October 27, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

Izzat al-Rishq, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau, said Friday that Hamas is ready to defeat Israeli forces if they enter the Gaza Strip.

His comments come after Israel announced it was expanding ground operations in the enclave.

Voting results are displayed after the UN General Assembly voted on a resolution that called for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas on October 27.

The United Nations approved a resolution that called for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas on Friday in the face of strident objection from the US and Israel.

A resolution was introduced by Jordan and passed the General Assembly overwhelmingly, with 120 countries voting in favor of the resolution, 14 against and 45 abstained. Applause broke out in the assembly hall when the positive vote count was displayed. 

The resolution calls for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities,” as well as “immediate, full, sustained, safe and unhindered humanitarian access.” It also asks Israel to rescind its recommendation to evacuate northern Gaza.

The resolution urges “the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians who are being illegally held captive,” but does not name Hamas as the captor. 

The US and Israel had denounced the motion, arguing that it did not include explicit criticism of Hamas. In debate around the resolution on Thursday, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said calls for a ceasefire were “not an attempt for peace” but “an attempt to tie Israel’s hands, preventing us from eliminating a huge threat to our citizens.”

Earlier Friday, an amendment introduced by the Canadians and backed by the United States to include harsh language about Hamas in the resolution was rejected by the General Assembly.

The vote comes as the Israel Defense Forces announced earlier Friday it is “expanding ground operations” in the Gaza Strip and “operating forcefully” on all fronts to fulfill its goals in the war with Hamas.

Al Shifa hospital is lit up amid fuel shortages in Gaza City on October 24.

In what appears to be a significant attempt to prepare public opinion ahead of a major ground offensive inside Gaza, the Israeli army has accused the Strip’s largest hospital, Al Shifa, of being the site of a major Hamas command and control center.

Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari accused Hamas of directing rocket attacks and commanding Hamas operations from bunkers underneath the hospital building, which he said was linked to the network of tunnels that Hamas has dug underneath Gaza City.

He claimed other hospitals inside Gaza were also being used by Hamas in similar ways during a media presentation that included aerial photos, graphics and voice recordings,

The army would “continue making efforts to minimize harm to the civilian population,” he added.

Hagari offered only one piece of evidence at the presentation: a phone call purporting to be between two Gazans discussing the presence of Hamas’ headquarters at the hospital. 

He said Israel had more evidence that he could not yet make public, but which had been shared with what he called the intelligence community, which had accepted Israel’s allegations, he said.

Ambulances carrying victims of Israeli strikes crowd the entrance to the emergency ward of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City on October 15.

Palestinians rejected the Israeli army claim.

The Director General of the Gaza Health Ministry, Dr. Medhat Abbas, told CNN’s Eleni Giokos that Gaza’s hospitals, “are used to treat patients only” and are not being used “to hide anyone.”

Hamas also rejected the claim, calling on “the United Nations, Arab and Islamic countries to immediately intervene to stop the madness of bombing and destroying the medical system.”

Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestine National Initiative based in Ramallah said Israel was lying.

And Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian physician who has worked at the hospital on several occasions, including during three periods of open hostilities between Hamas and Israel, called the allegations “old.”

Hagari, the Army spokesperson, also addressed the issue of fuel stocks, which Israel says Hamas continues to divert from civilian purposes towards powering its military campaign. 

Hagari played a voice recording which he said was a conversation between an Israeli army officer and a “senior Gazan energy official” in which the purported energy official says that Hamas has “at least a million liters” of diesel, and that some its fuel is being used to provide ventilation and lighting in tunnels. 

CNN was not immediately able to verify the authenticity of either of the two recordings presented.

On Thursday, a World Health Organization spokesperson told CNN that more than one-third of hospitals in Gaza and nearly two-thirds of primary health care clinics have shut down due to damage from hostilities or lack of fuel.

People who have family in Gaza tell CNN they have not been able to contact them after communications went down in the enclave following heavy airstrikes.

Jawwal, the Palestinian telecom company that provides mobile service to the Gaza Strip released a statement Friday night saying “the intense bombardment in the past hour has resulted in the destruction of all remaining international routes connecting Gaza with the outside world” leading to a “complete interruption of telecommunications services”. 

Said Alhayek, 42, from Las Vegas, said he has not been able to reach his family in Gaza.  

Adli Anwar, 57, who is living in Ottowa, Canada, also said he has no way of communicating with his family.

