Israeli military and Hamas clash deep inside Gaza

Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza hit with a massive blast

ISRAEL/GAZA BORDER — A massive blast has hit the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, according to the Health Ministry there.

At least 20 homes were completely destroyed, the government office in Gaza said. Victims were taken to the nearby Indonesian-run hospital for treatment, with an official count of casualties not immediately available.

Israel has not yet publicly addressed the blast and NBC News has not independently verified any details.

Video shows freed Israeli hostage reuniting with her family

Gabe Piscione

Pvt. Ori Megidish, an IDF soldier who was rescued by the Israeli military during a ground operation in Gaza yesterday, reunites with her family.

Houthi spokesperson says group fired rockets at Israel

Yahya Saree, a Houthi military spokesperson, said in a post on X that the Houthis, a group of Iran-backed Shia rebels in Yemen, “launched a large number of ballistic and winged missiles” at Israeli targets.

He wrote that the group “will continue to carry out more qualitative missile and drone attacks” until Israel’s “aggression” against Palestinians in Gaza ends.

The IDF said earlier today that the Israeli air force had intercepted a surface-to-surface missile in the area of the Red Sea.

Houthis have been at war with the Saudi Arabian coalition in Yemen since 2015.

Evidence collected from scorched vehicles after Hamas attack

Max Butterworth

Police officers inspect cars that were damaged during the Hamas attack on the southern border of Israel, at a location in Netivot today.

Celebrations in Israeli city as freed soldier returns home

KIRYAT GAT, Israel — Celebrations are well underway in Kiryat Gat, a city in southern Israel, where a soldier taken hostage by Hamas has returned home after Israel announced yesterday she had been freed during ground operations in Gaza.

Music blasted outside Pvt. Ori Megidish’s building as residents gathered to celebrate her return. A man with a cane danced jubilantly with neighbors as children raced around handing out candy and holding up a newspaper announcing her rescue.

One neighbor, Yael Shushan, told NBC News that Megidish appeared to be doing as well as could be. “She’s all right,” said Shushan, who has been neighbors with Megidish’s family for at least a decade.

She said the family was “excited” and relieved, with the whole community “happy she’s come home.”

Megidish was kidnapped by Hamas militants as they swept through southern Israel on Oct. 7, Israeli officials said. The exact details of her rescue have yet to be released.

She was medically examined and found to be in good condition, the IDF and the Shin Bet security service said in a previous joint statement.

U.N. officials say ‘basic services are crumbling’ in Gaza amid Israeli offensive

EILAT, Israel — Netanyahu rejected the U.N. Security Council’s calls for a cease-fire as the Israeli military is battling with Hamas inside the Gaza Strip. NBC News reports on the latest on trucks trying to get aid to Gaza amid the ongoing IDF ground operation.

Grief and loss on the streets of Khan Younis

Max Butterworth

A Palestinian man is comforted during a funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip today.

Gaza faces imminent ‘public health catastrophe,’ WHO warns

A World Health Organization official said today that a “public health catastrophe” was imminent in Gaza amid overcrowding, mass displacement and damage to water and sanitation infrastructure. At the same press briefing, a spokesperson from the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, warned of the risk of infant deaths due to dehydration with just 5% of normal water supplies available.

Two Gaza hospital generators to stop tomorrow, Health Ministry says

ISRAEL/GAZA BORDER — The generators at the Al-Shifa and Indonesian hospitals are expected to stop working tomorrow, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

A lack of energy has reached a crisis point in recent weeks as aid groups push for Israel to allow fuel to be brought in to Gaza. Negotiations over the release of hostages have stalled as Hamas insists on being able to receive fuel, a source with knowledge of the talks told NBC News yesterday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said today that there has been no fuel among the 144 trucks delivering supplies since the Rafah crossing was opened to humanitarian aid.

Israel has alleged that Hamas has fuel available that the organization has refused to supply to hospitals.

Charities and aid organizations have warned that vital medical and humanitarian work will stop if there are is not sufficient fuel.

A family is mourned in Rafah, southern Gaza

Max Butterworth

Palestinians mourn five members of the same family during their funeral in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip today.

‘The entire family just disappeared,’ friend of Hamas hostage says

ISRAEL/GAZA BORDER — The Trupanov family came to Israel 25 years ago, but every member has either been killed or is being held hostage by Hamas, a longtime friend of the family told NBC News.

“Four from the family got kidnapped, and one got murdered. There is no more family,” Netta Alon said.

Yesterday, a new video released by Hamas showed Lena Trupanov being held hostage and Alon is calling for her release. “We’re not happy to see her like that,” Alon said. She doesn’t know if other family members were also alive.

As Gaza faces relentless bombing, Alon worries for their safety. “This is the reason why we want her back now. Not tomorrow, not next week, not in a few days,” she said. “If they’re not coming back, there is no more Trupanov family.”

Four bases with U.S. troops attacked yesterday, military source says

Richard Engel

ISRAEL/GAZA BORDER — A total of four bases where U.S. troops are stationed in the Middle East were attacked yesterday, according to a senior U.S. military official.

The Iran-backed Islamic Resistance said yesterday it attacked U.S. and coalition forces at Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq, NBC News previously reported, but the rockets didn’t result in any casualties or infrastructure damage.

Three other bases were also attacked in the region, the senior military official said today. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

Israeli military releases more video of its ground operation inside the Gaza Strip

The Israeli military released video of what it said were troops operating in the Gaza Strip. The footage showed vehicles clearing paths for tanks and troops walking by destroyed buildings.

Thousands evacuate south Lebanon, IDF says as its warplanes attack Hezbollah

The Israel Defense Forces said today its warplanes attacked Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon.

“We will attack in response to any attempted attack, and we will eliminate any squad that tries to shoot or penetrate our territory,” spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.

