October 22, 2024 news on the wars in the Middle East

At least 18 people, including four children, were killed in an Israeli attack outside Lebanon’s largest public hospital in Beirut on Monday, the Lebanese Ministry of Health said in an update on Tuesday.

An additional 60 people were injured in the missile strike outside the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the ministry said Tuesday.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed a total of 63 people and injured at least 234 on Monday, the Lebanese ministry said in a separate statement.

Growing unease over the United States’ inability to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East is prompting some of Washington’s closest Arab allies to significantly increase engagement with its primary regional adversary: Iran.

Over the past few months, Arab nations have been leveraging their revived relations with the Islamic Republic to ward off a wider regional war as the US fails to contain an impending regional escalation.

In a rare meeting this month, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, who once called Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the “new Hitler of the Middle East,” sat down with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Riyadh. It was the third meeting between Iranian and Saudi officials in one month.

Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud, right, meets Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on October 9.

Tehran’s top diplomat has met Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman and made a rare trip to Egypt for a meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo. He has also met Qatar’s prime minister in Doha, the Omani foreign minister in Muscat and the Bahraini king in Manama.

“All our friends gave us assurances that their land and airspace will not be used to attack Iran … We are expecting this from all countries in the region,” Araghchi said after meeting Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sabah Al-Sabah in Kuwait City.

Read more about how these efforts appear to have influenced dialogue.

Search and rescue operations after an Israeli airstrike during the night around the Rafik Hariri State Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 22.

As a thick coat of dust clings to the air, a group of men stand on what used to be a building and dig.

The men are on their hands and knees after the Israeli strike, trying to move the debris to see what’s beneath. Video footage shows another man standing on what used to be the balcony of his apartment — wires from other collapsed homes around him — as he picks up what appears to be a photo frame. He looks at it and wipes the dust off with his shirt.

At least 18 people were killed by an Israeli strike on a building in the Jnah neighborhood in southern Lebanon, located just across the road from Lebanon’s largest public hospital, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

Ola Fahed Eid said she saw children who were playing in the courtyard “torn to pieces” as the missiles landed.

“I saw the children torn to pieces, screaming, and I saw a man, Zaghoul, who had fallen among the rubble. I managed to pull him out, along with eight others who were still alive.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on October 22.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lasted more than two hours, beginning just after midday local time.

The two met in both a smaller group and larger group for more than two-and-a-half hours, with the majority of the time spent in the smaller group meeting.

The top US diplomat is now meeting with key Netanyahu ally Ron Dermer, according to reporters traveling with the secretary of state.

This post has been updated with more details.

Hezbollah has taken “full and exclusive responsibility” for a drone attack in Israeli town of Caesarea on Saturday that targeted the house of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israeli authorities admitted Tuesday the drone had actually hit his house.

“The Islamic Resistance fully and exclusively claims responsibility for the Caesarea operation and the targeting of … Netanyahu’s home,” Hezbollah’s head of media relations, Mohammad Afif, announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The Israeli prime minister’s spokesperson confirmed the attack on Saturday, saying Netanyahu and his wife were not at home at the time of the strike. Netanyahu responded, saying that the“agents of Iran” who were behind the attack would pay.

On Sunday, Iran denied involvement in the drone attack, stating that the operation was “carried out by Hezbollah.”

An injured boy stands by a window lattice in a destroyed classroom where people were sheltering at a school run by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza on June 7.

More than 100,000 Palestinians have been wounded since Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza on October 7 of last year, according to the health ministry in the enclave.

The ministry said that 487 people have been wounded in Gaza over the past 48 hours, taking the total number of injuries since October 7 to 100,282 — about one in every 22 people in the enclave, according to CNN calculations of health ministry figures.

At least 42,718 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, the ministry said on Tuesday.

The Israeli offensive following the Hamas-led attacks has spawned a humanitarian crisis among the entire population of more than 2.2 million people in Gaza.

At least 23 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military in parts of the besieged regions of northern Gaza early Tuesday, according to Gaza Civil Defense.

At least 12 people were killed by Israeli fire while trying to flee the Mashrou’ neighborhood of Beit Lahiya, said Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense. Residents earlier told CNN that people in Mashrou’ received fliers from the Israel Defense Forces calling on them to leave. CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the flier and has reached out to the IDF for comment.

Elsewhere in Beit Lahiya, five people were killed in the Khalifa Bin Zayed school, Basal told CNN. At least one woman was killed at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalya after Israeli artillery fire targeted the entrance of the facility, according to Basal.

