November 17, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

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

Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic and disturbing accounts of sexual violence.

Israeli police are using forensic evidence, video and witness testimony and interrogations of suspects to document cases of rape amid the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Women and girls caught in the rampage were brutalized sexually, as well as physically tortured and killed, witnesses to the aftermath say.

Police Superintendent Dudi Katz said officers have collected more than 1,000 statements and more than 60,000 video clips related to the attacks that include accounts from people who reported seeing women raped. He added that investigators do not have firsthand testimony, and it is not clear whether any rape victims survived.

About 1,200 Israelis were killed and more injured that day in villages and farms near Gaza when Hamas militants struck across the border in coordinated attacks, taking more than 240 hostages and precipitating the current war. More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to authorities in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Police Commissioner Shabtai Yaakov said the investigation could potentially lead to prosecutions, but for now, documentation is the primary mission.

Cochav Elkayam-Levy, a human rights law expert at Hebrew University, has formed a civil commission with colleagues to document evidence of the atrocities, fearing that as the war devastates Gaza and the lives of thousands of Palestinians, the world seems willing to look over the violence against Israeli women and girls.

She pointed to a United Nations statement just a week after the terror attacks that did not mention sexual violence.

“It’s much worse than just silence or an insult to us as Israeli women and to our children and to our people,” she said of the UN. “When they are failing to acknowledge us, to acknowledge what happened here, they are failing humanity.”

Read more about the harrowing accounts given to CNN.

Smoke and flares rise over Gaza City, as seen from southern Israel, on Friday.

The Israeli military is tightening its grip on northern Gaza, as its war on the Hamas militant group is showing no signs of abating.

More fuel was allowed into Gaza on Friday as water and sewage systems are on the verge of collapsing, Israel’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said. Lack of fuel has also contributed to the dire situation in hospitals, where doctors said ICU patients have died and surgeries have stopped due to the lack of electricity.

Meanwhile, negotiating parties are grinding away to try to reach an agreement to release hostages in Gaza. It comes as at least two hostages were found dead in the enclave over the past two days, the Israeli military said.

Here are the key things to know:

This post has been updated with the Hamas press office statement on the Gaza death toll.

An October 10 aerial photo shows the site of the attack on the Nova music festival by Hamas militants in southern Israel.

Israeli police believe at least 364 people were killed by Hamas gunmen at the Nova music festival in southern Israel on October 7, according to Israeli media.

Previously, officials had put the number killed at 270. 

Israel’s Channel 12 News said it had obtained a copy of the first police report into the attack and presented some of the report’s findings on its main news bulletin Friday evening. It did not show a copy of the report.

Seventeen of the dead were police officers, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported, citing the police report. The news outlet said 40 festival goers were kidnapped and taken into Gaza. 

The music festival was the location of the highest number of deaths on October 7 but police say interrogations of captured militants lead them to believe Hamas had no knowledge of the music festival when it launched its assault.

The report said the first alarm was received at 6:22 a.m., according to Channel 12 News, but it is clear first responders had no idea of the scale of what was unfolding. Initial word of the attack suggested just dozens of terrorists had crossed the perimeter fence from Gaza — the real number is believed to be well over a thousand.

The report said Israeli security forces finally had the festival site locked down at 3:30 p.m., more than nine hours after the shooting rampage began, according to the Israeli media outlet.

It is not clear if the updated number of people killed at the festival affects the total death toll, which officials have said is about 1,200 people killed.

Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain speaks at the 19th Manama Dialogue in Manama, Bahrain, on Friday.

Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain on Friday condemned both the October 7 attacks and Israel’s subsequent retaliation. He emphasized the release of hostages as a requirement for breaking the cycle of violence.

During his remarks, the prince set up the conditions necessary for “breaking the cycle of violence, a feat that will only be made possible through the release of innocents and non-combatants.” He stressed that “the release of hostages is a prerequisite to a pause in hostilities.” 

He made the remarks during the 19th Manama Dialogue, the region’s premier security and defense conference.

He went on to say that Bahrain opposes forced displacement, reoccupation or reduction of Gaza’s territory. Simultaneously, he condemned “terrorism directed from Gaza against the Israeli public,” outlining these as non-negotiable red lines. 

