Israel rescues 2 hostages; IDF launches airstrikes on Rafah despite global concern

The Israel Defense Forces today said its troops rescued two hostages abducted during Hamas militants' Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

In a statement, the IDF identified the two as Louis Har, 70, and Fernando Simon Marman, 60, from a community called Nir Yitzhak. It said the two were rescued overnight during a mission in Rafah.

"They are both in good medical condition and were transferred for further medical examination in Israel," IDF said, adding that the mission was conducted alongside the Israel Security Agency and Israel Police.

Officials in Israel say roughly 136 hostages from Oct. 7 remain held by militants.

Despite mounting concerns about the more than 1 million Palestinians crowded into largely makeshift shelters in Rafah, Israel confirmed today that it conducted airstrikes in the area.

“The IDF conducted a series of strikes on terror targets in the area of Shaboura in the southern Gaza Strip,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, adding that the strikes had concluded.

NBC News’ crew on the ground reported witnessing several people brought into a hospital in Rafah both dead and injured.

In photos captured by NBC News’ crew, multiple children could be seen among with the injured, including a young boy with a bandaged head and blood on his face and sweater.

More than 1.4 million people have been displaced to Rafah, according to the U.N., and are living in makeshift refugee camps, inside schools and hospitals, and out in the open. Fears continue to grow among Palestinians after Netanyahu said his forces will launch a ground assault in the southern enclave.

Israel’s finance minister today slammed Moody’s decision to downgrade Israel’s credit rating, saying the announcement is a “political manifesto” that “did not include serious economic claims.”

Bezalel Smotrich said in a statement that Moody's announcement “reflects a lack of confidence in Israel’s security and national strength, and also a lack of confidence in the righteousness of Israel’s path against its enemies.”

Smotrich is a far-right member of Netanyahu's Cabinet who has called for Gaza to remain under Israel's control after the end of the war, opposes the delivery of any fuel to the strip and has called for the "voluntary migration" of Palestinians living there.

Moody’s dropped the rating on Israel’s debt Friday, warning that the ongoing war in Gaza and a possible war in the north with Hezbollah could adversely affect its economy. It is the first time Moody’s has lowered Israel’s credit rating, which investors use to measure the risk of investing in global entities or governments.

Netanyahu has said he finds President Joe Biden “very clear” in conversations, adding that he has spoken to him “over a dozen” times by telephone in recent weeks.

“Sometimes we had disagreements, but they weren’t born of a lack of understanding on his or on my part,” Netanyahu told ABC News in an interview, adding that Biden was “focused.”

“I haven’t seen any of that,” he said about the accusations that Biden has lapses in cogency and memory following a special counsel report describing the president as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

Gaza City’s underground reserves of water have been threatened by the leak of hundreds of millions of gallons of wastewater into the city’s streets and sea, the city municipality said on X today.

“So far, more than 700 million liters (185 million gallons) of wastewater has leaked into the streets of Gaza City,” the city government said, describing the leak event as a “health and environmental catastrophe.”

“Leakage of large quantities of sewage causes serious diseases and epidemics, especially skin diseases and intestinal infections,” it added in a separate post on the platform.

Thousands of Gazans have resorted to consuming seawater and other accessible reserves as each family is limited to only 2 liters on average per day for washing, drinking and cleaning, according to the U.N. Consuming wastewater can lead to diseases such as hepatitis and liver infections, as well as diarrhea and vomiting, which could turn lethal given rapidly depleting health resources.

The Israel Defense Forces said it apprehended Hamas operatives who were hiding inside Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis.

The military said in a statement that the Hamas members were among 20 people who were found there and detained.

"The detainees were transferred for further investigation by security forces in Israel," the IDF said.

NBC News could not independently verify the IDF's claims.

The IDF said that it conducted the operation in coordination with the hospital and that it "meticulously and selectively scanned the hospital without opening fire and without harming the patients or medical staff."

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said Friday that Israeli forces entered Al-Amal Hospital after having targeted it and the organization’s headquarters in Khan Younis for several days, killing at least 43 people.

The dead included three aid workers identified as Naeem Hasan Al-Jabali, Khalid Kulab and Hidaya Hamad, according to the aid organization.

WASHINGTON — U.S. officials believe major progress on a deal to free the remaining hostages in Gaza could come as early as this week, according to a senior administration official, who briefed reporters following Biden’s call with Netanyahu.

“It’s pretty much there,” the official said, while stressing that existing gaps remain significant and every detail in the deal must be finalized.

“Most of it is actually finished,” the person added, without predicting that it would definitely happen.

The official said Biden and Netanyahu spent two-thirds of their 45-minute call today discussing the hostage negotiations.

Biden also expressed, as indicated in the formal readout of the call, his concerns over a military operation in Rafah, given the high number of civilians who were directed there earlier in the war.

The two leaders had a “pretty detailed back and forth on that,” the official said, specifically referencing the density of the population in southern Gaza.

Hamas said in a statement that Israel aims to exterminate Palestinians and force them to migrate from Gaza.

"The discovery of nearly 100 martyrs after the criminal Zionist occupation forces withdrew from the neighborhoods of Al-Rimal and Tal Al-Hawa in Gaza City, most of whom were martyred by the bullets of the occupation’s murderous Nazi snipers, indicates the criminal approach followed by this entity with the aim of extermination and forcing our people to forcibly migrate from their land," the group said.

Hamas called on the International Court of Justice to document Israel's actions and hold the country accountable for them.