trucks loaded with aid supplies are seen in North Sinai, Egypt, on October 15.

Egypt will step up its efforts to help relief organizations deliver aid to Gaza, as the territory remains in the grip of a deepening humanitarian crisis.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi chaired a meeting of the country’s National Security Council on Sunday to address the “military escalation in the Gaza Strip,” according to a statement from the Egyptian presidency.

The Council decided to “intensify contacts with international and regional relief organizations in order to deliver the necessary assistance,” the statement said.

Vital humanitarian supplies remained in Egypt near the Rafah crossing on Sunday, amid growing calls to open the border to southern Gaza. The United Nations highlighted the devastating impact of the blockade on Gaza, which has not received aid since the fighting broke out a week ago.

Some context: On Friday, Israel said more than one million Palestinians should leave their homes in the north of Gaza and flee south, ahead of an expected ground invasion. Various international officials and organizations have since pressured Egypt to create a “humanitarian corridor,” allowing Palestinians to flee Gaza.

But Egypt stressed in the statement its “national security is a red line and there is no compromise in its protection.” Egypt has so far been reluctant to open the last remaining exit for Gazans.

Egypt also pledged Sunday to work with its “international and regional partners in order to reduce the escalation and stop targeting civilians.” It also said the government was ready “to make any effort to calm the situation and launch and resume a real peace process.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference in Doha, Qatar, on October 13.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel on Monday and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Blinken is currently in Cairo as part of a whirlwind trip in the Middle East following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7. He has already traveled to Israel as well as Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The last glimpse Adina Moshe’s family saw of her shows the 72-year-old woman on a motorbike, wedged between two Hamas fighters who are kidnapping her from the Nir Oz kibbutz near Gaza.

Moshe looks terrified, but is holding her head high.

The horrifying picture is featured on a missing person notice posted alongside dozens of others on the wall of HaKirya, the government and military quarters in Tel Aviv.

Moshe Barda said the family was told by authorities Moshe is believed to be among the people taken to Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it notified the families of 120 people taken captive, but did not release any other information.

A week after the attack, those families are still stuck in agonizing limbo.

“All we have been told is that her phone is in Gaza,” Meirav Gonen, whose daughter Romi was kidnapped from the Supernova dance festival, told CNN.

Read more here:

Einav Moshe Barda (center) attends a gathering of family members of hostages taken by Hamas in Tel Aviv on Saturday, October 14, 2023.

Related article 'It's so lonely': Desperate families of Israeli hostages are still in the dark a week on from Hamas rampage | CNN

The last word Alana Zeitchik heard from her family was an ominous voice note from her cousin, Sharon.

“We’re not going to make it … we love you,” Zeitchik said she was told.

Sharon, Zeitchik’s husband and their 3-year-old twin daughters Emma and Julie are among the six members of Zeitchik’s family who went missing in Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on October 7.

Zeitchik told CNN’s Amara Walker on Sunday she learned her family was alive on Friday, but has not received any more information.

Zeitchik said the situation has been “unfathomable.”

“We don’t have any other information and we don’t know how to get it, really,” she said.

Zeitchik addressed the United Nations Friday as well to lobby for their return.

A plane carrying aid destined for Gaza arrives in Arish, Egypt, on Sunday, October 15.

A plane carrying more than 11 metric tons of aid destined for Gaza arrived in Egypt on Sunday from Dubai, according to the Emirates-based aid group sending the supplies.

The Dubai International Humanitarian City said in a statement the aid will be delivered to the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is working to get supplies sent by several countries into Gaza. 

The package includes water and food as well as goods for sanitation and hygiene.

Pope Francis delivers an address at St. Peter's Square, on Sunday, October 15.

Pope Francis called for the establishment of humanitarian corridors in Gaza and for the release of hostages taken by Hamas during an address at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.

Pope Francis said he was following “with great sorrow the situation in Israel and Palestine.”

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly speaks in Manchester, England, on October 1.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Israel has committed to abide by international law as it prepares to launch a ground offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel.

