May 13, 2024 Israel-Hamas war | CNN (2024)

Our live coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza has moved here.

A damaged United Nations vehicle is seen in front of a hospital after a UN employee was killed in an attack on a vehicle in Gaza, according to Israeli media.

The US believes an Israeli operation in Gaza’s southern town of Rafah would be a mistake and is “urgently” working toward a ceasefire, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said.

This comes as the Biden administration has assessed that Israel has amassed enough troops on the edge of thecity of Rafah in Gazato move forward with a full-scale incursion in the coming days, two senior administration officials told CNN.

The White House is urging Israel to connect their military operations to a “clear” end game for Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas, Sullivan told reporters.

A top State Department official said the US and Israel are “struggling over what the theory of victory is” for Israel in Gaza, and that US does not believe that the kind of total victory Israel says it is fighting for against Hamas is “likely or possible.”

Meanwhile, here’s what else has happened in Israel’s war in Gaza:

Aid to Gaza ransacked: Israeli activists opposed to sending help to Palestinians in Gaza intercepted and ransacked a shipment of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza. Video from the Tarkumiya checkpoint near Hebron in the West Bank, through which the convoy was traveling, shows at least two trucks ransacked, with sacks and boxes of food strewn across the road. Other footage showed activists blocking the path of the aid trucks, throwing the aid packages on the ground, and stomping on the boxes. It’s unclear whether the aid was coming from Jordan or the Palestinian Authority.

UN staffer killed and injured: At least one United Nations aid worker was killedand another injured after a vehicle marked as belonging to the agency was attacked in Rafah on Monday, according to Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general. Haq did not assign blame to either Israel or Hamas for the attack.

Unclear Israeli military strategy: The Israeli military has renewed its fighting in northern Gaza where itpreviously claimedto have dismantled Hamas’ command structure. But it now says the Palestinian militant group is trying to “reassemble” in the area, raising doubts about whether Israel’s goal to eradicate the group in the enclave is realistic and renewing questions about its long-term military strategy.

Probe into intel failures: The Israeli State Comptroller’s Office, which is investigating possible intelligence failures prior to the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, has welcomed a Supreme Court decision denying a request by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to delay the inquiry. The office said it expects “all audited entities to order their people to comply with the duty imposed on them … and to fully cooperate.”

Palestinians pack their belongings as they prepare to flee Rafah in southern Gaza on Monday, May 13.

The Biden administration has assessed that Israel has amassed enough troops on the edge of thecity of Rafah in Gazato move forward with a full-scale incursion in the coming days, but senior US officials are currently unsure if it has made a final decision to carry out such a move in direct defiance ofPresident Joe Biden, two senior administration officials told CNN.

One of the officials also warned Israel has not come anywhere close to making adequate preparations – including building infrastructure related to food, hygiene and shelter – ahead of potentially evacuating more than 1 million Gazans are who currently reside in Rafah.

If Israel were to proceed with a major ground operation into Rafah, it would be going against months of warnings from the US to forego a full-scale offensive into the densely populated city. Biden himselfvoiced that warningin his most explicit terms yet last week, telling CNN’s Erin Burnett that the US would withhold some additional arms shipments to Israel if they were to take such a step.

“The president was clear that he would not supply certain offensive weapons for such an operation were to occur,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House Monday. “It has not yet occurred.”

As the war enters its eighth month, US officials are increasingly questioning Israel’s approach to the war, including publicly suggesting it is unlikely to achieve its stated aim of destroying Hamas and eliminating its leadership.

On Monday, Kurt Campbell, the State Department’s No. 2 official, said there have plainly been tensions between the two countries on “what the theory of victory is.”

“Sometimes when we listen closely to Israeli leaders, they talk about mostly the idea of some sort of sweeping victory on the battlefield, total victory. I don’t think we believe that that is likely or possible,” Campbell said in a seeming allusion to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated references to a “total victory.”

“We view that there has to be more of a political solution. That’s one of the reasons why the president’s team has been so engaged with the surrounding region,” Campbell said at the NATO Youth Summit co-hosted by the Aspen Institute.

Read more on the US assessment of Israel’s possible incursion of Rafah.

An Army intelligence officer resigned in an act of protest over what he called “nearly unqualified” US support for Israel, according to a resignation letter posted on LinkedIn.

Maj. Harrison Mann was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency,according to his LinkedIn profile, and said in his resignation letterthat US policies have “enabled and empowered the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians.”

Mann has worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency since August 2021 as a Middle East analyst, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has been in the Army for 13 years, during which he attended Army’s Special Warfare Center and School, as well as Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Mann says he submitted his resignation on November 1, which was less than a month after the Hamas terror attack on October 7 and the beginning of Israel’s bombardment of the coastal enclave.

