October 19, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

Staff members unload aid supplies meant Gaza from an Emirates cargo plane on the tarmac of Egypt's el-Arish airport on Thursday, October 19, 2023.

The death toll in Gaza continues to rise as the war rages on. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, 3,785 people have died since October 7, including 1,524 children, 1,000 women and 120 elderly people.

Additionally, 12,493 people have been injured, including 3,983 children and 3,300 women, according to the ministry’s spokesperson Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra. 

And the US intelligence community assesses that there likely were between 100 to 300 people killed in the blast at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza earlier this week, according to an unclassified intelligence assessment obtained by CNN.

Here are other headlines you should know:

Egyptian authorities on Thursday started removing cement blocks at the entrance of the Rafah crossing, preparing for its opening, several drivers at the crossing told CNN.

Egyptian Red Crescent aid trucks were lining up on the highway in Al-Arish, preparing to move to the crossing once it is open, journalist Asmaa Khalil, who’s currently close to Rafah, told CNN. Red Crescent trucks are carrying international aid that arrived in Egypt, security officials said.

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

The crossing is currently shut, with aid unable to get into Gaza. It’s no longer expected to open Friday despite an announcement from President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Thursday, multiple sources told CNN.

Shoukry said the crossing has been bombed four times recently, with one bombing occurring while people tried to repair it. He said four Egyptian workers were injured.

After speaking with US President Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi agreed to open the Rafah crossing to allow aid to enter Gaza. Egypt has said it won’t allow refugees to flood its territory and has instead insisted that Israel allow it to deliver aid to Gazans.

A person died near the Israel-Lebanon border, according to the peacekeeping United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon (UNIFIL.)

On Thursday evening, there was a “significant exchange of fire” across the Blue Line — the line of demarcation between Lebanon and Israel, according to the UNIFIL.

The Lebanese Armed Forces requested assistance from the UNIFIL to retrieve seven people who were stranded near the Blue Line.

The UNIFIL urged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to cease their fire. Once the IDF stopped firing, the Lebanese Armed Forces extracted the individuals, but one person died. 

The UNIFIL did not provide further information on the circumstances around the death. 

Moody’s Investors Service warned on Thursday it could downgrade Israel’s credit rating due to the severity of the military conflict with Hamas.

A downgrade could make it more expensive for Israel to borrow just as the country’s gears up for what could be a prolonged war.

Moody’s said its review will focus on the duration and scale of the conflict, and how it impacts Israel’s economy, institutions and public finances. The credit ratings firm said the review could take longer than the typical three-month period.

At least 18 Ukrainian nationals have died in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 and one Ukrainian citizen is currently missing, the Ukrainian embassy in Israel said Thursday in a Facebook post.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk told Ukrainian media on Wednesday that the number of Ukrainians seeking evacuation from Gaza has increased to 298 people.

Korniychuk added that there are two wounded people among those seeking to evacuate.

At least 10 people were killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit a residential building in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday night, according to health officials at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

The airstrike in Deir al-Balah also wounded at least 35 people, the health officials said. Children were among those killed and wounded, according to the officials.

The structure targeted was a three-floor residential building, health officials and witnesses said.

CNN obtained videos filmed by a local journalist who was inside the hospital following the strike, showing a chaotic scene as health workers rushed to treat the wounded people who were brought in, including children and women.

CNN has reached out to the media office of the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

The IDF has been striking Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7. The IDF told CNN last week the number of people killed in the Hamas attacks is now known to be more than 1,400.

The widespread airstrikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 3,478 people, according to the health ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.

The mother of Issam Abdallah, a Reuters videojournalist who was killed in southern Lebanon, mourns over her son's body during his funeral in Al Khiyam, Lebanon, on October 14.

The number of journalists killed while covering the Israel-Hamas war continues to rise.

At least 21 journalists have been killed in the conflict as of Thursday, with another eight reported injured and three reported missing or detained, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit that champions the rights of journalists worldwide.

Seventeen of those killed were Palestinian, while three were Israeli and one was Lebanese, the CPJ said. The organization continues to track the growing number of press deaths related to the unfolding conflict.

The CPJ said it compiled its information from its own sources in the region and from media reports.

“Journalists across the region are making great sacrifices to cover this heartbreaking conflict,” said Sherif Mansour, the CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “All parties must take steps to ensure their safety.”

CNN on Thursday visited the burnt remains of the home of Carmela Dan, the 80-year-old Israeli-American woman who with her 13-year-old granddaughter was kidnapped and killed by Hamas militants.

The home is located in kibbutz Nir Oz, a small settlement just a few kilometers from the Gaza Strip. On CNN’s visit, the kitchen was burnt to the ground and the floor was covered with debris and a thick layer of shattered glass and ashes. The only item that was recognizable was an oven in the corner.

The garden was torched, and some of the small statues and ornaments decorating it were smashed and burnt. A stack of burnt patio chairs was left behind on the porch.

Ron Bahat, Dan’s neighbor, was among the first to step inside the house once the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) managed to take control of the kibbutz after a long and bloody battle. He went to the home to identify the victims and see the scale of the destruction, he told CNN.

“When we came here, we found a lot of blood in the shelter room. So probably the terrorists were able to open it,” he said, standing outside the destroyed home. “We know they lost a lot of blood, but we don’t know if they died from the gun shots, or gun wounds. They took them out of there, we found a lot of blood, but they were missing.”

Bahat said he and his family survived after holding the door to the safe room in his house for more than eight hours. Others weren’t so lucky.

“We are finding more people that we thought were missing, you know, we’ve found them and identified them,” Bahat said.

Carmela Dan, her three grandchildren Erez Kalderon, 12, Noya Dan, 13, and Sahar Kalderon, 16, and her son-in-law Ofer Kalderon, 50, had been missing since Hamas terrorists overran the kibbutz early on Saturday, October 7. On Wednesday, the family was informed that the bodies of Carmela and Noya were found near the Gaza border, but Erez, Sahar and Ofer remain missing.

Bahat told CNN that Carmela was a “lovely person.”

“She was always smiling. Great person. She was involved in a lot of activities, a lot of community projects. And they took her life. They took her children and grandchildren. We want those people back,” he said, adding: “Hamas is ISIS.”

Egypt is preparing to open its side of the Rafah crossing to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, Egyptian security officials at the border crossing told CNN Thursday.

It has been closed for much of the past week, with neither Gazans nor foreign nationals able to cross, and tons of vital humanitarian supplies for people in Gaza piling up on the Egyptian side of the border.

Here’s a closer look at the crossing:

Palestinian women walk by buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Nuseirat camp, Gaza, on October 16.

About 1 million internally displaced people in Gaza are living in “increasingly dire conditions” amid shortages of critical resources, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Thursday.

Gaza is under a full electricity blackout for the ninth consecutive day, food and water supplies are dwindling, and hospitals are on the brink of collapse, the office said.

Nutritional health is deteriorating amid the “extremely limited water supply, raising the risk of dehydration and leading to people consuming water that is unfit to drink,” OCHA said.

The office also stressed that commercial stocks of essential food commodities in shops are set to last for “only a few more days.”

OCHA said the World Food Programme (WFP) is providing food and cash assistance every day, aiding a total of 522,000 Palestinians since the start of the crisis.

Separately, UN experts called for a ceasefire in a statement from the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.

“The wilful and systematic destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure, known as ‘domicide’, and cutting off drinking water, medicine, and essential food is clearly prohibited under international criminal law,” according to the statement. 

Egypt’s state-aligned political parties and institutions have called for nationwide protests in Egypt on Friday in support of Palestinians and President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s position not to allow the displacement of the Gaza population to Egypt. 

