Hamas releases two more hostages

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Fifteen members of the same family were among at least 33 Palestinians buried in a mass grave at a Gaza hospital yesterday.

A harried-looking doctor in green scrubs walked past as bodies in white sheets were loaded into the back of a pickup truck. Men discussed where to fit the shrouded corpse of a small child between two adults.

Side-by-side, the bodies were laid to rest in a shallow, sandy grave in the courtyard of al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, an ambulance parked nearby. “Bring them all,” a gravedigger called out.

Israel said Monday it struck 320 militant targets throughout the besieged Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours. The military says it does not target civilians. Over 5,000 Palestinians, including some 2,000 minors, have been killed since the war began, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed — mostly civilians slain during the initial Hamas attack.

Abed Khaled / AP

A wounded Palestinian woman cries as she holds the hand of her dead relative outside her home Monday following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City.

TEL AVIV — The family of two American hostages released by Hamas last week described in an interview their struggle to grapple with feelings of relief for the freed mother and daughter — and fear for those still held captive by the militant group, including eight of their loved ones.

“It was everything all at once — joy, then guilt for feeling joy for just a second,” said Ayelet Sella, a cousin of Judith Raanan, who, along with her daughter, Natalie, was freed Friday in the first diplomatic breakthrough on the issue since militants swept through southern Israel in a surprise attack.

Relatives of two American hostages freed by Hamas speak out

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“They were just innocent, innocent civilians who were taken from their homes inside Israel’s borders,” she added.

“We don’t have the privilege to celebrate,” said Or Sella, Ayelet’s brother.

Read the full story here.

Biden spoke with Netanyahu today and reaffirmed efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, the White House said.

Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to ongoing efforts to secure the release of all the remaining hostages taken by Hamas — including Americans — and to provide for safe passage for U.S. citizens and other civilians in Gaza,” the White House said in a statement.

The two leaders spoke on the day Hamas released two additional hostages, bringing the total freed to four. Israel’s military says Hamas is still holding more than 200 other people hostage.

Biden “also underscored the need to sustain a continuous flow of urgently needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza” and informed Netanyahu of new U.S. military deployments, the White House said.

Tech startups working to support Israeli military

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TEL AVIV — Personnel in the war between Israel and Hamas include a front line of tech workers helping officials locate and identify missing Israelis.

"We have teams that are working on cutting-edge technology like AI, like facial recognition, like voice recognition, trying to match patterns of movements," Karine Nahon, the head of Israel’s war room for missing people, told NBC News.

Reuven Zolotarevksy, a software developer for California's Palo Alto Systems, rapidly developed an app that is helping locate people by crowdsourcing their attributes, like height, weight, hair color and tattoos.

"There's so much work to be done," he said. "It's not a time to take a breath."

Horrors of war hitting Israel, Gaza, as fight against Hamas continues

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KIBBUTZ BE'ERI, Israel — Just a few miles from Israel's border with Gaza, the magnitude of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack was still on display in kibbutz Be’eri more than two weeks later.

Structures were standing, but many had been torn apart, some appeared to have been burned and there were windows were shattered in every direction.

Yossi Landau, a member of a search team that's still looking for the dead, said: "I'm used to bodies. I saw bodies in my life. But never something like that."

Officials say 100 bodies, at least some of them of children, have been pulled from the community, and DNA must be used to identify them because other identifying factors are no longer an option.

Blinken will attend a U.N. Security Council meeting tomorrow about the situation in the Middle East, a spokesman for the State Department said.

Blinken will attend the Security Council ministerial meeting in New York, spokesman Matthew Miller said. While there, he will meet with counterparts and U.N. officials, he said.

Hostage’s parents plead for U.N. to help free those held by Hamas

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The parents of an American believed held hostage by Hamas said that the release of two more hostages by the terrorist group raises their hopes “a little bit” but that they want all of them released from captivity.

“On the one hand, we look for hope wherever we can grasp at it,” Jonathan Polin, the father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, told NBC News today.