CNN has not been able to reach Mann, but when The New York Times reached him Monday,Mann confirmed he was the author of the post but declined to comment further.

An official from the Defense Intelligence Agency confirmed Mann’s resignation and said such resignations are a “routine occurrence.”

“We can confirm that Maj. Mann was previously assigned to DIA,” the official said. “Employee resignations are a routine occurrence at DIA as they are at other employers, and employees resign their positions for any number of reasons and motivations.”

According to the Army, Mann had deployed to Tunisia, Bahrain, Kuwait and South Korea during his 13-year military service. Mann requested an unqualified resignation on November 29, 2023, the Army said in a statement, in which an officer voluntarily requests to be discharged after completing his or her service obligations. Mann’s request was approved on January 8, 2024. It will be become effective June 3, 2024.

Turkey's PresidentTayyipErdoğanspeaks during a press conference in Ankara, Turkey, on Monday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday that he does not see Hamas as a “terrorist organization” but as a “resistance organization” and “more than 1,000 Hamas members are currently under treatment” in Turkish hospitals.

He said calling Hamas a “terrorist organization” would be “a cruel approach.”

“I do not see Hamas as a terrorist organization. On the contrary, Hamas is a resistance organization whose lands have been occupied since 1947 and after the occupation they have protected their lands. They are resistance organization struggling to protect those places,” Erdogan added, according to Turkey’s state news agency Anadolu.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he is sending “a clear message” that the country isagainst a “broad attack” against Rafah.

“We are very clear saying that there should be not a broad attack against Rafah because we think there are too many people living,” Scholz said Monday. “We have no idea how this could happen without too many civilian casualties, which could not be accepted, so this is also a clear message.”

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than35,000 Palestiniansand injured another 78,600 people since October 7, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.CNN is not able to independently verify the numbers issued by the ministry.

Israel has said it would press ahead with plans for a full scale ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, despite international warnings and pressure from aid agencies worsening a humanitarian catastrophe inside the Palestinian enclave.

The United Nations says 360,000 people havefled Rafahahead of Israel’s planned invasion into the southern Gaza city.

People mourn next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on May 11.

The United Nations on Monday clarified that the overall number of fatalities in Gaza tallied by the Ministry of Health in Gaza remains unchanged, at more than 35,000, since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas on October 7.

The clarification comes after the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) published a report on May 8 with revised data regarding the number of Palestiniancasualties in the war. The UN agency in its report reduced the number of women and children believed to have been killed in the war by nearly half.

The number was reduced because the UN says it is now relying on the number of deceased women and children whose names and other identifying details have been fully documented, rather than the total number of women and children killed. The ministry says bodies that arrive at hospitals get counted in the overall death count.

UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told a daily briefing at the UN that the health ministry in Gaza recently published two separate death tolls — an overall death toll and a total number of identified fatalities. In the UN report, only the total number of fatalities whose identities (such as name and date of birth) have been documentedwas published, leading to confusion.

CNN spoke to two officials from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. They said although the ministry keeps a separate death toll for identified and unidentified individuals, the total number of people killed remains unchanged.Additionally, the officials said, the total number of dead does not include the approximately 10,000 people who are still missing and trapped under the rubble.

While CNN cannot independently verify the ministry’s numbers, it has seen a daily report from the ministry which matches the number OCHA published in the revised version.Both the UN and US officials have previously appraised the figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza as credible.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan answers questions during a press briefing at the White House on Monday.

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The White House is urging Israel to connect their military operations to a “clear” end game for Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

“If Israel’s military efforts are not accompanied by a political plan for the future of Gaza and the Palestinian people, the terrorists will keep coming back, and Israel will remain under threat. We are seeing this happen in Gaza City. So we are talking to Israel about how to connect their military operations to a clear strategic endgame about a holistic, integrated strategy to ensure the lasting defeat of Hamas and a better alternative future for Gaza and for the Palestinian people,” Sullivan said Monday.

His comments come as the White House has continued to make clear that it would not support a large-scale invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza.

“[A] military operation has to be connected to a political plan for the day after, so that there is a clear alternative and there’s governance and there’s security and all of the steps you need to take to finally fully defeat a hardened entrenched terrorist foe. And yes, one of the risks of engaging in any kind of counterinsurgency campaign is the ability of the terrorist group to attract more recruits and more followers as time goes on. This is something we have talked to the Israelis about,” Sullivan said.

He also said that one of the “key points” that US officials are making to their counterparts is to look beyond the current military plan.

