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What we know
- Israel is intensifying its military campaign in southern Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, told a group of soldiers that Hamas was falling apart and “we need to press harder.” The IDF also warned Gazans to evacuate the city center of Khan Younis.
- The U.S. approved $106 million in emergency arms sales to Israel amid widespread criticism from human rights groups, U.N. officials and many countries for vetoing a U.N. Security Council resolution for a cease-fire in Gaza.
- Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N. agency for Palestinians, said today that “dehumanization of Palestinians has allowed the international community to bear continued Israeli attacks in Gaza.” He added, “By any description, it is definitely the worst situation I have ever seen.”
- Conditions in Gaza are deteriorating rapidly as hostilities have made aid deliveries increasingly difficult and humanitarian zones for displaced people continue to shrink.
- About 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza, where health officials say the death toll has now surpassed 17,700 after weeks of Israeli attacks. Thousands more are buried under the rubble and presumed dead. The Israel Defense Forces estimates 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack, with around 140 people still held captive in Gaza.
- NBC News’ Richard Engel, Raf Sanchez, Hala Gorani, Hallie Jackson and Chantal Da Silva are reporting from the region.
'The clock is really ticking': Desperation mounts for starving Palestinians
As goods become increasingly scarce and expensive, World Food Programme Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau reiterated calls for a cease-fire and the opening of the Kerem Shalom border crossing to help scale up aid deliveries in Gaza.
"There's a lot of tension around food. People are so desperate," Skau told NBC News. "I went to distribution points where there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people waiting in queues, and there's anger and frustration."
It's unclear how long order can be sustained when so much of Gaza's population is starving. Aid trucks that do manage to get through the Rafah crossing aren't able to meet the need, Skau said. The food crisis comes on top of the operational challenges that are waiting other on the side.
Skau said that during his recent visit to the Palestinian enclave, he spoke to people who hadn't eaten in days.
"If this further deteriorates, you know, people will have nothing, and you can just imagine the desperation that we will have in our hands then if we're not even able to deliver what we are delivering at the moment," Skau said. "And I think, you know, the clock is really ticking."
Released hostages from Kfar Aza mark bittersweet Hanukkah as others remain captive
SHEFAYIM, Israel — In the days since they were released, dozens of women and children relinquished by Hamas in last month's landmark hostage deal have begun to return to everyday life — but with their communities forever marked by a day of violence when friends and loved ones were killed or taken captive, some say their freedom has felt bittersweet.
"We lost such precious people. We knew them all. We will always remember them all," said Agam Goldstein-Almog, who was released in the hostage deal alongside two of her siblings and her mother, Chen Goldstein-Almog. Chen's husband, Nadav, and eldest daughter, Yam, were killed in Hamas' attack.
Speaking at a Hanukkah gathering in Shefayim in central Israel, where dozens of residents from Kfar Aza have been given temporary housing after their kibbutz was devastated in Hamas' attack, Agam told her neighbors: "It will take us a long time to understand what happened when we were gone and all the moves you made to bring us back." In a message to those who remain in Hamas' grasp, she said: "We will do everything for you to come back. There is no other option.”
In an interview with NBC News' Hallie Jackson at the gathering, Avihai Brodutch, whose wife and three young children were also released in the hostage agreement, said it felt "just amazing" to be reunited as a family. "We wake up in the morning, and this is all a new life again, and we have breakfast together, and, you know, we brush our teeth together. We're all in the same room right now, so it's really great," he said.
Now, Brodutch said, the family is focused on "rebuilding our lives," and he said he hoped others would have the chance to do the same — on both sides of the Israel-Gaza border. "We wish this is the end of it," he said. "We want families, you know, this is Palestinian families and Israelis. ... We just want families to be together. This is all we want."
Gazans wait days for food as prices for the basic goods soar
The price of dwindling food in Gaza has soared. Abdulsalam al-Majdalawi said he had come every day for nearly two weeks to a U.N. distribution center, hoping to get supplies for his family of seven.
“Every day, we spend five or six hours here and return home” empty-handed, he said. “Thank God, today they drew our name.”
One hundred trucks with humanitarian aid entered today, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority. That’s far short of what’s needed.
With the war in its third month, the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has surpassed 17,900, the majority women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.
IDF spokesperson: Palestinian men stripped to their underwear for security reasons
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari addressed images that circulated on social media last week of dozens of Palestinian men seen stripped to their underwear, blindfolded and forced to kneel after they were detained in Gaza.
“It’s something we have been doing for years during battle because we have had incidents when people have detonated themselves upon our forces, so this is part of the process,” Hagari said at a briefing today.
