Humanitarian crisis worsens in Gaza as Israel-Hamas fighting intensifies
Updated 3:55 PM ET, Tue Dec 5, 2023
Some Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza were given anti-anxiety medication prior to their release, an official from Israel’s health ministry told the Knesset, or parliament, on Tuesday. “They were given Clonex pills aimed to improve their mood,” Dr. Hagar Mizrahi, head of the Israeli Health Ministry’s medical division, said in response to a question from the Knesset Health Committee. Clonex is the name in Israel for Clonazepam, a benzodiazepine that has a calming effect, and is used to treat seizures and relieve anxiety. Mizrahi did not provide evidence for the claim. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) should retain control for the disarmament of Gaza after the war, rejecting the idea that an international force could be responsible for security in the Gaza Strip. It's not the first time Netanyahu has called for post-war Israeli military control in Gaza. "On the day after: Gaza must be disarmed. And in order for Gaza to be disarmed, there’s only one force that can ensure that — and this force is the IDF," Netanyahu said on Tuesday during a news conference. "No international force can be responsible for that," he said. "We saw what happened to other places where international forces were brought for disarmament purposes." In November, Netanyahu told CNN that Israel's security role in a post-war Gaza would be an “over-riding, over-reaching military envelope,” but did not explain what that meant. US President Joe Biden on Tuesday decried reported sexual assaults committed by Hamas during its attack on Israel, calling on "all of us" to condemn the acts. Speaking at a fundraiser in Boston, Biden accused Hamas of refusing to release additional women hostages and ending the pause in fighting that the US helped broker. "Hamas terrorists inflicted as much pain and suffering in women and girls as possible," Biden said at the fundraising event, his first of three on Tuesday in Massachusetts. "The world can't just look away at what's going on. It's on all of us ... to forcibly condemn the sexual violence of Hamas terrorists without equivocation," Biden said, according to pool reporters in the room. "Let me be crystal clear: Hamas' refusal to release the remaining young women is what broke this deal and end the pause in the fighting. Everyone still being held hostage by Hamas need to be returned to their families immediately. We're not going to stop," he said. More context: Hamas has denied that its militants committed rape during the October 7 attack. The group's statement also rejected that Hamas targeted festival-goers at the Nova music festival. At least 260 bodies were recovered from the festival site, according to Israeli rescue service ZAKA. Israeli police are investigating whether rape occurred during the attack, using forensic evidence, video and witness testimony, CNN first reported in November. Israel’s police acknowledge their investigation may take months. The US military airlifted another 36,00 pounds of critical supplies to Gazans on Tuesday, Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Tuesday. “At the request of USAID (United States Agency for International Development), the Department of Defense airlifted another 16.3 metric tons, or 36,000 pounds, of vital supplies to the people of Gaza today, providing more vitally needed medical supplies, warm clothing, and food and nutrition,” Ryder said. He said that as with previous airlifts, "the supplies were delivered via a US Air Force C-17 to Egypt to subsequently be transported via ground into Gaza and then distributed by UN agencies.” Ryder added that additional flights are expected “in the coming days.” An 8-year-old soccer fan who enjoys playing video games. Young-adult siblings dancing away at a desert music festival. A 67-year-old agricultural expert and her relatives enjoying a family gathering. These were a few of the 105 people who were released by Hamas during a temporary truce with Israel, which started on November 24 and ended early December 1. Under the terms of the agreement, which was finalized after weeks of tense negotiations, Israel released three imprisoned Palestinians for every Israeli hostage allowed to leave Gaza. The framework saw 80 Israelis, some of whom hold dual citizenships, released from captivity. By the end of the pause in hostilities, 240 Palestinians had been freed from Israeli prisons, mainly women and minors, and many of whom had been detained but never charged. Additionally, a number of foreign nationals — 23 Thai citizens, one Filipino and one dual Israeli-Russian citizen — were freed as part of separate negotiations outside the truce. The temporary agreement, accompanied by an uptick in desperately needed humanitarian aid entering the besieged enclave, represented the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the conflict. Click here to learn more about each hostage who has returned from Gaza so far. The Israeli government needs to allow more humanitarian assistance into Gaza, US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Tuesday. "We don't think Israel is doing enough," he said at a briefing. "We think they need to do more to allow humanitarian assistance in." "There is not enough fuel, there's not enough food, there's not enough water getting in," he added. He noted that the number of trucks with humanitarian aid entering Gaza is lower than it was before the pause, and that needs to increase. Fifty trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing Tuesday, including two trucks specifically carrying fuel, according to an Egyptian official. Before the October 7 attack, about 455 aid trucks were crossing into the area each day, according to the United Nations. "We are engaging with the government of Israel at every level to try to increase the amount of humanitarian assistance that is getting in, so people do have food and people do have water," Miller said. As the Israel-Hamas war enters its ninth week, signs are emerging of social order breaking down, with reports of looting by people struggling to survive. Miller also said that the US is working with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) "to try to identify sites where civilians can go to be safe from harm and working with the government of Israel to ensure that those sites are protected and are not targeted." Video and witness accounts indicate there have been multiple strikes in the area of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Tuesday, with many casualties being taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Dozens of videos CNN commissioned from a freelance journalist on the ground in Deir al-Balah show men digging through rubble in the aftermath of a strike, which destroyed a large, multi-story building. In one video, a blanket appears to be covering a dead body as people at the scene prepare to move the body. In another video, men are seen searching for someone trapped under the concrete, and one man says he can hear a voice inside the rubble. The spokesperson of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Dr. Khalil Al Daqran, told CNN that more than 90 bodies arrived at the medical facility on Tuesday, in addition to 130 people who were injured. He said more casualties are arriving. "Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is the only hospital in the central area and cannot accommodate such a large number of people, especially considering that massacres against our people are still ongoing," he said. One video received