Israel-Hamas war live updates: Hamas says it clashed with Israeli forces in northwest Gaza; Netanyahu rules out cease-fire

Consul General of Israel to the U.S. Midwest Yinam Cohen said that freed hostage Natalie Raanan has returned home to Chicago.

“Her family members have been anxiously waiting for her return, and today I am sharing their happiness,” he said on social media.

“While we’re celebrating Natalie’s return, we remember the 239 hostages, among them babies, children, women, and the elderly, who are still held by Hamas in Gaza.”

Natalie Raanan and her mother Judith were taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, as they visited Israel. They were staying in the kibbutz Nahal Oz, which was stormed by the militant group.

They were released on Friday, Oct. 20, after nearly two weeks of captivity.

— Katrina Bishop

The armed wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, fired anti-tank missiles against Israel’s forces early on Tuesday, according to a Hamas-affiliated outlet on social media.

The report said clashes had escalated in the northwest Gaza axis, according to a Google translation, as well as two tanks and bulldozers being targeted in the same area.

—Matt Clinch

Israeli military struck 300 targets of Palestinian militant group Hamas during ground operations undertaken in the past day, the Israel Defense Forces said in a social media update.

Targets included infrastructure, anti-tank missiles posts, rocket launch posts and Hamas compounds. The military also hit Hamas operatives, the IDF said.

CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground. The IDF’s stated goal is to strip away the military capabilities of Hamas.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has no plans to resign, despite a public uproar over the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas raid that killed over 1,400 Israelis and sparked the current Israel-Hamas war.

Netanyahu was asked at a news conference Monday if he has considered stepping down.
“The only thing that I intend to have resigned is Hamas. We’re going to resign them to the dustbin of history,” he said. “That’s my goal. That’s my responsibility.”

Netanyahu also said he would not agree to a cease-fire, saying it would be tantamount “to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen.”
He said Hamas was responsible for the high death toll in Gaza, accusing the group of using civilians as human shields.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 8,306, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.

— Associated Press

The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is warning that “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire has become a matter of life and death for millions,” stressing that “the present and future of Palestinians and Israelis depend on it.”

Philippe Lazzarini warned during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Monday that a further breakdown of civil order, following the recent break-ins at the agency’s warehouses by panicked Palestinians searching for food and other aid, will make it extremely difficult for the largest U.N. agency in Gaza to continue operating.

He said in a virtual briefing that he is worried about a spillover of the conflict and urged all 193 U.N. member nations “to change the trajectory of this crisis.”

The commissioner-general of the agency known as UNRWA, also said 64 of its staff have been killed in just over three weeks — the latest only two hours prior when UNRWA’s head of security in mid-Gaza was killed with his wife and eight children.

Lazzarini said most Palestinians in Gaza “feel trapped in a war they have nothing to do with” and “they feel the world is equating all of them to Hamas.” He stressed that the Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities in Israel don’t absolve Israel from its obligations under international humanitarian law, starting with the protection of civilians.

— Associated Press

Israel has warned its citizens to leave the northern Caucasus after a mob stormed an airport in Russia’s Dagestan region when a flight from Israel landed there.

Hundreds of men, some carrying banners with antisemitic slogans, rushed onto the tarmac of the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region, on Sunday night, looking for Israeli passengers on the flight from Tel Aviv, according to Russian news reports.

The attack seemed to be partly fueled by anger at Israel’s actions in Gaza, where it has been at war with Hamas following a deadly incursion by the militant group earlier this month. Several people in the mob were waving Palestinian flags.

More than 20 people were wounded, with two in critical condition, and police made 60 arrests.

Israel raised its travel warning level to 4, the highest level, calling on citizens to avoid all travel to Dagestan and neighboring regions, and for those who are there to leave as soon as possible.

— Associated Press

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby was asked during a press briefing to confirm reports that the U.S. was involved in convincing Israel to restore internet and communication services on the Gaza Strip after it was plunged into darkness Friday night, NBC News reported.

“I would just tell you that we’re glad to see that the internet connectivity was restored,” Kirby said,

Later he confirmed, “yes, we were part of the conversations that led to that restoration.”

The Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness Friday night as Palestinians lost access to internet and communication. Large explosions could be seen lighting up the night sky as Israel stepped up bombardment.

Communication services were slowly restored on Sunday.

— Riya Bhattacharjee

Israeli officials are going back on their promised refusal to grant entry visas to U.N. officials.

Martin Griffiths, the head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, tweeted Monday that he was in Israel — less than a week after Israel’s U.N. ambassador said it had “refused” to grant Griffiths a visa.

Israeli officials had expressed outrage over comments last Wednesday by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants “did not happen in a vacuum.”

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, accused Guterres on Israel’s Army Radio of justifying a slaughter, called for his resignation and said Israel would “refuse to grant visas to U.N. representatives.”

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres stood by his remarks.

On Monday, Israel’s ambassador in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, said, “We haven’t said categorically that we’re not giving visas. We are … We understand their need to be there.”

Eilon Shahar confirmed that Griffiths was in Israel, as well as other officials, including Han Kluge, the regional head of the World Health Organization.

But she continued to voice Israel’s frustration that U.N. institution chiefs didn’t speak out more forcefully against Hamas militants for “butchering civilians and women in such a vicious way.”

“The United Nations has let down the people of Israel,” Eilon Shahar added. “When I say the United Nations, I’m talking about the multilateral organizations have let down the people of Israel.”

— Associated Press