12m ago / 2:02 PM UTC
Misfired rocket by Palestinian Islamic Jihad likely caused Gaza hospital blast, U.S. officials say
The U.S. has an independent assessment that it was a Palestinian Islamic Jihad group rocket that misfired and hit the hospital in Gaza, according to two senior U.S. officials.
That would match what Israeli officials have said caused the blast. Palestinian health officials and Hamas have blamed an Israeli airstrike for the explosion, which they said killed almost 500 people.
Biden said earlier, before a meeting with Netanyahu, that the blast appeared to be caused by the “other team.” Asked later what made him confident the Israelis weren’t behind the hospital strike, he said: “The data I was shown by my Defense Department.”
39m ago / 1:35 PM UTC
Biden speaks to community leaders in Israel
Biden met with community leaders, first responders and family members with lost or missing loved ones during his visit to Israel and continued to pledge his support for “the vibrance of the state of Israel” and the “security and safety” of the Israeli people.
56m ago / 1:18 PM UTC
Palestinian man describes life in Gaza amid constant airstrikes
Mohammad Ghalayini, a Palestinian British air quality expert, described life sheltering with 16 of his family members in Khan Younis more than week into the siege on Gaza, saying life has to go on, but everyone is terrified when someone leaves the house.
In fact, while recording a video diary for NBC News yesterday, he and his younger brother were sheltering in a staircase due to a bombing nearby.
“I hate the fact that he has to be making these calculations about wondering whether he’s safe here when you know like children should not have to think about being safe from bombs,” Ghalayini said of his brother. “Children should be protected from that.”
58m ago / 1:16 PM UTC
Biden met with Netanyahu and his war Cabinet during his visit to Tel Aviv today, expressing Washington’s solidarity with Israel, and saying he was “deeply sad and outraged” by a deadly hospital explosion in Gaza.
1h ago / 12:57 PM UTC
U.S. imposes new sanctions on Hamas for ‘brutal and unconscionable massacre’
The United States put a new round of economic sanctions on Hamas this morning, with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen saying Washington was “taking swift and decisive action to target Hamas’s financiers and facilitators following its brutal and unconscionable massacre of Israeli civilians.”
“We will continue to take all steps necessary to deny Hamas terrorists the ability to raise and use funds to carry out atrocities and terrorize the people of Israel,” Yellen said in a statement released by the Treasury Department, which administers and enforces sanctions through the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Hamas, the militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, took responsibility for the surprise assault in southern Israel on Oct. 7, which killed more than 1,000 people. The U.S. government considers Hamas a terrorist organization.
The group is already heavily sanctioned by the U.S. government. The new sanctions were imposed on 10 “key Hamas terrorist group members, operatives, and financial facilitators in Gaza and elsewhere,” including in Sudan, Turkey, Algeria and Qatar, the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions target people managing assets in what the Treasury Department described as “a secret Hamas investment portfolio, a Qatar-based financial facilitator with close ties to the Iranian regime, a key Hamas commander, and a Gaza-based virtual currency exchange and its operator.”
2h ago / 12:39 PM UTC
Thousands across Middle East protest after hospital explosion
AL BIREH, Israel — In Beirut, thousands of protests converged on the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon, while in Turkey demonstrators rushed to the Israeli consulate in Istanbul.
They were all reacting to what the Palestinian Health Ministry called a “targeted” Israeli bombing on the Ahli Baptist Hospital in central Gaza, which it said left hundreds of people dead.
Israel said the blast was caused by a misfired rocket from a Palestinian militant group.
2h ago / 12:37 PM UTC
Palestinian health minister says 3,478 killed in Gaza; Israeli government says 1,400 killed in Israel
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel’s airstrikes in Gaza have killed 3,478 people and injured another 12,065, a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a Facebook post this morning. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, 61 people have been killed and more than 1,250 wounded, the ministry said yesterday.
In Israel, more than 1,400 people have been killed and another 3,500 wounded since the Hamas attack Oct. 7, according to the government’s press office.
