Israeli forces storm Gaza’s main hospital for a second time

Gazans face starvation as food system in war zone collapses

The Palestinians still trapped in Gaza are in danger of dying from hunger as well as bullets after the food distribution system collapsed under the weight of the Israeli onslaught, the United Nations warned.

“Supplies of food and water are practically nonexistent in Gaza and only a fraction of what is needed is arriving through the borders,” said Cindy McCain, the executive director of the U.N.’s World Food Programme. “With winter fast approaching, unsafe and overcrowded shelters, and the lack of clean water, civilians are facing the immediate possibility of starvation.”

While supply trucks are getting into Gaza via the Rafah crossing, McCain said “there is no way to meet current hunger needs with one operational border crossing. The only hope is opening another, safe passage for humanitarian access to bring lifesaving food into Gaza.”

Only a quarter of the remaining food stores in Gaza are open and the shelves are mostly bare, McCain said. And the last of the 130 bakeries in Gaza shut down operations because there is no fuel.

The available food is being sold at inflated prices and most people are surviving on one meal a day, the U.N. said. And often that meal consists of raw onions or eggplants.

“The collapse of food supply chains is a catastrophic turning point in an already dire situation, where people have been stripped of basic necessities,” said Samer AbdelJaber, representative and country director in Palestine. “Without access to fuel, our ability to provide bread or transport food to those in need has been severely compromised, essentially bringing life in Gaza to a standstill. People are going hungry.”

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Sewage is flowing through the streets of Gaza, U.N. agency warns

Sewage is now flowing through the streets of Gaza, Thomas White, a director at the U.N. the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, said on X today.

An acute shortage of fuel was responsible for stopping 15 sewage pumps, White said.

In separate posts, he added that a lack of fuel had stopped two main water plants, causing a lack of drinking water that has led to a 40% increase in diarrhea among those sheltering at UNRWA schools.

Dialysis patient dies as Israeli troops storm Gaza’s main hospital

A dialysis patient died while Israeli forces were storming Al-Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s main hospital, a spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry said.

The patient perished when the power was cut off, the spokesperson, Ashraf Al-Qudra, said. And a number of premature babies at the hospital complex are also in mortal danger because there’s no electricity to power their incubators, he said.

There is no food or water for the remaining 650 patients at Al-Shifa or for the 7,000 displaced people who took shelter from the fighting in the hospital complex, he said.

Calling the situation at the complex “very dangerous,” Al-Qudra once again called for “urgent intervention.” He said the Israeli troops have made it impossible for many doctors and patients to escape by destroying their cars.

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Kuwait sends aid bound for Gaza

Max Butterworth

Ambulances and humanitarian aid bound for the Gaza Strip through Egypt are loaded in a military aircraft at the International Airport in Kuwait City, in an image made available by the Kuwaiti News Agency today.

White House ‘deeply concerned’ about wounded Jordanian medics

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan says he is “deeply concerned” about Jordanian medical staff being hurt near a field hospital in Gaza.

“Jordan is a critical ally, and we thank King Abdullah II and Jordanians for providing support,” he said.

According to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, seven members of the Jordanian Field Hospital in Gaza were injured at the entrance of the hospital’s emergency department while trying to treat Palestinians injured in an Israeli bombing.

Phone, internet blackout in Gaza as telecom provider runs out of fuel

Gaza is under another near-complete telecommunications blackout, analysts and the area’s largest phone and internet provider say.

The telecom Paltel wrote on its Facebook page that the cause of its disruption was Israel cutting its electricity and its backup generators finally running out of fuel.

“We regret to announce a complete disruption of communication services (landline, cellular, and Internet) in the Gaza Strip, after fuel entry has been banned and all backup power sources have been exhausted to operate the main elements of the network,” it said.

NetBlocks, a British company that tracks internet censorship, said that most residents of Gaza appear to be cut off from the outside world. Doug Madory, an analyst at Kentik, which tracks connectivity, told NBC News it appears all internet connections from Gaza are currently down, not just Paltel.

IDF raid at Al-Shifa hospital goes on as hundreds of patients remain inside

Soldiers are searching building to building at the Al-Shifa hospital complex, as hundreds of patients and medical remain inside, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said in a statement today.

