Scale of atrocities emerges as Gaza bombardment goes on

Gaza’s power plant runs out of fuel amid Israel’s blockade

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s energy ministry said Wednesday that its sole power plant had run out of fuel and shut down after Israel cut off supplies of fuel, food and electricity after the bloody incursion by Hamas over the weekend.

That leaves only generators to power an enclave that’s home to more than 2 million people, but fuel for those generators is also in short supply.

No stability in the Middle East without a two-state solution, Jordan’s king says

King Abdullah of Jordan said there can be neither security nor peace in the Middle East without a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Palestinians that is only possible with a two-state solution, the country’s media reported.

“Our compass will always point to Palestine, with Jerusalem in its heart, and we will never falter in defending its interests and just cause,” he said, according to the Jordan News Agency.

Jordan borders Israel and is an important strategic player in the region. A two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians envisions an independent and sovereign Palestinian state, but it remains unclear how viable this option remains after the bloody incursion by Hamas into Israel over the weekend.

Israeli opposition leader would join an emergency government

TEL AVIV — The leader of the political opposition in Israel tells NBC News he’s open to forming an emergency unity government.

Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition in Israel, suggested he is open to joining an emergency unity government after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition agreed to the possible measure, according to Reuters.

Asked if he would join an emergency government with Netanyahu, Lapid told NBC News earlier today: “We’re going to do whatever is necessary to make sure the people of Israel are safe and sound.”

“If we find a way to work together in the government, fine,” said Lapid, who served as the 14th prime minister of Israel for six months in 2022. One potential stumbling block is whether the far right would be included in that government, he suggested.

Nine U.N. staffers killed in Gaza

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, said today that nine of its staff members have been killed in Gaza since the bloody Hamas incursion into Israel on Saturday and the retaliatory Israeli airstrikes that followed.

The agency’s head of communications, Juliette Touma, told The Associated Press: “The protection of civilians is paramount, including in times of conflict. They should be protected in accordance with the laws of war.”

Missiles fall over Gaza City

Max Butterworth

Smoke trails from Israeli missiles over the Gaza City seaport today.

At least 22 nationalities among victims of Hamas attack, Israeli Foreign Ministry says

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said today that citizens of at least 22 countries are among those killed or unaccounted for after the bloody Hamas incursion Saturday.

Video shows Israeli bombardments on ‘Hamas naval targets at sea’

Oct. 11, 202300:45

Israel says video shows advanced weaponry arriving from U.S.

Oct. 11, 202300:51

More than a quarter-million people displaced in Gaza

More than 260,000 people have now been displaced in Gaza, the United Nations said today, in the midst of an airstrike campaign by Israel.

That figure represents about 10% of Gaza’s estimated population of 2 million.

“This number is expected to rise further,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in its daily update.

Human rights organizations have been sounding the alarm about the humanitarian situation inside Gaza after Israel said Monday that it will enforce a complete blockade of the enclave.

Israeli troops secure towns near Gaza border as Hamas launches new rockets yesterday

Richard Engel

Oct. 10, 202303:39

Gaza morgue appears overrun with the dead

Max Butterworth

Medical staff and mourning relatives step over bodies at a hospital morgue in Gaza City yesterday.

Anti-tank missiles fired from Lebanon, IDF says

The IDF said on X earlier today that an anti-tank missile was fired from Lebanon toward a military site.

Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group, has been sporadically exchanging fire with Israel in the days since Hamas launched its attack Saturday. The last time Israel and Hezbollah were at war was in 2006, which lasted roughly 34 days.

Israeli officials warn residents not to be alarmed by gunfire at military funerals

TEL AVIV — Officials in the Israeli municipality of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, are warning residents not to be alarmed by sounds of gunfire at military funerals today for soldiers slain by Hamas militants.

“Today the funerals of the martyrs of the IDF will be held,” said a message sent out to residents of Herzliya, about 8 miles north of Tel Aviv. “During a military funeral, gunshots are heard as part of honor volleys,” it warned.

Dorit Basman, spokeswoman for the municipality, said the warning was issued to avoid any panic when gunshots sound. “They will scare people, but it’s part of the ceremony in Israel,” she said.

Israeli military says it ‘remains committed to the law of armed conflict’ in the war with Hamas

Oct. 11, 202301:29

Palestinian militants are still inside Israel but no ‘significant’ fighting ongoing, IDF says

There are still Hamas militants inside Israeli territory, but there is no significant fighting happening inside the country at the moment, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces told NBC News this morning.

