What we know
- Israel has ordered the entire population of northern Gaza to evacuate south, a warning that leaves more than 1 million people to decide whether to abandon their homes. Hamas urged Gazans to ignore it.
- Following the order, 70 people — mostly women and children — were killed after Israeli airstrikes hit convoys of Palestinian evacuees heading south in Gaza.
- Israel's military said the order, which has raised fears of an imminent ground offensive on the densely populated enclave, was intended to minimize civilian casualties in the war against Hamas. But the United Nations said it was "impossible" and risked a humanitarian disaster.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise statement on Israeli television tonight, saying the country's forces were preparing for another attack in Gaza and "our enemies have only started paying the price."
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the U.S. grapples with its response to the surprise Hamas attack and the fate of Americans, including some taken hostage.
- At least 1,300 people — including 258 soldiers — have been killed in Israel and more than 3,300 have been injured. In Gaza, at least 1,900 people have been killed and more than 7,600 have been injured.
- Tens of thousands of people protested across the Middle East after Friday prayers today.
- NBC News’ Lester Holt, Richard Engel, Raf Sanchez, Kelly Cobiella, Matt Bradley, Ellison Barber, Chantal Da Silva and Josh Lederman are reporting from the region.
Coverage on this live blog has ended. Follow the latest updates from NBC News here.
'A lot of people criticize us,' Israeli special police officer says
ASHDOD, Israel - "I've got a feeling we are all alone," an Israeli officer who identifies himself as a "fighter in a special police unit," said late Friday night. "A lot of people criticize us."
Noting criticism of Israel's order for the entire population of northern Gaza to evacuate south, as well as scrutiny of some of the country's response to Hamas' unprecedented attack one week ago, the officer, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said: "Seeing the people hating us, they're just ... using their strength for nothing."
The officer said he did not want to see "Palestinian people killed," but he said he felt Israel had to "strike back" at Hamas — even if it results in the death of civilians.
"We will never erase Gaza from the map. We will never kill 2.8 million people because that’s not us. We won’t do that," he said.
The left faces a reckoning as Israel divides Democrats
Joel Simonds, a Los Angeles-based rabbi involved in progressive causes, has always known that many of his ideological allies did not agree with him on Israel.
But after this weekend’s terror attack, the worst killing of Jews since the Holocaust, Simonds said many liberal Jews feel abandoned by people they thought were friends, some of whom have expressed little sympathy for the Israelis killed while focusing instead on the plight of Palestinians.
American Jews, who are overwhelmingly liberal, have often supported social justice movements. Simonds said while most progressive leaders have offered support, he feels betrayed by others on the left who have not.
Israel has been so fraught in some progressive circles that many preferred not to talk about it, enforcing a sort of strategic silence to avoid dividing the movement and distracting it from common ground issues.
That long-stifled debate is now spilling into public view in heated and sometimes ugly ways, dividing Democrats and exposing what some say is antisemitism that has been allowed to fester on the left for years.
'Vengeance is not a strategy,' son of missing Israeli peace activist says
The son of Israeli peace and reconciliation activist Vivian Silver just wants what she would want: for the fighting to stop.
“We need to stop the violence now,” Jonatan Zeigen said today. “Vengeance is not a strategy. We need to negotiate, and we need to get the captives out.”
His mother, 74, has been missing from her home on a kibbutz near Gaza since the Oct. 7 attack.
IDF spokesman defends order to evacuate north Gaza, which was criticized by U.N.
One week after Hamas terror attacks killed over 1,300 people in Israel and sparked retaliatory strikes in Gaza that have killed more than 1,900, a spokesman for Israel’s military sought to defend orders telling Palestinians to leave Gaza City.
Gaza City and northern Gaza are “an area where we plan to enhance our military operations,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus of the Israel Defense Forces said in a video livestream Saturday morning local time.
The United Nations and World Health Organization have said that moving over 1 million people in densely populated Gaza is impossible and puts lives at risk. The health care system is already at a breaking point and unable to deal with a transfer of patients, they said.
Israel has also enacted a “siege” on Gaza, with no water, fuel or food, and demanded the release of hostages held by Hamas.
Conricus on Saturday morning did not announce a ground assault by Israel into Gaza, but he said that ground forces were deployed around Gaza.
He said the military has been targeting Hamas, which has many commanders and officers and other materials in Gaza City.
“We want civilians not to be affected by the war. We didn’t put those civilians there. They are not our enemy. We are not trying to kill or injure any civilians. We are fighting against Hamas,” Conricus said.