Further south, in Gaza City, an Israeli airstrike killed at least five people at Al-Dawla intersection, Basal added.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment about the attacks in northern Gaza.

Death and desperation in the northern strip: Palestinians trapped in three cities of northern Gaza — Beit Lahiya, Jabalya and Beit Hanoun — have recounted scenes of horror over the past two weeks. Almost 600 people have been killed, according to Basal, after the IDF launched a renewed incursion on October 5 that it says is targeting Hamas’ presence in the area.

Residents have told CNN they cannot find enough food for their families, as the Israeli siege has sapped critical supplies in the region. Meanwhile, medical staff in local facilities, including Kamal Adwan Hospital, warned they are struggling to treat injured patients because they do not have enough fuel, food or medicine.

Severe aid shortages in northern Gaza have stifled efforts to recover wounded Palestinians, or to help bury the dead, according to Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations’ agency for Palestine refugees.

The Rafik Hariri Hospital in southern Beirut was severely damaged during an Israeli attack on Monday, its director said.

Hospital director Jihad Saadeh told reporters on Tuesday that it’s unclear if the hospital was the intended target. “Yesterday, we were subjected to an attack,” Saadeh said during a news conference. “We cannot say whether we were directly targeted or not, but unfortunately, the Israeli enemy has no red lines, and we cannot forget the complete destruction of the health care sector in Gaza,” he said.

Saadeh explained that despite clearly marked red cross symbols on the hospital’s rooftop, shrapnel from the blast reached the hospital. The missiles destroyed three nearby buildings, he said.

Rescue efforts are still underway to recover people trapped under the rubble.

Saadeh added that the hospital was operating at full capacity when the strike occurred and continues to do so despite severe damage, “The material damage to the hospital is severe. All the solar panels and windows were destroyed, and the hospital’s facades were damaged,” he stated.

No hospital staff were harmed, but Saadeh stressed the urgent need for repairs, particularly in the pharmacy. “We need to fix the pharmacy quickly to ensure the medications do not spoil. We will continue to operate in the hospital and will not stop.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the Lebanese ministry of health said the death toll from the strike has risen to 13 people, including a child.

The strike was not in an area covered by evacuation orders issued by the military, a CNN analysis of the strike and maps of no-go zones has found.

An Israeli strike near Lebanon’s largest public hospital killed at least 13 people, including a child, the health ministry said Tuesday.

The Rafik Hariri University Hospital was not in an area covered by evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military, CNN analysis found. The Israel Defense Forces said it had targeted a “Hezbollah terrorist site” in a strike near the hospital on Monday.

Here are scenes showing the aftermath:

Rescuers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 22.

People search through the rubble at the site of an Israeli strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 22.

A bulldozer clears the rubble of destroyed buildings following Israeli airstrikes in a densely-populated neighbourhood facing the Rafik Hariri State Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 22.

Search and rescue operations continue in the area after an Israeli airstrike during the night around the Rafik Hariri State Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 22.

Women react at the site of an Israeli strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 22.

Wounded Palestinians, including children, are brought to al-Ahli Baptist Hospital for treatment after an Israeli attack on Jabalya refugee camp, Gaza, on October 21.

United Nations aid workers in northern Gaza “cannot find food, water or medical care,” following nearly three weeks of “non-stop” Israeli bombardment, a senior UN official said on Tuesday, citing reports from staff on the ground.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, outlined the horrific conditions UNRWA staff are working under in the north of the enclave, where hundreds of thousands of people face a dire humanitarian situation amid Israel’s renewed military offensive.

CNN has previously reported that Palestinians fleeing sites of Israel’s military operation in northern Gaza are being shot at as they evacuate, according to residents there and footage shared with CNN documenting their journey.

Lazzarini reiterated calls for a ceasefire, “even if for few hours, to enable safe humanitarian passage for families who wish to leave the area and reach safer places.”

Rescuers search for survivors at the site of an Israeli strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, on October 22.

The death toll has risen to 13 people, including a child, following an Israeli strike near a hospital on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Tuesday.

The number of injured from the attack outside the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the largest public hospital in Lebanon, has increased to 57, the ministry said. Seventeen of the wounded were hospitalized, with seven in critical condition, it said.

The Israel Defense Forces said it had targeted a “Hezbollah terrorist site” in a strike near the hospital on Monday.

The strike was not in an area covered by evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military, a CNN analysis found.

Antony Blinken disembarks from his plane upon arrival at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on October 22.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv for meetings with Israeli officials on Tuesday as the United States seeks to advance efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Blinken, making his 11^th visit to the region since the outbreak of war last year, arrives at a critical time as Israel plans its anticipated retaliation to an Iranian missile attack and as ceasefire talks over the wars in Lebanon and Gaza appear stalled.

