October 28, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attends a joint press conference with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (not pictured) in Berlin, Germany, on September 28, 2023.

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has confirmed military operations against Hamas have progressed.

“We moved to a new phase in the war,” he said in a statement delivered in Hebrew.

Some context: Earlier, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Israeli ground forces were inside Gaza, having entered the enclave overnight from the north.

Israeli forces “went into the Gaza Strip and expanded the ground operation where infantry, armor and engineer units and artillery with heavy fire are taking part,” Hagari said during a press briefing in Tel Aviv. 

“The forces are in the field and continue the fighting,” he said, without giving further details. 

Additionally, the Israeli military reissued a call for civilians in northern Gaza to evacuate. That statement made reference to an impending IDF operation against Hamas in Gaza.  

A ground offensive has been widely expected following the attacks, but it does not appear as though any major operation aimed at seizing and holding significant amounts of the territory is yet underway.

Palestinian civilians wait to collect water using horse- and donkey-drawn carts, in Rafah, southern Gaza, on October 28.

The Palestinian Water Authority told CNN that a second line has been turned back on to bring water from Israel to central Gaza.

Gaza has three lines that bring water it purchases from Israel to the enclave. All of the lines were shut off at one point. A line that runs to southern Gaza was turned back on 10 days ago, according to the authority. 

The Palestinian Water Authority said a second line has now been restored. It has a production capacity of 15,000 cubic meters per day. 

The Palestinian Water Authority said it is working to ensure that the water reaches communities in central Gaza, but that task is difficult because it has lost communications with colleagues on the ground.

A protester waves Palestinian flags sitting on a red telephone box on Whitehall during the 'March For Palestine' in London, on October 28, to call for a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters streamed onto London’s streets on Saturday in a national “March for Palestine,” calling for a ceasefire over Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

The organizers of the march, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said on Saturday afternoon that “hundreds of thousands” of people had gathered at the march. The London Metropolitan Police has not released any figures related to this procession.

In videos online, marchers were heard chanting for a “ceasefire now.”

London’s Metropolitan Police said that it was aware of the procession and that it had deployed more than 1,000 officers to police the event.

The Met also said that nobody involved in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign march would be allowed to gather near the Israeli embassy in London.

In another pro-Palestinian solidarity march that took place last Saturday, up to 100,000 people were estimated to have attended, according to police estimates. 

The Israeli military’s expansion of its ground operation in Gaza has alarmed families of hostages seized during the Hamas attacks.

“It was a long and sleepless night, against the backdrop of the major IDF operation in the Strip, and absolute uncertainty regarding the fate of the hostages held there, who were also subject to the heavy bombings.

Here’s what we know about the hostages:

Efforts continue: The White House said Friday that it would continue to work to secure the release of hostages. “We are working as hard today as we were yesterday and the day before and the day before to get these hostages home,” National Security Council strategic communications coordinator John Kirby told CNN. Kirby maintained the US still supports a humanitarian pause – or pauses – in fighting for the release of hostages, but refused to discuss Israeli military operations. It comes after US President Joe Biden earlier this week denied asking Israel to hold off a ground invasion while hostages remain in captivity.

What the IDF is saying: Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters Friday to “disregard rumors” when asked about a possible deal to release the hostages in Gaza, saying that “any relevant information will be given to the families first once it’s confirmed, and then we’ll notify the public.” Hagari said the IDF had notified the families of 310 fallen IDF soldiers and 229 hostages of the expanding ground operations in the Gaza Strip. “We’re committed to the national task of returning all hostages,” he said.

Earlier reports of progress: Prior to the expanded ground campaign, diplomatic sources familiar with the negotiations told CNN that there has been “significant progress” in the talks, but there were issues still remaining. A US official told CNN there had been progress on the hostages but it’s still “all very touch and go.” They voiced caution around the idea that there has been a “breakthrough.” Qatar and Egypt have been mediating between Israel, the US and Hamas to release the hostages.

Four freed: Hamas has released a total of four hostages since its October 7 attacks. Last Friday two American hostages, Judith Tai Raanan and her 17-year-old daughter, Natalie Raanan, were released following negotiations between Qatar and Hamas. On Monday, Yocheved Lifshitz, a frail 85-year-old grandmother, was released alongside her neighbor and friend Nurit Cooper, 79. Lifshitz said she “went through hell” and described being taken to a network of tunnels.