by CNN from a freelance journalist showed a stream of ambulances and private cars arriving at the medical facility, and several injured children being carried in. One dazed woman covered in dust is also helped into the hospital. "Many are still trapped under rubble and are being rescued and brought to the hospital," Al Daqran said. "There is a major crisis, particularly because we do not have enough beds, especially in the overcrowded emergency room." Many of those carried into the hospital appeared to have severe injuries, with some lying on the hospital floor as medics treated them. Another video filmed in Deir al-Balah shows a Palestine Red Crescent Society ambulance fleeing the scene of nearby artillery fire, according to the aid agency. The PRCS shared the video, which was filmed by a local journalist in Gaza, alongside the caption: "Horrific scenes for Israeli tank artillery targets the vicinity of two PRCS ambulances today while attending to casualties in Deir Al-Balah, South of #Gaza." CNN geolocated the video to the southern part of the city. The video shows people running into the ambulance as blasts are heard nearby, as one person says, "The bombing is directly on us." Through the window of the ambulance, a large plume of smoke can be seen rising in the distance. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment. Al Daqran also called for more medical supplies to enter the enclave and for "Egypt to open Rafah (border crossing) to transfer the critically ill cases in Gaza and save their lives, especially due to the lack of medical aid in Gaza." On Tuesday, seven injured Palestinians, along with seven accompanying individuals, crossed into Egypt to receive medical treatment, as observed by a journalist working with CNN at the Rafah crossing. Lebanon's caretaker prime minister wants to spare his country "from any major war that might occur" as the conflict between Israel and Hamas is leading to the fear of rising regional tensions. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he is working with international partners, including the United States and the United Nations, to ensure Lebanon doesn't get wrapped up in "any war that we do not know where it will lead." "We are in the eye of the storm and in an unenviable situation, and there is strong turmoil in the region as a whole, especially in terms of what is happening in Gaza, and on the southern border with the Israeli enemy," he said, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA). Mikati said that Lebanon continues to support the Palestinian cause and he stressed that any guarantees to avoid a wider war fall on Israel. The Lebanese official also said negotiations will take place "in the coming months" to solve the ongoing border disputes with Israel with the support of the US, Europe and the UN. "This issue takes a fundamental role with the aim of sparing Lebanon from any war that we do not know where it will lead. We hope that in the next three months we will reach a stage of complete stability on our borders," Mikati said. Some background: Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s powerful militant group, have been exchanging frequent fire across the border for two months, using rockets, artillery, drones and airstrikes. A Lebanese soldier was killed and three others were wounded in an Israeli attack on Tuesday, the Lebanese army said on social media. It appears to be the first death of a Lebanese soldier since the two groups have been exchanging fire. The Israeli Defense Forces said fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including infrastructure and weapons storage military posts on Tuesday morning, adding it identified several launches from Lebanon into Israel that fell into open areas. The Israel Defense Forces spokesperson who on Monday told CNN that killing two Palestinian civilians for every Hamas militant in Gaza would be a “tremendously positive ratio” on Tuesday said that the IDF had not confirmed that those numbers were accurate. Jonathan Conricus, the spokesperson, said that he had only meant to say that he had seen a news report attributing those numbers to an unnamed Israeli official. “I confirmed that I saw the report. I didn’t confirm the numbers yet,” he told CNN on Tuesday. AFP, citing a briefing for foreign media by senior Israeli military officials, reported on Monday that the Israeli military believes that about two civilians have been killed in Gaza for each Hamas militant. AFP reported that the Israeli military official, when asked to confirm reports that around 5,000 Hamas militants had been killed, replied: “The numbers are more or less right.” Conricus said that the IDF wants to get accurate numbers of civilians and combatants killed, adding that he thought the number would be known before the end of the war. And he said the Israeli military was talking about active combatants when it counted how many Hamas fighters it killed: “Our definition is combatants, people who are fighting.” He repeated Israel’s regular assertion that the IDF was aiming to kill “as low as possible a number of civilians” and blamed Hamas for using people as human shields. He insisted again that a ratio of two civilians killed per combatant was better than seen in urban combat in places like Raqqa and Deir Ezzor in Syria, but added, “Every loss of life is sad, I should have chosen my words more carefully.” The United States will provide an additional $21 million in aid to Gaza, US Aid Administrator Samantha Power announced during a trip to Egypt Tuesday. According to US Aid, this aid will provide: Support for the provision of essential hygiene and shelter supplies, food, and market-based assistance for more than 120,000 people Psychosocial care and health services for the health system in Gaza which US Aid described as "overwhelmed" Support to bolster an NGO-operated field hospital in Gaza providing in-patient care Her announcement for additional aid follows US President Joe Biden's announcement of $100 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza on October 18. Power visited El-Arish, Egypt, to meet with local officials and Egyptian and international humanitarian organizations, according to a US Aid press release. At the time of her visit, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) airlifted 36,000 pounds of food assistance and medical supplies from Amman, Jordan, to El-Arish, at USAID’s request, the press release said. The city of El-Arish lies roughly 28 miles from the Rafah crossing which links Egypt to Gaza. