Gaza fuel running out; hostage talks progressing

Dozens of U.S. colleges and universities are increasingly riven by tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas, offering a window into how a rising generation perceives the conflict in the Middle East and the U.S. government’s foreign policy in the region.

In recent days, protests and demonstrations have broken out on several campuses, in some cases drawing national attention and putting intense scrutiny on young people that some observers consider unfair. In some situations, student activism around the war has overlapped with volatile debates about free speech.

The conflict between the Israeli government and the Palestinian people has long been the subject of intense debate in the U.S., especially on college campuses, where political activism is common. But the new war has raised the temperature dramatically, giving rise to social environments on campus that mirror the country’s similarly polarized politics.

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JERUSALEM — More than half the estimated 220 hostages held by Hamas have foreign passports from 25 different countries, including 54 Thai nationals, the Israeli government said.

In providing updated figures, the government also said 328 people from 40 countries were confirmed as dead or missing after the surprise Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on southern Israel. In all, an estimated 1,400 people were killed in the assault.

Israel said 138 of the hostages had foreign passports, including 15 Argentines, 12 Germans, 12 Americans, six French and six Russians.

Many were believed to have had dual Israeli nationality; however, some, like the Thais and five Nepalese hostages, almost certainly did not. There was also one Chinese hostage, one Sri Lankan, two from Tanzania and two from the Philippines.

Thais also made up the largest single group of foreign dead and missing, with 24 confirmed killed and 21 unaccounted-for.

Thailand is one of the largest sources of migrant workers in Israel, with around 30,000 people working in the agriculture sector, according to government data.

Among other foreign countries that suffered heavy losses were the U.S., with 34 killed and five missing; Ukraine, with 25 killed and two missing; France, with 23 killed and one missing; and Russia with 23 killed and four missing.

Five Chinese citizens were killed and one was missing, while Nepal had five killed and five missing.

TEL AVIV — Hamas militants tearing through a border fence and celebrating after reaching Israeli soil. Festivalgoers running, screaming and hiding as a hail of bullets and rockets descends upon them. Civilians, including young children, shot to death and burned beyond recognition. These are just some of the scenes the Israel Defense Forces asked journalists to watch Wednesday.

The IDF played a gruesome, 46-minute montage of extended video that it says captures parts of Hamas’ deadly attack on Oct. 7. The video includes body camera video it says was taken from Hamas terrorists, closed-circuit TV video, video from rescuers and imagery posted to social media by both militants and victims. The IDF said it did not release the video to the public out of respect for the families involved and because of privacy concerns.

NBC News could not immediately independently verify all the video, some of which it was provided.

Read the full story here.

Three more workers with the U.N. relief agency UNRWA were killed over the last 24 hours, the organization said today.

The new deaths bring the number of UNRWA workers killed to 38 since Hamas launched its attack on Israel on Oct. 7, triggering a war, it said.

The relief agency also warned that if fuel does not enter Gaza soon, it will be forced to reduce or halt humanitarian operations there. “The coming 24 hours are very critical,” UNRWA said in a situation report.

Overcrowding of shelters is also a concern, with some holding 10 or 12 times the number of people for which they were designed. “Current facilities can no longer provide dignified living conditions,” UNRWA said.

Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, said Wednesday that its security staff had detected a possible hacking attempt on pro-Palestinian accounts with millions of followers and locked the accounts while it tries to reach the accounts' owners.

The accounts focused on posting media from Gaza, including videos and images of injured people. The material was generally unverified by international journalists. It’s not clear who or how many people posted to the pages. 

Meta said late Wednesday that it had disabled the accounts because of security concerns. 

“These accounts were initially locked for security reasons after signs of compromise, and we’re working to make contact with the account owners to ensure they have access,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement. 

“We did not disable these accounts because of any content they were sharing,” he said. 

Read the full story here.

The U.N. Security Council once again failed to reach consensus today after it struck down dueling U.S. and Russian resolutions to ensure humanitarian aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza.

A U.S. resolution calling for the consideration of humanitarian pauses was vetoed by Russia and China and failed to gain the support of the United Arab Emirates. A Russian resolution calling for a cease-fire, which did not mention Israel’s right to self-defense, was vetoed by the U.S. and the United Kingdom.

The stalemate, the latest in a series of showdowns, highlights the council's paralysis as humanitarian officials warn that the crisis has reached unprecedented levels. Hospitals are shutting down, food stocks are depleted, and people are resorting to drinking unsafe water.

 The U.S. ambassador the U.N., Linda Thomas Greenfield, said the U.S. was “deeply disappointed” that Russia and China vetoed the U.S. resolution.

"We did listen to all of you," Thomas-Greenfield told the council after the vote. "We incorporated feedback, and we work towards consensus around a resolution that would send a clear message to the world and, most importantly, to Israelis and Palestinians that this council is determined to meet this moment." 

She said Russia had put forward its resolution at the last minute with “zero” consultation with other members. 

In response, Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said it was "very unfortunate that members of the committee that have dug in to their national petitions were not brave enough to display strategic wisdom and support the Russian proposed text." 

Still, members said in multiple statements that they would continue to work toward a solution.

