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Devastation in Gaza as Israel wages war on Hamas
By Adrienne Vogt and Matt Meyer, CNN
Updated 3:00 a.m. ET, May 19, 2024
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'Absolute disaster' at Kamal Adwan Hospital as dozens of killed and injured Palestinians arrive
From Abdel Qadder Al-Sabbah and CNN's Sarah El Sirgany and Kareem El Damanhoury
Dozens of killed and injured Palestinians arrived at Kamal Adwan Hospital on Saturday as fighting continued in northern Gaza, the hospital's director general Hussam Abu Saifya told CNN, describing the situation as “an absolute disaster.”
“Adwan is a small hospital without the capacity for this large number of injuries, all of which are critical,” he said. “We don’t have enough medical supplies and medications. We are facing a medical catastrophe."
Al-Ghad TV journalist Abdel Karim Al-Zweidi was among the injured who arrived at the hospital after a shell hit a street where he was filming.
“A shell hit the street where a number of civilians were standing and it hit the center of their gathering,” Al-Zweidi told CNN. “I was injured and every citizen on the street was injured. A lot of people were killed.”
Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli military said its troops had killed Palestinian militants in multiple battles in Jabalya in northern Gaza. CNN footage from the area showed large explosions, with the sounds of bombardment, gunfire and drones.
Desperate Gazans grab aid boxes from moving trucks
From Mohammad Al-Sawalhi, Eyad Kourdi and CNN’s Sarah El Sirgany
A group of men in southern Gaza intercepted trucks carrying aid from a newly introduced floating pier Saturday, seizing food boxes in a dramatic show of desperation.
CNN video showed the men running alongside the trucks and jumping on the back of the vehicles while they were still moving, reaching for the boxes of aid secured beneath tarps. When the trucks stopped, large groups formed along the roadside, with people clamoring aboard the vehicles to grab supplies.
Ramadan Al-Aklok, a local who took a box of high-energy biscuits from a truck, said, "They brought these," pointing to the box, "as aid to the people. The trucks were moving, and men jumped on them because of the widespread hunger."
One of the men interviewed by CNN in the area expressed deep skepticism about the intentions behind the floating pier, which was built by the US military. He questioned whether the aid was genuinely meant to assist the Palestinian people or had "ulterior motives."
"They say it’s for aid, but people are apprehensive. Is this aid or something else? We know that the US has never supported the Palestinian cause, so it’s implausible that it’s giving us aid without something in return," Mounir Ayad, a Gaza resident, told CNN.
This sentiment was echoed by others in the area, who questioned why the aid could not be transported through existing land crossings, which they believe would effectively end the starvation in Gaza if opened.
Numerous United Nations agencies have warned that aid from the pier will not be sufficient to address a spiraling hunger crisis while Israel still tightly restricts more efficient deliveries via land crossing.
Israeli Prime Minister’s Office rejects Gantz’s ultimatum
From Eugenia Yosef and CNN's Kareem El Damanhoury
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has rejected Benny Gantz’s threat to leave the government, saying the ultimatum he laid out for the war plan against Hamas would harm Israel.
“The conditions set by Benny Gantz are washed-up words whose meaning is clear: the end of the war and a defeat for Israel, the abandonment of most of the hostages, leaving Hamas intact and the establishment of a Palestinian state,” the office said in a statement.
The office also asked Gantz if he’s determined to eliminate the Hamas battalions, oppose the introduction of the Palestinian Authority into Gaza and oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state – saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is committed to all three.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu thinks that the emergency government is important for achieving all the goals of the war, including the return of all our hostages, and expects Gantz to clarify his positions to the public on these issues,” according to the statement.
Remember: Gantz leaving the emergency war cabinet would not trigger a collapse of Netanyahu's government, because he is not part of the coalition government. But his potential withdrawal would damage the image of wartime unity that Netanyahu has attempted to project throughout the war in Gaza.
Gantz responds: The war cabinet minister was quick to release a statement in response to Netanyahu's office, saying the prime minister should not "drag his feet for fear of the extremists in his government."
Gantz said Netanyahu would have "finished the mission" if he would have listened to Gantz and entered Rafah months ago.
This post has been updated with Gantz's response to the Prime Minister's Office.
1 of the 3 American doctors remaining in Gaza speaks out, calling on Biden to help protect aid workers
From CNN's Betsy Klein
Dr. Adam Hamawy, a US Army combat surgeon who is one of three American doctors choosing to stay behind in the Gazan city of Rafah, called on President Joe Biden to help protect him and other aid workers in a new statement Saturday.
