Humanitarian crisis worsens in Gaza as Israel-Hamas war rages

A US Navy warship, the USS Gravely, shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen on Saturday night, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. 

Earlier on Saturday, a Singapore-flagged and Denmark owned and operated container ship named the Maersk Hangzhou was struck by a missile while transiting the Southern Red Sea, prompting USS Gravely and another vessel, the USS Laboon, to respond, CENTCOM said.

No injuries were reported and the vessel was reportedly able to sail on, CENTCOM said.

Some context: The Houthis are believed to have been armed and trained by Iran, and there are fears that their attacks could escalate Israel’s war against Hamas into a wider regional conflict.

His comments come as the death toll in Gaza rose to nearly 21,700 since Israeli military operations began on October 7, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza.

At least 165 people have been killed over the past day, and 250 others wounded, ministry spokesperson Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra said Saturday.

The ministry has confirmed the deaths of at least 21,672 people, and the injury of at least 56,165, since Israel's offensive in the enclave began, according to the spokesperson. About 70% of the war's victims are children and women, Al-Qudra said.

CNN is unable to independently confirm the figures provided by the Gaza ministry, due to restricted access to the region and the difficulty in verifying accurate numbers amid the ongoing conflict.

• Humanitarian crisis: The United Nations has expressed alarm at the growing density of internally displaced people in parts of the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli military expands operations into more parts of central and southern Gaza. Palestinians displaced inside Gaza have described cramped living conditions, sky-high prices for food, children going hungry and poor sanitation.
• More calls to evacuate southern Gaza: IDF issued what it called “several urgent instructions” to people in Gaza on what it says are safe routes to escape the intensifying fighting near the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
• Battles persist in the north: Fighting also continues in the north of the territory. On Saturday, the IDF reported fighting in the northern Shejaiya area, where “ground troops located a terrorist cell operating adjacent to the forces, and a terrorist armed with an RPG." An IDF aircraft that struck and eliminated the cell, according to the military.
• Historic bathhouse destroyed: The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged Saturday that it destroyed a centuries-old Ottoman-era bathhouse when it targeted a claimed “Hamas terrorist squad” in mid-December. The Hamam al-Samra, in the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood of northern Gaza, was said to have been built in the 14th century and was the only public bathhouse in the Gaza Strip. It was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on December 15, its owner, Salim Al-Wazeer, told CNN.
• At the Israel-Lebanon border: The IDF reported "numerous launches" coming from Lebanon toward Israeli territory Saturday. The IDF said its defenses intercepted a "suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory." Israeli troops have been battling the powerful, Iran-backed paramilitary group Hezbollah in cross-border skirmishes that have intensified since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, leading to concerns about a widening Middle East conflict.

Israel’s war against Hamas is at its “highest level and will continue for months,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, according to Israel’s Army Radio.

Addressing reporters in Tel Aviv, the prime minister also said the Israeli military is "fighting with force and new systems above and below the ground."

"We have the upper hand, we have killed more than 8,000 terrorists," he claimed, according to Army Radio.

CNN is unable to independently confirm casualty figures provided by the Israel Defense Forces or Hamas, due to restricted access to the region and the difficulty in verifying accurate numbers amid an ongoing conflict.

The Israel Defense Forces struck a centuries-old Ottoman-era bathhouse when it targeted a claimed “Hamas terrorist squad” in mid-December, the IDF confirmed Sunday. 

The Hamam al-Samra, in the Al-Zeitoun neighborhood of northern Gaza, was said to have been built in the 14th century and was the only public bathhouse in the Gaza Strip. It was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike on December 15, its owner, Salim Al-Wazeer, told CNN.

“A Hamas terrorist squad was based in the aforementioned structure which had also contained a network of terror tunnels. The IDF struck the terror target using precision munitions and while minimizing damage to uninvolved persons,” the IDF claimed in a statement.

The bathhouse had seen annual renovations during the month of Ramadan since 1999, the owner told CNN, adding that he hopes to one day rebuild the hammam.

The Israel Defense Forces reported "numerous launches" coming from Lebanon toward Israeli territory Saturday.

The IDF said its defenses also intercepted a "suspicious aerial target that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory."

The fresh attacks come after Israel said earlier Saturday that its aircraft had targeted three "terrorist" squads in Lebanon, as well as Hezbollah infrastructure in the neighboring country.

Hezbollah announced that it had carried out three attacks on Israeli forces, including one drone attack. It also acknowledged the deaths of four fighters, without saying where they were killed.

Palestinians displaced inside Gaza have described cramped living conditions, sky-high prices for food, children going hungry and poor sanitation. 

“The way I am getting by is by begging here and there and taking help from anyone,” said Abu Misbah, a 51-year-old building worker trying to support a family of 10.

Vegetables and fruit were unaffordable, he said. His children asked for oranges, but he was not able to buy them.

“We never (been) through this situation before; we were a middle-class family,” he said. “Now, since the war, we are buying dates — which we used to find everywhere for free. We want a solution to our miserable suffering.” 

Umm Omar, 50, is also displaced in Rafah, and lives in a tent. During the truce, his family had briefly returned home only to find all the windows and solar panels broken, and the kitchen destroyed.

“We are nine people in a tent of two meters by one meter,” she said. “We have bought this camping tent ourselves; no one helped us or provided it.”

Omar said the group was getting by on canned food, and estimated that most foods were at least four times as expensive as before the war. Medication is also hard to find.

“Life is difficult and humiliating; the word humiliating is not even close to describing it,” she told CNN.

The United Nations has warned that the humanitarian situation in southern Gaza is deteriorating. It warned that the volume of aid entering the enclave “remains woefully inadequate.”

The IDF posted instructions in Arabic as well as a map on X, saying that the fighting and advance of Israeli forces in the Khan Younis area meant that civilians could not use the main Salah Al-Din axis that runs north to south through the middle of Gaza.

Instead, the IDF said it would allow humanitarian movement through a separate route to the west of Khan Younis, along the coastal road, allowing access to parts of central Gaza, including Deir Al-Balah, which the UN says is overcrowded with displaced people.

The IDF also announced a four-hour “tactical suspension of military activities” in Rafah camp in the south to allow for humanitarian resupply.

Given the lack of communications and internet in Gaza, it’s unclear how many people are aware of the IDF’s instructions.

Even as Israel pushes on in central and southern Gaza, where it has announced it is extending operations, fighting also continues in the north of the territory.

On Saturday, the IDF reported fighting in the northern Shejaiya area, where “ground troops located a terrorist cell operating adjacent to the forces, and a terrorist armed with an RPG. The troops directed an IDF aircraft that struck and eliminated the cell.” 

And in Beit Lahia, which has already seen extensive destruction, the IDF said "two Hamas military compounds were dismantled by the troops, who had located numerous weapons, explosive devices, guns, military equipment, communication devices in the compounds prior to the strike."

The IDF said that in Gaza City — also in the north — ground troops and aircraft killed "dozens of terrorists."

Hamas’ military wing, Al Qassam Brigades, says it continues to fight Israeli forces in many parts of Gaza, including the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the center of the enclave.

Israel aims to destroy Hamas after their surprise attacks left 1,200 Israelis dead, as well as bring back the hostages the militant group captured.

Its military has warned the war could last “many more months."

As of Saturday, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza says nearly 21,700 people have been killed in the enclave during Israel's offensive.

CNN is unable to independently confirm figures provided by the IDF and Gaza ministry, due to restricted access to the region and the difficulty in verifying accurate numbers amid an ongoing conflict.