Protests were held across the United States and the world on Saturday as people gathered to call for an end to Israeli bombardment of Gaza and a cease-fire, as the humanitarian situation has continued to worsen.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed to eliminate Yahya Sinwar, the leader of his country’s top enemy, Hamas.
He also warned Hezbollah that the Israel Defense Forces’ air division was ready to fight along the northern border, beyond which lies Lebanon and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militants long at odds with Israel. Israel doesn’t want war with Hezbollah, he said, but he indicated it’s well-prepared.
Turkey proposed a peace conference this week, and it was working on a proposal to have third parties provide security for Israel and Gaza in an effort to rekindle a diplomatic solution, a diplomatic source in Ankara told NBC News.
The proposal, hopeful as it may sound, also highlighted Turkey’s strained relations with Israel.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has described Israel as “out of its mind,” and Turkey has recalled its ambassador in Tel Aviv following Israel’s rejection of calls for a cease-fire, according to the state-run Turkish news service Anadolu Agency.
Erdoğan earlier said he had “severed ties” with Netanyahu, a frequent target of his criticism. Turkey was a prime stop on Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Middle East and Asia tour, which visited Amman, Jordan.
Meetings were also planned with Jordan’s King Abdullah and foreign ministers from Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE.
Blinken met with Qatar’s foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. His country has taken a role of influence in dealing with Hamas and likely helping to negotiate the militant group’s initial release of hostages.
Blinken also met with Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, who leads a country that is the base for Hezbollah militants.
All-out war with Hezbollah is one worst-case scenario for the United States and its allies, as it could stretch Israeli forces in two directions and draw major enemies such as Iran into battle. In a recorded address earlier this week, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah did not rule out wider conflict.
Speaking at a news conference, Blinken said the U.S. supports a humanitarian pause in the conflict with Hamas but not a cease-fire. “It’s our view that cease-fire now would simply leave Hamas in place able to regroup,” he said
As strikes continued, a deadly attack on the Al Fakhoura School, in Gaza City’s Jabalia refugee camp, killed at least 15 people and wounded 70, a spokesperson from Gaza’s ministry of health said Saturday. Displaced residents of Gaza were using the school as shelter, the spokesperson added.
The U.N. refugee agency in Gaza confirmed children were among those killed.
What we know
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Amman, Jordan, to meet with the nation's leaders and senior officials from other countries, including Lebanon and Qatar.
- Blinken's visit came after a trip to Israel in which he pushed for a pause in fighting to allow hostages to be released and humanitarian relief to enter Gaza amid mounting concerns over the growing civilian death toll.
- However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would be “continuing full force” until Hamas released all hostages.
- The Israeli military said one of its aircraft struck an ambulance that it believed was being used by Hamas in Gaza. Separately, the Palestine Red Crescent Society released images it said showed one of its ambulances, bloodstained and damaged in a strike.
- More than 1.4 million people have been displaced in Gaza, and health officials there say almost 9,500 have been killed. Israel says 1,400 people were killed in the Hamas attack, and 241 are still held hostage.
- NBC News’ Richard Engel, Raf Sanchez, Josh Lederman, Matt Bradley, Ellison Barber, Meagan Fitzgerald, Jay Gray, Hala Gorani, Chantal Da Silva and Alexander Smith are reporting from the region.
Families, supporters of hostages call for their release at Tel Aviv demonstration
TEL AVIV, Israel — Thousands of people have joined a demonstration in Tel Aviv organized by families of some 240 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.
“Now!” the crowd chanted repeatedly, calling for hostages to be freed without delay after nearly a month in captivity. Many held pictures of the hostages, who include children and older people.
Hadas Kalderon of Kibbutz Nir Oz whose two children were kidnapped, ages 16 and 12, called for a cease-fire in exchange for the return of the hostages.
Hamas militants abducted the hostages in an Oct. 7 cross-border raid that triggered the latest Israel-Hamas war. The plight of the hostages and their families has captured the nation’s attention.
Ella Ben-Ami, a 23-year-old Israeli whose parents were abducted, said she held Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible.
She called for a halt in all humanitarian aid to Gaza until the hostages are freed.
Tunnel warfare expert Daphne Richemond-Barak spoke to MSNBC's Alex Witt about Israel's efforts to locate and destroy Hamas' vast tunnel network under Gaza.
"It's very difficult to know where Hamas is, where the hostages might be inside the tunnel network," Richemond-Barak said, "and then try to get intelligence about that, but again, your traditional intelligence gathering techniques do not work when it comes to the underground."
Protests across U.S., world call for end to Israeli bombing of Gaza
Thousands gathered across the United States and around the world on Saturday to call for an end to Israel's continued bombardment of Gaza, where civilian casualties have been growing.
In California, protesters amassed at the Los Angeles Civic Center and beyond in a show of support for the Palestinian people who call Gaza home.
In San Francisco, demonstrators turned out with a list of demands. "To call on the U.S. government to call for a cease-fire now, to end the siege on Gaza now, and to end all U.S. military aid to Israel,” Suzanne Ali of Palestinian Youth Movement Bay Area told NBC Bay Area.
As thousands gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to protest the Biden administration’s support of Israel, parts of Europe were alight with their own marches and displays.
In Paris, protesters filled streets, called for a cease-fire, and displayed a “Stop the massacre in Gaza” banner.
Nearly 17,000 people participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in the Dusseldorf, Germany, news agency dpa said, citing police.
