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Talks to free some of the hostages held by militant group Hamas stalled over Israel’s unwillingness to send fuel to Gaza, its base, and Hamas’ objection to guaranteeing that a large number of foreign captives would be freed.
This is according to a former U.S. official with knowledge of the ongoing negotiations. Officials said Hamas holds about 230 hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Many are from third-party nations, including the United States.
Another official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, a diplomat with knowledge of the talks, said they had been going well until the breakdown Sunday.
Though Israel’s war is with Hamas, it continues to jab at enemies in Lebanon and Syria, both home to militants backed by archenemy Iran. Israeli military aircraft struck targets associated with Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon today, Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
A military building in Syria was also struck, the forces said. That was a counterpunch after locations in Israel were hit by unspecified “launches” from Syria, it said.
The back-and-forth was a reminder that the war could expand if such skirmishes get out of control. The United States has warned Iran to keep its proxy forces in check, but today Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Israel had crossed a line that could force action.
Iran previously warned Israel that a ground incursion into neighboring Gaza would cross a line. That incursion started this weekend, and more Israeli troops were expected to cross into Gaza as part of the country’s escalating attacks on Hamas.
The expanding ground operations have triggered an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, scheduled Monday. It was called by United Aab Emirates, which wants an immediate ceasefire.
Israel’s attacks on Hamas in Gaza also continued as officials said 33 trucks delivered humanitarian aid to the enclave today.
What we know
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a long and difficult war ahead and said the conflict had entered its “second stage” after ground troops entered Gaza in an expansion of fighting. Israel’s military said its fighter jets struck more than 450 Hamas targets in Gaza in the last day.
- Internet and phone connectivity disrupted by Israel's heavy bombardment was restored for many people in Gaza today, according to telecommunications provider Paltel and a member of NBC News' crew.
- Relatives of the Israelis held hostage by Hamas have asked Netanyahu to halt the Gaza airstrikes and resume rescue negotiations. At least 229 people were taken captive during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack — including infants and young children.
- More than 8,000 people, including women and children, have died in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials. In Israel, over 1,400 people have died.
- NBC News’ Richard Engel, Raf Sanchez, Kelly Cobiella, Josh Lederman, Matt Bradley, Ellison Barber, Meagan Fitzgerald, Jay Gray, Hala Gorani, Chantal Da Silva and Alexander Smith are reporting from the region.
Threats to Cornell Jewish Living Center reported to FBI
Threats to Cornell University’s Jewish community were reported to the FBI as a possible hate crime, the university’s president said Sunday in a letter to the Cornell community.
“Earlier today, a series of horrendous, antisemitic messages threatening violence to our Jewish community” was posted on a site not connected to Cornell, university President Martha E. Pollack wrote.
The threats specifically mentioned the campus address of the Center for Jewish Living, the letter said, and Cornell Police notified the FBI of a potential hate crime.
University police were present at the living center and will continue to be on site to offer protection, Pollack said.
Hostage negotiations stall over Hamas demand for fuel deliveries to Gaza
Talks to free some of the hostages held by militant group Hamas stalled over Israel's unwillingness to send fuel to Gaza, its base, and Hamas' objection to guaranteeing it would release a large number of foreign captives, according to a former U.S. official with knowledge of the ongoing negotiations over the release of some of the estimated 230 hostages.
“Hamas has been insistent on receiving fuel,” said the former U.S. official, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to talk publicly. “The Israel and U.S. side, plus other countries, want a large batch of their citizens released.”
Palestinian Red Crescent said it received 24 aid trucks in Gaza today
“Our teams in Gaza received 24 trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent through the Rafah crossing this evening, containing food supplies and medical necessities," the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said today.
In total, the organization said it has received 118 trucks containing food and medical supplies.
But trucks containing fuel are still not allowed to cross into Gaza, the organization said.
Israeli army strikes military building in Syria
The IDF struck a military building in Syrian territory, it said in a statement today.
"A short while ago, in response to launches from Syria toward Israeli territory earlier Sunday, an IDF aircraft struck military infrastructure in Syrian territory," the statement said.