Hani Almadhoun, who lives in Washington, D.C., said that his brother and nephews — one as young as 13 — were detained and that he recognized two of them in released video. He said his family members had nothing to do with Hamas and were released after 24 hours, after what they described to him as a humiliating experience.
The images drew concern from humanitarian groups such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Health Organization. Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, called the video of the detainees “very concerning” at a briefing with reporters last week, invoking “a basic right to human dignity.”
Qatar foreign minister says there is 'not the same willingness' on hostage negotiations
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the country was still trying to move things forward for hostage release negotiations despite a break down in talks.
"We are committed to have all of the hostages being released, but also we are committed to stop this war and to stop the bombardment of the Palestinians," Al Thani said during a panel at the Doha Forum today. "It always takes two parties to be willing to such an engagement. Unfortunately, we are not seeing the same willingness that we had seen in the weeks before."
The country's official foreign ministry X account posted clips of Al Thani's comments, in which the minister repeated a determined stance to push forward on diplomacy.
"At the end, we know that the resolution will only come through the table," he said. "Right now maybe the offerings are narrower than where we were before the last pause, yet there was still an opening."
Doctors reportedly being detained en masse in Gaza, founder of Gaza Medic Voices says
Dr. Omar Abdel-Mannan, the founder of the Instagram account Gaza Medic Voices, told Sky News that there are reports that doctors are being detained “en masse.”
“It’s been increasingly hard to get in touch with the doctors and the health care workers on the ground ... but the messages that are coming through are grimmer and grimmer by the day,” said Abdel-Mannan, who added that Israel has detained his friends and colleagues. Abdel-Mannan uses Gaza Medic Voices to post anonymized firsthand accounts from medics in Gaza.
The Health Ministry in Gaza said yesterday that 36 health personnel were detained by Israel and called on international organizations to demand their release. NBC News has not independently verified the allegation, and the IDF did not immediately comment on the matter.
“It’s very easy to blame Hamas all the time. ... You have a duty as a government and as a military to actually make sure the well-being of civilians is [maintained],” Abdel-Mannan said.
J Street: Israel’s war conduct not aligned with Jewish values
How Israel’s government is conducting its war in Gaza is not in line with the values of the Jewish community, J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami told MSNBC's Ali Velshi today.
In discussions over calls for a cease-fire among many Jewish Americans, Ben-Ami said, younger generations "have a very deep commitment to justice" that has shaped their view."They understand oppression; they want to fight against oppression," he said. "And what happens on a daily basis between the state of Israel and the Palestinian people that it rules over without providing them with equal rights is something that this generation, younger generation of Jewish Americans, is very committed to fighting to correct."
WHO executive board adopts resolution on humanitarian crisis in Gaza
The World Health Organization's executive board unanimously adopted a resolution calling for "immediate, sustained and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief" in Gaza at today's special session.
In addition to the sustained relief efforts, the resolution demanded the warring parties follow "their obligations under international law." That was the first resolution to be adopted by consensus on the conflict within the United Nations' structure since Oct. 7, the WHO said in a news release.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that the resolution is "only a starting point."
"Without a cease-fire, there is no peace," he said. "And without peace, there is no health. I urge all member states, especially those with the most influence, to work with urgency to bring an end to this conflict as soon as possible.”
Shelling damages U.N. watchtower in southern Lebanon
A watchtower belonging to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon was damaged by shelling in southern Lebanon yesterday afternoon, the agency's spokesperson, Andrea Tenenti, said in a statement.
Tenenti said that no one was injured in the incident and that the source of the shelling was under investigation.
"Any targeting of UNIFIL positions and any use of the vicinity of our positions to launch attacks across the Blue Line is unacceptable," Tenenti said. "Attacks against civilians or U.N. personnel are violations of international law."
Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fire across the border for weeks, including today, when the IDF said its soldiers were injured in an aerial attack that originated from Lebanon. The IDF accused Hezbollah of launching at least one rocket toward Israel from a site "20 meters away from a United Nations compound." NBC News has not independently verified the claim.
Jordanian foreign minister says Israel is fighting 'a war that cannot be won'
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Israel has defied everyone, including its own allies, in conducting its war in Gaza with a "degree of brutality."
Safadi made the remarks at a panel at the 2023 Doha Forum, where he was speaking as part of the "What Now for the Middle East?" session today. CNN's Becky Anderson, who moderated the panel, posted a clip to X of Safadi saying the war was hurting Israel.
"Israel has created an amount of hatred that will haunt this region, that will define generations to come," Safadi said. "And therefore, it's hurting its own people as much as it's hurting everybody else in the region. This is a war that cannot be won. Israel has already suffered a strategic defeat."