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Deal brokered to get medicine to hostages and more aid for Gaza

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s comments follow growing U.S. pressure for Israel to ease its assault on the Palestinian enclave.

What we know

  • Israel and Hamas reached a deal to deliver medicine and humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip in exchange for getting medication to Israeli hostages.
  • Israel has ended its "intensive" phase of operations in northern Gaza and will soon do the same in southern Gaza, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said, urging his government to agree on a plan for the Palestinian enclave after the war. But after a massive barrage of rockets was fired at Israel from Gaza this morning, right-wing minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the idea of scaling back the military campaign.
  • Iran fired missiles at what it claimed were Israeli “spy headquarters” near the U.S. Consulate in northern Iraq. The U.S. condemned the strikes, which heightened regional tensions as the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels also struck a U.S.-owned containership off Yemen.
  • Israel accused Hamas of “psychological terror” following the release of a video by the group's military wing that appears to show hostage Noa Argamani, who was taken captive at the Nova music festival, saying that she has been injured and that two other hostages, Yossi Sharabi and Itay Svirsky, have been killed. NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify the claims, and it is not known when the video was made.
  • Gaza urgently needs more aid or its population will face famine and disease, three major U.N. agencies have warned. More than 24,000 people have been killed in the enclave 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 said at least 188 soldiers have been killed during the 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, Anna Schecter and Josh Lederman are reporting from the region.

Coverage on this live blog has ended. Follow live updates here.

Senate resolution requesting report on alleged human rights violations fails

Frank Thorp Vproducer and off-air reporter

Diana Paulsen

Frank Thorp V and Diana Paulsen

WASHINGTON — A resolution proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., requesting that the State Department prepare a report on allegations of human rights violations in Gaza was essentially killed when the Senate voted to table it 72-11.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., joined 10 Democrats in supporting the resolution.

Had it passed, the State Department would have been required to produce a report within 30 days or have aid to the country frozen.

In his resolution, Sanders requested that the report include a "summary of arms and munitions provided to Israel since October 7," information on "actions the U.S. has taken to limit civilian risk in Israeli military action" and any "credible allegations of the violation of internationally recognized human rights in Gaza."

Sanders has been outspoken about his opposition to further U.S. military aid to Israel. He has said that "the Netanyahu government’s current military approach is immoral, it is in violation of international law, and the United States must end our complicity in those actions."

Marc Smith

JERUSALEM — The United Nations is expressing renewed concerns about death from disease and famine. Among the most vulnerable are the estimated 1.1 million children trapped in the war-ravaged enclave.

“Children at high risk of dying from malnutrition and disease desperately need medical treatment, clean water and sanitation services, but the conditions on the ground do not allow us to safely reach children and families in need,” UNICEF Director Catherine Russell said. “The lives of children and their families are hanging in the balance.”

Mohamed Yazji is praying the war will end soon.

In October, his mother was killed in an airstrike and his father disappeared. Mohamed, 13, is doing the best he can to care for seven siblings, including his sister Toleen, who’s just months old.

After fleeing northern Gaza and moving several times, the siblings now call a small tent in the southern Gazan city of Rafah home.

The responsibility is weighing on Mohamed. “I do not know what to do,” he said. “It’s been 100 days, and each day it is more difficult than the one before.”

Nine-year-old Iyas, unable to see or speak, expresses his pain through muted whimpers and cries. NBC News first met Iyas in October at the Mabarit Rahme Orphanage in Gaza City, where nearly two dozen children, many with severe disabilities, were living. As northern Gaza grew more dangerous, the orphanage staff moved the children south. Some, including Iyas, are now sheltering in a garage in Rafah.

Having debilitating complex needs, Iyas requires regular medication and treatment. But, with only limited medical care, his condition is worsening.

"We’re telling the world that things are getting worse and worse. Our needs are growing, and we can’t meet them,” said Abdullah Mohamed, Iyas’ caretaker. “We could lose Iyas at any moment.”

U.S. to relist Iran-backed Houthis as specially designated global terrorists

Abigail Williams

Abigail Williams and Monica Alba

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is expected to announce the labeling of the Houthi rebels as a "specially designated global terrorist group" as soon as tomorrow, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the decision. The move follows U.S. strikes targeting the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen in response to a series of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. 

