October 14, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

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

The first evacuation flight for Ukrainian citizens left Israel on Saturday, according to Oleg Nikolenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A total of 207 Ukrainian nationals, including 63 children, left Tel Aviv for Bucharest.

The next flight is scheduled on Sunday to Cluj, Romania, with 155 Ukrainians.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke on the phone with his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, with both expressing concern over the situation in Israel and Gaza, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

He urged humanitarian aid and said Saudi Arabia is willing to work with China to “promote all parties to abide by international humanitarian law, protect civilians from harm, and implement relevant Security Council resolutions on the Palestinian issue.”

China’s Wang Yi said that Israel’s actions have “gone beyond the scope of self-defense,” the statement said.

Saudi Arabia has been in talks to normalize relations with Israel in recent months, something Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in September described as a pact that would be “the biggest historical deal since the Cold War.”

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has told CNN it is reviewing the circumstances surrounding an incident in which a journalist died on the Lebanese border.?

It comes after the Lebanese Army accused Israel of “firing a projectile that hit a civilian car belonging to a media team,” leading to the death of Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah on Friday.?

The IDF statement said that on Friday afternoon, Hezbollah militants had launched attacks at several positions along the Blue Line, firing an anti-tank missile that struck the security fence of Israel near the community of Hanita.?

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle assigned to the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron "Mighty Black Panthers" lands in the U.S. Central Command area of operations on October 13, 2023.

US Air Forces Central on Saturday announced the deployment of F-15E fighter jets and A-10 ground-attack jets to the Middle East region.

The movement of the warplanes from the 494th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron and 354th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, respectively, “bolster the US posture and enhance air operations throughout the Middle East,” an Air Force statement said. It did not specify the number of warplanes involved.

A US Central Command social media post said the A-10s will join another squadron of the aircraft already in the region.

Israel will start “significant military operations” in Gaza once they see that civilians have left, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson told CNN.

“It’s really important that people in Gaza know we’ve been very, very generous with the time. We have given ample warning, more than 25 hours… I cannot stress more than enough to say now is the time for Gazans to leave.

More than half of Gaza’s 2 million residents live in the northern section that Israel has told to evacuate. Many families, some of whom were already internally displaced, are now crammed into an even smaller portion of the 140-square-mile territory.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing south through the battered streets of Gaza after the Israeli military told them to leave northern areas of the densely populated strip.

Parts of the south are becoming even more crowded and overstretched, Gazans say, as waves of Palestinians abandon their homes in the wake of Israel’s statement, ahead of an anticipated ground assault by the IDF.

According to Conricus, the area around the Gaza Strip is densely packed with “hundreds of thousands of Israeli reserve units” that are preparing for various missions.

Hind al-Khoudari speaks with CNN on Saturday.

Gaza residents spoke to CNN Saturday following Israel’s military announcement it is preparing for the “next stages of the war” against Hamas.

Hind al-Khoudari, 28, a Philippine national from Gaza, told CNN she was stranded at the Rafah crossing to Egypt with her family all day and had to pull back to central Gaza because the crossing is closed.

Khoudari said she arrived at the crossing Saturday morning with her husband and his family in order to leave the Gaza Strip. They encountered more than 20 families with passports from various countries.

After waiting for hours, they were told they will not be able to leave Gaza today, because the Egyptian authorities want the crossing to serve “a humanitarian cause and not only evacuation for foreigners.” Egyptians told her in-laws to stay close to the area of Rafah crossing and be ready for a phone call to leave at any minute.

Read more on the situation at Rafah crossing here.

Abdul Rahman Abu Ghali.

Abdul Rahman Abu Ghali, a displaced man from north of Gaza City, came to the city of Deir al Balah in central Gaza following recent developments in the region. He shared his views with CNN on the recent Israeli military actions.

Abu Ghali said children in his area “can’t find food to eat and water to drink.”

“These are very bad days. I think they will be getting worse and worse and worse. These people have no mercy,” he added.

Remember: The Israeli offensive was launched in response to devastating terror attacks by Hamas last week. Hamas runs Gaza, which has spiraled into a humanitarian crisis due to Israel’s airstrikes and siege, which has cut off access to basic resources.

Hamas has carried out attacks on Israel for years, and Israel has controlled a blockade on Gaza since the militant group took control of the territory in 2007.

Motaz al-Azayza.

Motaz al-Azayza, 24, a media activist and medic volunteer, told CNN he went back home to Gaza to see his family and then started volunteering with Bahrain Red Crescent Society.

While he was working as a medic volunteer and a cameraman, his organization received a call about a bombing in the city of Deir al-Balah. The bombing, according to him, ended up “in a new massacre.”

“There were 20 murdered and more than maybe 30 injured,” he said.

Azaya recounted sitting in the front seat of an ambulance when a child’s body was brought to him and put on his lap.

“I hope someone like an official person from anywhere in the world will start to take action to stop this madness. What is happening to Gazans is it’s a disaster. It’s a real disaster. It’s like the last day of the Earth.”

At least 12 journalists have been killed and eight others injured amid the violence following the surprise attack by Hamas on Israel last week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement Saturday.

Two other journalists are missing, the group added. The organization said it is investigating all reports of journalists killed, injured, detained, or missing in the war, including those hurt as hostilities spread to neighboring Lebanon.

US President Joe Biden speaks at the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner?in Washington, DC, on Saturday.

US President Joe Biden used his remarks at an LGBTQ rights group dinner in Washington, DC, to denounce antisemitism and Islamophobia amid Israel’s war with Hamas.

The president also addressed the situation in Gaza, which he described as a “humanitarian crisis.”

Biden called the attacks a reminder that “hate just hides under the rocks until there’s a little oxygen blown under,” adding that history has taught us repeatedly that “antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia — they’re all connected.”

“Hate toward one group left unanswered opens the door for more hate, toward more groups, more often, readily,” Biden said, adding that “the antidote to hate is love” and “silence is complicity.”

Israel’s military says it is preparing for the “next stages of the war” against Hamas, with troops gearing up for “strikes from the air, sea and land” and “significant ground operations.”

Signs have been growing throughout the week Israel?could launch an invasion?of Gaza, the densely populated enclave run by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that carried out devastating terror attacks in Israel on October 7.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening, as evacuating residents face a dangerous trek when they try to flee the violence.

Here are some of the latest developments:

The Israeli military’s announcement:

What would a ground invasion look like?

The crisis unfolding in Gaza:

Diplomatic efforts continue:

Sign up for CNN’s?Meanwhile in the Middle East, a three-times-a-week newsletter that explores the region’s biggest stories.?

An “air aggression” by Israel, originating from the Mediterranean Sea, damaged Aleppo International Airport and rendered it nonoperational, Syria’s military reported late Saturday.

Syria condemned the act and considered it as a confirmation of Israel’s hostile tactics, the Syrian military added.

“It is also clear evidence that this terrorist enemy does not respect international laws and norms and is in its aggression. Civilian airports prove to be the origin of terrorism and the greatest supporter of terrorist organizations in the region and Syria in particular,” SANA added.

As a result, scheduled flights through Aleppo International Airport are being redirected through Latakia’s International Airport, along the coast 200 kilometers to the southwest, SANA said.

Aleppo International Airport was previously hit by an airstrike on Thursday, state media reported.

Some context:?As Israel battles Hamas, it also faces the threat of a?wider conflict on new fronts. Of its immediate neighbors, it is only at peace with Jordan and Egypt, and is officially in a?state of war with Lebanon and Syria. Israel has said it is ready in case there are attacks from those two countries.

The health ministry in Gaza will not leave its hospitals “even if they are demolished over our heads,” a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement Saturday.

The ministry was responding to the Israel Defense Forces’ warning to some 1.1 million northern Gaza residents to evacuate as it prepares to ramp up its offensive against Hamas. The World Health Organization has said Israel’s call amounts to “a death sentence for the sick and injured” at Gaza City’s crowded hospitals.

Al-Qidra said the ministry demands the opening of a safe passage to let patients and the wounded out of the Gaza Strip, and to let aid, medical supplies and fuel in.

Remember: Israel administers most of the electricity, water and fuel — plus some of the food — inside the Palestinian enclave, and has imposed a stringent land, sea and air blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory.

Israel used to permit some trade and humanitarian aid through two crossings it controls in Gaza, but it launched a complete blockade on essential goods after Hamas’ latest terror attacks. It prompted warnings from human rights groups, who say the siege is in violation of international law.

CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim?and?Sana Noor Haq contributed reporting to this post.

Personnel assigned to the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower conduct small boat operations during a training exercise in the Arabian Sea on April 17, 2020.?

The Pentagon has ordered a second carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, according to two US officials, as Israel prepares to expand its Gaza operations.

The US warships are not intended to join the fighting in Gaza or take part in Israel’s operations, but the presence of two of the Navy’s most powerful ships is designed to send a message of deterrence to Iran and Iranian proxies in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The first carrier strike group, led by the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived off the coast of Israel earlier this week.

Now the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower strike group, which deployed Friday from Norfolk, Virginia, is headed to the eastern Mediterranean. The aircraft carrier was initially set to move toward the US European Command, but the officials said it will now head for the waters near Israel.

It is unclear at this point how long the Ford will stay in the region once the Eisenhower carrier strike group arrives, one official said.

The Eisenhower is the flagship of the carrier strike group, which will be joined by a guided-missile cruiser and two guided-missile destroyers, according to the Navy.

ABC News first reported the carrier strike group’s orders.

The Biden administration made clear that the carrier, and its accompanying force, are not there to engage in combat activities on behalf of Israel but rather to deter others from entering the conflict, including Hezbollah.