An alliance of state-backed political parties have voiced their support for Sisi’s statements and said they acquired permits for demonstrations in designated locations across Egypt, according to Egypt’s state-run and local media. 

These would be the first government-approved mass protests in Egypt since Sisi assumed power. Strict anti-protest laws and brutal security crackdown on dissent have largely prevented mass protests for the past decade. 

Protests against Israeli strikes on Gaza swept through several Egyptian universities on Wednesday. Several professional unions also organized smaller demonstrations, with some chanting in support of Sisi’s position.

Some context: 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 2 million Palestinians live in Gaza.

Sisi last week said his country is trying to help – within limits.

“Of course, we sympathize. But be careful, while we sympathize, we must always be using our minds in order to reach peace and safety in a manner that doesn’t cost us much,” he said.

People walk outside the Capitol building on October 16.

The Senate passed a resolution affirming support for Israel and the country’s right to self-defense, condemning Hamas’ attacks on civilians.

Ninety-nine of the 100 senators co-sponsored the resolution, with only Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky not signing on but later voting for it.

The final vote count was 97-0, with three senators absent.

The resolution also “condemns Iran’s support for global terrorism, including its support for terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad,” and notes that the US “stands ready to assist Israel with emergency resupply or other security, diplomatic, and intelligence support needs,” ahead of President Joe Biden’s planned remarks on Thursday night calling for Congress to pass a supplemental package including aid for Israel.

Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said, “The Senate will back up this resolution with real, swift, decisive action and resources.”

Schumer declared: “October 7, 2023, will go down as a day of infamy. And as Israel faces the darkest hour of its 75 year history, the bipartisan resolution we are about to vote on proclaims that as long as there is a United States of America, the people of Israel will never stand alone.”

He continued, “We stand firmly with Israel and her right to defend herself,” and “we condemn the heinous, vicious attacks by the terrorist group Hamas. It is rare that all 100 senators agree on everything. But every one of the hundred of us is here today, united saying we are behind Israel.”

Thirty-two American citizens have died in Israel, and 11 remain unaccounted for, US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Thursday.

The death toll has risen by one since the last update from US officials. 

Miller did not say how many of the unaccounted are believed to be held hostage by Hamas, but said securing their release remains a top priority.

“With respect to our work to secure the release of hostages, that work is ongoing,” Miller said at a briefing, noting that “the Secretary himself was focused on it while we were in the region.”

An Israeli tank moves along the border with Gaza on Wednesday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops gathered not far from the Gaza Strip on Thursday that they will “soon see” the enclave “from the inside,” according to a press release from his office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a separate visit to an area bordering the Gaza Strip on Thursday, told troops stationed there: “The entire nation of Israel stands behind you and we will give the hard blow to our enemies so that we can achieve victory. For victory! Ready?”

Also Thursday, the commanding officer of Israel Defense Forces Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, told troops at another section of the border: “This maneuvering will shift the war to the enemy’s side and we will win on their ground. This maneuvering will be long, difficult, long, intense, but we have the best commanders and fighters the IDF has to offer.”

Earlier this week: Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said Israel “has no interest” in occupying Gaza but will do “whatever is needed” to eliminate Hamas.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres made an urgent appeal Thursday for a humanitarian ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

He called for “immediate and unconditional release of the hostages” captured by Hamas during its October 7 attack in Israel. Guterres, who is in Cairo, Egypt, also called on Israel to allow the “immediate unrestricted access of humanitarian aid to respond to the most basic needs of the people of Gaza.”

“To help realize these two appeals, I am calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.

So far, Egypt has agreed to allow an aid convoy of up to 20 trucks to cross into Gaza. Israel has agreed to allow this convoy to cross, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it will not allow aid to cross from the country’s own territory until Hamas released the hostages.

Guterres also said he is “in Egypt to witness UN preparations to be able to deliver massive support to the people of Gaza.”

This comes as the Egyptian security officials say that the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza is preparing to open from the Egyptian side to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip on Friday.

Hezbollah militants parade in Beirut's southern suburbs on April 14.

The fallout from the conflict that started with Hamas’ deadly attacks on Israel is palpable on the Lebanon-Israel border, where Israel has been engaged in low-rumbling, tit-for-tat skirmishes with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Islamist movement with one of the most powerful paramilitary forces in the Middle East.

Here’s what to know about the group that could become a wildcard player in the Hamas-Israel war, and spark a wider regional conflict:

The origins of the group: Hezbollah emerged from the rubble of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, when Israeli forces took almost half of Lebanon’s territory. This included Beirut, where Israeli forces, along with right-wing Israel-allied Christian Lebanese militias, laid siege to the western part of the capital to drive out Palestinian militants. Israel’s operation resulted in more than 17,000 deaths, according to contemporary reports.

As droves of Palestinian fighters left Lebanon, a band of Shia Islamist fighters trained by the nascent Islamic Republic of Iran burst onto Lebanon’s fractious political landscape. The rag-tag group had an outsized and violent impact. In 1983, two suicide bombers linked to the faction attacked a US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing almost 300 US and French personnel, and some civilians. A year later, Iran-linked fighters bombed the US Embassy in Beirut, killing 23 people. In 1985, those militants coalesced more formally around a newly founded organization: Hezbollah.

Ideology: The group’s ideological allegiance is to Tehran. A steady flow of funds from the Islamic Republic helped propel Hezbollah to prominence. It became a participant in Lebanon’s civil war, which ended in 1990, and led a fight against Israeli forces occupying southern Lebanon, ultimately driving them out in 2000.

Terror designation: In Lebanon, Hezbollah is officially considered a “resistance” group tasked with confronting Israel, which Beirut classifies as an enemy state. Yet much of the Western world has designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

Hezbollah’s evolving relationship with Hamas: Hezbollah and Hamas fought on opposing sides of Syria’s uprising-turned-civil war, with Hezbollah fighting on behalf of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad while Hamas militants supported the predominantly Sunni opposition. Hezbollah is a group from the Shia branch of Islam, while Hamas is Sunni.

When the Syrian war wound down in most parts of the country toward the end of the last decade, Hamas and Hezbollah set their differences aside. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly praised the growing alliance between the two groups.

Protesters lift Hezbollah flags in front of the French embassy complex in Beirut on Wednesday.

How Hezbollah could shape the Hamas-Israel war: It is still unclear whether Hezbollah will intervene in the Hamas-Israel war on behalf of the Palestinians. While Hezbollah’s arsenal may be no match for Israel’s, it does boast precision guided missiles, which are far more sophisticated than the shoddy Soviet-era rockets they used in their most recent conflict with Israel in 2006. Nasrallah claims his forces consist of more than 100,000 units, comprising active fighters and reservists. Should Hezbollah get involved in the war, it would open up a multi-front conflict, propelling the Middle East into uncharted territory with unpredictable consequences.

Read more about Hezbollah here.

Palestinians look at the site of the blast at al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday.

The US intelligence community assesses that there likely were between 100 to 300 people killed in the blast at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, according to an unclassified intelligence assessment obtained by CNN.

The assessment states that the intelligence community “observed only light structural damage at the hospital,” with no observable damage to the main hospital building and no impact craters.

The unclassified assessment adds more detail to the US intelligence community’s initial assessment released Wednesday that Israel was not responsible for the strike on the hospital.

Work continues to corroborate whether the explosion resulted from a failed rocket from militant group Islamic Jihad, the assessment states.

The assessment states that the intelligence community “observed only light structural damage at the hospital,” with no observable damage to the main hospital building and no impact craters.