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said today the U.S. continues to reserve the right to take further action against the Houthis and called on countries with influence in Tehran to make the issue a priority.

"The entire world rejects wholesale the idea that a group like the Houthis can basically hijack the world as they are doing,” Sullivan said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “And so we want to work with countries across the board, countries who are allies and partners, countries who are not, in the common interest to get this to stop.”

The Houthis had been designated as both a "foreign terrorist organization" and a "specially designated global terrorist group" during the Trump administration, but they were removed from both lists under Biden in response to concerns over the repercussions for humanitarian groups working in Yemen.

The Biden administration is not expected to relabel the group as a foreign terrorist organization, and the sanctions associated with designation as a specially designated global terrorist group do not ban providing “material support” or restrict travel that would have a lesser impact on aid groups’ efforts.

The scope of Gaza's humanitarian crisis

The Associated Press

Gaza’s Health Ministry said today that the bodies of 158 people killed in Israeli strikes have been taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours, bringing the war’s overall death toll to 24,285. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but it says around two-thirds of those killed were women and children.

Senior U.N. officials recently warned that Gaza faces widespread famine and disease if more aid is not allowed in. While they did not directly blame Israel, they said aid delivery is hobbled by the opening of too few border crossings, a slow vetting process and continuing fighting throughout the territory — all of which is largely under Israel’s control.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said U.N. agencies and their partners “cannot effectively deliver humanitarian aid while Gaza is under such heavy, widespread and unrelenting bombardment.” At least 152 U.N. staffers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.

Israeli officials say they have placed no limits on humanitarian aid and have called on the U.N. to provide more workers and trucks to accelerate delivery.

Israel completely sealed off Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and relented only under U.S. pressure. The U.S. and the U.N. have continued to push Israel to ease the flow of aid.

'Fairly serious and intensive discussions in Qatar about the possibility for another deal,' Adm. John Kirby says

There is a "fairly serious and intensive discussions in Qatar about the possibility for another deal" between Israel and Hamas, Adm. John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, said at a news briefing today. 

"I don't want to get ahead of where we are, but we are having, I would say, very fairly serious and intensive discussions in Qatar about the possibility for another deal," Kirby said.

Kirby also said that while the images coming out of Gaza are "heartbreaking," Israel "has a right to defend itself." The U.S. is encouraging Israel to "shift to this new phase" of its military operation to defend itself "as surgically and as precisely as possible to minimize those casualties," he said.


IDF disputes Palestinian claim that Israeli soldiers used him as human shield

NBC News

A Palestinian man said Israeli soldiers used him as a human shield during a West Bank raid.

The IDF denied the claim, saying a riot broke out in the town of Dura, where 100 people threw Molotov cocktails at soldiers, "who responded with riot dispersal means and live fire."

“An assailant who hurled a Molotov cocktail at the forces was killed, and additional hits were identified," the IDF said in a statement.

The IDF also addressed a video of the incident, saying it showed a soldier arresting a suspect, not using him as a human shield.

Red Sea risk to oil is ‘very real,' and prices could change rapidly, Chevron CEO says

Spencer Kimball, CNBC

The crisis in the Red Sea poses serious risks to oil flows and prices could change quickly if tensions lead to a major supply disruption in the Middle East, Chevron CEO Michael Wirth told CNBC.

“It’s a very serious situation and seems to be getting worse,” Wirth said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Wirth said he was surprised that U.S. crude oil was trading below $73 a barrel, because the “risks are very real.”

“So much of the world’s oil flows through that region that were it to be cut off, I think you could see things change very rapidly,” Wirth said.

Chevron has continued transporting crude through the region as it works closely with the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, Wirth said. He cautioned that the situation is evolving.

“We really have to watch very carefully,” he said.

Read the full story here.

Two Israeli hostages killed in Hamas captivity

Yossi Sharabi and Itai Svirsky, two Israeli hostages who had been held by Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack, have died, according to Be’eri kibbutz and the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.