The death toll in Israel includes 260 people slaughtered at a music festival and 107 murdered in a small farming community, according to Zaka, a community emergency response service recognized by the Israeli government.
2h ago / 12:28 PM UTC
Palestinian Health Ministry says almost 500 people killed in Gaza hospital blast
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The deadly explosion at a Christian-run hospital in central Gaza yesterday killed 471 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Gazan authorities claimed the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike; Israel claimed the blast was caused by a misfired rocket from a Palestinian militant group.
Health Minister Mai Kayla said that more than 3,300 people have been killed across Gaza since Israel started airstrikes following the Hamas terror attacks Oct. 7.
“There is an acute shortage of medicines in the Gaza Strip and a major problem in accessing hospitals,” Kalya said, “and the water outages and deterioration of the sewage system increases the risks of the spread of communicable diseases.”
2h ago / 12:18 PM UTC
Analysis: Gaza hospital blast upends U.S. diplomacy
The Gaza hospital blast has upended international politics again, putting U.S. diplomatic efforts at risk.
The United Arab Emirates is a close U.S. ally and signatory to the Abraham Accords that built bridges with Israel. Overnight, the Gulf state strongly condemned what it called the ‘Israeli attack that targeted Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital,’ despite Israel denying responsibility and blaming Palestinian militants.
Today, the UAE has joined Russia and China in supporting a United Nations Security Council emergency meeting on the issue, while the U.N. secretary-general called for an “immediate humanitarian cease-fire” and said Hamas “attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
But it is where he made those comments that may be just as notable: He was speaking in China. Developing countries have gathered at a conference to salute Beijing’s investment around the world. Russian President Vladimir Putin is there and told reporters the hospital bombing is ‘a terrible event’ that he hopes ‘will be a signal that this conflict should be ended as quickly as possible.’
It’s another indication that Russia and China will look to use events in Gaza to further attempt to win over hearts and minds in the Middle East and developing countries.
Meanwhile, the Western push to secure the release of hostages is at the very least on hold. A diplomat with knowledge of the talks told NBC News the hospital blast has ‘made it impossible for Hamas to do anything now even if they’re willing.’
2h ago / 12:09 PM UTC
British PM says intel services trying to ‘independently establish the facts’ on Gaza hospital blast
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Parliament today that the country’s intelligence services are “rapidly analyzing the evidence to independently establish the facts” in the deadly blast at a Christian-run hospital in central Gaza, which Palestinian health officials say killed 500 people.
Sunak decried the explosion, telling Parliament that “any loss of innocent life is a dreadful tragedy.” He said the U.K. “should not rush to judgment before we have all the facts on this awful situation.”
Gazan officials have claimed the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike; Israel’s military claimed the blast was caused by a misfired rocket from a Palestinian militant group.
In a post on X this morning, Britain’s foreign secretary said “too many jumped to conclusions” after the explosion. “Wait for the facts, report them clearly and accurately,” James Cleverly said in the post. “Cool heads must prevail.”
2h ago / 12:07 PM UTC
Diocese in charge of al-Ahli Hospital says the building was a ‘sanctuary’ during strikes
Before the blast at al-Ahli, Palestinians across Gaza were using the hospital as a sanctuary from the constant barrage of strikes, according to Archbishop Hosam Naoum.
Naoum, who is part of the Diocese of Jerusalem that runs the hospital, said al-Ahli is a complex of seven buildings with a courtyard and church in the center. It was the parking lot that took the brunt of the damage, the archbishop confirmed.
Naoum told a news conference in Jerusalem today that two employees were injured but the rest were busy with patients.
“There were operations taking place while the blast took place,” Naoum said. “So they were in surgeries, and then we had to evacuate all our patients to neighboring hospitals.”
Naoum said that the hospital was hit three days prior in an Israeli airstrikes and the hospital received multiple evacuation notices afterward, but he did not consider the two issues connected. The church administrators could not determine the cause of the blast, Naoum said, noting that the clergymen were not military experts.
The hospital has solar power capabilities, as well as a reserve of fuel and supplies, but Naoum said it was just a matter of days until those supplies are gone.
