March 3, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Our live coverage of Israel's war against Hamas has moved here.

US Vice President Kamala Harris doubled down on the administration’s calls for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza during remarks in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday.

“Given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire,” Harris said to cheers from the crowd. “Hamas claims it wants a ceasefire. Well, there is a deal on the table. And as we have said, Hamas needs to agree to that deal. Let’s get a ceasefire. Let’s reunite the hostages with their families. And let’s provide immediate relief to the people of Gaza.”

Harris also reflected on the humanitarian crisis in the enclave, including the carnage at an aid convoy last Thursday.

"The Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid (to Gaza)," she said. "No excuses."

State of negotiations: Israel did not attend talks in Cairo on Sunday, according to an Israeli official, after saying Hamas has not responded to the country's terms for negotiating a ceasefire.

On Saturday, a senior Biden administration official told reporters Israel had “basically accepted” a six-week ceasefire proposal and was waiting on reply from Hamas. Negotiators said they were pushing to get the deal done in time for the start of Ramadan, which begins next Sunday.

Officials from Israel, Hamas and Qatar cautioned against US optimism that a deal could be reached as soon as Monday, suggesting differences remain.

What's next: Harris is expected to meet with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Monday, a White House official told CNN. The two are expected to discuss a hostage deal that would allow for a six-week ceasefire and surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Gantz will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday, according to a schedule shared by his office.

On Sunday, Israel decided not to send a delegation to Egypt for talks on a deal for a ceasefire and release of hostages from Gaza, an Israeli official told CNN.

The official said the reason was that Hamas had not responded to two Israeli demands:

• a list of hostages, specifying which are alive and which are dead
• confirmation of the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages

Meanwhile, a Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo for the talks, a senior Hamas source told CNN, where negotiators from the US, Israel and Egypt were also expected to attend.

For Hamas' part, it said that without Israel agreeing to a permanent ceasefire, it will not agree to a deal over hostages, a highly placed source in the militant group told CNN on Sunday.

At least three sticking points remain before Hamas will agree on a deal, the source said. These are:

• A permanent ceasefire
• The withdrawal of what the source called “occupation forces” — that is, Israeli troops — from the Gaza Strip
• The return of displaced people from the south to the north of the strip

Distancing from US optimism: On Saturday, a senior official in US President Joe Biden's administration told reporters Israel had “basically accepted” a six-week ceasefire proposal in Gaza and was waiting on reply from Hamas.

Negotiators said they were pushing to get the deal done in time for the start of Ramadan, which begins a week from today. Biden had even told reporters earlier in the week that he hoped there would be a ceasefire by "next Monday," referring to tomorrow.

But officials from Israel, Hamas and Qatar had cautioned against Biden’s optimism that a deal could be reached that soon, suggesting that differences remained.

Israel is not sending a delegation to Cairo for talks on a deal for a ceasefire and release of hostages from Gaza, an Israeli official told CNN Sunday. 

The official said the reason was that Hamas had not responded to two Israeli demands: a list of hostages, specifying which are alive and which are dead; and confirmation of the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli prisons in exchange for hostages. 

The official asked not to be named in order to discuss closed-door diplomatic maneuvers. 

The decision not to send an Israeli delegation was made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in coordination with Mossad Director David Barnea — who has been a key Israeli negotiator — after Barnea received a message that Hamas had not responded to the conditions, the Israeli official said.

A high-ranking Hamas official did not immediately respond to a CNN question about whether the militant group had responded to Israel’s conditions. 

More background: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined the terms in a speech on Thursday, saying: “I demand to know in advance the names of all the hostages who will be included in the outline. I have yet to receive an answer on the two questions, and it is too early to say, in spite of our willingness, if we will achieve an outline for an additional release in the coming days.”

The Israeli decision that no delegation will go to Cairo comes just a day after a senior official in US President Joe Biden's administration told reporters that Israel had “basically accepted” a proposal for a six-week ceasefire.

A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo earlier on Sunday, a senior Hamas source told CNN.

