Israel-Hamas war live updates: Nine Arab countries condemn the targeting of civilians in Gaza; Israel launches overnight raid

The United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinians in Gaza will need to start winding down its operations unless fuel arrives “imminently,” it said Thursday in a post on social media

The provision of fuel, which is fast running out in the besieged enclave, has been a point of contention amid the ongoing humanitarian aid talks, with Israel blocking supplies on the grounds that Hamas would use them.

— Karen Gilchrist

EU leaders meeting Thursday for a summit in Brussels, Belgium showed support for Israel’s targeting of Hamas but repeated calls for humanitarian support for civilians in Gaza.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters that a military operation was necessary to eliminate the Palestinian militant group, but added that it needed to happen within the boundaries of international law, Reuters reported.

“Unfortunately, a military operation needs to take place to eliminate Hamas, there is no other way, otherwise Israel cannot survive in the long run,” Rutte said. “But this should be done with a minimum of damage to the civilian population.”

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo reiterated Israel’s right to self-defense in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. However, he said that could not justify a full blockage of Gaza and the humanitarian aid needed to support its residents.

“Israel has a right to take action and to prevent future attacks. But that is never an excuse for blocking a whole region, for blocking humanitarian aid. It cannot be an excuse to starve a population,” de Croo said.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also said that he would like to see a ceasefire in order to “channel all the humanitarian aid that the Palestinian population needs, urgently.”

— Karen Gilchrist

The foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt and Morocco condemned on Thursday the targeting of civilians and violations of international law in Gaza by Israeli forces, according to Reuters.

In a joint statement, the Arab nations reportedly said that Israel’s right to self-defense following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks did not justify breaking the law and neglecting Palestinians’ rights.

The ministers also hit back at what they called forced displacement and collective punishment in Gaza.

— Karen Gilchrist

Kids are attending virtual pro-Palestine protests on Roblox in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, and so far, one virtual protest area has been visited more than 275,000 times.

Videos circulating on social media and past livestreams of at least one event showed users marching on virtual brick streets lined with Palestinian flags and large signs that translate to “Solidarity for you Palestine.” CNBC confirmed the signage by visiting the virtual protest area.

More than four in ten Roblox gamers are 12 years old or younger, as of Roblox data from December 2022, and 60% of users were 16 or younger.

—Hayden Field

Americans with family members in Gaza are growing increasingly concerned about their loved ones as the humanitarian crisis there continues to worsen.

“Every conversation, we just don’t know if it’s going to be the last time you talk to them,” a Houston man of Palestinian descent told NBC News. He still has many family members in Gaza and requested anonymity out of fear that his family could become targets.

The fears come as hospitals in Gaza are overcrowded, shut down or partially out of service because of damage from airstrikes and lack of fuel to supply electric generators.

Read the full story here.

— Michele Luhn

Israel needs to agree to a complete ceasefire to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid supplies to the Gaza Strip, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Thursday in The Hague, according to Reuters.

Israeli forces have been carrying out a retaliatory offensive into the Gaza Strip, sealing off the enclave from Israel’s fuel, food, electricity and water supplies. Humanitarian aid has been coming in since the weekend through the Rafah crossing linking the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Human rights groups have warned that they require safe conditions to be able to freely distribute the resources to Palestinian civilians.

EU leaders are meeting in Brussels on Thursday for a summit widely expected to result in a call for humanitarian pauses in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

— Ruxandra Iordache

At least 7,028 Palestinians have been killed, including 2,913 children, in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said Thursday, according to Reuters.

CNBC could not independently verify the claims.

The United Nations depends on the Gaza health ministry for death toll figures. However, U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he had “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using” for the death toll.

— Karen Gilchrist

The Palestinian foreign minister said that Israel is waging a “war of revenge” on Gaza intended to ensure its total destruction, Reuters reported Thursday.

“So many wars have taken place (in Gaza), this is different. This time it’s a war of revenge,” Riyad al-Maliki told reporters in The Hague.

“This war has no real objective, rather than the total destruction of every livable place in Gaza. This war is not directed by military plans, there are no norms respected. All international rules of war are violated,” he added.

The Israel Defense Forces said earlier Thursday that it had conducted an overnight raid in northern Gaza, “as part of preparations for the next stages of combat.”

It marks the latest phase of a nearly three-week Israeli bombardment in response to Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by the Hamas militant group.

— Karen Gilchrist

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Thursday that 12 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent have made it through the Rafah crossing point between Egypt and Gaza, carrying water, food, medicines and medical supplies.

In a post on social media, the PRCS said that 74 trucks had so far been received. It added that fuels had not been allowed to enter.

— Karen Gilchrist

It will take years for Israel to rehabilitate the southern communities hit by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, a member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet said Thursday, according to Reuters.