The top US diplomat’s visit also comes at a time of strained relations between Washington and its closest regional ally, which has seen the US warn Israel that it may stop supplying weapons unless the humanitarian situation in Gaza improves.

A recent US intelligence leak about Israel’s war plans has risked further straining those ties. However, the State Department said Monday it did not expect the leak to be discussed during Blinken’s meetings.

On Monday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the White House is not optimistic that ceasefire talks on Gaza or Lebanon will restart soon.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations on Monday said the US would be “complicit” in any Israeli aggression against Iran if it emboldened Israel by providing it with advanced weaponry, underscoring the high tensions in the region.

Editor’s note: This story contains details of suicide and violence that some readers may find upsetting.

More than a year after Hamas and other armed groups launched their attack on Israel, Shirel Golan became their latest victim. She died by suicide on Sunday, the day she turned 22, after a year-long struggle with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Shirel’s brother Eyal Golan told CNN her health problems began immediately after the October 7 attack. She was attending the Nova Music Festival near the border with Gaza when Hamas led its deadly rampage on southern Israel.

Once a happy woman who wouldn’t hesitate to drive for an hour to visit her family when they needed help, Shirel became quiet, slowly fading away after surviving the massacre.

“She didn’t come out from the house. She didn’t come to visit us, she was withdrawn,” he said.

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Brother of Nova festival survivor blames Israeli health authorities for her death

02:48 - Source: CNN

Speaking to CNN after Shirel’s funeral on Monday, Eyal said Shirel’s family had worried about her health and tried to keep an eye on her as much as they could. She was rarely left on her own, he said.

But as the family gathered to celebrate her birthday, Shirel wandered off without anyone noticing, according to Eyal. By the time her boyfriend found her at the bottom of the garden, she was gone.

Heartbroken and overwhelmed with guilt and anger, Eyal said he blames the Israeli health authorities for some of Shirel’s problems. He said no one from the government ever reached out to her or the family. Instead, he said, the authorities only offered help to those who actively sought it.

Read the full story.

Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Globally: The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.

Palestinians gather at the site of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, on October 20.

Residents and journalists in northern Gaza have told CNN they received fliers and heard announcements from the Israeli military calling on them to evacuate or their lives would be in danger.

The fliers, which CNN has seen images of, were dropped on the Mashrou’ neighborhood of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza with the Israeli military’s insignia, according to residents.

CNN cannot independently verify the authenticity of the flier and has reached out to the Israeli military.

Throughout the war, the Israeli military has dropped evacuation warning fliers in Gaza. Northern Gaza, in particular, has seen an expansion of these warnings in recent weeks since the Israeli military began its renewed operation there this month.

In a video shared by a resident in Beit Lahiya, a man is heard on a speaker saying he is with the Israel Defense Forces. He calls on all residents to evacuate, saying that their lives are in danger and the “military is going to explode the whole area.”

A journalist based in northern Gaza also told CNN that residents near Kamal Adwan Hospital are being told to evacuate by the Israeli military and move towards the nearby Indonesian Hospital.

CNN is attempting to reach authorities at Kamal Adwan Hospital, but with a communication blackout in the area over the past few days, contact with officials has been difficult.

Videos shared by residents showed crowds of people evacuating the area.

About 15 projectiles crossed into northern and central Israel from Lebanon on Tuesday morning, with some intercepted and others falling in open areas, the Israeli military said.

Hezbollah said it targeted a location outside Tel Aviv and the Glilot military base in central Israel, which houses a military intelligence unit. The group also said it targeted a naval base in the Haifa area.

The Israeli military said it’s unaware of any injuries from the rocket fire. There were no immediate reports of damage.

Lebanese forces take security measures around Rafik Hariri University Hospital after an Israeli attack near the area in Beirut, Lebanon on October 22.

The number of people wounded following a deadly Israeli strike near a hospital on the outskirts of Beirut has risen to 32, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Tuesday.

At least four people, including a child, were killed in the attack outside the Rafik Hariri University Hospital on Monday, the ministry previously said.

The facility is considered to be the largest public hospital in Lebanon.

The strike was not in an area covered by evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military, a CNN analysis found. The military previously said it hit a “Hezbollah terrorist target” in a strike near the hospital, and that the hospital was not targeted.

A 3-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by airdropped aid in the city of Khan Younis on Saturday, as the humanitarian crisis spawned by Israel’s war with Hamas compounds severe hunger across Gaza.

