October 12, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

Children make up “between 30 and 40% of the wounded” in Israel's recent airstrikes on Gaza, British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Thursday.

Speaking from Al Awda Hospital in Gaza, Abu-Sittah said “the overwhelming majority of the wounded are coming from the rubble of their own home.”

Children and other patients come in with wounds from "the blast, shrapnel, masonry that flies in and damages their bodies, or they are crushed under the rubble of their own home," the surgeon said.

"As that body — that scarred body — tries to grow in the future, these kids will need surgery after surgery, as we have seen with the kids in Gaza’s previous wars — or in Syria, or in Yemen, or anywhere where children are hurt.”

“This has completely overwhelmed the health system, which was already on its knees at the end of 15 years of siege,” Abu-Sittah said, referring to Israel's tight control over the occupied territory's flow of goods, and its strict land, sea and air blockade.

“We are down on consumables, on the very material that you need to be able to treat patients,” he said.

Abu-Sittah traveled from London to Gaza on Sunday, saying that “as a Palestinian, I am driven to continuously come back and help my people here who are under continuous attack.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday his government will “do everything” to release hostages held by Hamas. 

"We will do everything for the release of the hostages no matter their nationality,” he said, addressing the nation in his first televised speech following Hamas' attacks on Israel. At least 13 French citizens were killed in the attacks, Macron said.

Macron said his country was working with Israeli authorities and other partners to bring home the French hostages “safe and sound.”

“France never abandons its children,” he added. Seventeen French citizens are still missing following the attacks, including children.

He said Israel “has the right to defend itself against terrorist groups like Hamas, through targeted actions but while preserving the safety of civilian populations.”

Macron added “The fight against terrorism cannot replace the search for peace,” and renewed a commitment to ensure Israel’s security and the Palestinians’ aspiration for a state.

The French president also said he was in talks with regional allies to avoid the extension of the conflict, especially with Lebanon.  

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said he renounces the “killing of civilians on both sides of the conflict,” in a new statement Thursday.   

Abbas also appealed for help in getting aid into Gaza, and for the restoration of water and electricity in the enclave, according to the statement published by the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

Abbas “urged the international community to intervene to allow humanitarian aid and medical relief into Gaza through humanitarian corridors. He also called for the immediate resumption of water and electricity.”

Abbas also called the Palestine Liberation Organization the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people," adding that the internationally-recognized umbrella group comprised of several Palestinian parties renounced violence and would continue to pursue national aspirations for Palestinians.  

Abbas’ comments come ahead of a meeting Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Israelis “have every right to be angry” with the government’s initial handling of Hamas’ surprise attack on Saturday, Mark Regev, a senior adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told CNN on Thursday. 

Responding to Israeli concerns about the speed at which the country’s political leadership and the Israel Defense Forces responded to the Hamas assault, Regev told CNN's Christiane Amanpour, “It is clear this time we were surprised. Something went very, very wrong.” 

Remember: Hamas successfully launched its devastating attack despite Israel spending decades preparing for such an assault. It has become a technology powerhouse, with one of the world’s most impressive armed forces and a premier intelligence agency. But when Hamas launched its attack by air, land and sea Saturday, Israel was caught off-guard.

More from Regev: The adviser said that once Israel “wins this war," inquiries into what happened would take place. 

CNN's Joshua Berlinger contributed reporting to this post.

The US government still doesn’t have any details on the condition of American hostages in Hamas custody, White House National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said Thursday.

But he said that the number of US hostages is still believed to be less than a handful.

Kirby told CNN’s MJ Lee that the limited information the administration has on the hostages has been relayed, at least in part, on accounts from “the families, who, as I mentioned yesterday — some of these families actually saw their loved ones being abducted and taken away — so they have been a significant source of information as well.”

The belief is that hostages in Hamas custody may not necessarily be in one central location, based on previous intelligence on Hamas operations, Kirby said.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced Thursday the arrival of 287 citizens in Mexico after they were evacuated from Israel.

The Mexican president said during his daily news conference there were still 764 Mexicans yet to be evacuated.

López Obrador added that two planes will return to Israel on Friday and will fly the rest of the evacuees to "one or two countries in Europe" that will serve as an air bridge.