“I can’t get anything — about three hours ago, we lost all communications, no phones, no internet, nothing. Before it would connect, about 80% of the time, and now it’s zero percent. It doesn’t get to the international line,” Anwar said. 

CNN tried calling several contacts with Gaza numbers over the last hour, both over international calling and over WhatsApp. On the international calls, they either go straight to voicemail or an automated message says “the number you are calling is currently unreachable. Please try again later.” 

WhatsApp and iMessage are not delivering, and when using the internet to call, it just rings endlessly.  

The White House wouldn’t say if Israel had informed the United States before the Israeli Defense Forces announced an expanding ground operation into Gaza on Friday.

He also declined to say if the Biden administration has confidence that Israel has fully considered the ramifications of a ground operation.

Kirby said he was “not going to talk about their decision-making process” or what is unfolding on the ground in Gaza.

“They have to speak to that, and they have to be able to answer the questions about the soundness of their planning and the effectiveness of their execution,” he said.

Still, he said the administration has asked Israel some of the “hard questions.”

“You know, what are the aims? What’s the strategy? What, you know — how and when is this going to end? Because, again, we’ve learned from our own experience that you have to ask those questions,” Kirby said.

In the meantime, Kirby emphasized, the administration has been vocal in raising concerns about civilian casualties in the operation so far. 

A woman looks at a wall in Tel Aviv, Israel, displaying pictures of people held hostage on October 26.

The US has held “active conversations” with Israel about a humanitarian pause to allow for the release of hostages in Gaza, the White House said.

“We’ve been having active conversations with them about that,” Kirby said. 

He said the US would “continue to press with our partners in the region” to see the hostages released.

“If that requires a localized, temporary pause to do it, then we are absolutely supportive of that. We’re in support of whatever effort can be made to get them home safely to their families,” Kirby said.

The White House said it will still continue its work Friday to secure the release of hostages even after the Israel Defense Forces’ announcement of “expanding ground operations” in the Gaza Strip.

What Israel is saying: IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Friday to disregard rumors about a possible deal to release the hostages being held in Gaza.

The official said IDF “will reach and present any credible information” on hostages to the families first when it’s confirmed, and then they will notify the public.

“Until then, don’t surrender to Hamas’ manipulations of psychological terror,” Hagari said.

CNN’s Kyle Blaine contributed reporting to this post.

The White House says it wouldn’t be appropriate for it to weigh in after the Israel Defense Forces announced Friday they are expanding ground operations.

Kirby said he wouldn’t address what Israel is doing on the ground, how they’re doing it or progress they were making.

He did say the US would continue providing Israel military assistance.

He said President Joe Biden is still working to ensure humanitarian aid enters Gaza and civilians who want to leave are able to. Kirby added that an additional 10 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza, bringing the total since the start of the conflict to 84. 

A still from AFP TV footage shows balls of fire rising above Gaza City during an Israeli strike on October 27.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it has “completely lost contact with the operations room in Gaza and all our teams operating there,” according to a statement released Friday following a massive increase in Israeli air strikes on the enclave.

Earlier, Jawwal, the Palestinian telecom company that provides mobile service to the Gaza Strip also said the strikes resulted in a “complete interruption of telecommunications service,” according to a statement.

The Israel Defense Forces’ troops are “operating forcefully” on all fronts in order to fulfill its goals in the war with Hamas, and will “continue striking Gaza City and keep calling upon civilians to evacuate south,” IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Friday.

Asked about a possible deal to release the over 200 hostages being held in Gaza, Hagari told reporters to “disregard rumors,” claiming Hamas is using psychological terror.

On the ground in Israel: As the IDF announced it was expanding ground operations in Gaza, sirens indicating incoming rockets sounded in the Israeli city of Ashkelon Friday night.

A CNN team on the ground heard a loud boom, potentially from Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system intercepting a rocket.

CNN’s Ivana Kottasová contributed reporting to this post.

Explosions in Gaza are seen from the Israel-Gaza border, in Southern Israel, on October 27.

Multiple residents of Gaza tell CNN the airstrikes Friday night were the most intense they have experienced since the beginning of hostilities nearly three weeks ago.

Jawwal, the Palestinian telecom company that provides mobile service to the Gaza Strip released a statement Friday night, saying “the intense bombardment in the past hour has resulted in the destruction of all remaining international routes connecting Gaza with the outside world” leading to a “complete interruption of telecommunications services.”

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told CNN “the world is facing a historic moment ” and needed to act in order to stop the “aggression and massacres” that would come in a potential Israeli incursion.