Malta’s ambassador, Vanessa Frazier, said the 10 nonpermanent members of the Security Council will work on another proposal to put up for a vote and told the council that "we cannot add to their suffering through our inability to find an agreement on a resolution that is desperately needed" and that "possible options include humanitarian cease-fire, humanitarian pauses and humanitarian corridors" to ensure the sustained provision of essential goods and services at scale.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour, the State of Palestine's permanent observer to the U.N., said the Security Council “is not shouldering its responsibility of calling for an immediate cease-fire to stop the carnage in the Gaza Strip” and announced that the Arab Group will put forward a resolution for the General Assembly.

Asked whether the resolution will condemn the attack by Hamas, Mansour said the group will look at all comments and that suggestions are focused on the humanitarian aspect of the draft resolution.

In its first roll-call vote with a new speaker, the House of Representatives overwhelming passed a resolution expressing its support for Israel.

The resolution “standing with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas and other terrorists” passed 412-10. It's similar to a resolution the Senate adopted last week.

Nine Democrats and one Republican voted against it. Six members voted “present.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., was elected earlier today after more three weeks of Republican infighting that left the chamber without a speaker.

Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., announced the resolution on Oct. 10, days after the Hamas attack on Israel.

McCaul said on the social media platform X that it condemns “Hamas and its sponsors for their atrocities against humanity.”

“With the most cosponsors of any resolution ever, this measure sends a clear message across the globe: The U.S. stands with Israel," McCaul wrote.

The Anti-Defamation League said today that it has recorded a "significant spike in antisemitic incidents across the United States" since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, which prompted Israel to launch strikes in Gaza.

“Preliminary data from ADL Center on Extremism indicates that reported incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault increased by 388% over the same period last year,” the group said in a statement.

The ADL also said that it recorded 312 antisemitic incidents from Oct. 7 to Monday, 190 of which “were directly linked to the war in Israel and Gaza.”

During the same period last year, the ADL had reports of 64 incidents.

In an address to the nation, Biden decried acts of hatred against Jews and Muslims and referred to the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in Michigan, a killing federal authorities are investigating as a hate crime.

"We can’t stand by and stand silent when this happens," Biden said last week. "We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism. We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia."

An NBC News camera crew in Gaza City was on the scene to record the desperate efforts of first responders to reach civilians trapped under collapsed buildings after another Israeli airstrike.

It took 19 days for the body of one of the people killed in Hamas’ attack on the Supernova music festival to be identified — and for his family to find out.

Ben Cohen, 27, managed to get into his car once festival security announced the danger and told people to leave the all-night party around 6:30 a.m. local time that Saturday.

While he was in the car, Cohen was shot at by Hamas and left the vehicle to try to flee to safety, according to his uncle Simon Nemtsov.

Cohen was considered missing for more than two weeks until authorities notified the family that his body had been identified.

“We got the call that his body had been identified this morning, and we had the funeral this afternoon,” Nemtsov said by phone.

Cohen is one of the more than 260 people killed in the bloodiest attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. It's unclear whether the terrorists were targeting the music festival; documents obtained by NBC News show Hamas had planned to besiege the kibbutzim near the Gaza border. More than 1,400 people were killed in the attack.

Cohen’s family had attended an event in Tel Aviv for the missing yesterday, the day before they were notified that he was among the dead.

"People were holding up posters of the missing, including babies and families," Nemtsov said. "I feel for these other families still in this state of unknown."

Nemtsov praised the forensics team doing the painstaking work of identifying the dead. He said authorities told him 200 bodies have still not been identified.

“Some of them are body parts, some burned, some just ashes. It’s just a question of being able to identify them,” he said.

The funeral today was difficult for the family, but Nemtsov said they take comfort knowing Cohen is at peace. "There is comfort in the fact that he is resting in peace and he has been since the first day," he said.

Competing resolutions from the United States and Russia were both vetoed by permanent members of the U.N. Security Council following votes on Wednesday.

The U.S. resolution received 10 votes in its favor, two abstentions and three votes against it. Two of the votes against it were from Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council, thus vetoing the resolution.

The Russian resolution received four votes in its favor, nine abstentions and two votes against it. The votes against it were from the United States and the United Kingdom, also permanent members of the Security Council, vetoing the resolution.

After the vote, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States representative to the U.N., said its resolution was “strong and balanced” and worked “towards consensus around a resolution that would send a clear message to the world and most importantly, to Israelis and Palestinians that this council is determined to meet this moment.”

Vasily Nebenzya, the Russian ambassador to the U.N., said the U.S. resolution was “categorically unacceptable” and criticized the resolution, saying, “It still does not contain a call for a cease-fire. It has no condemnation of arbitrary attacks on civilians and civilian objects in Gaza.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres reacted strongly to the backlash he received for saying Oct. 7 did not happen in a vacuum, stressing that he had “condemned unequivocally” Hamas’ actions.

A volunteer with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund said Wednesday he is staying in Gaza with his family even as the whole neighborhood they are in was bombed.

“They just bombed the whole neighborhood right now,” said Fares Abu Fares, 53, a volunteer with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. “It’s a whole neighborhood. It’s gone in a second.”

He said he did not know how many people were killed or injured in the air strike, but he heard what sounded like several bombs “right after each other.”

“We all thought we were going to die. The whole area was engulfed in light. It was like morning,” he said.

Fares said his wife and children are in the U.S. but the rest of his family is in Gaza. He said he was staying in Gaza with his family even if the border with Egypt is opened for those with foreign citizenship like himself.

“I’ve decided I’m not leaving,” he said.

Fares said he and his family do not have water, internet or electricity and stores were all out of food. 