Police in Berlin estimated thousands were in the city streets as part of a pro-Palestinian protest, dpa reported. Police were able to contain antisemitic messaging that afflicted previous protests in the city, the agency reported.
The Central Council of Muslims in Germany condemned antisemitic incidents at pro-Palestinian demonstrations, dpa reported.
In London, Metropolitan Police reported 29 arrests during pro-Palestinian protests throughout the city. Most of the arrests were for allegedly violating public order and dispersal laws, but they also included arrests on allegations of inciting racial hatred, terror-related offenses over the wording of a banner, and possession of an illegal weapon, the department said.
Speaking at a rally in Milan, Matteo Salvini, a deputy prime minister, said antisemitism is, in his opinion, “a cancer, a virulent plague, something disgusting.’’
In another part of Milan, about 4,000 attended a pro-Palestinian rally, and in Rome several thousand marched.
Israeli protesters call on Netanyahu to resign
JERUSALEM — Thousands of Israelis protested outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence in central Jerusalem, calling on the Israeli leader to resign in the wake of the bloody Oct. 7 Hamas rampage that sparked the latest Israel-Hamas war.
Netanyahu has so far refused to take responsibility for the Oct. 7 attack, in which several thousand Hamas militants burst into Israel and killed over 1,400 people and took some 240 hostages back to Gaza. He says officials, including himself, will have to give answers to the public, but only after the war.
During Saturday night’s protest, demonstrators called on Netanyahu to step down and called for the return of the hostages. They also held a moment of silence for victims of the attack and those in captivity.
“Where were you in Kfar Azza,” chanted the protesters, referring to one of the Israeli border communities that was overrun by Hamas.
“I came here to rescue the country,” said Nava Hefetz, a rabbi and human rights activist, who attended the protest.
Photo: Red handprints left on fence in front of White House
Photos show painted red handprints left tonight on a fence in front of the White House, where protesters had gathered, some holding Palestinian flags. Demonstrators marched in Washington today, some calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
In a statement tonight, U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said there had been an attempted gate trespass earlier which was "handled without incident" by the Secret Service and others.
He said demonstrators were beginning to leave the area.
"As of now, no arrests have been made by Secret Service personnel," Guglielmi said.
Marjorie Taylor Greene's rejected bill to censure Tlaib is back
U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, said she would reintroduce a failed resolution to censure Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, Congress' only Palestinian American, over statements critical of Israel.
Greene said she planned to change a reference calling an Oct. 18 rally at the Capitol attended by Tlaib as an "insurrection" and instead describe it as an "illegal occupation."
In announcing the resolution's return today, Greene alleged that participants in the Oct. 18 event, during which about 300 demonstrators were arrested, "broke the same federal laws as Jan 6 and led to hundreds of arrest."
The deadly, riotous insurrection at the Capitol Jan. 6, 2021, for which more than 1,100 were charged, sought to disrupt certification of President Joe Biden's Election Day victory over former President Donald Trump.
The Oct. 18 rally sought a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Greene has used the term antisemitic to describe Tlaib, who has made statements in support of Palestinian sovereignty and critical of the Israeli government and its treatment of Palestinians.
Carrier group arrives in the Middle East boosting U.S. military presence
BEIRUT — The U.S. Central Command says the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East and the CENTCOM area of responsibility as part of the increase in regional posture.
The Eisenhower sailed into the Mediterranean last Saturday as the American forces expand their presence in the Middle East to deter Iran and its proxy militant groups from trying to widen the Israel-Hamas war.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and its strike group had moved through the Strait of Gibraltar earlier this week, putting two American carriers in the Mediterranean Sea, a rare sight in recent years.
The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is already in the eastern Mediterranean, part of a buildup of forces as the U.S. supports Israel in its war against Hamas.
Protesters describe conditions their friends and family are facing in Gaza
WASHINGTON — Rula Atieh told NBC News' Allie Raffa that her sister, nieces and nephews are still in Gaza as the war rages on and that they're unable to leave their home, even to get groceries.
"It's unsafe for her. They don't know. They don't feel safe walking around getting groceries," Atieh said.
She and thousands of others gathered today in the nation's capital to call for a cease-fire.
Another protestor, Shazia Chaudhry, has very close friends in Gaza and has been in touch with their family. She told Raffa they have heard from their family in Gaza "on and off" but generally have been having a hard time keeping in touch because of choppy cell connection.
"One of their aunts just was trying to cross the border [but] couldn't cross the border [and] died out of hunger," Chaudhry said.
Marchers in Washington call for cease-fire
WASHINGTON — Thousands gathered in Washington for a rally today, with some protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war and an end to U.S. support of Israel.
One family who marched spoke to NBC News' Allie Raffa about what brought them there today.
"First and foremost ceasefire. Stop the killing. And then just let them be. Like any other humanitarian crisis, let them have the help that they need," Shazia Chaudhry said of the current crisis in Gaza.
Qasin Chaudhry said he was there to fight for the "humanitarian cause."
"You don't need to take political sides on this. It's not anti-semitic. It's not Islamophobic. ... It's just humanity. You can't see these videos of these intimate moments of these people dying left and right look away. And I think it's important to stand up for what's right," he added.
"I think every voice counts on anything small. Coming here is a big deal," Eman Chaudhry said. "Just to know that we're all standing together, just for America to know."
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said an additional 30 humanitarian aid trucks have entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing today. The trucks are carrying medical supplies, food, water and other relief.
A total of 451 trucks have entered Gaza since Oct. 21, but so far none have been allowed to carry fuel.
