23m ago / 7:11 PM UTC
Analysis: Israel’s strategy of ‘bombing the South,’ previously a safe zone, helps Hamas and hurts Israel
Residents in Gaza have nowhere safe to go as Israel resumes its attacks, which includes bombing Southern Gaza, previously declared a safe zone for Palestinians. Richard Engel joins Andrea Mitchell to discuss how Israel’s military campaign is affecting its global popularity.
“Many will argue, certainly many Palestinians and increasingly you’re hearing it from U.S. officials, that this approach, by bombing the Gaza Strip, first telling people to go down to the South and then bombing the South, is not making Hamas less popular, is not weakening the group, but is increasing Hamas’ popularity,” Engel tells Andrea.
He says the campaign “is not achieving the strategic victory that Israel wants to do, but is potentially causing massive problems for Israel’s reputation around the world.”
54m ago / 6:41 PM UTC
‘Painful screams fill the corridors’: Conditions at hospital in southern Gaza worsening, WHO says
The World Health Organization’s branch in the Occupied Palestinian Territories says conditions are worsening at the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza.
A WHO team visited the medical complex over the weekend, where they say 1,000 patients and hundreds of others are seeking shelter. The organization says the hospital “is operating at times beyond its capacity.”
The organization shared a video from the complex, showing a patient receiving treatment on the floor and a shortage in supplies.
“The emergency ward is overflowing with patients. Patients are being treated on the floor. Tragically, many have taken their last breath on the floor. Painful screams fill the corridors,” the organization said in a post on their X account.
The staff at the complex are exhausted and medical supplies are running “dangerously low,” according to WHO, which reiterated calls for a cease-fire.
“WHO is deeply concerned about the intensified hostilities, which increase the risk for hospitals in southern Gaza. Ceasefire NOW.”
2h ago / 5:56 PM UTC
Dutch court to hear war crimes case against government over Israeli jet parts shipments
The Netherlands faces a legal challenge on Monday over accusations that its role in the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel makes it complicit in alleged war crimes in Gaza.
Three human rights organizations, including the Dutch arm of Oxfam, have brought the case at the district court in The Hague, stating the export of the fighter plane parts enables Israel to bomb the Gaza strip.
“Israel disregards the fundamental principles of the laws of war, such as distinguishing between civilian and military targets and the principle of proportionality,” in the bombing of the Gaza strip, the organizations said in their court filings.
Israel denies having carried out war crimes, saying its forces abide by international law while fighting Palestinian militants who operate in densely populated civilian areas.
2h ago / 5:33 PM UTC
218 Americans and U.S. dual nationals crossed from Gaza to Egypt, Red Crescent says
A total of 218 Americans and U.S. dual nationals crossed from Gaza to Egypt today, according to the North Sinai branch of the Egyptian Red Crescent.
In all, 600 foreign or dual nationals left Gaza for Egypt through the Rafah border crossing today, said Khaled Ziad, the head of the North Sinai branch of the Egyptian Red Crescent. Twenty-seven injured people also crossed into Egypt today.
Fifty aid trucks and two fuel trucks made their way into Gaza from the border crossing today as well, according to Ziad.
3h ago / 4:56 PM UTC
More than 50 homes destroyed in Gaza neighborhood by Israeli bombing, Palestinian Authority says
More than 50 homes have been destroyed in an Israeli attack, the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Affairs Ministry says.
In a X post, the ministry shared a 26-second clip that showed a neighborhood in ruins. Hundreds of people were killed, “with some still trapped under the rubble,” it said.
NBC News has not independently verified these claims.
3h ago / 4:13 PM UTC
Video captures gunfire during Israeli ‘counterterrorist’ operation in the West Bank
Cellphone video showed Israeli soldiers in a street fight in Qalqilya, in the occupied West Bank, during what Israel called “counterterrorist activity” today.
4h ago / 3:58 PM UTC
White House calls protest outside Israeli falafel shop in Philadelphia ‘completely unjustifiable’
The White House called a protest outside the Israeli falafel shop Goldie in Philadelphia “completely unjustifiable.”
“It is Antisemitic and completely unjustifiable to target restaurants that serve Israeli food over disagreements with Israeli policy, as Governor Shapiro has underlined,” spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement. “This behavior reveals the kind of cruel and senseless double standard that is a calling card of Antisemitism.”
In a post on his X account, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called the protest “a blatant act of antisemitism.”
4h ago / 3:45 PM UTC
Red Cross chief arrives in Gaza, says suffering is ‘intolerable’
Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, arrived in Gaza today, she said in a post on X. She described the suffering in the war torn region as “intolerable.”
“I repeat our urgent call for civilians to be protected in line with the laws of war and for aid to enter unimpeded,” she said, also calling for the release of the hostages.