“The bottom line is when all 200-plus are released — in our case, obviously, we’re most concerned about our own son, who is wounded — that’s what we’re hoping is going to happen,” he said.

Goldberg-Polin was at Israel’s Supernova music festival in Israel when Hamas gunmen attacked. His parents are asking the United Nations for help.

Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he met with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and argued for restraint while saying "the fight against Hamas must be waged."

“It is of existential importance for Israel to remove the Hamas threat,” Rutte said in a statement on X.

“The fight against Hamas must be waged, but civilian casualties and regional escalation must be prevented. This requires restraint from Israel when it comes to the use of force,” he added.

During his trip to the region, Rutte also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. “Though it may seem far away, peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians is only possible if prospects for a Palestinian state, alongside a secure Israel, are renewed,” Rutte wrote on X.

Rutte said he also met with the family of Ofir Engel, a Dutch national taken hostage by Hamas.

Former President Barack Obama said Israel has the right to defend itself and denounced Hamas attacks on the country, but he warned that “any Israeli military strategy that ignores the human costs could ultimately backfire.”

Writing on Medium, Obama said he fully supports Biden’s call that the U.S. support Israel in going after Hamas, both to dismantle its military capabilities and to rescue hostages.

“But even as we support Israel, we should also be clear that how Israel prosecutes this fight against Hamas matters,” Obama wrote.

“The Israeli government’s decision to cut off food, water and electricity to a captive civilian population threatens not only to worsen a growing humanitarian crisis; it could further harden Palestinian attitudes for generations, erode global support for Israel, play into the hands of Israel’s enemies, and undermine long term efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region,” he wrote in another section.

Obama called for a strategy that minimizes harm to civilians, and he wrote that he was encouraged by aid trucks’ being allowed to head into Gaza from Egypt.

He also urged all actors “to engage with those Palestinian leaders and organizations that recognize Israel’s right to exist to begin articulating a viable pathway for Palestinians to achieve their legitimate aspirations for self-determination."

"That is the best and perhaps only way to achieve the lasting peace and security most Israeli and Palestinian families yearn for," Obama wrote.

‘I believed this moment could come,’ says grandson of released Hamas hostage

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News of the release of hostages Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper, taken Oct. 7 by Hamas militants, was greeted with relief by Lifshitz's grandson today.

Daniel Lifshitz, speaking in Eilat, Israel, said family members reacted with emotion and happiness. "We just hope she is OK and in good health," he said.

He said his family expects that all hostages taken from the kibbutz and beyond will be released.

The United Nations has not reported any instances of diverted aid’s going into Gaza by Hamas, the U.S. State Department said.

The Rafah crossing was opened Saturday, allowing for the delivery of supplies and other aid into Gaza from Egypt, and convoys continued today.

“We have been in conversation with the United Nations about this,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.

“The U.N. agencies are the ones who are delivering the food, the humanitarian assistance, once it gets into Gaza. And to this date, they have not reported to us any signs of diversion,” he said.

“The Israelis do have legitimate concerns about the diversion of any fuel to Hamas,” Miller said. He said the U.S. is in discussion with Israel about the issues.

Aid going into Gaza through Rafah has not included fuel, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, said today.

Fuel is needed to desalinate water and for hospitals and for the aid organizations that are delivering assistance, he said.

Gaza water crisis raises health concerns for millions 

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After Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, Israel largely cut off fuel and other supplies to the militant group's base of Gaza, putting the territory in the dark and exposing its residents to the possibility of a deadly health crisis.

A top concern is water. Lack of fuel means the enclave's water treatment plants are not running, and Palestinians are left to tap sources that, in a worst-case scenario, could expose them to disease and illnesses such as cholera, which can dehydrate and kill.

Nearly half of the 2.1 million pre-attack population was younger than 18, and an illness like cholera has greater impact on children, said a global medicine expert, Dr. Adam Levine of Brown University. "They're going to be at greater risk for dying," he said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met today with Jewish American community groups, as well as Palestinian and Arab American groups, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Miller said the State Department remains focused on getting humanitarian aid into Gaza. He added that a pause or a cease-fire to do so "would give Hamas the ability to rest to refit."