2h ago / 11:45 AM UTC
‘People are dehydrated — especially babies,’ U.N. Palestinian refugee agency warns about Gaza’s water shortages
As water shortages in Gaza are becoming more dire, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) spoke with CNBC about the impact on civilians, as the enclave is in its 10th day of complete blockade by Israel.
3h ago / 11:41 AM UTC
Biden joins war Cabinet, says ‘we will continue to have Israel’s back’
Biden reiterated Washington’s support for Israel after meeting with Netanyahu and his war Cabinet.
“We will continue to have Israel’s back,” Biden said, according to a pool report. He added that they were working with partners across the region to prevent more tragedy for civilians.
Biden did not respond when asked about his earlier comment that “the other team” appeared to be responsible for the deadly blast at the Gaza hospital.
Netanyahu, who spoke before Biden, said that blame for the hospital explosion should be placed on Palestinian militants. Gaza health officials and Hamas blame Israel. NBC News has not been able to enter Gaza and has not verified either side’s claims.
3h ago / 11:19 AM UTC
Protesters in Iran burn Israeli flags after Gaza hospital blast
Protesters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, chanted “death to Israel” and burned Israeli flags last night after a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital was estimated to have killed hundreds.
3h ago / 11:17 AM UTC
Death toll in Gaza reaches more than 3,300 as humanitarian crisis grows
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Health authorities in Gaza said the death toll in Gaza reached more than 3,300 today, amid what they said was a “severe shortage” of medicine in the enclave that has been under Israel’s complete blockade for 10 days.
Health Minister Dr. May Al-Qila said there was a major problem in access to hospitals, exacerbated by water cuts and deterioration of the sewage system that are increasing the risk of an outbreak of communicable diseases.
International organizations have been warning for days that Gaza’s health system is on the brink of collapse, unable to cope with the number of people needing medical help.
3h ago / 11:14 AM UTC
Pope Francis deplores ‘desperate’ situation in Gaza
Pope Francis deplored the “desperate” situation in Gaza today as he urged the faithful to take “only one side” in the Israel-Hamas conflict, the side “of peace.”
Speaking during his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square, Francis did not mention the deadly Gaza hospital blast, for which Israelis and Palestinians are blaming each other.
“War does not solve any problem, it only sows death and destruction, increases hatred, multiplies revenge. War erases the future,” he said.
3h ago / 11:13 AM UTC
Palestinians march through Ramallah following hospital blast
Palestinians in the West Bank marched in anger through Ramallah last night following the deadly blast at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.
Groups expressed discontent at Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was due to hold a meeting in Jordan today with Biden, but the meeting was canceled after the blast. The apparent displeasure over his leadership culminated in chants for the end of his presidency.
3h ago / 10:53 AM UTC
Daytime images reveal extent of Gaza hospital blast
Damaged vehicles sit in front of the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City today after an explosion last night. A woman cries while holding a pillow, surrounded by debris as she stands close to where the blast struck.
3h ago / 10:51 AM UTC
Israeli military outlines case that militants’ misfired rocket caused deadly hospital explosion
The Israeli military held a briefing this morning to outline its case that the deadly hospital blast was a misfired rocket from a Palestinian militant group — a claim disputed by Gaza health officials and Hamas.
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari told the news media that a rocket was misfired from a nearby cemetery in Gaza at 6:59 p.m. local time (11:59 a.m. ET) and eventually hit the hospital accidentally. The hospital itself was not struck but the hospital’s parking lot was, he said.
“This professional review was based on intelligence, operational systems, and aerial footage, all of which we cross-checked,” Hagari said. The Israeli military put forward audio and drone video it said supported its claims, which NBC News has not verified. NBC News has not been able to enter Gaza.
Palestinian health officials and Hamas blamed Israel for the hospital blast.
“The occupation is directly responsible for the Baptist Hospital massacre, and its blatant lies will not deceive anyone,” Hamas said in a new press statement this morning.
4h ago / 10:38 AM UTC
Five brothers all preparing for war in Israeli military
KFAR AZA, Israel — A band of five brothers are all combat soldiers for Israel and preparing for war. NBC News’ Raf Sanchez was on the ground in Israel and shares the story of their family.
