December 11, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

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

US President Joe Biden on Monday night touted his unshakeable support for “the safety of the Jewish people and the security of Israel and its right to exist” in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks of October 7.

The president pointed to his support for Israel, while acknowledging daylight on issues between himself and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, joking that he had once told the Israeli leader: “I love you, but I don’t agree with a damn thing you have to say.” He added: “It’s about the same today.” 

Still, Biden said in remarks marking the fifth night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah that Israel was in “a tough spot,” following the Hamas attack and subsequent war in Gaza.

The president also hailed the work his administration has done to secure the release of hostages still held in Gaza and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.

“We're working relentlessly for the safe return of the hostages. I personally spent countless hours – and I mean it, probably up to 20 hours with the Qataris and Egyptians, the Israelis – to secure the freedom of hostages, to get the trucks in, to get the humanitarian aid flowing, to convince them to open the gate, to have [Egyptian President Abdel Fattah] El-Sisi — make sure he opened the gate into Egypt,” Biden said. “And there's a whole range of things going on now that are really very, very difficult. We've gotten more than 100 hostages out and we're not going to stop till we get every one of them home.”

Biden was joined by second gentleman Doug Emhoff and a group of White House officials descended from Holocaust survivors who lit the White House menorah.

Hamas battalions in two areas of northern Gaza are “on the verge of dismantling," according to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have also intensified its operation in the central part of the enclave.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will resume its emergency session on Tuesday, days after the United States vetoed a resolution that included a ceasefire. At the same time, four European Union countries are calling for a discussion at an upcoming EU summit on the necessity of a ceasefire in Gaza.  

Here's what else to know:

The European Union’s foreign policy chief says the EU will work on introducing sanctions against Jewish settlers who commit acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Josep Borrell’s comments come amid growing concern that Israel is not doing enough to prevent hardcore settlers from launching attacks on Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank.

“We will work on imposing sanctions against extremist settlers in the West Bank,” Borrell told reporters in Brussels, saying he is alarmed by recent violence in the occupied territory.

United Nations data has shown a sharp increase in attacks by settlers against Palestinians since October 7 — though European and US diplomats working in the region have been expressing concern for years about such violence and the sense that it frequently goes unpunished by Israel.

Borrell's remarks also follow the announcement of a new visa policy by the United States targeting the same violent individuals.

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new visa restriction policy targeting “individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security, or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities."

The State Department will be able to apply the policy to both Israelis and Palestinians who are responsible for attacks in the West Bank, Blinken said.

According to the Reuters news agency, Borrell did not give details of possible EU sanctions, but the news agency said officials believed it would also involve travel bans to the EU. 

Another challenge for Borrell will be to convince all EU members to support any new sanctions policy. Several states, among them Hungary and Austria, are among Israel’s strongest international supporters.

What Israel is saying: Israel itself is reluctant to accept any criticism of its policy toward West Bank settlers, especially at a time when it is still dealing with the aftermath of the October 7 attack by Hamas.

War cabinet member Benny Gantz, seen previously as particularly mindful of the need to get a grip on the sense of lawlessness in some Jewish communities in the West Bank, has recently been seeking to convince international colleagues not to use the term "settler violence" because, he argues, it unfairly characterizes all those Israelis living in the territory.

Borrell also said Monday he would look to introduce a new sanctions package against Hamas, the Reuters news agency reported.  The EU already considers Hamas a terrorist organization.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Monday with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz about efforts to " facilitate the safe return of all remaining hostages" in Gaza and also increasing levels of humanitarian assistance.

Several family members of the American citizen hostages missing in Gaza had asked to attend a Hanukkah reception at the White House Monday night but never received invitations, the father of a 19-year-old missing Israeli-American told CNN. 

Ruby Chen — whose son, Itay, has been missing since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel — said a number of the families of American hostages were in Washington, DC, this week, and had reached out to the White House asking to attend Tuesday’s reception but were not invited. 

A White House spokesperson declined to comment.  

The reception, hosted by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, celebrates the fifth night of Hanukkah. It will feature some 800 guests, according to the White House, including Holocaust survivors, lawmakers and various Jewish leaders. 