“We are facing a disaster. If this thing keeps going for another week or two weeks, people are gonna die from starving,” he said. “If they don’t die from bombing they will die from starving.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that an additional $15 million in humanitarian aid will be given to civilians in Gaza, bringing the total aid from his country to $25 million.

There will be another showdown at the U.N. Security Council today as the U.S. and Russia put forward competing plans to help Palestinians in Gaza caught in the crossfire of the Israel-Hamas war.

The U.S. resolution will call for the consideration of humanitarian pauses to allow for the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Russia said yesterday it will not support the U.S. resolution and is putting forward its own resolution calling for a humanitarian cease-fire.

Members are expected to vote on both plans today at a 3 p.m. open meeting of the Security Council, according to two U.N. diplomatic sources. In order for a resolution to pass, it must receive nine yes votes and cannot be vetoed by any of the permanent members of the council — U.S., Russia, China, France and Britain.

“We are firmly convinced by colleagues that the main sign that the whole world is expecting from the Security Council is a call for a swift and unconditional cease-fire on the opposing parties,” Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said yesterday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday the U.S. resolution sets out “practical steps” and “incorporates substantive feedback,” from council members and draws heavily on the views he heard firsthand from partners across the region, adding, “We all recognize the right and indeed the imperative of states to defend themselves against terrorism.”

AFULA, Israel — “Hanasi” (the president) falafel is an iconic falafel place in this northern town famous for its “falafel juggling." The staple street-food balls are thrown in the air and magically land in the pita bread pocket.

Today it was nearly empty, a trickle of loyal customers, coming for the comfort of the food and the conversation. 

"It’s a difficult situation. We are all praying," says Mor, a 24-year- old falafel shop worker. “If you ask me, I think the end of the world is coming.”

He said in the first few days of the war, he was watching a lot of TV.

"I just got so depressed, I got deep into drinking and all sorts," he said. "For the past few days, I stopped watching TV, stopped reading the news, and I feel a lot better."

"I don’t drink anymore."

After the swearing in of new Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, the House of Representatives will vote on a bipartisan bill condemning the Hamas terror attacks against Israel, the office of Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said today.

It will be the first vote the House will take on something other than electing a speaker since Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the position Oct. 3. 

President Joe Biden said today that he was “alarmed about extremist settlers attacking Palestinians in the West Bank.”

Biden said those incidents were “pouring gasoline on fire” and “they have to be held accountable. It has to stop.”

He also said Hamas “does not represent the vast majority of the Palestinian people on the Gaza Strip or anywhere else” and Israel has “to do everything in its power” to protect innocent civilians.

Biden also said “the sense of outrage that the Israeli people are feeling after the brutality inflicted by Hamas is completely understandable” and “Israel has the right and I would add responsibility to respond to the slaughter of our people.”

Biden said that after this conflict, there could be “no going back to the status quo” and “there has to be a vision of what comes next and in our view, it has to be a two-state solution.”

Al Jazeera said today that multiple family members of Al Jazeera Arabic’s bureau chief in Gaza were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The news agency said the wife, son and daughter of Wael Al-Dahdouh, who is also an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent, were killed in the Israeli air raid and that some members of his family “survived the attack on the house they were staying in the Nuseirat refugee camp south of Wadi Gaza.”

The news agency condemned the the action while offering its condolences to Al-Dahdouh.

"The Network strongly condemns the indiscriminate targeting and killing of innocent civilians in Gaza, which has led to the loss of Wael Al-Dahdouh's family and countless others."

Netanyahu said today that the country was “getting ready” for a ground offensive in Gaza, but he would not reveal the details of the operation.

“I won’t say when, how, how much. I won’t list everything we’re taking into consideration, most of which are unknown to the public, as it should be,” he said during an evening address to the nation. 

“It should be like this so that we can save our soldiers’ lives. I want to be clear, the timing of the IDF action, the timing will be set unanimously by the war Cabinet, together with the chief of staff,” he said.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that it had “eliminated thousands of terrorists” in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

“We’re bringing hellfire on Hamas, we’ve eliminated thousands of terrorists,” he said, addressing the nation this evening. He did not provide details on how officials had arrived at the number killed.

More than 6,500 people have been killed in the Israeli bombing of Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Hamas has not released the number of its fighters who have been killed in Gaza since its Oct. 7 terror attacks, but many of those who have died were civilians.

In Israel, 1,400 people have died, including 308 members of Israeli armed forces.

"All Hamas members are mortal — above ground, below ground, inside Gaza, outside Gaza," Netanyahu said.

CAIRO — French President Emmanuel Macron committed to sending a French navy ship to support hospitals in Gaza in the coming days, announcing the news in a joint conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

Macron denied criticism about Western "double standards" in compassion toward victims of the war, adding that France has always supported preservation of human life.

"I want to announce here that I took the decision that a ship from our national marines can set sail soon to support the operation of Gaza hospitals," he said. "It will depart in the next 48 hours."

United Nations fuel supplies in the Gaza Strip will likely run out today or tomorrow, a spokesperson for the world body told NBC News, adding that "very painful" choices about rationing are to come.

Without fuel, she said, trucks cannot collect aid and deliver wheat to bakeries, Tamara Alrifai said. Desalinating water for the 600,000 people in U.N. care would also be impossible, she added.

“Equally important is the fuel for the generators for the electricity in hospitals for life-support machines to continue to function,” she said. “So for us, the fuel is key to the ability of this entire humanitarian network to continue to function.”