"Yossi Sharabi (53) was a loving and devoted father and husband, a real family man with a big heart. A kind soul, he was caring and known for his dedication to all those around him," the two groups said in a statement, adding that Sharabi's brother Eli is still being held hostage.

In a second statement, the groups said: “We share in the profound grief of the Svirsky family. This loss is unfathomable for the families. Everything must be done to bring the living home safely and the murdered for proper burial."

Video Hamas released yesterday purported to show the bodies of the two hostages, but the Israeli military initially said it could not confirm their deaths, Reuters reported.

Deal reached to send medicine and humanitarian aid into Gaza

Raf Sanchez

Charlene Gubash

Raf Sanchez and Charlene Gubash

Thanks to mediation efforts by Qatari and French officials, Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to deliver medicine and humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip in exchange for getting medication to Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity.

Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari, the spokesperson for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced that medications are expected to leave Doha tomorrow en route to Egypt, in preparation for their transport into Gaza.

Saudi Arabia could recognize Israel if Palestinian issue is resolved, foreign affairs minister says

Keir Simmons

DAVOS, Switzerland — Saudi Arabia is “incredibly concerned for regional security” in the Middle East, the country’s foreign affairs minister said today.

“We think the priority needs to be de-escalation in the Red Sea and the wider region,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said at the World Economic Forum.

He added that the kingdom could recognize Israel, “but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state.”

Calling for a cease-fire, he said, “We need to focus on the immediate crisis, and the immediate crisis is the situation for the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Saudi Arabia has not seen “any real sign that any strategic objectives that Israel has set are coming any closer,” he added.

European Union adds Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to terrorist list and imposes sanctions

Gabrielle Nolin

Gabrielle Nolin and Mirna Alsharif

The Council of the European Union has added Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to the E.U. terrorist list and imposed sanctions.

"This decision comes as part of European Union’s response to the threat posed by Hamas and its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023," the council said in a statement today.

The E.U. has frozen Sinwar's funds "and other financial assets in EU member states" and prohibited E.U. operators from making funds available to him.

As Houthi attacks on ships continue, U.S. strikes Houthi missile site in Yemen

Ammar Cheikh Omar

Courtney Kube and Ammar Cheikh Omar

The U.S. military has conducted another strike against Houthi militants in Yemen.

The U.S. struck an anti-ship ballistic missile site after it determined that the missiles there posed an imminent threat to merchant commercial vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea, two U.S. defense officials said.

U.S. Central Command said the Houthis were preparing to launch the four missiles.

Meanwhile, the Houthis said in a statement this morning that they had targeted a vessel that was headed toward Israel and achieved a direct hit. The ship was targeted "after the ship’s crew rejected warning calls," according to the statement, which was posted on Telegram.

Central Command confirmed the attack.

"M/V Zografia, a Maltese flagged bulk carrier reported they were struck but seaworthy and were continuing their Red Sea transit. No injuries were reported," it said in a statement.

Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh arrives in Egypt for medical treatment

Lawahez Jabari

Lawahez Jabari and Mirna Alsharif

Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh has arrived in Egypt for medical treatment, according to the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate.

"The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate extends its thanks to the Egyptian state and the competent authorities for responding to the Syndicate’s request to facilitate the entry of colleague Wael Al-Dahdouh into Egypt to receive treatment," said Khaled El Balshy, the head of the syndicate. "The Syndicate contacted Al-Dahdouh after his arrival on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to check on him."

Al Jazeera confirmed that Al Dahdouh has left Gaza.

Al Dahdouh has lost his wife, his 15-year-old son, his 7-year-old daughter and a grandson in Israeli airstrikes since the war began. Last week, his 27-year-old son, Hamza Dahdouh — also a journalist and cameraman with Al Jazeera — was killed, as well.

"The pain was more than what I could bear," Al Dahdouh told NBC News’ Ayman Mohyeldin on Sunday. "But at the end of the day, I came back, carrying out my tasks and job."

Blinken on planned walkout of federal workers for Gaza: 'That's their choice'

Abigail Williams

Abigail Williams and Mirna Alsharif

In an interview with CNBC, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed a planned walkout of federal workers in support of Gaza, which is expected today.