“The battle against Gazan terror will continue within the strip’s territory — going deep, anywhere and at any time required to ensure security for the communities that will be restored and will rebuild the region,” Benny Gantz, an ex-general who joined Netanyahu from the opposition in an emergency government, said.

“The [ground] maneuver will be but one stage of a long process that will include defensive, diplomatic and social aspects that will take years,” he added.

— Karen Gilchrist

The situation in the Gaza Strip is catastrophic and could deteriorate further with the launch of an Israeli ground operation into the area, the Kremlin said Thursday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the international community must strive to adopt a “balanced” U.N. Security Council resolution on the Middle East and broker a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to Google-translated comments reported by Russian state news agency Tass on Telegram.

The comments came after Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a U.S.-led initiative for the U.N. Security Council to call for a pause to hostilities to allow humanitarian aid deliveries, to protect civilians and to stop arming Hamas.

Reuters reported that Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused the U.S. of drafting a resolution that effectively authorized an Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip. Moscow presented its own proposal, which called for a humanitarian cease-fire and to revoke an Israeli order for civilians in Gaza City to evacuate southward. This motion failed to get minimum support.

Moscow and Washington have been consistently at odds in matters of foreign policy, with the deterioration of their diplomatic relations worsening after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Palestinian militant group Hamas has called for worldwide protests to “stop the war of extermination on Gaza” and open the Rafah crossing that links Egypt and the Gaza Strip.

In a statement reported by NBC News, Hamas asked Arab and Muslim people, along with the “free people of the world” to “escalate the mass movement throughout the coming days and to participate actively and intensively in the coming Friday and Sunday under the slogan: ‘Open the Rafah crossing’ and ‘Stop the war of extermination on Gaza’.”

Demonstrations in support of the Palestinian people have erupted across the world since Israeli military sealed off the Gaza Strip from Israel’s fuel, water, food and fuel resources, in retaliation against the Hamas terror attacks of Oct. 7. The Gaza Strip is now receiving U.N.-brokered humanitarian supplies through the Rafah crossing.

Egypt has repeatedly said it has been unable to open the passageway because of ongoing Israeli bombardment. Israel, which says it does not control the crossing, says its bombardment campaign in the Gaza Strip exclusively targets Hamas members and positions.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Israeli fighter jets struck over 250 positions held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip over the past day, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday in an update on Telegram.

The targets include operational command centers, tunnels, rocket launchers and general infrastructure.

The IDF also said Israeli navy soldiers hit a Hamas surface-to-air missile launch post in the Khan Yunis city in the southern Gaza Strip.

CNBC could not independently verify those reports.

The IDF has said it aims to dismantle the military capabilities of Hamas as part of Israel’s ongoing offensive against the Gaza Strip.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The number of hostages abducted by Hamas during the Palestinian militant group’s terror attacks of Oct. 7 has reached 224 and could rise further, the Israeli military said, according to Reuters.

The Israel Defense Forces previously put the number at 222. It had said that the number of hostages is revised as families are alerted.

Just four captives held by Hamas have been released to date. The hostages are believed to be kept in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has blockaded.

Analysts have in the past said that the existence of hostages could give Hamas a powerful bargaining chip in the event of an Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza enclave.

— Ruxandra Iordache

A United Nations humanitarian agency has called for the release of captives still held by Hamas and for the protection of civilians in the Gaza Strip, where it says “nowhere is safe.”

Citing international humanitarian law, Lynn Hastings, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said in a statement that civilians must be protected and that “hostages — all hostages — must be released, immediately and unconditionally.”

Hamas abducted roughly 222 people during its Oct. 7 terror attacks against Israel, releasing just four to date.

Hastings also touched on the forewarnings of Israeli military, which is calling for the evacuation of civilian populations out of areas about to be exposed to combat.

“For people who can’t evacuate – because they have nowhere to go or are unable to move – advance warnings make no difference. When the evacuation routes are bombed, when people north as well as south are caught up in hostilities, when the essentials for survival are lacking, and when there are no assurances for return, people are left with nothing but impossible choices,” the statement said.

Human rights groups have repeatedly flagged the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, amid hundreds of thousands of internal displacements, ongoing bombardment and supply shortages.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the Israel-Hamas conflict could “spill far beyond the borders of the Middle East,” according to a Google-translated readout of a speech given to religious leaders.

“Our task today, the main task, is to stop the bloodshed and violence. Otherwise, further growth of the crisis is fraught with severe and extremely dangerous, destructive consequences,” he said.

Divided between loyalties to Israel and Hamas-supporting Iran, Russia has repeatedly called for an end to violence and civilian suffering, but has fallen short of condemning the Palestinian militant group. Putin previously spoke against a possible Israeli ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, warning of the likelihood of civilian casualties resulting from attacking urban areas.