4h ago / 10:36 AM UTC
What are big European powers, Russia saying about the Gaza hospital blast?
Top European leaders condemned what they called an attack on the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in central Gaza, urging for responsibility to be established but stopping short of directly assigning blame. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has asked Israel to provide evidence it was not involved in the blast.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that “nothing can justify striking a hospital,” adding that “all the light must be shed on the circumstances.”
Germany’s Olaf Scholz said he was “horrified” by the images of the explosion, and that it was important that this incident is investigated “very carefully.”
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly called the hospital blast “a devastating loss of human life,” and said the United Kingdom will work with its allies “to find out what has happened.” He later added that “too many jumped to conclusions around the tragic loss of life at Al Ahli hospital” and urged to “wait for the facts.”
Meanwhile, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson called on Israel to provide satellite images to prove it was not involved in the hospital blast, calling what happened “a crime and an act of dehumanization,” according to state news agency Ria.
Speaking on his visit to China today, President Vladimir Putin, who is fighting his own war in Ukraine, called what he said was a strike on the hospital “a catastrophe,” adding that he hoped that this would be “a signal” that this conflict should be ended as quickly as possible.
4h ago / 10:19 AM UTC
Molotov cocktails thrown at Berlin synagogue
Two hooded men threw Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in central Berlin early this morning, police said, adding that they had arrested a man who shouted antisemitic slogans while they were investigating.
Security has been stepped up around Jewish institutions in Germany since Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel and resulting Israeli airstrikes inflamed opinion in the country’s Arab-speaking and Jewish communities.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced outrage today at the Molotov attack.
“I want to expressly say that I am outraged,” he said during a visit to Egypt. “It outrages me personally what some are shouting and doing.”
4h ago / 10:17 AM UTC
Gaza taps are running dry as water shortage reaches crisis point
The taps in the besieged Gaza Strip are running dry, and residents are scrambling to save every last drop of water as the shortage reaches a crisis point.
Dunia Aburahma said her family has rationed supplies, allowing her only a quart of drinking water per day.
“I haven’t taken a shower for four days now,” said Aburahma, 22, an architecture student who fled northern Gaza with her family last week ahead of Israel’s threatened ground invasion and is now living with relatives in Zawaida in central Gaza.
At the heart of the water supply issue is the lack of fuel and electricity, which powers water pumps to treatment centers. Only about 10% of Gaza’s water comes from Israel; most of what residents drink is drilled locally, and it then needs to be treated to remove salt and contamination, said Elai Rettig, an assistant professor at Bar-Ilan University who studies environmental policy.
4h ago / 10:07 AM UTC
‘We saw martyrs everywhere, in hundreds,’ eyewitnesses describe the hospital explosion
A bright flash is what Muhammed Al-Turk saw when he looked at the sky before a missile strike that he said killed two of his friends and injured many more at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza.
“When we looked up, a missile fell,” he told NBC News.
At the hospital, corpses of children, women and elderly people were at every turn. “I was unable to stand on my feet from the horror of the scene,” said Abu Fulla Mohammed, who was looking for his family and had rushed to the hospital.
“When I arrived at the site of the explosion, it was as if I was in a scene from the day of resurrection, with fires everywhere, and there were explosions that we did not know exactly what they were, and burning cars,” he added.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 200 to 300 people were killed at the hospital — NBC News has been unable to independently verify this figure.
4h ago / 10:02 AM UTC
Surgeon describes courtyard full of bodies and limbs at the al-Ahli Hospital
Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah had been performing surgeries all night yesterday. Suddenly, he heard a large explosion and “parts of the ceiling of the operating room fell.”
“When I got to the emergency department, there were wounded in the hundreds. Some had amputated limbs, some had very severe injuries,” the plastic surgeon with Doctors Without Borders said at the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza.
He began treating a patient who had shrapnel in his neck, escorting him to the ambulance for further treatment at the Al Shifa Hospital through the courtyard.
“You could see bodies all over the courtyard and amputated parts of bodies all over the courtyard,” he said.