Hospitals in Gaza ‘overwhelmed’ as authorities plead for international aid

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is “catastrophic” and hospitals are overwhelmed, the aid organization Doctors Without Borders said this morning, as Gazan authorities pleaded for humanitarian help.

Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as Doctors Without Borders, said late yesterday that the number of wounded in Gaza was extremely high, with a constant influx of patients, leaving medical teams exhausted.

The organization said the Israeli bombing of the enclave did not spare medical facilities — one of the hospitals it supports was hit by an airstrike and damaged. Another airstrike destroyed an ambulance carrying the wounded, it said.

It comes as government officials in Gaza said they were putting out a “very urgent distress call” to the international community and aid organizations, saying a “definite humanitarian catastrophe” is threatening the lives of more than 2 million people.

Bullet holes and devastation at Israeli kibbutz on the Gaza border

Max Butterworth

Israeli soldiers inspect burned houses at a kibbutz near the Gaza border in Kfar Aza today.

Gaza power plant could run out of fuel today

Gaza’s power authority said its sole power plant will run out of fuel within hours, leaving the territory without electricity after Israel cut off supplies. Palestinians in Gaza have long relied on generators to power homes, offices and hospitals, but have no way of importing fuel for those either.

Gaza streets destroyed beyond recognition by Israeli airstrikes

Nowar Diab, 20, was sleeping with her mother and younger siblings when she first heard the loud thud of Israeli airstrikes pounding near her home in northern Gaza.

“It was really loud in seconds,” Diab recalled in a phone interview with NBC News from her grandparents’ home. She rushed over there, along with her 9-year-old sister and teenage brother, as the bombardment began. 

“My mom is a reporter so she had to go to work,” Diab said, and she hasn’t seen her since the bombings started. While she has gotten sporadic updates from her mother over the last few days, with power cuts, the internet connection is extremely unstable.

For Diab, the extent of destruction has rendered her hometown unrecognizable. While she says no one dares to go outside, she has a sense of what is going on through videos.

“I really can’t recognize the most popular streets here. And Gaza is very small, so you know all the streets.”

1,200 Israelis killed, IDF says

The death toll from the Hamas incursion into Israel has grown again, reaching 1,200 this morning, according to the country’s defense forces. This includes more than 150 soldiers.

IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said the overwhelming majority of the victims are civilians. More than 2,700 people have been injured.

“Sadly, something tells me that these numbers are not the final numbers,” Conricus said.

Tanks line up along Israeli border with Lebanon

Max Butterworth

Israeli tanks form a column in upper Galilee, near the border with Lebanon today.

450 targets in Gaza struck in the last 24 hours by Israel

Israeli fighter jets have struck 450 targets in Gaza in the last 24 hours, its defense forces said.

More than 200 targets were hit in the northern Gaza neighborhood of Al-Furqan alone, which the IDF said was being used by Hamas as “a terror hub.”

Earlier, IDF said it hit dozens of targets in Daraj Tuffah and Beit Hanoun areas of the Gaza Strip.

The IDF says it’s only targeting military compounds and “terror infrastructure” used by Hamas, but the United Nations said yesterday that residential structures have been hit in the densely populated enclave, resulting in civilian causalities.

Pence : Biden should be ready to mobilize Special Forces to help rescue U.S. hostages

Former Vice President Mike Pence called on Biden to demand Hamas immediately release hostages and be prepared to mobilize U.S. Special Forces to work with the IDF to rescue kidnapped Americans.

Death toll in Gaza climbs to 950

The Gaza Health Ministry said today that 950 people have been killed since the Hamas incursion into Israel and retaliatory airstrikes of the Gaza Strip by Israel.

It said 5,000 others were injured as the enclave, home to more than 2 million people, is struggling to handle mass casualties amid a full blockade by Israel.

Children wounded in Khan Younis, Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes

Max Butterworth

A wounded Palestinian child sits in an ambulance after airstrikes in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip today.

American woman seeks answers about missing family in Israel

Oct. 11, 202307:23

Israeli military warns ‘fighting will intensify’ and Gaza scenes will be ‘more difficult’

Fighting is set to intensify inside the Gaza Strip, creating scenes that will be difficult to understand and cope with, the Israeli military has said.

In a daily update, spokesman Jonathan Conricus said in a broadcast on X early today that he hoped international support for Israel would continue, ahead of an expected ground offensive into Gaza Strip, which is run by Hamas.

“We hope that remains that way even when the fighting will intensify and the scenes coming out of the Gaza Strip will be more difficult to understand and cope with,” he said.