The prince called for the full implementation of international law to ensure Gazans’ access to humanitarian aid.

Israeli government ministers will meet Saturday night to discuss a decision made by the emergency war management cabinet to allow the daily entry of fuel trucks to Gaza. 

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in an interview on Israel’s Channel 13 Friday night that he believed the decision to lift the fuel blockade — made late Thursday — should be taken by the full cabinet. The emergency war cabinet is a smaller group consisting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, the former chief of general staff and former defense minister. 

Earlier, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had also raised objections.  

Netanyahu had agreed to call a cabinet meeting after speaking to Smotrich, according to Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel’s national security adviser. 

The United Nations needs 200,000 liters (52,834 gallons) of fuel each day in order to “meet the minimum of our humanitarian responsibilities in Gaza,” UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Friday. The lack of fuel has meant that “communications and other essential functions such as water desalination are progressively dropping offline,” Griffiths told the UN General Assembly. 

Fuel is “essential for keeping people alive,” Griffiths said. 

Internet and phone services have been partially restored in some parts of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian telecommunication company PalTel said on Friday. 

“This comes after a limited quantity of fuel was provided through UNRWA to operate our main generators,” the company said, referring to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Two fuel tankers entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Friday to be used by UN agencies, an Israeli government agency told CNN on Friday. 

PalTel said it would need to receive a regular supply of fuel to avoid more disruption. 

NetBlocks, a London-based internet monitoring firm, confirmed that internet connectivity had been partially restored in Gaza.

A new video appearing to show an Israeli hostage held in Gaza has emerged online.

CNN is not releasing details of the clip, which appeared on the Telegram channel of Hamas’ military wing, the Al Qassam Brigades. 

Israeli army spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari declined to comment on the video directly when asked at a news conference Friday evening.

Search for hostages: The Israeli army said earlier Friday that it had recovered the body of an Israeli hostage, 19-year-old soldier Noa Marciano, in searches near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City — the second such announcement in 12 hours.

On Thursday evening, the army said the body of 65-year old Yehudit Waiss had also been brought back to Israel.

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, on October 12.

Five countries submitted a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate whether crimes may have been committed in Palestinian territories, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said.

South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti submitted the referral of the situation in the region, Khan said.

He noted that his office is already conducting an investigation on the situation in the Palestinian territories – which began on March 3, 2021 – over possible crimes that may have been committed since June 2014 in Gaza and the West Bank.

Israeli troops will advance to anywhere Hamas is found, including the southern part of the Gaza Strip, an Israeli army spokesperson said.

“This will happen where and when would be convenient for the IDF and when conditions are optimal,” Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. 

At least 372 IDF soldiers have been killed since October 7, Hagari said. The death toll did not change from Thursday.

Some more context: In recent days, there are growing indications that a ground offensive into the southern part of the strip could be imminent. Israeli leaders have declared the northern part of Gaza, including Gaza City, is now under Israel’s control.

A leaflet dropped Wednesday on communities to the east of Khan Younis, the largest city in the southern part of Gaza, warning people living there to move and “head toward known shelters.”

Earlier this week, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the country’s ground operations “will last for many months — and will include both the north and the south (of the Gaza Strip). We will dismantle Hamas wherever it is.”

CNN’s Andrew Carey contributed reporting to this post.

Two fuel tankers entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing Friday, an Israeli government agency told CNN, after the country’s war cabinet approved a measure to allow for regular deliveries to the besieged enclave.

The tankers were carrying 60,000 liters of diesel fuel between them, according to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, an agency that liaises with Palestinians on civilian affairs.

Remember: Israel’s war cabinet approved a measure on Friday allowing two fuel tankers a day to enter Gaza for water and sewage system support, according to Israel’s national security adviser.

Those systems are “on the verge of collapsing, considering the lack of electricity and ability to operate the sewage and water systems,” the official, Tzachi Hanegbi, said in a Friday briefing.

The deliveries will amount to 140,000 liters of fuel entering Gaza every 48 hours, a US State Department official told CNN.