5h ago / 9:20 AM UTC
Protests erupt in Middle East over hospital blast
Anger and unrest spread across the Middle East overnight after the deadly blast at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza yesterday and more than a week of siege on the strip.
Hundreds of civilians took to the streets in Beirut, Amman, Tehran, Turkey and in the West Bank to show support for Palestinians in Gaza. Reuters reported that tear gas was deployed outside the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.
Though the protests spread across countries and languages, many of the protesters carried Palestinian flags and chanted anti-Israel sentiment.
The Palestinian Health Ministry first placed blame on the hospital blast on an Israeli airstrike, but Israel denied the claim and said the incident was sparked by a rocket misfire from a Palestinian militant group.
5h ago / 9:18 AM UTC
Biden praises ‘stunning’ bravery of Israelis, says Hamas doesn’t represent Palestinian people
Biden addressed the people of Israel, praising their courage, during his press remarks alongside Netanyahu on his visit to Israel today.
“I want to say to the people of Israel: Their courage, their commitment, their bravery is stunning. Really stunning. I am proud to be here,” he said.
Biden said he was looking forward to having a discussion about “where everybody goes from here,” and called for “life-saving capacity” to help innocent Palestinians “caught in the middle of this” as he said Hamas does not represent all the Palestinian people.
5h ago / 9:11 AM UTC
Searching through the rubble in Rafah
Palestinians look for survivors in the rubble of their destroyed homes following an Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, today.
5h ago / 9:09 AM UTC
Biden comments on Gaza hospital blast before Netanyahu meeting
Biden sad he was “deeply sad and outraged” by the deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital yesterday as he spoke alongside Netanyahu ahead of a meeting in Israel.
“And based on what I’ve seen it appears as though it was done by the other team — not you,” Biden said. “But there’s a lot of people out there who are not sure, so we’ve got to overcome a lot of things,” he added.
Biden did not specify what exactly he has seen to be able to draw that conclusion, and did not provide any supporting evidence to the press.
Palestinian health officials and Hamas have accused Israel of deliberately bombing the hospital. Israel has denied responsibility and blamed a stray rocket from Palestinian militants.
5h ago / 8:46 AM UTC
How the hospital bombing made Biden’s task even harder
TEL AVIV — The task facing Biden as he arrives in Israel is far more difficult than when he announced the trip just a day earlier.
“In the battle of narratives, the truth becomes secondary,” said Yossi Mekelberg, an associate fellow at the London think tank Chatham House. The hospital explosion makes Biden’s task “much more complex and difficult,” he said, “especially because everyone is behaving according to their preconceived narratives.”
Before the hospital blast, there were signs that the American diplomatic effort might be getting somewhere, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken shuttling back and forth between Israel and its Arab neighbors, urging restraint and seemingly stalling an expected ground offensive into the Gaza Strip.
6h ago / 8:42 AM UTC
Israelis hopeful for support and ‘good advice’ from Biden
ASHDOD — As Biden landed in Tel Aviv this morning, Israelis across the country were watching to see what the president would say during his brief visit to show U.S. solidarity with Israel, ahead of its expected ground invasion into Gaza.
While the streets in Ashdod are eerily quiet, the very few people who have emerged from their homes all say they’re aware of Biden’s visit — and are hopeful for his support in Israel’s war against Hamas.
Guy Dabush, 31, said he hoped the president would give Israel “good advice” — and he said he hoped that advice would be to “attack Gaza.”
Another man working out at an outdoor exercise area nearby also wanted to weigh in, saying he wanted Biden to “support us.”
Both men said the streets were so empty because people were afraid. “If a rocket comes now, we die,” Dabush said. “We need to run away.”
6h ago / 8:30 AM UTC
Biden and Netanyahu hug on the tarmac in Tel Aviv
Biden is greeted by Netanyahu after arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv today.
6h ago / 8:21 AM UTC
Israel’s young military conscripts busy with the demands of war
TEL AVIV — Amid Tel Aviv’s anxious calm, the Camp Rabin downtown military headquarters is an island of activity.