The military arm of Hamas said that Israeli airstrikes had hit a column of evacuees from Gaza City on Friday. The Palestinian Health Ministry corroborated that claim, and NBC News crews met people in hospitals who lost family members from airstrikes while fleeing from the north.
220 South Korean and other Asian nationals evacuate from Israel
A South Korean military plane evacuating 220 South Korean and other Asian nationals from Israel has departed Tel Aviv and was expected to land in South Korea later Saturday, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said.
The people transported on the KC-330 military transport plane included 163 South Koreans, 51 Japanese nationals and six Singaporean nationals, the ministry said.
South Korea had also sent a civilian plane earlier this week to evacuate 192 South Korean nationals. About 470 South Koreans remain in Israel, most of them long-term residents who have chosen to stay.
No South Korean casualties have so far been reported from the violence in Israel and Gaza.
Ori Arad, music festival bartender, saved lives, brother said
Ori Arad, a bartender at the Supernova music festival in southern Israel, called his father at 7:10 a.m. and said, “Listen, there is an ambush of dozens of terrorists, they’re blocking the roads. They’re shooting on is with machine guns.”
“I must do something ... I’ve decided to confront them,” his brother, Shay Arad told NBC News Now. The family found out three hours later that he was killed.
But on Israeli media, two girls were interviewed who said “an angel with curly hair” in a gray jeep found them on the road and saved them.
That was Ori, Arad said, and he drove his vehicle at attackers and to avoid ambushes, but was shot and the vehicle rolled over. Ori Arad lost consciousness and the two girls played head, Shay Arad said. Ori later regained consciousness and was found and shot dead, he said.
The name Ori means “my light” in Hebrew, and “Ori was a person that was full of light,” Shay Arad said.
“The way he acted during this terrorism is exactly what we knew he will do,” he said. “I believe he lost his life following his ideals.”
Read more about Hamas’ terror attack on an Israeli music festival.
Republicans splinter over Israel politics
WASHINGTON — Republicans are divided over the U.S. response to terrorist attacks in Israel, both within the ranks of their own presidential primary and when it comes to President Joe Biden’s reaction.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to hit former President Donald Trump, a rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, over derogatory comments Trump made Wednesday night about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and praise for Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based group designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization, as “very smart.”
DeSantis and several other Republican candidates have harshly criticized Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination and a longtime favorite of Israel hawks, since he made the remarks.
The Republican infighting, coupled with pockets of GOP approval for Biden’s handling of the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, suggest that the domestic political turf has shifted as a result of the unfolding situation in the Middle East. What remains to be seen is how big the change is and if it will last.
It’s also not clear yet whether Trump’s comments will hurt him at all in a Republican primary that he has dominated, particularly given the bonds he built with conservatives by moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, negotiating the Abraham Accords peace agreements and giving full-throated support to Israel during his term as president. But Trump and his campaign have been engaged in a public cleanup operation since Wednesday night.
An inside look at the impossible position Gaza's hospitals are in
An NBC News camera crew gained access to the hospital on the brink of collapse, finding young children with bloody limbs and corridors lined with anxious family members awaiting updates about their loved ones. One woman sat on the floor, crying with her face in her hands — her legs covered by bloodied bedsheets and her feet coated in debris.
‘We assume the plan is to bomb this, the city to dust,’ says U.S. translator in Gaza
Arabic-English translator Jason Shawa, his wife and two daughters fled their Gaza City home and are staying in a shelter after Israel’s military warned civilians to leave.
“When you say safe, it’s very relative,” Shawa, 55, who was born in Seattle but has spent most of his life in Gaza, told NBC News in audio messages over WhatsApp.
They are in a shelter in the center of the Gaza Strip, where around 45 to 50 other people are also staying. They left after the Israeli military said people should go south for their own safety. They are using a small battery-powered system to charge phones and there are a few light bulbs lit, he said.
“We assume the plan is to bomb this, the city to dust,” he said.
There are around 19 children in the shelter and not enough blankets or mattresses, Shawa said.
“We gave priority to the children, we have them inside the structure,” he said. An elderly couple is also inside, and the rest of them are sleeping outside on the tiles, he said.
People at the shelter don’t know what will happen next, Shawa said. Some think they’ll be told to move again and be pushed to the Sinai Desert in Egypt.
“We have no idea, we just have no idea. Most of us believe that there will be nothing to get back to in a few days if we do actually live through it,” Shawa said.