“We see only light damage to the roofs of two structures near the main hospital building, but both structures remained intact,” the assessment states.

At least nine British nationals were killed and seven are still missing after Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, a spokesperson for United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Thursday.

The spokesperson said some of those missing “are feared to be among the dead or kidnapped.”

Sunak is in Saudi Arabia on Thursday for the second stop of his visit to the Middle East.

Meeting in Riyadh, Sunak and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed that the “loss of innocent lives in Israel and Gaza over the last two weeks has been horrific” and “underscored the need to avoid any further escalation in the region,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

They also discussed the “pressing need for humanitarian access into Gaza to provide vital water, food and medicine,” and Sunak outlined how the UK would facilitate that aid, including £10 million ($12.1 million) of further relief funding, according to the statement.

Earlier on Thursday, he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and said Britain supported Israel’s “right to defend itself in line with international law,” while also adding to calls for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.

CNN’s Luke McGee and Sharon Braithwaite contributed reporting to this post.

Egyptian cleaning workers are seen in front of the Rafah Crossing from the Egyptian side, while trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians await for it to open to enter Gaza in Rafah on Thursday.

The Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will be opened from the Egyptian side to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza on Friday morning, Egyptian security officials at the border crossing told CNN.

Egypt’s state-affiliated media outlet Al-Qahera News also reported the crossing will open on Friday, quoting an unnamed Egyptian official. The channel did not specify the exact time for the opening.

A CNN journalist at the crossing on the Egyptian side said 25 trucks carrying aid are already numbered and ready to cross the border on Friday.

The road to the Egyptian side of the crossing is being cleaned in preparation for opening, the journalist observed. Tents and toilets were set up Wednesday night for volunteers staying the night at the border.

A CNN stringer on the Egyptian side Wednesday saw several diggers and firetrucks enter the crossing to fix the road connecting the Egyptian and Palestinian border crossings.

Some context: The Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the south has been considered the last hope for Gazans to escape as Israel’s bombs rain down on the territory, and many Palestinians have begun moving in its direction in anticipation. However, it is currently shut.

US President Joe Biden helped broker a deal between Egypt and Israel on Wednesday. Biden said Egypt had agreed to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza for up to 20 trucks of humanitarian aid — but not evacuations. The World Health Organization said the 20 trucks were only a start, and that the aim is to get up to 100 trucks of aid distributed per day.

Egypt has repeatedly denied that the crossing was closed on its end of the border, saying the aid has been waiting for guarantees that trucks entering will not be targeted by Israel.

Israel said it will not block humanitarian aid going into Gaza from Egypt, according to a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But it will not allow supplies into Gaza from its own territory until Hamas releases all hostages.

Here’s a look at the borders of Gaza Strip:

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

The US State Department issued a rare, worldwide caution alert Thursday to advise all US citizens abroad “to exercise increased caution,” citing “increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against US citizens and interests.”

The alert comes as protests have erupted throughout the Middle East in response to the Israel-Hamas war, with many demonstrators targeting US diplomatic compounds.

The State Department has raised the travel advisory for Lebanon and Israel to the highest level and has authorized non-emergency US government personnel and family members to depart.

The State Department last issued this kind of alert in August 2022 in the wake of the killing of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, warning that “supporters of al-Qa’ida, or its affiliated terrorist organizations, may seek to attack US facilities, personnel, or citizens.” 

The US Senate will vote later today on a resolution affirming their support for Israel.

The vote will take place at 1:45 p.m. ET and the resolution will get overwhelming support.

Only Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has not signed on as a co-sponsor.

Read the full resolution.

Some countries are issuing travel advisories for their citizens regarding Lebanon.

This comes as crossfire is reported on the Israel-Lebanon border, raising fears of a wider regional war. Furthermore, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in Beirut after the hospital blast in Gaza City that killed hundreds, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health controlled by Hamas.

Germany: The foreign ministry has urged German citizens to leave Lebanon “now,” since the security in the region is “highly volatile” following Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. In its latest travel advice, the country’s foreign office noted that a “further aggravation of the situation and an expansion of the conflict cannot be ruled out. This applies in particular to the southern parts of Lebanon, i.e. all areas south of the city of Beirut.”

German nationals are also urged to register their contact details on an online crisis portal and be aware of current safety advisories in the country, the ministry wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on Thursday warned of further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East following attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. 

Norway: The foreign ministry updated its travel guidance and to advise “against all travel to Lebanon” due to a “serious security situation in the region,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement Thursday, adding that “daily military activity on the border between Lebanon and Israel” increases the risk. 

According to the ministry, there are still flights from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, “but the options for traveling out of Lebanon have become increasingly limited in recent days.”

United States: The State Department has raised the travel advisory for Lebanon and Israel to the highest level and has authorized non-emergency US government personnel and family members to depart.

France and the United Kingdom have also issued similar guidance this week, warning their citizens not to travel to Lebanon.

Carmela Dan

An 80-year-old Israeli-American and her 13-year-old granddaughter, who were both kidnapped by Hamas militants from their kibbutz on October 7, have been found dead, the family told CNN on Thursday.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed the deaths of Carmela Dan and Noya Dan to family on Wednesday, according to Jason Greenberg, a relative who lives in Massachusetts.

“Their bodies are being returned to their families for burial at this moment,” he said.

Carmela Dan had Israeli, US and French citizenship. Her granddaughter, Noya Dan, was an Israeli citizen.

Noya Dan

The spokesperson of another family member also posted about the deaths on Facebook.

The news comes more than a week after five members of the family were kidnapped from their home in Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel just a few miles from the border with Gaza. Greenberg previously told CNN there had been a flurry of text messages from the family members saying they were hiding in a safe room and had heard gunfire and smelled smoke.

One last message read:

The family’s house was set ablaze and they were taken hostage, according to Greenberg.

Three other family members, all Israeli citizens, are still missing: Noya’s cousins Erez Kalderon, 12, and Sahar Kalderon, 16, as well as Erez and Sahar’s father, Ofer Kalderon, 50.

Ido Dan, another family member, told CNN’s Dana Bash that they celebrated Carmela’s 80th birthday on Tuesday, which had been planned since before she was abducted. Just a day later, a military officer informed the family that Carmela and Noya Dan had been killed near the border.

He noted Carmela had heart problems and walked slowly and that Noya is on the autism spectrum and, when stressed out, she would start yelling and stay in the same place.

Ido Dan said he was still concerned about their three missing family members. “We know that the hourglass is running out, and if they are not released immediately, their fate may be the same as Carmela and Noya’s, and this frightens us a lot,” he said.

The Hamas attacks killed more than 1,400 people in Israel, officials have said.

Watch Ido Dan’s interview here:

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05:10 - Source: CNN

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly described Noya Dan’s relationship to Erez and Sahar Kalderon. They are cousins.

Relatives mourn a Palestinian boy who was killed during an Israeli army operation on Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem, West Bank, on October 19.

At least six Palestinians were killed in an ongoing Israeli military operation in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the city of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, told CNN that it had confirmed the deaths of seven people and that the toll was likely to rise.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its staff were trying to reach the casualties in Nur Shams, adding that, “There are difficulties in reaching some of the injured individuals, and ambulances with injured people inside are being detained by (Israeli) occupying forces.” 

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for their response. 

A joint statement by the IDF and the Israel Border Police said the military operation in Nur Shams began Wednesday night.

“So far, 10 wanted suspects have been apprehended and a number of explosive devices that were ready for use were neutralized. Exchanges of fire with armed gunmen, which included explosive devices being thrown at Israeli security forces, took place. Hits were identified,” it continued.

