October 10, 2023 - Israel-Hamas war news

Intense airstrikes hit residential areas in the eastern part of Jabalia and the Qizan al-Najjar region in the governorate of Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Ministry of Interior Affairs said

The attacks targeted civilians’ homes and roads and resulted in “direct injuries among citizens,” the ministry said in a statement. 

The Israel Defense Forces have not yet commented on the strikes.  

The mother of Shani Louk, an Israeli girl whose body was seen in a Hamas truck following Saturday's attack, tells CNN she believes her daughter is still alive. 

Ricarda Louk told CNN she "heard information" that her daughter is alive in a hospital in Gaza, but is suffering from a severe head injury.  

Louk said she cannot reveal where the information came from, but that it came from a "reliable source" through friends. 

The body of Shani Louk, a dual Israeli-German citizen, was seen on video seemingly unconscious on the back of a Hamas truck on Saturday after the music festival she was attending in southern Israel was attacked by Hamas militants. 

“After the video, you saw that, it's impossible to see if she's alive or dead. It was very scary, and we were very worried,” Ricarda Louk said. “But now it gave us a little bit [of] hope that she's at least in the hospital, even if it's in a bad condition.”

Ricarda Louk said she has sought support from the German government in helping free her daughter. 

“I don't understand really how such a brutal thing can just happen in the middle of the day and it was a complete surprise,” Ricarda Louk said.

At least 260 bodies were found at the music festival site, according to Israeli rescue service Zaka. Some attendees were taken hostage, seen in social media videos being seized by their armed captors.

Officials with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said Tuesday four of its employees have died as a result of air strikes on Gaza. 

At least 14 of their facilities in Gaza have been damaged directly or indirectly, UNRWA Director of Communications Juliette Touma told United Nations news. 

The agency has been unable to bring any aid into the Gaza Strip since Saturday, Touma said.

The UNRWA hosts 170,000 people in more than 80 schools and other facilities throughout Gaza. As schools reach their capacity, people have been forced to seek shelter in health care facilities, Touma said. 

UNRWA headquarters were subjected to collateral damage on Tuesday morning due to airstrikes in the surrounding neighborhoods, she said. Some of UNRWA’s employees were taking shelter in the same compound in a nearby building during the strikes, she said. 

Israeli soldier Betzalel Taljah went back to the kibbutz where his 63-year-old mother lived after it was attacked by Hamas over the weekend. When he arrived, he found that she had been killed, her body was “full of bullets.”

Taljah said when he found her body, he saw that she was shot from “head to toe.” He said she had a bag of snacks to give kids to help ease their fears of the attack. 

Ultimately, she was not able to get to a safe place in time, Taljah said. The spelling of Taljah’s mothers name was not immediately available.

Talijah said Hamas militants saw the attack “like a game.” When he arrived at his mother’s kibbutz, he said it seemed like Hamas came “just to kill and destroy.”

The number of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza is estimated to be between 100 and 150 and US President Joe Biden has confirmed that there are Americans among those.  

“The bottom line is that they are appealing to the US Administration, to Joe Biden himself, to the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to help them help them with information and help them get their loved ones released,” Anderson tells Tug of War host, David Rind.  

Anderson goes on to explain how Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin, parents of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, have had little help from the Israeli government, so have been doing their own open-source media investigation to try and figure out what happened to their son.

“Rachel explained to us that the information that she has, has been gathered by her and friends through social media videos and speaking to a number of eyewitnesses who were at that rave. That is how she, as a mom, has pieced together where she now believes her son is.”  

Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin now believe their son has been kidnapped by Hamas after attending a music festival.  

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said he spoke with the parents of Edan Alexander, who told him their son was stationed near the Gaza border and is missing.

“At the time of this weekend’s attack, he was serving near the Gaza border in the Israel Defense Forces,” Murphy said. The governor said Alexander recently graduated from Tenafly High School in Bergen County.

“We pray for his swift safe return, and we pray for every family in New Jersey and across the country with loved ones who are still unaccounted for,” Murphy said.

The governor said his administration is closely monitoring the developments out of Israel to determine whether any New Jersey residents were killed or kidnapped.

The governor added that his administration is working with county and local law enforcement leaders to increase patrols and security in sensitive areas throughout the state including at federations, schools, day care centers and houses of worship.

“We pray for every innocent civilian. Israeli, Palestinian, and others,” Murphy said. “Our state stands ready to provide whatever humanitarian assistance we can to innocent families living throughout the region.”

Michael Herzog, Israel ambassador to the US, strongly urged the international community to pressure Hamas to release people taken as hostages.

“We ask the international community to call upon Hamas to release them unconditionally because taking hostages is a war crime,” Herzog said in a an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

Herzog acknowledged that officials are still in the process of forming a complete understanding regarding the number of hostages, their identities and their status. He confirmed that among the hostages are Israelis, Americans and other nationalities. 

Herzog said he was not sure if any hostages had been killed. 

Discussing the evacuation of foreigners from Gaza, Herzog said they are coordinating with Egyptian and US authorities to assist in the safe exit of these individuals, given that the border with Israel is firmly shut.  

“The border between Israel and Gaza is closed – this is a warzone,” Herzog said. “We are under no legal obligation to provide them with anything save for the basic humanitarian needs for sustenance. We comply with international law.” 

Israel remains compliant with international law. The ambassador went on to say that Hamas itself has damaged vital infrastructure that benefits Gaza, such as the 10 power lines that deliver electricity from Israel to Gaza. 

President Joe Biden “underscored the need for all countries to unequivocally condemn Hamas’s brutal atrocities, which are akin to the atrocities of ISIS from many years ago” on a call with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a readout of the call released Tuesday evening by the White House.

Biden, according to the readout, detailed the US support “that had arrived or would soon be on its way to include ammunition, Iron Dome interceptors, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and other defense materiel.”

The White House said Netanyahu “provided an update from Israel and the spirit of the Israeli people as they unite to protect their country and their people against Hamas and all other threats.”

The two agreed to speak again in the next few days, the White House said.