Cleverly told the BBC that Israel President Isaac Herzog told him privately and has “now also said publicly that Israel respects and will abide by international law.”

Arab states and rights groups have criticized Israel’s response to the Hamas attack as a form of collective punishment. The Israel Defense Forces have pounded Gaza with airstrikes targeting Hamas since the October 7 attack. At least 2,329 people, including many children, have been killed in the bombardment, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Israel has also cut off electricity, food and water to the densely populated enclave, pushing the healthcare system to the brink and fueling a humanitarian crisis.

Cleverly in his response suggested that Hamas is trying to prevent Palestinians from leaving Gaza so that they can be used as “human shields” after the IDF warned more than half of Gaza’s 2 million residents to evacuate the small coastal enclave’s northern area. Hamas told Gazans to ignore the Israeli statement.

Rafah crossing remains closed: Cleverly added that Britain’s efforts to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza have so far been unsuccessful.

Cleverly said the circumstances around opening the Rafah Crossing are “very, very difficult. At the moment, we have not been successful in getting the Rafah Crossing opened.”

Gaza’s 50,000 pregnant women are facing a “nightmare” situation with the enclave’s healthcare system on the brink of collapse, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative for the state of Palestine, Dominic Allen.

Allen said that about 5,000 of the 50,000 pregnant women are expected to give birth in the coming month, and some of them could face complications.

Stories coming out of hospitals have been “harrowing,” Allen said. One midwife at a maternity hospital in Gaza told Allen that since the beginning of the conflict, some midwives have been unable to even reach the maternity ward to provide assistance due to the unsafe environment. 

Germany’s Foreign Ministry issued a warning on Sunday urgently advising its citizens against traveling to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon.

The ministry also urged Germans already in these areas to register themselves with the German government.

“The situation continues to be extremely volatile,” the statement said. “The Government’s crisis team is monitoring the situation on the ground very closely.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog met on Sunday with a bipartisan delegation of US senators who had traveled to Israel.

In a statement Sunday, the Israeli presidency said the “senators emphasized the cross-party support for the State of Israel” during the meeting at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv.

The lawmakers included US Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer and fellow Democrats, Mark Kelly of Arizona and Jacky Rosen of Nevada. Utah’s Mitt Romney and Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy represented Republicans on the trip.

Hezbollah launched missiles at Israel Sunday morning in response to Israeli attacks on Friday that killed a Reuters journalist and two elderly civilians, the Shiite militant group said in a statement.

Hezbollah said it struck the northern Israeli town of Shtula, killing one Israeli. Israeli medics said one man in his 40s was killed in the attack by the Iran-backed group and two others, also men in their 40s, were injured.

Hezbollah claimed it attacked “military positions” with precision-guided missiles.

The Israeli military said it has been striking Lebanese territories, and that there has been shooting from Lebanon towards an Israeli military position on the border.

Issam Abdallah, the Reuters videographer who was killed, was with a group of other journalists who were wearing clearly labeled press vests when an Israeli shelling hit their position near the Lebanese border town of Alma Chaab, according to video analyzed by CNN.

Journalists from international news organizations Al Jazeera, Agence France Presse, and Reuters were among the victims, according to statements from their outlets.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday it was looking into the incident.

In a report published Saturday, Reuters said two of its journalists who were wounded in the attack recounted the press grouping was filming incoming fire from the direction of Israel when a missile hit Abdallah as he was “sitting on a low stone near the rest of the group.”

Reuters has not yet determined if Israel was behind the attack, though it has said that the strike came from the direction of Israel. Some other outlets, including Al Jazeera and the Associated Press, have said the shells were Israeli.

Hezbollah’s next steps: It is still unclear whether Hezbollah will actively participate in the wider conflict. So far, it has adhered to its current rules of engagement and repeatedly stated that it will fire at Israel only when Lebanese territory, or its fighters, are fired on. It has broadly stuck to that, despite the spiraling tensions.