Eventually, Alrifai said, officials will either have to ration fuel for all of those things or “we can decide to prioritize one line over another, which is an immensely painful decision, because how can we decide to keep the life-support machines, but completely unplug the bakeries.”

"It’s just a very painful decision. and we are just now in discussions internally in UNRWA in how we approach this. What do we do?" she added.

SALAA, Lebanon — Hundreds of people in the Lebanese village of Salaa turned out today to mourn the death of Hezbollah fighter Hassan Said Na’eem.

Na’eem is one of at least 46 Hezbollah fighters killed in armed clashes with Israel since the deadly Hamas attack Oct. 7. In the last 24 hours, Hezbollah lost 13 fighters — the most killed in a single day in more than two weeks of fighting. That’s a massive price for Hezbollah to pay considering that war has yet to break out in earnest across the Israeli-Lebanese border.

But with mounting anxiety that Hezbollah — which, like Hamas, is backed by Iran — could launch a cross-border offensive and spark a broader, regionwide war, the group’s climbing death toll calls into question whether it will be able to act as a deterrent to a much-anticipated Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.

The funeral procession marched his coffin — draped in the yellow Hezbollah flag — down the village’s narrow streets to the sound of a drum line played by teenage Hezbollah Boy Scouts. Dressed in military fatigues, Na’eem’s young son was sitting on top of it as dozens of women dressed in black abayas wept and men from the village chanted, “Death to America. Death to Israel.”

Many proclaimed their allegiance to revered Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Large pictures of him lined the route along with Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani who was killed in Iraq by a U.S. drone strike.

The parents of 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin flew to New York City to implore world leaders to prioritize freeing the more than 200 hostages who remain Hamas captives.

Following the U.N. Security Council meeting yesterday, his mother, Rachel Goldberg, recounted the harrowing story of how her son was gravely wounded as he was herded into a Hamas pickup and taken to Gaza earlier this month.

“That was 18 days ago, and since then, we know nothing,” she said.

She and her husband, Jon Polin, say they are begging the Red Cross and other international aid organizations for help. She said the Red Cross told her they had been denied access into Gaza.

"I, like all of the mothers and all of the fathers and wives and husbands and children and brothers and sisters and loved ones of the stolen, we all actually live on a different planet," she said. "And the very cruelest of questions each of us is asked every single day without intended malice is ‘How are you?'"

She implored people to stay away from hate, despite how "enticing" and "easy" it is and said that many innocent civilians in Gaza are also suffering.

"We all know that war and conflict always end up hurting the innocent and it is why war is so brutal ... and devastating. ... In the competition of pain, there is never a winner,” she said.

As for the hundreds of hostages, she said, "Time is running out to save them. Time is running out to save all of us."

TEL AVIV — The Israel Defense Forces "failed to protect our civilians," Maj. Gen. Mickey Edelstein, commander of its operational planning team, said today after the military showed journalists a montage of footage purported to show Hamas' attack Oct. 7.

Asked by NBC News to address questions about how long it took for IDF soldiers to reach some areas, as well as about whether civilians may have been caught in the crossfire during the response, he said Hamas' ambush was a "very, very complicated attack."

Edelstein said soldiers raced from their homes to respond to the attack, some before being asked. "All of us ran to our uniforms. If you had a rifle or a pistol you took it and you ran and we start fighting," he said.

"Should we have any mistakes? Probably we did," he said. "But this is not the issue. It took us time ... to stop this violent act."

Edelstein noted that it took the IDF “in some places, over one day, I mean after 36 hours or so” to reach areas that had been targeted in the attack. He said the reasons for the failure were being investigated.

The war has displaced more than 690,000 women and girls and an estimated 67% of those killed in Gaza are women and children, according to Sima Bahous, executive director for UN-Women.

“The impacts of conflict on women and girls have never been more stark," she said in a speech today.

The agency also estimates the war has created more than 1,100 female-headed households.

Bahous also noted that many of the more than 200 Israeli hostages are women and children. She went on to say that "millions upon millions suffer the consequences of wars of men.”

WASHINGTON — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has advanced Jack Lew's nomination to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel.

The Democratic-led panel reported the nomination out of the committee in a 12-9 vote today, a week after Lew — who served as treasury secretary and White House chief of staff under then-President Barack Obama — testified before lawmakers at his confirmation hearing.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican in the committee who voted with all Democratic members to advance Lew’s nomination.

Lew needed a simple majority in the committee to support his nomination to advance to the Senate floor, where a final confirmation vote will likely occur next week.

Read the full story here.

More world leaders are joining calls for "humanitarian pauses" in the bombardment of Gaza in an effort to get aid to civilians, but they stop short of pushing for a cease-fire.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged the need for such a pause during his question session with Parliament today, but did not offer support for a cease-fire. During the U.N. Security Council meeting yesterday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said "pauses must be considered."

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong publicly supported the idea in a post on X, saying her country has "consistently called for the protection of civilian lives.

Other world leaders have called for a total cease-fire. Jordanian King Abdullah II told French President Emmanuel Macron today that stopping the war was an "absolute necessity that the world must immediately move to address," his court said on X.

TEL AVIV — The Israel Defense Forces today showed journalists a gruesome montage of extended footage that it said captures parts of Hamas' deadly attack Oct. 7.

In the video, people, including children, can be seen dead on the floor, some shot or burned beyond recognition. Others are shown trying desperately to hide — in their homes, under tables or in safe rooms. Others are seen trying to run or take cover, including at the music festival near Re'im — before ultimately being killed.