In addition, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid-reaction force capable of conducting special operations, is making preparations in case it is ordered closer to Israel to bolster the US force posture there,?multiple?US officials tell CNN.

The unit, which is currently on board the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship, is composed of more than 2,000 Marines and sailors and would be capable of supporting a large-scale evacuation.?Among the mission essential tasks for a Marine Expeditionary Unit are evacuation operations and humanitarian assistance.

No such order has been given yet to the unit, the officials said.

Defense officials have said repeatedly in recent days the Pentagon will be able to flow in additional forces and assets to the region quickly as needed, as Israel continues to fight a war against the terrorist group Hamas.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Saturday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Saturday with United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to address the pressing need for civilian protection and the opening of humanitarian corridors to Gaza, UAE state news outlet WAM said in a statement.

Both leaders stressed the urgency of delivering medical and relief aid while calling for an immediate end to hostilities, WAM added.

They also discussed diplomatic efforts to prevent further escalation in the region and reiterated their commitment to achieving comprehensive peace and regional stability.

Iran warned of “far-reaching consequences” if Israel does not stop its attacks on Gaza, the Iranian Mission to the United Nations said on social media Saturday.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Abdollahian voiced a similar sentiment in a meeting with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Airplanes carrying aid from Jordan, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the World Health Organization and the Red Cross have arrived at Egypt’s El-Arish Airport, according to footage aired on state television.

The Egyptian Red Crescent’s warehouses are full of humanitarian aid, an official told Egypt’s government-run Extra News TV on Saturday. The official added the El-Arish stadium has been prepared to accommodate more aid.

A third Turkish aid plane arrived at the airport Saturday carrying medical supplies and food, an Egyptian Red Crescent official said. The resources are scheduled to be stored at the stadium in preparation for its entry into the Rafah land crossing.

An Emirati plane carrying medical supplies arrived at El-Arish Airport on Friday.?

Jordan was the first to send an aid plane carrying pharmaceutical?supplies Thursday.

Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians from the al-Agha family, who were killed in Israeli strikes, in Khan Younis, southern?Gaza?on Saturday.

Palestine Red Crescent Society spokesperson Nebal Farsakh spoke about the ongoing conflict in Gaza with CNN’s Becky Anderson Saturday.

Farsakh said the Red Crescent had been notified by Israel to evacuate Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City but did not have the means to do so.

Farsakh cautioned a ground incursion by Israeli forces could worsen the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Farsakh spoke from Ramallah in the West Bank, where?she said confrontations have resulted in injuries and fatalities.

US President Joe Biden spoke with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on Saturday, the White House says.

Abbas briefed Biden on his efforts to bring urgently needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza, according to the readout.

“President Biden offered President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority his full support for these important and ongoing efforts,” the readout states.

For his part, Biden shared updates on his efforts to coordinate humanitarian aid with the United Nations, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and other regional players. He also detailed US efforts to “prevent the conflict from widening,” the readout says, “and the two leaders discussed the need to preserve stability in the West Bank and the broader region.”

Biden also held a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday.

Remember: Israel is at war with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza and carried out devastating terror attacks in Israel last week.

Abbas is the leader of the Palestinian Authority, a government body with limited self-rule in the West Bank. It was established in the 1993 Oslo Accords, a peace pact between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that saw the PLO give up armed resistance against Israel in return for promises of an independent Palestinian state.

Hamas — which is designated as a terrorist organization by the US, European Union and other countries — presents itself as an alternative to the Palestinian Authority,?which has recognized Israel and has engaged in multiple failed peace initiatives with it.

CNN’s Abbas Al Lawati?and?Nadeen Ebrahim contributed reporting to this post.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met with Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Doha, Qatar on Saturday, according to Iran’s official news agency IRNA.

This is the first official meeting between Iranian officials and Haniyeh after the Al-Aqsa storm operation, IRNA reported.

No other details on what was discussed between the parties were released.

The?World Health Organization called Israel’s evacuation orders to hospitals in northern Gaza “a death sentence for the sick and injured.”

Patients are forced to move and are cut off from life-saving medical attention while being evacuated, the WHO said in a statement on Saturday. They?face imminent deterioration of their condition or death, the organization added.

It also said health facilities in northern Gaza continue to receive an influx of injured patients and are struggling to operate beyond maximum capacity.

Hospital directors and health workers are also putting their own lives at risk while remaining on-site to treat patients or endanger their patients’ lives while attempting to transport them to facilities with no capacity to receive them, the statement said.

There are verified reports of deaths of health care workers and the destruction of health facilities, the statement said, noting it “denies civilians the basic human right of life-saving health care and is prohibited under International Humanitarian Law.”

A Palestinian man and kids arrive at the Rafah border crossing on Satuday.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is open, but aerial bombardment has rendered the roads on the Gaza side “inoperable,”?Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Saturday.?

The Egyptian official said that if foreign nationals in Gaza are able to get through the Rafah crossing, the Egyptian government will help facilitate flights to return them to their home countries.??

“If all of the procedures have been duly taken and they have verified their documents on the Gaza side to cross, we will provide them all of the facilities in cooperation with their embassies?to get them to a departure point,”?Shoukry said.

Shoukry said Egypt has tried to work with the United Nations to ship humanitarian aid to Gaza, but has not received the proper authorization to do so.?

Shoukry also urged for the protection of civilians’ lives in the conflict.?

Some background: The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been left as the only viable outlet to get people out of the besieged enclave — and to get supplies into it. But it’s unclear if the crossing is operational.

The US State Department had earlier indicated that the Egyptian entry point “may be open” to Americans trying to get out of Gaza, but local media reported that US citizens and other foreign nationals who reached the crossing were unable to leave Gaza Saturday.

Read more about the Rafah crossing here.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US President Joe Biden “for the deep and unconditional American support” in its fight against Hamas during a call on Saturday, according to a statement from Netanyahu’s office.?

It was the fifth call between the two leaders since the conflict started last Saturday, according to Netanyahu’s office.

The leaders focused on the situation in southern Israel, where Netanyahu’s forces say they are gearing up for a major offensive. The prime minister also thanked the US president “for the large-scale and rapid security and intelligence assistance,” and the visits to Israel by top US officials, according to the statement.

American death toll: Twenty-nine US citizens have died in Israel, a State Department spokesperson said Saturday. The confirmed death toll has risen by two since earlier this week.

There are also 15 US citizens still unaccounted for, in addition to one lawful permanent US resident, the official said.

At least 150 people have departed Los Angeles International Airport Saturday on a charter flight to Israel. Many are Israeli Americans who are going to help in the war effort.??

The former Israeli army commander grew up in Los Angeles but spent time as a paratrooper in the Israeli army. Meiri, now a real estate professional in L.A., said he was motivated to return to Israel after seeing days of bloodshed on the news and hearing about the deaths of two of his friends, one a fellow soldier,.

He and dozens of others desperate to get to Israel learned of a flight organized by the upstart charity Israel Friends, which formed shortly after the Hamas attacks last weekend.

Its lead organizer, Jordan Fried, told CNN the flight cost more than $1 million and is also carrying “tons” of supplies, including batteries, protective vests and medical supplies.?

Among those waiting in the LAX terminal to board the flight was 37-year-old David Frankel, an Israeli citizen who fled with his wife and two children to Southern California following the Hamas attacks a week ago. Frankel is an Israeli army reservist and said he was called up to serve while in California.?

The itinerary of the Israel Friends charter flight is being kept private for security reasons.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan speaks during a news conference in Cairo on October 14.

Turkey “rejects and condemns” attacks targeting “innocent civilians,” the country’s foreign minister said Saturday.

During the news conference, Shoukry called for the international community to work together to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and to uphold international law and human rights.

Shoukry said he spoke Saturday with the director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency who explained to him how difficult the situation is in Gaza, as there is no food, water, medicine, or places to shelter.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi Saturday to discuss the Hamas attack on Israel, according to spokesperson Matthew Miller.

Blinken thanked the UAE for its condemnation of the Hamas attack and “continued diplomatic engagement to prevent the spread of conflict.”

Earlier Saturday, Blinken met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh and discussed?“continued engagement with regional partners” and a “shared commitment to taking steps to help protect civilians.”

Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières, issued a plea to the Israeli authorities Saturday, urging them to “show humanity” as the ultimatum given to the population in Gaza expires.

Despite Israeli announcements suggesting there are safe areas for the population trapped in the Gaza Strip, they have been exposed to bombardment throughout the territory, including in the south, where tens of thousands of people fled following the ultimatum, the group said.

An Israeli-decreed humanitarian corridor in the north of Gaza has expired, raising grave concerns about “the fate of those who will not be able to move, such as the wounded, the sick and the medical staff, who we fear will be wiped out in view of the statements made by the Israeli military authorities,” the group added.

Doctors Without Borders called for the establishment of secure zones in the north and periodic cease-fires. Additionally, they advocated for the possibility of those who wish to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing, without compromising their right to return.

The group requested the evacuation of their Palestinian staff who desire to depart.

Doctors Without Borders decried Israel’s mandate, stating the order for “nearly 1.1 million people to move in a few hours to an already overpopulated territory with precarious access to food, water and healthcare is as absurd as it is intolerable.”

The group demanded the immediate restoration of adequate access to drinking water for Gaza’s population, which is becoming increasingly scarce in the south, intensifying the suffering of the residents.

Israel’s only national blood and medical emergency service, Magen David Adom (MDA), has treated 12 casualties from Hamas attacks between late Friday and Saturday, according to a statement from the organization.?

One of those wounded, a 20-year-old, has died. The injuries suffered by the other people treated by MDA ranged in cause from rocket shrapnel to stress.