The mission is “shaped by our understanding that there is well-hidden terrorist infrastructure in the complex,” they said, adding that soldiers were “proceeding one building at a time, searching each floor, all while hundreds of patients and medical staff remain in the complex.”

The IDF started its military operation at the hospital yesterday, in search of what it called a “terrorist cell.”

Hamas and doctors at the hospital have both denied Israeli claims that the militant group is using the hospital as a base.

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Erdogan greets Gaza cancer patients in Turkey

Max Butterworth

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, speaks with a Palestinian cancer patient, who had crossed from Gaza into Egypt and was brought to Turkey for treatment, at Bilkent City Hospital in Ankara today.

Ruling ANC backs motion to close Israeli Embassy in South Africa

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party said today that it would support a parliamentary motion calling for the Israeli Embassy to be closed and diplomatic relations to be suspended.

The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) proposed the motion in solidarity with the Palestinian people over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

South Africa’s strong support for Palestinians dates back to former President Nelson Mandela’s days, with the country likening their plight to its own before the end of apartheid in 1994. Israel rejects the comparison.

The ANC said in a statement it would support the motion “to close the Israel Embassy in South Africa and suspend all diplomatic relations with Israel until Israel agrees to a ceasefire and commits to binding United Nations facilitated negotiations whose outcome must be a just, sustainable and lasting peace.”

Israeli military says it has ‘gained operational control’ over Gaza harbor

The Israeli military said today that it had “gained operational control,” over Gaza Harbor.

In a statement posted to X, the IDF said the harbor, which is home to the enclave’s fishing fleet, had been “disguised as a civilian area.”

Hamas, it said, had been using the harbor “as a training facility for their naval commando forces to plan and execute terrorist attacks.”

NBC News could not independently verify these claims.

U.N. negotiating with Israel about medical evacuation from Al-Shifa hospital

The United Nations is negotiating with Israel about a medical evacuation from Al-Shifa hospital, where the Israeli army has been conducting raids in recent days.

Options for a full medical evacuation of the hospital are being looked at, the World Health Organization’s emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, Dr. Rick Brennan, told Reuters today.

He added that the U.N. was seeking security guarantees and safe passage for convoys from the IDF.

“Health conditions at Al-Shifa hospital remain critical,” Brennan said. “We do not have an update as of this morning, but we still have grave concerns for the patients and the staff in the hospital.”

Huge smoke plumes as Israel continues to bombard Gaza

Max Butterworth

Clouds of smoke and ash rise from an Israeli strike at an unspecified location in Gaza today.

Eyewitness video shows shooting at Jerusalem crossing

Eyewitness video captured the moment suspected Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint in southern Jerusalem.

Police spokesperson Dean Elsdunne said extensive security measures were deployed after the attack.

‘One horror does not justify another,’ E.U. foreign policy chief tells Israel

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell urged Israel today not to be consumed by rage in its response to last month’s Hamas attack, declaring that “one horror does not justify another.”

Speaking alongside Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen after they visited kibbutz Be’eri, a focal point of the Oct. 7 assault, Borrel said: “I understand your rage but let me ask you not to be consumed by rage. I think that’s what the best friends of Israel can tell you.”

Borrell also stressed the E.U.’s solidarity with Israel and its support for the country’s right to defend itself in line with international law.

“But one thing is to defend Israel and another thing’s to take care of the people in need,” he added.

Five-day march to Jerusalem goes into third day

Max Butterworth

Hundreds of people, led by the families of hostages, gather at the beginning of the third day of the five-day March to Jerusalem in Beit Hashmonai, Israel, today.

Trickle of information from Gaza’s largest hospital appears to dry up

Virtually no information has emerged from Gaza’s Al-Shifa today after an Israeli raid of the hospital that has become a worldwide symbol of the plight of Palestinian civilians during the war.

Yesterday, the IDF said it had launched a “targeted” operation inside the hospital, and doctors in the facility spoke of seeing Israeli tanks inside. The Israeli army has since released a video purporting to show weaponry and equipment that it says belongs to Hamas militants inside the hospital. NBC News is unable to independently verify that claim.