“In addition, IDF aircraft struck an armed terrorist squad that posed a threat to the soldiers in the area, killing a number of terrorists. The forces’ counterterrorism activity is ongoing,” the statement added. 

The context: While the focus of fighting has been in Gaza, tensions are mounting in the West Bank, where Palestinians have been killed in confrontations with both Israeli forces and settlers.

Trucks of medical aid are “ready to go” at the border between Gaza and Egypt, the World Health Organization said Thursday, welcoming Israel’s announcement that it will not block the entry of water, food and medicines into Gaza from Egypt. 

“Our trucks are loaded and ready to go. We are working with the Egypt and Palestine Red Crescent Societies to deliver our supplies into Gaza as soon as the Rafah crossing is opened, hopefully tomorrow,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.

The WHO said earlier on Thursday that Egypt and Israel’s agreement to allow some aid into Gaza was “a start,” as Palestinians living in the besieged enclave await much-needed help.

While Israel has said it will not block humanitarian aid going into Gaza from Egypt, according to a statement from the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, it will not allow supplies into Gaza from its own territory until Hamas releases all hostages.

CNN’s Jessie Yeung contributed reporting to this post.

Israel had cut off the supply of food, water, electricity and fuel to Gaza in response to the October 7 attacks. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel will not block humanitarian aid going into Gaza from Egypt, but it will not allow supplies into Gaza from its own territory until Hamas releases all hostages.

As Gaza waits for aid, the humanitarian crisis in the coastal enclave is spiraling “out of control,” according to the World Health Organization.

Here’s what it looks like:

Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system fire at the Israel's border with Lebanon in northern Israel, on October 19.

Lebanese militant groups and Israel exchanged rocket and missile fire across the border in several incidents on Thursday.

Two Kornet missiles were fired from Lebanon toward the Israeli settlement of al-Manara on Thursday morning, and Israel responded with artillery fire on the outskirts of Mais al-Jabal on the Lebanese side of the border, the Lebanese state agency reported.

Several towns on the western side of the border were shelled at dawn on Thursday, the state news agency said. No injuries were reported in Israeli airstrikes on the outskirts of the town of Naqoura in southern Lebanon, the agency added.

Israeli aircraft were flying over southern Lebanon and the coastal city of Saida around midnight, according to the state news agency. Israel also fired flare bombs across the Blue Line of demarcation.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday that it is actively “striking the origins of the fire from Lebanon.” Six launches from Lebanon into northern Israel triggered alarms on Thursday, it added, saying one projectile was intercepted, while five landed in open areas. The IDF also reported anti-tank missiles and small arms fire coming from Lebanon but said there were no injuries.

The IDF further said Thursday about 20 rockets had been launched toward Israel from Lebanon. Sirens were going off in northern Israel on Thursday afternoon, on the side of the border near the city of Kiryat Shmona, according to the Israel Home Front Command.

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, said in a statement it attacked five Israeli military posts on the Lebanese-Israeli border with “direct and appropriate weapons,” destroying part of their technical capabilities.

CNN team on the ground in southern Lebanon has heard successive thuds in the distance.

Hezbollah named the five Israeli military posts they claimed they attacked: “Jal al-Alam, al-Bahari, Zareit, the Shomeira barracks, and the observation tower in Habd el-Bostan.”

The Lebanese branch of Al-Qassam Brigades issued a separate statement on Thursday announcing its responsibility for launching a “concentrated burst of missiles, consisting of 30 missiles, from southern Lebanon towards the settlements of the Western Galilee, Nahariya and Shlomi, which are located in the north of occupied Palestine.”

More context: News of the missiles come amid clashes along Israel’s border with Lebanon. Hezbollah — an armed group backed by Iran — dominates the southern part of the country, and while the fighting there appears marginal compared to fighting between Israel and Hamas, it raises fears of a wider war that could drawn in a myriad of actors.

Read more about the clashes at the Lebanon-Israel border.

A Massachusetts family is still stranded in Gaza nearly two weeks after the Israel-Hamas war started. 

Abood Okal described how he, his wife Wafa and their 1-year-old son have been surviving the last couple of days.

He said they make risky trips to the local market midday during airstrikes and bombings to secure food and water supplies, as Israel has cut off Gaza from food, water, fuel and electricity supply, Okal says drinking water has been the most significant issue. “We’ve managed to find drinking water supply to last us a day or two at most but are in constant struggle to secure it,” Okal told CNN.

He also described witnessing an explosion near a home they are taking shelter in. 

Okal told CNN that his family, his sister Haneen, and her three children had tried twice this week to cross into Egypt through the Rafah crossing, but it is not open. He added that not only has it been unsafe for them to make the trips to the borders, but they are trying not to use up the very little fuel they have remaining to make it there.

In an interview earlier this week, the family’s attorney, Sammy Nabulsi, told CNN that the family traveled to Gaza to visit Wafa’s family for a long-awaited family reunion. The family was supposed to return to the United States on October 20.

Okal told CNN that he’s been in touch with the US State Department and the US Embassy in Cairo and Jerusalem since the beginning of the war. He also said their attorney has been in touch with elected officials from Congress and the White House on their behalf. But he says it’s been a frustrating situation.

On Thursday, CNN reported that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had agreed to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza for humanitarian aid. Biden said the crossing would only be open to aid, not evacuations, CNN reported.

Palestinians search for victims in buildings destroyed during Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 19.

A number of people were killed, and dozens of others were injured on Thursday following an Israeli airstrike that targeted the “Al-Amal neighborhood” in the Khan Younis area of the Gaza Strip, according to the media office of the Interior Ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Maj. Doron Spielman told CNN, “I have absolutely no information about this city block. If it was IDF, the IDF will check into this and let everyone know as we’ve always done in the past.”

At the moment, CNN cannot independently confirm this claim.

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

A European Union spokesperson welcomed reports that Egypt has agreed to allow aid trucks into Gaza but said that any restrictions on the amount allowed into the enclave is not in line with international humanitarian law.

European Commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said that the bloc “welcomes the announcement by Egypt, according to which critically needed humanitarian aid will be able to start being delivered into the Gaza Strip,” and reiterated that, “international humanitarian law obliges all parties to ensure safe and unhindered humanitarian access to people in need.”

“Restrictions on a quantity, destination and categories of items are not in line with this obligation,” Ujvari said.

Ujvari confirmed that a second humanitarian flight from the EU would be landing in Egypt later on Thursday afternoon, after a first flight carrying aid arrived on Monday.

“If you put together the cargo of the flight from Monday and the one going today, we are talking about of 54 tonnes of essential humanitarian supplies. This includes hygiene items, sanitary material, but also food, water, and shelter,” Ujvari said.

Ujvari said the EU welcomed “the announcement made by Israel that it will not thwart the deliveries of food, water or medicine coming from Egypt.”

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had agreed to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza for humanitarian aid and up to 20 aid trucks would be allowed into Gaza.

US President Joe Biden plans to request around $100 billion in a national security supplemental package this week, including $40 billion in aid for Israel, Taiwan and for the US southern border, and around $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, a senior administration official told CNN.

Biden himself had said this week that he planned to ask lawmakers to approve an “unprecedented support package for Israel’s defense.”

The request for aid to Israel as part of the supplemental package comes after Biden traveled to Israel to show the US ally his resounding support. Two officials told CNN Biden had wanted to finalize a decision on how much to request for Israel until after he had had the chance to meet in person with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet and get a detailed sense of what the country’s defense needs were. 

Meanwhile, additional funding to help Ukraine in its war against Russia has long been a top priority for the administration.