The Israeli military has given the initial findings of its review into the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians gathering to meet at an aid convoy in northern Gaza on Thursday, repeating its assertions that most of those killed died in a crush rushing to get aid.

At least 118 people were killed and 760 injured in the incident, with Palestinian officials saying Israeli troops opened fire on desperate civilians, triggering panic. International pressure is growing for an independent inquiry to establish the facts.

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari asserted Saturday that what he called a "stampede" began before Israeli troops fired their first warning shots, and that those shots were to disperse the crowd.

But, he said, Israeli troops did later fire at "looters" who came toward them and "posed an immediate threat."

Hagari claimed in his statement Saturday that most of the injuries and deaths were the result of the "stampede." He did not indicate if any deaths followed the shooting of "looters," and Israel has not given a toll. CNN cannot independently confirm the account of events given by Hagari.

He said the IDF has opened an inquiry “to examine the incident further, which will help us reduce the risk of such a tragic incident from occurring again during one of our humanitarian operations.”

Contradictory accounts: Israeli accounts are at odds with what eyewitnesses told CNN in the aftermath of the disaster. A local journalist, Khader Al Za’anoun, said chaos and confusion at the scene only began once Israeli troops opened fire.

Many of the deaths and injuries occurred as a result of aid trucks ramming into people as drivers tried to escape the gunfire, Al Za'anoun said.

A United Nations team that visited a hospital where survivors were taken later said many of those injured suffered gunshot wounds.

What Israel has previously said: In its first comments, the IDF said the incident began when Palestinians attempted to loot the trucks. "During the incident, dozens of Gazans were injured as a result of pushing and trampling,” the IDF told CNN.

Later, an Israeli military spokesperson claimed in a briefing that there were two separate incidents involving aid trucks.

First, he said trucks entered northern Gaza and were rushed by crowds, with trucks running over people. Subsequently, he said, a group of Palestinians approached Israeli forces, who then opened fire on the Palestinians.

Then, in a briefing Thursday, Hagari said Israeli tanks had fired warning shots to disperse a crowd around the convoy, after seeing that people were being trampled. He insisted that the tanks were there “to secure the humanitarian corridor” so the aid could reach its destination.

The latest account of what happened was provided Saturday.

The number of children who have died of dehydration and malnutrition in northern Gaza has risen to 15, a Palestinian Ministry of Health spokesman there said Sunday.

CNN cannot independently confirm the deaths of the children or their causes due to the lack of international media access to wartime Gaza.

Doctors at the Kamal Adwan Hospital also “fear for the lives of six children suffering from malnutrition and diarrhea in intensive care as a result of the cessation of the electric generator and oxygen and the weakness of medical capabilities,” Dr. Ashraf Al-Qidra, the Ministry spokesman in Gaza, said in a statement.

The death toll has been rising since last week when incubators and oxygen supplies at Kamal Adwan Hospital ceased to operate at night because of fuel shortages, the ministry said.

UNICEF responds: The United Nations children's agency has called for urgent action, requesting "multiple reliable entry points" to allow them to bring aid.

“Humanitarian aid agencies like UNICEF must be enabled to reverse the humanitarian crisis, prevent a famine, and save children’s lives,” UNICEF’s Adele Khodr said in a statement Sunday.

UNICEF said it was aware of at least 10 children dying due to dehydration and malnutrition in recent days at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

“There are likely more children fighting for their lives somewhere in one of Gaza’s few remaining hospitals, and likely even more children in the north unable to obtain care at all,” Khodr added.

She described the situation as "man-made, predictable, and entirely preventable," and warned the death toll among children could rapidly increase unless immediate action is taken.

This post has been updated with comments from UNICEF.

CNN’s Richard Roth and Eyad Kourdi contributed to this report.

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says Israel helped the United States to coordinate an airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

In a video statement, Hagari said Israel was working with the international community "to enable the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza."

He added that the IDF coordinated the delivery of aid alongside the United States Central Command and the Royal Jordanian Air Force.

"We encourage all efforts, all of them to help alleviate the suffering of civilians in Gaza," he said.