A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces denied that the Israeli military attacked a group of civilians attempting to flee south from northern Gaza.

What happened: The IDF on Friday warned more than half of Gaza’s 2 million residents to evacuate the small coastal enclave’s northern area in anticipation of a likely ground offensive. Rights groups and critics decried the move as impossible and tantamount to a war crime. Hamas, the militant group that carried out the deadly terror attack last week that killed at least 1,200 people in Israel, told Gazans to ignore the Israeli statement.

As Israeli airstrikes on Gaza continued, some people chose to abandon their homes on the advice of the IDF, packing into cars, taxis, pickup trucks and donkey-pulled carts to head south.

Extensive destruction could be seen on Salah Al-Deen street – a main route for evacuation – in videos authenticated by CNN. A number of bodies, including those of children, can be seen on on a flat-bed trailer that appears to have been used to carry people away from Gaza City.

What Israel said on Sunday: IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN in an interview on Sunday that the Israeli military did not strike the convoy on Salah Al-Deen street.

“It was only this morning that we were able to confirm and announce that this was not on IDF strike,” Lerner said. 

Lerner said it appears from footage the IDF has viewed that “the explosion came from beneath,” suggesting “some sort of explosive device.”

Hamas has not commented on the allegations that the convoy was hit by an explosive device on the ground as opposed to an Israeli airstrike.

People cook on firewood amid shortages of fuel and gas to provide food for Palestinians who fled their houses amid Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on October 15, 2023.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is running out of reserve stock inside Gaza and is so far unable to get more food into the enclave, according to Corinne Fleischer, a regional director with the United Nations humanitarian organization.

Fleischer said the WFP has enough supplies to feed 1.3 million people for two weeks piled up on the border, ready to go, but that the group cannot yet safely enter Gaza.

The WFP has so far provided 520,000 people in Gaza with canned food, bread and cash. The group is expected to reach another each 224,000 people on Sunday “despite the absolute chaos and our staff being themselves in shelters with no food, no mattresses, no water and no bathrooms, no electricity,” Fleischer said. 

The United States government will evacuate its nationals from Israel to Cyprus by sea, the US Embassy in Israel said.

Only US nationals and their immediate family members will be eligible for passage. The ship will depart Haifa, a city in northern Israel, on Monday. The journey is expected to take about 10 to 12 hours.

US citizens and their families will be responsible for arranging their own travel to Haifa and their own accommodations and onward travel from Cyprus, according to the embassy announcement. 

An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told CNN that it had killed another Hamas commander, Billal al-Qedra, who allegedly led the attacks on the Nirim kibbutz near the Israeli border. 

The Israeli Air Force also put out a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday about the commander’s death, claiming IDF and Israel Securities Authority (ISA) “killed the Nukhba commander of the forces in southern Khan Yunis, who was responsible for the Kibbutz Nirim massacre.”

Hamas has not yet commented.

The IDF continues to urge civilians to evacuate to the south of Gaza, Lerner said, to enable the Israeli military to target Hamas. 

Hamas has “physically prevented people from moving” and “booby-trapped some of the roads in anticipation” of the move, he added.

In preparation for the next stage of conflict, Lerner said the IDF has recruited “several hundreds of thousands of soldiers and reservists,” with many of them in southern Israel and on the border with Gaza. 

Lerner said he “hopes” that the war between Israel and Hamas does not become a larger regional conflict, but he said he recognizes that “hope is not a method.”

“I would caution Hezbollah, look very closely how we are dismantling Hamas. They need to be very, very cautious with regard to Iran,” Lerner said.

The Israel Defense Forces says that following “initial reporting regarding a shooting toward the community of Shtula [in northern Israel], the IDF is currently striking toward the origin of the fire in Lebanon.”

It did not specify the nature of the shooting.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was “very productive,” as he answered a reporter’s question in Riyadh on Sunday. 

Blinken met the Crown Prince at his private farm residence for a little under an hour, according to the US State Department, as reported by a pool reporter.