People attend the funeral ceremony of Palestinians who were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on October 19.

The death toll in Gaza since October 7 has risen to 3,785, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. 

It includes 1,524 children, 1,000 women, and 120 elderly people, the health ministry said. 

Additionally, 12,493 people had been injured, including 3,983 children and 3,300 women, according to ministry’s spokesperson Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra. 

Al-Qidra in a news conference further highlighted the strain on the health care system, saying that 44 medical staffers had died, 70 more had been injured and 23 ambulances had been destroyed as a result of “Israeli violations.”

Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during bilateral talks in Cairo Thursday reaffirmed their joint position against collective punishment policies in Gaza, including sieges, starvation and displacement, Jordan’s Royal Hashemite Court said in a statement.

The leaders rejected any attempts at forced displacement of Gazans into their respective countries.

They called for an immediate halt to the conflict in Gaza, the protection of civilians, the lifting of the siege and the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Both leaders in the statement warned that “if the war does not stop and expands, it threatens to plunge the entire region into a catastrophe.”

After Israel announced a “complete siege” of Gaza in response to the October 7 attacks by Hamas, tensions are mounting in the West Bank, where Palestinians have been killed in confrontations with both Israeli forces and settlers.

The West Bank is the Palestinian territory west of the Jordan River that sits adjacent to Israel and Jordan. Residents hope the territory will form part of a future Palestinian state. But since Israel took control of and occupied the West Bank in 1967 from Jordan following the Six-Day War, it has been settled by Israeli civilians, often under military protection. Most of the world considers these settlements illegal under international law, but despite this successive Israeli governments have pledged support for them.

Take a look at where West Bank is located:

Some context: Israel views the West Bank as “disputed territory,” and contends its settlement policy is legal. This year, following the election of the most right-wing, extremist government in Israeli history under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, violence between settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank flared.

As of mid-September this year, the United Nations had reported 798 settler-related incidents in the occupied territory, leading to 216 Palestinians injured. In the same period, Israeli forces killed 179 Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Israel Defense Forces says most are terror suspects or people engaging violently with its troops during raids, but does not offer evidence in every case for this assertion.

Settlers have long been accused of carrying out acts of violence against Palestinians. As well as killings, these attacks have included incidents of physical assault, property damage and harassment.

Hani Odeh, the mayor of a small village in the territory called Qusra, insisted their aim is to drive Palestinians from their home and ultimately from the occupied West Bank.

CNN’s Abeer Salman and Celine Alkhaldi contributed to this report.

Israeli security forces detained 63 alleged “Hamas terror operatives” in military operations that saw more than 80 people detained across the occupied West Bank overnight, the IDF said in a statement on Thursday.

Israeli forces continue to operate in the Nur Shams refugee camp, where five people were apprehended, the statement added.

In Qibya, the IDF said Israeli forces had demolished the residence of a man it claimed was “a Hamas terrorist” responsible for an attack that killed an Israeli soldier in July.

One Palestinian was shot in clashes with Israeli forces the town of Burdus, it said.

Read more about the growing tensions in the West Bank here.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, left, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Israel, on October 19.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday his country is fighting an “axis of evil” led by Iran.

Netanyahu said Israel was embarking on a “long war” and needed the UK’s “continuous support.”

Britain supported Israel’s “right to defend itself in line with international law,” Sunak said, while also adding to calls for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza.

He added: “We also recognize that the Palestinian people are victims of Hamas too and that is why I welcome your decision yesterday to ensure that routes into Gaza will be opened for humanitarian aid to enter.”

US President Joe Biden has returned home from his high-stakes visit to Israel, which threatened to be derailed by the fury and confusion surrounding a large explosion at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital on the eve of his arrival, which triggered protests across the Arab world.

Biden was engaged in a difficult balancing act: Seeking to offer support to an ally traumatized by Hamas’ brutal terror attack on October 7, while also trying to prevent Israel’s response from fueling a war across the region. And so he tempered his words of support with a call for restraint.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is in Israel on Thursday and was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.

Here are the latest developments:

More than 3,500 people have been killed and more than 12,000 injured in Gaza since October 7, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said Thursday.

In the occupied West Bank, 69 people have been killed and more than 1,300 injured, according to the health ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.

Hassan Yousef, leader of the Hamas Islamist movement in the West Bank, speaks to the media after he was released from Israeli prison, in the West Bank city of Ramallah on January 19, 2014.

Israeli forces detained prominent Hamas spokesperson Sheikh Hassan Yousef in his home in the Occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to a statement from the Palestinian Prisoners Club, a non-governmental organization that says it is dedicated to addressing the concerns of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and detention centers.

“Occupation forces arrested Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef from his home in Beitunia, as part of a wide-scale arrest campaign in the occupation West Bank,” the statement said.

Who is Sheikh Hassan Yousef: He is a leading Palestinian political figure, serving as the official Hamas spokesperson in the West Bank and holding a seat on the Palestinian Legislative Council. He acted as spokesperson during the first intifada and was a regular guest in international media in 1993. He has been arrested by Israeli forces on several occasions and has spent a total of 24 years in Israeli jails on various charges of incitement, entering Jerusalem without permission and for being a Hamas member.

Just on Wednesday, Yousef participated in a protest in the West Bank, expressing deep admiration for the Palestinian people, and urging unity among all Palestinian factions, according to a video obtained by CNN.

It is unclear what the reasons were for his detention and whether they were related to his remarks during the protest.

At least 120 Palestinians were arrested on Thursday morning, and a total of 850 Palestinians have been detained in the occupied West Bank since October 7, according to the club statement Thursday.

The arrests include lawmakers, prominent figures, journalists, and former detainees who have served extended terms in Israeli jails, it said.

“There is a massive Israeli operation to arrest Palestinians,” Mustafa Barghouti, president of the Palestinian National Initiative, told CNN. “And every night, they are conducting more and more arrests. The number of Palestinian prisoners now in Israeli jails is up to 6,300.”

Barghouti added, “They’re not charged, they’re not taken to court. They’re no due legal process and that’s what they call administrative detention, including no less than 200 children who are now in Israeli jails.”

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment on Yousef’s detention.

Read more.

The father of a child from the al-Majaida family killed when an Israeli air strike hit their home carries their body during a funeral in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 19.

An entire city block in Khan Younis was decimated by airstrikes on Thursday, according to Dr. Mohammad Zaqout, the general director of Gaza hospitals and the director of Al-Nasser Medical Center in the southern Gaza city.

Rescue workers are “working tirelessly” to find the missing, he added.

Remember: Many Palestinians fled to southern Gaza earlier this week after Israel’s military told 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes immediately, as it appeared to prepare to ramp up retaliation for Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks.

U.S. President Joe Biden, left, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to discuss the the war between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 18.

 US President Joe Biden left for home after seven hours in the Israeli war zone with an increasingly tense Middle East in worse shape than when he arrived.

Biden told reporters on Air Force One that he was satisfied he got a job done – notably on the issue of unblocking humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza, which has been under heavy Israeli bombardment since the horrific Hamas terror attacks on October 7.

But his mission also showed the limits of US leverage in a region on the brink of wider violence as conflicting narratives between Israel and Arab states about a blast at a hospital in Gaza City believed to have killed hundreds of people deepened the crisis.

The president did accomplish one key goal of his mission – expressing his deep respect for Israel, movingly shouldering the country’s trauma and grief and invoking Holocaust analogies in vowing to stand forever with the Jewish people.

But he also pleaded with Israeli leaders not to allow the rage over the killings of “your fathers, your grandparents, sons, daughters, children, even babies” to blur the clarity over their objectives in trying to destroy Hamas.

