Israel-Hamas war: Israeli special forces enter Gaza’s besieged Nasser Hospital

Israeli soldiers stormed Nasser Hospital overnight, forcing patients and staff members to evacuate the last major functional medical facility in southern Gaza.

Dr. Mohammad Harara, whom NBC News has been following at Nasser since December, joined an estimated 1 million displaced Gazans crammed in the southern border town of Rafah. But throughout the violence and upheaval today, he continued to treat the sick and the wounded.

Video shot today shows Harara helping pull a patient in a dark hoodie from a car, holding the young man’s head gently but firmly as the crew races him into a noisy and crowded tented field hospital.

“Mohammed, wake up! Wake up!” Harara repeatedly shouts as the young man is rushed into the hospital amid frantic activity. The doctor calls out for a stethoscope as he pats the chest of the unconscious figure.

Eventually the patient groans.

“You’re OK,” Harara says as the sounds of cries, moans and beeping monitors fill the crowded tent.

For weeks, Harara was one of five doctors who remained at the beleaguered Nasser Hospital caring for 850 patients. NBC News has spent dozens of hours with Harara as he does his rounds in wards brimming with patients, recording how he copes with the gravely injured, the grief-stricken and the terrified — all while surrounded by soldiers, tanks and fighting.

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JERUSALEM — The families of two Palestinian American teenagers killed in separate but eerily similar incidents in the West Bank say investigators from the U.S. Embassy have visited their homes to look into the shootings.

Launching American investigations into the killings of Mohammad Khdour and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar reflects what appears to be a lack of confidence in the Israeli justice system to properly investigate the cases. Rights groups have long said Israeli investigations into killings of Palestinians rarely lead to prosecutions, and the State Department has called for an “expeditious” and “thorough” Israeli investigation into Abdel Jabbar’s killing.

Both shootings happened as the Biden administration signals a desire to crack down on settler violence in the volatile territory.

Khdour, who was born in Hollywood, Florida, was shot Saturday while he was driving with a cousin on a hillside in Biddu, the town just outside Jerusalem where Khdour had lived since age 2, relatives said.

The Israeli military referred questions to the Shin Bet internal security service, which did not respond to requests for comment.

U.S. Embassy officials visited the home and the scene of the shooting Thursday, taking pictures of the car Khdour was driving and the scene around it, Mohammad’s father said. He said the officials told the family they are preparing a report on the incident.

The U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs wrote on X that it was “devastated” by the killing and called for “a quick, thorough, and transparent investigation, including full accountability.”

The Gaza government condemned an Israeli military raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis today, accusing IDF forces of violating humanitarian law.

It accused the IDF in a statement of storming the hospital and threatening people inside, which "clearly prevented the crews from providing Medical and health service for hundreds of sick, wounded and displaced people, threatening their lives."

IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari told NBC News that special forces entered the hospital following "credible intelligence" that hostages were being held inside. The IDF also said today that it arrested three people inside Nasser Hospital who the military alleged had terrorism ties. NBC News has not independently verified the IDF's statements.

"We have no intention of disrupting the hospital’s function," Hagari said in a public statement. "Rather, we provide aid and needed equipment. The only ones with an interest in turning hospitals into battlegrounds are Hamas terrorists."

Videos on social media, which NBC News verified using geolocation, showed tanks driving through a wall outside Nasser Hospital's complex.

More than half of the antisemitic incidents that were reported in the U.K. last year happened on or after Oct. 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, according to a report from Community Security Trust, a charity that protects British Jews from antisemitism.

Of the 4,103 incidents reported last year, 66% occurred after the war started. There was an overall 147% increase in reports of antisemitism from 2022 to 2023, according to the group.

The most common form of anti-Jewish rhetoric, the report said, involved references to "Israel, Palestine, the Hamas terror attack, or the subsequent war." Included in what the group considered to be antisemitic incidents were times the phrase "Free Palestine" were directed verbally or in writing at Jewish members of the community.

