Gaza hit by new outage; Jabalia refugee camp strike condemned

List of more than 500 people approved to leave through Rafah crossing

ISRAEL/GAZA BORDER — A list of more than 500 foreign nationals has been approved to cross from Gaza into Egypt, Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Gaza side of the Rafah border confirmed to NBC News today.

The list includes people from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Indonesia, Jordan and Japan as well as a group of aid workers from various countries.

Five American aid workers are also on the list.

Two hospitals will run out fuel within hours, Palestinian health official says

Two hospitals in northern Gaza will completely run out of generator fuel within hours, a spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Health, said today.

“We send an urgent distress call to all our brothers from oil-producing countries to intervene urgently to supply the Al-Shifa Medical Complex and the Indonesian Hospital with fuel to save the lives of the wounded and sick,” Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra told a news conference.

There are 42 children on life support, including incubators, 62 on artificial respiration, and 650 patients with kidney failure among the hundreds of wounded patients, Al-Qudra said.

IDF blames Gaza tunnels for Jabalia refugee camp deaths

The Israeli military has blamed Hamas for using civilian buildings as a cover following a strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza which left dozens dead and hundreds injured.

Israel Defense Forces fighters had “close encounters” with Hamas militants who shot from inside the buildings, spokesperson Daniel Hagari said today.

A military aircraft then attacked from the air, killing a top Hamas commander “in an area that has a headquarters and an underground within a civilian area,” Hagari said.

The “underground infrastructure of tunnels collapsed and brought down other buildings,” he added.

Injured people await care at Rafah border crossing

Max Butterworth

An injured man lies inside an ambulance waiting at the Rafah border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip this morning.

As sirens sound in Ashdod, a frantic mother searches for her children

ASHDOD, Israel — As a quick succession of booms rang out in Ashdod, a mother frantically searched for her children.

Clutching a small dog, she ran breathlessly into the shelter to find them there. Eventually her panic subsided.

But her dog, still in her arms, was shaking as the booms from above sounded.

Several puffs of smoke could be seen hanging in the air in the aftermath, with Israel’s Iron Dome appearing to have intercepted the attempted strikes.

First batch of foreign nationals enter Rafah border crossing

The first foreign passport holders have crossed into the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, the secretary general of the Red Crescent in North Sinai told NBC News today.

Dr. Raed Abdel Nasser said they were “waiting for the completion of entry procedures for them.”

They had “entered in groups consisting of several foreign and Arab nationalities,” Dr. Nasser said, adding “more than 500 foreigners will enter.”

Ambulances were also seen entering the border crossing.

Border opening a Qatar-brokered deal separate to hostage talks, diplomat says

LONDON — For weeks diplomats in multiple countries have been hoping to facilitate the kind of scenes we’re seeing at Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt today.

A diplomat briefed on the deal, who is not authorized to speak publicly, told NBC News that foreign passport holders and some critically injured civilians will be allowed to leave the enclave.

This agreement between Egypt, Hamas and Israel was mediated by Qatar in co-ordination with U.S. officials. Negotiations to open the crossing have gone on since the start of the war.

However, the diplomat stressed that there was “no link between the agreement of Gaza opening and other items under negotiation, including the release of hostages, ceasefires or pauses in the fighting, or the import of humanitarian goods.”

Women in Hamas hostage video ‘look rattled,’ kibbutz resident says

EILAT, Israel — At a hotel in Eilat, many residents evacuated from Kibbutz Nir Oz suffered a sleepless night after a massive explosion woke them in the early hours of the morning.

But sleep has been hard to come by for many, since Hamas took around 80 people hostage from their community of around 440 people on Oct. 7. Among those kidnapped were Danielle Aloni and Yelena Tropanov, who appeared in a video released by Hamas on Monday, alongside Rimon Kirscht. 

Jonathan Dekel-Chen, whose son Sagui Dekel-Chen was also kidnapped, told NBC News today that the video was “a little piece of good news,” but the women “look rattled.”

