May 16, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Israel-Hamas war news or read through the updates below.

The bodies of two Thai nationals killed during the October 7 attacks on Israel are being held by Hamas in Gaza, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Thursday. 

The two men killed were identified as Sonthaya Oakkharasri and Sudthisak Rinthalak. Six other Thai nationals are still being held by Hamas, the ministry said. 

The pair worked in farms in areas close to Kibbutz Be’eri and “were murdered during the terror attack on the 7th of October, their bodies were taken hostage and are being held currently by Hamas in Gaza,” Hagari said during a briefing. 

The families of the hostages have been notified, Hagari said. 

Thailand expressed its condolences to the families of those killed in October and whose bodies are being held in Gaza. 

The Hostage and Missing Families Forum (HMFF) also expressed “deep sorrow” for the deaths in a statement on Thursday.

The forum emphasized that protecting citizens within its borders remains Israel’s paramount duty.

This post has been updated with comments from the hostages’ family group and Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a drone attack from south Lebanon hit an area in the Israeli border town of Metula on Thursday and injured three Israeli soldiers.

“The soldiers were evacuated to the hospital for medical treatment. Their families have been notified,” IDF said in a statement.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah claimed Thursday that it targeted several areas inside Israeli territory, including the one in Metula. The group also released a video of the attack on Metula.

Hezbollah on Thursday announced the death of two fighters without providing further details. 

Israel, in an overnight airstrike, hit “a complex of production and storage sites for weapons, which belongs to Hezbollah’s missile precision project in Jebel Shams in the Bekaa,” according to Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari.

Some background: According to figures released by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday, at least 355 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 8 as a result of the “Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon.”

Another 1,426 people were injured, the ministry added. 

At least 93,040 people have been displaced from areas and towns close to the border with Israel since the conflict started, the country’s health ministry added in its report. 

Monica Johnston is interviewed on CNN on Thursday, May 16.

A Portland nurse who traveled from Oregon to the Gaza Strip for what was supposed to be a two-week mission treating burn victims, told CNN of the guilt she feels at the prospect of being able to leave Gaza when Palestinian patients and medical colleagues must stay.

Since the Israeli military seized the Rafah crossing last week, the city’s critical border crossing to Egypt has shut, trapping a team of American healthcare professionals. But now, Monica Johnston, a burns specialist nurse volunteering with the Palestine American Medical Association in southern Gaza, said “it is possible” that “half of her team,” including her, can leave.

Johnston did not say how they would be able to leave but said the “guilt is immense.” 

“My female colleagues, my roommates [are] my best friends now,” Johnston told CNN’s Isa Soares on Thursday. “I’m going to have to leave them behind and with the intensified bombings that happened today, I’m so fearful [for] them.”

Describing the conditions she and her staff must operate in, the American nurse said when it comes to treating burns or wounds, she uses six different types of dressings that come from her bag.

“We’re scraping the bottom of our bags that we brought in, we brought in 300 bags of supplies,” Johnston said. 

“We just had two kids this morning, a one and a 3-year-old with the large burns and I used almost all the Silvadene [a burn cream to prevent infection] that I had in my bag, it’s devastating,” she said.

A CNN report highlighted the plight of dozens of foreign doctors being stuck in Gaza who are calling on the US government to help coordinate the team’s safe exit from Gaza, as humanitarian conditions worsen inside the besieged enclave.

Israeli forces are razing the earth from eastern to central Rafah, according to satellite imagery, ahead of a planned full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said additional forces will participate in the ground operation in Rafah. And the IDF said the operation there remains limited in scope, while it continues operating in two other parts of Gaza.

Here are other headlines you should know:

Developments on the ground

South Africa’s accusations against Israel

Humanitarian aid

President Joe Biden delivers remarks while meeting with the Joint Chiefs and Combatant Commanders in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 15.

The US House of Representatives voted on Thursday to pass a GOP-led bill to compel the delivery of defensive weapons to Israel as Republicans ramp up pressure on President Joe Biden over his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

It is unlikely to be taken up in the Democratic-led Senate and the White House has said that Biden would veto the bill if Congress passed it.