The video, which has not been released to the public, includes bodycam footage that the IDF said was from Hamas militants, along with CCTV footage and imagery shared on social media, both by victims and Hamas militants. NBC News could not immediately independently verify all of the video.

In one harrowing moment, CCTV footage shows a father and two boys, running out of their home and into what appears to be a small shelter. A grenade appears to be thrown into the shelter, the father collapses and two apparent militants take the boys back into the home, covered in blood as they wail for their "daddy."

One of the boys cries out in the video, which included English subtitles: "It's really not a prank!" before noticing his brother's bloodied eye. He asks desperately, "Can you see with this eye?" His sibling responds: "No ... I can only see with one eye."

The older boy wails, pounds the floor and shouts, "Why am I alive?" His sibling sits, stunned.

After the video played, IDF Maj. Gen. Mickey Edelstein, commander of the operational planning team, said he wanted people to understand the "evil" that Hamas brought upon communities in southern Israel — and why Israel would do "whatever is needed to bring back the sense of security."

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the backlash to his remarks yesterday that the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel “did not happen in a vacuum."

"I am shocked by the misrepresentations by some of my statement yesterday in the Security Council as if, as if I was justifying acts of terror by Hamas," he said. "This is false; it was the opposite."

Guterres then repeated other portions of his speech in which he "unequivocally" condemned Hamas' attack and said that "nothing could justify" the attack on Israeli civilians."

"I believe it was necessary to set the record straight, especially out of respect to the victims and their families," he told reporters.

With so many bodies, Palestinians in Gaza are burying the unidentified dead in mass graves, with a number instead of a name, residents say. Now some families are using bracelets in the hope of finding their loved ones should they be killed.

The El-Daba family has tried to reduce the risk of being struck down during the heaviest-ever Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Israel launched the airstrikes after Hamas militants attacked Israeli towns Oct. 7.

Ali El-Daba, 40, said he had seen bodies ripped apart by the bombing and were unrecognizable.

He said he decided to divide his family to prevent them from all dying in a single strike. He said his wife, Lina, 42, kept two of their sons and two daughters in Gaza City in the north and he moved to Khan Younis in the south with three other children.

El-Daba said he was preparing for the worst. He bought blue string bracelets for his family members and tied them around both wrists. “If something happens,” he said, “this way I will recognize them.”

Six members of Moran Alony's family were kidnapped by Hamas militants Oct. 7, including his 3-year-old twin nieces. Alony said he was glad that four of the more than 200 captives have been freed, but he accused Hamas of a "cynical use of hostages to leverage all of this to their benefit."

"They are successfully introducing themselves as humanitarians," Alony said in a phone interview. "The world sees these four people were in good condition, so they assume the other 200 are in the same condition. ... That works for Hamas, and that actually makes me angry."

"People are not asking the right question," he said, before speaking directly to Hamas: "You haven't released more than 30 children. Why?"

The four captives who have been released are American citizens Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter, Natalie; and two elderly Israeli women, identified as Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz. The Israel Defense Forces has said at least 212 people were taken captive.

Hamas kidnapped Alony's sister, Sharon Alony-Cunio, 34; her husband, David Cunio, 33; and their twin 3-year-old daughters, Emma and Julie. The militants also took Alony's older sister, Danielle Alony, 45, and her 5-year-old daughter, Emilia.

JERUSALEM — Hamas alleged that the IDF targeted the only bakery in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp, which Hamas said had received supplies from the U.N. relief agency hours earlier.

NBC News has not independently verified the claim.

The IDF said in a statement that it "only and specifically strikes military targets."

"The allegations to the contrary are abhorrent and spread disinformation that put civilians at risk," the IDF said.

The U.N. relief agency did not respond to requests for more information from NBC News.

Leaders of Israel’s national Holocaust memorial have criticized U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres for saying that the attack on Israel “did not happen in a vacuum.”

The Oct. 7 Hamas attack 7 puts to test the “sincerity” of world leaders, intellectuals and influencers who come to Yad Vashem and pledge “Never Again,” memorial chairman Dani Dayan said in a statement today, referring to a vow to prevent atrocities against the Jews, such as the Holocaust, from ever happening again.

“Those who seek to ‘understand,’ look for a justifying context, do not categorically condemn the perpetrators, and do not call for the unconditional and immediate release of the abducted — fail the test. UN Secretary-General António Guterres failed the test,” the statement said.

In an address to the U.N. Security Council, Guterres said it was important to recognize that “the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,” and that the Palestinian people have been subjected to “56 years of suffocating occupation.” He also condemned unequivocally the “horrifying and unprecedented” acts of terror by Hamas. “But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas, and those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he said.

The comments caused an uproar in Israel, with the country’s foreign minister and permanent U.N. representative calling for Guterres to resign.

Families of hostages taken by Hamas are growing louder in their demands for more to be done to secure the release of their loved ones.

More than 200 people — babies to seniors — have been in captivity for 19 days, with only four released so far.

The World Health Organization said there were 171 attacks on health care in the occupied Palestinian territory, resulting in 493 deaths — including 16 health workers on duty.

Sally Abi Khalil, regional Middle East director for Oxfam, accused Israel of using civilian suffering as a war tactic.

Oxfam has urged the U.N. Security Council to act immediately by calling for a cease-fire and unfettered access to aid.

