Our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict has moved here.
October 22, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news
By Rhea Mogul, Andrew Raine, Rob Picheta, Sophie Tanno, Tori B. Powell and Steve Almasy, CNN
Updated 12:05 a.m. ET, October 23, 2023
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Israeli president claims chemical weapons formula found on body of Hamas militant
From CNN's Jen Deaton and Alexander Marquardt
Directions for making a chemical weapon to use on civilian targets have been discovered on a USB drive found on the body of a Hamas terrorist involved in the October 7 attacks, Israeli President Isaac Herzog has claimed.
In a statement, Herzog's office said the USB key contained pages from a 2003 al Qaeda manual that included a diagram for a "device for dispersing cyanide agents."
Herzog's office provided two pages of the document in question, which included a crude sketch of a device made up of household items combined with chemical agents.
The statement said other content on the USB drive included "a manual for abducting captives and instructions for the use of chemical substances for mass murder."
CNN is unable to independently verify the claims or contents of the documents.
There have been no indications from the Israeli government that Hamas militants involved in the October 7 attack had the means to carry out a chemical attack.
Herzog said the documents indicated an ideological link between Hamas and other Islamist terror groups.
"We are dealing with ISIS, al Qaeda, and Hamas, this is what we're dealing with," he he told Sky News.
An Israeli official told CNN the information about the discovery of the documents was sent to dozens of Israeli embassies worldwide under the heading: "Hamas intention of using chemical weapons."
Thai death toll rises to 30 in Israel attacks
From CNN’s Kocha Olarn and Manveena Suri
The number of Thai nationals killed in Israel following Hamas' October 7 attack has risen to 30, Thailand's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
Thailand, which for decades has made up one of the biggest sources of migrant labor in Israel, has suffered one of the highest tolls of any nation beyond Israel itself.
A total of 18 Thais have been injured in Israel, while 19 Thai nationals are believed to have been taken hostage by Hamas, the ministry said.
Infants' lives at risk if electricity stops, Gaza doctor warns
From CNN's Kareem Khadder, Evan John and Eyad Kourdi
Many infants relying on ventilators would not survive an interruption of electricity in Gaza, a senior doctor in the besieged coastal enclave has warned, as he painted a grim picture of the situation at his hospital.
In a video released by the Gaza Ministry of Health on Sunday, Dr. Fu'ad al-Bulbul, head of the neonatal department unit at Al-Shifa hospital, said any stop of the electricity supply would be "catastrophic."
"Most of [the] babies depend[ing] on ventilators will die because we can save only one [or] two babies but, we cannot save all babies," he said.
Al-Bulbul spoke amid concerns that fuel supplies essential to keeping hospital generators on and electricity running are perilously low. Earlier Sunday, the UN agency aiding Palestine refugees (UNRWA) cautioned that its fuel reserves will deplete in three days, jeopardizing humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
The nursery at Al-Shifa hospital, which has 45 incubators, predominantly cares for preterm babies resulting from high-risk pregnancies, al-Bulbul said.
"Unfortunately, at the moment we have not any medical supply — the essential drugs which is essential drugs as lifesaving for baby in the first two hours of life," he said.
Highlighting the severe shortage of essential medicines, the doctor revealed they had run out of surfactant and had used their last vial of caffeine citrate on Sunday.
The unit is overwhelmed with caseloads, most infants are critically ill and the medical team has worked 18 straight days, leaving them exhausted, he added.
Hamas: Top official and Iran’s foreign minister discuss how to stop Israeli strikes on Gaza
From CNN’s Pierre Meilhan
Hamas said its political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh received a phone call from Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian late Sunday to discuss “how to use all methods to stop” Israeli strikes on Gaza.
They also “discussed the latest developments related to the Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip,” Hamas said via the messaging platform Telegram.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said Tehran was not involved in the Hamas attack on Israel, but has praised the assault.
According to US officials, there is no “direct information” linking these attacks to Iran at this time, but Washington believes Iran is “broadly complicit” in Hamas attacks in Israel.
Senior Israeli official says no Gaza ceasefire amid hostage talks. Here's what else you should know
From CNN staff
A senior Israeli official tells CNN there will be “no ceasefire” in Gaza amid US and Qatari efforts to free more than 200 hostages held there by Hamas.
The official told CNN they were “not aware” of US calls for a delay to Israel's expected Gaza ground operation, and said both Israel and the US want all the hostages released “as quickly as possible.”
But, the official added, “humanitarian efforts cannot be allowed to impact the mission to dismantle Hamas.”
Here are other headlines you should know:
- Clash inside Gaza: Hamas fighters clashed with Israeli troops inside Gaza, the group’s militant Al-Qassam Brigades said Sunday, in what appears to be one of the war's first skirmishes between the two sides on the ground inside the strip. Hamas said its fighters destroyed two Israeli military bulldozers and a tank in an ambush, forcing Israeli troops to retreat into Israel without their vehicles. The Israel Defense Forces said only that "shots were fired at IDF soldiers operating west of the Gaza Strip security fence, in the area of Kissufim."