Reporters Without Borders investigates Oct. 13 raid that killed a Reuters journalist
Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed Oct. 13 when Israel launched a bombing raid across the border into Lebanon that hit a group of seven reporters stationed in Alma Al-Chaab, Lebanon, on the border. They were recording ongoing aggressions between Hezbollah and the IDF.
According to an investigation into the strikes by Reporters Against Borders, a pair of Al-Jazeera journalists recorded an Israeli helicopter flying over the border just an hour before the bombings. The investigation claims the helicopter was locating the journalists.
An hour later, a journalist with the Lebanese TV station LBCI reported in a video that he could see a similar helicopter flying overhead. At 6:02 p.m., Reuters broadcast the bombardment live.
Thirty-seven seconds later, the same group of journalists was targeted by a second attack, Reporters Without Borders concluded in its investigation, noting that the two bombardments were of different intensity and that the first one killed Abdallah.
The second bomb hit the Al-Jazeera vehicle next to him and injured his colleagues, the investigation found. The attacks came from east of where the journalists were stationed, in the direction of the Israeli border.
Reporters Without Borders said, based on its investigation, that the attacks must have been targeted, saying two strikes in the same place in a short time could have indicated that.
It said it would have been "impossible" to mistake the reporters for fighters because of their heightened position and the fact that they had been there for an hour.
Netanyahu invokes 'Amalek' narrative in speech about expanding ground operation in Gaza
Netanyahu invoked the "Amalek" narrative in a speech about the country's expanding its ground operation in Gaza yesterday.
“You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible," Netanyahu said, based on a translation. "And we do remember, and we are fighting. Our brave troops and combatants who are now in Gaza or around Gaza, and in all other regions in Israel, are joining this chain of Jewish heroes, a chain that has started 3,000 years ago from Joshua ben Nun, until the heroes of 1948, the Six-Day War, the ’73 October War and all other wars in this country."
Amalek is an ancient biblical nation that was in Canaan, which was a land in the southern Levant. The Amalekites attacked the Jewish people after the exodus from Egypt, and "they are seen as the archetypal enemy of the Jews," according to Chabad.org.
Netanyahu's use of the narrative drew online criticism because of scripture suggesting that Amalekites must not be spared.
Gaza receives largest aid shipment since the war began
Nearly three dozen trucks entered Gaza today in the largest aid convoy since the war began, but humanitarian workers said the assistance still fell desperately short of needs after thousands of people broke into warehouses to take flour and basic hygiene products.
Israel has allowed only a trickle of aid to enter. A spokesperson at the Rafah crossing, Wael Abo Omar, told The Associated Press that 33 trucks of aid entered the only border crossing from Egypt today.
Israel says it hit Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
After launches toward the Israeli territory from Lebanon earlier today, an IDF aircraft struck targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon, the IDF said in a statement.
Infrastructure for directing terrorism and other military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah were struck.
Palestinians ‘didn’t deserve’ to die, but Israel has ‘a right to’ beat Hamas, NSA Sullivan says
National security adviser Jake Sullivan expressed his condolences on Sunday programs for the thousands of Palestinians who have died in the war while and defended Israeli military action after ground troops entered Gaza.
“There have been deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians in this conflict, and that is an absolute tragedy,” Sullivan said on ABC News’ “This Week.” “Those people did not deserve to die. Those people deserved to live lives of peace and sanctity and dignity.”
Asked on CBS’ “Face the Nation” about the Biden administration’s message after Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the U.N. that pausing Israel’s heavy bombardment must be considered amid calls for at least humanitarian assistance, Sullivan said: “Well, what a lot of people are calling for is just a stop to Israeli military action against terrorists, period — just stop, no more.
“Israel cannot go after terrorists who conducted this largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and who continue to fire rockets and continue to attack Israel,” he said.
“We have taken the position that Israel has a right to defend itself against terrorist attacks,” he added. “That is different from what Secretary Blinken spoke about, which was a humanitarian pause, a pause in the fighting, for example, so that there’s a period of time where there can be safe passage of hostages.”