Clean water has "virtually run out," and aid deliveries have not met the food needs for more than 2 million civilians in Gaza, she said.

"The situation is nothing short of horrific —  where is humanity?" Khalil said in a statement today. "Millions of civilians are being collectively punished in full view of the world, there can be no justification for using starvation as a weapon of war."

Though supplies to make items such as bread have been delivered to Gaza, airstrikes have destroyed multiple bakeries in the strip and a lack of power has made its wheat mill redundant, the charity said.

As he works at a food warehouse in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Mohammed Abuakar said spent most of his time worrying about his home.

“Thank God, I’m fine but the situation is very bad,” Abuakar, 22, told NBC News by text message. “There was heavy bombing the night before.” Sleepless nights have become the norm, he added.

Abuakar said was visiting Egypt and had just returned to Gaza three days before the war broke out. "If I had known, I would not have come to Gaza," he said.

JERUSALEM — The power is flickering and fading at hospitals in Gaza, as medical officials say generators are on their last drops of fuel.

The heath system run by Hamas is in a state of collapse, just as casualties are flooding in from hundreds of Israeli airstrikes a day. 

Last night, NBC News filmed the immediate aftermath of what witnesses say was an Israeli airstrike on a three-story building in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where the Israeli military again this morning urged Palestinians to go for their safety. 

Israel says it’s bombing Hamas fighters and leaders who are hiding in tunnels below apartment buildings, schools and hospitals. 

The U.N. secretary-general says that what’s needed now is clear: a cease-fire. Israel is objecting and the U.S. is backing it, saying a cease-fire now would help Hamas but small tactical “pauses” could be useful to protect civilians. But without one, the bodies of Gazans continue to pile up.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Hamas is not a terrorist organization but “a liberation group, ‘mujahideen’ waging a battle to protect its lands and people,” in his strongest comments yet on the militant group’s war with Israel.

Speaking to lawmakers from his ruling AK Party and using an Arabic word denoting those who fight for their faith, he called for an immediate cease-fire and also said he will not go to Israel on a visit as previously planned.

Turkey has condemned the civilians deaths that resulted from Hamas’ Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel, but also urged Israel to react in a restrained way.

Many of Turkey’s NATO allies consider Hamas a terrorist group, and Erdogan’s comments drew a swift rebuke from Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who said they were “grave and disgusting and did not help with de-escalation.”

The White House is likely to tighten crude oil sanctions against OPEC member Iran in response to the Islamic Republic’s backing of Hamas, according to Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

Her comments come ahead of a widely expected ground offensive by Israel into Gaza, a move that Croft believes could set the tone for the West’s response to Iran.

It has been more than two weeks since Israel announced a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, cutting off food, water, fuel and electricity supplies after a devastating Hamas attack.

“It certainly looks like the United States is trying to delay an Israeli ground operation because they want to get out the hostages, they want to get out the hundreds of Americans that are trapped in Gaza, but the question is, is this going to be postponed indefinitely, but I think people are bracing for some type of escalation in Gaza,” Croft said today.

Read the full story here.

Tzachi Hanegbi, head of Israel's national security council, praised the diplomatic efforts by Qatar's government in recent weeks in a post on X today.

Qatari officials have helped facilitate negotiations that led to the release of four Hamas hostages, and mediators are hopeful that more releases will be forthcoming as talks continue.

"I’m pleased to say that Qatar is becoming an essential party and stakeholder in the facilitation of humanitarian solutions," Hanegbi wrote. "Qatar’s diplomatic efforts are crucial at this time."

The Australian Defense Force said it has deployed additional support to the Middle East after the country echoed appeals for humanitarian pauses in Gaza yesterday.

Army personnel and two C-130J aircrafts were sent to the region as a "precautionary measure" as the war poses the risk of a deteriorating security situation, the ADF said in a statement today.

More than 800 Australians have been airlifted out of Israel since Oct. 13, the day of the first Australian government-assisted departure.

Yesterday, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong posted a statement on X joining the calls for a pause in hostilities to allow in aid and assist civilians in Gaza.

"Innocent Palestinians should not suffer because of the outrages perpetrated by Hamas," she said.

Pope Francis renewed his calls for the release of hostages held by Palestinian militants and for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Gaza Strip.

“I am always thinking about the grave situation in Palestine and Israel. I encourage the release of hostages and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he said today during his weekly audience.

Francis said that he will lead special prayers for peace Friday in St. Peter’s Basilica, in what he said last week would be "a day of fasting, prayers, penance."

Gaza needs billions of dollars in international economic aid to compensate for years of restrictions that have stifled its economy and curbed its development, according to a report published today by the United Nations trade body.

In its report on the economic development of the Occupied Palestinian Territory for 2022, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) highlighted the dire economic conditions in Gaza, even prior to the devastating Israeli airstrikes on the enclave in reprisal for the deadly Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas gunmen in southern Israel.

“Donors and the international community need to extend significant economic aid to repair the extensive damage Gaza has experienced under prolonged restrictions and closures and frequent military operations, which has stifled the economy and decimated infrastructure,” the report said.

“While donor aid is important to assist the people of Gaza, it should not be viewed as a substitute for ending the restrictions and closures and calling on Israel and all parties to bear their responsibilities under international law.”

JERUSALEM — More than 6,500 people have been killed in Gaza, Palestinian officials said.

The death toll grew to 6,546 today, that's almost 800 more than was reported less than 24 hours ago.

Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said 756 people had been killed since yesterday, including 344 children.