"Although not an inherently antisemitic statement, each of these cases were deemed as such because these words were used to abuse Jewish people or institutions simply because they were Jewish, or formed part of a larger outburst including explicitly anti-Jewish sentiments," the organization said.

Yair Yaakov, 59, has died in captivity months after he was abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.

His cause of death was not disclosed, and his body is still being held by Hamas in Gaza, the statement said. Yaakov's teenage sons, Or and Yagil, were also abducted from the kibbutz but were released during November's hostage exchange deal.

"Yair was a family man with a huge heart, always willing to help everyone," the forum statement said. "He was energetic and loved enjoying life — since childhood he enjoyed listening to music, sitting in the sun with a cold beer."

WASHINGTON — The U.S. recently conducted a cyberattack against an Iranian military ship that had been collecting intelligence on cargo vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, according to three U.S. officials.

The cyberattack, which occurred more than a week ago, was part of the Biden administration’s response to the drone attack by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq that killed three U.S. service members in Jordan and wounded dozens of others late last month, the officials said.

The operation was intended to inhibit the Iranian ship’s ability to share intelligence with Houthi rebels in Yemen who have been firing missiles and drones at cargo ships in the Red Sea, the officials said. U.S. officials say Iran uses the ship to provide targeting information to the Houthis so their attacks on the ships can be more effective.

One of the U.S. officials with knowledge of the cyberattack said the operation was conducted on an Iranian ship named the MV Behshad. The other officials declined to disclose the ship’s name. 

U.S. officials typically do not disclose covert operations, including cyberattacks, and have not publicly released information about the one involving the suspected Iranian spy ship.

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Dr. Mohammed Harara had no contact with his family for several weeks while he worked nonstop to save lives in the collapsing Gazan medical system.

“I can’t explain how I feel,” he told the NBC News crew who recorded the happy reunion. “Alhamdulillah [thank God], they are fine and they are still alive,” he added.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call today that he was "deeply concerned" about loss of civilian life in Gaza, according to a readout provided by his office.

Sunak also told Netanyahu he was concerned about the "potentially devastating humanitarian impact of a military incursion into Rafah." The priority must be focused on negotiating a humanitarian pause, according to Sunak, which would facilitate the safe release of hostages still in Gaza and the influx of aid into Gaza.

"He noted the importance of continuing to abide by International Humanitarian Law and protecting civilian infrastructure like hospitals and shelters," the readout said.

Other topics included easing restrictions on humanitarian supplies, and Sunak urged Israel to fully open the Kerem Shalom commercial crossing, as well as allow maritime aid deliveries through Ashdod.

"In the longer term, the UK continued to believe a viable two state solution was the best means to achieve lasting peace and stability for both Israelis and Palestinians," the readout said. "They agreed that Hamas can have no role in the future governance of Gaza."

Israel’s Ministry of Communications has approved the use of Starlink satellites in the country and in Gaza, months after Elon Musk said he’d support connectivity for aid organizations in the Palestinian enclave.

Musk made the announcement in a reply on X to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in October after she criticized communication blackouts in Gaza as “unacceptable.” Israeli officials shut Musk down at the time, alleging that the connectivity would be abused by Hamas militants.

According to a statement from Israel, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi has approved the use of Starlink for a field hospital operated by the United Arab Emirates in Rafah. Additional organizations will need to be approved by the Israeli government individually in order to connect to the satellites.

“This is great and happy news. I thank the Starlink representatives for the substantive discussion and understanding regarding the Gaza Strip,” Karhi said in a statement. “The entry of Starlink into Israel will enable advanced satellite communication in both normal and emergency times.”

Gaza has gone through several communication blackouts since the start of the war on Oct. 7, creating even more difficult situations for many aid and medical organizations. The Palestine Red Crescent Society, for example, has said in the past that the blackouts impede its ability to dispatch ambulances to those in need.