He accused Israel off cutting communications and internet in the Gaza Strip Friday in an “attempt to create darkness so that crimes can be committed” in preparation for an IDF ground operation.

The IDF would not comment on whether it had cut off telephone and internet service in the coastal enclave. 

Meanwhile, journalist Asmaa Khalil, who is working for CNN in Rafah, said the most intense bombardment of southern Gaza in the past 10 days was heard from the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.

Consecutive artillery fire was heard nonstop for over an hour in Egypt, in addition to an exchange of gunfire. The bombardment and explosions were heard more than 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) away from the Egyptian-Gazan border, Khalil reports. 

Egypt has increased military presence in north Sinai and deployed more troops near the border. Egyptian military aircraft were heard flying over the Egyptian side on Friday.

Remember: Israel is at war with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza and carried out devastating terror attacks in Israel earlier this month.

The Palestinian Authority is a separate government body with limited self-rule in the West Bank. It was established as part of a peace pact between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993.

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

CNN’s Abeer Salman, Asmaa Khalil in Rafah and CNN’s Sarah El Sirganycontributed reporting to this post.

Pakistan's United Nations Ambassador Munir Akram addresses the UN General Assembly in New York on October 27.

UN members are preparing to vote on a resolution calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the war between Israel and Hamas so that humanitarian aid can reach civilians in the battered enclave of Gaza. The vote is expected at 3 p.m. ET.

The draft resolution calls for an “immediate, durable and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities,” as well as “immediate, full, sustained, safe and unhindered humanitarian access.”

The resolution also calls for “the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians who are being illegally held captive” but does not name Hamas as the captor.

Israel’s position: In debate Thursday, Israeli ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan called the resolution “completely devoid of any content related to the situation,” saying calls for a ceasefire were “not an attempt for peace,” but “an attempt to tie Israel’s hands, preventing us from eliminating a huge threat to our citizens.”

Palestinian observer’s position: Ambassador Riyad Mansour, head of the Palestinian Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations, highlighted the climbing death toll among Palestinian civilians, asking the assembly, “Is this the war some of you are defending?” 

There is no explicit criticism of Hamas in the General Assembly resolution currently under debate. Hamas, which controls Gaza, sparked the latest outbreak in violence after its October 7 terror attacks in Israel that left more than 1,400 dead.

“These are omissions of evil and they give cover to and they empower Hamas’s brutality,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, said Friday. “No member state should allow that to happen.”

Canada has offered a last-minute amendment which sharply denounces the militant group. 

A majority of at least two-thirds of member countries present in the General Assembly Hall would need to vote yes for the resolution to pass.

Jordan’s input: Jordanian Foreign Affairs Minister Ayman Safadi urged approval of the pending UN resolution, writing on X that “voting against Arab #UNGA resolution means approving this senseless war, this senseless killing.”

The outcome of the Israeli ground operation “will be a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions for years to come,” he said. “Millions will be watching every vote. History will judge.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Friday that they are “expanding ground operations” in the Gaza Strip, according IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.

“In addition to offensive operations we carried over the past few days, the IDF ground forces are expanding their ground operation this evening,” Hagari said. 

“Hundreds of thousands of IDF soldiers are all around the borders of the state — in the air, ground, and the sea — to protect the state,” he added.

The announcement comes as CNN reports a large series of explosions rocked Gaza City on Friday night.

CNN’s Nic Robertson reports:

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02:54 - Source: CNN

As Israeli strikes on Gaza intensify, US government officials insist talks will continue to pursue hostage negotiations, two officials tell CNN.

One official said earlier talks had seemed closer to moving forward than they do now. But the official insisted they would press for negotiations to continue.

“There’s no scenario until they’re freed that we would stop pursuing talks,” the official said.

A third official said the talks are “tug and pull.”

Smoke is seen over Beit Hanoun in Gaza from the Israel-Gaza border on October 27, in Sderot, Israel.

A large series of explosions rocked Gaza City Friday night, according to CNN’s Nic Robertson who is reporting live near the Israel and Gaza border.

Robertson reports hearing outgoing tank fire as well as “unusual, intense and sustained” military activity for the past couple of hours.

“There have been huge rounds of outgoing tank fire from where we are,” he said reporting from Sderot. “Round after round of artillery fire going into Gaza as well. Multiple impacts reported in Gaza and Gaza City.”

Robertson said that about an hour ago, the CNN team saw a “huge wall of smoke literally blow in off of Gaza.” He reported that it smelled like the kind of cover smoke that could be used for military operations.