Al-Qudra added that almost 17,500 people had been injured after he said yesterday that Gaza’s health care system has "completely collapsed" amid a complete blockade by Israel.

TEL AVIV — Israel’s minister for diaspora affairs said that Jews in the United States and elsewhere calling for a halt to the bombardment of Gaza are “lunatics.”

The bombing campaign has divided the global Jewish community, with some groups calling for peace and others, such as the Anti-Defamation League, condemning those efforts.

“What we’ve seen in the Jewish world is mass demonstration against Hamas, in favor of Israel,” Amichai Chikli, minister for diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, told NBC News.

“Yes, you have a few lunatics who say that they want cease-fire — it’s insane,” he added. “A cease-fire? After terrorists came into our villages, into peaceful communities, massacred babies and children?”

The head of the International Monetary Fund today dubbed the worsening Israel-Hamas conflict as another cloud on the horizon of an already gloomy economic outlook.

“What we see is more jitters in what has already been an anxious world,” Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told a panel hosted by CNBC’s Dan Murphy at the Future Investment Initiative Institute conference in Riyadh.

“And on a horizon that had plenty of clouds, one more — and it can get deeper.”  

Georgieva said that the economic fallout from the war, now in its third week, would be “terrible” for the sides involved, as well as have significant repercussions for the region. Those include negative impacts on trade and tourism.

Read the full story here.

A baby was delivered by emergency cesarean section after her mother was badly injured in an explosion at her home in Khan Younis, Gaza.

The mother and her daughter were listed in stable condition.

Heartbreak and devastation are hard to escape in the Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza.

At least 37 people were killed and dozens more injured in an Israeli airstrike that struck 15 homes last night, according to local health officials. NBC News has not verified the claims.

Rescuers pulled out the bodies of two children, Sila Hamdan, 11, and her sister Tala Hamdan, 9, from their home after the blast.

Residents covered the children's bodies in a cloth and carried them in the back of a truck to a morgue, where bodies were stacked on top of one another. Some were covered, and some were visible, including children with bloodied faces.

One after another, tearful relatives arrived, overcome with emotion while hugging the bodies of their lost loved ones.

DOHA, Qatar — There are new indications this morning that talks to free more Israeli hostages may soon see another release. 

“At any moment of time, we will see some breakthrough, hopefully soon,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who serves as Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, told a news conference.

But there are still substantial hurdles. There does not appear to be an established safe handover method, which will be crucial if a much bigger group of hostages is freed. The first pair of hostages, Judith Raanan and her daughter, Natalie, crossed from Gaza into Israel. The second pair, Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, crossed into Egypt.

A Hamas official has told NBC News this was because Israel would not impose a temporary cease-fire, although a diplomat with knowledge of the talks denied that Israel had rejected a cessation of hostilities.

“To get them out safely, we need to make sure they are not caught in the crossfire,” another Qatari official said. “We need to ensure safe passage.”

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group held talks today with senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures in a key meeting of three top anti-Israel militant groups amid the war raging in Gaza.

A brief statement following the meeting said that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah agreed with Hamas’ Saleh al-Arouri and Islamic Jihad’s leader Ziad al-Nakhleh on the next steps that the three — along with other Iran-backed militants — should take at this "sensitive stage."

Their goal, according to the statement that was carried on Hezbollah-run and Lebanese state media, was to achieve "a real victory for the resistance in Gaza and Palestine" and halt Israel’s "treacherous and brutal aggression against our oppressed and steadfast people in Gaza and the West Bank."

The Palestine Red Crescent said late yesterday that it received eight aid trucks from its Egyptian counterpart through the Rafah border crossing. The trucks contained water, food and medicine, it said, but no fuel.

Aid started moving into Gaza through the Rafah crossing during the weekend following intense diplomatic efforts, but it's not clear how much continues to flow in.

Rafah is the only crossing in and out of Gaza that is not controlled by Israel, and has become the focus of the international efforts to get much-needed humanitarian aid into the enclave.

The World Health Organization said late yesterday its trucks, loaded with urgently needed medical supplies, made it to five hospitals in Gaza, but much more is needed.

Israel considers Lebanon and Syria "one large front" to the north and is issuing a stern warning to militant groups that may be looking to take advantage of the war with Hamas to strike, IDF Lt. Col. Peter Lerner told Sky News.

“We have no patience for nonsense, and we will deal, I would say, damning strikes against those that intend to attack us," he said.

Lerner accused Hezbollah of aggravating the situation in Lebanon while concerns of escalations with Syria are growing, as well.

The IDF said earlier that it responded to rocket launches from Syria by striking Syrian army infrastructure. The Syrian state news agency said eight soldiers were killed in the strike and seven others wounded.

Emilee Rauschenberger is among 400 Americans stuck in Gaza with her Palestinian husband and their five young children.

As the family is unable to get out, her father in Florida says food and water are getting harder to find in the enclave, which has been under a complete blockade for more than two weeks.

"Things are getting worse," John Rauschenberger said. "And it scares me to death."

Last week, Emilee Rauschenberger told NBC News she was in Khan Yunis with her family, and they have been trying to get out of Gaza through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, which remains closed. There was hope last week that foreign national Palestinians would be able to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing as it reopens for humanitarian aid but, so far, there has been no confirmed movement of people out of Gaza at the crossing.

TEL AVIV — A top Israeli diplomat has vowed to teach the United Nations “a lesson” by refusing visas to its representatives, the latest furious reaction to the U.N. secretary-general saying the Hamas attacks “did not happen in a vacuum.”