The service’s teams remain on high alert Saturday across the country and have deployed around 1,400 ambulances, including bulletproof vehicles, as well as “ambulances and mobile intensive care units (MICUs) that arrived from the United States.”?

MDA helicopters are also providing support, having already “undertaken dozens of medevac missions and evacuated multiple civilian and (Israel Defense Forces) casualties.”

MDA helicopters are also providing support, having already “undertaken dozens of medevac missions and evacuated multiple civilian and IDF casualties to Sheba Tel Hashomer, Beilinson, Ichilov, Shamir Assaf Harofe, Shaare Zedek, and Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.”?

Spokesperson Zaki Heller said that on Friday night, “three MDA ambulances were damaged by Hamas fire in different locations,” adding that they are working to get “them back in service to continue saving lives.”?

The MDA spokesperson highlighted that over 22,000 blood donations from volunteer donors have been collected by the MDA’s Blood Services, helping hospitals across Israel treat the victims.

The 140-square-mile Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated places on Earth.

Now the most packed part of the territory — the northern end, including Gaza City and surrounding areas — has been warned to evacuate as Israel prepares for the “next stages of the war” with Hamas.

Leaving home can be perilous for Gazans. A blast struck a convoy on an evacuation route Friday. The Palestinian enclave’s infrastructure has been battered by Israeli airstrikes and the “complete siege” on its supplies of electricity and water.

Here’s a look at the population density in the area Israel has told to evacuate:

Palestinians inspect damage to their homes caused by Israeli airstrikes on Saturday.

Palestinians who fled south and those who are still in the north are rapidly running out of food and water.

There is no more electricity, and those with fuel-powered generators will soon live in complete blackout. Internet access, through which residents communicate their plight to the world, is also shrinking.

Mohamed Hamed, 36, of Gaza City, moved southward to Nuseirat, a refugee camp some five kilometers northeast of Deir al-Balah, which he was told was safe.

Hamed fled with 30 family members, including his extended relatives, four children and his wife, who is over eight months pregnant.

The family has no access to medical care and are crammed into an apartment.

Not everyone in Gaza’s north has heeded the Israel Defense Forces’ call to move southward. Palestinian journalist Hashem Al-Saudi,33, and his family have only moved from east to west of Gaza City.

Residents are forced to leave their homes to fill up water tanks, he told CNN by phone, which puts them at risk of being struck by Israeli missiles.

Al-Saudi said not only do they have nowhere to stay if they moved south, but the route itself is unsafe. “Even those who moved south were hit by airstrikes,” he told CNN.

CNN has geolocated and authenticated?five videos from the scene of a large explosion Friday along a route for civilians south of Gaza City, which Israel said the following day would be safe. CNN has reached out to IDF for comment on any airstrikes in the same location.

Read more.

As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the end of its first week, millions have turned to platforms including TikTok and Instagram in hopes of comprehending the brutal conflict in real time.

Trending search terms on TikTok in recent days illustrate the hunger for front line perspectives: From “graphic Israel footage” to “live stream in Israel right now,” internet users are seeking out raw, unfiltered accounts of a crisis they are desperate to understand.

For the most part, they are succeeding, discovering videos of tearful Israeli children wrestling with the permanence of death alongside images of dazed Gazans sitting in the rubble of their former homes.

But the same demand for an intimate view of the war has created ample openings for disinformation peddlers, conspiracy theorists and propaganda artists — influences regulators and researchers now warn pose a dangerous threat to public debates about the war.

One recent TikTok video, seen by more than 300,000 users and reviewed by CNN, promoted conspiracy theories about the origins of the Hamas attacks, including false claims they were orchestrated by the media.

TikTok is hardly alone. One post on X, formerly Twitter, was viewed more than 20,000 times and flagged as misleading by London-based social media watchdog Reset for purporting to show Israelis staging civilian deaths for cameras.

This week, European Union officials?sent warnings?to TikTok, Facebook and Instagram’s parent Meta, YouTube and X, highlighting reports of misleading or illegal content about the war on their platforms and reminding the social media companies they could face billions of dollars in fines if an investigation later determines they violated EU content moderation laws.

US and UK lawmakers have also called on the platforms to ensure they are enforcing their rules against hateful and illegal content.

Read more on Israel-Hamas war misinformation here.

Israeli soldiers and military combat vehicles are seen in Sderot, Israel, near the Gaza border, on October 14.

Israel’s military says it is preparing for the “next stages of the war” against Hamas, which could include “strikes from the air, sea and land” with “significant ground operations.”

The effort involves hundreds of thousands of drafted reservists and will encompass “a wide range of operational offensive plans,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Saturday.

In addition to the “combined and coordinated strikes,” the Israeli Ground Forces and the military’s logistics leadership are preparing IDF troops for an “expanded arena of combat,” the statement said.

Relevant forces have received the equipment they need for combat in recent days, the military said.

Some context: Signs have been growing throughout the week that Israel is preparing for a?potential ground invasion?of Gaza — the densely populated enclave run by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that carried out devastating terror attacks in Israel on October 7.

The?Israeli military has now mobilized?300,000 reservists for what could be an unprecedented incursion into Gaza.

Read more about what that could look like here.

Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks during a press conference on October 9.

The Netherlands will continue sending humanitarian support to Gaza, the country’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.

In a post on X Saturday, Rutte said he spoke to the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and “expressed [his] sympathy for all the innocent victims of the spiralling violence unleashed by the Hamas terror attacks.”?

Palestinian Health Minister Dr. Mai Al-Kaila blamed Israel for?killing 28 health care workers and?damaging medical centers?in a statement on Saturday.?

Al-Kaila urged all international human rights organizations to provide urgent protection for hospitals, treatment centers, ambulances, health personnel and the sick and wounded who are exposed daily to bombings.

Al-Kaila also pointed out “the Israeli occupation forces daily threaten to evacuate hospitals in the Gaza Strip, which is a clear threat to the lives of hundreds of patients?and wounded individuals.”

The minister also said Al-Durrah Children’s Hospital was evacuated Friday after being targeted with internationally prohibited white phosphorus bombs, and Beit Hanoun Hospital has also ceased operations due to Israeli bombardment.?

CNN has reached out to the Israel?Defense Forces for comment.

As world leaders try to locate hostages taken by Hamas in a deadly incursion on Israel earlier this month, families and loved ones made desperate calls for their release.

Hamas fighters are holding as many as 150 people hostage in locations across Gaza, following their raids on southern Israel on October 7.

Some of the hostages were music festival attendees, while others lived in Israeli farming communities near the border with Gaza. There were also Israeli soldiers and foreign nationals among those kidnapped.

The details of the hostages who were abducted by Hamas are still emerging.

Nine-month-old Kfir and his brother, 3-year-old Ariel, are believed to have been kidnapped along with their mother, Shiri Bibes, and her husband, Yarden, from the Nahal Oz kibbutz, a small farming enclave in southern Israel.

“I want my family back,” Yifat Zeiler, a relative, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

The parents of 23-year-old American Hersh Goldberg-Polin said he sustained a critical injury and was later kidnapped by Hamas militants.

Hersh was at the Nova music festival in Israel on Saturday. A CNN investigation revealed how Hamas attackers slashed avenues of escape, surged the site and killed people hiding in bomb shelters.

Goldberg-Polin’s parents said survivors of the deadly attack told them he and his friend “saved their lives.”

The mother of German-Israeli national Shani Louk, who was seen unconscious at the festival in a video authenticated by CNN, said, “I still have hope.”

International efforts: Governments have ramped up pledges to achieve the release of hostages taken by Hamas last weekend.

Family members of Americans in Israel who are unaccounted for joined US President Joe Biden from both Israel and the US on Friday afternoon local time for an “emotional” Zoom call, a source familiar with the conversation told CNN.

Biden told CBS News his administration is “working like hell” to get Americans missing from Israel back to the US in an interview aired on Friday.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock appealed to Hamas to “release these innocent people,” in a joint news conference with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in Netivot, Israel, Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday his government will “do everything for the release of the hostages no matter their nationality.”

On Friday, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said the agency “must ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages being held in Gaza.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seen meeting with soldiers in this image he shared on Saturday, October 14.

Israeli Prime Minister?Benjamin Netanyahu shared a video and images on Saturday of his visit to the front line near the Gaza border, where he was visiting Israeli soldiers.

The Gaza envelope refers to the settlements, kibbutzim and areas of Israel within 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) of the border with Gaza.

Smoke is seen billowing in the contested border area of Shebaa farms on Saturday.

The booms and thuds near Lebanon’s border with Israel lasted just over two hours. It was?one of the most prolonged exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces since the flare-up in this volatile border region a week ago.

At 3:15 p.m. local time (8:15 a.m. ET) on Saturday, Hezbollah launched a volley of missiles at Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa farms, according to a statement by the Iran-backed armed group.

The Shebaa farms is a disputed strip of land between Lebanon and Syria,?controlled by Israel, and adjoining the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Israeli forces returned fire, a statement by the Israeli military said, in areas near the Shebaa farms. A CNN team near the area heard?sustained crossfire, which appeared to be an exchange of artillery rounds.

The cross-border fire began less than two hours after the funeral of?Reuters journalist and south Lebanon native Issam Abdallah, who was killed Friday during an Israeli attack. Hundreds of mourners flocked to the border town of Khiam from all over the country.?

Hezbollah has not linked its actions?to Abdallah’s death, but issued a statement earlier Saturday?condemning the UN and the US for “wilful ignorance” about Israel’s role in the attack.