Scores remain captive: Among those being held are people from countries including Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Germany and Thailand, as well as Israeli civilians and soldiers. Among them is Mia Schem, a 21-year-old French-Israeli woman, who last week appeared in a video clip released by Hamas. Speaking into the camera, Schem, who looks pale but is sitting up straight with her head held high, says she was injured and taken to Gaza, then pleads to be returned to her family.

NYPD officers arrest a protester during a demonstration calling for a cease-fire amid war between Israel and Hamas, at Grand Central Station in New York City, on October 27.

Around 300 people were arrested Friday after a large group of demonstrators from a Jewish group gathered in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to police. 

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department told CNN the arrests range from charges of disorderly conduct to trespassing. Some were given a criminal court summons. 

The NYPD said the exact number of charges is unknown at this time. Police were not able to estimate the total number of demonstrators in the area Friday evening. 

Palestinian children sit in a vehicle loaded with household items in Khan Younis refugee camp, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on October 28.

The Israeli military has reiterated its call for residents in northern Gaza to evacuate.

In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, “This is an urgent military advisory from the Israel Defence Forces. For your immediate safety, we urge all residents of northern Gaza and Gaza City to temporarily relocate south.” 

Hagari made reference to what he described as a coming IDF operation against Hamas in Gaza.  

Some background: The latest warnings from Israel came after the IDF said Friday it would expand its ground operation following the October 7 Hamas attacks.

A ground offensive has been widely expected following the attacks, but it does not appear as though any major operation aimed at seizing and holding significant amounts of the territory is yet underway.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Saturday of potentially “catastrophic consequences” in Gaza if Israel pushes further with large-scale ground operations. 

The commissioner said that Israel’s bombardment of Gaza Friday night took “this terrible crisis to a new level of violence and pain” and that damaging communications infrastructure put the population of Gaza in “grave danger.”

He said more violence was not the answer and called on “all parties as well as third States” to do what they could to de-escalate the conflict. 

Some context: The Israeli military said ground forces were inside Gaza Saturday morning, after announcing Friday it would expand its ground operation following the October 7 Hamas attacks that left 1,400 dead and over 200 taken hostage. 

Gaza residents told CNN that Friday’s airstrikes were the most intense they had experienced since Israel began to retaliate against Hamas around three weeks ago. 

Since then, at least 7,650 people have been killed and over 19,000 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza, according to figures released Saturday by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah drawn from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Saturday that health workers, patients, and civilians in Gaza spent the night “in darkness and fear,” due to a communications and electrical blackout across the Gaza strip.

According to WHO, hospitals across Gaza are operating at maximum capacity, unable to take in new patients whilst also “sheltering thousands of civilians.”

“There are more [people] wounded every hour,” WHO said. “But ambulances cannot reach them in the communications blackout. Morgues are full. More than half of the dead are women and children.”

WHO reiterated its call for “immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” writing that safe passage must also be ensured for “desperately needed medical supplies, fuel, water and food into and across Gaza.”

“WHO appeals to the humanity in all those who have the power to do so to end the fighting now, in line with the UN resolution adopted yesterday, calling for a humanitarian truce, as well as the immediate and unconditional release of all civilians held captive.”

Some context: Many are struggling to get in touch with people in Gaza after communications links were badly disrupted by an aerial assault overnight.

The last standing major internet operator in the region, Paltel, experienced damage to its international routes, according to NetBlocks, an internet outage monitoring firm based in London.

Israeli tanks and troops near the border with Gaza on October 28 in Sderot, Israel.

A group lobbying for the families of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas say they are racked with anxiety that Israel’s expanded ground operation will put the hostages in more danger.

Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23-year-old American who was wounded and kidnapped by Hamas at an Israeli music festival, said in a separate statement that the expansion of Israel’s ground operation in Gaza was “of extreme concern to us.”

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters on Friday that they had notified the families of the hostages about the expanded operations.

Some context: The Israeli military’s expansion of its ground operation in Gaza has thrown into question the fate of the more than 200 hostages who remain inside the besieged enclave.

Hamas has released a total of four hostages since its October 7 attacks, but the IDF estimates that 224 remain trapped inside Gaza.

