Israel-Hamas war live updates: Israel vows to step up Gaza bombardment ahead of expected ground offensive; West Bank mosque hit

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Pope Francis on Sunday and discussed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, the White House said in a statement.

They discussed “the need to prevent escalation in the region and to work toward a durable peace in the Middle East,” the White House said.

The Vatican earlier said the call, which lasted about 20 minutes, “focused on conflict situations in the world and the need to identify paths to peace.”

Biden also held a call on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the situation in Israel and Gaza, the White House said.

— Reuters

The Israel-Hamas war, now in its 16th day, is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Palestinian Health Ministry said Sunday the death toll in Gaza had reached at least 4,651 people, with another 14,254 people wounded in the besieged territory.

The ministry said 93 Palestinians were also killed in violence and Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank since Hamas militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7. More than 1,650 others were wounded, it added.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly in the initial Hamas attack. In addition, 203 people were believed captured by Hamas during the incursion and taken into Gaza, the Israeli military has said.

— Associated Press

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the United States expects the Israel-Hamas war to escalate by proxies of Iran directed against American armed forces and personnel, and that the U.S. is prepared to respond in the event that happens.

“We are taking steps to make sure that we can effectively defend our people and respond decisively if we need to. This is not what we want, not what we’re looking for. We don’t want escalation.” Blinken said at an appearance during NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We don’t want to see a second or third front develop. We don’t want to see our forces or our personnel come under fire. But if that happens, we’re ready for it.”

The U.S. had announced Sunday that non-essential staff at its embassy in Iraq should leave the country.

— Pia Singh

Stock markets in the Gulf declined on Sunday amid concerns about an escalation in the Israel-Hamas war and additional interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

• Saudi Arabia’s benchmark index was down for a third consecutive session, ending 1.5% lower, as of October 22. Al Rajhi Bank, a Saudi Arabian bank which is the world’s largest Islamic bank by capital, lost 2.1%.
• The Qatari index continued its five-day streak of losses, ending 0.9% lower, with Industries Qatar dropping 2.2% and Qatar Navigation sliding 3%. The Qatar National Bank declined by 2.1%.
• The Dubai Financial Market General Index, Dubai’s main share index, retreated 1.5%.
• Outside the Gulf, Egypt’s blue-chip index gained 2.4%.

Monetary policy in the Gulf Cooperation Council is usually guided by the Federal Reserve’s policies as most regional currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar. The Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, has six members: Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

— Pia Singh

Hezbollah announced the deaths of five more militants as clashes along the Lebanon-Israel border intensified and the Israeli prime minister warned Lebanon on Sunday not to let itself get dragged into a new war.

The tiny Mediterranean country is home to Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim political party with an armed wing of the same name. Israeli soldiers and militants have traded fire across the border since Israel’s war with the Palestinian group Hamas began, but the launches so far have targeted limited areas.

Hezbollah has reported the deaths of 24 of its militants since Hamas’ bloody Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel. At least six militants from Hamas and another militant group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and at least four civilians have died in the near-daily hostilities.

Hezbollah has vowed to escalate if Israel begins a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, which is likely, and Israel said it would aggressively retaliate.

“If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will miss the Second Lebanon War. It will make the mistake of its life,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday as he visited troops stationed near the border with Lebanon. “We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the consequences for it and the Lebanese state are devastating.”

— Associated Press

The fuel supply in Gaza will run out in three days, further limiting humanitarian aid to the enclave’s residents, a top United Nations official said in a statement on Sunday.

“In three days, UNRWA will run out of fuel, critical for our humanitarian response across the Gaza Strip,” Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner General for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, said. “Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries. Without fuel, aid will not reach many civilians in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance.”

A 20-truck humanitarian aid convoy — the first since the war started — was sent to the Gaza Strip on Saturday through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. The limited amount of aid sent included food, water and medicine but no fuel supplies, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The decision to exclude fuel from the first aid delivery was a concession to Israel over worries that Hamas could use it for military purposes, according to a Washington Post report.

Egypt’s state-run media has reported that 17 more trucks were crossing into Gaza on Sunday, but the United Nations said none had crossed. “Until now, there is no convoy,” a spokeswoman for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said.

— Pia Singh

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the U.S. is positioning troops and preparing to defend itself if other Middle Eastern countries escalate the Israel-Hamas war.

