Israel-Hamas war updates: News on Gaza conflict

The leaders of several humanitarian agencies have said they will not take part in “unilateral” proposals to create “safe zones” in the Gaza Strip.

Among others, signatories included Martin Griffiths, emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, CARE International Secretary-General Sofia Sprechmann Sineiro and Save the Children President Janti Soeripto.

“Under the prevalent conditions, proposals to unilaterally create “safe zones” in Gaza risk creating harm for civilians, including large-scale loss of life, and must be rejected,” the statement said. “Without the right conditions, concentrating civilians in such zones in the context of active hostilities can raise the risk of attack and additional harm.”

It added, “Any discussions around ‘safe zones’ must not detract from the parties’ obligation to take constant care to spare civilians – wherever they are – and meet their essential needs, including by facilitating rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access to all civilians in need.”

The statement comes as Israeli military has been urging Palestinian civilians to flee their homes in the north of the Gaza Strip and evacuate to “safe zones” south of the Wadi Gaza wetlands.

— Ruxandra Iordache

A total of 144 trucks transporting humanitarian aid were inspected and transferred into the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Israel’s agency for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories said on social media.

This included 88 trucks carrying food, 21 delivering medical equipment, 18 trucks with water and seven bringing in equipment for shelter. The remaining trucks delivered mixed cargo.

The U.N. previously estimated that roughly 500 trucks of supplies would enter the Gaza Strip on a daily basis, prior to the latest conflict.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine warned it will not hold a cross-border aid operation at the Rafah crossing that bridges the enclave and Egypt on Friday, amid ongoing telecommunication disruptions and fuel shortages.

“The communications network in #Gaza is down because there is NO fuel. This makes it impossible to manage or coordinate humanitarian aid convoys,” UNRWA said in a social media post.

UNRWA assists with the receipt and distribution of humanitarian aid across the Gaza Strip and shelters Palestinian civilians in its facilities. Operations have been severely impacted by fuel shortages that prevent it to cross ground.

“We will not be able to uphold our commitment to provide for the Palestinian people any longer,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in an earlier Thursday statement. “I do believe there is a deliberate attempt to strangle our operation and paralyse the UNRWA operation.”

He also said at the time that the conflict to date has sparked the largest displacement of Palestinian people since 1948, as civilians flee to the south of the Gaza Strip, arriving “dehydrated, hungry, exhausted and shell-shocked.” 

— Ruxandra Iordache

Telecommunication services are offline in the Gaza Strip, amid critical fuel shortages.

On Thursday, Palestinian telecoms providers Jawwal and Paltel issued a joint statement announcing a “complete disruption of communication services (landline, cellular, and Internet) in the Gaza Strip, after fuel entry has been banned and all backup power sources have been exhausted to operate the main elements of the network.”

They have made no further updates since.

Israel has cut off the Gaza Strip from its own fuel deliveries and only allowed U.N. trucks to refuel with supplies that can be exclusively used toward the distribution of humanitarian aid.

Several primary services, including sewage, well pumping and water desalination, along with medical equipment, have consequently gone out of operation across the enclave.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The Israel Defense Forces said they discovered a tunnel in the Al-Shifa hospital, part of an extensive network believed to span the underground level beneath the Gaza Strip.

The IDF raided the Al-Shifa medical complex, the largest in the Gaza enclave, on suspicions of Hamas using the facility as an operations base.

IDF troops say they also located a vehicle that was used during the Oct. 7 terror attacks on site, along with previous discoveries of weapons, ammunition and a laptop. CNBC could not verify the report.

Israel has repeatedly defended its decision to carry out an incursion at Al-Shifa despite international backlash, citing the medical complex had been repurposed for Hamas hostilities. The Geneva accords state that civilian hospitals may “in no circumstances be the object of attack” under Article 18, but Article 19 provides that this protection for medical facilities “shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy.”

— Ruxandra Iordache

Israeli military says it has retrieved the bodies of two captives abducted by Hamas during the terror attacks of Oct. 7, including one of the force’s own soldiers.

One of the deceased was Corporal Noa Marciano, 19, whose death was announced by Hamas earlier this week. The IDF and Hamas have attributed responsibility to each other for her demise.

The second body was of kindergarten worker Yehudit Weiss, 65.

The Israel Defense Forces said they extracted both bodies from a structure adjacent to the stormed Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip and have transported it to Israeli territory.

CNBC could not confirm the reports.

Marciano and Weiss were two among over two hundred captives abducted by Hamas.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Syria shot down Israeli missiles fired from the Golan Heights towards the surroundings of the capital Damascus in the early hours of Friday, the Syrian army said.

Most of the Israeli missiles were intercepted but some caused material damage, the army said in a statement.

The Israeli military declined comment.

Last week, Israel’s military said an organization in Syria launched a drone that hit a school in the southern Israeli city of Eilat and that it struck the group in response.

There have been a spate of attacks in the region since Oct. 7, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel and Israel retaliated.

On Nov. 8, Syria also said Israel had carried out an aerial attack targeting military sites in southern Syria as the Hamas-Israel conflict led to an increase in tit-for-tat attacks.

— Reuters

IBM has paused advertising on X after a report found that the tech company’s ads were placed next to antisemitic content on the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation,” an IBM spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.

Media Matters for America published a report on Wednesday that said the media watchdog group “recently found ads for Apple, Bravo, Oracle, Xfinity, and IBM next to posts that tout Hitler and his Nazi Party on X.”

X CEO Linda Yaccarino has been attempting to win back advertisers that stopped their campaigns after Elon Musk purchased the company last year. Researchers and advocacy groups have documented a rise of controversial content on X, though the company has disputed those claims.

— Jonathan Vanian

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned Thursday that with only 10% of necessary food supplies entering Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Gaza Strip now faces a massive food gap and widespread hunger.

“Supplies of food and water are practically non-existent in Gaza and only a fraction of what is needed is arriving through the borders. With winter fast approaching, unsafe and overcrowded shelters, and the lack of clean water, civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain. “There is no way to meet current hunger needs with one operational border crossing. The only hope is opening another, safe passage for humanitarian access to bring life-saving food into Gaza.”

The WFP confirmed the closure of the final bakery earlier this week that had been operating with the help of the agency due to a lack of fuel. According to the WFP, bread is now scarce or non-existent.