He added that thousands of Lebanese have left the southern part of the country in the recent week, “on their own initiative, fearing that Hezbollah will bring war on them.”

Mother of Israeli hostages breaks down at Kibbutz house

Max Butterworth

Hadas Kalderon, whose children have been taken hostage, and her mother and niece killed, breaks down in tears while looking through the burned-out home of her mother, Rina Sutzkever, in the Nir Oz kibbutz, Israel, yesterday.

Journalist turns himself in to IDF to free his detained wife, CPJ reports

Mohamed Bader, a journalist with the Saudi news outlet al-Hadath, turned himself in to the IDF on Saturday after his wife was arrested in the West Bank, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Palestinian Prisoners Authority said Bader’s wife, fellow journalist Soujoud al-Assi, was arrested as part of a series of overnight raids in which 25 people were arrested. The IDF confirmed to NBC News on Sunday that it arrested 23 people “suspected of involvement in terrorist activity” but did not answer specifically to al-Assi’s arrest.

CPJ confirmed Bader’s surrender with al-Hadath editor-in-chief Rola Sarhan and spoke to al-Assi after she was released Saturday. Al-Assi told CPJ that she was arrested to pressure her husband into surrendering to the IDF.

Bader had previously been in a four-month administrative detention from April to August, according to the Palestinian news website Amad.

U.S. rejects Russian allegations the West was behind the Dagestan riot

The U.S. has nothing to do with the Russian claims that the West was behind the riots in Dagestan, national security spokesman John Kirby said yesterday, calling it “classic Russian rhetoric.”

Hundreds of people swarmed a flight coming from Israel during the weekend at the airport in Makhachkala, breaking glass doors around the airport and injuring police officers. Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of organizing the chaos.

“The West had nothing to do with this. This is just hate, bigotry and intimidation. Pure and simple,” Kirby said.

Hostage total rises to 240, IDF says

JERUSALEM — The number of hostages held in Gaza has risen to 240, the Israeli military said in a statement this morning.

The updated toll came even after the IDF said it rescued one of its soldiers, Pvt. Ori Megidish, last night. The total increased from 239 amid what the IDF said was a “complex identification” process.

“We will continue to make every effort, and take advantage of every opportunity, to return them back home,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said in the statement.

The Israeli government and its military have come under increasing pressure to free the captives, with emotional protests in Tel Aviv and elsewhere calling for a cease-fire or a prisoner exchange with Palestinians being held in Israel.

Israeli ambassador to the U.N. wears a yellow star drawing a sharp rebuke from Israel’s Holocaust memorial

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations wore a yellow star on his lapel yesterday, likening the current crisis to the Holocaust. Yad Vashem, the official Israeli memorial for the Holocaust, described the act as dishonorable.

“This act dishonors both the victims of the Holocaust and the State of Israel,” Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, wrote on X. “The yellow star symbolizes the helplessness of the Jewish people and being at the mercy of others,” he said.

“Today we have an independent country and a strong army. We are masters of our destiny,” Dayan said, emphasizing that Israelis now wear a blue-and-white flag, “not a yellow star.”

Humanitarian cease-fire ‘a matter of life and death,’ U.N. agency chief says

As Israel’s bombardment of Gaza shows no sign of relenting, UNRWA, the U.N. agency charged with the development of the enclave, repeated its call for a cease-fire and more aid to be sent in.

“An immediate humanitarian cease-fire has become a matter of life and death for millions,” Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the U.N. Security Council yesterday, adding a cease-fire is necessary for a “safe, unimpeded, substantial and continuous flow of humanitarian aid, including fuel.”

According to UNRWA, 64 of its aid workers have been have been killed so far, underscoring the dangers of providing humanitarian aid during Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza. It is the “highest number of U.N. aid workers killed in a conflict in such a short time,” Lazzarini said.

Day breaks over the rubble in Rafah

Max Butterworth

A young man steps through the rubble of destroyed buildings in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip today.

Hamas describes encounters with Israeli ground forces

Hamas’s military wing, Qassam Brigades, said today that it has targeted an Israeli ground force with mortar shells in northern Gaza, near the border.

In an update posted on Telegram, Qassam Brigades said it struck three Israeli vehicles with missiles in northern Gaza, adding that it opened fire from an “ambush.”

Top Hamas commander killed, IDF says

The IDF said today that its fighter jets killed Nasim Abu Ajina, a top Hamas commander, who is alleged to have played a key role in the Oct 7. attacks on Israel. Hamas has not separately confirmed Abu Ajina’s death.

The IDF said it also killed several Hamas militants that “fired both anti-tank missiles and machine gun fire.”

“The soldiers killed terrorists and directed air forces to real-time strikes on targets and terror infrastructure,” it said, adding it had struck more than 300 targets since yesterday, as Israel continues to intensify its ground incursions into Gaza. Targets included “military compounds inside underground tunnels,” the IDF said.

Freed teen hostage Natalie Raanan returns to Chicago

Natalie Raanan, the teen who was taken hostage by Hamas along with her mother and later released, has now returned to Chicago, the Israeli Embassy said.

“Her family members have been anxiously waiting for her return, and today I am sharing their happiness,” Yinam Cohen, Israel’s consul general to the Midwest, said in a statement.

Raanan and her mother, Judith Raanan, were released Oct. 20, but the family believes seven more members are still missing, and another was confirmed to have been killed by Hamas.

“While we’re celebrating Natalie’s return, we remember the 239 hostages, among them babies, children, women, and the elderly, who are still held by Hamas in Gaza,” Cohen said.

Shattered buildings in devastated Gaza City neighborhood

Max Butterworth

Flames and smoke rise behind destroyed buildings in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City last night.

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