“We see attempts by some forces to provoke further escalation, to drag as many other countries and peoples into the conflict as possible, using them for their own selfish interests, to launch a real wave of chaos and mutual hatred not only in the Middle East, but also far beyond its borders,” Putin said.

The Kremlin has repeatedly blamed the Israel-Hamas war on the U.S. — which, alongside several Western countries, slapped sanctions against Moscow for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The Israel Defense Forces said it carried out an operation in northern Gaza overnight, in which tanks and infantry targeted “numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts.”

The military said its troops have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory.

“Overnight, the IDF conducted a targeted raid using tanks in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of preparations for the next stages of combat. The activity was commanded by the Givati Brigade,” the IDF said in a statement.

— Christine Wang

Israel’s military responded to reports of a critical dearth of fuel in the Gaza Strip, which humanitarian relief agencies say is needed to power local medical equipment, water desalination and the distribution of aid resources.

“We don’t want hospitals, or the entire[ty] of Gaza to run out of fuel or electricity or water,” Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said in an overnight live press address.

“We responded to UNRWA’s claims by referring them to where Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, stores fuel. Both diesel fuel and … other types of fuel,” he said. “It’s all inside the Gaza Strip and there’s enough for many days for hospitals and water pumps to run, only the priorities are different. Hamas prefers to have all of the fuel for its war fighting capabilities, leaving civilians without it.”

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has warned that it cannot continue to carry out its operations after Wednesday night without fresh fuel deliveries. “If fuel is not received into Gaza, UNRWA will be forced to significantly reduce and in some cases bring its humanitarian operations across the Gaza Strip to a halt. The coming 24 hours are very critical,” the agency said Wednesday.

Conricus urged humanitarian organizations to request supplies from Hamas, not Israel’s neighbor Egypt, and also not to blame Israel — which cut off the Gaza Strip from supplies of fuel, water, electricity and food as part of its campaign against Hamas.

— Ruxandra Iordache

The head of the World Health Organization urged Palestinian militant group Hamas to release its hostages, citing medical concerns.

The Israeli military says Hamas abducted around 222 people during its terror attacks of Oct. 7, of whom only four have been released to date.

“[The World Health Organization] calls for the immediate release of all the hostages, along with urgent access to each of them and delivery of medical care,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on social media late Wednesday.

“There is an urgent need for the captors of the hostages to provide signs of life, proof of provision of health care and the immediate release, on humanitarian and health grounds, of all those abducted,” he added, noting that many of the hostages have pre-existing health conditions that require urgent care and stressing the “acute” mental health trauma that captives face.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Oxfam released a statement saying “just 2 percent of usual food has been delivered to Gaza” since the siege was imposed.

“ The international agency analyzed UN data and found that just 2 percent of food that would have been delivered has entered Gaza since the total siege – which tightened the existing blockade – was imposed on 9 October,” Oxfam said.

The agency renewed its call for food, water, fuel and other essentials to be allowed to enter.   

“The situation is nothing short of horrific – where is humanity?” Oxfam spokesperson Sally Abi Khalil said in a statement. “Millions of civilians are being collectively punished in full view of the world, there can be no justification for using starvation as a weapon of war. World leaders cannot continue to sit back and watch, they have an obligation to act and to act now. ”

Oxfam estimates a staggering 2.2 million people are now in urgent need of food.

— Riya Bhattacharjee

The Biden administration is now backing the idea of a “pause” in Israel’s military operations against Hamas in order to allow more aid to get into Gaza as the international community sounds the alarm on a growing humanitarian crisis in the region, NBC News reported.

Biden stressed the need for more aid into Gaza at a news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, saying that Israel needed to do “everything in its power to protect innocent civilians.”

A U.S. official told NBC News the shift in the administration’s language was deliberate.

The official also said that the Israelis are “hearing” the call for a humanitarian pause and it is “actively being discussed.”

Read the full story on NBC News.

— Riya Bhattacharjee

A senior Treasury official met with counterparts in Qatar to discuss ways to cut Hamas’ funding stream.

“The U.S. is prepared to take unilateral action, but when we are strategically aligned with partners in this region, we have a great chance for success at a greater speed with more efficiency,” said Brian Nelson, Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Nelson hinted that the department will extend the offer to other countries in the Middle East and said he spoke with officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Prompted by the Hamas attacks, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control last week sanctioned 10 institutions that fund Hamas from Gaza, the West Bank, Sudan, Turkey, Algeria and Qatar.

The terrorist group is funded in part through charitable organizations — including Turkey’s IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation — taxes on Gazan-made goods and imports and provisions from Iran.

— Chelsey Cox