"We are going to get them out as quickly as possible," López Obrador said.

Warning: This post contains graphic descriptions of violence.

US President Joe Biden’s graphic description Wednesday of horrors in Israel was intended to “underscore the utter depravity” of the Hamas attack on civilians, the White House says, even if he hadn’t personally viewed or confirmed the imagery he described. 

Speaking from the Indian Treaty Room, Biden told a gathering of Jewish leaders on Wednesday:

But an administration official told CNN on Wednesday evening that neither Biden nor the administration had seen pictures or confirmed reports of children or infants beheaded by Hamas. The official clarified the president’s remarks were referring to public comments from media outlets and Israeli officials. 

Tal Heinrich, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said earlier Wednesday that babies and toddlers were found “decapitated” in Kfar Aza in southern Israel. CNN could not independently verify that report and Hamas said media reports about attacking children were false.

Netanyahu's office on Thursday released "horrifying photos" of two babies whose bodies had been burned beyond recognition and a bloodstained infant’s body. A social media post from Netanyahu's office said the pictures were shown to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his visit to Israel.

Blinken became emotional later Thursday when he described seeing the images of the victims of the Hamas attack that “almost defies comprehension.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House later on Thursday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby cited those photos when explaining Biden’s remarks a day earlier.

Pressed further about the importance of upholding factual accuracy when describing events on the ground, Kirby said the White House takes seriously “the need to be as factual and certainly truthful as we possibly can be.”

 But the reality was that the full extent of Hamas’s depravity was still becoming known, he said.  

Cindy Flash, 67, a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, and her husband, Igal Flash, 66, a son of Holocaust survivors, are among the dozens killed in one of the grisliest scenes emerging from the Hamas attack on Israel. 

Their daughter, Keren Flash, 34, told CNN she learned Thursday that her parents were killed in the safe room of their home in Kfar Aza, a southern Israel kibbutz close to the Gaza border.

Keren Flash shared the last messages her mom sent in a neighborhood group message, describing the attack as it unfolded. They were sent on Saturday evening, and her mom messaged the group asking for someone to come help, saying "they managed to break into the safe room."

"That was the last time anyone heard from them," their daughter said.

"She was she was just all heart and soul," she said. Her father, Igal, was born in Israel, the son of Holocaust survivors who rarely discussed their experiences. 

"They were just a good balance of each other, and really taught me what a loving and strong relationship should look like and they were just my inspiration for everything," she said.

After not hearing from them in days and not knowing their whereabouts, Keren Flash said the only small comfort she found after receiving the tragic news is that they "apparently died instantly so at least it was quick and relatively painless."

"Just the terror before, that’s all they experienced."

She said her mother had unwavering hope in humanity and had protested Israeli military action in Gaza. 

At least 12 people working with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) have been killed in Gaza since Saturday, a spokesperson for the UN's secretary-general said Thursday, as the humanitarian crisis there deepens.

All 12 of the UN workers killed were Palestinians, the spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, said while speaking to reporters in New York Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands displaced: Dujarric said mass displacement continues to rise across the Gaza Strip as Israel pounds the territory with airstrikes, climbing 30% over the last 24 hours to reach more than 338,000. Of that figure, two-thirds are taking shelter in 92 schools run by the UNRWA.

More than 2,500 housing units in Gaza have been destroyed or severely damaged and rendered uninhabitable, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update Thursday. Another 23,000 have sustained moderate to minor damage.

Water, fuel and food: Dujarric also warned of a "looming" water crisis "across the Gaza Strip due to damaged infrastructure, lack of electricity needed to operate pumps and desalination plants, as well as limited supply of water in local markets,” Dujarric said.

OCHA said Thursday that "seven significant water and sewage facilities serving more than one million people have been hit by airstrikes and severely damaged" since the conflict erupted. "In some areas, sewage and solid waste are now accumulating in the streets, posing a health hazard.”

Half of the bakeries have less than a week’s supply of wheat flour, OCHA said, while 70 percent of shops report significantly decreased food stocks.

Reading from the OCHA update, Dujarric said: