1:08 p.m. ET, December 4, 2023
Latest Update: Israel’s Operations in Southern Gaza as Palestinian Death Toll Rises
An Israeli soldier gestures toward a tank crew traveling as part of a convoy near Israel’s border with southern Gaza on Monday.
Amir Cohen/Reuters
More Israeli strikes have been reported since Israel announced Sunday it is expanding its ground operations to all of Gaza. Israeli ground forces are now operating in southern Gaza, with at least one Israeli tank in action, according to video geolocated by CNN. There have also been reports of Israeli raids in Jerusalem and clashes at the Israel-Lebanon border.
Meanwhile, all telecom services were also down in Gaza City and other parts of northern Gaza, Palestinian telecommunication company PalTel said on Monday.
Here’s what you need to know:
Death toll in Gaza rises: Israeli attacks in Gaza have resulted in the deaths of about 15,899 Palestinians since October 7, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health spokesperson. A CNN producer Ibrahim Dahman, who reported from Gaza for weeks before escaping to Egypt with his young family after nearly a month of Israeli strikes, heard news Sunday that at least nine of his relatives trapped in northern Gaza had been killed in a strike on his aunt’s house. His childhood home in Gaza City was obliterated in a separate strike on an adjacent building the same day.
People displaced: Almost 1.9 million people, more than 80% of Gaza’s total population, have now been displaced since the beginning of the war between Hamas and Israel, the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said on Monday.
Israel claims it hit Hamas targets: Israeli airstrikes hit about 200 Hamas targets in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said in an update Monday. The targets included a school in the northeastern town of Beit Hanoun, which the IDF claimed contained “terror infrastructure” including tunnel shafts stocked with weapons and explosives. Other airstrikes hit a vehicle holding weapons and an arms storage facility, the IDF said.
Deadly Israeli raids near Jerusalem: A 32-year-old man has been killed by the Israeli military during a raid at the Qalandia refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Monday. Seventeen other people were injured during the raid, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. Eleven of those injured were hurt by live ammunition. Videos from the area — which is in the West Bank — show clashes between Israeli soldiers and young Palestinians. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.
An explosion in northern Gaza: A strike targeted the northern entrance to the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, killing 10 people, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, head of pediatrics at the hospital, told CNN Monday. Video shot Sunday night and geolocated by CNN shows a number of casualties lying in the street in the aftermath of an explosion close to the hospital. CNN has been unable to confirm the cause of the explosion and has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on any strikes in the hospital’s vicinity. The Hamas-run government media office in Gaza claimed Monday that the Israeli military had struck the hospital.
Two suspected militant killed: The IDF has said its troops and the Border Police killed two suspected militants overnight Sunday in the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya. One of those killed – 29-year-old Emad Alaa Nezal – had “carried out a number of recent shooting attacks against security forces,” it said. The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that two Palestinians were shot and killed during an Israeli military incursion in Qalqilya, but did not confirm their identities. It said that the bodies of the two men had been taken by the IDF.
Israeli soldiers killed: Three more Israeli soldiers have been killed fighting against Hamas in Gaza, according to the IDF, bringing the number of IDF losses inside the Palestinian enclave to 69 since the military operation began in October.
Clashes at Israel-Lebanon border: Three Israeli soldiers were injured by mortar shells fired from across Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday. Later, more shells were fired toward an IDF post in the area of Yiftah, a kibbutz in northern Israel, the IDF said. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported concentrated Israeli shelling near a number of border settlements. Several border villages were also attacked by Israeli aircraft, the agency reported.