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new policy on Tuesday to prevent extremist Israeli settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank from coming to the United States. "Today, the State Department is implementing a new visa restriction policy targeting individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security, or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities," Blinken said in a statement. "Immediate family members of such persons also may be subject to these restrictions," he added. The State Department will be able to apply the policy to both Israelis and Palestinians who are responsible for attacks in the West Bank, Blinken said. Blinken did not name any individuals who would be subject to the visa restrictions, nor did he say how many would be included in the initial tranche of restrictions. The new policy is expected "to impact dozens of individuals and potentially their family members," State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Tuesday. "Any Israeli citizen who currently has a visa to enter the United States will be notified that that visa has been revoked," Miller said. "Any other Israeli citizen who is designated as a result of this program, but does not currently have a visa, will not be notified. If they want to travel to the United States and they apply through ESTA, which is the way that it works if you're currently a Visa Waiver Program Country, that application will be rejected," he said. The background: Administration officials have signaled for weeks that they would take such action as violence in the West Bank has intensified in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack. In his engagements with Israeli officials since that attack, Blinken has called on the Netanyahu government to do more to hold the settlers responsible for the violence accountable. "As President Biden has repeatedly said, those attacks are unacceptable. Last week in Israel, I made clear that the United States is ready to take action using our own authorities," the top US diplomat reiterated in his statement Tuesday. "We will continue to seek accountability for all acts of violence against civilians in the West Bank, regardless of the perpetrator or the victim," Blinken said. Blinken said that the US will continue to engage with Israeli leadership to "make clear that Israel must take additional measures to protect Palestinian civilians from extremist attacks." The secretary of state also said the US will continue to "engage the Palestinian Authority to make clear it must do more to curb Palestinian attacks against Israelis," he said, noting that leaders in Israel and those with the Palestinian Authority "have the responsibility to uphold stability in the West Bank. Instability in the West Bank both harms the Israeli and Palestinian people and threatens Israel’s national security interests. Those responsible for it must be held accountable." US President Joe Biden's administration has begun to stress publicly that the United States' efforts to shape Israel’s military operations to be more surgical and deliberate to limit civilian casualties in Gaza have been fruitful. “I do believe that they have listened,” Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters on Sunday when asked about Israel’s receptiveness to US urgings to do more to protect civilian lives. Two days earlier, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters, “We believe that the approach that we’re taking thus far has produced effective results.” In particular, US officials are arguing that Israel has heeded lessons that the administration has shared from its past experience with urban warfare. They are also insisting that the Israel Defense Forces’ initial incursion into northern Gaza would have been far wider in scope had it not been for warnings from the US. But privately, that is not a view shared by everyone inside the White House. One senior administration official told CNN that they did not feel comfortable using the word “receptive” to capture Israel’s response so far to the administration’s advice on its military operations. The White House is deeply concerned, this official said, about how Israel’s operations targeting southern Gaza will unfold. US officials’ recent conversations with their Israeli counterparts about not replicating in the southern part of the strip what it did in the north have been “hard,” “firm” and “direct,” they said. But administration officials are careful to avoid directly admonishing any of Israel’s tactics in public. Since the start of the war, this official said, the White House’s approach has largely been to quietly counsel Israel behind the scenes, rather than publicly shaming them. The Israeli military is encircling the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces’ chief of the general staff said on Tuesday. “Sixty days after the war began, our forces are now encircling the Khan Yunis area in the southern Gaza Strip,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Tuesday. “Simultaneously, we continue to secure our accomplishments in the northern Gaza Strip.” Earlier Tuesday, the IDF said that its forces were operating “in the heart” of Khan Younis, the territory’s second-largest city. In the north: Israeli troops have also "completed the encirclement" of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, Israel's military said Tuesday, as it seeks to complete its offensive operations against Hamas militants in the north of the enclave. Halevi said that the IDF was now entering the “third phase of the ground operations,” though he did not specify what that meant. “We have secured many Hamas strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip, and now we are operating against its strongholds in the south,” he said. In response to a journalist’s question about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Halevi pointed to the aid trickling into Gaza, saying, “We’re making great efforts, in accordance to the government’s decision and the international law.” Fifty trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing Tuesday, including two trucks specifically carrying fuel, according to an Egyptian official. Before the October 7 attack, about 455 aid trucks were crossing into the area each day, according to the UN. Meanwhile, seven injured Palestinians, along with seven accompanying individuals, have crossed into Egypt to receive medical treatment, as observed by a journalist working with CNN at the Rafah crossing. Furthermore, seven buses transporting foreign nationals have been seen arriving in Egypt from Gaza. The exact number of foreign nationals on these buses is currently unclear. This post has been updated with the number of aid trucks to cross into Gaza. As Israel expands its ground offensive into the south of Gaza, a woman who is living with dozens of her family members in the center of the territory says she feels like they are living through a “famine.” “No aid or food is being provided, prices are skyrocketing — and that’s an extreme understatement,” said Tarneem Hammad, an advocacy and communications officer with Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). “A kilo of salt used to be $0.25; now it’s $4.25. (A kilo) of flour is now $60; it used to be $7.” Hammad’s testimony was shared with CNN by MAP. She has stayed in her home, where 45 of her family members are also sheltering, including 15 children. “We’re a couple of miles away from Israeli tanks separating us from the south. We hear bombs and tank shelling from both Salah Eddin Street (Gaza’s main north-south route) and the seaside,” Hammad added. Israel blocked access to water, food and electricity in the strip on October 9, though resumed the delivery of some water at the end of October. Earlier on Tuesday, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said the organization had been forced to halt nearly all aid operations in Gaza “due to the bombardment, the chaos, and the panic.” The “pulverizing of Gaza now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age,” Egeland said in a Tuesday statement. Almost 16,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the war, according to the enclave's Hamas-run Ministry of Health. Hammad anticipates this may soon become the reality for her and her family. “I think, here in the middle area, we’re left with one option, to accept death. Like it does not matter whether we move or relocate. Any minute now is our last!” FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau is working "around the clock" to pinpoint and stymie potential attacks by individuals inspired by the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. "Given