"From my perspective, I want to make sure that people feel that they can say what they believe, express themselves," Blinken said, adding: "They ultimately have to be on the job and do their jobs."

"People feel the need to speak up and speak out. That’s a cherished part of our democracy. It’s a cherished part of my view of patriotism. But people also need to be beyond the job, do the job," Blinken said.

Blinken, who is in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, also spoke about the possibility of a two-state solution in the region. He said Arab leaders are prepared to support the reconstruction of Gaza — if there can be lasting security.

"Arab countries are saying this, they’re saying, 'Look, we’re not going to get into the business, for example, of rebuilding Gaza, only to have it leveled again in a year or five years,' and then be asked to rebuild it again," he said.

More than 150 people killed in Gaza in 24 hours, Ministry of Health says

Lina Dandees

A total of 158 people were killed in Gaza in a 24-hour period that ended this morning local time, according to the enclave's Ministry of Health.

"The Israeli occupation committed 15 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip," the ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

There are also people buried under rubble, according to the ministry.

A wounded Palestinian boy is treated in a hospital in Khan Younis, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024.
A wounded Palestinian boy is treated Monday in a hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza.Mohammed Dahman / AP

This brings the total of those killed in Gaza by Israel since Oct. 7 to over 24,000, the ministry said. More than 61,000 people have been injured.

Iran launches missile attacks into Iraq and Syria near U.S. Consulate

NBC News

Iran launched missile attacks into Iraq and Syria, with explosions reported near the American consulate. U.S. officials say there were no reports of Americans injured.

Netanyahu's office says it's 'absurd' to suggest that Amalekites reference incited genocide

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it is "absurd" to suggest that he incited genocide of Palestinians by referencing the Amalekites, seen as the biblical enemy of the Jews.

At the International Court of Justice in The Hague last week, South Africa presented its case accusing Israel of perpetrating genocide in Gaza. One of its arguments was that Netanyahu referenced the Amalekites in a speech to the Israeli army in late October and in a letter to his forces in early November, thereby invoking "the retaliatory destruction of an entire group of people known as the Amalekites."

In a statement today, Netanyahu's office called that a "false and preposterous charge."

"The comparison to Amalek has been used throughout the ages to designate those who seek to eradicate the Jewish people, most recently the Nazis," the statement said.

"That is why the words on a banner in a permanent exhibit at Yad Vashem, Israel’s famed Holocaust Museum, urge visitors to 'Remember what Amalek did to you.' This same phrase appears in The Hague at the memorial for Dutch Jews murdered during the Holocaust. Obviously neither reference is an incitement to genocide of the German people," the statement added.

Instead, it said, the prime minister's reference was "a description of the utterly evil actions perpetrated by the genocidal terrorists of Hamas on Oct. 7th and the need to confront them."

Israel has said it has done everything it can to protect civilians in Gaza and denies all genocide charges against it.

IDF tanks stationed at the Gaza border

Max Butterworth

Israeli soldiers work on a tank near the Gaza border in southern Israel today.

Israeli Tanks On Gaza Border
Leo Correa / AP

Gaza hits 96-hour telecom blackout, a new record

The Gaza Strip has gone without substantial internet or phone connection for four days, the Palestinian enclave's longest streak since the conflict began.

Two major internet traffic analysts, Kentik and NetBlocks, confirmed the ongoing outage.

Gaza has repeatedly suffered blackouts since Israeli bombardment commenced in October. The largest telecommunications provider in the region, Paltel, has blamed both “continuous aggression” and a lack of power for interrupting service.

On Sunday, Paltel said that two repair workers had been killed working to repair infrastructure. NBC News has not verified the claim.

A donkey cart drives past a collapsed building in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, on Jan. 16, 2024.
A donkey cart drives past a collapsed building in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza today.AFP - Getty Images

Israel's security minister criticizes plan to scale back war, citing large barrage from Gaza

Israel's right-wing national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called the decision to withdraw some troops from Gaza and scale back the military operation there an "acute and serious error" that will cost human lives.