Since then, the IDF has not released new footage or information about what is happening in the hospital, other than to say that its operation is ongoing. Hamas also has not released a statement on Al-Shifa or what the conditions are for the civilians, medical staff and displaced people inside.

Dr. Nahed Abu Taaema, director of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told Reuters that contact had been lost with medical staff inside Al-Shifa. “The situation at Al-Shifa Hospital is very dangerous and catastrophic,” he said. “We are unable to ascertain the events inside the al-Shifa complex, including violations against the medics and patients by the Zionist enemy.”

NBC News has tried calling three doctors at the hospital, but the calls were not answered. Officials in Gaza warned yesterday that they expected a telecommunications blackout as electricity and power completely ran out.

50 Israeli soldiers killed so far in Gaza, IDF says

TEL AVIV — The Israeli military says 50 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza since launching its ground operation in the enclave three weeks ago.

The death toll, confirmed to NBC News in a message from the IDF, brings the total number of the country’s personnel killed since Oct. 7 to 371.

During Israel’s last major ground assault into Gaza in 2014, 67 Israeli soldiers were killed in just over six weeks.

At least 85 people arrested in the occupied West Bank, prisoners’ society says

Israeli forces have arrested at least 85 people from the occupied West Bank in less than 24 hours, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement today. A young graduate student was detained at her university residence as part of the crackdown, the statement added.

“The arrest campaign was accompanied by widespread harassment, severe beatings, and threats against detainees and their families,” the statement said, adding that Israeli forces had also destroyed and sabotaged some of their homes.

A group of detainees were later released, it said. Arrests in West Bank have sharply risen in the past few weeks with the group saying today the total number of arrests has risen to 2,735 since the Oct 7. attacks.

NBC News was unable to independently verify these claims.

Gunmen killed after opening fire at Jerusalem crossing, police say

TEL AVIV — Three gunmen opened fire at a crossing in Jerusalem, injuring seven people before they were shot dead by officers, a police spokesperson told NBC News via WhatsApp today.

The gunmen “arrived in a suspicious vehicle, and opened fire towards our forces,” near the Tunnels Crossing, the spokesperson said, adding that “seven individuals sustained injuries of varying degrees” and they were “evacuated for medical treatment.”

“Jerusalem district bomb disposal units are operating in the area,” they said.

Military operation is ongoing at Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, IDF says

TEL AVIV — The Israeli military operation inside the Al-Shifa hospital complex is still ongoing, an IDF spokesperson told NBC News today.

The IDF began the raid on the hospital — which Israeli authorities say was being used to store weapons — yesterday. Hamas said that the accusation that the hospital was being used for military purposes was “lies and cheap propaganda.”

Dr. Adnan Al-Barsh, head of Al-Shifa’s orthopedic department, said last night that Israeli soldiers had “vandalized” medical equipment inside the hospital.

NBC News cannot confirm the IDF’s claims that weapons were being stored weapons under the hospital nor that it was being used as a command and control center. It also cannot confirm Hamas’ claims that medical equipment had been vandalized by Israeli forces.

Shooting at a checkpoint between West Bank and Jerusalem

Max Butterworth

Police secure the scene after an attack by gunmen at a checkpoint between the West Bank and Jerusalem today.

Chaotic scenes at DNC HQ as pro-Palestinian protesters clash with police

There were chaotic scenes at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., last night, as pro-Palestinian protesters clashed with police.

U.S. Capitol Police said in a short statement on X shortly after 10 p.m. that what it called a “large group of illegal protesters” had been cleared out, adding that officers were staying at DNC offices out of an “abundance of caution.”

Numerous lawmakers were in the DNC headquarters when the protest erupted. One person was arrested and accused of assaulting an officer; six officers in total were treated for injuries, the force said.

Protesters, however, accused the police of heavy-handed treatment. The Jewish group IfNotNow posted on X that police were being “extremely violent,” alongside video showing officers pushing protesters.

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IDF says it hit residence of top Hamas leader

The Israeli military said it struck the residence of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh overnight. The building was “terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF added.

During its takeover of Shati camp in northern Gaza, it found and destroyed “a Hamas naval forces weapons cache, containing diving gear, explosive devices, and weapons,” it added.

NBC News has not verified the claims.

