U.S. advises Israel to delay ground invasion for hostage talks, sources say

Biden administration advising Israel to delay ground invasion for hostage talks, sources say

Gabe Gutierrez

The Biden administration is advising Israel to delay a ground invasion of Gaza to allow for more time for hostage negotiations and humanitarian aid to reach there, according to four U.S. officials.

With active conversations underway, the officials stress that the U.S. is not dictating operations for the Israeli Defense Forces even as they acknowledge the difficult challenges of getting humanitarian aid into Gaza and ensuring the safe release of hostages.

“We’re helping answer those tough questions and making sure that they have clear objectives,” another U.S. official told NBC News.

When Biden was asked Saturday if he was encouraging Israel to delay the invasion, he responded: “I’m talking to the Israelis.” On Sunday, he spoke again with Netanyahu and the leaders “affirmed that there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance in Gaza,” according to a White House readout of the call.

A spokesperson for the State Department said: “As a general matter, we don’t comment on private diplomatic conversations.”

Last week on his return flight from Israel, Biden alluded to conversations with Netanyahu in which they discussed “alternatives” to a ground invasion, but neither the president nor national security officials have elaborated on what those “alternatives” were.

Children enjoy a brief distraction from the war at a U.N. school

Matthew Nighswander

With the help of aid workers, Palestinian children who have fled their homes played today as they sheltered at a United Nations-run school in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Iran hints at possibility of strikes on Israel

The deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard hinted at the possibility of strikes on Israel yesterday, as fears grow about the Israel-Hamas war spilling over into the wider region.

“Some consider a direct missile attack on Haifa to be the most practical course of action,” Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said as he referred to the northern Israeli port city, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

“We will carry out this task without hesitation if it is necessary and required,” he said at an event in support of Gaza at the mosque at the University of Tehran yesterday. “However, I am not the one who determines the assignment.”

Fadavi’s comments are adding to fears that Iran or the Iran-backed Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon could get involved, escalating the Israel-Hamas conflict into a regionwide war.

An underground labyrinth: challenges await troops in Hamas tunnels

A possible ground offensive or hostage rescue in Gaza will present unique challenges because of Hamas’ extensive underground warren of tunnels.

Military experts warn that the system could be a soldier’s nightmare and caution against sending personnel inside the stuffy, narrow passages, which are low on oxygen but full of twists and turns. Many of the high-tech advantages Israel enjoys aboveground disappear when soldiers go underground.

Regular night vision goggles don’t work, communication among the IDF tunnel combatants is highly limited, and soldiers must bring their own oxygen supplies, respirators and chemical protective masks. 

“It’s like being underwater,” said retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mark Schwartz, who ran U.S. security coordination in Israel and the Palestinian Authority from 2019 through 2021.

Read the full story here.

Gaza sees intense night of Israeli airstrikes

Richard Engel

ISRAEL/LEBANON BORDER — Gaza saw the most intense night of airstrikes last night since the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7. Medical officials said it was also the deadliest night, with hundreds of Palestinians killed from northern Gaza to the south.

On the ground, thousands of Israeli troops and tanks are in position for an invasion into Gaza. But Israeli media is reporting that the ground offensive may be delayed.

Pushing back the offensive would give more time for negotiations, being led by Qatar, to free hostages held by Hamas.

The United States is also hardening its defenses in the region. If or when Israel invades, fears are growing that the war could quickly spread to Lebanon — where Hezbollah has been stepping up its attacks on Israel — or potentially Iran, which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah.

Gaza operation could take months, Israel’s defense minister says

The operation to neutralize Hamas in the Gaza Strip could take up to three months, Israel’s defense minister has said.

“In terms of the operational aspects of maneuvering — at the end of the day, nothing will stop the IDF,” Yoav Gallant was quoted as saying by his office, as he was briefed on Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip and on the norther border, adding that it will be the “last maneuvering operation in Gaza” for the Israeli military.

“It may take a month, two or three, but at the end there will be no more Hamas,” he said yesterday, according to his office.

Former NBC correspondent talks about family members freed by Hamas

Former NBC News correspondent and Tel Aviv bureau chief Martin Fletcher told the “TODAY” show that the release of his extended family members Judith and Natalie Raanan over the weekend was a “great relief,” but they remain concerned for eight other relatives who remain hostages.