Tents and shelters used by displaced Palestinians stand at the yard of Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on November 12.

Out of the 35 hospitals in Gaza, 26 have shut down due to damage from bombardment or a lack of fuel, according to a report published by the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health in Ramallah on Friday, citing medical sources from the Hamas-controlled enclave. Of the 72 primary health care clinics, 52 have also been forced to close, it added.

At Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City: Over 40 patients, including three premature babies, have died at Gaza’s largest hospital in the last six days, according to the health ministry.

At Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis: The situation is also increasingly dire as the main generator at the hospital in southern Gaza has shut down for the third consecutive day, lacking the necessary fuel to operate. The hospital is now relying on a small generator, which only supplies electricity to the labor room and the reception area’s lights, the ministry added. 

Hamas has demanded that Israel stop flying surveillance drones over Gaza as part of its request that Israel pause its military operations in exchange for freeing hostages held by the terrorist group, according to two Israeli officials and third source familiar with the ongoing negotiations.

While Israel could pause its military operations for as long as several days to allow for scores of hostages to be released, the sources suggested it is unlikely to accept the drone request since it would mean losing track of the movements of Hamas operatives, including any efforts to move the hostages within the Gaza strip.

The demand by Hamas about drone overflights has not been previously reported and with the intense discussions continuing, it’s unclear whether it remains on the table or has already been formally rejected by Israel as a part of the negotiations.

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment on Friday.

The Israeli military has been flying drones in the skies over Gaza for hours on end virtually every day during their military operation, using them as a primary means of surveillance to monitor the battlefield.

Throughout the negotiations, Israel has been balancing its urgent desire to get hostages freed with concerns Hamas would only exploit any pause to stifle Israel’s military advantage and regroup.

A pause in the fighting that also requires Israel to keep its drones out of Gaza’s airspace would deny the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of one of its most important ways to observe Hamas movements from above. It could allow Hamas to reposition its fighters before the ceasefire expires with Israeli troops exposed on the ground, and it would offer Hamas a window to reshuffle the hiding locations for hostages.

The Pentagon has also been flying American surveillance drones over Gaza in support of Israel’s efforts to find the hostages, which include an estimated 10 Americans. US officials said the American intelligence being gathered is not being used to conduct lethal strikes.

More background on negotiations: The negotiating parties — Israel, Hamas and the US, with Qatar mediating between them — continue to grind away, as they try to reach an agreement on a number of sticking points. These include how many days a potential pause in fighting would last and the number of hostages that would be released, according to sources familiar with the talks.

On Friday, US President Joe Biden spoke with Qatar’s leader, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, according to a person familiar with the call. Qatar has hosted hostage talks that have included the heads of Israeli and US intelligence. It was the second call between the two men this week.

The hostages expected to be released first are women and children. Hamas has also asked for women and children in Israelis prisons to be freed at the same time. Other demands made by Hamas during the negotiations are more aid and fuel into Gaza, sources say, as well as allowing Palestinians who have fled south for safety to return to northern Gaza, where Israel now has control.

Read more here.

Israel’s war cabinet approved a measure on Friday allowing two fuel tankers a day to enter Gaza for water and sewage system support, according to Israel’s national security adviser.

Those systems are “on the verge of collapsing, considering the lack of electricity and ability to operate the sewage and water systems,” Tzachi Hanegbi said in a Friday briefing.

The deliveries will amount to 140,000 liters of fuel entering Gaza every 48 hours, a US State Department official told CNN.

The vast majority will be deposited into a depot in Rafah, where — in addition to the water and sewage uses — it will be used by United Nations relief agency trucks and for waste disposal, bakeries and hospitals in southern Gaza, according to the US official.

A smaller portion, about 20,000 liters every 48 hours, will be used to power Paltel generators for cell phones and internet, the official said.

In consulting with the Israel Defense Forces and Israel’s International Security Academy about whether the decision damaged operational objectives or supported Hamas, the answer “was that the American request can be accepted,” Hanegbi said. 

The decision to allow two fuel tankers per day into Gaza, “was taken due to (Israel’s) willingness to avoid the spread of pandemics,” Hanegbi added.