Israeli television has been showing live images of outgoing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Defense Forces has not commented on the uptick in military activity or whether there has been a scaling up of their operations targeting Hamas.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it conducted more “targeted raids” within Gaza for a second straight night, aiming to destroy Hamas infrastructure.

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, in response to its October 7 deadly terror attacks in which 1,400 people were killed and more than 200 others taken hostage.

While sources told CNN on Friday that progress has been made in hostage negotiations, issues still remain.

In Gaza, the main United Nations agency aiding Palestinians said that food and water are running out, with the enclave “on the brink of a massive health hazard.”

Here are some of the main developments:

“A breakthrough” in hostage negotiations: There has been “significant progress” on Qatar-led negotiations to release hostages held by Hamas but issues still remain, diplomatic sources familiar with the negotiations told CNN. 

The US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Barbara Leaf is in Doha for meetings with Qatar’s leadership, a person familiar with the meetings said. 

IDF raids inside Gaza: Israeli troops conducted “targeted raids” inside Gaza for a second consecutive night before withdrawing, the Israel Defense Forces said in statement Friday. It comes one day after the IDF said it carried out a raid with tanks in northern Gaza as “part of preparations for the next stages of combat.”

The raids targeted Hamas infrastructure, including “anti-tank missile launch sites, military command and control centers, as well as Hamas terrorists,” the IDF said.

UN agency warns of hunger and disease: The head of the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned Friday that hunger and disease are rapidly becoming a major issue in Gaza and said more aid was urgently needed in the enclave.

Philippe Lazzarini said current aid levels were “nothing more than crumbs,” and would make little difference for the more than 2 million people living in Gaza. In addition to living in fear of Israeli airstrikes, Lazzarini said the people of Gaza were now facing the growing threat of hunger and disease.

Eight more aid trucks are expected to enter Gaza, the UN said. And a 10-person team of medical staff and experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) crossed into Gaza on Friday, the organization said in a statement. The ICRC’s regional director said this will provide a “small dose of relief, but it’s not enough.”

Since October 7, more than 7,300 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to figures released Friday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah drawn from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave. More than 18,500 people have been injured. Twelve of the enclave’s 34 hospitals are no longer functioning, the ministry said, adding that about 25 ambulances had been destroyed.

Scuffles at al-Aqsa mosque: The atmosphere near the al-Aqsa mosque is getting tense, according to a CNN team on the ground. Israeli police are strictly regulating who can enter the compound, only letting a selected few through the Lion’s Gate entrance to the site.

Police were not giving any reasons for denying people access, which is creating more tension. At one point, a scuffle between worshippers and the police heated up, with officers forcefully pushing people out of the alleyway leading to the compound.

The compound, frequently a flashpoint in tensions, is home to one of Islam’s most revered sites but also the holiest site in Judaism, known as the Temple Mount.

The complex lies in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state and which most of the international community considers to be occupied territory. Israel captured it from Jordan in a 1967 war and considers both East and West Jerusalem as its united, “eternal capital.”

Police didn’t give any specific answers to questions from CNN about why some people were not allowed to enter. After witnessing several police officers pushing an elderly woman out of the way, the CNN team was told to leave and was also pushed away.

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There has been “significant progress” on negotiations to release hostages held by Hamas but there are issues still remaining, diplomatic sources familiar with the negotiations told CNN. 

The US Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Barbara Leaf is in Doha for meetings with Qatar’s leadership, a person familiar with the meetings said. 

Asked about the status of the negotiations, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant commented at a news conference on Thursday, saying, “every channel is a possible channel.”

“One thing should be clear — we have a goal and I trust the State of Israel and the IDF … and we’ll keep doing every effort to bring the hostages and the missing back,” Gallant said. 

Meanwhile, a Western official familiar with the hostage negotiations told CNN that there is still optimism around a possible release, but there is also recognition that the clock is ticking. The official indicated the talks have made progress but noted Israel won’t delay a ground operation for much longer.

A US official told CNN there has been progress on the hostages, but it’s still “all very touch and go.” The official voiced caution around the idea that there has been a “breakthrough.”

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Catherine Colonna leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on October 18.

Aid must be allowed into Gaza “as soon as possible” with “hundreds” of trucks needed every day, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Friday in an interview with French radio station RTL. 

The French government announced a flight of 50 tons of aid Thursday for Gaza, which includes medicines, food aid and tents, a French foreign ministry source said on Friday, adding that the population of Gaza has “enormous and growing needs”.