4h ago / 3:15 PM UTC
‘We have nothing to tell them,’ U.N. agency says as southern Gaza is targeted
As Israel expands its campaign in Gaza, piercing through to the southern part of the strip, UNRWA chief Thomas White said, “Even in Rafah where people are being forced to flee, the sound of airstrikes punctuates the day.”
“People are pleading for advice on where to find safety,” he wrote on X today.
“We have nothing to tell them.”
5h ago / 2:58 PM UTC
Pennsylvania governor condemns protesters who ‘targeted and mobbed’ falafel restaurant
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro strongly criticized a group of protesters who massed and chanted in front of an Israeli-style falafel shop in Philadelphia yesterday.
“Tonight in Philly, we saw a blatant act of antisemitism — not a peaceful protest,” Shapiro said in a post Sunday on X.
Shapiro was responding directly to video of a group of pro-Palestinian protesters outside Goldie in Center City, which is part of a restaurant group co-owned by an Israel-born chef. In the video, the protesters shout: “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”
In the post on X, Shapiro said the restaurant was “targeted and mobbed because its owner is Jewish and Israeli. This hate and bigotry is reminiscent of a dark time in history.”
The demonstration was also condemned by the Anti-Defamation League office in Philadelphia and Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., who represents Philadelphia.
“I can’t believe I even have to say this but targeting businesses simply because they’re Jewish owned is despicable,” Boyle said on X. “Philadelphia stands against this sort of harassment and hate.”
A spokesperson for the restaurant group declined to comment on the incident.
5h ago / 2:55 PM UTC
Shin Bet chief says it is prepared to destroy Hamas ‘in every place,’ including in other Middle Eastern countries
The head of Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, says his organization is prepared to destroy Hamas “in every place,” including in other Middle Eastern countries.
The remarks by Ronen Bar, aired late yesterday by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, echoed similar comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense minister last month.
“In every place, in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Lebanon, in Turkey, in Qatar, everywhere,” Bar said in an audio recording. “It’ll take a few years but we will be there to do it.”
Bar compared the mission to Israel’s operation to assassinate militants behind the 1972 killings of members of its Olympic team in Munich.
Kan did not say when Bar made the remarks.
5h ago / 2:54 PM UTC
Two killed as house destroyed by blast in Khan Younis
Two people were killed and a house destroyed by a blast early this morning in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, after the Israeli military had ordered residents to flee from half a dozen areas in and around the city.
5h ago / 2:31 PM UTC
Menorah lighting events canceled amid Israel-Hamas war
A menorah lighting ceremony in the United States and an installation in Canada have been canceled because of heightened sensitivities caused by the war between Israel and Gaza.
The 2nd Sundays Art and Music Festival festival in Williamsburg, Virginia, attracted strong criticism from local Jewish community leaders for canceling a planned lighting on Dec. 10.
The festival’s founder, Shirley Vermillion, told the Virginia Gazette that the menorah lighting “seemed very inappropriate” given the ongoing war, adding that other religious groups had previously had similar requests denied.
The Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula said in a statement that it was told the organizers didn’t want to be seen to be taking sides. “To be clear, the menorah lighting, which was to be led by a local community rabbi, had nothing to do with Israel or the conflict,” the group said.
Meanwhile, the menorah will not be displayed at City Hall in the east Canadian town of Moncton this Hannukah for the first time in 20 years, religious leaders have said.
Francis Weil, president of the Moncton Jewish Community, told the CBC that he learned the news in a meeting with Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold. Christmas trees and angels are already lit up around the building.
“We have absolutely nothing against the Christmas tree … But how can you justify having religious symbols from one religion and banning something from another religion?” Weil said to the CBC.
Moncton City Hall has yet to comment publicly on the matter. A petition to reinstate the menorah display has more than 5,000 signatures.
In Britain, the East London borough of Havering last week canceled plans to install a menorah outside its town hall due to “escalating tensions from the conflict in the Middle East,” only to reverse the decision a day later after meeting with community leaders.
5h ago / 2:19 PM UTC
U.S. Navy warship shot down drones heading toward it off Yemen
U.S. Navy destroyer USS Carney shot down drones being used to attack ships in the Red Sea, drawing the United States deeper into the crisis in the region.
5h ago / 2:10 PM UTC
Phone and internet in Gaza City out amid new strikes, telecom says
All phone and internet service in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip are down as Israel bombs southern Gaza, according to Gaza’s largest telecom service.
The company, Paltel, said that on Facebook that service was out “due to the disconnection of main elements of our network in light of the ongoing aggression” and that workers were trying to repair the damage and restore service.