In a post on X, Ben-Gvir cited a rocket barrage that was launched at the border community of Netivot earlier today, which he said was from an area in Gaza that IDF forces had left only yesterday. This proved that "the occupation of the Strip is necessary for the realization of the combat goals," he said.

Yesterday, Israel’s defense minister said the military offensive inside Gaza was moving toward a lower intensity stage after three months of fighting. The IDF also announced that it was pulling one of four divisions out of the Gaza Strip for "a period of refreshment and training."

Ben-Gvir has previously faced criticism for his comments calling for the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

People line up for water in southern Gaza

Max Butterworth

Displaced Palestinians line up for water at a makeshift tent camp by the beach in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip today.

Displaced Palestinians in Southern Gaza
AFP - Getty Images

Trump says he will get Israel and Ukraine conflicts 'solved very fast'

After Donald Trump won the Iowa caucuses last night, he vowed to resolve both the Israel-Hamas war and Russia's invasion of Ukraine "very fast" if re-elected.

In his victory speech, Trump said that if he was still in charge, "Russia would have never attacked, Israel would have never been attacked," as he called the situations both Israel and Ukraine find themselves in "so horrible."

"We are going to get them solved very fast," Trump added, without going into detail about how exactly that would happen.

In office, Trump helped Israel sign normalization deals with some of its Arab neighbors, agreements that largely sidelined the issue of the Palestinians.

Special forces carried out strike in Lebanon, Israeli military says 

Israeli special forces carried out a strike in southern Lebanon, the country's military said in Telegram post this morning.

They "struck in order to remove a threat in the area of Ayta ash Shab in Lebanon," the IDF said in English. Ayta ash Shab is a village in southern Lebanon close to Israel's northern border.

The IDF did not say what the "threat" was. It also said its aircraft struck a Hezbollah anti-tank missile launcher in a town in southern Lebanon.

It comes amid growing fears of the Israel-Hamas war spilling into neighboring Lebanon and exploding into a broader conflict with the country's Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

The IDF later reported aerial and artillery strikes on Hezbollah targets in the area of Wadi Saluki in southern Lebanon, which the Israeli military said the militant group was exploiting for "terrorist activity" to conceal its assets and infrastructure used to attack Israel.

NBC News has not verified that that claim.

Israeli community near Gaza border reports being hit by 'many launches'

An Israeli community close to the border with Gaza said it was hit with a barrage of "many launches" from the enclave today.

The municipality of Netivot said there were no injuries and one building was damaged when one of the rockets fell at the entrance of the city. It said there were also a lot fragments scattered throughout the city from air defense interceptions.

The Times of Israel reported earlier today that more than 50 rockets were fired at the city, calling it the largest rocket barrage from Gaza in several weeks. NBC News could not immediately confirm how many missiles were launched at Netivot.

U.S. says it seized Iran missile parts bound for the Houthis

A team of Navy SEALs that lost two members who went overboard while searching a small boat off the coast of Somalia went on to find Iranian missile parts bound for Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the U.S. military said this morning.

The team found “Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missiles components” including propulsion, guidance, and warheads for medium-ranged ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, U.S. Central Command, which oversees the military in the Middle East and parts of Asia, said in a statement posted on X.

Weapons seized by US Navy Seals from an Iranian backed vessel near the coast of Somalia in international waters of the Arabian Sea, en route to supply Houthi forces in Yemen, according to the US Central Command.
U.S. Central Command

American ships and aircraft are continuing a huge search and rescue mission in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, after the two SEALs disappeared into rough, nighttime seas during the boarding operation last Thursday.

Read the full story here.

WHO head calls for 'fundamental step change in the flow of humanitarian aid'

Samra Zulfaqar

The head of the World Health Organization has called for "a fundamental step change" in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave that's home to more than 2 million people.

In a post on X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for the opening of new entry routes into Gaza and for more trucks being allowed through border checks every day.

He also said there is a need for fewer restrictions on the movement of humanitarian workers and guarantees of safety for people accessing and distributing aid.

‘Gaza is not there anymore’: Qatari PM blasts Israel, international community at Davos forum

Associated Press

Qatar’s prime minister offered stinging criticism of Israel and the international community this morning over the ongoing Israeli war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar’s foreign minister, said a two-state solution was required to end the conflict and warned that Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack and the Israeli response showed the region could not go back to the way it was before.