The top US diplomat has been touring the Middle East, first visiting Israel and meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a show of support days after Hamas’ deadly attacks in Israel.

Following his departure from Tel Aviv Thursday, Blinken traveled to Jordan and Qatar. He is currently in Saudi Arabia, and is expected to travel to the United Arab Emirates and Egypt as he seeks to bolster the country’s defenses and stop the conflict from expanding or spreading.

Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on October 15, 2023.

Casualties in Gaza over the past eight days have surpassed the number of those killed during the 2014 Gaza-Israel conflict, according to the spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Until now, 2014 had been the deadliest year on record in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with at least 2,251 Palestinians killed in Gaza during 50 days of war, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Following Hamas’ attack on Israel, the Gaza Strip has been hit by Israeli strikes, resulting in the deaths of 2,329 people, according to the latest figures issued by the Ministry of Health in Gaza on Sunday.

The number of Thai nationals killed since Hamas’ attack on Israel has risen by four to 28, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry said Sunday. 

The number of Thais injured remains at 16 while 17 are now believed to have been taken hostage, according to the ministry.

Among the many foreign nationals killed and captured by Hamas were migrant workers from Asia employed in Israel’s agricultural, construction and healthcare sectors.

Most of these workers hail from poor, rural families and have no familial links to either Israel or the Palestinian Territories.

At least 10 Nepali agriculture students were killed when the Hamas militants stormed the Alumim kibbutz, an agrarian community near Gaza, and another Nepali is missing, the country’s ambassador to Israel told CNN.

Two Filipinos were also killed, according to the Philippines government.

However, Thailand, which for decades has made up one of the biggest sources of migrant labor in Israel, has suffered one of the highest tolls of any nation beyond Israel itself.

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BANGKOK, THAILAND - OCTOBER 12: Thai migrant farm workers arrive to Bangkok from Tel Aviv after a government evacuation on October 12, 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. Fifteen Thai nationals, rescued from high-risk areas in Israel, arrived in Thailand via a commercial flight on October 12. This evacuation followed recent attacks by Palestinian militants, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and the taking of over a hundred hostages into Gaza, including 2 Thais killed and 14 taken as hostages. Approximately 30,000 Thai nationals reside in Israel, primarily working as migrant farmers near the Gaza border, with more than 5,000 Thais requesting evacuation. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Related article Thai deaths in Hamas massacre spotlight poor agricultural workers from Asia who toil in Israel's fields | CNN

The boyfriend of a woman kidnapped by Hamas militants at the Nova music festival said he is clinging onto hope that she is alive and praying for her safe rescue.

Alon said Haiman had been hiding under the stage but decided to run, along with two other men, when it was no longer safe.

Last week, Hamas terrorists launched a relentless attack on an Israeli music festival, opening fire on thousands of concert goers and killing at least 260 people as part of a coordinated massacre across multiple locations that has scarred and shocked Israel.

Hamas took up to 150 people hostage, including about 17 Americans. 

People close to Alon watched a Hamas video showing his girlfriend was injured, according to Alon, who couldn’t bring himself to watch it.

Alon said he is worried when he hears about Israel bombing sites in Gaza, but believes his girlfriend could be kept in an underground tunnel somewhere in the densely populated enclave.

“I want people to know that she is the best girlfriend, an amazing person,” Alon said through tears. “Everybody loved her. She is talented, she is brilliant, she is clever, she is funny. We just want her back. Her and all the other hostages.”

A group of 12 families called “Families of American-Israeli Hostages in Gaza” have urged US President Joe Biden to use “all means and resources at his disposal” to ensure their loved ones are released.

The group met Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week and said they were thankful for their “declared commitment to bringing our loved ones home.”

Palestinians take shelter in a U.N.-run school from the ongoing Israeli strikes on Gaza, in Nuiserat refugee camp, on October 14, 2023.

Life is a struggle for all Palestinians in Gaza as they face potential blackouts and an “inability for people to get basic necessities,” the communications adviser of the Norwegian Refugee Council told CNN in an interview from Jerusalem Sunday morning.