The hostages include Israeli civilians and soldiers as well as foreign nationals and children as young as 9 months. Among them are scores of hostages holding foreign passports from 25 different countries, including Mexico, Brazil, the United States, Germany and Thailand, according to the Israeli government.

Near the Gaza border, staging grounds once teeming with hundreds of Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and bulldozers have mostly emptied out. Logistics support vehicles and armored personnel carriers flowed toward Gaza. 

Meanwhile, other tanks traveled north, returning to those same staging grounds north of the border after a night of heavy fighting in Gaza.

These are the scenes CNN observed Saturday morning, more than 12 hours after Israel launched what it described as an “expanded ground operation” in northern Gaza.

The signs of Israel’s incursion into northern Gaza the previous evening were clearly visible as CNN returned to multiple staging grounds north of the Gaza Strip, which days earlier were filled with tanks and armored personnel carriers pointed toward Gaza.

Near the staging grounds, north-south tread marks on the surrounding roads marked the routes where tanks charged forward toward Gaza. Fields once teeming with tanks and armored personnel carriers were mostly filled with the trash left behind by troops given orders to mobilize. 

CNN also observed some tank units returning from the direction of Gaza, back to their forward operating positions. But unlike the tank raids the IDF carried out inside Gaza the two previous nights, many troops that charged into Gaza Friday night remained inside enemy territory as the IDF said its troops were still fighting Hamas inside Gaza Saturday morning.

The Israeli military says it is inside Gaza after announcing Friday it would expand its ground operation following the October 7 Hamas attacks. A spokesman said “the forces are in the field and continue the fighting.”

Israel has pounded the territory with more airstrikes after what Gazans called Friday night the heaviest bombardment of the conflict so far.

Below are the latest developments…

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon overnight, after the militant group fired rockets towards Israeli territory on Friday. 

“Yesterday (Friday), Hezbollah terrorists attempted to launch rockets toward Israeli territory. The rockets fell in Syria. Overnight in response, an IDF fighter jet struck Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in Lebanon,” the IDF said in a statement. 

In a separate update on Saturday morning, the Israeli military said it used a UAV to strike a “terrorist cell” in Lebanon on Saturday after that “cell” tried to launch anti-tank missiles towards Israel. 

“A short while ago, a terrorist cell attempted to launch anti-tank missiles from Lebanon toward northern Israel, near Kibbutz Hanita,” the IDF said in a statement. “An IDF UAV struck the cell.” 

The IDF and Hezbollah have exchanged fire repeatedly along the Israel-Lebanon border in tit-for-tat skirmishes since the war began.

On Friday, Hezbollah said it used guided missiles to attack Israeli military positions in the disputed Shebaa farms area – controlled by Israel but claimed by Lebanon – as well as several other Israeli border locations.

Israeli troops move near the border with Gaza on October 28 in Sderot, Israel.

Lt. Gen. James Glynn – the US Marine Corps three-star general who went to Israel to counsel the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) – has returned home, according to Marine Corps commandant Gen. Eric Smith, in comments to reporters in DC on Friday. 

“Jim’s home, I talked to him last night,” Smith said. “Lt. Gen. Glynn went over to provide advice. But make no mistake – what is, has or will unfold in Gaza is purely an Israeli decision… He provided his expertise as the lead planner for a first marine expeditionary force going into the battle of Fallujah. He was asked to go over… and say, ‘Here’s what I learned,’ so we would call that a professional military exchange. He was over, he’s back now and he provided his experience to be taken, (or) not taken.”

Glynn is currently the deputy commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, and was previously the commander of Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC). 

Some context: As CNN previously reported, the US and its allies have urged Israel to be clear about its goals in Gaza for a broader operation targeting the coastal enclave.

The US has warned against a prolonged occupation of Gaza and has placed a particular emphasis on avoiding civilian casualties, US and Western officials told CNN.

At least publicly, Israeli officials have articulated their plans only in broad strokes, saying that the goal is to eliminate Hamas and its infrastructure.

Previous reporting by CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, Oren Liebermann, MJ Lee and Katie Bo Lillis

The World Health Organization has lost contact with its staff in Gaza, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday.

“Reports of intense bombardment in Gaza are extremely distressing,” Tedros wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “We are still out of touch with our staff and health facilities. I’m worried about their safety.”