On Friday, Hezbollah said it attacked four locations in northern Israel. Israel also fired at several areas in southern Lebanon. Abdallah died and several other international journalists were wounded?in one of those strikes.

Remember: This fighting is centered on northern Israel and southern Lebanon — separate from Israel’s fighting with Hamas further south, which is centered around Gaza. But an uptick in clashes with Hezbollah has raised fears that the powerful Lebanese paramilitary group could actively participate in the conflict.

Hezbollah has unambiguously supported the Palestinian militants and roundly condemned Israel’s large-scale airstrikes on Gaza, but it has not intervened on behalf of Hamas so far.

The group has explicitly linked its attacks on Israel to Israel’s targeting of Lebanese territory, and the fighting remains limited to this border region for now.

Israeli warning: The head of Israel’s National Security Council, Tzachi Hanegbi, said Saturday that he hopes Hezbollah will not “bring the destruction of Lebanon” by getting involved in the war.

Speaking to journalists in a televised briefing, Hanegbi said Israel is trying to avoid “a two-front war.”

Hezbollah’s current involvement, however, is “below the escalation threshold,” Hanegbi said.

Black smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Saturday.

More than 700 children have been killed in Gaza and another 2,450 have been injured since last Saturday, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, citing local?sources.

The Saturday figures are an update to UNICEF’s?Friday statement, which said?“hundreds & hundreds of children have been killed and injured,” noting the number rises every hour.

Elder joined calls from the international community saying, “Israeli children being held hostage in Gaza must be safely and immediately reunited with their families and loved ones.”

Previous reporting from CNN’s James Frater

A man carries a body to an ice cream truck due to the insufficiency of hospital morgues at the Suheda al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza on Saturday.

Hospitals in Gaza are facing unprecedented challenges as they struggle to manage the influx of casualties from the ongoing conflict, forcing the treatment of some patients in hallways and hospital courtyards.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said Saturday Gaza hospitals have “started to lose their clinical, pharmaceutical, and fuel capacities,” the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Saturday.

Dr. Ashraf Alqudera, spokesperson for the ministry in the Gaza Strip, said health facilities in the area have been “targeted,” noting medical crews still “did not leave their positions.”

At al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital?in Deir al Balah, Gaza, the hospital is on the brink of a medical crisis due to power outages, relying on a generator with only one to two days of fuel left, according to the director of the syndicate of nurses, Dr. Khalil al-Dekran. Without electricity, all emergency room and surgical operations will halt.?

More than 1,300 individuals have been injured, and 350 — including elders and children lost their lives. Notably, a significant number of the injured “sustained head wounds” al-Dekran said in a video message sent to CNN on Saturday from the hospital.?

Further complicating the medical situation, al-Dekran echoed Alqudera’s claim, saying ambulances are being targeted by Israeli airstrikes, hampering the efforts to transfer patients between medical facilities.

CNN cannot independently confirm allegations the Israel?Defense Forces are intentionally targeting ambulances in Gaza. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comments.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in the United Arab Emirates — his fifth stop in an intensive multinational trip aimed at stopping the war in Israel from expanding further.

The top US diplomat started his day in Saudi Arabia, where he met with the Saudi foreign minister and spoke of protecting civilians and stopping the conflict. He is scheduled to meet with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.

On Friday, Blinken was in Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain before arriving in Riyadh. He was in Israel on Thursday, and he is slated to stop in Egypt Sunday before returning to the US.

Egyptian authorities are not allowing US nationals and citizens of other countries to enter Egypt through the Rafah border crossing on Saturday, insisting that the crossing must also facilitate humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to?Alqahera News, a local Egyptian news channel.

Alqahera News is?owned by Egypt’s United Media Services and is linked to the government.?

This comes after the US State Department sent guidance to Palestinian-Americans in Gaza saying that the?Rafah border crossing “may be open” on Saturday afternoon.

CNN has reached out to Egyptian officials for comment.

A Palestinian border official told CNN Saturday morning that concrete slabs were being placed at the Rafah crossing, blocking all gates.?The slabs were being placed by a winch visible on the Egyptian side of the crossing, the official told CNN.

There are an estimated 500-600 Palestinian-Americans in Gaza.

A senior State Department official said earlier that the US is in touch with some of them, but did not say how many had reached out for assistance to leave. The official also said the situation at the border crossing is ever-changing.

CNN’s Yahya Abou-Ghazala contributed reporting to this post.

Residents prepare to evacuate Gaza City, on Saturday, October 14.

A six-hour window issued by the Israeli military warning Palestinian civilians to finish evacuating from Gaza City to the southern part of the strip ended at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) on Saturday.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told residents to move toward the Gaza Valley, in a message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. It is unclear how widely the messaging has been received on the ground given the current electricity and internet blackout.?

The advisory from the Israeli military came a day after it told 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes.

The IDF has saturated the border with troops and military equipment amid a relentless onslaught on the territory, in retaliation to a large-scale incursion by the militant group Hamas on October 7.

Earlier on Saturday, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said Israel’s air, land and sea blockade on Gaza will continue into a seventh day.

“We are preparing for the next stages,” he added, but shared no information if that could be a ground incursion and when.

What we know: The IDF’s Arabic spokesperson, Avishay Adraee,?said the military will permit safe movement on specified streets between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time (3 to 9 a.m. ET). Residents were advised to use this window to move southward from Beit Hanoun to Khan Yunis.?Additionally, residents of the Al-Shate, Al-Rimal and West Al-Zaytoun areas are “permitted to move” along Daldul and Al-Sana streets towards Salah Al-Din and Al-Bahr streets, Adraee said.?

Communications blackout: Israel launched a complete blockade on food, fuel and water entering Gaza on Monday. Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for a complete siege on Monday as a form of “collective punishment” and a “war crime.”?Thinning electricity supplies have severely damaged communication along the strip. In an interview with CNN, IDF Spokesperson, Maj. (Res.) Doron Spielman said the IDF is dropping leaflets about the new safe passages, given most people in Gaza City don’t have internet access now. However, CNN has talked to a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school official, a paramedic and a journalist on the ground who were all unaware of this latest advisory.

Explosion rocks evacuation route: CNN has geolocated and authenticated five videos from the scene of a large explosion along an evacuation route for civilians south of Gaza City. The videos show many dead bodies amid a scene of extensive destruction. Some of those bodies are on a flat-bed trailer that appears to have been used to carry people away from Gaza City. They include at least several children. There are also a number of badly burned and damaged cars. It is unclear what caused the widespread devastation; the explosion occurred on Salah Al-Deen street on Friday afternoon. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on any airstrikes in the same location.

Evacuees killed: Hamas media office told CNN Israeli military airstrikes killed 70 and injured 200 evacuees in Gaza. The airstrikes hit evacuees at three locations: Salah Al-Din street, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin street, and near Wadi Gaza, Hamas said. Earlier, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that “large numbers” of dead and injured people, including women and children, arrived at Al-Shifa’ Hospital—located in Al-Rimal neighborhood —after they were shelled on their way from northern Gaza to the south.

UN shelters forced to relocate: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) was forced to move its central operations from Gaza City to a location in southern Gaza following the Israeli evacuation warning issued on Friday. The agency warned that water is now “also running out” at its new location, as thousands of displaced civilians from northern Gaza continue to arrive.?

“War crime”: On Friday, the Norwegian Refugee Council said Israel’s advisory for 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to?evacuate their homes?– ahead of a potential ground invasion – would “amount to the war crime of forcible transfer.” The relocation advisory “must be reversed,” the Secretary General of the council Jan Egeland added. Egeland called Western and Arab Nations “who have influence over the Israeli political and military leadership” to “demand that the illegal and impossible order to relocate is immediately rescinded.”

Sign up for CNN’s?Meanwhile in the Middle East, a three-times-a-week newsletter that explores the region’s biggest stories.?

A picture taken from the Lebanese town of Marjayoun shows smoke billowing in the disputed border area of Shebaa Farms on Saturday.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it launched an attack on Israeli positions in the Shebaa farms, a disputed strip of land between Lebanon and Syria adjoining the Golan Heights, under Israeli control, on Saturday.?

“At 3:15 pm on Saturday, October 14, 2023, groups from the Islamic Resistance (read Hezbollah) attacked Zionist positions in the Occupied Lebanese Shebaa farms,” the statement said.?

Hezbollah said it launched precision-guided missiles and mortar rounds on the positions in al-Radar, Rousiyat al-Alam, al-Samaqa, Zibdeen and Ramtha.?

The Shebaa farms area is claimed by both Lebanon and Israel.?A CNN team present in southern Lebanon reported the shelling on air, with CNN correspondent Ben Wedeman describing the incident as “the longest and most prolonged shelling since we have been here.”

The CNN producer on the ground said the shelling had been going on for over one hour and was still ongoing as of 9.20 a.m. ET.?

In its statement, Hezbollah described the attacks as “precise and direct hits.”?

People mourn at the funeral ceremony of Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah in Khiam, Lebanon, on October 14.

Mourners on Saturday congregated for the funeral of Issam Abdallah, in Khiam, in southern Lebanon, who was killed after Israel fired artillery into the area where he and other journalists were gathered on Friday.

The assault injured at least six others. The journalists were wearing press-labeled jackets at the time of the attack.

Images emerged of funeral attendees paying their respects while crouching over Abdallah’s coffin, where people had placed red roses.

Condolences for his relatives and loved ones poured in.

On Friday, the United Nations’ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said his death “demonstrates the enormous risk of spillover of this conflict.”

“I want to pay tribute to the journalists that so many, unfortunately, the largest number ever last year, so many journalists are paying with their lives,” Guterres told reporters, according to Reuters.