Driver arrested in Tokyo after car strikes barricade near Israeli Embassy

TOKYO — Police in Tokyo arrested a driver today after a vehicle rammed into a barricade near the Israeli Embassy, injuring a police officer.

A man in his 50s who is believed to be a member of a right-wing group was arrested on the spot, local media reported, citing a police source. The police officer suffered a hand injury and was taken to a hospital.

It was not clear what the motive might have been or whether the embassy was being targeted.

Aid organization ‘extremely worried’ for civilians at Al-Shifa

Doctors Without Borders is “extremely worried” for the lives of people who are at Al-Shifa hospital.

“As Israeli forces enter Al Shifa hospital, we call once again for the protection of medical staff, patients and displaced civilians sheltered inside the hospital,” Médecins Sans Frontières said in a post on X today.

“We are extremely worried for their lives.”

Cancer patients transported from Gaza to Turkey

Max Butterworth

Two planes carrying more than two dozen Palestinian cancer patients, many of them children, arrived in Turkey for treatment early today.

Patients who had crossed from Gaza into Egypt are carried on stretchers after arriving at the Esenboğa Airport in Ankara.

WATCH: Biden committed to bringing Hamas hostages home, will not be sending ground forces into Gaza

During a press conference discussing his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Joe Biden said he is doing everything in his power to bring home hostages being held in Gaza. 

2 arrested in ‘spontaneous’ protest outside restaurant where Trudeau was eating dinner

At least two people were arrested last night after around 250 people gathered in what the Vancouver Police Department described as “spontaneous” protest outside a restaurant where Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was having dinner.

Sgt. Steve Addison told reporters today that police did not receive advance notice of a demonstration but approximately 100 officers were sent to the Chinatown location to disperse the crowd so that Trudeau could be escorted out.

Video posted on social media appeared to show a group of people chanting “cease-fire now” at Trudeau who was inside a restaurant before he got up and left. The incident occurred an hour before the Chinatown protest and police did require significant response, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Trudeau’s office confirmed in a statement the prime minister was approached by demonstrators in Vancouver and said it does not comment on his security detail or process with regard to specific interactions.

Palestinian officials say harder to update death toll as health system buckles

RAMALLAH — Palestinian health authorities said yesterday it was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain accurate casualty figures from Gaza due to the collapse of the hospital and health system in parts of the Israeli-besieged enclave.

The Palestinian Health Ministry has been issuing a constantly updated total of the casualties from the devastating Israeli bombardment of Gaza, launched in the wake of the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen Oct. 7.

But as Israeli forces have pushed deep into the Gaza Strip and communications infrastructure has been degraded, contact with hospitals has buckled and systematic data collection has become more problematic, the ministry said.

“For the fourth consecutive day, the ministry faces challenges in updating the number of casualties because of services and communications collapsing in hospitals in the north,” it said in a statement.

Israel calls it a humanitarian corridor, but for fleeing Palestinians, it’s forced displacement

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — On the eastern edge of Gaza City, hundreds of families marched down Salah al-Din road as the sun began to set yesterday afternoon. Many were carrying babies and young children, while others pushed the elderly in wheelchairs. Some waved large white flags, while all carried what few possessions they could on a journey with no clear end in sight.

“There’s tens of thousands of people leaving their neighborhoods in Gaza coming through here going south,” Maj. Shraga of the Jerusalem Brigade told NBC News, whose last name the IDF asked to be withheld for security reasons. 

Israel has said its evacuation routes from northern Gaza are designed to get Palestinian civilians to safety, which it says is proof of its commitment to protecting innocents even as it targets Hamas. More than 11,200 Palestinians have been killed during Israel’s offensive on Gaza in the weeks since Hamas’ attack on Israel, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

But for many of the more than 1.6 million people who, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, says have already been displaced in Gaza since the conflict began, the route feels like a forced exodus.

Read the full story here.

WATCH: Biden says Hamas committed war crime with headquarters under hospital

Biden focused on the hostages in Gaza and said he is doing everything in his power to bring them home. 

Speaking at a news conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Biden said he was doing everything in his power to bring them home but he would not send American forces to Gaza.

NBC News’ latest coverage of the Israel-Hamas war