The WHO chief said that the evacuation of patients is not possible due to the bombardment, and that it is not possible to “find safe shelter.”

“The blackout is also making it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured,” he said.

The WHO “appeals to all those who have the power to push for a ceasefire to act NOW,” Tedros wrote. 

The remarks from Ghebreyesus after several United Nations agencies reported losing contact with the Gazan staff amid severe communications interruptions.

Gaza is approaching a near total internet blackout as the region suffered its worst loss in connectivity today since fighting first broke out on October 7.

 A youth rides a bicycle past wrecked cars in the aftermath of Israeli bombing in Rafah, Gaza, on October 28.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are conducting heavy artillery strikes against northern Gaza, with multiple explosions heard every minute.

A CNN team on the ground at an Israeli checkpoint near the Gaza Strip perimeter is observing and hearing intense and continuous explosions and air power. Smoke can also be seen rising from the enclave.

Some of the explosions are so strong that the impact can be felt physically where the team is, around a kilometer from the border.

The IDF reserve soldiers who are manning the position told CNN that Friday night was by far the most intense night of bombing. They have been in the area since October 7 when Hamas launched attacks on Israel that killed more than 1,400 people and saw hundreds taken as hostages.

They said that while there have been many alerts of incoming fire coming from Gaza in the past three weeks, there were only a few on Friday and none so far on Saturday.

They said the bombardment observed and heard on Saturday morning is far less intense than overnight.

Israeli troops have cleared out a large perimeter around the Gaza Strip, fearing incoming anti-tank weapons.

Israeli ground forces are inside Gaza having entered the enclave overnight from the north, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Saturday morning.

Israeli forces “went into the Gaza Strip and expanded the ground operation where infantry, armor and engineer units and artillery with heavy fire are taking part,” Hagari said during a press briefing in Tel Aviv. 

“The forces are in the field and continue the fighting,” he said without giving further details. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman’s words confirm the military operation has undergone a significant expansion after what it had earlier described as two “targeted raids,” which took place on Wednesday night and Thursday night. Both those raids saw ground forces withdraw after a few hours. 

However, it does not appear as though any major ground offensive aimed at seizing and holding significant amounts of the territory is yet underway.

Hagari said the army had suffered no casualties in overnight fighting, and added, “we keep doing everything in order to keep our forces safe.”

The IDF spokesperson said Gazans who had moved south of Wadi Gaza, a waterway bisecting the centre of the strip, were in an area he called a “protected space,” and would receive more food, water and medicine today, though he did not give any details. 

Hagari also reiterated his appeal to disregard rumours of a hostage deal with Hamas, calling it a cynical move by the group aimed at promoting what he called “psychological terror.” 

“Returning the hostages home is of highest national effort. And all our operational activities are directed towards the realization of this goal,” he said. 

Women walk past a destroyed building in the aftermath of Israeli bombing in Rafah, Gaza on October 28.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says its warplanes have struck 150 underground targets overnight as it is “expanding ground operations” in the Gaza Strip. 

Among those killed was Asem Abu Rakaba, the man in charge of Hamas’ aerial assets, who helped plan the October 7 attacks on Israel and “directed the terrorists who infiltrated Israel on paragliders,” the IDF said.

A major Israeli ground offensive has been expected since Hamas’ initial attacks, but it is not yet clear whether the IDF’s announcement signals the start of it.

Here are the latest developments…

Destroyed buildings during Israeli bombardment on October 28 in Gaza.

People gathered at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Saturday morning to mourn loved ones lost in a night of intense Israeli airstrikes. 

Video captured by CNN shows multiple bodies, including those of children, covered in white shrouds or thick blankets, placed on the ground in the hospital yard.

Dr. Khalil Al-Dikran told CNN the hospital had received 22 bodies overnight and hundreds of injured. He said people had brought the dead and the wounded to hospital using everything from cars, bikes, and donkey carts.

Hospitals have lost contact with each other, he said, after communications networks were cut across the Gaza Strip.

Al-Dikran also said that after a pause of several hours, airstrikes had resumed again in central and northern Gaza.

Artillery fire had continued uninterrupted through the night, he said.

An overview of Gaza showing destroyed buildings during Israeli bombardment on October 28.