- "Bloody day" for hospitals: The death toll in Gaza since October 7 has risen to 4,651 with more than 14,245 wounded, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza. Doctors at the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza said they endured a "bloody day," overwhelmed by the number of casualties from a flurry of Israeli airstrikes overnight. Some parents in Gaza have resorted to writing their children's names on their legs to help identify them, should either they or the children be killed, according to videos filmed by a journalist working for CNN. And at the strip's main medical facility, the Al-Shifa Hospital, doctors have been forced to reduce the duration of dialysis sessions for hundreds of kidney patients as electricity and fuel supplies dwindle, the health ministry said.
- Aid trickles into Gaza: A CNN journalist observed at least 14 humanitarian relief trucks, sponsored by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations, entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on Sunday late evening local time. The food and medicine was then transferred to a second set of vehicles on the Palestinian side of the crossing to complete the journey to a UN agency's site. Aid workers in Gaza — which is under a "complete siege" by Israel and running critically low on basic resources — said the two convoys that arrived this weekend will help, but only barely start to address needs across the densely populated strip.
- Israeli military prepares for ground operation: An Israel Defense Forces soldier died and three others were wounded during a raid as part of preparations for a Gaza ground operation, an IDF spokesperson said Sunday. The US government has pressed Israel to delay its operation to allow for the release of more Hamas hostages and aid into Gaza, according to two sources briefed on the discussions. Meanwhile, the IDF says it is stepping up its airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave, and once again called for civilians to leave northern parts of the strip.
- West Bank airstrike: The Israeli military said it launched an airstrike early Sunday local time against a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin to thwart what it called "an imminent terror attack." Three people died in the strike, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The target was located within a refugee camp, and the Palestinian foreign ministry said it views the rare strike as a “dangerous escalation” of recent violence in the occupied territory.
Israel conducts dozens of strikes against Hamas in Gaza late Sunday, IDF says
From CNN’s Tamar Michaelis and Nic Robertson
Israel’s military carried out dozens of airstrikes on Hamas targets late Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
CNN’s Nic Robertson reported from Sderot, near the Gaza Strip, that Sunday’s strikes have been the most sustained bombardment of northern Gaza he has seen since he began to report from southern Israel two weeks ago.
The Israeli military said late Saturday its forces would be intensifying airstrikes in Gaza.
Strikes in southern Lebanon: The IDF also struck two Hezbollah terrorist cells on the Lebanese side of the border with Israel, it said via the Telegram messaging platform.
The Israeli military said one cell was adjacent to the area of Mattat and planned to launch anti-tank missiles toward Israel; while the other, located in Har Dov, planned to launch rockets.
Senior Israeli official says there will be “no ceasefire” for Gaza amid hostage talks
From CNN’s Matthew Chance and Florence Davey-Attlee
A senior Israeli official tells CNN there will be “no ceasefire” in Gaza amid US and Qatari efforts to free more than 200 hostages held there by Hamas.
The official told CNN they were “not aware” of US calls for a delay to Israel's expected Gaza ground operation, and said both Israel and the US want all the hostages released “as quickly as possible.”
But, the official added, “humanitarian efforts cannot be allowed to impact the mission to dismantle Hamas.”
Israel agreed to a US request to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, “although that was not popular in Israel,” the official said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that US President Joe Biden's administration was talking to the Israeli government on a "regular basis" about the Gaza situation.
"Both of us want to make sure that the many hostages who’ve been taken come home, and that’s why we’re working on it, as I said, virtually every minute of the day" Blinken told NBC's Meet the Press.
At least 14 humanitarian aid trucks enter the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing
From CNN's Kareem Khadder and Eyad Kourdi
A CNN journalist observed at least 14 humanitarian relief trucks, sponsored by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the United Nations, entering the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah crossing on Sunday late evening local time.
An official with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society in Gaza confirmed to CNN that the trucks had been admitted, and were being offloaded to vehicles that will take the goods to Gaza storage facilities of the UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.
Photos from the Palestinian Crossing Authority showed the second set of trucks getting loaded up on the Palestinian side of the crossing to complete the journey to the UNRWA site.
A short statement by Wael Abu Omar, head of public relations at the Palestinian Crossing Authority, said the trucks carried food and medicine for Gaza.
Some background: The news comes a day after a convoy of 20 Egyptian trucks unloaded humanitarian aid in Gaza after using the same crossing, which was briefly opened Saturday, according to a CNN stringer on the ground.
The critical Rafah crossing with Egypt in the south has been touted as the last hope for Gazans to escape as Israel’s bombs rain down, and many Palestinians have begun moving in its direction in anticipation. So far, however, the opening has only been opened for aid — not evacuees.
Meanwhile, aid workers in Gaza, which is under a "complete siege" by Israel and running critically low on basic resources, said this weekend's deliveries were a help, but only barely started to address needs across the densely populated strip.