The president drew a firm distinction between Palestinian people and their radical Hamas rulers, whom he accused of using civilians as human shields for weapons and tunnels, and bemoaned the “innocent” lives lost in Gaza after days of Israeli bombardments.

But as protests over the hospital blast raced across the region, the dire possibility of Israel’s war with Hamas escalating beyond its borders loomed even larger when Biden climbed aboard Air Force One to fly home on Wednesday. The president admitted to reporters that his emergency mission had been a risk but insisted he had pulled off a success.

Still, given the huge political investment of American prestige and leverage involved in a sudden presidential trip, it’s fair to raise the question of what exactly Biden’s trip delivered.

More analysis of Biden’s trip

Jordan’s King Abdullah II has departed on a short visit to Cairo, Egypt’s capital, to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, according to Jordan’s Royal Court. 

“His Majesty King Abdullah II departs on a short visit to Cairo, during which His Majesty will meet with Egypt President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to discuss means of ending the Israeli aggression on Gaza,” the Royal Court said in a social media post.

The king had been set to welcome US President Joe Biden to Amman, his country’s capital, on Wednesday, along with other Middle Eastern leaders.

But Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority canceled the planned meeting with Biden less than 24 hours before he was set to arrive for the four-way summit.

The cancelation followed a blast in Gaza’s Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital. Palestinian officials accused Israel of hitting the hospital amid its ongoing airstrikes in Gaza.

But Israel laid out evidence that it said shows a misfire by militant group Islamic Jihad caused the blast, and Biden on Wednesday backed that explanation, citing US intelligence. A spokesperson for the National Security Council later said that analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open-source information suggested that Israel is “not responsible.”

A State Department official has resigned from the agency over the Biden administration’s approach to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza, the official announced on LinkedIn Wednesday.  

Josh Paul – who says he has worked in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (PM) for more than 11 years – said in his LinkedIn post that he resigned “due to a policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel.” 

The official described the administration’s response as “disappointing” and “entirely unsurprising.”

Paul said that he cannot work to support a set of policy decisions that include sending over arms, which he believes to be “shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse.”

In an interview with the New York Times, the former State Department official said legal guardrails that are intended to keep American weapons out of the hands of human rights violators are failing, as the US backs Israel while the nation has cut of water, food, medical care and electricity in Gaza.

“There’s a moment where you can say, OK, well, you know, it’s out of my hands, but I know Congress is going to push back,” he told the Times. “But in this instance, there isn’t any significant pushback likely from Congress, there isn’t any other oversight mechanism, there isn’t any other forum for debate, and that’s part of what got into my decision making.”

Reached for comment, a State Department spokesperson told CNN the agency declines to comment on “personnel matters.”

Sderot, Israel, on October 19.

Every now and then, a cat walks down the empty road of Sderot, trying to find food in this deserted place.

The people of Sderot are long gone. The town of 30,000 people, just a kilometer from Gaza, was evacuated as Israel gears up for the next stage of its war with Hamas, whatever that may be.

Every few minutes, the silence is interrupted by loud, earthy thuds coming from the direction of the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has been pounding the enclave with strikes since Hamas launched a deadly terror attack on Israel on October 7 which killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians.

Sderot was one of the first towns to be attacked by Hamas. Dozens of people — civilians and local police — were killed in the ambush in the early hours of that Saturday. Hamas fired hundreds of rockets into Sderot over the past few days.

These attacks continue even now. The intensity of the fight is clearly visible in Sderot. The local police station has been razed to the ground by the IDF after a group of Hamas fighters was holed up there. The battle went on for more than a day and the entire area is now destroyed.

Just up the road, children’s playground stands abandoned. The kids may not return for some time.

Watch CNN’s report from the “ghost town” of Sderot.

Israeli President Herzog, right, meets with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in Jerusalem, Israel, on October 19.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Thursday, according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

The spokesperson said Sunak “expressed his personal condolences for the horrific loss of life in Israel as a result of Hamas’ terrorism” and “reiterated that the UK stands in solidarity with Israel and firmly believes in the country’s right to self-defense in line with international law.”

Sunak and Herzog “agreed on the importance of getting urgent humanitarian support to ordinary Palestinians in Gaza who are also suffering,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Sunak “conveyed his gratitude to President Herzog for the support Israel has provided to British nationals caught up in the attacks, including to the families of those who have been taken hostage,” the statement said.

Middle East tour: Meanwhile, the UK’s Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is traveling to meet leaders in Egypt, Turkey and Qatar to “help prevent the spread of conflict across the region,” the UK’s foreign ministry announced Wednesday.

Cleverly will discuss the opening of the Rafah crossing and securing the release of hostages taken by Hamas, the foreign ministry said.

The Israeli military has not ruled out the possibility there may still be Hamas militants in Israel after the attack on October 7, a spokesperson for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said in a briefing Thursday.

The IDF spent days trying to secure the border between Israel and Gaza, which Hamas breached on October 7, allowing armed militants to pour into Israel and mount an attack that killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands more wounded.

People carry the body of a victim killed during an Israeli bombardment in Rafah, southern Gaza, on October 19.

At least 30 people were killed and dozens injured in Israeli airstrikes on several parts of Rafah Thursday morning, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

The wounded had been transferred to a local hospital in Rafah, WAFA said.

When CNN contacted the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment, the IDF sent a statement posted on its Telegram account on Thursday.

In the statement, the IDF said it continued to strike in the Gaza Strip, targeting hundreds of Hamas structures over the last day, including positions for anti-tank missiles and intelligence infrastructure.

Hamas operatives were targeted, and more than 10 were killed in a “precision aerial strike,” including Rafat Harb Hussein Abu Hilal, the head of the military branch of the “Popular Resistance Committees” in Rafah.

Some context: Rafah, which lies in the south of the Gaza Strip, has become the focus of much of the diplomacy in the region in recent days. The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is the last available exit for Palestinians attempting to flee the Strip – and the only available point of entry for aid trying to enter it.

Late Wednesday evening, Egypt agreed to allow aid trucks into Gaza.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has notified the families of 203 people that it believes are being held hostage by Hamas, spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told journalists at a briefing Thursday.

The military had varying degrees of confidence in its assessment – and said it could not be certain about the total number of hostages being held in Gaza.

In the same briefing, Hagari said that the military had notified the families of 306 soldiers who have been killed since the Hamas attack on October 7.

Some context: A spokesperson for Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a video statement last week that the number of hostages captured by Hamas during the attack on Israel was at least between 200-250.

Hamas released the first video of one of the hostages last week: Mia Schem, a 21-year-old French-Israeli woman. In the video, Schem said she was injured and had been taken into Gaza, then begged to be returned home to her family.

Xi Jinping attends a forum on China's Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 18.

A two-state solution to establish an independent Palestine is the “fundamental way out” of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Xi Jinping said Thursday in the Chinese leader’s first public comments on the war since it broke out nearly two weeks ago.

Xi, who made the comments in a meeting with Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly in Beijing, said China is willing to work with Egypt and Arab nations to “promote a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue,” according to CCTV.

The Egyptian leader was in Beijing to attend the Belt and Road Forum, a high-profile event marking a decade of Xi’s ambitious and controversial global infrastructure initiative.

Xi said the fundamental way to resolve the conflict is “to implement the ‘two-state solution,’ establish an independent Palestinian state and achieve peaceful coexistence” between the two sides.

China appreciates Egypt’s “important” role in “cooling down” the situation and supports Egypt’s efforts to open humanitarian corridors, Xi was quoted by CCTV as saying.

