November 1, 2023 Israel-Hamas war news

US President Joe Biden hailed the opening of the Rafah gate to wounded Palestinians and foreign nationals on Wednesday. He said the US will continue pressing Israel to adhere to international laws protecting civilians in conflict. 

Speaking inside a barn on a hog and corn farm in rural Minnesota, Biden said it was impossible not to be moved by images of suffering Palestinians.  

Biden said the Rafah crossing's opening came after “intense and urgent American diplomacy with our partners in the region,” and said as many as 1,000 more foreign nationals could depart soon. 

He said the US would continue pushing to increase aid to Gaza, saying the number of trucks crossing into the enclave continues to “increase significantly, but we still have a long way to go.”

And on the hostages being held in Gaza, Biden said his administration “continues to work around the clock to reunite those families.”

“We are not going to give up, period,” he said. “And I am optimistic. But I am an optimist, folks.”

The United Nations' Human Rights Office expressed concern that Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza "could amount to war crimes."

The UN's statement comes after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed that a blast in the Falluja neighborhood of the Jabalya refugee camp Wednesday was due to an airstrike, following an initial airstrike on Tuesday. Both airstrikes targeted Hamas, according to the IDF.

The IDF said in a statement Wednesday that its jets "struck a Hamas command and control complex in Jabalya," adding that "Hamas terrorists were eliminated in the strike."

All 22 staff members of Doctors Without Borders International, who were unable to leave Gaza since October 7, have successfully entered Egypt via the Rafah border crossing, the organization said Wednesday. 

"A new team of international staff, including a specialised medical team, has already been identified and is ready to enter Gaza as soon as the situation allows, to support the humanitarian and medical response," the charity organization said. 

The charity added that many of their Palestinian colleagues "continue to work and provide lifesaving care in hospitals and across the Gaza Strip, while the most basic protections for hospitals and medical personnel are not guaranteed."

"Those who wish to leave Gaza must be allowed to do so without further delay. They must also be allowed the right to return," it said 

The charity also reiterated their calls for an immediate ceasefire. "Critically needed humanitarian supplies and staff must be allowed into Gaza where hospitals are overwhelmed and the healthcare system is facing total collapse," it said. 

The Israeli military claims it breached Hamas' defensive frontline in Northern Gaza and is expanding its fighting into the strip, according to Israel Defense Force spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.

Hagari said Wednesday the progress was made by coordinated strikes from the ground, sea and air. He called the killing of Hamas' anti-tank force chief significant, saying it would impact the group's combat ability going forward.

Foreign nationals are making their way out of Gaza and into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing Wednesday.

Among those in the first groups to leave were five French citizens and 31 Austrian citizens, the country's respective foreign ministries reported. British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also said "the first British nationals have left Gaza," without specifying a number

The French citizens were not accompanied by any non-French relatives or Palestinian workers from the French cultural center, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

They were received by a team from the French embassy in Egypt, according to the statement. 

The group of Austrians includes "mainly dual nationals who have their center of life in Gaza or were visiting family, including ten minors, the youngest being a six-year-old girl," the Austrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added that "all the evacuees are doing well under the circumstances."

It said it was "one of the first countries whose citizens have been evacuated."

The group will be taken to a shelter organized by the embassy, where they can receive medical care, if necessary, the ministry said. 

Cleverly called the evacuation of British citizens "a hugely important first step," according to a post on social media. 

The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) also posted a message on social media, saying that British nationals crossed the Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt, without specifying the number. 

“UK teams are on the ground providing assistance,” the Foreign Office said.

The Hamas-controlled border authority is overseeing civilian departures through the Rafah gate on the Gaza side, as they did prior to the attack on October 7, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed Wednesday.

US officials had repeatedly blamed Hamas for holding up the departure of civilians. Sources told CNN that there had been security concerns from Egypt and Israel about processing civilians to leave, and there was some thought that a third-party could administer the consular exits.

Egypt was particularly concerned about not taking in a flood of refugees. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's government is particularly sensitive to any potential attempts to resettle Palestinians in the Sinai.

Sixteen out of 35 hospitals in Gaza are out of service due to bombardment and a fuel shortage, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. 

The Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which is the leading cancer hospital in Gaza, is among hospitals that have stopped operating, the health ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila, based in Ramallah, said on Wednesday that the lives of 70 cancer patients at the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital are seriously threatened, adding that the lives of about 2,000 other cancer patients are also under serious threat amid "catastrophic health conditions" due to the conflict.  

Hospital director Sobhi Skaik told CNN on Monday that the center was damaged in an Israeli attack, with its third floor suffering a direct hit causing damage to oxygen and water supplies, though no one was injured. The Israeli military told CNN in a statement Tuesday: “The IDF did not strike Gaza’s Turkish-Palestinian Friendship hospital.” It did not offer any further information.

The Palestinian health ministry further warned that Gaza’s largest hospital could be out of service very soon.

The ministry called for Israeli attacks to stop, which it said would allow medical supplies and volunteer teams to enter, as well as wounded people to leave the strip for treatment.

Meanwhile, Israel has claimed that there is fuel in Gaza, but that it is under Hamas control.  

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CNN last week that there is “between 800,000 and perhaps more than one million liters of fuel of different types stored inside Gaza” under Hamas control, according to Israeli military intelligence estimates. He said some of that fuel was stockpiled and accused the United Nations and Hamas of stealing some of it as well.

CNN cannot independently verify the amount of fuel in Gaza. 

A State Department spokesperson said the agency is not beginning its official process to assess whether Israel has committed war crimes during the conflict with Hamas at the moment.

Asked about the civilians Israel has killed in its strikes on the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza, Miller said the department is “deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life,” but would not condemn the strikes.

Two aid workers — Ramona Okumura and Dr. Barbara Zind — are among the Americans who have crossed the border from Gaza into Egypt.

According to Okumura's nephew, Nicholas Pang, the family received a text saying she had crossed the border from Gaza early Wednesday morning. Okumura, a 71-year-old Seattle resident, was making prosthetics for Gazan children and had been staying in a United Nations compound when the war broke out following the attacks by Hamas on October 7.

Okumura's brother said she texted him at 4 a.m. local time, writing, "ACROSS PALESTINE BORDER ON SHUTTLE TO EGYPTIAN BORDER.”  

The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund told CNN that Dr. Barbara Zind, a pediatrician from Grand Junction, Colorado, is also now in Egypt. Okumura and Zind are headed to Cairo, the group said.

Some context: US State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said earlier Wednesday that an initial group of foreign nationals, including US citizens, had departed Gaza and were in Egypt. Miller declined to give details on the number of US citizens who had left Gaza, citing “operational security” concerns. 

Americans are expected to leave Gaza today and others are being told to be “ready to go and to await further instruction,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect Okumura's role.