“The work they do, to bring truth to everybody in the world and I present to their families my deepest condolences.”

People attend Abdallah’s funeral ceremony in Khiam, Lebanon, on October 14.

Israeli soldiers and armored vehicles are stationed in Ashkelon, Israel, near the Gaza border, on October 14.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has been conducting “small raids” near Gaza, issuing a stark warning that “anyone coming near the border will be shot.”

IDF?spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said the military is “preparing for the next stages,” but he shared no more information.

Israel has flooded the border with hundreds of thousands of troops and military equipment, as it ramps up its siege on Gaza. However, it is not clear what kind of operation the IDF is preparing for, or when it might take place.

Two people were killed “approaching” the border security fence which the Israeli military is still working on securing, Hecht said. He did not give any further details about whether they were civilians or armed.

Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah takes a selfie while working in Maras, Turkey, on February 11.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday it was looking into the “incident with [a] Reuters journalist” killed in southern Lebanon.

Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah was killed when Israel fired artillery into the area where he and and other journalists were gathered on Friday, which left at least six others wounded. The journalists were wearing press-labeled jackets at the time of the attack.

Without naming Abdallah, IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said on Saturday his death is “a tragic thing,” which they are “very sorry for,” but did not admit it was an Israeli strike that took his life. He added that they have “visuals” of the incident and are cross examining them.

Journalists from international news organizations Al Jazeera, Agence France Presse, and Reuters were among the victims of the incident, which marks one of the worst press catastrophes yet to emerge from Israel’s war against Hamas.

CNN’s Tamara Qiblawi, Sarah El Sirgany, Gianluca Mezzofiore, Allegra Goodwin and AnneClaire Stapleton contributed reporting.

Hospitals in the Gaza Strip are facing a critical shortage of resources, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said Saturday.

“The hospitals in the Gaza Strip are in urgent need of every healthcare professional, every bed, every medication, every operating room, and every healthcare service at this critical time,” the health ministry said in a statement.??

The ministry further appealed to the staff of the Jordanian Field Hospital operating in Gaza to remain and continue their significant contributions to the healthcare system.

“We urge our colleagues in the Jordanian Field Hospital not to leave Gaza and not to abandon their significant role,” the statement read.?

State-run Jordanian TV said on Saturday the Jordanian Field Hospital/75?is struggling to sustain its operations and delivering health services in the current circumstances.??

Earlier Saturday, Palestinian officials said Gazan hospitals were being inundated with injured people. The health ministry also provided an update on the death toll, which continues to climb and has now surpassed 2,000 civilians.

One hospital in Gaza is so overwhelmed that it has been forced to use ice cream trucks from local factories as makeshift morgues to cope with overflowing mortuaries.

Lufthansa airplanes are seen in Munich, Germany, on June 29.

German airline Lufthansa has canceled all flights to Lebanon through October 16.

“Due to the current situation in the Middle East, Lufthansa will suspend its flights to Beirut/Lebanon (BEY) up to and including October 16,” a company spokesperson said Saturday in a statement to CNN.

This follows a move by the carrier earlier this week to suspend flights to and from Tel Aviv, up to and including October 22 due to the “unclear situation” in Israel.

Israel and militants in Lebanon have been engaged in a tit for tat exchange of fire on the border between the two countries since last weekend, when?Hamas’ Oct 7 surprise attack on Israel, and?Israel’s attack on Gaza that followed, prompted regional tensions to spiral.

At least one journalist was killed and six others injured on Friday in southern Lebanon when Israel fired artillery into the area they were gathered.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged firing artillery into Lebanon, telling CNN that it was in response to an explosion near the security fence near a kibbutz. Additionally, a Lebanese security source told CNN that an Israeli Apache helicopter was seen over the site of the attack.

The IDF, however, did not respond to additional questions from CNN related specifically to the journalists being hit. The journalists were wearing body armor identifying them as “press” at the time of the attack.

Palestinian medical services and civil defense crews were targeted by an Israeli strike at the site of a rescue operation in northern Gaza on Saturday, according to the Palestinian?Ministry of Interior and National Security.

“Occupation forces target civil defense crews and medical services while they were working to rescue martyrs and wounded from the house of the Dahman family in the northern Gaza Strip, early this morning, Saturday,” the interior ministry said in a statement.?

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties resulting from the strike announced by the Palestinian interior ministry.

The United Nations has described the situation in the Gaza Strip as a matter of “life and death,” warning that the clean water supply for the 2 million people there is running dangerously low. The UN also warned of increasing risks of waterborne diseases.?

Lazzarini highlighted the devastating impact of the blockade on Gaza, which has received no fresh humanitarian aid for one week now.

“Clean water is running out in the Gaza Strip, after its water plant and public water networks stopped working. People are now forced to use dirty water from wells, increasing risks of waterborne diseases. Gaza has also been under an electricity blackout since 11 October, impacting the water supply,” the statement said.?

The UNRWA was forced to move its central operations from Gaza City to a location in southern Gaza following the Israeli evacuation order issued Friday. The agency warned that water is now “also running out” at its new location, as thousands of displaced civilians from northern Gaza continue to arrive.?

“Only in the past 12 hours, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced. The exodus continues as people move to the southern parts of the Gaza Strip. Nearly 1 million people have been displaced in one week alone,” the statement said.?

“We need to truck fuel into Gaza now. Fuel is the only way for people to have safe drinking water. If not, people will start dying of severe dehydration, among them young children, the elderly and women. Water is now the last remaining lifeline,”?Lazzarini added.?“I appeal for the siege on humanitarian assistance to be lifted now.”

Injured persons are continuing to stream into hospitals in central Gaza as the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced Saturday that more than 2,000 civilians in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the hostilities.

In video obtained by CNN on Saturday, scores of injured people can be seen being rushed into the al-Aqsa?Martyrs?hospital in Deir al Balah. Emergency services at the hospital are seen rushing frantically to carry stretchers of people of all ages in need of medical assistance.

In an update Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said 2,215 civilians, including 724 children and 458 women, have been killed since the conflict broke out one week ago.

The health ministry also said that 8,714 citizens have been injured in Gaza with varying degrees of injuries sustained. Among the injured are 2,450 children and 1,536 women.

Gates are seen closed at the Rafah crossing on October 10.

The United States intends for the Rafah crossing to be open Saturday to allow Americans to leave Gaza and go to Egypt, a senior US State Department official said.

The US, working with the Egyptians, Israelis, and Qataris, has worked to have the crossing be open from noon to 5 p.m. local time (5 - 10 a.m. ET) for Americans to depart, the official told reporters traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

However, it is unclear if Hamas is allowing anyone to reach the Rafah crossing, the official noted, adding that the situation is incredibly fluid.

CNN reported Friday that some Americans in Gaza had received emails from the State Department advising that the Rafah crossing “may” be open Saturday.

There are an estimated 500 to 600 Palestinian-Americans in Gaza. The official said the State Department is in touch with some of them but did not say how many had reached out for assistance to leave.?

CNN has geolocated and authenticated five videos from the scene of?a?large?explosion along?an?evacuation route?for civilians south of Gaza City.

The videos show many dead bodies amid a scene of extensive destruction. Some of those bodies are on a flat-bed trailer that appears to have been used to carry people away from Gaza City.?They include at least several children.?There are also a number of badly burned and damaged cars.

It’s unclear what caused the widespread devastation; the explosion occurred on?Salah Al-Deen?street on Friday afternoon.

CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment on any airstrikes in the same location.

The IDF told civilians in and around Gaza City Friday that they must move south to avoid being caught up in Israeli military operations.?

Hamas media office told CNN Saturday Israeli military airstrikes had killed 70 people and injured a further 200 evacuees in Gaza after issuing the warning Friday for civilians to evacuate to the south.

Earlier, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that “large numbers” of dead and injured people had arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital after?they were shelled on their way from northern Gaza to the south.?

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi speaks during a press conference in Damascus, Syria, on July 3.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister?Ayman Safadi?condemned Israel’s?actions in Gaza?on Saturday, accusing Israel of breaching international law.?

Labeling Israel’s choice to “displace Palestinians” as “unacceptable” and tantamount to a “war crime,” Safadi?said during a?press conference that?the international community?must?respond?consistently to breaches of international statutes.

Safadi emphasized that the foremost priority should be ensuring?that?the humanitarian aid reaches?Palestinians in Gaza.

Earlier Saturday, World Health Organization Director-General?Tedros?Adhanom?Ghebreyesus said medical supplies intended for Gazans had landed in Egypt close to the Rafah crossing but had yet to be deployed as the organization waited for access through the crossing.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a press conference in Beijing on September 26.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Friday that “Palestine is now in a critical situation,” and the ongoing conflict “has caused heavy civilian casualties.”

In a joint press conference with the European Union’s?foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday, China’s top diplomat reiterated that Beijing is on the side of “fairness and justice” in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Warning that the humanitarian situation for Palestinians “is rapidly deteriorating,” Wang said that China “condemns all acts that harm civilians and opposes any violation of international law.”

He also listed four priorities that China deems “pressing given the severity of the current situation.”

First, as per Wang, is the need to “stop the fighting as soon as possible” to avoid further deterioration of the situation.?

Second is to adhere to international humanitarian law and prevent a severe disaster by opening “a humanitarian rescue and assistance passage as quickly as possible,” Wang said.

The third priority, according to the diplomat, is for the “relevant countries” to “exercise restraint, take an objective and just position, work for de-escalation of the conflict.”

The fourth priority listed by Wang suggested “the UN should play its due role” and build international consensus and “take real measures” to achieve the first three goals.