“So one of the key points that we have been reinforcing is to step back just from a tactical military analysis of the situation but strategically, how do we get to the common goal, the enduring defeat of Hamas and that is going to require military pressure, yes, but more than just military pressure, a political plan to get there,” he said.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that the ongoing ceasefire negotiations continue“urgently” and that the administration remains “intent and determined” to help Israel and Hamas reach a deal and secure the release of hostages.

He added: “This particular negotiation has had its ups and downs, its ins and outs, its twists and turns.”

Sullivan also said that it’s his belief that Israel can and must do more to protect civilians in Gaza and that the US government still believes a Rafah operation would be a mistake.

He added: “We still believe it is — would be a mistake to launch a major military operation into the heart of Rafah that would put huge numbers of civilians at risk without a clear strategic gain.”

Some context: Top American officials have been offering stark warnings against an Israeliinvasion of Rafah, predicting that a major ground offensive in the southern Gaza city would lead to widespread civilian casualties, spark a Hamas insurgency and create a power vacuum the terror group would later seek to fill.

It follows USPresident Joe Biden’s ultimatum last week on CNN that an Israeli invasion of Rafahwould cause him to pause certain weapons transfers.

A top State Department official said that the US and Israel are “struggling over what the theory of victory is” for Israel in Gaza, and that US does not believe that the kind of total victory Israel says it is fighting for against Hamas is “likely or possible.”

Campbell compared the situation in Gaza to the USwars in Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11, where fighting continued “after civilian populations had been moved.”

“Ultimately, I think we view that there has to be more of a political solution,” said Campbell.

A screengrab of a video shows Israeli activists blocking the path of the aid trucks and throwing aid packages on the ground.

A shipment of humanitarian aid bound for Gaza was intercepted and ransacked by Israeli activists opposed to sending help to Palestinians living in the besieged enclave.

Video from the Tarkumiya checkpoint near Hebron in the West Bank, through which the convoy was traveling, shows at least two trucks ransacked, with sacks and boxes of food strewn across the road.

Other footage showed activists blocking the path of the aid trucks, throwing the aid packages on the ground, and stomping on the boxes.

It’s unclear whether the aid was coming from Jordan or the Palestinian Authority.

The Regavim movement, which opposes the transfer of aid to Gaza, said: “We will not be the ‘silver platter’ of the Palestinian Authority.”

It added: “Unfathomable to the mind and heart, that precisely on the day of Remembrance Day for the fallen soldiers of Israel’s battles and the victims of hostilities, the Israeli government opens a supply route from the Palestinian Authority in Hebron to the Hamas terrorists in Gaza.”

Regavim and activists from another group, Tsav 9, were involved in the disruption of the convoy.

Israeli police said they have since opened an investigation and arrested several activists over the interception.

The US raised the incident with theIsraeli government.

“We have raised this incident with the government ofIsraeland we expect them to take appropriate action,” he added.

The department previously condemned several other attacks on aid convoys byIsraeli activists and called onIsraelto hold the alleged perpetrators accountable.

Palestinians caught in the middle of the war between Israel and Hamas have been struggling to get enough food and water to survive. Northern Gaza is now in the middle of a “full-blown famine,” according to the World Food Programme.

Half the population of Gaza is projected to face catastrophic hunger by mid-July, with all 2.2 million people unable to meet their food needs, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

This post has been updated to include a response from the Israeli police and the US State Department.

The United States is aware of reports that a group of American medical workers at the European hospital in Khan Younis are trapped in Gaza, according to a State Department spokesperson.

Patel emphasized that Israel must keep the Rafah crossing open in part so foreign nationals can leave Gaza through there.

Raed Redwan (left) and his two-month-old baby, Maria (right) sit along Salah Al-Din Street, in central Gaza, in a photo shared with CNN on May 12

Raed Redwan collected water in a little plastic container as rainfall pelted his makeshift tent in Rafah, in southern Gaza.

The teacher and academic, who is displaced with his wife and mother, told CNN he feared potential flooding would drown his two-month-old daughter, Maria. The sound of raindrops can be heard in videos shared with CNN, as Redwan swaddles his newborn baby in a pink and cream blanket.

“I don’t know what to do. I can’t sleep, the indiscriminate shelling is getting closer to me. I am very afraid and tense,” he told CNN on May 9.

Earlier this month, Israeli forces issued a relocation order to displaced civilians in Rafahahead of a threatened a full-scale ground assault on the city. Redwan – along with more than one million Palestinians displaced in the sprawling city – was caught between staying trapped, or fleeing without the promise of safety.

“I am here alone, it’s hard to make a decision to flee. Displacement is very exhausting mentally, physically, and emotionally. There is no safe place in Gaza,” he said. “Rafah is under fire and bombardment.