Netblocks, a global company that tracks internet connectivity, said on X that its network data showed a disruption to some parts of Gaza but that it was shy of the type of full blackout the area has experienced since the war began.
6h ago / 2:00 PM UTC
Main north-south road in Gaza now a ‘battlefield,’ IDF says
The Salah Al Din road that has been used as a humanitarian corridor for those evacuating south now “constitutes a battlefield,” IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a post on X, warning people not to use it.
This is because of “fighting and military advance of the IDF in the Khan Younis area,” he said, and the IDF will now allow movement “through the bypass axis located west of Khan Yunis.”
Khan Younis is a city in southern Gaza, where the Israeli military is now pushing forward with an expanded ground offensive.
6h ago / 1:38 PM UTC
Plumes of smoke rise over Gaza after Israeli strikes
This image, taken from southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip, shows smoke billowing after an Israeli strike in the Palestinian enclave today.
6h ago / 1:23 PM UTC
More than 80% of Gaza’s population now displaced, U.N. agency says
Almost 1.9 million people have been displaced across the Gaza Strip, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said today in a post on X.
The agency also said that 117 incidents have occurred across 85 of its premises, adding that 30 of its facilities were hit directly, while the rest suffered collateral damage.
7h ago / 12:56 PM UTC
Hostage families worried about war and angry about lack of info
Families of those still held hostage in Gaza have voiced their concern about Israel’s renewed military campaign and what they say is a lack of information about efforts to free their loved ones.
“We demand to know war priorities at this stage — and insist on the return of all hostages to be top priority, ” Yael Adar said at a news conference in Tel Aviv this morning. She is the mother of Tamir Adar who was kidnapped from his home in Nir Oz in the Hamas attack.
The families have been hearing testimonies from released captives about their ordeal.
“We are terrified of what we hear from them,” said Haim Itzak Or, brother of Avinatan Or, who was taken hostage with his friend Noa Argmani from the Nova music festival.
Those speaking at the event said they had been trying to meet with the Israeli war Cabinet since the collapse of the truce, but that they had been rebuffed. Israeli media has since reported that they will now meet tonight at the families’ request.
7h ago / 12:36 PM UTC
Thai hostage returns to home village in an emotional reunion after ‘torture’ of Hamas captivity
DONPILA, Thailand — Cheering relatives crowded into the streets of this rural Thai village, flashing peace signs as they awaited one young local’s return to a corner of the world that has been unexpectedly drawn into the war in the Middle East.
Anucha Angkaew, a 28-year-old migrant worker, was finally home.
As Anucha sat with his 7-year-old daughter in his parents’ house the next day, a string was tied around his wrist in a Thai ritual meant to preserve good luck.
Anucha, who was held for more than seven weeks, told NBC News in an interview Friday that he had no hope he would be freed. He said little about his time in captivity but described it as “a real torture.”Read the full story here.
7h ago / 12:15 PM UTC
U.S. military official taken aback by ferocity of Israeli attacks after cease-fire
A senior U.S. military official tells NBC News he was taken aback by the ferocity of Israel’s renewed campaign, which has included attacks on apartment buildings.
Since the end of the cease-fire Friday, U.S. officials have called on Israel to do more to protect civilians in Gaza.
“As Israel defends itself, it matters how. … international humanitarian law must be respected. Too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Frankly, the scale of civilian suffering and the images and videos coming from Gaza are devastating,” Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday. “It is truly heartbreaking.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday said Israel risks a “strategic defeat” if it doesn’t take actions to protect civilians.
“The center of gravity is the civilian population, and if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat,” he said in a speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.
7h ago / 12:15 PM UTC
Funeral held for fallen soldier in Tel Aviv
The mother of Israeli Col. Asaf Hamami, commander of Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, grieves during his funeral at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv today.
7h ago / 12:07 PM UTC
Netanyahu’s corruption trial resumes
TEL AVIV — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial has resumed after a hiatus prompted by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the war it set off.
Netanyahu is on trial for alleged fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases involving powerful media moguls and wealthy associates. He denies any wrongdoing.
In today’s hearing, police investigators will be questioned over allegations that he promoted regulatory benefits for a telecom company in exchange for favorable coverage from a news outlet it owned.
Netanyahu’s lengthy trial, which began in 2020, was paused after the Hamas attack, when the country’s courts were put under emergency status and all but shut down. The last hearing took place at the end of September.
8h ago / 11:49 AM UTC
Aid delivery restricted after hostilities resumed
As the fighting resumed in Gaza, the already minimal aid reaching parts of the enclave has slowed even further. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday “aid distribution largely stopped due to the intensity” in Khan Younis.
“The Middle Area was largely disconnected from the south, following Israeli forces’ prevention of movement, including of humanitarian supplies,” it said in a report, adding some aid distribution of flour and water took place in Rafah.