The decision, which was reported by Israeli media earlier on Friday, has already been criticized by members of the Israeli government. 

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sent a letter, which he also released on X, to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking for the policy to be reversed and for the government to continue to prevent fuel from entering the Gaza Strip.

Remember: While some aid has reached Gaza through Egypt, those deliveries included food, water and medicine – but not fuel. Israel had refused to allow fuel to enter Gaza since Hamas’ brutal October 7 attack, saying it would only be used by the militant group to fuel its fight against Israel.

According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), roughly 70% of people in Gaza are now drinking “salinized and contaminated” water. Raw sewage has also started flowing through the streets in some areas as UN waste disposal systems are also impacted by the fuel shortages.

Allowing fuel to enter Gaza was a key topic of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meetings in Tel Aviv earlier this month. In the two weeks since, the US had been pushing Israel to actually make it happen, according to an official. The Israeli government delayed in part because it claimed there was still fuel in southern Gaza, and it had also tied the fuel issue to that of hostages held by Hamas. The US did not see the two issues as being linked, the official said, noting that Hamas does not care about the humanitarian plight of the people of Gaza.

This post has been updated with further details on the fuel deliveries from a US official.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

Griffiths speaks during a press conference on the situation in Gaza in Geneva on Wednesday.

The United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths outlined what support is needed — including a ceasefire and continuous aid — to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

“Call it what you will, but the requirement, from a humanitarian point of view, is simple. Stop the fighting to allow civilians to move safely. Do it for as long as possible, to facilitate an unimpeded humanitarian response. Give the people of Gaza a breather from the terrible, terrible things that have been put on them these last few weeks. And, without condition, release all the hostages,” he said.

Griffiths also spoke about the number of hospitals which have ceased operations since the beginning of the conflict on October 7, and how fuel and a “continuous flow of aid” is needed to help as many people as possible in Gaza.

The humanitarian chief also requested that there also be “more crossing points into Gaza,” along with an increase in humanitarian aid and resources to help expand shelters and “establish relief distribution hubs.”

Israel’s actions in Gaza “point to a genocide in the making,” a group of independent United Nations human rights experts said Thursday, in an allegation rejected by the Israeli foreign ministry. 

The experts — many of whom are known as UN special rapporteurs — said “grave violations committed by Israel against Palestinians in the aftermath of 7 October, particularly in Gaza, point to a genocide in the making,” according to a news release from the UN Human Rights Special Procedures group.

The experts described Israel’s actions as “the use of powerful weaponry with inherently indiscriminate impacts, resulting in a colossal death toll and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure,” and argued in the statement that these actions could not be justified as self-defense.

Israel responds: The Israeli foreign ministry rejected the assessment in a statement Friday.

It was Hamas that put Gazans “in harms way,” the statement continued, adding that the “only genocidal acts during this conflict are those of Hamas when they slaughtered, raped and tortured innocent people in Israel on October 7th.”

UN chief declines to comment: The office of UN Secretary-General António Guterres will not comment on statements made by independent experts, spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Thursday.

“These experts … are independent from the secretary-general,” Dujarric said. “On the issue of genocide, we are very clear on our position, which is that a genocide can only be labeled by a competent court.”

Relatives and friends of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas take part in a march to Jerusalem calling for their release on November 17.

Families of those missing and kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attack are marching from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Friday, demanding that the government guarantees hostages are returned safely. 

A large crowd is walking along a highway toward Jerusalem, according to Reuters video, with some people holding signs of pictures of missing people captioned “Bring them home now.”

One of the participants in the march, Shelly Shem Tov, told CNN that Hamas abducted her son. She said the march had started three days ago in Tel Aviv and that the group was on the way to Jerusalem to demand that the government “bring our families back home safely, alive.”

Shem Tov said that she has heard “nothing” from the Israeli government since it told her that Hamas had kidnapped her son.

As of 9 a.m. ET, the march is in Sho’eva, Israel, according to a map posted by the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.

More background: The Israel Defense Forces said on Friday that the military’s official estimate of hostages being held in Gaza is 237. The IDF has previously said that the number can fluctuate based on updated intelligence. 