I have never in my career witnessed the level of atrocities and targeting of my medical colleagues as I have in Gaza,” Hamawy wrote.
He was among a group of 20 American doctors that arrived in Gaza on May 1 to serve patients at the European Hospital. Their planned May 13 departure was denied after Israel's military offensive in Rafah shuttered a critical border crossing.
While the White House said Friday that it was able to evacuate 17 of the doctors who wished to leave, Hamawy wrote that he "could not in good conscience leave my team behind."
The New Jersey-based doctor, who has been credited with saving Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s life in Iraq, is now calling on Biden to pressure Israel to ensure that medical professionals can continue to provide humanitarian aid.
“This burden falls on the international community and President Biden to use their full influence to ensure medical personnel can continue their critical work without being put in harm's way. We worry that the European Hospital we currently are in will suffer a similar fate of Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals, where humanitarian workers, patients, and civilians were massacred,” he said.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Hamawy’s statement was first shared with the Washington Post.
At least one person arrested during anti-government protests in Tel Aviv
From Eugenia Yosef and CNN's Michael Rios
Israeli police say they have arrested at least one person during anti-government protests in Tel Aviv on Saturday night.
A police spokesperson says police initially authorized a demonstration at the Kaplan intersection of the city, but later, a number of protesters gathered at a different intersection, lit torches and tried to go down to a road to block it. Authorities deemed those protests illegal and ordered people to disperse.
Police say the group didn't obey that order and that officers used unspecified “measures” to try to clear the area. At least one person was arrested over disorderly conduct, and several traffic tickets were handed out.
Some context: Israel has seen large anti-government protests in major cities for weeks, with domonstrators calling for the release of all hostages held in Gaza and, in many cases, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's resignation over his handling of the war.
Friday's protests also come as an ultimatum from war cabinet member Benny Gantz — who said he would leave the government if the cabinet does not lay out a plan for the war against Hamas by early June — has added further turmoil to Netanyahu's government.
A US-built pier is beginning to funnel aid into Gaza. Here's how it works and what it looks like
The Israel Defense Forces said Saturday that more than 300 pallets of humanitarian aid were delivered to Gaza through a new floating pier installed by the US military.
It comes after the United Nations' humanitarian agency said Gaza is facing a “dire” food situation as barely more than 300 aid trucks have entered the strip since Israel began its offensive in Rafah.
The pier, which was anchored to a beach in Gaza on Thursday, is estimated to facilitate about 500 tons of humanitarian assistance per day into the enclave, according to US Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper.
Here's how the whole process works:
About 800,000 people have fled Rafah since Israeli operation began in the city, head of UN agency says
From CNN’s Sarah El Sirgany and Eyad Kourdi
Approximately 800,000 people, nearly half of Rafah's population, have been displaced since Israeli forces started military operations in the area on May 6, according to the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Since the conflict in Gaza began, Palestinians have been repeatedly forced to flee, "never finding safety, not even in UNRWA shelters," the agency's commissioner general, Philippe Lazzarini, said Saturday in a post on X.
He also said the number of aid trucks getting into the strip is only "a small trickle amid the growing humanitarian needs and mass displacement."
"While we welcome reports on first shipments arriving at the new floating dock, land routes remain the most viable, effective, efficient and safest aid delivery method. The crossings must re-open and be safe to access," he said.
Lazzarini's comments echo a warning from another UN agency, which said in a report Friday that Gazans face a "dire" food situation as Israel tightly restricts aid deliveries to the enclave.
Israeli opposition leader tells Gantz to leave government
From CNN's Michael Rios and Jeremy Diamond
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid urged war cabinet ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot to “get out” of the government, suggesting their exits could lead to the removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Responding to Gantz’s Saturday news briefing — in which the former defense minister threatened to leave the government unless a concrete war plan is implemented by early June — Lapid said:
“Enough with the press conferences, enough with the empty ultimatums, get out! If you weren't sitting in the government, we would already be in the post-Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir era,” Lapid said.
“The fact that Netanyahu is still in power is already registered in your name,” he added.
Some context: Gantz is not part of the coalition government, which means his potential withdrawal from the emergency war cabinet does not automatically trigger a collapse of Netanyahu's government. However, it could upend the image of wartime unity that Netanyahu has attempted to create and sustain.