The lack of a guarantee of French aid being allowed into Gaza is the largest obstacle facing aid operations, the source said, adding there is “no special treatment for French aid.”

The aid flight is due to take off tomorrow for Egypt, the source said, following delays in finding aircraft and logistical equipment suitable for the hub that Egyptian authorities have dedicated to Gazan aid.

This material aid is in addition to 20 million euros ($21.1 million) of French financial aid, split between multilateral international organizations and international NGOs already working in Gaza, the source added. 

A French helicopter carrier, the “Tonnerre,” is en route to the eastern Mediterranean, a French military source confirmed, following the government’s announcement that it will support the work of Gazan hospitals. 

Colonna also said that there were 170 people in Gaza whose safety France wanted to ensure, including some 50 French citizens, including NGO workers, along with their families and workers at the French cultural center in Gaza. 

Some context: Colonna’s call for aid comes after the EU announced they would provide an additional 50 million euros (around $52 million USD) ) in humanitarian aid for Gaza. 

EU leaders are meeting on Friday for the second day of the summit held in Brussels to discuss various issues including the crisis in the Middle East. European leaders have previously called for a humanitarian “pause” to provide aid but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The first trucks carrying aid entered Gaza via the Rafah crossing on Saturday, but international leaders have warned that much more is needed to combat the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the enclave that holds more than 2 million people.

People gather as smoke rises from a residential apartment building after a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel landed in Tel Aviv, Israel, on October 27.

Paramedics and emergency staff are treating three individuals in Tel Aviv, Israeli emergency services Magen David Adom (MDA) said Friday, after a rocket struck a building in the south of the city.

The Reuters news agency has been showing live pictures of a four-story building with damage to several top-floor apartments.

The MDA statement said a 20-year-old man suffering head and limb injuries was being treated in hospital. Two other casualties had suffered mild injuries,” the statement said. 

The strike followed a statement from Hamas’s Al Qassam Brigades declaring it had, “renewed the bombing of Tel Aviv in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians.”

Workers gather as trucks carrying aid arrive at the Palestinian side of the border with Egypt in Rafah, Gaza, on October 21.

Eight more aid trucks are expected to enter Gaza, according to the UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“We have seen some deliveries of trucks starting. They started on the 21st of October. We have gotten in approximately 74 trucks. We’re expecting another eight or so today,” Lynn Hastings said at a press briefing on Friday.

For context, Hastings said that there were 450 trucks going into Gaza before October 7 under strict restrictions “in terms of goods being able to get into Gaza.” 

“We are down now to approximately 12. So, from 450 down to 12,” she added, saying it is “clearly not sufficient.”

Hastings went on to say that delays have been caused by screenings of the trucks. “In addition to the technical issues and the security issues, there are political issues as well,” she said, adding that there is also “a certain amount of pressure on the government of Israel in terms of its domestic politics.” 

“That delays things just also in terms of the maximum number that I think the government of Israel is prepared to allow us to bring in. So, it’s technical and political security. All of those issues are at play,” said Hastings. 

A 10-person team of medical staff and experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) crossed into Gaza on Friday, the organization said in a statement.

The ICRC’s regional director said this will provide a “small dose of relief, but it’s not enough.”

“Safe, sustained humanitarian access is urgently needed,” said Fabrizio Carboni, in a statement. “This humanitarian catastrophe is deepening by the hour.”

Among the supplies ICRC has taken into Gaza are war surgery kits and equipment to treat people with wounds suffered in conflict. The ICRC said it had enough equipment to treat several thousand people, depending on their injuries, adding it had also sent in water purification supplies that would enable the treatment of 50,000 liters of water.

Scuffles broke out between Israeli police and Muslim worshippers wishing to pray at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City just after midday on Friday.

A group of heavily armed police officers sealed off an entrance to the compound near the city’s Lion’s Gate, at times aggressively pushing people away with batons.

People who were turned away told CNN they were not given any reason why they were not allowed to attend the prayer service at the mosque.

They told CNN they believed “the officers’ mood” was the decisive factor. CNN witnessed numerous incidents of officers pushing people away after they approached the entrance and asked why they were not allowed in.

Several of the people pushed in this way were older women. CNN did not see any worshippers initiating a physical altercation or trying to push their way into the compound.

Police didn’t give any specific answers to questions from CNN about why some people were not allowed to enter.

There appeared to be disagreements between different officers on who should be allowed in and who should be turned away.

After witnessing several police officers pushing an elderly woman out of the way, the CNN team was also told to leave and was also pushed away.

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) holds a news conference in Jerusalem on October 27.

The head of the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned Friday that hunger and disease are rapidly becoming a major issue in Gaza and said more aid was urgently needed in the enclave.

Philippe Lazzarini said current aid levels were “nothing more than crumbs,” and would make little difference for the more than 2 million people living in Gaza. 

In addition to living in fear of Israeli airstrikes, Lazzarini said the people of Gaza were now facing the growing threat of hunger and disease.

Palestinians take shelter in a UN-run school and receive aid distributed by the United Nations, in Khan Younis, Gaza, on October 23.

Aid efforts thus far had been woefully insufficient, he said.

The head of UNRWA also criticized the questioning of where aid would end up if allowed into Gaza.

“It pains me that humanitarian aid, a very basic right for people, is constantly questioned while at the same time, despair is live-streamed under our watch,” he said, explaining that UNRWA has very strict mechanisms in place. “All our vendors and partners are vetted against the sanctions list. We give aid to those who need it most. Our convoys and their routes are notified and deconflicted. 

“UNRWA does not and will not divert any humanitarian aid into the wrong hands,” he vowed, addressing Israel’s complaints that transfers into Gaza are often diverted by Hamas and put to military use.

Lazzarini reiterated his call for fuel to be allowed into Gaza so that basic services – bakeries, the water plant, hospitals – could continue to operate and so that UNRWA could continue its work. 

“Over the last few days, UNRWA has drastically limited its consumption of fuel. This came at a cost. Our team had to make tough decisions that no humanitarian worker should do,” he said without detailing what those decisions had been. “A few days ago, I warned that we will not be able to continue our humanitarian operations if we do not get fuel supply. My warning still stands.”

Lazzarini also lamented deaths among UNRWA staff. According to the UNRWA Commissioner-General, 57 of the organization’s workers in Gaza have died since the war between Israel and Hamas started.

Israeli border police watch as Muslim worshippers arrive at the Lion's Gate to make their way to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound for noon prayer on October 27.

Friday midday prayers are about to begin in Jerusalem and the atmosphere near the al-Aqsa mosque is getting tense, a CNN team on the ground reports.

Israeli police are strictly regulating who can come into the compound, only letting a selected few through the Lion’s Gate entrance to the site.

Police are not giving any reasons for denying people access, which is creating more tension.

At one point, a scuffle between worshippers and the police heated up, with officers forcefully pushing people out of the alleyway leading to the compound.

CNN witnessed a group of heavily armed police officers aggressively pushing a young woman out of the way as she tried to film the situation on her phone.

The police then cleared the entire area of people and appeared to be preventing young people in particular from entering the site.

The CNN team was also ordered to leave the area.

The midday congregational prayers — the most important moment of the week for Muslims — are about to begin.

Some context: The al-Aqsa Mosque is located in the Old City, in East Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope will one day become the capital of a future Palestinian state. Much of the international community considers it to be occupied territory.

Israel captured the land from Jordan in a 1967 war and considers the whole of Jerusalem as sovereign Israeli territory.

The compound, frequently a flashpoint in tensions, is home to one of Islam’s most revered sites but also the holiest site in Judaism, known as the Temple Mount.

The Israeli military conducts ground raids in Gaza on October 27 in this still taken from a handout video.

Israeli troops conducted “targeted raids” inside Gaza for a second consecutive night before withdrawing, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in statement Friday.

Video published by the IDF showed tanks and armored vehicles moving on a road near agricultural land as well as strikes on buildings and open areas.

The raid, which included aircraft and artillery strikes in the Shaja’iyah neighborhood, targeted Hamas infrastructure including “anti-tank missile launch sites, military command and control centers, as well as Hamas terrorists,” the IDF said.

It comes one day after the IDF said it carried out a raid with tanks in northern Gaza as “part of preparations for the next stages of combat.”

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, in response to its October 7 deadly terror attacks and kidnap rampage in which 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and more than 200 others taken hostage.

Souad Al Alem speaks to CNN at a refugee camp in Gaza.

Souad Al-Alem was one of the roughly 10,000 people forced to flee the Palestinian town of al-Majdal. It was 1948, she was a young woman and Israel’s troops were approaching the community during the Arab-Israeli war in what is now part of the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Now in her 90s and living in Gaza, Al-Alem has been forced to run again — one of the hundreds of thousands of civilians caught up in the war.

Just 10 miles north of the Gaza border, not much remains of al-Majdal. Once a buzzing market place known for textile manufacturing, it was reduced to rubble after the 1948/49 war.

All of its houses are long gone, replaced with modern Israeli buildings that are now part of Ashkelon. Only the old mosque remains standing. Nearby, an empty, overgrown field gives a hint of the size of the former town.

Read the full story.

Ursula von der Leyen speaks during the European Union summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on October 27.

The European Union will provide 50 million euros (around $52 million) in additional humanitarian aid for Gaza, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday.

Speaking at a news conference in Brussels following the first day of the EU leaders’ summit, von der Leyen said the first 56 metric tons of aid from the EU have already been delivered to Gaza via two flights to Egypt.

During their meeting Thursday, European leaders expressed concern about the deteriorating situation in Gaza and called for aid to reach those in need via “humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs” — stopping short of calling for a ceasefire.

Von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel both emphasized the bloc’s commitment to addressing the humanitarian crisis.

Asked whether Hamas representatives will be participating in an upcoming conference aimed at resolving the conflict, Michel said he “doesn’t see any role” for the group, citing its designation as a terrorist organization.

The Israel Defense Forces will continue ground raids into Gaza in the coming days to prepare for the next stages of the war against Hamas, spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Thursday.

He said the IDF continues its strikes against Gaza from air and sea, and is focusing on killing senior Hamas commanders and destroying Hamas infrastructure.

“There will be more,” vowed Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at a news briefing Thursday.

Gallant’s comments echoed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address on Wednesday, during which he said Israel is “raining down hellfire on Hamas” and “preparing for a ground incursion.”

Here’s what else you need to know:

Members of the European Council speak as they attend the European Union leaders summit, in Brussels, Belgium October 26.

European Union leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday expressed their concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza and called for “aid to reach those in need through all necessary measures.”

Those measures include “humanitarian corridors and pauses for humanitarian needs,” the leaders said.

In their communique on the Middle East, which sets out the position of the EU, leaders also called for “continued, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access” to Gaza.

The call for humanitarian “pauses” stops short of calling for a ceasefire, which several European leaders have previously ruled out.

The 27 heads of state and government agreed the EU “will work closely with partners in the region to protect civilians, provide assistance and facilitate access to food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter.”

The European leaders also said the EU will ensure “that such assistance is not abused by terrorist organizations.”

People perform funeral prayers next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes, at a cemetery in Khan Younis, Gaza on October 26.

The health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza on Thursday published a 212-page report listing thousands of names described as “documented deaths since October 7” in the enclave, which it blamed on Israeli military “aggression.”

The list, which does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants but does list age and gender, followed US President Joe Biden’s comments that he had “no confidence” in the figures of civilian casualties reported by the Gaza Health Ministry.

Israel, along with the US, has expressed doubts about the casualty numbers being reported out of Gaza but has not provided evidence that they are exaggerated.

White House spokesperson John Kirby called the Gaza-based ministry “a front for Hamas,” though when asked he did not dispute that thousands of Palestinians, many innocent civilians, had been killed.

The prime minister of the US-backed Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said the PA’s own health authority considers the numbers to be “correct.”

The report stated that between October 7-26, 7,028 Palestinians were killed, including 2,913 children. A total of 3,129 females and 3,899 males were killed. The number of unidentified people killed stands at 218, but they are not included in the final death toll, the report added.

The report also excludes those buried without being brought to hospital, those for whom hospitals were unable to complete registration procedures, and people missing under the rubble, who number around 1,600, with many of them feared dead.

The ministry said the actual death toll is likely to be much higher than the report stated. The list of 6,747 names, released by its Hamas-controlled health ministry, gave the sex, age and identity card number of each of the victims. It said 281 bodies had not yet been identified.

Some context: The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority is run by a rival faction to Hamas, and operates the umbrella Ministry of Health, which maintains a relationship with the ministry in Gaza. Death tolls for Gaza are released both in Gaza and Ramallah daily.

CNN is not able to independently verify the death toll tabulated in Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces will continue ground raids into Gaza in the coming days to prepare for the next stages in Israel’s war against Hamas, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Thursday in a televised news conference.

The purpose of Israel’s ground operations is to kill Hamas militants, lay the foundations for an all-out invasion and neutralize explosive devices and reconnaissance posts, according to Hagari.

Hagari’s comments come after the IDF said it carried out a “targeted raid” overnight in northern Gaza using tanks.

Hagari also said the IDF continues its strikes against Gaza from air and sea, and is focusing on killing senior Hamas commanders and destroying Hamas infrastructure.