He did not specify how much aid was successfully dropped into Gaza in this instance, but he said the IDF has also worked alongside France, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt and the US to enable the delivery of 21 airdrops of humanitarian aid into Northern Gaza in total.

Some context: Humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza declined 50% in February compared to January, according to the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East last week.

He blamed a lack of political will, regular closing of crossing points and lack of security due to military operations among the reasons for the decline in aid deliveries as well as what he called the “collapse of civil order.”

CNN has documented how Israel has obstructed the bulk of aid deliveries, according to government and humanitarian officials.

Hamas wants Israel to agree to a permanent ceasefire, a highly placed diplomatic source told CNN, as talks resumed in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday.

The source said it was very unlikely there will be a deal in the next 48 hours. That source said there are two key issues stalling an agreement:

• Without Israel agreeing to permanent ceasefire or at least a path to a ceasefire, Hamas will not release the remaining Israeli hostages.
• And there must be a guarantee of a certain amount of aid getting to both the north and south of Gaza.

Earlier, a senior official in US President Joe Biden's administration said Israel has "basically accepted" a six-week ceasefire proposal in Gaza, and that there is a "framework deal." The sticking point, the official says, is that Hamas has not yet agreed to releasing a “defined category of vulnerable hostages.”

Prominent voices from Biden's party have urged the US to focus on securing a ceasefire deal and, eventually, an end to the conflict. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday that the killing of innocent people in Gaza “has to stop.” And Sen. Chris Murphy told the Washington Post that if the war continues to look like the carnage that unfolded at a food aid convoy on Thursday, "it is not in the US interest to continue to be a part of that."

Meanwhile, 90 people were killed in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday, bringing the death toll in the strip to 30,410.

If you're just joining us, here are some the other latest headlines:

• US airdrops aid into Gaza: After the US airdropped aid into Gaza on Saturday — in a joint operation with Jordan — White House officials said they have seen Palestinian civilians distribute the tens of thousands of meals among themselves. Biden said Saturday the amount of aid flowing into Gaza is not enough. The US Defense Department is planning more airdrops in the days ahead, according to a White House official. Meanwhile, aid agencies have criticized US airdrop plans as ineffective, as the United Nations warns hundreds of thousands in the enclave are on the brink of famine and US ally Israel continues to obstruct aid deliveries.
• Harris to meet with Israeli minister: As negotiators try to hammer out a ceasefire deal, US Vice President Kamala Harris will meet with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz on Monday, according to a White House official.
• Militant group encourages attacks in West Bank: Al-Quds Brigades, the militant wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, has called upon residents of the West Bank and Jerusalem to attack checkpoints and roads used by Israeli settlers during Ramadan, according to the group's spokesperson. Videos from the militant group suggest that it is detaining some of them in Gaza.
• Rafah strike: At least 11 people — including two health workers — were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp next to a maternity hospital in Rafah, the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Saturday. The Israel Defense Forces claimed it targeted the PIJ in Rafah and that the hospital in the area was not damaged.

Without Israel agreeing to a permanent ceasefire, Hamas will not agree to a deal over hostages, a highly placed source in the militant group told CNN on Sunday.

At least three sticking points remain before Hamas will agree upon a deal, the source said. These are:

• A permanent ceasefire
• The withdrawal of what the source called “occupation forces” – that is, Israeli troops – from the Gaza Strip
• The return of displaced people from the south to the north of the strip

The source spoke to CNN as a Hamas delegation returned to Cairo for further talks, and the day after a senior Biden Administration official told reporters that Israel has “basically accepted” a proposal for a six-week ceasefire. There has been no public comment from Israel since the briefing from the Biden administration official.

A diplomatic source briefed on the talks told CNN on Sunday that there is progress, but it is very slow. The source said it was very unlikely there will be a deal in next 48 hours.

While the source also said Hamas would not agree to releasing hostages without a permanent ceasefire, they also said that there must be a guarantee of a certain amount of aid getting to both the north and south of Gaza before progress can be made.