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., told army radio that the country had already refused a visa for Martin Griffiths, the international organization's undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, and would continue this policy for other representatives.

“The time has come to teach them a lesson,” he said, according to Israeli media.

The comments come after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres caused outrage in Israel after saying that the Hamas attacks "did not happen in a vacuum” and said Israel was guilty of breaking international law.

In an apparent reaction to Israel's fury, Guterres posted on X overnight.

JERUSALEM — Palestinian health officials said three people were killed in an overnight raid near Jenin in the occupied West Bank after the Israeli military said it conducted "counterterrorism activities."

The IDF said it apprehended two people "suspected of involvement in terrorist activities" in Wadi Bruqin, in Jenin, during a raid with Israel's border police.

"Additionally, the forces opened fire toward armed terrorists," it said in a statement. "Hits were identified."

The IDF said it also deployed a drone against "armed terrorists" who fired at and hurled explosive devices at Israeli security forces in the Jenin refugee camp. "Hits were identified," it added, but no injuries to Israeli security forces were reported.

The West Bank has emerged as another front in Israel’s war with Hamas that began after militants staged an armed rampage through southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Since then, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Dinner will still be served at the White House, but without any “Rock Lobster.”

The B-52s, the American band best known for the song “Love Shack,” will no longer be performing at a state dinner Biden is hosting tonight for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, first lady Jill Biden said yesterday, in favor of more somber entertainment amid the Israel-Hamas war.

“While we had initially planned for the legendary B-52s to perform their iconic dance and party music, we are now in a time when so many are facing sorrow and pain,” she said.

The dinner will instead be accompanied by instrumental music from U.S. military bands, Biden said, while the B-52s will attend the dinner as guests.

President Joe Biden spoke with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman yesterday, with the two agreeing to pursue "broader diplomatic efforts" to prevent the war from spreading.

According to a readout of the call provided by the White House, the two leaders discussed humanitarian aid to Gaza and agreed to remain in close contact.

"They also affirmed the importance of working towards a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians as soon as the crisis subsides, building on the work that was already underway between Saudi Arabia and the United States over recent months," the readout said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged members of the U.N. Security Council to stop the Israel-Hamas war from spreading, and said he would work with his Chinese counterpart “to do precisely that.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to arrive in Washington tomorrow for meetings with Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, amid U.S.-China differences on a range of issues including their response to the war.

In a call with Wang earlier this month, Blinken had urged China, which has close relations with Iran, to use its influence in the region to prevent the conflict from widening.

The U.S. does not seek conflict with Iran and does not want the war to widen, Blinken said at the Security Council meeting yesterday. But he said Washington would act “swiftly and decisively” if Tehran or its proxies attacked U.S. personnel anywhere.

The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency said today that its shelters in Gaza are operating at four times their capacity and housing almost 600,000 Palestinians displaced by Israeli airstrikes.

That is forcing many people to sleep in the streets, the agency said.

JERUSALEM — Israel's military says it killed the commander of the North Khan Yunis sector battalion of Hamas.

IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said this morning that Taysir Mubasher served in the past as the commander of the naval force of Hamas and led many attacks against Israel.

NBC News has not verified the claim.

An Israeli attack on military positions in southwest Syria this morning killed eight soldiers and wounded seven more, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported.

Citing a military source, SANA said Israel’s “aerial aggression” targeted a number of military positions near the southwestern city of Deraa. The strike also caused material damage, it reported.

Israel’s military said earlier that its jets had struck Syrian army infrastructure and mortar launchers in what it described as a response to rocket launches from Syria toward Israel.

The United Nations' operations in the Gaza Strip could be forced to halt as soon as this evening as its fuel tanks run completely dry amid a continued blockade of the enclave by Israel.

The U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA has warned that it needs fuel urgently, or it will be unable to carry out its humanitarian mission for more than 2 million Palestinians caught in the fighting between Hamas and Israel.

UNRWA said fuel deliveries must be let in to ensure civilians have clean drinking water, hospitals can remain open and lifesaving aid operations can continue. Other humanitarian organizations have also said that shortage of fuel makes distributing any aid that trickles in difficult, if not impossible.

It comes more than two weeks after Israel started conducting devastating airstrikes and announced a complete blockade of Gaza, cutting off food, water, fuel and electricity supplies after the bloody Hamas attack. The Israeli military has reiterated that fuel will not enter Gaza as long as it ends up in the hands of Hamas, which runs the enclave.

Agony and grief fill the halls of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, with the wounded in the hallways.

Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah said that “40% of all of the wounded are children.”

Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza has a bed occupancy of around 150%, according to the World Health Organization, which warns that patients could die unless Gaza gets badly needed fuel.

Six hospitals across the Gaza Strip have already shut down because of lack of fuel, the WHO said.

Al-Shifa Hospital supplies are dwindling. “We’re running out of everything from simple dressings to complex burn dressings,” Abu-Sittah said. The hospital has over 150 people on ventilators in intensive care.

• U.S. intel agencies believe Gaza hospital blast was caused by Palestinian rocket that broke apart
• The many reasons Netanyahu may be delaying an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza
• Exclusive: Drone attacks on American bases injured two dozen U.S. military personnel
• Released hostage says she went through hell. But she had praise — and a word of peace — for her captors.
• What to know about travel safety as the Israel-Hamas war continues