The bill would prevent the president from withholding, halting, reversing or canceling weapons transfers that have been approved by Congress from the United States to Israel, and requires any that have been withheld to be delivered to Israel within 15 days of the bill’s enactment.

The legislation would cut off funds from several key executive-branch entities, including the State Department, the Defense Department and the National Security Council until any withheld weapons are sent to Israel.

The vote was 224-187. Three Republicans crossed over and voted against the measure, and 16 Democrats voted for it. 

The vote comes as Biden has faced pushback from lawmakers in both parties after he said during an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett last week that he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah, where more than a million civilians have been sheltering.

Biden said while the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defense system, other shipments would end should a major ground invasion of Rafah begin.

The families of five Israeli soldiers who were killed as a result of friendly fire during operations in Jabalya in northern Gaza on Wednesday have been notified, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a statement Thursday.

The five included four sergeants and one captain, ages 20 to 22, who all belonged to the Paratroopers Brigade.

Hagari said the incident is still under investigation and that IDF “will draw the lessons and learn from them.”

“The IDF is engaged in intense fighting in three focal points in the Gaza Strip, where three divisions fighting Hamas are maneuvering,” Hagari said.

South Africa's Vusimuzi Madonsela, seated right, and Cornelius Scholtz, seated second left, attend a hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, on May 16.

Israel has responded to South Africa’s remarks at the International Court of Justice about the Israeli military escalating attacks in Gaza.

South Africa accused Israel of using forced evacuation orders in Rafah to “endanger rather than protect civilian life.” South Africa’s delegation also sought an emergency halt to Israel’s offensive in Rafah, saying “Israel’s genocide has reached a new and horrific stage.”

The Israeli foreign ministry accused South Africa of acting as “the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization,” in efforts to undermine Israel’s obligations to protect its citizens, according to an X post from Oren Marmorstein, the spokesperson for the ministry.

Israel accused South Africa’s allegations of being “morally and factually distorted” and said they are an “abuse of the Genocide Convention and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).” 

Israel also called on the ICJ “to reject South Africa’s appeal and to bring the abuse of the Court to an end.”

Arab leaders are collectively calling for the deployment of United Nations peacekeeping forces on occupied Palestinian territories until a two-state solution is reached.

At the Arab League summit in Bahrain the leaders issued the ‘Manama Declaration,’ which includes a call to set a timeframe to reach a two-state solution, and for the UN Security Council to issue a resolution to establish a Palestinian state.

The UN does not have peacekeeping troops in Israel or the Palestinian territories but has more than 10,000 peacekeepers along Israel’s border regions, like the UNIFIL in Lebanon and the UNDOF in Syria.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah were among the conference attendees who delivered speeches mainly focused on the war in Gaza. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres were also in attendance, and both delivered speeches. 

Guterres echoed a vision for the two-state solution, saying:

The US has also called for a two-state solution, with President Joe Biden saying in January that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could ultimately be convinced. “There are a number of types of two-state solutions,” Biden said at the time.

As the war in Gaza rages on, the ‘day after’ question is causing rifts inside Israel and among Arab countries. 

Netanyahu told Phil McGraw, known as Dr. Phil, in an interview last week that he envisions help from wealthy Arab countries, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to run Gaza. But the statement triggered a rare condemnation from the UAE’s foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, adding strain onto the relatively new relationship between Israel and the Gulf state. 

In the ‘Manama Declaration’, the 22-Arab bloc called for the release of hostages and accused Israel of obstructing ceasefire efforts. 

At the conference, President Sisi of Egypt, a mediating country in the now-stalled negotiations between Hamas and Israel, accused Israel of “evading its responsibility” and “maneuvering around the efforts” for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“Those who think that security and military solutions are able to secure interests or achieve security are delusional,” Al-Sisi said.  

The US has not seen any indications that Hamas is planning to target the recently completed temporary pier meant to get humanitarian aid into Gaza, according to a Defense Department spokesperson. 

