October 11, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

Four paramedics have been killed in Gaza on Wednesday, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

The four deaths happened in a 30-minute timeframe, the Palestinian Red Crescent told CNN on a phone call, adding that six other paramedics working with the Gaza Health Ministry have been killed since Saturday.

This raises the death toll of paramedics in Gaza to 10 since Israel launched military operations against the enclave following a Hamas attack on Israel on Saturday.

Some background: Palestine Red Crescent Society caters to the health and welfare of Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and refugee camps in surrounding countries. With more than 4,000 employees and 20,000 volunteers, the group provides Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in times of conflict as well as preventative, curative and rehabilitative health care. PRCS is a non-government organization that adheres to the principles of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent.

Gaza’s only power station has stopped working after running out of fuel, the head of the Gaza power authority Galal Ismail told CNN on Wednesday.

People in Gaza can still use power generators for electricity, Ismail said, but with a blockade on all sides of the border, the fuel needed for the generators to work is running out.

The US government is in discussions with its partner countries, including Egypt and Israel, about ensuring safe passage for Americans and other civilians out of Gaza, US officials said.

However, according to one US official, Egypt wants to use a humanitarian corridor to send food and medical supplies into Gaza but doesn’t want to open the border in the other direction to accept fleeing civilians. 

Pressure is mounting to establish a humanitarian corridor as Americans in Gaza who spoke with CNN have expressed fear and frustration about the situation, feeling they are trapped without any safe route out of the region that is being heavily bombarded by Israeli forces.

They have told CNN that they do not feel the US government has been able to help them. There were reports that the only route out of Gaza — via Egypt — was closed Tuesday due to strikes and with the threat of an Israeli ground incursion looming. 

On Tuesday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the matter was "something also that we have been discussing with our counterparts in Israel and with our counterparts in Egypt."

Neither Sullivan nor Miller gave any timeline of when such a safe passage could be operational. 

Sullivan has spoken over the past several days with Abbas Kamel, the Egyptian spy chief, and officials expect President Joe Biden to speak at some point with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The number of Americans killed in Israel is expected to rise, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told CNN Wednesday.

The US continues to work to find the Americans who are unaccounted for, he added, noting that "it's a moving target all the time."

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that at least 14 Americans had been killed as a result of the Hamas attacks. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said "20 or more" Americans were unaccounted for as of Tuesday.

Norway and Sweden are offering to fly their citizens out of Israel, as the conflict in the region threatens to escalate.

Huitfeldt said the government is organizing the flights due to the deteriorating security situation in Israel.

The plane is scheduled to leave Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening, she said.

Sweden’s foreign ministry is also arranging flights for Swedes hoping to leave Israel.

"This is being organized in close collaboration with other Nordic countries," the ministry said.

It said it had taken the decision because "the security situation has not improved, there is a risk of the conflict escalating and the capacity of regular flights is reduced."

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly arrived in Israel on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said, in an effort to "demonstrate the UK’s unwavering solidarity with the Israeli people following Hamas’ terrorist attacks."

Cleverly "will be meeting survivors of the attacks and senior Israeli leaders to outline UK support for Israel’s right to defend itself," the spokesperson added.

Daniel Ben Senior, an Israeli-American who has been missing since the Nova music festival near the Gaza-Israel border was attacked by Hamas, has been killed, according to her father.

Jacob Ben Senior told CNN he was informed by authorities that his daughter had been killed.

Born in Los Angeles, Daniel Ben Senior was a 34-year-old Israeli-American citizen who has lived most of her life in Israel, according to her father.

Daniel was working at the Nova festival with a group of festival organizers, her father had previously told CNN.

Horrifying details from Hamas' surprise assault on border communities in Israel are emerging. Bodies of Israeli residents and Palestinian attackers lay outside burned-out homes in the Israeli kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the several kibbutzim, small farming enclaves, that bore the brunt of Hamas’ ground assault on Saturday.

Houses in Kfar Aza were ransacked and set ablaze. Overturned mattresses, destroyed furniture, broken trinkets and unexploded grenades lay strewn across the grounds, along with bodies – a window into the scale of devastation wrought by Hamas in this area.

Here's what you need to know as the Hamas-Israel fight continues for a fifth day:

Death toll: At least 1,055 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel began airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave Saturday in response to Hamas' attacks, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said Wednesday. Israel has reported at least 1,200 people dead since Saturday.

Israel has called up 300,000 reservists to fight: IDF spokesperson, Maj. Doron Spielman, reiterated remarks made by the IDF's Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, stressing that Israel is “preparing for any scenario” as it continues to amass ground forces along its southern border.

US aid arrives: IDF said the first plane carrying US armaments arrived at the Nevatim air base in southern Israel late Tuesday evening. The cooperation between our militaries is a key part of ensuring regional security and stability in times of war,” the IDF said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Israel struck inside Lebanese territory: IDF said this was in response to anti-tank missiles launched at one of their military posts near the Lebanese border. Lebanese group Hezbollah said they fired on an Israeli site with “guided missiles” in response to the killing of three of its members on Monday. Hezbollah said it had killed and injured Israeli soldiers in the attack. The IDF did not immediately respond when asked by CNN about the casualties. Rockets were also fired from south Lebanon toward Israel on Tuesday, according to Al Manar, a Lebanese outlet that is Hezbollah-owned. Hezbollah did not claim that it fired the rockets. The IDF said it responded with artillery fire, in another sign of growing tensions along Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Gaza hospitals overwhelmed: Hospitals are overwhelmed and experiencing shortages of drugs, medical supplies and electricity, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned on Wednesday, as a humanitarian crisis rapidly unfolds in the Palestinian enclave under Israeli bombardment. Hundreds of thousands are displaced, many cut off from food and electricity. MSF — also known as Doctors Without Borders — said it was also seeing shortages of water, electricity, and fuel, which hospitals rely on for their generators. Some hospitals only have enough fuel for four days.

Electricity will stop in Gaza: The electricity supply to Gaza "will completely stop within hours," limiting the ability to provide basic services, the enclave's Hamas-controlled government said on Wednesday. "All basic services in Gaza depend on electricity, and it will not be possible to partially operate them with generators due to the prevention of fuel supplies through the Rafah gate," the Gaza government media office said in a statement.

On the ground: In today's episode of CNN's "Tug of War" podcast, CNN International Anchor Becky Anderson talks about the families of the missing she has met and what they are asking for from Israeli and US authorities.

Here are the areas impacted by the Israel-Hamas war:

Fuel used to operate generators in Gaza's hospitals will run out on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said, warning the lack of power could lead to "catastrophic" conditions, particularly with an anticipated electricity outage Wednesday.

Gaza's Hamas-controlled government warned earlier Wednesday that electricity generaiton would "completely stop within hours," limiting basic services.

Some context: Israeli Defense Ministry Yoav Gallant on Monday ordered a "complete siege" of Gaza, saying he would halt its supply of electricity, food, water and fuel following attacks by Hamas.

With conditions deteriorating amid Israel's retaliatory airstrikes, a humanitarian crisis has already begun to unfold: The situation in Gaza was already "extremely dire before these hostilities," United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Monday, and "now it will only deteriorate exponentially."