Wang said that “China is communicating with the relevant parties” and added that Beijing “will provide emergency humanitarian assistance to Gaza Strip and the Palestinian National Authority through the UN.”

He also said that “the injustice to Palestine has dragged on for over half a century,” and called to end it with “the two-state solution and an independent State of Palestine,” saying “This is how Palestine and Israel could coexist in peace.”

What is the two-state solution? The two-state solution – an Israeli state next to a Palestinian state, existing side by side in peace – has been the goal of the international community for decades, dating back to the 1947 UN Partition Plan, and many nations say that it is the only way out of the conflict.

It would recognize a 1967 demarcation line known as the Green Line to partition Palestinian and Israeli land, subject to land swaps based on negotiations, and it would divide Jerusalem between the two states.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has never been a full-throated supporter of a?two-state solution, weaving in and out of different definitions of what that would mean. But in recent years he’s settled on the idea that he’d be open to a Palestinian state - as long as it has no military or security power, an arrangement that would have no parallel among modern sovereign states.

A police officer helps place dead bodies in an ice cream truck outside al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza, on October 14.

A hospital in Gaza has been using ice cream trucks from local factories as makeshift morgues to supplement the overflowing hospital mortuaries.?

Yasser Khatab, a forensic pathologist in al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, said in a video message sent to CNN on Saturday that the?Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah is unable to accommodate the increasing number of deceased.

Khatab added that some bodies remain stored for days before being collected.?

Echoing a plea for assistance, the forensic pathologist stressed that Gaza was in crisis.

“Gaza needs relief aids,” Khatab said, specifying the need for mortuary refrigerators and medical equipment as well as “coffins and equipment to deal with dead bodies.”?

Violence has risen in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since Israel declared its war on Hamas and continued to strike Gaza over the past week.

The death toll climbed to 53, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in an update on Saturday morning, while more than 1,100 people have been injured.

Settlers, according to international law, are Israeli civilians living in illegal settlements in the West Bank and have been accused of carrying out acts of violence – physical assault, property damage, and harassment – against Palestinians.

In a separate statement, the Palestinian health ministry said that a 27-year-old Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire in Jericho, in the occupied West Bank. He arrived at Jericho Government hospital with a bullet wound to the head, according to the health ministry.

What’s behind violence there? Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli military forces erupted in several areas in the occupied West Bank amid a closure that was imposed by the military following Hamas’ attack Saturday.

The closure includes checkpoints and roadblocks set up by the Israeli military at various entry and exit points – and limits the movement of Palestinians within the West Bank and between the West Bank and Israel, according to several?Palestinian residents?who spoke to CNN on Wednesday.?

Palestinians living in the West Bank told CNN the closure has significantly affected their daily lives, restricting their ability to travel for work, school, medical treatment, and other essential activities.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said earlier this week that the military was on high alert in the West Bank, adding it was preparing to thwart any potential attacks.

Hamas’ media office told CNN that Israeli military airstrikes killed 70 and injured 200 evacuees in Gaza after issuing a warning to 1.1 million people to move south on Friday.

Hamas added the airstrikes hit evacuees at three locations: Salah Al-Din street, Sheikh Ahmed Yaseen street, and near Wadi Gaza.

Earlier, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza confirmed that “large numbers” of dead and injured people, including women and children,?arrived at Al-Shifa Hospital — located in Al-Rimal neighborhood?— after?they were shelled on their way from northern Gaza to the south.

World Health Organization medical supplies to support Gaza have landed in Egypt close to the Rafah crossing, according to WHO Director-General?Tedros?Adhanom?Ghebreyesus.

However, the supplies have yet to be deployed as the organization waits on humanitarian access through the crossing.?

The WHO head ended the post reiterating “our plea to Israel to reconsider the decision to evacuate 1.1 million people. It will be a human tragedy.”

The last remaining exit for Gazans: In the wake of the Hamas attacks, Israel closed its two border crossings with Gaza and imposed a “complete siege” on the territory,?blocking supplies?of fuel, electricity and water.

That has left the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt as the only viable outlet to get people out of the enclave and supplies into it. But it’s unclear if even that crossing is operational.

The Egyptian side of the crossing is open, but the Palestinian side is “non-functional” following multiple Israeli airstrikes earlier this week, a senior Jordanian official told CNN Thursday, adding that “the Jordanians and Egyptians are waiting for security clearance from the Israelis to allow (aid) trucks to cross without threat of another airstrike.”

Egypt’s foreign ministry on Thursday denied reports of the crossing being closed, saying it has sustained damage due to repeated Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian side. CNN could not independently verify whether the crossing is open.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that?the Biden administration is in talks?with Israel and Egypt about creating a humanitarian corridor through which civilians can cross.

Learn more on why Egypt is uneasy about the prospect of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees crossing into its territory:

The Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt is seen on October 10.

Related article The last remaining exit for Gazans is through Egypt. Here's why Cairo is reluctant to open it | CNN

Picture taken from the Israeli city of Sderot shows black smoke rising from Gaza, on October 14, 2023.

The city of Sderot in southern Israel was placed under red alert on Saturday morning after Hamas fired rockets on the city.

In a post on Telegram Saturday, Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades said it had fired “rockets at the occupied city of Sderot.”

A CNN team in Sderot heard Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system working to intercept the rockets. One team member heard the siren indicating that the city had been placed under alert.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released an advisory?on Saturday,?urging residents to relocate from Gaza City to the southern regions of the Gaza Valley to “ensure their safety.”

The IDF’s Arabic spokesperson?Avishay Adraee?posted the advisory on?X,?formerly known as Twitter.?It?is unclear how widely the messaging has been received on the ground given the current electricity and internet blackout.?

In an interview with CNN, IDF Spokesperson,?Maj. (Res.) Doron Spielman was asked how this safe passage has been communicated on the ground, saying that “everybody?in Gaza City?now knows exactly what’s happening.”

Spielman continued: “They’ve been notified?in Arabic, in multiple?languages?on every available?platform, both electronic and non-electronic platforms. Everyone in?Gaza City?knows that they need to go past?Wadi Gaza.”

When asked again by CNN whether the IDF is dropping leaflets about the new safe passages announced on Saturday, given most people in Gaza City don’t have internet access now, Spielman responded “yes.”

However,?CNN?has?talked to?a?United Nations Relief and Works Agency?school official, a paramedic and a journalist?on the ground?who were all unaware of this latest advisory.

What does latest advisory say? According to?Adraee, the IDF will allow safe movement on specified streets between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time (3 - 9 a.m. ET). Residents were advised to use this window to move southward from Beit Hanoun to Khan Yunis.?

The statement further emphasizes the importance of residents “heeding these instructions for their own safety and that of their loved ones.” Adraee also noted that Hamas leaders have already taken measures to protect themselves from strikes in the area.?

Additionally, residents of the Al-Shate, Al-Rimal and West Al-Zaytoun areas are “permitted to move” along Daldul and Al-Sana streets towards Salah Al-Din and Al-Bahr streets, Adraee said.?

Global concern for Gaza’s civilians: The IDF’s order has raised international alarm and sharp criticism from some rights groups, especially as critical supplies run out and deaths rise in the isolated enclave, from which residents say?they have no escape.

“The order to evacuate 1.1 million people from northern Gaza defies the rules of war and basic humanity,” wrote OCHA head Martin Griffiths?in a statement late Friday.

“Roads and homes (in Gaza) have been reduced to rubble. There is nowhere safe to go.”

“Forcing scared and traumatized civilians, including women and children, to move from one densely populated area to another, without even a pause in the fighting and without humanitarian support, is dangerous and outrageous,” he added, warning it would bring “catastrophic humanitarian consequences.”

Read more:

Palestinians with their belongings flee to safer areas in Gaza City after Israeli air strikes, on October 13, 2023. Israel has called for the immediate relocation of 1.1 million people in Gaza amid its massive bombardment in retaliation for Hamas's attacks, with the United Nations warning of "devastating" consequences. (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED / AFP) (Photo by MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Tens of thousands flee south in bombarded Gaza as Israeli troops gather near border | CNN

Homemade rockets. Modified AK-47s. Decades-old Soviet machine guns. Cheap, second-hand, and purloined weapons comprised Hamas’ deadly makeshift arsenal that fueled a devastating, multi-pronged attack on Israel over the weekend.

CNN analyzed dozens of photos and videos of Hamas militants during the surprise assault to identify the weapons used to kill at least 1,200 people in Israel. Many of the weapons appeared to be altered Russian or Chinese firearms, presumedly left behind on the battlefield in decades past that eventually made their way into the hands of Hamas terrorists, experts say.

One expert described how the intricately planned assault, in which Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel by land, sea and air, reflects a change in Hamas’ overall military strategy. Others believe certain firearms were likely supplied from Iran, which the US State Department has said bolsters the terrorist group with money, military equipment and training.

The group operates out of Gaza, a strip of Mediterranean coastal land bordered by Israel and Egypt, which has been?cut off from the rest of the world?since 2007 when Hamas seized control of the territory, prompting Israel and Egypt to impose a blockade on it.

It’s fertile ground for a condemned terror group to scavenge and transform weapons for guerrilla warfare.

Read CNN’s full investigation here.

An Israeli drone targeted and killed “a number of terrorists” who tried to infiltrate Israeli territory from Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday.

The IDF did not say exactly when the operation took place, but in an update released at 1:55 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday it said it happened “a short while ago.”

No other details about the casualties or the operation were shared.

On Friday, the IDF confirmed it was conducting?drone?attacks on?Hezbollah?targets in Lebanon.

Some context:?The northern border between Israel and Lebanon remains one of the most?important, and dangerous, fault lines?in this volatile region.