On Sunday, Redwan said he had made a risky journey further north, to Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza. His young family were forced to sleep on the streets with no water, food or electricity, where they could hear explosions nearby, he added.

A view of the damaged UN vehicle in front of a hospital in Gaza on Monday.

At least one United Nations aid worker was killedand another injured after a vehicle marked as belonging to the agency was attacked in Rafah on Monday.

UN personnel were “targeted while traveling in a United Nations vehicle clearly marked with the UN flag and insignias,” according to Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN Secretary-General. Haq did not assign blame to either Israel or Hamas for the attack.

The death is the first of a UN foreign aid worker since October 7, Haqsaid.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministrylater confirmed the aid worker killed was Jordanian.

The Gaza media office issued a statement blaming Israel for the killing of the UN workers. CNN has asked the Israeli military about the allegations and has yet to hear back.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’s office released a statementcondemning the attack on UN personnel and called for a full investigation.

“The secretary-general was deeply saddened to learn of the death of a United Nations Department of Safety and Security (DSS) staff member and injury to another DSS staffer when their UN vehicle was struck as they traveled to the European Hospital in Rafah this morning. With the conflict in Gaza continuing to take a heavy toll – not only on civiliansbut also on humanitarian workers – the secretary-general reiterates his urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and for the release of all hostages,” the statement read.

The Jordanian Foreign Ministrycondemnedthe Monday attack, saying the incident “was a result of Israel’s expansion of its military operations in Rafah.”

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

Jordanian Ministry spokesperson Sufyan Qudah underscored the urgent need to safeguard UN aid workers, whom he called pivotal figures providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza.

The spokesperson said that the ministry is actively coordinating with the United Nations to monitor the medical condition of the injured Jordanian citizen and ensure her safe departure from Gaza.

This post has been updated to include comments from the Jordanian Foreign Ministry.

The Israeli military has renewed its fighting in northern Gaza where itpreviously claimedto have dismantled Hamas’ command structure. But it now says the Palestinian militant group is trying to “reassemble” in the area, raising doubts about whether Israel’s goal to eradicate the group in the enclave is realistic.

Israel’s renewed ground operation began on Saturday, with intense shelling and gunfire gripping much of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. The Israeli military also began operatingin the area of Zeitoun in central Gaza, as it continues its offensive in eastern Rafah and near the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

Israel’s return to pockets it had supposedly cleared of Hamas renews questions about its long-term military strategy, which after more than seven months of war has left more than35,000 Palestiniansdead and much of Gaza in ruins – but more than 100 hostages from Israel still in captivity and Hamas’ top leadership still at large.

The resumption in fighting in the north comes as talks aimed at reaching a ceasefire-for-hostages deal have stalled, and as the Biden administration signals that the United Statesis losing patiencewith its closest ally in the Middle East.

Read the full story:

The Israeli State Comptroller’s Office, which is investigating possible intelligence failures prior to the October 7 terror attack by Hamas, has welcomed a Supreme Court decision denying a request by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to delay the inquiry.

The office said it expects “all audited entities to order their people to comply with the duty imposed on them … and to fully cooperate.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said on Sunday that he bears “the responsibility for the failure of the IDF to defend our civilians on October 7.”

Halevi’s remarks came during a speech he delivered at Israel’s Memorial Day ceremony held at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

“I carry its weight on my shoulders daily, and in my heart, I fully understand its significance,” Halevi said.

The October 7 attack, which prompted Israel to launch its current assault against Hamas, is widely seen as an intelligence failure. Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, the Israeli military intelligence chief, became the first senior military figure to step down over the attacks when he resigned last month.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that an investigation should take place after the war with Hamas, which has been ongoing for more than seven months.

In a CNN interviewin November, Netanyahu refused to answer whether he would take responsibility for failing to prevent the deadly incursion.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during a visit to Antalya, Turkey, on March 1.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza, particularly in Rafah, pose “grave security risks” and a “serious threat to the stability of the region” in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

More than 1 million Palestinians had fled to Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, seeking shelter from the months-long war in the enclave. Israel has been planning to invade the southern Gaza city despite widespread international concerns over the civilians who would be killed in a full-scale assault.

In his phone call with Blinken, Shoukryreiterated the dire humanitarian consequences that have come from Israeli troops seizing the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing — which sits on the Egyptian border and is a key entry point for aid — as well as the ongoing Israeli attacks. He also emphasized the urgent need to restore aid access to Gaza, according to aread-out of the call released by the Egyptian foreign ministry.

Egypt, a key player in talks between Israel and Hamas, said on Monday it would throw its support behind South Africa’s genocide case againstIsraelat the International Court of Justice “in light of the escalating severity and scope ofIsraeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.”

