Latest news on Gaza and Israel-Hamas conflict

As the Israel-Hamas conflict leaves more than 1,300 dead and at least 100 taken hostage, disinformation is surging on social media. In particular, X, formerly known as Twitter, has become a hotbed of misleading or outright manipulated posts.

Government officials, “verified” accounts, and influencers are sharing content that is either taken out of context or has been manipulated. And while Hamas and militant-aligned groups are banned from X and most social media platforms, the terrorist organization still has a presence on Telegram.

It’s sharing propaganda videos through the messaging app, which are being picked up and shared by mainstream news outlets in the Middle East as well as regular users.

Users are also falling prey to video footage from prior clashes. With verification now a paid feature, it’s become harder to discern what is genuine footage and what may be misleading.

— Rohan Goswami

A National Security Agency official said that so far the U.S. has not seen a major cyber attack on Israel on the heels of a string of weekend attacks.

“One of the big worries of course, is there a cyber component of it at this point? And I’d say not yet,” Rob Joyce, senior advisor for cyber security strategy to the Director of the National Security Agency, said according to NBC News, during the Cipher Brief national security conference in Sea Island, Georgia.

Joyce added that the U.S. expects Israel may face a cyber attack but did not share additional details.

— Amanda Macias

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin directed the movement of U.S. military assets closer to Israel to help provide protection.

The USS Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group, which includes aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy, the Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney and USS Roosevelt, will shift to the eastern Mediterranean.

“We have also taken steps to augment U.S. Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons in the region. The U.S. maintains ready forces globally to further reinforce this deterrence posture if required,” Austin wrote in a Sunday evening statement.

“In addition, the United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions. The first security assistance will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days.”

— Amanda Macias

Germany and Austria announced Monday they would be suspending bilateral aid worth tens of millions of euros to Palestinians following the attack by the Islamist Hamas group, Reuters reported.

The countries reportedly want to prevent the funds from falling into the wrong hands.

Germany and Austria both said they would review how they engage with Palestinian territories, while European Union foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday, which will include aid discussions.

— Hannah Ward-Glenton

Nvidia, the world’s largest AI chipmaker, canceled its upcoming AI Summit in Tel Aviv due to safety concerns.

The in-person event was scheduled for Oct. 15 and 16, with a keynote by CEO Jensen Huang. About 2,500 developers, researchers and tech leaders were set to attend, Nvidia confirmed to CNBC, and the conference was to feature more than 60 sessions on topics like generative AI, autonomous vehicles and supercomputing.

In a blog post leading up to the event, Nvidia highlighted Israel’s more than 6,000 startups and amount of VC investments per capita, making it “one of the world’s most vibrant technology hubs.”

— Hayden Field

Photos show the impact of Israeli airstrikes as they continue to pound neighborhoods in Gaza after Hamas launched surprise attacks into Israel.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed the attacks in Israel on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying that “terror has opened far too many fronts against humanity.”

“The war against Ukraine. The war in the Middle East.Terrible destabilizations throughout Africa. Constant attempts to cause a crisis on the global food market,” Zelenskyy said.

“Being strong under such circumstances is to confront terror. Being a large country is not enough. Being a wealthy country is not enough,” wrote Zelenskyy, whose country has been fighting off a full-scale Russian invasion for nearly 600 days.

“Being strong means helping to protect people and life against any form of terror. Helping. That is the way,” he added. Zelenskyy spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

— Amanda Macias

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said Congress’ decision to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., lacked foresight in light of the attacks by Hamas on Israel over the weekend, and called the deciding vote by eight Republicans and 208 Democrats “poor timing on their part.”

“We need a unified Congress to make sure we’re addressing the threats around the world, which we see with Hamas, that’s backed by Iran,” Mullin told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “And this isn’t a time for in-house fighting, this is a time for unity.”

Mullin said that Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the former chair of the House Freedom Caucus who is backed by former President Donald Trump, probably has the best chance at replacing McCarthy.

He added that he hopes the issue will be resolved by Wednesday “and we can really start focusing on the threats around us.”

—Chelsey Cox

Nine U.S. citizens have been killed in the conflict in Israel over the weekend, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told CNN This Morning on Monday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday said the U.S. was working to confirm reports of multiple Americans missing or killed following the multi-pronged attack of Palestine militant group Hamas against Israel.

— Emma Kinery

Israel is “going to change the Middle East” in its response to the weekend hostilities initiated by Palestinian militant group Hamas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.

“What Hamas will go through will be difficult and terrible,” he told the heads of authorities in the south of the country, according to a Google-translated update from his office.

“The state will turn over every stone to help you all,” he added.

At least 1,260 people have been killed in the conflict, including 700 Israelis and 560 Palestinians, latest figures show.

As part of its retaliatory measures against a multi-pronged attack from Hamas, Israeli ministers on Monday declared a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, disrupting supplies of food, water and electricity to its 2 million residents.