The community was relieved to see a sign of life but at the same time he said the video was “Hamas’ vicious, brutal attempt at psychological warfare.” What they needed now, he said, was “as much information as can possibly be gained about the welfare of the hostages and everything be done to guard their safety and bring them back home.”

Netanyahu warns of ‘long war’ as forces ramp up ground assault

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today warned of a “long war” ahead as his forces ramped up the ground assault on Gaza.

“We have so many important achievements but also painful losses,” said in a video released by his office. “I promise the citizens of Israel: We will complete the work — we will continue until victory,” he added.

Field hospital set up on Egypt border with Gaza

A field hospital, pictured yesterday, has been constructed for injured Palestinians close to the border with Gaza in the Sheikh Zuweid area of Rafah, Egypt.

Senior U.N. official resigns in protest at Israeli ‘genocide’

The United Nations is failing to prevent a “text-book case of genocide,” a senior U.N. said official said as he resigned from the organization.

In an Oct. 28 letter to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, Craig Mokhiber wrote: “We are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes.”

Mokhiber, the director of the New York office of the U.N. high commissioner for human rights added, “the organization that we serve appears powerless to stop it.”  

He also accused Western governments of being “wholly complicit” and “giving political and diplomatic cover for Israel’s atrocities.”

Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza Strip, IDF says

Nine Israeli soldiers were killed in battle in northern Gaza, the country’s military said today on its website.

Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, later wrote on X that “fighting in the depths of the Gaza Strip unfortunately comes with a heavy price.”

He added that Israel was “prepared for a long and complex campaign that requires courage, determination and perseverance.”

The deaths of two other soldiers were announced last night.

People enter Rafah border crossing with Egypt

Max Butterworth

People walk from southern Gaza into the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

How Israelis in southern kibbutzim are dealing with war trauma

Josh Lederman

KIBBUTZ RE’IM, Israel — Three weeks after Hamas launched its terror attacks against towns in a kibbutz in southern Israel, people there are still trying to clean up and piece together their lives.

Much of the areas remains evacuated, with activity confined to troops and armored vehicles, but some have returned after the Oct. 7 attacks.

Waiting at the Rafah border crossing

Max Butterworth

Palestinians wait at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt in the southern Gaza Strip this morning.

Gaza faces another communications ‘blackout’

ASHDOD, Israel — Residents of Gaza appear to have been plunged into another communications “blackout” this morning, with internet and phone services reported down.

“Live metrics show that the #Gaza Strip is in the midst of a new internet blackout with high impact to the last remaining major operator, Paltel,” NetBlocks, a U.K. company that tracks global internet connectivity, said in a post on X this morning. “The incident will be experienced as a total loss of telecommunications by most residents,” it said.

Paltel confirmed the incident, saying there was a “complete interruption” of all telecommunications and internet services in the Gaza Strip “due to the international Lines being disconnected again.”

It comes after people across Gaza lost access to electricity and communication services over the weekend as Israel ramped up its bombardment of the enclave, as well as its ground operations across the border. The incident stoked fears over what would happen if Gazans lost their primary way of communicating with the outside world and sharing what was happening on the ground.

South American countries recall ambassadors, cut ties with Israel

Bolivia said it was breaking diplomatic ties with Israel, citing airstrikes in Gaza, while Chile and Colombia said they were recalling their ambassadors.

Bolivia’s announcement is a step further than the actions announced by Chile and Colombia.

“Bolivia demands an end to the attacks in the Gaza Strip, which have so far caused thousands of civilian deaths and the forced displacement of Palestinians; as well as the cessation of the blockade that prevents the entry of food, water and other essential elements for life,” Bolivia’s minister of the presidency, María Nela Prada, said in a statement.

Israel’s military has said it seeks to minimize civilian casualties and that it is striking Hamas in Gaza. The country’s foreign ministry responded furiously to the news this morning, accusing Bolivia of a “surrender to terrorism.”

Gazans search the rubble at the Jabalia refugee camp

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