Following the?surprise Hamas attacks?on Israel on October 7, this frontier – largely calm since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war – is even more charged with consequence.

Any conflict erupting here could pour fuel on the fire of the current Hamas-Israel war by drawing in the most powerful paramilitary group in the Middle East:?Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Israeli fighter jets killed a Hamas commander involved in last week’s attacks during a strike on an operational headquarters used by the militants over the past day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday.

The IDF said its fighter jets also conducted wide-scale strikes throughout the Gaza Strip on Friday against dozens of Hamas targets and “Nukhba” operatives, who were one of the leading forces that breached the border perimeter and led the infiltration into Israel last Saturday.

The Hamas-run Ministry of Interior Affairs confirmed airstrikes hit several regions of Gaza on Friday and early Saturday.

Among the areas hit were the Al Nuseirat refugee camp, regions in Northern Gaza and Al Shanti in Western Gaza, the ministry said in a statement Saturday.

Naval bombardments along the western coast and west of Khan Younis were also reported.

The number of Thai nationals killed in the Hamas attack on Israel has risen to 24, Thailand’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

The ministry added that the number of Thais injured has risen to 16 and a further 16 Thai nationals are believed to have been?taken hostage by Hamas.

Among?the many foreign nationals killed and captured by Hamas were migrant workers from Asia employed in Israel’s agricultural, construction and healthcare sectors.

Most of these workers hail from poor, rural families and have no familial links to either Israel or the Palestinian Territories.

Haas is trying?to stop Palestinian civilians from evacuating northern parts of Gaza, turning them into “human shields,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said Saturday.

The IDF on Friday instructed civilians in and around Gaza City – more than 1 million people – to move to southern areas of Gaza.

Conricus said it was “worrying” that Hamas “has stopped” and “tried to stop Palestinian civilians from evacuating” northern Gaza using messages, checkpoints and stops on the ground, according to international media reports.

Asked on CNN whether the evacuation suggested Israel was clearing the way?for a ground incursion — and how long the IDF would wait for that — Conricus replied that the IDF would “assess the situation on the?ground.”

“And we’ve seen active efforts?by Hamas to block these people?from leaving, which I think is?appalling at a whole new level.?And once we see that the?situation will be?permissible for significant?combat operations, then they will commence.”

He said civilians should leave the area for their own security “and return only when we tell them that it is safe to do so.”

The IDF had seen “significant movement of Palestinian civilians toward the south,” Conricus added, saying Gaza residents were “doing the clever thing, moving out of a dangerous area.”

Palestinians carrying their belongings flee to safer areas in Gaza City after Israeli air strikes, on October 13, 2023.

The “order to evacuate 1.1 million people from northern Gaza defies the rules of war and basic humanity,” United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths has said.

“Gaza is under intense bombardment. Roads and homes have been reduced to rubble. There is nowhere safe to go,” Griffiths said on X, formerly Twitter.

He reiterated that “without safe passage and access to basic services, such mass displacement of civilians will have catastrophic humanitarian consequences and long-term implications.

Remember: Israel has ordered a “complete siege” of crowded Gaza — including halting supplies of electricity, food, water, and fuel — while also bombarding the densely populated territory in retaliation for Hamas’ devastating?October 7 terror attacks.

At least?1,900 Palestinians have been killed?by near-constant shelling in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, including?journalists,?medics?and other civilians.?

Prior to the evacuation warning, more than 400,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced, the UN said in a statement.

Palestinians flee from northern Gaza to the south after the Israeli army issued an unprecedented evacuation warning on Friday, October 13, 2023.

A week has passed since Hamas’ attacks on Israel, and it is still unclear whether Israel has plans to launch a ground assault into Gaza.

Israel has carried out heavy airstrikes on Gaza and signaled there is more to come. It is also tightening a chokehold on the territory even as a?humanitarian crisis?unfolds.

Israel has told?more than a million people?in Gaza to evacuate southward ahead of a potential Israeli ground operation, according to the United Nations. Many in the enclave left their homes on Friday, but people are running out of places to take cover as Gaza turns to a wasteland from Israeli bombardment.

Here’s where things stand:

Sign up for CNN’s?Meanwhile in the Middle East, a three-times-a-week newsletter that explores the region’s biggest stories.?

Hamas, the militant Islamic group that governs Gaza, said in a statement Saturday morning (local time) that it welcomes “Russia’s tireless efforts” aimed at stopping Israel’s aggression against the territory.

What Putin has said: On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged both sides in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to “minimize or reduce to zero” civilian casualties, and the?Foreign Ministry in Moscow made similar calls?for calm on Friday.

His comments come as Russia continues a ruthless war campaign against Ukraine and is being investigated by the?International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. That case includes, among other things, allegations of targeting civilians.

In addition to Putin’s comments, the Russian envoy to the UN circulated a resolution calling for a ceasefire Friday.

Remember: Israel has ordered a “complete siege” on the crowded Gaza Strip — including halting supplies of electricity, food, water, and fuel — while also bombarding the densely populated territory in retaliation for Hamas’ devastating October 7 terror attacks. At least 1,900 Palestinians have been killed by near-constant shelling in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry, including journalists, medics and other civilians. The dead include 614 children and 370 women, says the ministry.

The White House says national security officials held calls with United Nations officials on Thursday and Friday about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but declined to offer details about progress on getting foreign nationals out of the area.?

On Thursday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and UN Secretary-General António Guterres “discussed Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack against Israel and the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” the White House said in a readout of the calls.?

On Friday, principal deputy national security advisor Jon Finer and USAID Administrator Samantha Power spoke with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland about the crisis, and ongoing efforts with Egypt, Israel, and other regional players to help civilians move around Gaza safely and facilitate humanitarian assistance — including water, food and medical care, the statement said.

Separately, the National Security Council declined to comment to CNN about whether the calls secured the ability for foreign nationals to cross from Gaza into Egypt.

Remember: Israel has ordered a “complete siege” on the Hamas-run enclave — including halting supplies of electricity, food, water and fuel — while also bombarding the densely populated territory in retaliation for Hamas’ devastating October 7 terror attacks.

Americans in Gaza: US officials have said they are working on “potential options for?departure” for American citizens living in Gaza but have not provided further details. Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously said the US was in talks with Egypt and Israel about establishing a humanitarian corridor at the Egypt-controlled Rafah border crossing for Americans and other civilians in Gaza to leave amid Israel’s day-after-day airstrikes.

Palestinian-Americans previously told CNN that they feel trapped in Gaza and have received little help from the US Embassy.

President Joe Biden says the US is “working like hell” to get Americans missing from Israel back to the United States.

While Biden said he can’t disclose details of the efforts, the president said his message to those holding Americans hostage is that the US is doing “everything in our power.”

When asked why he felt so strongly about speaking personally to the families of the missing Americans, Biden said it’s because “they have to know that the president of the United States of America cares deeply about what’s happening.”

Vassily Nebenzia, Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, comments following a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters Friday, October 13, 2023.

Vassily Nebenzia, the permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations, is circulating a draft resolution at the UN Security Council which calls for a ceasefire in the “Israel-Gaza” war.

Nebenzia called for de-escalation in the conflict and said the resolution received a mixed reaction from the other 14 member countries.

When asked why the resolution doesn’t mention Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza and staged the deadly October 7 attacks on Israel, the diplomat said it’s because his proposal is a humanitarian resolution.

The envoy said his country condemns any violence against residents of Israel and Gaza. Nebenzia said Israel has the right to defend its territory, but that the day-after-day shelling of Gaza by Israel recalls the siege of Leningrad during World War II. He also said Israel’s plan to move over a million people in northern Gaza to the south is similar to creating a ghetto.

Nebenzia blamed the United States for over the years blocking action by the Quartet on the Middle East, which consists of United Nations, the European Union, the United States and Russia. The group was established in 2002 to help mediate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Some context on Russia’s response:?Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday urged both sides in the fighting between Israel and Hamas to “minimize or reduce to zero” civilian casualties, and the Foreign Ministry in Moscow made similar calls for calm on Friday.

These comments come as Russia wages a ruthless war campaign against Ukraine and is being investigated by the?International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. That case includes, among other things, allegations of targeting civilians.

Commentators on Russian state TV have?mocked the US and Israel?after the Hamas attack, and Putin has?framed the brutal assault as a failure of US policy?in the Middle East.

The closed gates of the Rafah Crossing Point, Gaza's border crossing with Egypt, on October 10, 2023.

Some Palestinian-Americans stuck in Gaza have received their first set of instructions that family members may be able to evacuate Gaza into Egypt?on Saturday afternoon, according to emails shared with CNN.

The US State Department’s Consular Affairs Crisis Management System told family members that on Saturday the Rafah Crossing “may be open.”

“We understand the security situation is difficult, but if you wish to depart Gaza you may want to take advantage of this opportunity,” the CACMS email said.

A State Department spokesperson told CNN they “are actively discussing this with our Israeli and Egyptian counterparts.”

Anas Alfarra, a lawful permanent resident of the US living in the San Francisco area trying to get family members out of Gaza, says the email falls short of what the US Embassy needs to be doing.

“Two ‘mays’ and a ‘wish’ in a situation that warrants much more,” Alfarra told CNN.

Mai Abushaaban, a 22 year-old from Houston who also received the email, has been desperately trying to evacuate her mother and sister from Gaza this week.

This comes after the United States has continued to press the Egyptian and Israeli governments on “the importance of the Rafah Crossing being open for American citizens and foreign nationals of other countries who want to leave and have the right to leave to be able to do so,” a senior State Department official said Friday.