"You can understand perfectly clearly why that’s an intolerable situation for Israel, as it would be an intolerable situation for any country that has suffered such a brutal terrorist attack and continues to see the terrorist threat right on its border," he said.

In addition, Miller said, the State Department is still working to help American citizens evacuate from Gaza.

"We are working on trying to get American citizens, their family members and other foreign nationals out. It is an ongoing conversation, an ongoing process, but that is our goal," he said.

Egyptian state TV shows hostages taken into ambulances

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Two more hostages, Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, were released by Hamas and transported out of Gaza this evening. Video broadcast on Egyptian state television showed the women being escorted into ambulances. 

How Qatar and Egypt played roles in Hamas’ latest hostage releases

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Qatar and Egypt played key roles in the negotiations that led to Hamas' release of two Israeli hostages, identified as Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz.

The number of journalists killed in the war has risen to at least 23, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Roshdi Sarraj, a journalist and filmmaker, died in Gaza yesterday after an Israeli airstrike, the committee said. He was the 19th journalist killed there since fighting began Oct. 7. Three others were killed in Israel during the terrorist attacks by Hamas, and one was killed at the Israeli-Lebanon border, the committee said. 

Journalist Roshdi Sarraj.  Courtesy Roshdi Sarraj

The first week of the conflict, when 15 journalists died, was the deadliest week for journalists in warfare since the committee began keeping records in 1992.

Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and North Africa program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said anyone working in Gaza is in danger. 

“In a way, the people who are needed the most are the ones who are most vulnerable right now,” said Mansour, who is based in the U.S.

The Committee to Protect Journalists and about 200 other organizations signed a letter last week calling for a cease-fire to prevent further harm to civilians. 

The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem called on Israel and Hamas in a statement Friday “to ensure the safety and freedom of reporting of our Palestinian members on the ground.” It also called on authorities “to ensure the safety of journalists inside Israel, where reporters have been subject to verbal and physical abuse by civilians and security forces.” 

Today the association said it did not know when entry to Gaza would reopen for journalists from Israel. 

Mansour emphasized that violence against journalists in Gaza had picked up in recent years and had a chilling effect. He cited a 2021 airstrike by Israel that destroyed a high-rise building in which offices for The Associated Press and Al Jazeera were housed. Then, last year, Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was most likely killed by one of Israel's soldiers during a raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank. 

“Over the last two years, we saw two things that have changed the calculus of the risk,” Mansour said of those events. “No one was held accountable in both situations.” 

In addition to the physical danger, he continued, other obstacles include the inability of foreign journalists to travel to Gaza, electricity and internet blackouts, censorship by Hamas and new emergency censorship powers enacted by Israel.

JERUSALEM — Hamas has released two more hostages, identified as Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz, multiple sources confirmed.

The military wing of Hamas said it had decided to release the pair for “compelling humanitarian” reasons.

The announcement came three days after the release of two Americans whom Hamas had held in Gaza: Judith Raanan and her teenage daughter, Natalie.

NBC News has not seen images of the hostages’ being released.

Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper.  via Reuters; Hostages and Missing Families Forum via AP

Read the full story here.

Children gather to release balloons to mark Ohad Munder-Zichri's ninth birthday. Chantal Da Silva

METZER, Israel — A boy who turned 9 today was in the spotlight at a gathering in a kibbutz in northern Israel — only he wasn't there.

Ohad Munder-Zichri is feared to have been taken hostage by Hamas militants Oct. 7 while he and his mother were visiting his grandparents in Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel. The four have not been heard from since.

Today, the family's loved ones and supporters gathered in Metzer for Ohad's birthday, releasing balloons into the sky to mark a day that should have been a celebration.

"These balloons, it's like prayers that go up," said Nitzan Onel, 50, a relative.