Under the imposing Matcal Tower, a cylindrical structure surrounded by an arch-shaped building of steel and glass, Israelis in olive green military fatigues come and go through the gates guarded by units dressed in black and armed with automatic rifles. Media were invited here for a briefing on last night’s hospital explosion.
One of their number explains that these are mainly desk-based personnel; most of the soldiers who would be involved in a ground offensive are already at the front line.
“Have you been to the south?” she asks, referencing the region where hundreds of her colleagues were killed during a surprise raid by Hamas. “I wouldn’t want to go down there.”
Israel’s conscription law, under which most people over the age of 18 must serve more than two years in the military, means there are many people here who wouldn’t strike you as typical service members.
There are subtle variations in uniform: some wear their pants baggy, others are all neatly pressed lines. A few wear fashionable wire frame glasses. One carries a Zara shopping bag. Almost all are young.
6h ago / 7:53 AM UTC
Biden lands in Israel for high-stakes trip
Biden has landed in Tel Aviv for a brief but crucial trip meant to demonstrate U.S. solidarity with Israel ahead of an expected ground assault against Hamas and concerns about humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Biden’s visit will include a bilateral meeting with Netanyahu, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. Biden plans to deliver public remarks, Kirby said, and he’ll also meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, as well as first responders, families who lost loved ones in the attack and families whose relatives Hamas may be holding hostage in Gaza.
On his way back to the U.S., Biden is expected to speak with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in discussions likely to focus on a path forward in Gaza as Israeli military leaders consider next steps and Palestinian civilians call for humanitarian aid. Biden initially planned to meet with Arab leaders at a summit hosted by Jordan’s King Abdullah in Amman, but the event was canceled following the deadly Gaza hospital blast.
6h ago / 7:51 AM UTC
U.N. Security Council to vote today on Israel-Gaza conflict, discuss Gaza hospital blast
The United Nations Security Council will vote today on a Brazilian-drafted resolution that calls for humanitarian pauses in the conflict between Israel and Hamas to allow humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Strip.
The council is then expected to discuss — at the request of the United Arab Emirates and Russia — a Gaza hospital blast yesterday, diplomats said.
6h ago / 7:47 AM UTC
U.N. chief ‘horrified’ by deaths at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres spoke at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war today and condemned the explosion at a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of people.
6h ago / 7:45 AM UTC
Blinken expresses ‘profound condolences’ over hospital blast in call with Abbas
Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “profound condolences” for the civilian lives lost in the explosion at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza late yesterday in a phone call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, according to a State Department spokesperson.
Blinken and Abbas discussed “the continuing U.S. support for the Palestinian people” and provision of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, according to spokesperson Matthew Miller.
7h ago / 7:36 AM UTC
Daylight aftermath of Gaza hospital blast
Scorched vehicles sit outside the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in central Gaza this morning, following an explosion at the facility late yesterday.
7h ago / 7:31 AM UTC
Israeli troops prepare for possible two-front war
TEL AVIV — While Israel and Hamas fight near Gaza in the south, Hezbollah is launching missiles from Lebanon along the northern border. And Israeli troops are preparing for the possibility of a simultaneous war along both borders.
7h ago / 7:21 AM UTC
Violent protests erupt outside U.S. Embassy in Beirut
Lebanese people gathered in front of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut into the early hours of today, after the blast at Gaza’s al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
7h ago / 7:21 AM UTC
Biden set to arrive in Israel after Jordan summit canceled
Biden is expected to arrive in Israel today to demonstrate steadfast support and consult with the Israeli government.
But he arrives in the wake of the deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital, which has left the Middle East at perhaps its most tense in 11 days of war between Israel and Hamas.
Biden said in a statement that he was “outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza, and the terrible loss of life that resulted.”
He had planned to travel to Amman for talks with the leaders of Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority that were set to focus on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but the meeting has been canceled after the hospital explosion.
7h ago / 7:21 AM UTC
Catch up with NBC News’ coverage of the Israel-Hamas war
Here are just some of the articles we’ve published on the conflict in the last 24 hours.