“We know they are resting. They are in a family member’s house in Israel,” he said this morning. “They are actually sitting shiva at the moment, the Israeli week of mourning, for two other members of the family who were killed. So there is great relief obviously but great concern as well. There are another eight members of the family who are still held hostage in Gaza.”

Fletcher said he did not know why the two were selected for release from more than 200 confirmed hostages.

“Maybe they were the closest to the border and it was just simply the easiest to free them when the time came,” he said.

In their own words: Frustration and helplessness grow in Gaza

In Gaza, people are losing hope.

“There is no safe haven in Gaza. There is no safe road in Gaza,” said Adel Salem, a 60-year-old Palestinian American from Missouri. “There is no humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. There’s nothing but bombs and bombs and bombs.”

Mazin Sadam, a 48-year-old father of five, fears the worst. “I’m waiting for death,” he said, “we’re all waiting for it.”

As the death toll grows and airstrikes continue, children are unable to escape the images of death around them.

“People have nothing to do with what happened, and now they are bombing their houses,” Habiba Seidam, 17, said. “Why, what did we do?”

There’s little relief in the hospitals, as doctors are stretched to a breaking point.

“It’s unbelievable, you cannot believe,” said Dr. Mohammed Qandil, head of the emergency department at Nasser Hospital in Gaza City. “Whatever I’m describing, whatever I’m saying — it’s not the reality, the reality is more worse.”

Those in Gaza who are citizens of other countries and awaiting rescue from their governments grapple with leaving their loved ones behind — but worry there may not be a way out.

“We’re trying to leave,” says Amir Al Qaoud, a 20-year-old Palestinian American from California. “We can’t leave. There’s nothing to do.”

Death toll in Gaza surpasses 5,000

ISRAEL/LEBANON BORDER — Health authorities in Gaza said today that the death toll has surpassed 5,000, and includes more than 2,000 children.

More than 15,000 have been injured, they said. According to humanitarian organizations, the enclave’s health care system is on the brink of collapse.

E.U.’s top diplomat backs humanitarian pause in Israel-Hamas conflict

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell joined calls today for a pause in the conflict between Israel and Hamas to let more aid supplies into Gaza.

“Now the most important thing is for humanitarian support to go into Gaza,” he told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of E.U. foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

Borrell said the ministers would discuss the call from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres for a pause to allow much more humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians to enter Gaza.

Fuel is as urgent as food and water for Gaza, U.N.’s Palestinian aid agency says

ISRAEL/LEBANON BORDER — While trucks with medical supplies, food and water have started trickling into Gaza over the weekend, fuel remains in short supply, despite being as badly needed as any other lifesaving resource, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said today.

“We need fuel — it’s as urgent as water and food,” it said on X.

Humanitarian organizations have raised the alarm that the lack of fuel will make it much harder to distribute aid in Gaza, and leave the health care system in peril.

Government authorities in Gaza said no fuel has entered the enclave with the aid trucks that arrived over the weekend.

The view from Sderot: Airstrikes and rockets

Matthew Nighswander

Photos taken today from the Israeli city of Sderot, near the northern border with Gaza, show a cloud of smoke from an Israeli strike into Gaza, top, and a rocket fired toward Israel.

Biden spoke with allied leaders amid efforts to stop Israel-Hamas war from spilling over

Biden spoke with U.S. allies yesterday as part of Washington’s diplomatic effort to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from widening into a regional war, the White House said.

Biden spoke with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain about the fighting. According to a readout from the White House, “the leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.”

They also discussed the first humanitarian aid trucks reaching Palestinians in Gaza, and committed to ensure “sustained and safe” access to food, water and medical care, the readout said.

Preparing for burial in Khan Younis

Matthew Nighswander

Members of the al-Zanati family are taken to a cemetery for burial today in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

‘Blood and dead bodies everywhere’: Emergency nurse describes Gaza hospital conditions

At the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, medical staff are being forced to improvise without supplies as they struggle to treat the hundreds of injured arriving every day.

“Last night, it was a horror movie. Blood and dead bodies everywhere,” Naseralldin Abutaha, an emergency nurse at the hospital, told NBC News this morning.