The Israeli military says its warplanes hit 150 underground targets overnight and killed the head of Hamas’ aerial operations.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had struck what it called terror tunnels and underground combat spaces during a period of very heavy air strikes on the north of the Gaza Strip.

Among several Hamas operatives killed, the military said, was the man in charge of Hamas’s aerial assets, who it named as Asem Abu Rakaba. 

Abu Rabaka was responsible for Hamas’s UAVs, drones, and paragliders, as well as its aerial detection and aerial defense systems, the IDF said in a statement.

He had taken part in planning the October 7 attack on Israeli communities close to the Gaza border and “directed the terrorists who infiltrated Israel on paragliders,” according to the IDF.

 A dense cloud of smoke from the bombing of Gaza invades the Israeli border city of Ashkelon on the night of October 27.

Questions swirled around the extent of the Israel Defense Forces’ operation in Gaza overnight as the sun rose Saturday on a quiet, foggy morning in southern Israel.

In the city of Ashkelon near the Gaza border, heavy bombardment, sustained artillery fire and the roar of fighter jets were heard from the direction of the coastal enclave overnight in what appeared to be the busiest night of fighting during Israel’s war with Hamas.

The IDF said Friday it was “expanding ground operations” in the Gaza Strip and “operating forcefully.” It has not given more details about the number of troops that have entered the enclave.

A substantial Israeli ground offensive has been expected ever since the October 7 attacks, in which Hamas killed more than 1,400 people and took some 200 others to Gaza as hostages. However, it is not yet clear whether the IDF announcement of an expanded operation signals the start of that push.

Meanwhile, Hamas militants continued firing rockets into Israel overnight — several alarms indicating incoming rockets were heard late into the evening in towns north of Gaza.

Early on Saturday, the sounds of war have mostly quietened, with only sporadic thunders of explosions heard in the distance.

All eyes are now on what Israel does next.

Earlier, an Israeli government spokesperson confirmed the IDF was “expanding its ground operations,” in Gaza but said he would not comment further on the status of the military action.

Volunteers from Israeli volunteer-run emergency rescue service ZAKA search through debris in Be'eri, a kibbutz near the border with Gaza, on October 20.

Yanir Ishay has thrown away three boxes of cigarettes in the past two weeks.

He said he thought he could smell death on them, having carried the packets in his pockets while collecting human remains from the sites of Hamas’ terror attack in southern Israel. Then his wife told him they were brand new — he’d just bought them.

“That’s when I realized the smell was in my mind, not in the box,” he told CNN.

Ishay is one of 120 volunteers – all of them men – working with ZAKA, a religious search and rescue organization, to recover the bodies of people killed near the Israel-Gaza perimeter by Hamas militants on October 7. Israeli authorities say more than 1,400 people were killed in the attack.

Weeks on, ZAKA volunteers are still collecting remains.

He and other volunteers told CNN the victims of the massacre included whole families, little children, babies, even pregnant women, and that their bodies were found in a horrific state – mutilated and burnt.

ZAKA has long worked in Israel and around the world, responding to terror attacks, accidents and disasters. Most of its members are deeply religious orthodox Jewish men and their mission is driven by the desire to ensure everyone, no matter what the circumstances of their death, can get a proper Jewish burial.

“We believe that the respect for the dead is no less important – and sometimes more important – than the respect for the living,” Elmalih said.

READ MORE: Israel’s body collectors encounter horrors beyond their worst nightmares

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks to the media during a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on October 12.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated “the importance of protecting civilians during the Israel Defense Forces’ operations” in a call Friday with the Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, according to a Pentagon readout. 

Austin also emphasized the urgent need for “humanitarian aid delivery for civilians in Gaza” and for Hamas to release all hostages, the Pentagon said.

Austin’s call comes as the Israel Defense Forces announced it is “expanding ground operations” in the Gaza Strip and “operating forcefully” on all fronts to fulfill its goals in the war with Hamas.

A member of the press is seen among the destroyed buildings and debris after Israeli airstrikes in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on October 11.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told international news organizations that they cannot guarantee the safety of journalists reporting from Gaza, according to a Reuters report published Friday. 

International news agencies Reuters and Agence France Presse (AFP) contacted the Israeli military this week for assurance their journalists on the ground in Gaza would not be targeted by Israeli airstrikes. 