Singh said the US is working with the Israel Defense Forces, who will help provide security for US forces operating the pier system, which was attached to the Gaza coast overnight.

Mortar rounds have landed near the pier site twice in recent weeks. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 16.

The White House warned Israel Thursday that more humanitarian aid needs to be making it into Gaza in order to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the enclave amid Israel’s war against Hamas. 

Jean-Pierre also provided an update on humanitarian aid, saying that since April 5 more than 7,000 trucks have been moved into Gaza and that yesterday nearly 250 trucks moved into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza and a newly opened crossing in northern Gaza. 

She added later: “What I just laid out is not sufficient. We want to get more in. We are continuing to have those conversations with Israel.”

United Nations deputy spokesman Farhan Haq has reiterated that all border crossings to Gaza must be reopened for effective humanitarian aid operations.

The UN is currently finalizing operational plans to distribute humanitarian aid via a newly constructed floating dock, Haq told press at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday, but emphasized that land access to the besieged Palestinian enclave remains vital.

The US Defense Department has released two aerial images of a newly completed temporary pier being affixed to Gaza’s coast to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. 

In this aerial photo released by the US Defense Department, US Army Soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), US Navy Sailors assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 and Israel Defense Forces emplace the Trident Pier on the Gaza coast on May 16.

One image shows the Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore capability, known as JLOTS, approaching the coast, with the other showing the pier system subsequently attached to the Gaza coast. 

Aid will start entering Gaza via the pier “in the coming days,” the US has said.

In this aerial photo released by the US Defense Department, US Army Soldiers assigned to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), US Navy Sailors assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion 1 and Israel Defense Forces emplace the Trident Pier on the Gaza coast on May 16.

Displaced Palestinians arrive in Deir al Balah, Gaza, after fleeing from Rafah, Gaza, on May 9.

South Africa has accused Israel of using forced evacuation orders in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to “endanger rather than protect civilian life.”

A lawyer for South Africa, Professor Max du Plessis, condemned the forced evacuation of over 600,000 Palestinians from Rafah and the Israeli designation of “humanitarian zones” elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.

The measures “endanger rather than protect civilian life,” Du Plessis told a hearing of the International Criminal Court (ICJ) in The Hague on Thursday. “The so-called ‘humanitarian zones’ are not safe, the zones are policed by the same Israeli forces who attacked Palestinians.”

‘Genocidal intent’: Israel’s “full scale bombardment” of Rafah, and the sealing of entry and exit for “life-saving aid to an already devastated population” suggests a “genocidal intent,” the lawyer also argued, saying that the Israeli military’s assault on the city has “deliberately inflicted” conditions to bring about Palestinians’ “physical and biological destruction.”

ICJ hearing: Israel, which has rejected South Africa’s claim that it is violating the 1949 Genocide Convention as “baseless,” will have a chance to respond to the court on Friday.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during a briefing in Washington, DC, on May 13.

US President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan convened for the first time this week with ambassadors and chiefs of mission representing countries whose citizens were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, CNN has learned.

Sullivan met with representatives from 17 nations: Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Thailand and the United Kingdom, according to a US official and senior administration official familiar with the meeting.

The group discussed ideas to secure the release of the hostages in Gaza, with a particular focus on ways that they can speak more as a collective group in both public and private settings, the senior administration official said.

Ceasefire negotiations: The meeting came as negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a deal to secure the release of hostages and ceasefire in Gaza appear to have stalled once again. The representatives gathered with Sullivan brainstormed ways to exert pressure on the negotiating parties – including Israel, Egypt and Qatar – to return to the negotiating table and finalize a ceasefire. One idea that was discussed was finding a way to speak as a collective voice to the United Nations, that official said. 

‘International concern’: Those same 18 countries had released a statement in late April calling on the release of all hostages, warning that the fate of those individuals is “of international concern.”

Bulldozed areas are seen in Rafah, Gaza, on May 15.

