Israel says troops are in ‘heart’ of Gaza City

Yad Vashem calls for global fight against antisemitism

Yad Vashem, the global Holocaust remembrance center that runs Israel’s main Holocaust museum, has called on world leaders to declare war on antisemitism.

The organization released a statement responding to what it described as an alarming surge in antisemitism in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

“There is a dangerous trend within Western society, especially on campuses, to legitimize terrorism by focusing upon supposedly mitigating circumstances for barbarous acts that can have no moral justification,” the statement said.

The center also called out groups who “embrace terrorist organizations that supposedly are in line with a cause they support, while completely ignoring the ruthless beliefs espoused.”

“While we have been seeing an ongoing outbreak and mainstreaming of neo-Nazi and White Supremacist antisemitism in many places for several years, we now face an existential threat to the Jewish people,” Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan said.

Gaza Health Ministry says almost 200 health personnel have been killed

With fuel running out amid Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, 18 hospitals there are out of service, a spokesman for the Health Ministry said in a statement.

“Secondary electrical generators represent the last artery in the functioning of hospitals, and if they stop during the coming hours, hundreds of wounded and sick people will be killed,” said the statement from Dr. Ahraf Al-Qudra.

Almost 200 health personnel have been killed, he added.

The ministry said that almost half of the people who’ve been killed in Gaza in the past few hours were in the southern part of the enclave, which it suggested negates Israel’s characterization of the region as safer than the north.

The total death toll in Gaza since the war began has surpassed 10,500, according to the ministry. NBC News was unable to independently verify the ministry’s numbers, however.

A desperate search for survivors in Khan Younis

Max Butterworth

A member of the Palestinian civil defense in Gaza uses a sledgehammer to break open a hole in the concrete surface of a building today, while searching for survivors of an Israeli bombardment in Khan Younis.

Humanitarian aid convoy in Gaza struck, Palestine Red Crescent Society says

A Red Cross convoy transporting medical supplies came under fire from Israeli forces in Gaza City yesterday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a post on X.

The five trucks were carrying supplies to health facilities, including the Al-Quds Hospital, when it was struck, the statement said. “Two trucks were damaged, and a driver was lightly wounded,” it said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “deeply troubled” by the incident, though it did not identify the source of the strike.

“These are not the conditions under which humanitarian personnel can work,” said William Schomburg, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Gaza.

The IDF told NBC News that its strikes are done after taking “feasible precautions and after an assessment that the expected incidental damage to civilians and civilian property is not excessive in relation to the expected military advantage from the attack.”

NBC News was unable to independently verify IDF’s claims.

Gaza bombardments continue near southern Israel

Max Butterworth

A smoke plume rises from a position along the border between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip this morning.

IDF reopens humanitarian corridor to southern Gaza, says ‘time running out’

Israeli forces have reopened the humanitarian corridor along which civilians can flee to the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the IDF said today.

The passage, which follows a major road, will be open from 10 a.m. (3 a.m. ET) to 2 p.m. (7 a.m. ET), IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X in Arabic. He added that northern Gaza was a “fierce combat zone” and “time is running out.”

According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the corridor has been open for limited windows of time each day for the past four days. 

“Thousands of residents from the north of the Gaza Strip responded to the calls of the IDF and at this time are making their way to the south,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari wrote in a post on X, which showed video of crowds walking.

Despite Israel’s repeated warnings to Gaza residents that they should leave the north, southern Gaza has faced relentless bombing, which has hit residential areas and refugee camps.

Shortage of supplies forces all bakeries in northern Gaza to close, U.N. says

The lack of fuel, water and flour in northern Gaza has forced all bakeries there to go out of service, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said today. Desperate people broke into the last three remaining bakeries and stole about 41 tons of flour, it said in a statement.

“Access to bread in the south is also challenging,” the statement added, noting that the only operating mill in Gaza is unable to grind wheat because of the lack of fuel and electricity.

Eleven bakeries have been destroyed since the war began Oct 7., the U.N. said.

Rafah crossing reopens to foreigners, including 100 Americans

JERUSALEM – Gaza’s Rafah border crossing is open again today for foreign passport holders, Gaza’s border authority said.

More than 700 people are eligible to cross, according to a list of approved travelers obtained by NBC News.

The list includes around 100 Americans, along with nationals from Canada, Egypt, Germany, the Philippines, Romania and Ukraine.