Shaina Low said that a colleague of hers who had just fled to the south of Gaza is experiencing a shortage of food and difficulty finding other basic needs like water. She said her colleague also had airstrikes near him, despite relocating to the south. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been advising civilians to evacuate to southern Gaza as military activities continue in the region.  

Some members of Low’s team in her humanitarian organization have evacuated, while others have chosen to stay behind because “they have nowhere to go in the south,” Low said. 

With the lack of resources and diminishing fuel, Low said her team is facing increased difficulty operating. 

Low said her neighborhood, which was previously “bustling,” has been “eerily quiet” this past week.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) say they attacked “over a hundred military targets” in various parts of Gaza overnight Saturday, including Hamas headquarters and military compounds, dozens of launchers, anti-tank posts and observation posts. 

The IDF said that the areas of Zaytoun and Khan Yunis were among those struck. It said the military headquarters of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization were also destroyed

The Nukhba commander of forces in Khan Yunis, Billal al Kedra, was killed Saturday night, the IDF said, alleging that he was responsible for killings in the Kibbutz Nirim when Hamas launched its attack on Israel last weekend.

The Hamas media office in Gaza said a number of areas were struck by the Israeli military overnight and on Sunday morning, including Gaza City in the north and Rafah in the south. It said Israeli tanks were shelling eastern areas of Gaza.

A CNN team close to northern Gaza heard heavy machinegun fire Sunday morning, apparently close to the border fence. They also reported further air strikes and large explosions.

Palestinians queue to refill on water in Rafah refugee camp, in southern Gaza, on October 14, 2023.

The Palestinian Water Authority has warned that water supplies in Gaza are running very low because of the destruction of generating capacity.

It said Saturday that before the conflict began, 262,000 cubic meters of water were being drawn from wells daily. Now that figure is 14,000 cubic meters, and there is an urgent need for fuel to provide more water, it said.

The shortages are throughout Gaza, according to the water authority.

There is an urgent need for 14,000 liters of fuel per day, which would provide around 130,000 cubic meters of water, it added.

The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Saturday that most people in Gaza now had no access to water. 

Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians from al-Agha family, who were killed in Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on October 14, 2023.

Some 300 people were killed and 800 injured in Gaza in the 24-hour period to early Sunday, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

And most of the victims were women and children, the ministry said.

For eight consecutive days the densely populated Gaza Strip has been subjected to Israeli strikes, leaving 2,329 people killed and 9,042 injured, according to latest figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. 

Israel launched the retaliatory offensive after Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks that killed 1,300 people.

Fears for civilians in Gaza are now growing as Israel says it is gearing up for the next stages of its war with Hamas, including widespread strikes and “significant ground operations.”

Israel’s top priority is to rescue hostages from Gaza, despite the difficulties involved in fighting in a densely populated urban area, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson has told CNN.

Pointing to Hamas’ “elaborate network of tunnels,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the hostages are “most likely held underground in various locations.”

“We know that Hamas has an elaborate network of tunnels both for defensive and offensive purposes, which will for sure, compound the complexity of fighting and we are prepared for that,” he said.

Conricus said operations and raids that were conducted a day and a half ago recovered “some useful intelligence,” but no bodies of Israelis who were taken have been recovered. 

The IDF will not target civilians, Conricus said.

A main aim for the IDF is to “totally dismantle (Hamas’) military capabilities,” according to Conricus.

Israel will start “significant military operations” in Gaza only once they see that civilians have left, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson told CNN.

“It’s really important that people in Gaza know we’ve been very, very generous with the time. We have given ample warning, more than 25 hours… I cannot stress more than enough to say now is the time for Gazans to leave.

More than half of Gaza’s 2 million residents live in the northern section that Israel has told to evacuate. Many families, some of whom were already internally displaced, are now crammed into an even smaller portion of the 140-square-mile territory.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing south through the battered streets of Gaza after the Israeli military told them to leave northern areas of the densely populated strip.