Israeli forces are razing the earth from eastern to central Rafah, according to satellite imagery, ahead of a planned full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city.

Israeli bulldozing operations have been conducted almost a mile north of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, according to the latest imagery released by Planet Labs on May 15. Entire blocks have been destroyed or sustained significant damage since May 9.

Empty streets: On Saturday, the Israeli military expanded the Rafah evacuation zone further west, a precursor to its widening assault on the city. 

The recent satellite images indicate emptied streets in Rafah, where, prior to the ground invasion, over one million Palestinians were seeking refuge from Israel’s bombardment in the enclave. Many of the tent cities that held the sprawling refugee population have almost disappeared. 

Deserted streets are seen in Rafah, Gaza, on May 15.

Forced to evacuate: At least 600,000 Palestinians have been forced to evacuate Rafah since May 6, the UN’s Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated. In the past 48 hours, 150,000 people are believed to have fled.

South Africa's Vusimuzi Madonsela, seated right, and Cornelius Scholtz, seated second left, talk prior to the start of hearings at the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, Netherlands, on May 16.

South Africa is seeking an emergency halt to Israel’s offensive in the southern city of Rafah after last year filing proceedings at the UN”s top court accusing Israel of genocide.

During a public hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), South Africa’s delegation said Israel’s attacks in Gaza had only escalated in defiance of the court.

Madonsela said while the Rafah offensive was the impetus for calling the hearing, Israel’s “intensifying attacks” all over the Gaza Strip in recent weeks have warranted the attention of the court and have “shocked the conscience of humanity”.

Israel will have a chance to respond tomorrow in the two-day hearing to consider the emergency measures proposed by South Africa.

In January, the ICJ ordered Israel to do all in its power to prevent genocidal acts and enable humanitarian aid to Gaza but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.

Players pose for a photo following a solidarity match between the Irish and Palestinian women’s football teams on May 15, in Dublin, Ireland.

Ireland hosted the Palestinian women’s football team for a fundraiser game on Wednesday night, in the country’s latest show of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Dublin football club, Bohemians F.C paid for the Palestinian side to travel to the Irish capital for the match which raised funds for a number of NGOs helping people in Gaza. The Palestinian side snatched a 2-1 victory at the sold-out game.

Bohemians’ Chief Operating Officer Dan Lambert described the game as an “unbelievably emotional occasion” for players and spectators alike.

Speaking to Irish newspaper, The Irish Times in advance of the game, Chair of the Football Association of Palestine Jibril Rajoub described it as a “very important” milestone for the team.

Ireland is one of the most pro-Palestinian nations in Europe.

The country’s government has been a vocal critic of Israel with the Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris previously telling his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu that the Irish people were “repulsed by [his] actions” in Gaza. Israel. for its part, has not shied away from firing back, with Israel’s ambassador to Ireland earlier this year complaining of hearing only “one-sided” views of her country.

A hospital in northern Gaza has received several bodies and many injured people after Israeli strikes on Thursday, CNN witnessed. Video also showed the casualties being brought into Kamal Adwan hospital Thursday morning.

The footage showed people praying over four bodies wrapped in white cloth in front of the hospital, with women and children crying.  

One man who gave his name as Abu Ahmad said he was holding the body of his last child, after the rest of his family had been killed earlier.

Separately, social media video uploaded Thursday showed a huge explosion in the northern district of Jabalya, with a fireball releasing dense clouds of grey and black smoke. Israeli forces have pushed into the Jabalya refugee camp in recent days.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant speaks during a press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, in December 2023.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says additional forces will participate in the ground operation in Rafah.

In a video statement recorded in Rafah Wednesday, Gallant said that following an assessment on the Gaza border, more troops will be deployed to the city.

He said that overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, the IDF deployed the Commando Brigade to Rafah, joining the 162nd Division’s Givati and 401st brigades which have been there since earlier this month. 

Israel began a military offensive in and around the southern Gazan city of Rafah on May 6. Over a million Palestinians had been sheltering there after being forced to flee other parts of the besieged enclave.