“Gaza is not there anymore. I mean, there is nothing over there,” he said, speaking in Davos, Switzerland. “It’s carpet bombing everywhere.”

He also brought up the ongoing tensions in the occupied West Bank, which has seen Palestinians killed as well by Israeli security forces, and urged for an end to Palestinian divisions.

“We cannot have a two-state solution without having a government and politicians in Israel who believe in coexisting together side by side peacefully and we cannot have all this ongoing without ending this war,” he said.

He warned that a military confrontation in the Mideast waterways “will not contain” the attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels who fired a missile yesterday, striking a U.S.-owned ship just off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden.

“What we have right now in the region is a recipe of escalation everywhere," he added.

Iraq and U.S. condemn Iran strikes on Erbil

Iraq labeled Iran's attacks on the city of Erbil "an aggression" against its sovereignty and security, and has recalled its ambassador from Tehran in response.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X that Iran targeted "residential places with ballistic missiles," which led to casualties among civilians. The Kurdistan Region Security Council said in a statement that four civilians were killed in Erbil and six others were injured as the result of the attack. NBC News could not verify the claims.

Several explosions were reported in the vicinity of the US consulate in Erbil, with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) quickly claiming responsibility, saying it was targeting a 'spy headquarters' and a 'gathering of anti-Iran terrorist groups' in the region with ballistic missiles.
Teams carry out search and rescue operations after missile attacks in Erbil, Iraq, this morning.Karzan Mohammad / Anadolu via Getty Images

The Foreign Ministry said it will take "all legal measures" against Iran's behavior, including submitting a complaint to the U.N. Security Council. The country has also recalled its ambassador from Tehran for further consultations, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The State Department also "strongly condemned" Iran’s actions, adding that it opposes Tehran's "reckless missile strikes," which undermine Iraq’s stability.

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said no U.S. personnel or facilities in Iraq were targeted in the strikes, and they continue to assess the situation while supporting Iraq's sovereignty.

Iran says it launched missiles toward Iraq and Syria to deter security threats

Reuters

Iran said it launched ballistic missiles at targets in Iraq and Syria in defense of its sovereignty and security, as well as to counter terrorism amid rising fears of the escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it attacked the “spy headquarters” of Israel in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region late yesterday, in addition to striking in Syria against the Islamic State.

The Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment on Iran's claims.

The Iranian semiofficial news agency ISNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Naser Kanaani as saying the operations were part of Tehran’s just punishment against those who act against the country’s security.

At least four civilians were killed and six injured in the strikes, the Kurdistan government’s security council said. Multimillionaire Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and several members of his family were among the dead, killed when at least one rocket crashed into their home, Iraqi security and medical sources said.

Israeli operations in Gaza will soon move to lower intensity phase, defense minister says

Israel's defense minister said yesterday evening that the military offensive inside Gaza is moving toward a lower intensity stage after the conflict reached the 100-day mark.

Yoav Gallant said that when he and the Israeli military leadership presented the war plan for the Gaza Strip after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, they made it clear that the intensive maneuvering stage would last for about three months.

"In the northern area of the Gaza strip this phase will come to an end," Gallant said. "In southern Gaza we will reach this achievement and it will end soon, and in both places, the moment will come when we will move to the next phase."

Gallant's comments came as the Israel military said yesterday it has withdrawn one of four divisions in the Gaza Strip for "a period of refreshment and training."

Gaza ground operations at dawn

Max Butterworth

Israeli soldiers during ground operations at an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip, in an image supplied by the IDF this morning.

Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip
Israel Defense Forces / via Reuters

New details on 4-year-old American hostage freed by Hamas

Richard EngelNBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent, Host of MSNBC's "On Assignment with Richard Engel"

TEL AVIV — We are learning new details about what happened to 4-year-old American hostage Abigail Idan, from the fellow hostage who was with her while they were held by Hamas. Plus, the family of a 1-year-old hostage still held by Hamas speaks to NBC News.

Catch up with NBC News' coverage of the Israel-Hamas war

NBC News