Relatives of Palestinians killed as result of Israeli attacks mourn at the Kuwait hospital, Gaza, on May 13, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. It was reported that there were dead and injured people in the attack carried out by the Israeli army on the Brazil neighborhood of Rafah, located in the south of Gaza Strip. (Photo by

Gaza’s Health Ministry said that 57 people were killed in Israeli operations in the most recent 24-hour reporting period. The ministry says 82 people were injured.

Since the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, 35,091 people have been killed in Gaza, in Israeli attacks pn the enclave, and 78,827 people have been injured, the ministry said.

CNN cannot verify the ministry’s numbers, which do not distinguish between casualties among fighters and civilians. That figure does not include the several thousand people thought to be missing in Gaza since October 7.

The number of civilians killed in Israel’s military operation has prompted international condemnation and concern, including among the country’s allies.

The United States recently paused the shipment of “high-payload munitions” to the Israeli military as the country’s senior officials say they plan to go ahead with a wider-scale operation in the southern city of Rafah.

Israeli forces ramped up attacks in northern and central Gaza, and said it would press ahead with plans for a ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, worsening a humanitarian catastrophe inside the Palestinian enclave.

People are handed food portions from a large pot at a public kitchen in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, on May 13.

Palestinians prepare to fleeRafah in southern Gaza on May 13.

Hundreds of thousands of people have now fled Rafah as Israel stands firm it will invade the city. Relief agencies warn an escalation in Israeli attacks would stifle critical efforts to get aid to those who need it even further. Under growing international pressure to allow more aid into the strip, Israel later announced the opening of a new crossing into Gaza in coordination with the US.

But human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that Israel’s aid inspections process means relief is barely trickling into the strip, where the entire population of more than 2.2 million people are exposed to the risk of famine.

Palestinians wait for water in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on May 13.

Boys watch smoke billowing during Israeli strikes east of Rafah in southern Gaza on May 13.

Palestinians are desperately trying to flee intense shelling and gunfire in Jabalya refugee camp, in northern Gaza, after Israeli forces launched a ground attack over the weekend.

Meanwhile, senior US officials and human rights agencies doubled down on concerns of widespread civilian casualties in Rafah, ahead of a planned Israeli assault into the southern city.

Here are the latest developments:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal Herzog, and Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi attend a ceremony marking national Memorial Day for fallen soldiers ofIsrael's wars and victims of attacks, at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl militarycemetery, on May 13.

Protests, shouting matches and some scuffles broke out at several military cemeteries on Monday, revealing fissures within Israeli society amid ongoing war in Gaza and captivity of hostages taken by Hamas.

Israeli government ministers delivered remarks to commemorate Memorial Day at traditionally somber ceremonies.

Dozens of Israelis walked out of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address at Israel’s national cemetery in silent protest, according to video posted by a Haaretz reporter. Meanwhile, three protesters held up signs saying, “Their blood is on your hands,” when Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke at a cemetery in Tel Aviv.

Elsewhere, hecklers interrupted the speeches of several far-right ministers. Scuffles erupted at a memorial ceremony in Ashdod, after protesters jeered at far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. Some people could be heard in social media videos yelling “Shame,” as Ben Gvir started speaking. Others shouted back, calling the protesters “traitorous leftists.”

Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf and Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel were also jibed at different ceremonies.

Einav Zangauker, the mother of a hostage, confronted Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right member of Netanyahu’s government who has largely opposed striking a hostage deal with Hamas.

Memorial Day is one of the most somber days of the year in Israel and the ceremonies held around the country typically reflect that tenor and protests are rare, although not unheard of.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, second from left, attends a meeting at the Pentagon, Washington, on March 26.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of a “precise operation” in Rafah overnight, after Washington doubled down on concerns over a full-scale Israeli attack in the southern Gaza city.

Gallant discussed with Blinken “developments in Gaza, including IDF operations across the Strip in the face of terror hotspots,” according to Israel’s defense ministry. Gallant also spoke about what the ministry called “the precise operation in the Rafah area against remaining Hamas battalions, while securing the crossing.”

He reiterated the need to release 132 hostages held by Hamas. At least 36 of those include the bodies of captives held in Gaza, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.

Civilian casualties: For weeks, senior US officials have raised concerns over Israel’s planned full-scale ground assault into Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians fled Israel’s bombardment.

Rows of tent camps had been set up across the city bordering Egypt. Earlier this month, the Israeli military issued a relocation order to Palestinians there to Al-Mawasi. But human rights agencies say conditions in the coastal town are not suitable for habitation. At least 360,000 people have since left with no promise of safety, according to the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees.

Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahuspeaks during a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel's wars and victims of attacks, at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery, on May 13.

Israel is marking Memorial Day with ceremonies at Mount Herzl – Israel’s national cemetery – and elsewhere in remembrance of its fallen soldiers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told those at the ceremony that the current war against Hamas, as in previous wars, represented eternal values: “love of man and nation, love of the country, willingness to sacrifice, belief in the righteousness of the way.”

Netanyahu continued: “The war is about exactly that: it’s either us - Israel, or them - the monsters of Hamas.”

“We collected and will collect a heavy price from the enemy for his criminal acts. We will realize the goals of victory, and at the center of them is the return of all our abductees home. … But the price we pay, the price paid by the generations before us, this price is very heavy.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the ceremony that the current war is “the most just war the State of Israel has ever known. This is a war with no choice.”

“This is a war that will continue until we bring back our hostages. We will dismantle the rule of Hamas and its military capabilities.”

Egypt said it would support South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, according to a governmentannouncement.

Egypt’s decision to intervene in the lawsuit was taken “in light of the escalating severity and scope of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip,” the announcement read.

“These attacks include deliberate targeting of civilians, infrastructure destruction, forced displacement, and creating unbearable living conditions, leading to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Gaza. These actions constitute a flagrant violation of international law, humanitarian law, and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 regarding the protection of civilians during wartime.”

Egypt reiterated its call to the UN Security Council and “influential international parties” to take immediate action to halt violations of international law in Gaza and Israel’s military offensive in the city of Rafah.

Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel regarding the Rafah crossing on their border “due to the unacceptable Israeli escalation,” after Israeli forces seized control of the crossing earlier in the week, state-run media Al-Qahera News reported Sunday.

More on Rafah: Nearly a quarter of the aid reaching Gaza had been coming through the Rafah crossing before the Israeli assault. Egypt has warned of the “serious humanitarian perils” for the more than one million Palestinians in Rafah if there is a major Israeli military offensive in the southernmost Gazan city. The UN’s main relief agency estimated Monday that 360,000 people had fled the city over the past week.

Palestinians leave Jabalya camp in northern Gaza on May 11.

Intense shelling and gunfire have continued in much of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza after Israeli forces began a ground operation there on Saturday.

Videos from the area uploaded Sunday and Monday show civilians streaming out of the area against a background of constant drone flights, automatic gunfire, and explosions. Panicked families carrying whatever they can are seen leaving a UN school in the refugee camp amid heavy explosions.

In one video showing the rooftops of Jabalya, the sound of heavy gunfire is constant.

Communications from much of Gaza have been sporadic in the last few days. But CNN footage from Jabalya filmed early Monday showed terrified and exhausted families trying to leave the area. One child is seen carrying another child. There are also people being pushed in wheelchairs.

One child said there were Israeli tanks behind the schools. “They are coming for us, we are going to the other schools.”

An unidentified man also said that tanks were close to the schools, where thousands have taken shelter.

“They are bombarding the area and randomly shooting everyone. Those people are running away, they were in the schools, hoping they were safe. Where will they go now?”

Fares Afarna, director of ambulance services in northern Gaza, told the Al Jazeera network Monday that “ambulances are having a hard time to evacuate the dead and injured in the north.”

He alleged that “more than once our ambulances have been targeted by Israeli occupation forces…”

Afarna said that since the Israeli operation began on Saturday, ambulance crews had evacuated more than 50 wounded and 20 bodies. He told Al Jazeera that only two hospitals (Kamal Adwan and Al-Awada) were operating “and that’s where we are evacuating the dead and injured to and to some medical field points in the area.”

CNN is reaching out to the Israeli military for a response to the allegation that ambulances are being targeted.

“Following calls to the civilian population to temporarily evacuate from the area of Jabalya to shelters in western Gaza City, IDF troops began an operation overnight based on intelligence information regarding attempts by Hamas to reassemble its terrorist infrastructure and operatives in the area,” the military said.

Palestinians fleeing Rafah arrive at Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on May 11.

An estimated 360,000 people have fled Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah over the past week, according to the UN’s main relief agency in Gaza.

People are streaming out of Rafah following Israeli evacuation calls ahead of a planned major ground offensive.

At least 60,000 people have fled since Sunday alone, according to UNRWA.

“Meanwhile, in north#Gazabombardments & other evacuation orders have created more displacement & fear for thousands of families. There’s nowhere to go. There’s NO safety without a#ceasefire,” UNRWA said Monday on X.

Philippe Lazzarini,UNRWA’s Commissioner General, warned a day earlier that most people in the enclave had already moved once a month on average to avoid Israeli bombardment.

“The claim of ‘safe zones’ is false and misleading. No place is safe in #Gaza. Period.” he said.

Top US officialsrepeated stark warnings over the weekend against an Israeli invasion of Rafah, predicting that a ground offensive would lead to widespread civilian casualties.

The United Nations and humanitarian groups estimate that somewhere between 1.2 and 1.4 million people were living in the Rafah area before the Israeli operation in the eastern part of the city began.

Satellite imagery examined by CNN last week showed that tent cities in several parts of Rafah were emptier than previously.

Ahed Bseso's right leg was amputated at home in Gaza after a tank fired at her building, bringing a wall and debris crashing down on her.

Ahed Bseso lay on the kitchen table in her home in Gaza, watching as her uncle amputated her wounded right leg. Standing by, her mother cried, “Ahed is dead!”

But 18-year-old Bseso was very much alive, and she survived to tell her story from a hospital in Greenville, South Carolina.

Bseso said that on December 19, she went to the top floor of her house in Gaza to get a phone signal when an Israeli tank outside fired at her building. It destroyed part of her home’s wall, which came crashing down on her leg, along with heavy debris. With her neighborhood under siege and no possibility of medical attention, her uncle, who used to work as an orthopedic surgeon, used kitchen supplies to amputate her leg below the knee and dress it with unsterilized gauze.

“For four days, I couldn’t leave the house because the Israelis wouldn’t let me,” she told CNN through a translator, at the Shriners Children’s hospital. “There was no medication I could take to inhibit the pain or to help me with my condition. So, I just sat in agony for four days.”

A video of her amputation went viral and caught the attention of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF),a US organization that provides free health care to thousands of injured and ill Palestinian children in the Middle East. The organization worked for weeks to bring her to the US for medical care, according to Tareq Hailat, international pediatric healthcare coordinator at PCRF.

She is one of three Palestinians who received PCRF’s help to come to the US for leg injury treatment.

They are not unique: At least 1,000 children in Gaza have had one or both legs amputated, UNICEF reported in December — a number that has since grown.

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Almost half of the agricultural land in Gaza has been destroyed, and recovery could take years, an expert studying satellite images told CNN on Monday.

“What we see from the satellite data is really, really devastating,” He Yin, an assistant professor of geography at Kent State University in Ohio, told CNN’s Michael Holmes.

He said they spotted craters, bulldozer tracks, and signs of burning in the satellite images.

“Almost more than half of the agricultural land was completely destroyed.”

He said Gazans had already relied on aid and imports due to insufficient land for farming before the war.

“With almost half of the agricultural land gone, the situation can only be more grave,” he said.

He also warned of years-long repercussions for farmers.

“It’s not like if the war ends right now, the farmers can go back, they can plant trees and harvest next year,” he said.
“You can imagine even if the war stops now, tonight, there is still no way to reconstruct the agriculture sector,” said He. “It’s a long-term impact.”

Palestinians leave the Jabalya Refugee Camp with their belongings in Gaza, on May 12.

Israel is battling Hamas across Gaza, including in theJabalya refugee camp in the north.

Israel, which previously said it controlled Jabalya, said it is trying to stop Hamas regrouping there. Video capturedheavy gunfire, Israeli tanks and the sound of dronesin the area on Sunday.

The Israeli military said it was continuing “precise operations” in eastern Rafah and near the Rafah crossing, ahead of a planned full-scale invasion. US officials have repeatedly warned against the move, citing the risk of widespread civilian casualties.

Thedeath tollin the enclave since October 7 has surpassed 35,000, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

Here are the latest developments:

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media in Ashdod, Israel, on May 1.

Top US officials again expressed their concerns over a potential major Israeli military offensive in Rafah in calls with their Israeli counterparts on Sunday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken “reaffirmed the U.S. opposition to a major military ground operation in Rafah” in a call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to a readout from the State Department.

Blinken also underscored the urgent need to protect civilians and aid workers in Gaza, the readout said.

Meanwhile, national security adviser Jake Sullivan “reiterated President Biden’s longstanding concerns over the potential for a major military ground operation into Rafah,” in a call with his Israeli counterpart, the White House said.

Sullivan discussed alternatives to an invasion of the city “to ensure the defeat of Hamas everywhere in Gaza” with Tzachi Hanegbi.

“Mr. Hanegbi confirmed that Israel is taking U.S. concerns into account,” aWhite House readout of the phone call said. The men agreed to arrange an in-person meeting of US and Israeli officials soon to discuss Rafah and other issues.

Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi attends a wreath-laying ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in Jerusalem on May 6.

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said he bears “the responsibility for the failure of the IDF to defend our civilians on October 7.”