“If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation, see our advice is: Don’t,” Austin said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” “We maintain the right to defend ourselves and we won’t hesitate to take the appropriate action.”

On Thursday, the U.S.S. Carney, a U.S. naval ship, shot down three missiles fired by pro-Iranian Houthi forces, which the Pentagon said could have been directed at Israel.

“I applaud the work of the crew of the Carney,” said Austin. “They demonstrated what our very capable United States Navy can do and will do if challenged.”

Throughout the week, several U.S. bases in the Middle East were attacked. There is some speculation that Iran-backed militant groups launched those attacks.

Austin also addressed the civilian lives that have been lost in the crossfire of the war. He said that the U.S. has been urging Israel to stay within the bounds of wartime law and that each potential attack target should be “carefully assessed” to minimize the threat to civilian lives.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Cindy McCain, the director of the United Nations World Food Programme, reported that a trickle of 17 trucks of humanitarian aid arrived in Gaza on Sunday with 40 more are expected tomorrow.

Yesterday, 20 trucks of aid got through to Gaza via the Rafah border crossing in northeastern Egypt. McCain said those convoys were able to serve 200,000 people at dinner last night, which, she added, is nowhere close to enough.

“This dribbling system is not going to work,” McCain said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

More convoys of aid are ready to be deployed and are just waiting to get the clearance to cross the Rafah border. For reference, McCain said that there were 400 trucks crossing the Rafah border prior to the war beginning.

“This is a war zone and things are very fluid so that’s why we have to be able to get these trucks safely and sustainably,” said McCain.

— Rebecca Picciotto

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops stationed near the border with Lebanon, where the Israeli army and Iran-backed Hezbollah militants also have traded fire during the Hamas-Israel war.

A top official with Iran Hezbollah vowed Saturday that Israel would pay a high price whenever it starts a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and said Saturday that his militant group based in Lebanon already is “in the heart of the battle.”

Speaking to troops in the north on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel would react more fiercely than it did during its short 2006 war with Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon.

“If Hezbollah decides to enter the war, it will miss the Second Lebanon War. It will make the mistake of its life. We will cripple it with a force it cannot even imagine and the consequences for it and the Lebanese state are devastating,” the Israeli leader said.

— Associated Press

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel’s exit strategy does not involve reclaiming governance of Gaza.

“What I’ve heard from the Israelis is absolutely no intent, no desire to be running Gaza themselves,” Blinken said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

At the same time, he noted that Israel will not accept returning to the status quo of Hamas’ control of Gaza. He said that while Israel does not want to govern Gaza, the country also does not want to live with the threat of another fatal attack like the one Hamas launched on Oct. 7.

Blinken also said that Israelis have made it clear to him that they do not want any escalation in the region. He said that it is not in anyone’s interest for a second or third front to form in Lebanon, northern Israel, southern Lebanon or elsewhere.

That’s why, he added, the U.S. has sent aircraft battle groups to the region: “Not to provoke, but to deter, to make clear that if anyone tries to do anything, we’re there.”

Blinken also addressed the hostage situation and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Two U.S. hostages, Natalie and Judith Raanan, were released yesterday. Blinken said he did not have intel as to why Hamas chose to release them first. He also said that “some significant number” of the 10 unaccounted-for Americans are being held hostage, but he does not know how many nor which ones.

Blinken said that more convoys of humanitarian aid are set to move into Gaza today after the first waves of assistance trickled into the region yesterday.

“This is a work in progress,” he said.

— Rebecca Picciotto

A convoy of 17 trucks bringing aid to besieged Palestinians crossed into Gaza on Sunday, Egypt’s state-run media reported.

The delivery would be the second shipment into the territory in the past two days.

Residents of Gaza have been under an Israeli blockade that cut off food, water, medicine and electricity since Hamas militants rampaged through southern Israel on Oct. 7.

The more than 2 million residents of the territory have been struggling under Israeli airstrikes and with dwindling resources since then.

— Associated Press

Concerns about the risk of wider Middle East conflict triggered by the Israel-Hamas war rose on Sunday with the U.S. dispatching more military assets to the region as Israel pummelled targets in Gaza and Hamas supporters in Lebanon and Syria.

Medical sources in Gaza said more than 50 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes overnight on the enclave, to which Israel laid “total siege” after a cross-border Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas militants that has traumatized Israelis.

In neighboring Syria — where Hamas’s main regional backer Iran has a military presence — Israeli missiles hit Damascus and Aleppo international airports early on Sunday, killing at least two workers, according to Syrian state media.

In south Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah has been exchanging cross-border fire with Israel in support of Hamas, Israel said its aircraft bombed Hezbollah targets on Saturday. Hezbollah said six of its fighters were killed.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cautioned Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister that the Lebanese population would be affected if his country were drawn into the Israeli-Hamas war, the State Department said.

— Reuters

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said Sunday that the situation in the besieged Gaza Strip is “terrible,” with humanitarian supplies “very limited” and food and drinking water scarce.

The agency called for the continuous supply of vital aid supplies to avoid an even greater humanitarian disaster.

“We need a sustainable supply line of aid to avoid catastrophe in the Strip,” the UNRWA director said in a statement.

— Sam Meredith

Images published Sunday by Getty Images showed black smoke billowing in the southern Gaza Strip after Israeli airstrikes overnight.

Palestinians in Gaza could be seen evacuating destroyed buildings and inspecting the damage at a time when Israel has vowed to step up its bombardment of the beseiged enclave.

— Sam Meredith

Israel’s military said Sunday it launched an air strike on an underground compound at a mosque in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank that allegedly contained a “terror cell” of operatives from Palestinian militant group Hamas and a second Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad.

The Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Securities Authority said in joint statement that the operatives “were responsible for several terror attacks over the last months, and were organizing an additional imminent terror attack.”

CNBC could not independently verify this claim.

“Intel was recently received which indicated that the terrorists, that were neutralized, were organizing an imminent terror attack. The mosque was used by the terrorists as a command center to plan the attacks and as a base for their execution,” the joint statement said.

— Sam Meredith

Palestinians said they had received renewed warnings from Israel’s military to move from north Gaza to the south of the strip, with the added warning that they could be identified as sympathisers with a “terrorist organisation” if they stayed put.

The message was delivered in leaflets marked with the Israel Defense Forces name and logo from Saturday and sent to people via mobile phone audio messages across the Gaza Strip, a narrow territory that is just 45 km (28 miles) long.

“Urgent warning, to residents of Gaza. Your presence north of Wadi Gaza puts your life in danger. Whoever chooses not to leave north Gaza to the south of Wadi Gaza might be identified as an accomplice in a terrorist organisation,” the leaflet said.

— Reuters

Approximately 1.4 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest daily update form the Hamas-run government media office.

Half of those displaced in Gaza have sought refuge in the 217 shelter centers, while Hamas said the others are staying with relatives, friends, and others.

The daily update said 248 people in Gaza had been killed over the past 24 hours, taking the total death toll since Oct. 7 to 4,385, with 13,561 citizens injured.

Hamas said Israeli forces continued to target educational institutions, with 176 schools subjected to various damages and 30 schools out of service.

— Sam Meredith

Israel’s military targeted airstrikes against Damascus and Aleppo airports, Syria’s state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said Sunday, killing one civilian worker and injuring another.

The damage from the missiles put both airports out of service, SANA said.

CNBC could not independently verify details on the ground.

— Sam Meredith

“Hezbollah is playing a very dangerous game,” IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus warned in a social media update.

Residents in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona have already been asked to evacuate for their own safety as violence at the Israel-Lebanon border flares up.

Overnight, Israel said it struck Hezbollah military targets belonging to the Iran-backed group in Lebanon and one of its soldiers was killed by an anti-tank missile. “The IDF will not stand by as its soldiers and civilians are attacked,” the IDF said.

Hezbollah lost six of its fighters in the cross-border fighting, Reuters reported.

— Joanna Tan

The Israel Defense Forces said it has “has no intention of considering those who have yet to evacuate as a member of a terrorist group.”

There were reports Israel will consider residents in Gaza who choose not to evacuate, but to remain in the north, as associates of terrorist organizations.

“The translation from Arabic that has now spread across platforms is imprecise,” the IDF said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The IDF reiterated that “for the safety of Gazan civilians,” residents should evacuate to the south of Wadi Gaza. “All those who remain are endangering themselves due to the Hamas’ terrorist activities within civilian areas.”

— Joanna Tan

Canada’s National Department of Defence said on Saturday that Israel was not behind the Al-Ahli hospital strike in Gaza on Oct. 17.

“Analysis conducted independently by the Canadian Forces Intelligence Command indicates with a high degree of confidence that Israel did not strike the Al-Ahli hospital on 17 October 2023,” it said in a statement.

The strike was more likely caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza, the defense department said based on analysis of open source and classified reporting.

Canada’s findings are similar to conclusions by France and the U.S.

— Reuters

Israel will increase attacks on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in the next stage of the war, a spokesman for the Israeli military said.

“We will intensify the attacks on Hamas’ strongholds in the north of Gaza Strip,” Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for Israel Defense Forces told reporters, according to an NBC News translation.

“We’ll continue attacking targets that can be a threat to our ground forces in the following stages of the war,” he added.

As of Saturday, more than 700,000 residents from northern Gaza Strip have evacuated and moved to the south side of the Gaza Stream, he added.

— Joanna Tan

U.N. agencies welcomed the delivery of a 20-truck convoy carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza, but said it is “far from enough.”

The agencies called for a humanitarian cease-fire, “immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access throughout Gaza,” and for humanitarian aid to be at scale and sustained.

“We call for safe and sustained access to water, food, health – including sexual and reproductive health – and fuel, which is necessary to enable essential services,” the statement said.

Health facilities are running on small amounts of fuel secured locally, which is “expected to run out in the next day or so,” they said. “Vulnerable people are at greatest risk and children are dying at an alarming rate.”

“Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. It is now catastrophic. The world must do more,” the U.N. agencies said in a joint statement.

— Joanna Tan

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “propaganda” claims by Hamas that they offered to release two more hostages.

According to media reports, the spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, claimed to have informed Qatar of the intention to release the two other hostages the same day Americans Judith and Natalie Ranaan were released.

In a later statement, Abu Ubaida claimed the militants were prepared to free two more people on Sunday “using the same procedures” involved in the release of the Ranaans, Reuters reported.

“We will not respond to false propaganda by Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “We will continue to do everything necessary to bring all the captives and missing back home.”

“Hamas has been trying to present itself as a humanitarian organization to the world, after the release of the two hostages,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“Don’t fall for their trap,” the post said.

— Joanna Tan

The U.S. will be deploying additional military assets to the Middle East amid escalating tensions by Iran and its proxy forces across the region, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin announced late Saturday.

“Today I directed a series of additional steps to further strengthen the Department of Defense posture in the region,” he said in a statement.

The U.S. will deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery as well as additional Patriot air defense missile system battalions to locations throughout the Middle East. Additional forces are also on standby, ready to be deployed in case there’s a need to respond quickly, Austin said.

“These steps will bolster regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for U.S. forces in the region, and assist in the defense of Israel.”

— Joanna Tan

The delivery of aid through the Rafah crossing is “totally insufficient” warned the Médecins Sans Frontières or Doctors Without Borders in a statement.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” the group wrote following reports that the first 20 trucks carrying aid arrived in Gaza.

“Food, water, and medicine are still desperately needed. It is critical that fuel be allowed into Gaza, as this is essential for lifesaving hospital operations as well as the availability of clean water,” the group said, calling for sustained humanitarian deliveries to civilians in Gaza.

— Amanda Macias

A top official with Hezbollah vowed that Israel will pay a high price whenever it starts a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and said Saturday that his militant group based in Lebanon already is “in the heart of the battle.”

The comments by Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Kassem, came as Israel shelled and made drone strikes in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah fired rockets and missiles toward Israel.

For Hezbollah, heating up the Lebanon-Israel border has a clear purpose, Kassem said: “We are trying to weaken the Israeli enemy and let them know that we are ready.” Hamas officials have said that if Israel starts a ground offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah will join the fighting.

There are concerns that Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has a weapons arsenal consisting of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, as well as different types of drones, might try to open a new front in the Israel-Hamas war with a large-scale attack on northern Israel.

Kassem said his group, which is allied with Hamas, already was affecting the course of the conflict by heating up the Lebanon-Israel border and keeping three Israeli army divisions tied up in the north instead of preparing to fight in Gaza.

“Do you believe that if you try to crush the Palestinian resistance, other resistance fighters in the region will not act?” Kassem said in a speech Saturday during the funeral of a Hezbollah fighter. “We are in the heart of the battle today. We are making achievements through this battle.”

— Associated Press