Without the most basic equipment at Gaza hospitals, Abutaha, 21, said sometimes the staff would be forced to use shirts as tourniquets. Even water was not available, he said, adding, “I swear I once used cola to wash a cut.”

“I feel if I didn’t die, I’m dead inside. I can’t cry anymore,” said Abutaha, who said he was seeing as many as 200 patients every day in a 12-hour shift.

French and Dutch leaders to arrive in Israel today and tomorrow

TEL AVIV — French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will arrive in Israel today and tomorrow for meetings with Netanyahu, his office said.

It comes after Netanyahu held several talks with European leaders over the weekend, according to his office.

Their visits will follow those of Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week, both of whom traveled to Israel to pledge their solidarity and support.

222 people now confirmed hostages; IDF conducting Gaza raids

ISRAEL/LEBANON BORDER — The Israeli military said today that families of 222 hostages taken by Hamas have been notified so far that their loved ones are being held in the Gaza Strip, including foreign nationals.

Armored and infantry forces are continuing limited raids inside Gaza in order to search for information about Israelis who have been kidnapped or are still considered missing, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters.

He added that Israel was holding more than 1,000 Hamas militants, both dead and alive.

Gaza officials say at least 30 killed in bombing of refugee camp

ASHDOD, Israel — Officials in Gaza say at least 30 people, including children, were killed in the bombing of a refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The Palestinian Civil Defense in the Jabalia refugee camp, located north of Gaza City, said it recovered at least 30 bodies from the rubble of bombed buildings in the camp, which is the largest of eight refugee camps in Gaza, according to UNRWA, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees in the region.

NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify the information.

The Israel Defense Forces did not provide an immediate response to questions about whether the camp was hit after a spokesperson said the IDF hit more than 320 military targets in Gaza within a 24-hour time frame. The spokesperson did not specify where exactly those targets were based.

The Indonesian Hospital in nearby Beit Lahia said it was aware of at least 13 people killed as a result of bombing at the Jabalia refugee camp, while the Interior Ministry in Gaza said people died in strikes on residential areas, including “in the vicinity of the Al-Ternis area and the Al-Albani Mosque in the middle of the Jabalia camp.”

Flag factory in Israel is operating around the clock

Matthew Nighswander

A seamstress pins an Israeli flag before sewing it at the Marom factory yesterday in Kfar Saba, Israel. The factory is running 24 hours a day since the war began two weeks ago, manufacturing thousands of flags of all sizes for funerals, state visits, government offices and the military.

4 Hezbollah ‘terrorist cells’ struck in Lebanon overnight, Israel says

Israel’s military said it struck four Hezbollah “terrorist cells” operating on the border with Lebanon overnight.

“Our forces struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon, including a military compound and an observation post,” the IDF said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Fears have been mounting about a new front emerging in Israel’s north should the Iran-backed militants enter the conflict, with Netanyahu warning Hezbollah against such action yesterday.

WHO chief calls for ‘sustained safe passage’ of aid into Gaza

The head of the World Health Organization has called for “sustained safe passage” for humanitarian convoys into the Gaza Strip, as he said more of the agency’s medical supplies have already arrived in Egypt.

Over the weekend, trucks with aid started crossing into Gaza for the first time since the war between Hamas and Israel erupted, but humanitarian organizations have said the supplies will be enough to only help a fraction of Gaza residents.

Israel says it hit more than 320 targets in Gaza within a day

ASHDOD, Israel — Israel’s military says it hit more than 320 targets in Gaza within a roughly 24-hour time frame.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said the military struck targets that “posed a threat” to forces surrounding Gaza as they prepared for ground operations, including dozens of mortar shell and anti-tank missile launch posts.

The targets also included “tunnels containing Hamas terrorists, dozens of operational command centers, some of which concealed Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, military compounds, and observation posts,” the spokesperson said.

The IDF said it also thwarted what it called a number of terrorist cells, including an anti-tank missile cell.

NBC News was not able to independently confirm the information.

Destruction in southern Gaza as Israeli strikes continue

Matthew Nighswander

Fears of wider war growing as Israeli troops exchange fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon

ASHDOD, Israel — With anticipation building for a ground invasion of Gaza by Israel, concerns are also growing that the war could widen amid intensifying border exchanges. Netanyahu said this weekend that if Hezbollah joins the war, he will order an attack on targets across Lebanon.

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