What we know
- The U.S. and British militaries launched strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen, after weeks of attacks targeting international shipping in the Red Sea that the militants say are aimed at backing Hamas. The Houthis, who control much of Yemen, have vowed retaliation — raising the risk of broader regional conflict with Iran-backed groups.
- The U.S. conducted another strike against the rebels on Friday night, according to two U.S. defense officials.
- Israel announced it had struck a deal with Hamas to deliver medicine to hostages being held in Gaza. The arrangement was made with the help of Qatari officials, the prime minister's office announced, and the medication will be distributed in the coming days.
- Israel has defended itself at the United Nations’ top court after South Africa presented its case that the war in Gaza amounts to genocide against Palestinians, an accusation Israel has dismissed as "atrocious and preposterous." South Africa is asking the International Court of Justice to order an immediate halt to the war, though a decision will likely take weeks.
- More than 23,700 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 60,000 have been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead.
- Israeli military officials say at least 186 soldiers have been killed during the country's ground invasion of Gaza, which came after 1,200 people were killed and about 240 hostages were seized after Hamas launched multipronged attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
- NBC News’ Richard Engel, Raf Sanchez, Ali Arouzi, Chantal Da Silva and Josh Lederman are reporting from the region.
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Richard Engel spoke with family members of people being held hostage in Gaza. Some of the families went to the border to shout messages of support to their loved ones nearly 100 days after the Oct. 7 attack.
"Don't give up, stay resilient, we're coming to get you soon," one woman yelled into a microphone.
Arab nations ‘ready’ to work with U.S. on Gaza, but ‘only’ if Israel commits, State Department spokesman says
State Department spokesman Matt Miller joined Andrea Mitchell to discuss Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to the Middle East and what the future could look like in the region.
Miller said they met with leaders in nine countries and secured agreements with Arab partners and Turkey "that they were ready to have those conversations, they were ready to coordinate with the United States, and they were ready to take real steps to improve the lives of the Palestinian people in Gaza and to look at how to rebuild Gaza and establish Palestinian-led governance in Gaza."
"But they were only willing to do that if they had a partner on the other side in Israel," he added.
Wounded evacuated after strike in Khan Younis
American Israeli soldier returns home to U.S. saying he had ‘no choice’ but to serve
American Israeli soldier Shai Bernstein said on “Top Story with Tom Llamas” that he had “no choice” but to go to Israel and serve after the attacks by Hamas on Oct. 7.
Bernstein, a dual citizen who had already served his time in the Israeli military, was inspired to serve after attending Shabbat services with his family after the terrorist attack.
He spent 40 days of his time serving inside of Gaza and recounted what he saw. Asked if he would return to the Middle East to serve again during this war, Bernstein said, “Yes.”
Missile strike on Houthi radar site was ‘follow-on action’ from earlier strikes, military says
A Tomahawk missile strike against a Houthi rebel radar site inside Yemen early Saturday local time was a “‘follow-on action” from the strikes a day earlier, the U.S. military said.
The new strike was launched at 3:45 a.m. Saturday local time using Tomahawk missiles launched from the USS Carney, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.
It “was a follow-on action on a specific military target associated with strikes taken on Jan. 12 designed to degrade the Houthi’s ability to attack maritime vessels, including commercial vessels,” it said.
Al Jazeera rejects Israel’s ‘terrorist’ claims against slain journalists
Al Jazeera strongly condemned what it called the Israel Defense Forces’ “false and misleading” efforts to justify the killing of its employee Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh and other journalists during the Israel-Hamas war.
Dahdouh, 27, and his colleague Mustafa Thuraya were killed in a strike on their car in the southern Gazan city of Rafah on Sunday, drawing outrage from press freedom groups and calls for an investigation. The IDF said it had targeted a ‘terrorist’ in the vehicle, an allegation that has not been independently verified by NBC News.
The Qatar-based news network said Dahdouh “was killed simply for doing his job and for shining a light on events that the Israeli army would rather stayed in the dark.”
“Al Jazeera rejects all accusations made against our journalists and calls on the international community to ensure that the IDF is held fully accountable for its crimes,” it said in a statement.
Dahdouh’s father Wael Dahdouh, Al Jazeera’s Gaza bureau chief, had already lost multiple family members in the war, including his wife, two other children and grandson, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in October.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 79 journalists and media workers have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7, including 72 Palestinians, four Israelis and three Lebanese, making it the deadliest conflict for journalists in modern history.
U.S. carries out another strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen
The United States conducted another strike against Houthi rebels in Yemen tonight, according to two U.S. defense officials.
The strike was done by the U.S. and was carried out from a Navy ship, the officials said.
The target was a Houthi radar site, two defense officials said.
Overnight yesterday, the U.S. and United Kingdom carried out strikes against Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran and who control parts of Yemen, in retaliation for Houthi attacks against commercial and other vessels in the Red Sea, officials said.
U.S. and U.K. strikes on Yemen were 'very large scale attack’
Alicia Menendez is joined by Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star general; Ben Rhodes, the former deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama; and Courtney Kube, NBC News national security and Pentagon correspondent, to discuss the latest developments in the Middle East after U.S.-led airstrikes in Yemen against Iranian-backed Houthi forces.
Crowds of Houthi supporters rallied in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, today to condemn the strikes by U.S. and U.K. forces, and to underscore their continued support for Palestinians.
Conflicting advice on Red Sea transit raises concerns
Ocean carriers have received conflicting advice on Red Sea transit just hours after the United States and the U.K. launched a retaliatory strike against the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen.
BIMCO, the world’s largest international shipping association, which also offers expert analysis, has advised ocean carriers to avoid the Southern Red Sea. The association has over 2,000 members in 130 countries, representing 62% of the world’s tonnage.
In a phone call with CNBC, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson said they are not advising ocean carriers to avoid transiting the Southern Red Sea.
U.S. Naval Forces Central Command confirmed in an email: “We have not issued any advisories recently regarding this and I can’t speak for other organizations who may have put something out.”
Earlier Friday, Houthis mistakenly fired a missile at a Russian tanker bound for India. It’s the second vessel the Houthis have attacked by mistake.
Oil prices hit $80 a barrel Friday as fears of a wider-scale conflict could impact global trade. Approximately 10% of all global trade including 20% of seaborne trade in containers transit through the Suez Canal.
BIMCO research says trades between Asia and North Europe, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the North American East Coast, and the Red Sea will all be impacted by a prolonged conflict.