But Beijing’s refusal to condemn Hamas has prompted anger and a deep sense of disappointment from Israel – as well as criticism from US officials.

Some context: The two-state solution is a proposed framework for resolving the conflict between Israel and Palestine by establishing two states for the two peoples: Israel for the Jewish people and Palestine for the Palestinian people.

The framework was set out under the Oslo Accords – a breakthrough agreement negotiated by Israeli and Palestinian leaders. But while the agreement was seen to herald progress and peace that had long eluded the negotiations, the process soon broke down.

Three Palestinians were shot dead during clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry. 

“Three citizens were martyred by occupation gunfire this morning,” it said in a statement on Thursday. 

The Palestine Red Crescent Society claimed most of the injuries are consistent with wounds caused by live bullets. 

Clashes with Israeli forces were reported in Bethlehem, Tubas, Tulkarm, Ni’lin, and Qalqilya, the society added. 

Rishi Sunak arrives at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 19.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak arrived in Israel on Thursday ahead of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.

The prime minister’s official account also posted about the visit, writing that Sunak is in Israel to meet the country’s leaders, as well as leaders of “the wider region.”

“The UK is working to ensure Hamas’ terrorism is not a catalyst for further escalation. All efforts must be made to prevent further loss of innocent lives,” the post said.

Getting aid into Gaza will be “an absolute marathon,” a regional representative for the World Health Organization said on Thursday following a deal made between US President Joe Biden and his Egyptian counterpart.

Speaking to CNN, Dr. Richard Brennan, the WHO’s Regional Emergency Director for the Eastern Mediterranean Region, said there were “a lot of complexities to getting this aid operation going.”

On Wednesday, Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi agreed to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza for humanitarian aid, according to Biden.

“It’s a start,” Brennan said of the up to 20 trucks being allowed through under the initial agreement.

The aim is to get up to 100 trucks of aid distributed per day, Brennan added.

“This is not a sprint. This is just the start. This is a marathon. An absolute marathon,” he said. “We hope it’s not a non-starter.”

Brennan also noted that the need for aid has escalated as water shortages have impacted Gazans.

“We’re hearing figures now that suddenly people only have three liters of clean water per person per day,” said Brennan, adding that an “absolute minimum” was 15 liters for drinking, cooking and basic hygiene.

Several countries are urging their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon.

Since last Saturday, at least 13 people have been killed as fighting continues on Lebanon’s southern border with Israel where Hezbollah holds sway. In recent days, there has been a “significant escalation” by Hezbollah in its skirmishes with Israel, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CNN’s John Vause on Thursday.

Australia

Australia issued a “do not travel” advisory for Lebanon on Thursday, according to an update posted on its government travel website.

“We’ve updated our travel advice for Lebanon and now advise do not travel due to the volatile security situation and the risk of the security situation deteriorating further,” the advisory read. “Terrorist attacks could occur anytime and anywhere, including in Beirut.”

The advisory added that in a “deteriorating security situation,” the government’s ability to assist citizens to depart Lebanon will be “very limited.”

UK

The UK Foreign Office updated its travel guidance on Wednesday, advising against all travel to Lebanon.

“You are advised against all travel to the whole of Lebanon. If you are currently in Lebanon, we encourage you to leave now while commercial options remain available,” the FCDO said in its latest update.

France

France on Wednesday also advised against travel to Lebanon amid “security tensions in the region.”

US

On Tuesday, the US Department of State issued a travel advisory raising Lebanon’s status to Level 4: Do Not Travel, citing “the unpredictable security situation related to rocket, missile, and artillery exchanges between Israel and Hizballah or other armed militant factions.”

The advisory came a day before Pro-Palestinian demonstrators had skirmishes with police near the US Embassy in Awkar, which is just north of the capital Beirut.

Canada

The Canadian government warned its citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon “due to a deteriorating security situation, civil unrest, the increased risk of terrorist attack and the ongoing armed conflict with Israel.” 

Canada issued the travel notice Monday night, advising citizens the security situation in Lebanon was “volatile” and could deteriorate without warning.

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus during an interview with CNN on Thursday.

There has been a “significant escalation” by Hezbollah in its skirmishes with Israel in recent days, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Hezbollah has fired numerous anti-tank missiles from Lebanon into Israel, targeting both military and civilian positions and inflicting casualties on both groups, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CNN’s John Vause on Thursday.

Conricus added that Hezbollah has also attempted to infiltrate Israel and has been thwarted by the IDF.   

Hezbollah said it conducted six attacks on Israeli military posts all along the Lebanese border on Wednesday using guided missiles, machine guns and 57-mm mortars.

A Palestinian man inspects a destroyed house belonging to the Al-Jazzar family after an airstrike that killed eight people in Palestinian Territories, Rafah on October 18.

Ibrahim Wadi, 62, and his son Ahmad, 24, were on their way to a funeral for four Palestinians shot dead by Israeli settlers in their occupied West Bank community when their car came under attack.

The father and son were driving through the small village of Qusra, just south of Nablus, which has become a focal point of violence over recent days, when they themselves were fired upon by armed settlers Thursday. Family members told CNN that the men were transferred to a nearby hospital and died of their wounds soon after.

They are among at least 61 people, including children, to be killed in the occupied West Bank since October 7, when Hamas launched its unprecedented, surprise assault on Israel, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health there. More than 1,250 have been injured.

Hamas’ attack has left more than 1,400 people dead in Israel, mostly civilians, with at least 199 believed to be held hostage inside Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel announced a “complete siege” of the enclave in response, carrying out widespread airstrikes across the Gaza Strip that left at least 3,478 people dead and threatening a ground invasion, according to the health ministry in Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas. Meanwhile, tensions are mounting in the West Bank, where Palestinians have been killed in confrontations with both Israeli forces and settlers.

Hani Odeh, Qusra’s mayor, told CNN that settlers roam freely in the village under the protection of Israeli police. He said he had informed a member of COGAT, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, that he was going to attend the funeral, along with Ahmad and Ibrahim.

A few hours beforehand, the Israeli official told him to take a different route than the one they would usually take, to avoid settlers in the area. But to Odeh’s surprise, the road to which they were diverted was filled with settlers, who eventually shot and killed Ahmad and Ibrahim in their car.

Odeh told CNN he watched the attack happen from his own vehicle while Israeli soldiers patrolled the street. He went up to one officer, urging him to disperse the settlers, but no one did anything. He said it felt like a trap.

CNN reached out to COGAT and the IDF for comment on Odeh’s claims but has yet to receive a response.

Read more about the tense situation in the West Bank

Joe Biden talks to reporters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, on October 18, as he travels back from Israel to Washington.

President Joe Biden is back in the US after spending seven hours in the Israeli war zone Wednesday. His plane touched down at Andrews Air Force Base at 12:14 a.m. ET Thursday

The president told reporters aboard Air Force One that he was satisfied with the trip and accomplished a key objective: unblocking humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza, which has been under heavy Israeli bombardment since the horrific Hamas terror attacks on October 7.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel had agreed to allow humanitarian assistance to cross from Egypt into Gaza, but he added that Israel will not allow supplies into Gaza from its own territory until Hamas releases all hostages.

The US also announced $100 million in humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza and the West Bank “through trusted partners including UN agencies and international NGOs.”

Biden is scheduled to give a primetime address Thursday evening, where he plans to argue the US should continue funding wars in both Israel and Ukraine, according to two administration officials.

Egypt and Israel have signaled readiness for aid to begin moving into Gaza, following a high-profile visit to Israel by US President Joe Biden.

