Blinken pays tribute to Gaza journalist who lost another son in Israeli strike

Speaking on the Senate floor about his resolution to get a report on Israel's military offensive and consequent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the U.S. is “deeply complicit in what is going on in Gaza right now.”

"Those are our weapons that are killing men, women and children in huge numbers," Sanders said.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on X that 85% of Gaza's population — representing 1.9 million people — is "internally displaced."

The office said U.N. facilities for displaced people have been the subject of 220 "incidents," with over 300 people killed at the facilities.

Three months on, the scent of blood still hung in the air in the cramped concrete bomb shelter where rampaging Hamas fighters tossed grenades and opened fire to kill dozens of Israelis trapped inside.

Tali Kizhner knelt, caressing the foot of a bullet-and-shrapnel-scarred wall, now painted white to cover the bloodstains and scorch marks. One of the victims here was her 22-year-old son, Segev, who had sought safety after fleeing a music festival on the morning of Oct. 7.

“I wanted to know where his last moments were, whether there was anywhere to hide. What happened there. To feel it,” she said.

The blank white walls of bomb shelters on Road 232 through southern Israel have become a canvas of bereavement for family and friends of those killed inside. Inscriptions, drawings, prayers and poems commemorate the dead.

“This is where the dream of peace died,” reads one.

The tiny rooms, barely 60 square feet, provided scant protection from gunmen, who, under the cover of rocket barrages, burst into Israel, stormed nearby towns and villages and set up ambushes on roads.

In a brief video statement in English today, Netanyahu said Israel plans to eliminate Hamas so it can be "demilitarized and deradicalized" but not reoccupied.

"Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population," Netanyahu said. "Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law."

His statement comes directly after a visit from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the evening before Israel is set to defend itself against a genocide claim in the International Court of Justice.

An 84-page legal filing submitted by South Africa accused Israel of trying to destroy a substantial part of the Palestinian "national, racial and ethnic group" by killing, injuring and displacing Palestinian civilians and denying them food, water and other essentials.

International law experts told NBC News that the recent comments from senior right-wing members of Netanyahu's government about permanently removing Palestinians from the strip, while it is not part of Israel's official plans, could ultimately hurt its case.

BEIRUT — Israel is showing few signs of winding down the war against Hamas, as its leader is still at large.

Security video from the occupied West Bank shows an Israeli military vehicle running over the bodies of two Palestinians who appear to be dead. 

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that the vehicle was dispatched to extricate forces caught under heavy fire in the town of Iktaba. According to the IDF, its team was conducting a counterterrorism operation and three "terrorists" were killed.

In their attempt to leave, the IDF vehicle unintentionally ran over their bodies, according to the statement. It also said the incident, which is not shown in its entirety, was under review.

The surveillance footage includes audio and images that viewers may find disturbing.

The Israeli military said in a statement today that the two journalists, Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya, killed Sunday in a targeted strike were terrorists, an allegation that has not been confirmed by NBC News.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, soldiers found documents identifying Thuraya as a Hamas squad commander and Dahdouh as a member of the Islamic Jihad’s electric engineering unit, as well as a deputy commander in a rocket unit. The IDF says that the men were operating a drone near Israeli soldiers, which prompted the strike.

The IDF released a document with an Al-Quds Brigades logo that it says is dated June 2022 and included Dahdouh’s name on a list under the title “electronic engineering,” according to an NBC News Arabic translation. The document requested that the names be approved with financial compensation but no additional information was provided.

The document has not been independently verified by NBC News.

The two journalists’ employer, Al Jazeera, did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The IDF initially said that two people were in the same car as a terrorist. When asked by NBC News if the IDF had evidence to support its allegation that an individual in the vehicle was a terrorist, IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said the incident was “unfortunate” and an investigation was ongoing.

Dahdouh was the son of Al Jazeera correspondent Wael Dahdouh and also worked for the organization. Al Jazeera also confirmed that Thuraya was a freelance drone operator who was part of a convoy of journalists on their way home from filming the aftermath of an airstrike when their vehicle was targeted by Israeli forces.

Four ambulance crew members and two others were killed in a strike in Deir al-Balah, the central area of Gaza, according to statements from the Palestine Red Crescent Society today.

The crew members were identified in a post on X as driver Yusuf Abu Ma’mar, paramedic Fadi Fuad Al-Maani, first responder Islam Abu Riyala, and volunteer photographer Fuad Abu Khamash. The two noncrew members killed were not identified.

A bloody and torn Red Crescent jacket that one of the crew members was purportedly wearing at the time of the strike was seen in a video clip posted by the organization. It's unclear if the jacket was still on a body as there were no visible body parts apparent.

Another clip posted by the PCRS shows colleagues attempting to console an anguished crew member on the ground, screaming beside an ambulance.

The military is now focusing major operations on the southern city of Khan Younis and built-up refugee camps in central Gaza that date back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days in continuing strikes across the territory, including in areas of the far south where people have been told to seek refuge.

A heavy strike on today brought down a two-story building in the central town of Deir al-Balah, close to its main Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, killing at least six people, according to hospital officials. Footage from the scene showed people running toward the collapsed building, then pulling concrete blocks off people buried in the rubble.

Late yesterday, a strike in Gaza’s southernmost city Rafah hit a house, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 20 others, including women and children, health officials said. Associated Press reporters saw the dead and wounded being brought into nearby hospitals.