When asked about US involvement in the Israeli forces’ decision-making related to ground operations, Hagari said, “We’re constantly in touch with the US. The IDF chief of the General Staff speaks almost on a daily basis with the commander of the US Centcom.”

On Gaza’s dwindling fuel supplies: Hagari also reiterated that Israel would not allow fuel into Gaza for now, saying that Hamas’ arrays are “struggling to function” without fuel and blaming Hamas for stealing fuel from a facility belonging to the main United Nations agency aiding Palestinians, UNRWA.

Israel has also disputed that there are fuel shortages in Gaza. Responding to a post from UNRWA about low supplies, the IDF on Tuesday posted an aerial photo of what it said were fuel tanks in Gaza, claiming they held more than 500,000 liters of fuel. CNN is unable to verify the IDF claim.

“The facility that was posted (on Tuesday) is located in Rafah and belongs to UNRWA. … We supervise it aerially and together with UNRWA. Again, we’re not striking UNRWA. On the contrary, we’re making an effort along with the international community to ensure that south of Wadi Gaza, there will be conditions that allow the civilian population to access water, food and drugs,” he said.

UNRWA said Thursday that its operations are being “paralyzed” in Gaza due to the lack of fuel.

CNN cannot independently verify the amount of fuel in Gaza.

Yoav Gallant speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 25.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a news briefing on Thursday that Israel is preparing for the “next stages” in its war against Hamas, adding “there will be more.”

“The maneuvering will begin when the conditions are right. These conditions are complex because so is the campaign. The troops are ready,” Gallant said in the briefing in Tel Aviv. 

Gallant’s comments echoed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address on Wednesday, during which he said Israel is “raining down hellfire on Hamas” and “preparing for a ground incursion.”

Gallant reiterated the effectiveness of “lethal” Israeli strikes on Gaza and said that within 24 hours of the deadly Hamas attacks, Israeli forces shifted to the offensive with airstrikes.   

“Whatever happens in Israel’s next 75 years, will highly depend on the achievement that we’ll gain in that fight. That’s why I tell you — we have no other choice, and we’ll win because there’s no other option,” he said.

Gallant said Israeli forces and security authorities will “do everything needed” to bring back hostages taken by Hamas. 

In response to a question about whether Qatar is a legitimate mediator in the conflict, Gallant said, “The way I see it, every channel is a possible channel. The goal is the important thing.” His comment comes after Israel’s foreign minister accused Qatar of financing Hamas. 

The entrance of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip on August 27.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said 12 aid trucks entered Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt Thursday, carrying water, food, medicine and medical supplies — but no fuel.

The organization said it has received 74 trucks since humanitarian aid transfers into the Gaza Strip resumed several days ago.

United Nations officials emphasized that hundreds of aid trucks entered Gaza daily before the deadly October 7 Hamas attacks, meaning basic supplies are trickling into the enclave at a much slower pace than needed.

Israel continues to block deliveries of fuel altogether, saying that Hamas would only divert it for military use. 

Israeli forces have killed the deputy head of Hamas’ intelligence directorate, one of the officials they say is partially responsible for planning the October 7 attacks, according to a joint statement from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), or Shin Bet. 

“Based on precise IDF and ISA intelligence, IDF fighter jets struck the Deputy Head of the Hamas’ Intelligence Directorate, Shadi Barud,” according to the joint statement released Thursday. 

The IDF and ISA also released footage they claim is of the strikes that killed Barud, showing at least two buildings in Gaza hit with strikes and appearing to collapse. 

The Israeli statement said Barud and Yahya Sinwar planned the October 7 attacks that killed more than 1,400 people and saw more than 200 others taken hostage.

According to the statement, Barud went on to hold several positions in Hamas’ military intelligence and was in charge of the militant group’s intelligence relations.

Sinwar was a former head of the Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ militant wing; he’s now the head of Hamas in Gaza. He focused efforts on building relationships with foreign powers — notably Egypt and Iran.

Hamas has not commented on the statement. 

Hamas rocket commander reportedly killed: The Israeli military also said Thursday that intelligence reports suggest airstrikes have killed a Hamas rocket commander, Hassan Al-Abdullah, who the army says commanded rocket units in the Khan Younis area of Gaza.

Shin Bet told CNN it believes it has killed “scores” of senior figures in Hamas’s military structure since it began strikes on Gaza more than two and a half weeks ago. 

CNN’s Sam Kiley and Amir Tal contributed reporting to this post.