The family was eating breakfast when pallets dropped from airplanes and careened towards the displacement area, Sami Ayyad, the grandfather of the boy, told CNN.

Family members tried to take cover in their tents — but the falling parcel killed Sami instantly, Ayyad recalled. Sami’s aunt and cousin were also wounded on their foot and face, respectively, Ayyad said.

“We have no hospitals. I ran like crazy, but the boy died instantly. I couldn’t save him. Blood started coming out of his nose and mouth,” he added.

CNN footage from the aftermath shows blood stains on the ground, as Ayyad points to the area where Sami was killed. Family members can be seen congregating, their eyes welling up with tears. Elsewhere, people walk barefoot among a sea of tents made of flimsy sheeting.

A number of countries have airdropped aid into Gaza, including the United States, United Kingdom, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. Human rights agencies have repeatedly condemned airdrops as an inefficient way of getting aid to Gaza, instead urging Israeli authorities to lift controls on land crossings. CNN has previously reported on aid drops killing people in search of food in Gaza.

“Enough with the humiliation and insult that we are receiving from the Arabs, not just the Israelis. Those who have no mercy on us — look at our children, our women, our elderly.”

Read the full story.

Graphic video footage released by Gaza’s Civil Defense of what it said was the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a United Nations school shows a scene of devastation, with multiple women and children among the wounded.

Mahmoud Basal, a Civil Defense spokesperson, said Monday that 10 people were killed and 30 wounded in the strike on the school in Jabalya refugee camp, where displaced Palestinians are sheltering amid Israel’s renewed military offensive in northern Gaza.

CNN has not been able to independently verify the location of the video and has asked the Israeli military for comment.

Videos provided by Basal show a chaotic scene with multiple women and children severely wounded and heavily bleeding.

In one of the videos, a woman’s voice can be heard screaming “I don’t have anything to stop the bleeding,” as she runs from one casualty to another.

The woman appears to be filming the videos herself. At one point, she stops in a staircase, opens a medic’s bag and tries to help with the little she has. Children and a man are seen laying across the stairs, bleeding. One boy yells hysterically, “Dad! Dad!”

The woman runs to another location and explosions are heard in the background. She then sees an elderly man, hunched over and motionless. The woman yells, “Uncle Abu Mohammed, no, no. Uncle.”

More videos, which appear to be filmed by the same woman, show the bodies of at least two men on the ground. As she sees them, the woman shouts:

In another scene, a woman, a boy and a girl are seen sitting and lying on the ground. The boy and girl are both severely wounded and visibly traumatized, and the girl’s foot is partially severed at the ankle.

The head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency has accused Israel of preventing aid from reaching northern Gaza.

Displaced Palestinians evacuate from Jabalya refugee camp.

Two hospitals in Beirut are dealing with the impact of Israel’s war in Lebanon, where it aims to crush Hezbollah.

An Israeli strike outside Lebanon’s largest public hospital killed at least four people, including a child, the health ministry said. The strike near Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut was not in an area covered by evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military, a CNN analysis found. The military said it hit a “Hezbollah terrorist target” near the hospital.

Israel’s military has alleged that a different hospital in Beirut, Sahel General, has a Hezbollah bunker hidden beneath it, saying the bunker contained “millions of dollars in gold and cash.” One of the hospital directors said the claims were “baseless”. The Israeli military has made similar claims in Gaza before targeting hospitals, he said. “Now they are doing it in Lebanon.”

Here are the latest headlines:

Editor’s note: This story contains details of suicide and violence that some readers may find upsetting.

A 40-year-old father of four, Eliran Mizrahi deployed to Gaza after the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The Israeli military reservist returned a different person, traumatized by what he had witnessed in the war against Hamas in the strip, his family told CNN. Six months after he was first sent to fight, he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) back at home. Before he was due to redeploy, he took his own life.

The Israeli military has said it is providing care for thousands of soldiers who are suffering from PTSD or mental illnesses caused by trauma during the war. It is unclear how many have taken their own lives, as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has not provided an official figure.

One year on, Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 people, according to the health ministry in the strip, with the United Nations reporting that most of the dead are women and children.

The war, launched after Hamas killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage, is already Israel’s longest since the Jewish state was established. And as it now expands to Lebanon, some soldiers say they dread being drafted into yet another conflict.

“A lot of us are very scared of getting drafted again to a war in Lebanon,” an IDF medic who served four months in Gaza told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. “A lot of us don’t trust the government right now.”

Read the full story.

Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Globally: The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.