US officials have been engaged in discussions for days to try to secure a humanitarian corridor that would allow Americans and other civilians to safely leave Gaza ahead of an expected Israeli military incursion.

The United Nations on Thursday said it was informed by the Israeli military that “the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours,” but IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told CNN Friday that any deadline “may slip.”

The State Department official told the press traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the US focus has been “on American citizens, but other countries you could presume are engaged in trying to get their foreign nationals out as well.”

There are an estimated 500-600 Palestinian-Americans in Gaza.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.?

Egypt is facing mounting pressure to act as neighboring Gaza?gets pummeled?by Israeli airstrikes after?last weekend’s?brutal assault on Israel by Hamas.

In the wake of the Hamas attacks, Israel closed its two border crossings with Gaza and imposed a “complete siege” on the territory,?blocking supplies?of fuel, electricity and water.

That has left the Rafah Crossing between Gaza and Egypt as the only viable outlet to get people out of the enclave and supplies into it. But it’s unclear if even that crossing is operational.

The Egyptian side of the crossing is open, but the Palestinian side is “non-functional” following multiple Israeli airstrikes earlier this week, a senior Jordanian official told CNN Thursday, adding that “the Jordanians and Egyptians are waiting for security clearance from the Israelis to allow (aid) trucks to cross without threat of another airstrike.”

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday denied reports of the crossing being closed, saying it has sustained damage due to repeated Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian side. CNN could not independently verify whether the crossing is open.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that?the Biden administration is in talks?with Israel and Egypt about creating a humanitarian corridor through which civilians can cross.

But Egypt is uneasy about the prospect of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees crossing into its territory. More than 2 million Palestinians live in the densely packed coastal enclave that is under intense Israeli bombardment.

Read more on why Egypt’s ability to help has limits.

The journalists were wearing body armor clearly labeled as “press” when Israeli forces struck Lebanon on Friday; the sudden blast killed?one Reuters journalist and wounded at least six others, according to official statements and videos analyzed by CNN.

Journalists from international news organizations Al Jazeera, Agence France Presse, and Reuters were among the victims, according to statements from their outlets.

Roughly around the same time – about 5 p.m. local – the Israeli military said that it had fired artillery at Lebanese territory after a border fence exploded near the Israeli kibbutz of Hanita. The Israeli military has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.

Hanita is just across the border from the Lebanese town of Alma Chaab, where the group of journalists was covering the exchange of fire, CNN’s video analysis shows.

A Reuters livestream showed smoke rising from the area, according to CNN’s geolocations, before a thud is heard.

In the next instant, the camera lens is suddenly covered with dust, and a woman can be heard screaming in the background.

“Oh god. Oh god. What’s happening? … I can’t feel my legs,” she cries.

Christina Assi, a journalist for Agence France Presse, was later seen in video of the aftermath lying on the ground with leg wounds.

Reuters videographer Issam Abdullah was found dead after the attack. He had been operating the live signal that recorded the fateful moment, Reuters said.

Read more on what happened here.

Israel is denying claims it used white phosphorus munitions after the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Israeli forces of using them during military operations?in Gaza and Lebanon?this week.

According to?a HRW report published Wednesday, the rights group said it verified one video taken on October 10?in Lebanon and another video in Gaza on October 11?that it claims shows “multiple airbursts of artillery-fired white phosphorus over the Gaza City port and two rural locations along the Israel-Lebanon border.”

White?phosphorus is intended to provide illumination or to create a smokescreen in battle, but it?is known to burn flesh down to the bone, according to earlier CNN reporting.

The Palestinian Ministry of?Health?in Gaza on Friday reported the?evacuation of Durra children’s hospital in eastern Gaza after they said it was targeted by “white phosphorus bombs,” according to Dr. Ashraf Alquedra, ministry spokesperson.?

Asked if Israeli forces had used?white?phosphorus this week in Gaza and Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces?strongly?denied the claims.?In a live interview earlier on Friday, IDF spokesman?Lt. Col. Peter Lerner?told CNN?“categorically, no,” it had not.

HRW said it interviewed two individuals from the al-Mina area in Gaza City,?who described seeing strikes “consistent with the use of white phosphorus” and “both described ongoing airstrikes before seeing explosions in the sky followed by what they described as white lines going earthward,” they said.

The rights group said it reviewed the video and confirmed that it was taken in the port of Gaza City and “identified that the munitions used in the strike were airburst 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles. Other videos posted to social media and verified by Human Rights Watch show the same location,” the group said. “Dense white smoke and a garlic smell are characteristics of white phosphorus,” the statement said.?

The rights group also reviewed two videos on October 10 that occurred near the Israel-Lebanon border. “Each show 155mm white phosphorus artillery projectiles being used, apparently as smokescreens, marking, or signaling,” the release explained.?

CNN has reached out for comment to authorities in Lebanon.

Is white phosphorus illegal??Under an international protocol ratified by Israel in 1995, the use of such incendiary weapons is allowed when “not specifically designed to cause burn injury to persons,” CNN previously reported.

There is no prohibition, per se, against white phosphorus in conflict. But the timing and location of its use are restricted.

For example, it is illegal under the protocol to use white phosphorus against any personnel, civilian or military. It can be directed only against military targets. International law says incendiary weapons cannot be used where civilians are concentrated.

Israel’s history with white phosphorus:?Israel?previously faced widespread criticism?for firing white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas during a Gaza offensive that began in late 2008. HRW?said in a 2009 report?that Israel’s white phosphorus munitions had killed and injured civilians and damaged civilian structures, including including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse, and a hospital. HRW claimed that Israel’s use of the weapons in crowded neighborhoods “violated international humanitarian law (the laws of war), which requires taking all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm and prohibits indiscriminate attacks.”

In response, the nation pledged?to limit the use of white phosphorus?and make greater efforts to protect civilians during conflicts. Still, the government said that it had used white phosphorus lawfully.

US officials and lawmakers are generally coming to believe that Israel’s failure to predict the explosion of simmering rage from Gaza was primarily?due to?a lack of imagination, according to?conversations with dozens of current and former intelligence, military and congressional officials.

Hamas likely hid the planning of the operation through old-fashioned counterintelligence measures such as conducting planning meetings in person and staying off digital communications whose signals the Israelis can track. But US officials also believe Israel had become complacent about the threat Hamas posed and failed to recognize key indicators that the group was planning for a large-scale operation.

For example, Israeli officials failed to recognize routine Hamas training exercises as a sign that the group was preparing an imminent attack. The militants trained for the onslaught in at least six sites across Gaza, a?CNN investigation found,?including at one site less than a mile from Israel’s border.

In general, the Biden administration’s public posture in the lead up to the attack also did not reflect a heightened sense of alarm about the potential for violence. The intelligence community’s annual assessment of worldwide threats, released in February, does not mention Hamas.?

“The Middle East region is quieter today than it has?been in two decades,” national security advisor Jake Sullivan said at The Atlantic Festival on Sept. 29.

“Challenges remain,” Sullivan said, citing “tensions” between Israelis and Palestinians. “But the amount of time that I have to spend on crisis and conflict in the Middle East today compared to any of my predecessors going back to 9/11 is significantly reduced.”

Hamas had refrained from entering two smaller cross-border skirmishes within the last year between another Palestinian militant group and Israel. Israel believed that its policy of offering work permits to Gazans and allowed Qatari money into the country had given Hamas something to lose —?and lulled the group into quiescence.?

“Hamas is very, very restrained and understands the implications of further defiance,” Tzachi Hanegbi,?Israel’s national security adviser, told an Israeli radio channel six days before the assault.

It’s also possible that the Hamas operation was more successful than the group anticipated, one former intelligence official and another source familiar with current intelligence said.?

A group of BBC journalists covering Israel’s war with Hamas were held at gunpoint and assaulted by Israeli police in Tel Aviv Thursday night, according to the network.

The disturbing incident came as the team of three journalists drove to their hotel in a vehicle “clearly marked as media,” the British news network said.?

The BBC said that the team was “dragged from their vehicle,” searched, and pushed up against a wall during the stop. One of its journalists said that when he tried to film the incident, an officer threw his phone to the ground.

An Israeli police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The incident came as Israel faces questions after firing artillery into southern Lebanon on Friday, killing Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injuring six other journalists.

In that instance, the journalists were wearing jackets identifying themselves as members of the press. The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged firing artillery into Lebanon on Friday but did not respond to additional questions specifically related to the victims.

Israel’s military has told the entire population of northern Gaza to evacuate — a task the United Nations said Thursday is “impossible” without causing major humanitarian consequences.

The Israeli military told the UN just before midnight local time Thursday that “the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza,” according to Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General.

That amounts to roughly 1.1 million people in the densely populated territory.

The map below shows the affected area:

There is little room for Palestinians to escape from the airstrikes Israel has rained down on Gaza in the wake of Hamas militants’ devastating terror attack last week.

Across the Middle East,?Gaza is among the smallest?and most?densely packed urban areas.

As thousands of rockets have rained down on Israel, the country has been relying once again on the Iron Dome system to protect its citizens.

The missile defense system is one of the most important tools in Israel’s arsenal and has saved countless civilian lives over various conflicts in the last decade, analysts say. It is highly effective.?The Israel Defense Forces said the system boasted a 95.6% success rate during a rocket salvo fired by Islamic Jihad?in May.

Here’s how it functions:

After Hamas attacked Israel last Saturday, Israel responded by ordering a “complete siege,” of Gaza, cutting off food, electricity, fuel and water supplies.

The UN said in a?statement released Thursday?that residents in Gaza “have lived under unlawful blockade for 16 years,” and?condemned this “further tightening”?of the blockade.?

That has left people in Gaza with nowhere to go.