An analysis from Sky News attempts to fact-check and verify the documents that Israel’s president earlier said were instructions on how to make chemical weapons and that he said were found on the body of a Hamas fighter.

President Isaac Herzog showed what he said was "al Qaeda material" found by the Israel Defense Forces on the body of a dead fighter in Kibbutz Be'eri, which was devastated in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.

Herzog said it showed Israel was “dealing with ISIS, al Qaeda and Hamas” as he held up the document, which had "al Qaeda" written in English and a flag widely recognized as representing ISIS on the cover.

However, such material is very difficult to verify, and it is still not known whether there is any form of coordination among Hamas, ISIS and al Qaeda. NBC News has no reporting to corroborate Herzog's central claim, and although experts interviewed by Sky News offered context and informed analysis, much is still unknown.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East announced that 35 of its staffers have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7.

Many of the staffers were teachers in UNRWA schools.

"We are lost for words," the agency said in a post on X.

"These are not just numbers. These are our friends and colleagues."

U.S. forces will be "postured appropriately" in the Middle East amid concerns that the war between Israel and Hamas could escalate into a wider regional conflict, John Kirby, the National Security Council's coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters this afternoon.

"In the days ahead, at the direction of President Biden, the secretary of defense has ordered the military to take steps to prepare for this to ensure that we're postured appropriately, both in terms of being able to defend our forces and respond decisively as needed," he said.

Kirby told reporters that the Pentagon plans to send more air defenses to U.S. air bases in the region, in addition to the career strike groups that have already been deployed.

He added that the Biden administration is aware that the Iranian government continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, saying that the U.S. will not "allow any threat to our interest in the region to go unchallenged."

Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters have repeatedly clashed with Israeli forces since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The U.S. classifies Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations.

Kirby details U.S. military’s preparedness in Middle East in event of escalation

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AFULA, Israel — Days after Efrat and Yhonatan Bitton evacuated their home less than a mile from the Lebanese border, a Hezbollah anti-tank missile landed in their street, killing a local builder, injuring three others and smashing their neighbors’ windows.

The Bittons and their three children, ages 10, 9 and 8, had to leave Shtula, a small farming community known as a moshav, because of the rising cross-border violence involving the Iran-backed militant group, which has led to fears the conflict could spread throughout the region.

“Before we left, there was a silence that made you feel that every moment something was going to happen,” said Bitton, 43, who works as a forest guide. His 32-year-old wife, a business administrator, added: “We told our children a little bit about what’s happened, and they said, ‘Why do you tell us? Now we are afraid. We don’t want to hear about that because now we can’t sleep at night.’”

They are now staying with family in the small, quiet city of Afula. But tensions are high even here. When Bitton’s brother, Michael Bitton, sees NBC News speaking with the family outside the house, he panics that something has happened to one of his two sons, who are serving with the IDF near Gaza. “You see, even little things can make us very worried,” the 49-year-old said.

KIRYAT SHEMONA, Israel — Concerned by escalating tensions with Hezbollah, many of this city's some 20,000 residents have evacuated.

The city is quiet, but not empty — a mix of civilians and military could be seen moving around the streets. 

At the city's main bus station, a few residents are waiting on evacuation buses, while Israeli soldiers continue to trickle in — two were seen exiting a bus, full packs on back, but moving with no real sense of urgency. 

The topography is important here, large hills stretch across the landscape west of the town, creating a natural dividing line along the border with Lebanon.

The Palestinian Red Crescent says it has received the third humanitarian aid shipment from the Egyptian Red Crescent via the Rafah crossing, according to a post on its X account.

The shipment includes “20 trucks with food, medicine, and supplies.”

More than 5,000 people have been killed since Oct. 7 in Gaza, including 2,055 children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Government Media Office.

This includes 436 people killed in Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours, including 182 children, according to Iyad Al-Bazm, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior and National Security in Gaza.

A total of 1.4 million people, or about 70% of Gaza's population, are displaced, the media office said.

More than 181,000 homes have been destroyed and an estimated 1,500 people are still missing under the rubble.

