December 17, 2023 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel's war with Hamas has moved here.

Aid trucks on Sunday entered war-torn Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Israel for the first time since it was closed on October 7 following Hamas' attacks, Israeli officials said.

The Israeli office for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement that a total of 201 aid trucks entered Gaza Sunday, including 79 through Kerem Shalom.

In an earlier statement, COGAT said the move to allow trucks into Gaza through Kerem Shalom would increase the volume of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.

The announcement follows the Israeli government’s decision last week to allow aid trucks to be inspected at Kerem Shalom for the first time since October 7.

The US government pushed Israel to reopen the Kerem Shalom border crossing to allow humanitarian aid trucks to go directly into Gaza on an emergency basis. 

A senior Israeli Defense Ministry official said earlier Sunday that a total of 470 aid trucks went through security inspections and were sent to the Rafah crossing in Egypt.

Aid warnings: The amount of aid entering Gaza is less than half of pre-war levels, according to the United Nations.

The number of aid trucks "is well below the daily average of 500 truckloads (including fuel and private sector goods) that entered every working day prior to 7 October," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement Sunday.

CNN's Mariya Knight and Tamar Michaelis contributed reporting.

The Israel Defense Forces claims to have discovered “the biggest Hamas tunnel” in Gaza, spanning a length of four kilometers (about 2.5 miles).

The IDF said the tunnel, secured “a few weeks ago” but revealed to the public Sunday, is wide enough to drive a large vehicle through, reaches up to 50 meters (over 160 feet) underground and is equipped with electricity, ventilation and communication systems.

It does not cross into Israel but ends 400 meters before the now-closed Erez crossing on the northern Israel-Gaza border, according to the IDF.

Military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a news conference Sunday evening that the IDF had mapped three similar tunnel locations, but has only revealed one so far.

"In the future, we will expose the additional ones that we intend to dismantle," he added.

CNN could not independently verify the IDF’s claims.

Here are some of the other latest developments:

This post has been updated with additional information from an IDF news conference.

A total of 470 aid trucks have been sent to the Rafah crossing in Egypt to enter the Gaza Strip after having gone through security inspections, Col. Moshe Tetro, a senior official in the Israeli defense ministry, said Sunday. 

The announcement follows the Israeli government’s decision last week to allow aid trucks to be inspected at Kerem Shalom for the first time since Hamas’ October 7 attack.

The US government pushed Israel to reopen the Kerem Shalom border crossing to allow humanitarian aid trucks to go directly into the Palestinian enclave on an emergency basis. 

On Friday, the Israeli war cabinet approved a temporary measure to unload trucks carrying humanitarian aid that arrived from Egypt on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom — instead of having the trucks go through Rafah, Tetro added.  

This decision, according to him, will “increase the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip, where it will continue to be met by international aid organizations that will deliver it to the people of Gaza.”

Approximately 18,800 Palestinians — 70% of whom were women and children — have died in Gaza between October 7 and December 15, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah said in a statement Sunday.

More than 300 health sector workers, 86 journalists, 135 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and approximately 35 civil defense crews are included in the death toll, the ministry said.

The ministry added that more than 51,100 people have been reportedly wounded, with scores of other people unaccounted for.

The ministry went on to say in its report that only eight out of 36 hospitals are partially functional in the enclave, and that occupancy rates have soared to 206% in inpatient departments and 250% in intensive care units.

CNN cannot independently verify these numbers. The ministry bases its figures on data received from hospitals in Hamas-controlled Gaza.

As of last week (December 10), the Israel Defense Forces stated it had struck over 22,000 targets in Gaza since Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7.

CNN has reached out to the IDF for an updated figure.

The Israel Defense Forces claims to have discovered “the biggest Hamas tunnel” in Gaza, spanning a length of four kilometers (about 2.5 miles).

The IDF said the tunnel, secured “a few weeks ago” but revealed to the public Sunday, is wide enough to drive a large vehicle through, reaches up to 50 meters (over 160 feet) underground and is equipped with electricity, ventilation and communication systems.

It does not cross into Israel but ends 400 meters before the now-closed Erez crossing on the northern Israel-Gaza border, according to the IDF.

The tunnel is part of Hamas’ “strategic infrastructure” and would be destroyed, the IDF said.

In a video shared by the IDF, the Israeli military claimed the tunnel was created for Hamas troop movements and as a launching point for attacks. 

Footage shared by the IDF and allegedly filmed by Hamas to show the construction of the tunnel shows a large vehicle driving into the tunnel and a makeshift railroad inside it.

CNN could not independently verify the footage or the IDF’s claims.

In a statement Sunday, the IDF alleged that the tunnel system was a project of the brother of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Muhammad Sinwar. The IDF did not provide any evidence to support the claim.