A senior US official familiar with the talks told CNN on Tuesday that Israel and Hamas are moving closer to a deal to secure the release of hostages taken during the Hamas attacks on Israel in exchange for a sustained, days-long pause in fighting. The official stressed that while the parties have inched closer to striking a deal, the talks remained volatile and could still break down, saying that “it’s closer but it’s not done.”

A makeshift operating theater area is seen inside Al Shifa hospital in Gaza, on November 12.

Most of the intensive care unit patients, who were on ventilators due to the lack of fuel and oxygen at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, have died, the doctor who leads the burns department at the hospital told Al-Jazeera over the phone from inside the facility on Friday. 

Dr. Ahmad Mofeed Al-Mokhalalati noted a significant decrease in the number of premature babies in their care, with little hope for the survival of the remaining infants under the current conditions. 

The hospital, which is Gaza’s largest, is grappling with a severe shortage of basic necessities — no water and no electricity in the main buildings of the compound, the doctor said.

As a result, surgical operations have come to a halt due to the lack of electricity. This has led to an increase in suffering, especially among children who are now facing severe intestinal infections, a direct consequence of the unavailability of clean water, Al-Mokhalalati added. 

And although he noted that Israeli forces promised to provide food, the supply delivered was grossly insufficient, catering to for only 40% of those inside the hospital, he said.

The situation escalated when the Israeli forces stormed two buildings within the medical compound, with tanks still present in the area, the doctor said. Snipers have been deployed around the hospital, adding a layer of fear and uncertainty according to Al-Mokhalalati.

The Israeli military is tightening its grip on northern Gaza, as its war on the Hamas militant group is showing no signs of abating.

Almost six weeks into the conflict, however, Israel is yet to offer a clear post-war plan for the territory.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last week said the Israel Defense Forces has effectively cut the strip in two, and on Tuesday claimed Hamas had lost control in northern Gaza, including in Gaza City.

But what is Israel’s plan for Gaza if and when it achieves its aim of eliminating Hamas? Some experts say Israel may not have a clear idea.

“They (Israel) would argue they have time to figure that out after the military operation,” Lowenstein said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has offered little information about his post-military operation plan for Gaza. The 74-year-old leader, who has been at the forefront of several Israel-Gaza conflicts, told CNN his military operation has two goals: to destroy Hamas and retrieve the more than 200 hostages kidnapped on October 7 by the group, which also killed some 1,200 people in Israel during its unprecedented assault.

Beyond those vague hints, Netanyahu has not provided a defined strategy for the territory, where more than two-thirds of its 2 million inhabitants are now internally displaced, and where more than 40% of all housing units have been either destroyed or damaged, according to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, citing the Ministry of Housing in Gaza.

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Netanyahu said that Gaza could ultimately be governed by some form of Palestinian civilian government, albeit one that fully cooperated with Israel’s security objectives, which he described as “over-riding, over-reaching military envelope.” He did not provide details of what exactly that meant.

Read more about Israel’s military tightening of its grip on northern Gaza, as its war on Hamas is showing no signs of abating.

Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter for more.

Palestinian children fill containers with water in Bureij, Gaza, on November 14.

A UN human rights official has called on Israel to stop using water as a “weapon of war” in Gaza, emphasizing on Friday that the enclave’s lack of fuel is hindering the provision of clean water. 

Arrojo-Agudo said he wanted to “remind Israel that consciously preventing supplies needed for safe water from entering the Gaza Strip violates both international humanitarian and human rights law.” 

For days, humanitarian organizations including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) have emphasized the necessity of fuel to operate desalination stations and water pumps in Gaza. 

According to UNRWA, roughly 70% of people in Gaza are now drinking “salinized and contaminated” water. Raw sewage has also started flowing through the streets in some areas as UN waste disposal systems are also impacted by the fuel shortages.

Dehydration and waterborne diseases are now surging in Gaza due to “salinated and polluted water consumption from unsafe sources,” Arrojo-Agudo warned Friday. 

“Coupled with the massive displacement of thousands of people in recent days, this is the perfect scenario for an epidemic that will only punish innocents, once again.”