There are still seven American men and one woman unaccounted for since the Israel-Hamas war began, according to the White House. Four Americans  — a four-year-old girl and three women — have been released so far. 

After formal hostage negotiations that had been taking place in Doha, Qatar, fell apart, the Biden administration continues to be in close contact with their Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian counterparts about ways to get more hostages out, according to officials. 

Since the start of the war, families of the missing Americans have had opportunities to speak or meet with President Biden, his national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Vice President Kamala Harris.

But as CNN has previously reported, the seeming lack of progress on this front is fueling the families’ growing anxiety.

Some of the families have called on the White House to consider making a side deal with Hamas that focuses on just the American hostages, and have even floated the idea of cutting the Israeli government out of initial negotiations altogether. 

Multiple families told CNN that while they felt supported by the Biden administration’s outreach and support so far, the Israeli government has, in stark contrast, been minimally engaged. 

As the Israeli military steps up its campaign to defeat Hamas in northern Gaza, hospitals there remain under siege, according to doctors.

Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlot told CNN on Monday the hospital he runs in the center of Gaza City, Kamal Adwan, is surrounded by Israeli forces. 

The maternity ward was hit Monday afternoon local time by tank shelling, killing two women and leaving two more so badly wounded their legs required amputation, he said.

CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for comment.

On Friday, the IDF said clashes near Kamal Adwan were "in response to Hamas' barbaric attacks.” The Israeli military says it only carries out operations in and around hospitals where they are being used by Hamas and other armed groups.

Separately, Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, the director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, told CNN that the Al Awda hospital in northern Gaza has been under siege for many days.

“There is no food, or water, or medicine there — where approximately 250 people are still trapped inside. Anyone who tries to leave the hospital is shot at,” he said.

This post was updated with the time of when the tank fire allegedly hit a maternity ward.

A surgeon with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, was injured inside Al Awda Hospital in north Gaza by a shot fired from outside the facility on Monday, the organization said.

“Our colleagues report snipers surrounding the hospital, firing on those inside,” MSF said.

Renzo Fricke, MSF's head of mission, added in a statement, that "reports coming out of Al-Awda hospital are harrowing and we are gravely worried for safety of patients and staff inside.” 

He said Al Awda is a functioning hospital “with medical staff and many patients in vulnerable condition." He called any targeting of medical workers "utterly reprehensible, utterly inhumane.”

MSF said two of its doctors have been among five health workers killed at Al Awda Hospital since October 7.

“The hospital building has also sustained substantial damage in the bombing and fighting, along many other hospitals in the north of the Strip, and supplies are running low, further compromising the doctors' capacity to treat patients," Fricke said.

CNN has asked the Israel Defense Forces for a response to the MSF allegation.

The leaders of Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Malta have written a letter to the European Council President Charles Michel calling for a discussion at an upcoming EU summit on the necessity of a ceasefire in Gaza.  

The Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Spanish President Pedro Sanchez, Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo described the death toll, the destruction and the humanitarian situation brought about by the war in Gaza as "alarming."

CNN obtained a copy of the letter from an EU official. 

All four leaders have previously called publicly for a ceasefire in Gaza and provided some of the strongest condemnations of Israel's actions in Gaza from EU leaders. 

"Given the gravity of the situation and the potential of an escalation in the West Bank and regionally, it is imperative for us to hold a serious debate on the war during the upcoming European Council that will take place on December 14 and 15," the leaders stressed. 

The leaders also called for "effective measures" to be taken to protect the “innocent civilians” of Gaza being impacted by the conflict. Humanitarian aid must be delivered "unhindered" to the enclave, the leaders said. 

In the letter, they also highlighted the “urgent need” for a “political process on the basis of the implementation of the two-state solution.” 

The letter added, "We cannot go back to the status quo before October 7, with Hamas in control of Gaza and with the Palestinian Authority undermined by the lack of any serious political perspective,"

They suggested convening an international peace conference with Israel and Hamas “in order to implement the two-state solution.” 

The leaders ended the letter by warning that the EU’s “credibility is at stake.”  

"These are dark hours for millions of people in Palestine and Israel. Across Europe anti-Semitic incidents have resurged and this cannot be tolerated. It is time for the European Union to act," they said.