the steady drumbeat of calls for attacks by foreign terrorist organizations since October 7, we’re working around the clock to identify and disrupt potential attacks by those inspired by Hamas’ horrific terrorist attacks in Israel," Wray said in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. There is currently no information to indicate that Hamas “has the intent or capability to conduct operations inside the US,” Wray said in a written statement separate from his opening remarks, “though we cannot, and do not, discount that possibility.” Wray also warned of the increase in hate crimes, including the "troubling trend" of increased antisemitic threats in the months since October 7. His comments echo previous warnings of threats to the United States, and he has made similar remarks to other congressional committees. The FBI director added that just since the October 7, “we are opening I think 60% more hate crimes investigations.” Wray said he has never seen a time during his decades-long career when so many threats against the US were all as elevated as they are now. “While there may have been times over the years where individual threats could have been higher, here or there, than where they might be right now, I’ve never seen a time where all the threats – or so many of the threats – are all elevated all at exactly the same time,” Wray told the committee. “That’s what makes this environment that we’re in now so fraught,” Wray said, adding that this is why the FBI should continue to be funded. Power has been returning gradually to Gaza following Monday's blackout, according to the only remaining major telecommunications operator in the strip. PalTel announced the "gradual return" of communication services — fixed, cellular, and internet — to the central and southern regions of the Gaza Strip. On Monday evening, London-based internet monitoring firm Netblocks pointed to live metrics that showed the enclave was "in the midst of a near-total internet blackout.” Other telecom operators, Jawwal and Ooredoo, posted similar statements after 1 a.m. ET, announcing the restoration of their respective networks in Gaza. "You can now communicate with the beloved Gaza Strip after our services are back in operation, which have been disrupted since yesterday," Ooredoo announced. A CNN team in southern Lebanon counted at least five outgoing rockets fired from Lebanon toward Israel on Tuesday evening local time. The rockets were launched not far from the town of Marjayoun, in the direction of the Israeli border town of Metula. The CNN team witnessed at least two Israeli interceptors apparently hitting some of the projectiles. Hezbollah said on Telegram on Tuesday it targeted IDF troops near the border with Lebanon in various locations. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the border for two months. A Lebanese soldier was killed and three others were wounded in an Israeli attack on Tuesday, the Lebanese army said on social media. It appears to be the first death of a Lebanese soldier as Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s powerful militant group, have been exchanging frequent fire across the border for two months, using rockets, artillery, drones and airstrikes. CNN has reviewed Lebanese army statements so far, and this is the first mentioned fatality. In addition, a security source with knowledge of the military situation in Lebanon confirmed the first death of a Lebanese Ministry of National Defense member. The attack happened near Lebanon's border with Israel, according to the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA). Earlier Tuesday, Israeli forces shelled areas in southern Lebanon, NNA reported. A CNN team in the Marjayoun area of southern Lebanon reported hearing loud booms in the morning and filmed a suspected Israeli drone over the area. NNA reported a drone strike in the central-southern sector near the Lebanese-Israeli border, plus shelling in the southeastern, central and western areas of the border. What Israel is saying: Israeli Defense Forces fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, including infrastructure and weapons storage military posts, the IDF said Tuesday morning, adding it identified several launches from Lebanon into Israel that fell into open areas. Hezbollah said on social media it had targeted IDF troops near the border with Lebanon in various locations. The Israel Defense Forces says its troops are now "in the heart of Khan Younis" in the southern part of Gaza. The commander of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, described it as “the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation — in terms of terrorists killed, the number of firefights, and the use of firepower from the land and air.” Accounts from Khan Younis and Deir Al Balah further north describe intensive Israeli strikes, with many casualties being taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. “Since the end of the operational pause, Israeli Air Force aircraft have carried out two rounds of strikes involving dozens of aircraft from all the combat squadrons. Hundreds of munitions were utilized during strikes on tunnels, operational shafts, and anti-tank missile launch positions in order to support the movement of IDF infantry soldiers on the ground,” Finkelman said. The IDF also reported intense battles further north in the areas of Jabalya and Shuja'iyya. The Norwegian Refugee Council has been forced to halt nearly all aid operations in Gaza “due to the bombardment, the chaos, and the panic,” said its secretary general, Jan Egeland. The “pulverising of Gaza now ranks amongst the worst assaults on any civilian population in our time and age,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. Egeland said there "must be accountability for those responsible for the killings, the torture, and the atrocities committed in Israel on October 7th." But he added that Israel’s "military campaign can in no way be described as 'self-defense,'" calling the situation in Gaza a "total failure of our shared humanity." “Today, more than 750,000 people are crowded into just 133 shelters. Tens of thousands live on the streets of southern Gaza, where, under bombardment, they are forced to improvise basic shelters from whatever they can get hold of. The winter rains have arrived and so have infectious diseases, just as public health services have been utterly paralysed,” Egeland outlined, adding that members of the NRC in Gaza are now living on the streets — one of them with a 2-month-old baby. CNN teams are hearing sirens in Tel Aviv. A CNN producer has heard at least eight rocket interceptions of the Iron Dome defense system. Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's rocket attacks aimed at Tel Aviv. A 40-year-old man was treated for mild injuries caused by rocket fragments, Israel’s emergency service Magen David Adom said. Eyad Kourdi and Amir Tal contributed reporting to this post. Top UN officials have warned of an "apocalyptic" situation in Gaza as people are left with no safe place to go, while Israel's military expands its campaign in the territory. The warning comes as satellite images show dozens of Israeli armored vehicles now operating in southern Gaza. The images, obtained by CNN Tuesday, show the vehicles to the west of Salah El-Din Street, Gaza’s main north-south route, roughly six kilometers (3.7 miles) north of central Khan Younis. Israel has called on Palestinians in some parts of southern Gaza to leave, issuing digital maps that residents have told CNN are either confusing or to which they don’t have access because of a lack of electricity and internet connectivity. Earlier in the war, the the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) encouraged Gazans to move to the southern part of the Strip for their safety, while committing to strike at Hamas “wherever it is.” Here are today's other headlines: Gazans hunt for food: An apparent Israeli airstrike on Monday has destroyed the Al-Baraka bakery in the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, one of the few left in the Strip. Without it, people are digging through rubble — desperately searching for food. Death toll in Gaza: At least 15,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since October 7, according to a report published by the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah on Tuesday, which cites sources from the Hamas-controlled enclave. The report added that a total of 40,900 people have been injured, and the majority of wounded people are children, women, and the elderly. Refugee camp surrounded: Israeli troops have "completed the encirclement" of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, Israel's military said Tuesday, as it seeks to complete its offensive operations against Hamas militants in the north of the territory. The camp, Gaza's largest, has been hit by renewed Israeli strikes in recent days following the end of a week-long pause in the conflict on Friday. More UN workers killed: The United Nations relief agency in Gaza, UNRWA, has confirmed the death of 19 more workers. Their deaths bring the total number of UNRWA staff killed in Gaza since October 7 to 130. Bodies lie in hospital: There are 108 corpses lying – some unclaimed – at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-controlled health ministry. Israeli troops have been advancing toward the facility, with heavy gunfire and explosions around its vicinity over the past 24 hours. Man killed in refugee camp: A 25-year-old Palestinian man has been killed by Israeli military fire during renewed clashes at the Qalandia refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday. Israeli troops killed: Three Israeli soldiers have died in combat in Gaza, bringing the total number of IDF deaths in the strip to 72 since the ground offensive began, it said Tuesday. Hostages remain: The number of hostages believed to be in Gaza now stands at 138, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Tuesday, citing its office of the Coordinator for the Hostages and Missing. The number includes foreign nationals. ##Catch Up## Dozens of Israeli armored vehicles are operating in southern Gaza, satellite images from Sunday provided by PlanetLabs to CNN show. The images, obtained by CNN Tuesday, show the vehicles to the west of Salah El-Din Street, Gaza’s main north-south route, roughly six kilometers (3.7 miles) north of central Khan Younis. Tracks on the ground visible in the images show the Israeli armored vehicles had driven to the location in a near-direct line from the Israel-Gaza border in the east. On Monday, CNN geolocated an Al Jazeera video showing an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tank in southern Gaza, the first apparent confirmation of an IDF operation south of Wadi Gaza in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The video shared on Sunday showed an Israeli tank 1.5 kilometers south of the location of vehicles in the PlanetLabs imagery. The New York Times and Washington Post came to the same conclusion in their analysis of the satellite imagery. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has responded to claims that 10 people were killed close to the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza on Sunday night. On Monday, the head of pediatrics at the medical center told CNN a strike had targeted the northern entrance of the facility, and 10 people had been killed. CNN was unable to confirm the cause of the explosion and reached out to the IDF for a comment on strikes in the vicinity of the hospital. In response, the IDF said “contrary to claims, Kamal Adwan Hospital was not attacked by IDF forces at the time in question," adding "the IDF did not ask the hospital to evacuate.” The IDF also said that a “few days ago, hospital officials contacted IDF representatives and asked to coordinate an evacuation. The IDF responded positively to the request.” It's unclear why an evacuation did not take place. Several people at the hospital claimed that people trying to leave had been shot at. In an audio message sent from the hospital to CNN, a journalist inside the facility, Mahmoud Al-Sabbah, said the facility was surrounded. “The situation is very dangerous and [there is] heavy fire gunfire. The Israeli tanks and vehicles are advancing towards the hospital and are one block away,” Al-Sabbah said. As he spoke, heavy fire could be heard in the background. Witnesses described the situation in the hospital as very difficult, with dozens of bodies lying outside in a hospital courtyard. There are also several thousand displaced people at the hospital, which is in an area that has seen extensive Israeli military operations since the end of the seven-day truce last Friday. CNN has contacted hospital authorities seeking their response. One man carries six jars of cooking oil as he struggles to walk across the rubble. Two little girls run as they each carry stacks of white paper, used to build fire for heat and cooking. A group of men argue, elbowing each other as they battle to find a bag of flour, some tea or even a forgotten blanket. These are the scenes from the central Gazan city of Deir al-Balah, where an apparent Israeli airstrike on Monday destroyed not only homes and streets, but also the neighborhood’s Al-Baraka bakery, one of the few still standing in the Strip. The strike in Dier al-Balah occurred overnight, according to residents, and by morning men, women and children were digging through the rubble. But this time, the residents weren’t digging to find loved ones. They were desperately searching for food and other essential supplies. As the Israel-Hamas war enters its ninth week, signs are emerging of social order breaking down, with reports of looting by people struggling to survive. Since October 9, Israel has blocked access to water, food and electricity in the Strip that is home to more than 2 million Palestinians. More than 15,899 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel started its campaign there, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza. Al-Baraka bakery used to ease people’s suffering by providing much-needed bread, said Ibrahim Dabbour, a resident of Deir al-Balah. “The bakery should be outside of military operation,” he added. “Striking it (the bakery) should be considered terrorism, to be honest,” Dabbour told CNN. In response to CNN questions about the bakery, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday that “in stark contrast to Hamas’ intentional attacks on Israeli men, women and children, the IDF follows international law and takes feasible precautions to mitigate civilian harm.” Read the full story here: The United Nations relief agency in Gaza — UNRWA – has confirmed the deaths of 19 more of its workers. In total, “130 UNRWA colleagues have been killed since 7 October," it said in a daily update. UNRWA did not provide further details on where and when the additional 19 people had been killed. The agency said that nearly one million displaced people were sheltering in 99 of its facilities in central and southern Gaza, including the Khan Younis and Rafah areas. It said one of its schools