The IDF responded in a letter to both agencies saying they are “targeting all Hamas military activity throughout Gaza” and “[u]nder these circumstances, [they] cannot guarantee [their] employees’ safety, and strongly urge [them] to take all necessary measures for their safety.”

The letter also said Hamas deliberately put military operations “in the vicinity of journalists and civilians,” Reuters wrote. Hamas did not immediately respond when asked if these allegations put forth by the IDF were true, Reuters said. 

Reuters and AFP have both expressed concern over the safety of journalists in Gaza, Reuters stated. 

CNN is a client of Reuters and AFP, regularly using live and recorded video feeds from the news agencies. 

Several United Nations agencies report they have lost contact with their local staff in Gaza, as most of the communication capabilities of the enclave appear to have been interrupted.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the organization has lost touch with its staff as well as with its “health facilities, health workers and the rest of our humanitarian partners on the ground.” 

Lynn Hastings, the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator in Palestine, also took to X to say that “Gaza has lost contact with the outside world amid reports of intensified bombardment.”

The UN’s Children’s Fund executive director, Catherine Russell, said in a post on X that she is “extremely concerned” about her team in Gaza after losing touch with them.

Communications in Gaza have been severely disrupted in the past several hours as a result of airstrikes, the main Palestinian telecoms company says, although those with Israeli or eSIMs still have patchy connection.

Gaza is approaching a near total internet blackout as the region suffered its worst loss in connectivity today since fighting first broke out on October 7.

The last standing major internet operator in the region, Paltel, experienced damage to its international routes, according to NetBlocks, an internet outage monitoring firm based in London. Many Palestinians are experiencing a total loss of internet access and the ability to communicate electronically, according to the data, while some may have very little connectivity.

Jawwal, another Palestinian telecom company that provides mobile service to the Gaza Strip, also released a statement Friday, 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.”

Internet connections are likely to worsen as the Israel Defense Forces announced its “expanding ground operations.”

Those with Israeli or international SIM cards are still reporting some internet access.

Smoke and explosions caused by Israeli bombardment are seen on the horizon in northern Gaza on October 28.

Israel is rejecting a call for a ceasefire in Gaza approved by the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, with the country’s foreign minister calling it “despicable” in a post on social media.

“We reject outright the UN General Assembly despicable call for a ceasefire,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Israel intends to eliminate Hamas just as the world dealt with the Nazis and ISIS.”

The UN General Assembly voted Friday to approve a resolution calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities in the war between Israel and Hamas. A total of 120 countries voted in favor of the resolution, while 14 countries, including the US and Israel, voted against it. Another 45 countries abstained from the vote.

In a speech following the resolution’s passage, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said, “Today is a day that will go down in infamy. We have all witnessed that the UN no longer holds even one ounce of legitimacy or relevance.”

“The majority of the international community has shown that it prefers to support the defense of Nazi terrorists rather than support the law-abiding state of Israel to defend its civilians,” he said. 

A new, exclusive CNN analysis, aided by artificial intelligence (AI), has identified a significant amount of the destruction across Gaza in satellite imagery. 

Large swaths of buildings around Gaza City, Beit Lahya and Beit Hanoun have been destroyed. A big amount of the damage that CNN was able to confirm is in northern Gaza.

Hundreds of craters across northern Gaza have also been identified.

CNN was able to identify the areas of destruction in Gaza through satellite imagery from Planet Labs, and by working with Synthetaic — a company that utilizes AI to identify and classify data, including satellite imagery.

Using imagery of the entire Gaza Strip from Planet Labs, Synthetaic is analyzing and comparing it through its proprietary AI-driven Rapid Automatic Image Categorization (RAIC) system, looking for destruction such as damaged and destroyed buildings, as well as impact craters. Aided by what RAIC identified as destruction, CNN is taking the Planet Labs imagery and conducting its own analysis to independently confirm the destruction.

The result is a snapshot of the destruction that’s occurred across Gaza.  

CNN’s analysis is continuing, and is expected to identify other areas of destruction across Gaza, especially as the Israel Defense Forces continues to expand its ground operations there. It also differs from CNN’s previously analysis, which used Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar to determine damage.

A total, comprehensive map of the destruction in Gaza is impossible without an on-the-ground survey.

View the satellite imagery and CNN’s analysis.