Buildings demolished as Israeli soldiers patrol in Gaza

Max Butterworth

An image released by the Israeli military today shows its soldiers taking a position by the side of a road as a building is demolished during ground operations in the Gaza Strip.

Blinken says U.S. opposes possible Israeli reoccupation of Gaza

TOKYO — The United States opposes any Israeli reoccupation of the Gaza Strip, Blinken said this morning, following comments from Netanyahu that his country will have “overall security responsibility” for the Palestinian enclave after the war.

Speaking at the G7 meeting in Tokyo, Blinken said it was clear that “Gaza cannot be continued to be run by Hamas,” but that “it’s also clear that Israel cannot occupy Gaza.”

He said there may need to be some kind of transition period at the end of the conflict, but that the Palestinian people would have to play a central role in their governance in both Gaza and West Bank.

Number of Gazans moving south has tripled, U.N. says

More people in Gaza are moving south along a “humanitarian corridor” that Israel has opened for limited windows of time, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said today. It estimated that 15,000 people traveled yesterday from northern Gaza to the southern half of the enclave, which the IDF have said is the safer place for civilians. That’s three times the figure estimated the day before.

“The majority, including children, elderly people and people with disabilities, arrived on foot with minimal belongings,” the U.N. said in a statement, adding that some displaced people have reported that they crossed Israeli checkpoints and “witnessed arrests by Israeli forces.”

The corridor, which follows a major traffic route, has been open for four hours per day for the last four days, according to the U.N.

It estimated that 1.5 million people have been displaced across the Gaza Strip. About half of them are living in U.N. shelters, the statement said. The shelters in the south, however, are no longer able to accommodate new arrivals; at the most overcrowded one, the U.N. said, each toilet is being shared by at least 600 people.

IDF says it killed senior Hamas weapons developer

The Israeli military said this morning it killed a senior Hamas “weapons developer” as its forces continued aerial and ground operations in Gaza.

“Mohsen Abu Zina served as one of Hamas’ leading weapons developers and was an expert in developing strategic weapons and rockets,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, adding a fighter jet had killed him.

Israel’s aerial forces also killed a group of militants who were planning to “fire anti-tank missiles at the forces,” it said.

NBC News has not independently verified the claims.

G7 calls for ‘humanitarian pauses’ to allow aid into Gaza

TOKYO — Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven developed economies called for “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid into the Gaza Strip but not a full cease-fire, in a joint statement at a meeting in Tokyo today.

“We support humanitarian pauses and corridors to facilitate urgently needed assistance, civilian movement, and the release of hostages,” said the statement from the group, which includes the United States. 

The G7 condemned the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas and the continuing rocket attacks against Israel: “We emphasize Israel’s right to defend itself and its people, in accordance with international law, as it seeks to prevent a recurrence.” It also said the rise in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank was “unacceptable” and undermined security.

“Israelis and Palestinians have an equal right to live in safety, dignity, and peace,” the statement said. “We reject antisemitism and Islamophobia in any form in our own societies and anywhere in the world.”

The statement added that a two-state solution “remains the only path to a just, lasting, and secure peace.”

Saudi Arabia says it will host Arab, African and Islamic summits

SINGAPORE — Saudi Arabia will host summits of Arab, Islamic and African nations in coming days to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, the kingdom’s investment minister said today.

“We will see, this week, in the next few days Saudi Arabia convening an emergency Arab summit in Riyadh,” Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.

“You will see Saudi Arabia convening an Africa-Saudi summit in Riyadh, and in a few days you will see Saudi Arabia convening an Islamic summit,” he said.

“In the short term, the objective of bringing these three summits and other gatherings under the leadership of Saudi Arabia would be to drive towards peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

Infrared satellite images reveal intense shelling in Gaza City

Max Butterworth

Images released by Maxar Technologies yesterday show a number of fires burning across the city, as plumes of smoke trail from burning buildings amid continued heavy shelling by Israel. Vegetation appears in shades of blue while active fires/thermal hot spots show up as an orange/yellow bloom. 

How the Israel-Hamas war could impact Michigan voters for the 2024 presidential election

Gabe Gutierrez

The war between Israel and Hamas could shake up the 2024 U.S. presidential race in Michigan, a key battleground state that President Joe Biden reclaimed for the Democrats in 2020.

The Detroit area has the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the country, but many now say they’re turning against Biden. Arab American voters there say they feel betrayed by the president’s refusal to call for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, which health officials in Gaza say has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people since the start of the conflict a month ago.

Children search the rubble in Khan Younis

Max Butterworth

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