in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza had been damaged by a strike on Sunday, while another school in Khan Younis was damaged by a nearby strike, killing four internally displaced people. Meanwhile, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini has dismissed reports that the agency may open new refugee camps in Rafah, on the Egyptian border, to which many thousands of internally displaced Gazans have fled. “Allegations that the United Nations has thousands of tents and is planning to open new refugee camps in Rafah are false,” he said. “There is no safe place in Gaza, whether in the south or the southwest, whether in Rafah or anywhere in what is unilaterally called the 'safe zone.'” The Israel Defense Forces has repeatedly referenced the planned creation of what it calls a safe zone in the far south of Gaza. There are 108 corpses lying – some unclaimed – at the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, according to the territory's Hamas-controlled health ministry. Israeli troops have been advancing toward the facility, with heavy gunfire and explosions around its vicinity over the past 24 hours. A journalist inside the hospital, Mahmoud Al-Sabbah, sent CNN video Tuesday of about 30 bodies covered in white sheets in a courtyard. Several more bodies were piled on a cart because, he said, ambulances were unable to operate in the area. It’s unclear how long the bodies had been there, but he said family members were trying to identify loved ones. Dr. Munir Al-Barsh, director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, said there was no power supply at Kamal Adwan hospital, and there were more than 7,000 displaced people there. Surgery had become impossible because of the lack of power, he said. Only four hospitals are operating in northern Gaza and about 55 ambulances are out of service, Al-Barsh said. He also claimed that while 400 injured people had been able to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing, more than 40,000 injured remained in the Strip. In an audio message sent from the hospital to CNN, Al-Sabbah said the facility was surrounded. “The situation is very dangerous and [there is] heavy fire gunfire. The Israeli tanks and vehicles are advancing towards the hospital and are one block away,” Al-Sabbah said. As he spoke, heavy fire could be heard in the background. In a separate video clip of about 30 seconds, the sound of gunfire and explosions is constant. Another journalist at the hospital, Anas Al-Sharif, told CNN “the situation is very difficult.” “The entire medical system has collapsed inside the hospital, and whoever gets injured ends as a martyr inside the hospital,” Al Sharif said. CNN cannot verify the number of casualties at the hospital, where an unknown number of displaced civilians are also taking shelter. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that operations “happening now, in the north of the Gaza Strip, will soon lead to the breaking of the entire area of Gaza City and the north of the Gaza Strip.” CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on operations in the vicinity of Kamal Adwan. Israeli troops have "completed the encirclement" of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, Israel's military said Tuesday, as it seeks to complete its offensive operations against Hamas militants in the north of the enclave. The camp, Gaza's largest, has been hit by renewed Israeli strikes in recent days following the end of a week-long pause in the conflict. In a statement, the IDF said it had “operated against Hamas strongholds in Jabalia; IDF and ISA [Security Agency] forces conducted a targeted raid on a Hamas command and control center.” The IDF also said it “took control of key military posts from which attacks on IDF troops have been carried out.” It said weapons and launchers had been located “in civilian compounds,” and it had “located and destroyed rockets found in the garden of a residence in the northern Gaza Strip.” Some context: Jabalya is a densely populated refugee camp established shortly after the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled from territory that encompassed the newly established State of Israel, and later denied return. The camp is a crowded, built-up area, with houses, shops and apartment buildings jammed up against one another. Israeli strikes in October targeting Hamas commanders and the militant group’s infrastructure in the camp left catastrophic damage and killed a large number of people, according to eyewitnesses and medics in the enclave. A 25-year-old Palestinian man was killed by Israeli military fire during renewed clashes at the Qalandia refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday. Israeli forces entered the camp north of Jerusalem on Monday, when another Palestinian was killed amid clashes that lasted several hours, according to the ministry. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the operation. In a separate incident in the West Bank, four other Palestinians were injured in clashes with the Israeli army at Deheisheh refugee camp, near Bethlehem, the Palestinian ministry said. Three Israeli soldiers have died in combat in Gaza, bringing the total number of deaths in the strip to 72 since the ground offensive began, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Tuesday. The IDF on Sunday announced it is expanding its ground operations to all of Gaza as it bombards the enclave following the collapse of a truce with Hamas last week. At least 15,899 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza said Monday. Top officials at the United Nations are warning of an “apocalyptic” situation in war-torn Gaza with “no place safe to go” for civilians, as Israel’s war with Hamas spreads into the south, where many had previously sought refuge. “Every time we think things cannot get any more apocalyptic in Gaza, they do,” said Martin Griffiths, the top UN emergency relief official, in a statement Monday. “People are being ordered to move again, with little to survive on, forced to make one impossible choice after another,” he said. “Such blatant disregard for basic humanity must stop,” he added. Meanwhile, the number of civilians being killed in Gaza is "rapidly increasing," the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said. At least 15,899 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, including more than 375 in the previous 24 hours, a spokesperson for the Hamas-run Ministry of Health said Monday. Here's what to know: Operations across Gaza: Israel has been intensifying its aerial bombardment of southern Gaza in pursuit of Palestinian militant group Hamas and said over the weekend that it will expand ground operations to the whole of the territory. “Intense battles” are still taking place in northern Gaza, where two Israeli soldiers were killed during “close-quarter combat” with Hamas fighters, the military said on Monday. "Nowhere safe": Tens of thousands of internally displaced Palestinians have arrived in Gaza's southernmost governorate of Rafah over the past two days, the UN's humanitarian agency said Tuesday, as it warned of overcrowding and the spread of disease. Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday appealed to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to spare civilians from more suffering, noting that despite evacuation orders, “there is nowhere safe to go in Gaza.” Hundreds of thousands displaced: A recent evacuation order to move civilians from Khan Younis into Rafah in southern Gaza "created panic, fear and anxiety," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said. And Marwan Alhams of the Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah said the facility was overwhelmed. "We do not know where to put those refugees." UNRWA previously said almost 1.9 million people, more than 80% of the enclave's total population, have been displaced since the beginning of the war. Humanitarian crisis: Scores of wounded people were seen being taken from rubble and to hospitals in southern Gaza, according to footage from the scene. The World Health Organization said Israeli military activity in southern Gaza could deprive thousands of Palestinians of health care, describing the conditions around Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis as catastrophic. Pressure to protect civilians: US officials have ramped up their warnings about protecting civilian lives as Israel expands its offensive, but US national security adviser Jake Sullivan declined to weigh in on whether Israel has been more precise in its military operation. He did say Israel asked people to leave areas identified for strikes. Internet blackout: Gaza is in a "near total blackout," according to London-based internet monitoring firm, Netblocks. The last remaining major telecommunications operator in the enclave, PalTel, also said all telecom services in the strip have been completely cut off. This means Palestinian civilians caught in the line of fire are unable to check on each other or call for help, and emergency and medical workers can’t coordinate their responses, an activist trying to help Palestinians skirt telecommunication blackouts said. Hostages still in Gaza: Negotiations over the release of additional hostages from Gaza that broke down Friday appear highly unlikely to resume any time soon, multiple US administration officials said. The major reason is that Hamas is refusing to release a remaining group of young women hostages, and Israel will not accept the suggestion of moving on to discuss the release of other categories of people, like men, a US official said. ##Catch Up## Tens of thousands of internally displaced Palestinians have arrived in Gaza's southernmost governorate of Rafah over the past two days, the United Nations' humanitarian agency said Tuesday. It comes after the Israeli military said Sunday it was expanding its ground operations to the whole of Gaza. "Given that shelters in Rafah city have exceeded their capacity by far, most newly arriving IDPs [internally displaced persons] have settled in the streets and in empty spaces across the city, where they erected tents and makeshift shelters," a statement from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. Out of about 1.8 million displaced people across Gaza, almost 1 million are sheltering in the 99 facilities run by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in the south, including in Khan Younis and Rafah, OCHA said as it warned of the spread of diseases in shelters. "Due to the overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions at UNRWA shelters in the south, there have been significant increases in some communicable diseases and conditions such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, skin infections and hygiene-related conditions like lice," the statement added. On Monday, OCHA said it had received reports of hepatitis outbreaks in refugee shelters in the strip. A “more hellish scenario is about to unfold” if more aid is not allowed to enter Gaza, UN humanitarian coordinator Lynn Hastings said Monday. The current amount of aid is insufficient and the conditions required to deliver aid to Gaza do not exist, according to Hastings, the Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and United Nations Resident Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “If possible, an even more hellish scenario is about to unfold, one in which humanitarian operations may not be able to respond,” Hastings said in a statement. The use of only the Rafah crossing to bring aid trucks does not work, the UN said, despite the efforts of its agencies, the Egyptian and Palestine Red Crescent Society, and other partners. The international body added Gaza’s health system is “on its knees” with a lack of clean drinking water, no proper sanitation and poor nutrition for people, and shelters with no capacity. The situation amounts to a “textbook formula for epidemics and a public health disaster,” Hastings said. “Humanitarian operations cannot be kept on a drip feed of fuel,” she said, adding that fuel is required for hospitals, clean drinking water, sanitation, social services and UN operations, among others. The UN said fuel must be allowed to enter Gaza in a “manner which ensures Israel’s security.” Hastings said the UN and NGOs alone can’t support the population of Gaza, stressing that commercial and public sectors must be allowed to bring supplies into the strip. The UN said it stands ready to work with all parties to “expand the number of UN-managed safe shelters and to deliver assistance where it is needed.” A ratio of two Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza for every Hamas militant is a “tremendously positive” given the challenges of urban combat, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told CNN on Monday. It comes after the Agence-France-Presse news agency, citing a briefing for foreign media by senior Israeli military officials, reported Monday that the IDF believes about two civilians have been killed in Gaza for every Hamas militant. Asked by CNN’s Erin Burnett about that report, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said: “I can confirm the report.” “And I can say that if that is true, and I think that our numbers will be corroborated — if you compare that ratio to any other conflict in urban terrain between a military and a terrorist organization using civilians as their human shields, and embedded in the civilian population, you will find that that ratio is tremendous, tremendously positive, and perhaps unique in the world.” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told journalists at a news conference Saturday that the military has killed “thousands of terrorists.” The Israeli military has not officially published any estimates of those killed. AFP reported that the unnamed Israeli military official, when asked to confirm reports that around 5,000 Hamas militants had been killed, replied: “The numbers are more or less right.” The Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza says 15,899 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israeli attacks since October 7. It does not distinguish between civilians and militants. A top US State Department official told Congress last month that while it was difficult to assess casualty figures while the conflict was ongoing, she believed the true death toll could be even higher than what is being publicly discussed. “It is very difficult for any of us to assess what the rate of casualties are,” said Barbara Leaf, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. “We think they’re very high, frankly. And it could be that they’re even higher than are being cited. We’ll know only after the guns fall silent.” Israeli military ground operations in southern Gaza could deprive thousands of Palestinians of health care, the World Health Organization warned Monday. Israel is expanding its ground operations to all of Gaza, with ground forces now operating in the southern part, according to a video geolocated by CNN. "Intensifying military ground operations in southern Gaza, particularly in Khan Younis, are likely to cut thousands off from health care — especially from accessing