The glimmer of hope for civilian relief in Gaza comes after Tuesday’s devastating hospital blast in the enclave that likely killed hundreds and infuriated the region.

Here’s what you need to know:

Joe Biden delivers remarks in Tel Aviv on October 18.

President Joe Biden plans to argue the US should continue funding wars in both Israel and Ukraine during an Oval Office address Thursday, according to two administration officials.

The primetime address will take place the eve of the White House requesting north of $100 billion from Congress to deliver aid and resources to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and the US border with Mexico. Biden is expected to make the argument that supporting Israel and Ukraine is a matter of US national security at a time when the world is at an inflection point.

Public opinion has been mixed on the conflicts. In a recent CNN poll, nearly all respondents were sympathetic with the Israeli people in the wake of surprise attacks launched by Hamas, but there was no clear consensus on the right level of US involvement. One-third (35%) said the US is providing the right amount of assistance — and another 36% were unsure whether the level of US assistance is appropriate. The US has long provided security assistance with Israel, which receives roughly $4 billion annually under a 10-year memorandum of understanding. The new request would provide billions more.

By contrast, support to sustain aid to Ukraine has waned significantly. An August CNN poll found 55% of respondents said Congress should not pass more funding to aid Ukraine. The partisan divide has been deepening, too: Nearly three-quarters of Republicans opposed more funding for Ukraine, while 62% of Democrats supported it.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the White House and Congress have provided more than $75 billion in funding to Kyiv, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

The Biden administration in August delivered its last so-called supplemental funding request, which encapsulates unique requests beyond traditional government programs. The proposal requested $24.1 billion to aid Ukraine through the end of the year, but Congress failed to approve it during a process to greenlight short-term federal funding.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pledged to European leaders that the US would be able to secure support for additional aid and, in an interview with Sky News, said Washington could afford financing two wars at once.

The video released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shows the scene at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza a day after the deadly blast.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Wednesday released drone video recorded over the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza a day after the deadly blast.

During the video an Israeli drone operator can be heard describing in Hebrew the layout of hospital buildings.

“This here, there is nothing here,” the drone operator says, according to a CNN translation.

Gaza officials have blamed Israel for the blast, which the Palestinian Ministry of Health says killed hundreds of civilians.

But the IDF rejected the allegation, claiming the blast was caused by a “failed rocket launch” by Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants.

CNN cannot independently confirm what caused the explosion.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and US President Joe Biden discussed in a phone call Wednesday ways to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, the Egyptian Presidency said in a statement.

The talks between the two leaders focused “on the humanitarian situation in Gaza and ways to facilitate the implementation of humanitarian aid,” according to the statement.

Biden told reporters on Air Force One that Sisi agreed to allow 20 trucks through the key crossing.

Egypt’s statement said officials in the two nations are coordinating with international humanitarian organizations — supervised by the United Nations — to deliver aid.

“Biden expresses his thanks and appreciation for the efforts of the Egyptian leadership towards achieving peace and stability in the region,” the Egyptian statement said.

Rafah crossing: Following his high-stakes trip to Israel, Biden said Sisi had agreed to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza to 20 trucks filled with humanitarian aid.

The road into Gaza had to be fixed and potholes filled before the trucks could pass, Biden said. He said it would take about eight hours on Thursday to get the work done, and he expected the trucks to be rolling Friday. 

The crossing would open only to get aid in, Biden said, not for evacuations. 

Biden said earlier that Israel had agreed that humanitarian assistance can cross into Gaza from Egypt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the aid announcement, but said Israel will not allow supplies into the enclave from its own territory until Hamas releases all hostages.

Israeli forces patrol areas along the Israeli-Gaza border on October 10.

When Hamas militants broke through the Gaza fence in this month’s unprecedented attack on Israel, the kibbutz of Mefalsim — less than 2 miles from the border — was on the front lines. Toting AK-47 rifles and grenade launchers, one group of militants headed straight for the community’s gates, while another group moved to destroy its generator, according to security videos and local residents.

That precision, local Israeli security personnel say, was no accident: The fighters seemed to have known exactly where they were headed.

CNN has reviewed documents that Israeli officials say were Hamas attack plans, which suggest the group collected remarkably granular detail on its targets. But neither of the attacks went according to plan — thanks in part to a handful of volunteer guards who defended their neighbors in dramatic firefights.

Photos of the plan to attack Mefalsim were posted online by an Israeli first responder group, which said it was recovered from the body of a slain Hamas fighter. Two local Israeli security personnel told CNN they independently saw photos of the plan, and it closely matched the Hamas fighters’ tactics during the attack.

The color-coded document includes detailed information about the kibbutz’s guards and security. It says that one group of militants would break through the community’s fence, while others were ordered to “capture soldiers and civilians and to keep hostages” for negotiation.

Yarden Reskin, a member of Mefalsim’s volunteer security force who spent hours exchanging fire with militants — helping prevent any deaths inside the community — said he was shocked by the level of detail.

Read more on the foiled plot on on one kibbutz.

Israel is striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement early Thursday.

A CNN crew in southern Lebanon heard explosions around this time.

Clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah at the Lebanon border this month have raised fears of a wider regional conflict.

Hezbollah — an Iran-backed armed group that is also a regional force in its own right — dominates south Lebanon. It also operates alongside Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, where the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights separates Israel from Tehran-aligned fighters.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah said it had conducted several attacks on Israeli military posts along the Israel-Lebanon border.

The IDF said they would provide more details on Thursday’s strikes.  

Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Wednesday, October 18.

A deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza hours before President Joe Biden was set to leave the White House for the Middle East set off a furious scramble inside his administration as the president’s advisers tried to ascertain who was responsible as street protests against Israel started raging across the Arab world.

Hours later, the president and his national security team were not confident enough to draw a final determination absolving Israel of responsibility. But the initial information they evaluated strongly suggested the Israelis were not behind the strike, serving as a green light for Biden’s motorcade to roll out to Joint Base Andrews late Tuesday afternoon, sources familiar with the internal deliberation told CNN. 

Had the early evidence examined by the president’s team pointed in the other direction, the White House would have been more inclined to reconsider the trip. But advisers were sensitive about reversing course mere hours after the trip was announced by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and in the end, they never came close to canceling the altogether, sources said. 

Read more about the scramble before Biden’s trip.

The situation in Gaza is spiraling “out of control,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Wednesday.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Tedros said WHO supplies have been stuck at the border for four days, adding “every second we wait to get medical aid in, we lose lives.”

He called for the “violence on all sides to stop” and immediate access to “start delivering life-saving supplies” to Gaza.

Some context: On Saturday, Tedros had said that a plane with WHO medical supplies arrived in Egypt close to the Rafah crossing into Gaza.

With Gaza’s sole power plant running out of fuel last week, seawater desalination plants have been shut off, and drinking water is running out for hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Hospitals are facing shortages of medical supplies and, in some cases, have been forced to use makeshift morgues out of ice cream trucks to manage overflow.

US President Joe Biden will deliver a primetime address from the Oval Office today about his country’s “response to Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel and Russia’s ongoing brutal war against Ukraine,” the White House announced Wednesday.

The speech will be delivered at 8 p.m. ET from the Oval Office, the White House said.

Following his high-stakes trip to Israel, Biden said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi agreed to open the Rafah crossing into Gaza to humanitarian aid and allow 20 trucks to enter.

Earlier, Biden announced that Israel agreed that humanitarian assistance can cross into Gaza from Egypt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the aid announcement, but said Israel will not allow supplies into the enclave from its own territory until Hamas releases all hostages.