Parts of the south are becoming even more crowded and overstretched, Gazans say, as waves of Palestinians abandon their homes in the wake of Israel’s statement, ahead of an anticipated ground assault by the IDF.

According to Conricus, the area around the Gaza Strip is densely packed with “hundreds of thousands of Israeli reserve units” that are preparing for various missions.

Israel’s military says it is preparing for the “next stages of the war” against Hamas, with troops gearing up for “strikes from the air, sea and land” and “significant ground operations.”

Signs have been growing throughout the week Israel could launch an invasion of Gaza, the densely populated enclave run by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that carried out devastating terror attacks in Israel on October 7.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening, as evacuating residents face a dangerous trek when they try to flee the violence.

Here are some of the latest developments:

The Israeli military’s announcement:

What would a ground invasion look like?

The crisis unfolding in Gaza:

Diplomatic efforts continue:

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The world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford steams alongside USNS Laramie (T-AO-203) during a fueling-at-sea in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as a scheduled deployment in the U.S. Naval Forces Europe area of operations, deployed by U.S. Sixth Fleet to defend U.S., allied, and partners interests, in this photo taken on October 11, 2023.

The Pentagon has ordered a second carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, according to two US officials, as Israel prepares to expand its Gaza operations.

The US warships are not intended to join the fighting in Gaza or take part in Israel’s operations, but the presence of two of the Navy’s most powerful ships is designed to send a message of deterrence to Iran and Iranian proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The first carrier strike group, led by the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived off the coast of Israel earlier this week.

Now the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower strike group, which deployed Friday from Norfolk, Virginia, is headed to the eastern Mediterranean. The aircraft carrier was initially set to move toward the US European Command, but the officials said it will now head for the waters near Israel.

It is unclear at this point how long the Ford will stay in the region once the Eisenhower carrier strike group arrives, one official said.

The Eisenhower is the flagship of the carrier strike group, which will be joined by a guided-missile cruiser and two guided-missile destroyers, according to the Navy.

ABC News first reported the carrier strike group’s orders.

The Biden administration made clear that the carrier, and its accompanying force, are not there to engage in combat activities on behalf of Israel but rather to deter others from entering the conflict, including Hezbollah.

In addition, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid-reaction force capable of conducting special operations, is making preparations in case it is ordered closer to Israel to bolster the US force posture there, multiple US officials tell CNN.

The unit, which is on board the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship, is composed of more than 2,000 Marines and sailors and would be capable of supporting a large-scale evacuation. Among the mission essential tasks for a Marine Expeditionary Unit are evacuation operations and humanitarian assistance.

No such order has been given yet to the unit, the officials said.

Defense officials have said repeatedly in recent days the Pentagon will be able to flow in additional forces and assets to the region quickly as needed, as Israel continues to fight a war against the terrorist group Hamas.

Israel responded to Hamas’ terror attacks last Saturday by ordering a “complete siege,” of Gaza, cutting off food, electricity, fuel and water supplies.

Israel already strictly controlled the flow of critical resources to the enclave, having imposed a stringent land, sea and air blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. Now it has tightened its grip completely.

The UN said in a statement released Thursday that residents in Gaza “have lived under unlawful blockade for 16 years,” and condemned this “further tightening.” 

People in Gaza have nowhere to go:

As thousands of rockets have rained down on Israel, the country has been relying once again on the Iron Dome system to protect its citizens.

The missile defense system is one of the most important tools in Israel’s arsenal and has saved countless civilian lives over various conflicts in the last decade, analysts say. It is highly effective. The Israel Defense Forces said the system boasted a 95.6% success rate during a rocket salvo fired by Islamic Jihad in May.

Here’s how it functions:

There is little room for Palestinians to escape from the airstrikes Israel has rained down on Gaza in the wake of Hamas militants’ devastating terror attack last week.

Across the Middle East, Gaza is among the smallest and most densely packed urban areas.