Nasser Medical Complex and European Gaza Hospital, the two main hospitals in southern Gaza — as the number of wounded and sick increases," WHO said in a statement. Only 18 out of 36 hospitals are still functioning in Gaza, but only providing partial services, WHO said, adding that the 12 operational hospitals in the south are "the backbone of the health system." "Gaza cannot afford to lose another hospital as health needs continue to soar," WHO's statement said, calling on Israel to take the necessary measures to protect civilians and hospital infrastructure. A WHO team that recently visited the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis said the conditions were "catastrophic." "[T]he building and hospital grounds [are] grossly overcrowded with patients and displaced people seeking shelter," the statement said. "The emergency ward is overflowing with patients...Many patients are being treated on the floor." In a voice message posted Monday, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder also spoke of the harrowing conditions at one of Nasser Hospital's crowded rooms after a blast had hit less than 100 meters away. "There must be a hundred people, children now have been woken up by the bombs and explosions," he said, as babies' cries can be heard in the background. "Parents just have that look of.. the feeling no parent ever wants to experience, which is helplessness." The system implemented by the Israel Defense Forces in recent days to designate unsafe areas of Gaza is not perfect, but is “the best thing that we can do,” an IDF spokesperson said Monday, as civilians search for shelters amid Israel's expanded ground operations. The IDF on Friday distributed leaflets in Gaza with a QR-code linked to an online map that divided Gaza into thousands of parcels. Since then, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman has posted maps on his X account, formerly Twitter, warning Gazans to leave large swaths of the territory. But electricity and internet supply have been extremely intermittent in Gaza. Netblocks, the London-based internet monitoring firm, reported a near-total internet blackout in Gaza on Monday. “We’re trying to reach out to Palestinians,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, IDF spokesperson, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Monday. “We’re trying to inform them ahead of time where fighting is going to be in order for them to be able to take precautions and move from where there is going to be fighting. I don’t know how else we can square that circle of defeating Hamas where Hamas is and minimizing civilian casualties.” CNN’s attempts this weekend to contact people in Khan Younis to ask if they had seen the map were unsuccessful, due to the poor communication links. Some context: Israel expanded its ground operations to all of Gaza, with ground forces now operating in the southern part of the enclave. A recent evacuation order to move civilians from Khan Younis into Rafah in southern Gaza "created panic, fear and anxiety," with a United Nations agency warning that 1.9 million people, more than 80% of the enclave's total population, have been displaced since the beginning of the war. Gaza residents ordered to evacuate have nowhere safe to go in the enclave, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said Monday, as he urged Israeli forces to spare civilians from more suffering. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told civilians to leave large swaths of the strip, including several neighborhoods in the south, after it resumed its military offensive over the weekend. "For people ordered to evacuate, there is nowhere safe to go and very little to survive on," Guterres said in a statement released by Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary general. The UN chief said he was extremely alarmed by the resumption of hostilities between Israel, Hamas, and other armed Palestinian groups in Gaza. He urged Israeli forces to avoid action that would worsen the "catastrophic humanitarian situation," according to the statement. “Civilians — including health workers, journalists and UN personnel — and civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times,” the statement said. Guterres also said he was gravely concerned about the escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank, including a high number of fatalities and arrests, intensified Israeli security operations and settler violence, and attacks on Israelis by Palestinians, the statement said. The situation in Gaza keeps getting “more apocalyptic,” the United Nations' top humanitarian relief official said Monday. “Every time we think things cannot get any more apocalyptic in #Gaza, they do,” Martin Griffiths said in a statement. “People are being ordered to move again, with little to survive on, forced to make one impossible choice after another.” Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, added that no one and nowhere is safe in Gaza. “Such blatant disregard for basic humanity must stop,” he said, calling for an end to the fighting. Some background: The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday announced it is expanding its ground operations to all of Gaza, following the collapse of a truce with Hamas on Friday. "The IDF is resuming and expanding the ground operation against Hamas’ strongholds across the whole Gaza Strip," IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari told a news conference. "Our policy is clear — we will forcefully strike any threat posed against our territory." The IDF told civilians to leave large swaths of the enclave, including some neighborhoods in the southern part where many Gazans had fled to after the Israeli operation began in northern Gaza. Almost 1.9 million people, more than 80% of Gaza's total population, have now been displaced since the beginning of the war between Hamas and Israel, the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said on Monday. Near 1.2 million internally displaced people (IDP's) were sheltering in 156 UNRWA facilities across the Gaza Strip. A large majority, almost one million people, are sheltering in facilities in central and south Gaza, in places including Khan Younis and Rafah. "The average number of IDPs in UNRWA shelters is 10,326, more than four times their capacity", UNRWA said. Thomas White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, said "another wave of displacement" is taking place and the humanitarian situation is worsening as the Israel Defense Forces steps up operations in southern Gaza, including in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced. "People are pleading for advice on where to find safety. We have nothing to tell them," White said on "X" — formerly Twitter — on Monday. "The roads leading South towards Rafah are clogged with cars and donkey carts packed with people and their meagre possessions," he said. The UN agency said 218 internally displaced people have been killed and 901 injured while sheltering at UNRWA facilities. The organization also said 111 of its staff have been killed since October 7. As of December 2, the UNRWA "has been able to verify that 117 incidents have occurred at 85 UNRWA premises since the beginning of the war. 30 installations were hit directly and 55 sustained collateral damage. In addition, UNRWA has received reports of the military use of its facilities," the organization said. Between November 20 and December 2, nine out of 22 UNRWA health centers were operational in central and southern Gaza, where 284 health workers attended to more than 30,000 patients.