— Ruxandra Iordache

William Wechsler, senior director of the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, discusses the geopolitical ramifications of the deadly clash between Israel and Hamas.

— Matt Clinch

Israel’s minister of energy and infrastructure on Monday ordered the immediate cut off of water supplies from Israel to the Gaza Strip.

“What was will not be,” Israel Katz said on X, previously known as Twitter, according to a Google translation. He noted that electricity and fuel deliveries from Israel to Gaza were disrupted on Sunday, following the unexpected attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant separately ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, interrupting supplies of electricity, food and fuel from Israel to the region.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Air raid alerts sounded in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other areas in Israel Monday afternoon after Hamas announced on social media that it had launched rockets at both cities. Jerusalem residents reported hearing air defense interceptions over the city.

Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service said it is checking for casualties in the areas where impacts were reported, but that none have been found so far.

— Natasha Turak

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” of the Gaza Strip, pledging to entirely cut off the already-blockaded territory of roughly 2 million people after a massive surprise attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas killed more than 700 people in Israel.

“I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed,” Gallant said. “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.”

Hamas governs the Gaza Strip, which is one of the most densely populated territories on Earth and has been kept under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since 2007.

Human rights groups and United Nations officials have called Gaza “the world’s largest open-air prison,” as those living inside it cannot leave, have limited access to the outside world, and are frequently cut off from electricity and internet.

Israel says the blockade is necessary to protect its citizens from Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007. The United Nations classifies Israel as an occupier state over the Palestinian territories, whose occupations and annexations following the 1967 Six-Day War remain in violation of international law.

— Natasha Turak

The European Union’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell on Monday said he is convening an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday to “address the situation in #Israel and in the region.”

He made the announcement on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

Borrell is currently in Muscat, Oman, to co-chair the 27th meeting of the EU-Gulf Cooperation Council and “reaffirm the EU’s strong commitment to a strategic partnership with the Gulf,” according to an EU statement.

In a Sunday statement on behalf of the EU, Borrell expressed solidarity with Israel and condemned the surprise attacks carried out against it on Saturday by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

“The EU calls for an immediate cessation of these senseless attacks and violence, which will only further increase tensions on the ground and seriously undermine Palestinian people’s aspirations for peace,” he said at the time.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Fighting has stopped between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters inside Israel as Israeli Defense Forces have regained control of the areas outside Gaza, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told press.

The announcement follows more than 48 hours of fighting following a surprise attack from Palestinian militant group Hamas early Saturday morning. The attack, carried out with the help of thousands of rockets and gunmen, is the largest Israel has seen in 50 years and resulted in more than 700 Israeli deaths.

Israel carried out multiple airstrikes on buildings in Gaza overnight in response, with retaliatory attacks and destruction inside the densely-populated and blockaded territory expected to continue.

— Natasha Turak

At least 260 bodies have been found at the site of a music festival in southern Israel attacked by Hamas militants on Saturday, the Israeli rescue service Zaka reported.

Hundreds of people, including many foreign visitors, attended the Supernova Festival, an all-night dance party event held in a rural farmland area near the Gaza-Israel border. The festival was meant to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. 

Witnesses to the Saturday morning attacks described hearing rockets and sirens as dawn broke. Videos posted to social media show scores of attendees running across an open field as gunfire can be heard. Israel says more than 100 people have been taken hostage by Hamas, many of whom were at the festival and several of whom are foreign nationals. Israel’s government says that rescue operations are underway.

— Natasha Turak

The current conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas represents a “very great danger for the region,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

Russia is closely monitoring the “dangerously expanding” situation in Israel, Peskov added in Google-translated comments posted by Russian state news agency Tass on Telegram. The spokesperson said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s schedule does not currently include engagements with the leadership of Israel or Palestinian territories, but that such outreach can be “promptly” agreed.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will on Monday hold talks with the League of the Arab States over Palestine, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Moscow has previously called for a ceasefire in hostilities sparked by a surprise attack by Hamas on Saturday, and laid fault for the conflict at the feet of Western nations:

“We regard the current large-scale escalation as another extremely dangerous manifestation of a vicious circle of violence resulting from chronic failure to comply with the corresponding resolutions of the UN and the Security Council and the blocking by the West of the work of the Middle East Quartet of international mediators made up of Russia, the United States, the EU and the UN,” Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, in comments carried Saturday on the Russian foreign ministry’s Telegram account.

The comments come as the Kremlin continues its full-scale invasion in Ukraine, throughout which it has repeatedly criticized Western involvement.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Iran called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation over recent hostilities between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday.

“In the recent contact of the Foreign Minister of our country with some of our counterparts, including the Iraqi Foreign Minister, we suggested that an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation be held and we emphasized that the Palestinian issue is still the first issue of the Islamic world,” Nasser Kanaani said, in Google-translated comments carried by Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

Historically a supporter of Hamas, Iran has congratulated the militant group on its surprise Saturday offensive against Israel but denied involvement in the initiative.

“We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

— Ruxandra Iordache