Halevi’s remarks came during a speechhedelivered at Israel’s Memorial Day ceremonyon Sunday evening at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Remember: Hamas’ surprise attack on October 7 left Israel flat-footed, sparking a backlash that is still rippling through the country. Theoperation saw at least 1,500 Hamas fighters pour across theborder into Israel in an assault that killed at least 1,200 Israelis, while others are stillheld hostage by themilitant group.

A frame taken from a video released by the IDF shows the opening of the "Western Erez" crossing.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Sunday announced the opening ofa new humanitarian aid crossing intoGaza in coordination with the United States.

“In accordance with the directive of the government of Israel and in coordination with the U.S. government, the ‘Western Erez’ Crossing was opened in the area of the northern Gaza Strip for the transfer of humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said on Sunday.

The IDF said it’s part of the effort “to increase aid routes to the Gaza Strip, and to the northern Gaza Strip in particular.”

This came as Israel’s military on Saturday ordered the immediate evacuation of several more neighborhoods in Rafah, where it has been stepping up operations ahead of an anticipated ground offensive. About 300,000 people have already fled the southern Gazan city.

The UN’s World Food Programme on Friday said the southern crossings to Gaza had not seen aid in three days Egypt said Saturday it would not coordinate on the entry of aid from the Rafah crossing, citing security concerns.

Smoke rises following Israeli air strikesin Rafah on May 8.

Top US officials offered stark warnings Sunday against an Israeli invasion of Rafah, predicting that a major ground offensive in the southern Gaza city would lead to widespread civilian casualties.

The alarm bells from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan came after President Joe Biden delivered anultimatum last weekon CNN that an Israeli invasion of Rafah would cause him to pause certain weapons transfers.

Blinken and Sullivan both said Biden made the determination because he didn’t want US weapons used in what he estimated would be a bloody, ill-advised operation.At the same time, they sought to rebut claims from Republicans and pro-Israel Democrats that Biden was leaving Israel to fend for itself.

Blinken said the US believes Israel has killed more civilians than Hamas terrorists as part of its war in Gaza. And he said the country needed to do more to mitigate civilian deaths.

Despite US warnings dating back months about the wisdom of a ground invasion into Rafah, Israel appears poised to continue advancing on the city and has issued evacuation orders for some of the 1.4 million civilians estimated to be sheltering there.

Going “headlong into Rafah” could have dire consequences, Blinken warned.

“Israel’s on the trajectory, potentially, to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas left, or, if it leaves, a vacuum filled by chaos, filled by anarchy and probably refilled by Hamas,” Blinken said Sunday.

Sullivan warned an Israel operation would cause “really significant civilian casualties” while still being unlikely to eliminate Hamas.

“While Israel would also be able to kill some Hamas folks, many Hamas folks would melt away because they’re terrorists,” he said.

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Palestinians who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip carry their belongings from the back of a truck as a man pulls his suitcase upon their arrival to take shelter in Khan Yunis on May 12.

More people are streaming out of Rafah following Israeli orders to civilians to leave much of the southern city — but some are staying, too exhausted or sick to move yet again.

An elderly man, Hassan Aboul Einien, told CNN he had not wanted to leave his home in the Shaboura refugee camp. “But now I want to because there is no one left in the camp. I want to see my wife and daughter,” he said. “I’m going on foot. I don’t have money for a car. I sent my wife and daughter on foot as well.”

Maher Soliman, also living at the Shaboura refugee camp, said he didn’t know where to go:

“No-one is supporting us. It’s just destruction. I left home with a T-shirt,” he said. Soliman said there was no safe zone. “My 15-year-old daughter had burns over her body,” he said. “There was a strike on the building next door while she was making food.”

Ayman Abu Negira, who was driving a car with a broken windshield, said he was heading for Al-Mawasi, an area to the northwest of Rafah to which the Israelis have told people to go. He said he hopes it is a safe zone, but has his doubts. “They will probably strike around it,” Negira told CNN.

But some were planning to stay. “We are not afraid. We are exhausted but we are steadfast,” one unidentified woman said. Her tent stands alone in an area she says was filled with tents just a few days ago.

She said she was from Khan Younis.“I wish I could go home and I hope it is still standing,” she said. “I’m crying because I want to go home.”

The woman said it was tense the night before.

“Even the water distribution guy is afraid to come by. People are afraid to leave the tents at night to relieve themselves because they are afraid of the quadcopters (armed Israeli drones) … All of us have hepatitis. There are lot of infections among people.”

The woman pointed to a scar under her ear and said it had been caused by a sniper’s bullet which had broken her jaw when she was trying to retrieve belongings near Nasser hospital. “There was a window covered by a blanket and the sniper got me here,” she said.