October 13, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

“Hundreds & hundreds of children have been killed and injured” in Gaza and the number is rising hourly, the United Nations Children’s Fund said Friday.

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.”

Elder concluded: “In every war, the ones who suffer the most are children. This is tragically true today."

At least 1,799 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza from Israeli strikes, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.

The death toll includes 583 children and 351 women, according to the ministry.

An additional 7,388 people have been injured, including 1,901 children and 1,185 women, the ministry added.

Israel has warned 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to relocate to the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Across the Middle East, Gaza is among the smallest and most densely packed urban areas. The United Nations has said it considers "it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences."

Take a look at the map to understand the area that's impacted.

Almost one week on from Hamas’ brutal terror attack, which killed more than 1,300 people, Israel’s retaliation has come from the skies. It has dropped about 6,000 bombs on Gaza between October 7 and 12, according to the Israeli Air Force (IAF). Palestinian officials said more than 1,500 people have been killed in the strikes.

Israel’s next move looks set to come from the ground. Overnight Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) warned some 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to relocate south, as some 300,000 IDF reservists have amassed near the border.

An IDF spokesperson told CNN the military is preparing to “strike Hamas and prevent them from ever being able to attack us again.” But how Israel expects more than one million Gazan civilians to evacuate under rapidly deteriorating conditions is less clear. Various international organizations have warned that Israel’s actions could amount to war crimes.

Here are the latest developments:

Israel’s 24-hour deadline for 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to relocate to the south is “utterly unrealistic,” the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell has said.

While acknowledging that Israel has given civilians a warning about incoming military operations, he said, such warnings should be realistic.

While the European Union’s position is “Israel has the right to defend itself" in the wake of aggression, "it has to be done in line with international humanitarian law,” Borrell said.

He discouraged attacks against civilians, and expressed concern about the "deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, in particular due to the shortage of medical supplies, food and electricity.” 

“Creating a blockage of water, food, fuel and medical supplies, is not in accordance with international law,” he said.

A forceful US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin pledged unwavering US support to Israel in the wake of the deadly Hamas attack, stressing that “this is no time for neutrality, or for false equivalence or for excuses for the inexcusable.”

“In times like these, sometimes the best thing that a friend can do is just to show up and to get to work,” said Austin emphatically offering full US support to Israel at a joint news conference.

The defense secretary who is traveling to Israel today offered a soft reminder to the Israelis that “this is a time for resolve and not revenge” as the IDF is under scrutiny for causing civilian casualties in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack.

“Democracies like ours are stronger and more secure when we uphold the laws of war,” Austin said.

Austin also pledged continued US support with munitions. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel is expecting the second shipment of lethal military aid from the US today as Israel warns civilians to evacuate Gaza.

“US security assistance to Israel will flow in at the speed of war,” said Austin.

Jordanian and Egyptian officials are applying “diplomatic and political pressure on the Israeli government to allow for the safe passage of aid into Gaza through the Rafah crossing,” a senior Jordanian official told CNN Thursday.

A plane carrying medical aid for Gaza from Jordan arrived in the Egyptian city of Arish, approximately 45 kilometers (about 27 miles) away from the Rafah crossing into Gaza, on Thursday.

Aid was loaded onto Egyptian Red Crescent trucks that have not yet been able to advance towards the border, according to the Jordanian official.

While the Egyptian side of the Rafah border is open, the source told CNN, the Palestinian side of the border is “non-functional,” following multiple Israeli airstrikes targeting the vicinity earlier this week.

A Palestinian border employee in Gaza, who asked not to be named told CNN Friday that the Rafah border with Egypt is still closed, three days after an Israeli airstrike.

“The border is closed. No employees are working at the moment, and the main building is still damaged after it was struck by Israelis three days ago,” the employee said.

“The border is closed due to safety concerns, and fear of another airstrike,” the employee said. “The Egyptians have not given us orders to open the gate connecting the Palestinian side of the border with the Egyptian side.” 

It is not clear if the border crossing is fully functional. Israel Defense Forces have not said that the border crossing was struck but said that an underground tunnel for smuggling weapons and equipment was struck in the Rafah area. It’s unclear where exactly the strike occurred.

On Tuesday, Eyad al-Bozom, spokesperson for the Palestinian Interior Ministry, said Israeli warplanes struck the gateway and teams working at the crossing were asked to evacuate “immediately due to threats of strikes of the crossing.”

The order came from the management of the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian side, Bozom added.

Twelve Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces around the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem during protests in support of Gaza on Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Israeli forces shot at Palestinians in the West Bank cities of Hebron, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Tolkarem, and the town of Tamun, the health ministry said. 

A total of 47 people have been killed and hundreds of others injured since Saturday in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem during clashes with Israeli forces and by settler gunfire.

The spokesperson of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obaida, urged Palestinians to “remain steadfast” and not respond to Israeli calls to leave their homes in an audio message aired on al-Aqsa TV on Friday.

Obaida urged Palestinians to “be patient and steadfast, victory will be ours.” 

Israel has called on all civilians in northern Gaza to leave their homes and head south today ahead of a potential ground invasion in response to Hamas’ terror attacks that killed more than 1,300 people.

The UN, however, said an order for the mass evacuation was “impossible” without major humanitarian consequences.

A CNN team in Sderot counted a maximum of 10 incoming missiles from Gaza – Hamas claims 50.