The access to north from the south has been halted since Friday, the agency said.
8h ago / 11:16 AM UTC
Hamas condemns ICC prosecutor skipping Gaza on his regional visit
As International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan wrapped up his trip to the region yesterday, Hamas today denounced him for not visiting Gaza.
Khan only went to Israel and West Bank on the trip.
That “contradicts the minimum requirements of justice and judicial procedures,” Hamas said in a statement on Telegram.
The ICC has been investigating war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank since 2021.
9h ago / 10:44 AM UTC
Turkey’s Erdogan says Netanyahu ‘will be tried as war criminal’
ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would eventually be tried as a war criminal over Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip, while slamming Western countries supporting Israel.
Turkey, which supports a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict, has sharply criticized Israel over its campaign in Gaza, launched in response to militant group Hamas’ rampage Oct. 7.
In a speech to an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) committee meeting in Istanbul, Erdogan said the Western nations supporting Israel were giving it “unconditional support to kill babies” and were complicit in its crimes.
9h ago / 10:40 AM UTC
Almost 200 Hamas targets struck in Gaza, Israel says
As both Israeli ground and aerial forces continue to operate in Gaza, the IDF said today they have struck almost 200 Hamas targets.
Two tunnel shafts, explosives and weapons were found in a school in Beit Hanoun, it said in a statement, adding IDF aircrafts also struck vehicles loaded with weaponry, thwarting what it called an imminent attack.
“Following this, a weapons storage facility from which the terrorists exited was struck as well,” it said today, adding IDF naval forces have also reinforced its ground operations.
NBC News has not independently verified the claims.
9h ago / 10:38 AM UTC
Mourners collect the bodies of loved ones in Khan Younis
A young boy covers his face in grief as people wait to collect the bodies of Palestinians killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, today.
9h ago / 10:28 AM UTC
IDF says it exchanged fire coming from Lebanon
Three soldiers were injured last night in northern Israel after multiple mortal shells were fired from Lebanon, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said today on X.
“Several mortar shells were also monitored a short while ago,” he said, adding they were fired toward the town of Yiftah.
“IDF forces responded by targeting the sources of fire,” he said.
9h ago / 10:17 AM UTC
Father of slain Palestinian American child files wrongful death lawsuit
CHICAGO — The father of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy fatally stabbed in what authorities allege was a hate crime has filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Oday Al-Fayoume filed the lawsuit last month against the suburban Chicago landlord charged in the attack that left his child dead and the boy’s mother seriously wounded. The attack — which has renewed fears of anti-Islamic discrimination in the Chicago area’s large Palestinian community — has drawn condemnation from the White House.
Authorities allege Joseph Czuba, 71, targeted Wadea Al-Fayoume and his mother, Hanaan Shahin, on Oct. 14 because of their Muslim faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas. Czuba pleaded not guilty in October to hate crime and murder charges.
The wrongful death lawsuit filed Nov. 21 in Will County names Czuba, his wife, Mary Czuba, both of Plainfield, and their property management company, Discerning Property Management.
9h ago / 10:11 AM UTC
Two ambulances fired upon, Palestine Red Crescent says
The Palestine Red Crescent said today two paramedics and one person were injured after two ambulances were fired upon by Israeli forces in northern Gaza.
The ambulances were transporting an injured person, it said.
NBC News has not verified the claims.
9h ago / 10:08 AM UTC
IDF drops leaflets warning those in southern Gaza to evacuate
The Israel Defense Forces has dropped leaflets in southern Gaza, warning those in certain neighborhoods of a heavy attack.
“The Israel Defense Forces will soon launch a heavy attack in your area with the aim of destroying Hamas,” the IDF said, addressing the residents of Khan Younis, Ma’an, Alkatiba, Almahata and Bani Sohaila, asking them to evacuate further south to shelters in Al-Fakhari, Al-Shabura, Al Zohor and Tal Sultan.
“Stay in the currently known shelters until the fighting in the area ends,” it said, adding, “These are the last hours to evacuate, don’t wait until it becomes impossible.”
Those in Gaza say that there is no reliably safe place to go amid the attacks.
11h ago / 8:53 AM UTC
Civilians look over a large crater left by blast in Rafah
Palestinians stand at the edge of a crater after a blast in Rafah, southern Gaza, yesterday.
11h ago / 8:52 AM UTC
Israel announces ground offensive into southern Gaza has begun
TEL AVIV — Israel announced its ground offensive into southern Gaza has begun, and its top general said the assault will be just as fierce as the one in the north. Palestinian families who came south in search of safety are now fleeing once again.
11h ago / 8:52 AM UTC