What to know about Gaza's tunnels: The myriad tunnels under Gaza are best known as passageways used to smuggle goods from Egypt and launch attacks into Israel.

Colloquially referred to as the “Gaza metro,” the vast labyrinth of tunnels is also used to transport people and goods, to store rockets and ammunition caches, and house Hamas command and control centers — all away from the prying eyes of the IDF’s aircraft and surveillance drones.

Hamas in 2021 claimed to have built 500 kilometers (311 miles) worth of tunnels under Gaza, though it is unclear if that figure was accurate or posturing. If true, Hamas’ underground tunnels would be a little less than half the length of the New York City subway system.

During its offensive in the territory, the IDF claims it has exposed “hundreds of terror tunnel shafts throughout the Gaza Strip,” and says it is operating “to locate and destroy dozens of attack tunnel routes.”

Recently, it has tested methods for flooding the Hamas tunnels.

CNN's Joshua Berlinger contributed reporting to this post.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Sunday she was in Tel Aviv to stress the importance of a "new humanitarian truce," while also expressing France's solidarity with Israel after the October 7 attacks.

"What is happening in Gaza is of the utmost concern to France. Too many civilians are being killed ... and I repeat that the first truce that took place enabled the release of hostages, the delivery and distribution of more humanitarian aid, and the evacuation of the wounded."

The Israeli foreign minister pushed back, saying "the only reason Hamas has agreed to release the hostages is because of the military pressure," and adding, "This is the reason why the irresponsible call for a ceasefire is a mistake."

Colonna went on to express solidarity with the Israeli people following the violence committed on October 7, including reports of sexual violence.

“Needless to say, France believes the word of these women victims, believes those who had to witness these acts, these rapes and mutilations, these desecrations. Of course, the word of Israeli women is no less valuable than that of any other victim," she added.

On broader regional tensions: The officials also addressed the prospect of an escalation at the Israel-Lebanon border, as well as attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthis.

Colonna said no one would benefit from an escalation along the Israel-Lebanon border, where clashes have increased between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah paramilitary group, which wields significant power in southern Lebanon.

“We're reiterating our messages to all sides, because there is still a risk of things spiraling. And if things were to spiral, if there was a conflagration, I don't think anyone would benefit. I'm also saying this to Israel, and we'll say it as clearly as we've already done on the Lebanese side," she said. 

During the briefing earlier, Cohen told reporters that he thinks France “could play a positive and significant role to prevent a war in Lebanon.” 

"Israel has no intention to start another front on our northern border, but we will do what whatever it takes to protect our citizens," he said.

The only way to ensure the security of citizens in northern Israel is by forcing Hezbollah to move north to the Litani River, he said. "There are two ways to do that: either by diplomacy or by force," Cohen continued.

During the briefing, Colonna also talked about the attacks on ships in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Houthis, saying they “cannot go unanswered.” 

Asked by a journalist if such “options” include military options, Colonna said only: “We're studying several options with our partners.”

Pope Francis on Sunday addressed the deaths of a mother and daughter who were sheltering inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where church leaders say they were killed by an Israel Defense Forces sniper.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem — which oversees Catholic churches across Cyprus, Jordan, Israel, Gaza and the Palestinian territories — made the claim in a statement Saturday. CNN reached out to the IDF for comment when news of the deaths were first announced, and on Sunday renewed the request for comment.

“I continue receiving very serious and sad news about Gaza," Francis said during his weekly Angelus prayer.

The majority of Christian families inside Gaza have taken refuge inside the parish since the start of the war, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said, adding that IDF tanks have also targeted the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa, which houses 54 disabled people and is part of the church’s compound.

“Some are saying, ‘This is terrorism and war.’ Yes, it is war; it is terrorism. That is why Scripture says that ‘God puts an end to war … the bow he breaks and the spear he snaps.’ Let us pray to the Lord for peace,” Francis said.

A communication blackout in Gaza has now continued for four days, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said Sunday, making it the longest since the start of the Israeli operation in October. 

The internet monitoring organization NetBlocks said on social media Saturday that the disruption was already "the longest sustained telecoms blackout on record since the onset of the conflict with Israel, and is likely to significantly limit visibility into events on the ground.” 

In a video accompanying the social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter, supervisor of the PRCS emergency operations room in Gaza, Osama Kahlut, said the organization will resort to VHF radio communication as an alternative plan, but added this type of communication “limits the space available for communication" and "poses a challenge to our work." 

Kahlut went on to say the power outage has affected the main aerial communication service provider located at the association’s headquarters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. 

PRCS added on X that its emergency medical teams are "encountering significant challenges in reaching the wounded amidst the ongoing shelling.”