A total of 32 mosques were destroyed and three churches were severely damaged in Gaza, according to the media office.

This morning, diplomats around the world are watching and waiting for news. The hope is that Friday’s release of two hostages will pave the way for more.

But the release of hostages is a fraught and fragile process.

The negotiation is the first part — once a deal is done, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent takes over. It has a team in Gaza that can help facilitate the exchange and has a history of neutrality that engenders trust on all sides. In a 2009 interview, a legal adviser to the ICRC said it has a "clear and long-established practice of not becoming involved in judicial proceedings and of not disclosing what it discovers during its work."

The taking of hostages is illegal under international law, so it’s possible at some stage in the future, the International Criminal Court could investigate. In those circumstances, the International Committee of the Red Cross would not give evidence about anything its workers had seen.

It’s a well-established formula that has enabled the rescue of innocent people on many past occasions. This situation, with continuing bombing and anger from all sides, may be its toughest test ever.

John Kirby, National Security Council's coordinator for strategic communications, said on "Morning Joe" today that the U.S. will not speak for Israeli military operations, as U.S. officials tell NBC News that the Biden administration is advising Israel to delay a ground invasion of Gaza.

"It's important to remember that the IDF, the Israeli defense forces, they make their own decisions," he said. "They decide what they are going to do and when they are going to do it. And again, all we are trying to do is to make sure they know we are here as a resource — certainly for information and context, we have a lot of experience in this kind of thing, but also from a security assistance perspective."

Kirby on possible ground invasion: The IDF makes its own decisions

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Following extended negotiations, 37 truckloads of aid were allowed to cross into Gaza over the weekend, the first humanitarian assistance to enter the blockaded enclave since Oct. 7.

This represents a significant shortfall from the almost 5,400 truckloads of goods that would have entered Gaza in the same time period, according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Prior to the war, an average of 10,000 truckloads of goods entered Gaza every month via Egypt and Israel. Almost a quarter was food, equivalent to some 2,200 truckloads. Another 40% was construction material.

Israel has blocked the entry of fuel to Gaza since the start of the war. So far, aid has not included fuel, resulting in a precipitous drop in imports. In August, Gaza imported almost 11.3 million gallons of fuel, 40% of which was used to generate power.

The Biden administration is advising Israel to delay a ground invasion of Gaza to allow for more time for hostage negotiations and humanitarian aid to reach there, according to four U.S. officials.

With active conversations underway, the officials stress that the U.S. is not dictating operations for the Israel Defense Forces even as they acknowledge the difficult challenges of getting humanitarian aid into Gaza and ensuring the safe release of hostages.

“We’re helping answer those tough questions and making sure that they have clear objectives,” another U.S. official told NBC News.

When Biden was asked Saturday if he was encouraging Israel to delay the invasion, he responded: “I’m talking to the Israelis.” Yesterday, he spoke again with Netanyahu and the leaders “affirmed that there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance in Gaza,” according to a White House readout of the call.

A spokesperson for the State Department said: “As a general matter, we don’t comment on private diplomatic conversations.”

Last week, on his return flight from Israel, Biden alluded to conversations with Netanyahu in which they discussed “alternatives” to a ground invasion, but neither the president nor national security officials have elaborated on what those “alternatives” were.

Biden administration reportedly advised Israel to delay potential Gaza ground invasion

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Mahmud Hams / AFP - Getty Images

With the help of aid workers, Palestinian children who have fled their homes played today as they sheltered at a United Nations-run school in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The deputy commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard hinted at the possibility of strikes on Israel yesterday, as fears grow about the Israel-Hamas war spilling over into the wider region.

"Some consider a direct missile attack on Haifa to be the most practical course of action," Ali Fadavi, deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said as he referred to the northern Israeli port city, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

"We will carry out this task without hesitation if it is necessary and required,” he said at an event in support of Gaza at the mosque at the University of Tehran yesterday. "However, I am not the one who determines the assignment."

Fadavi's comments are adding to fears that Iran or the Iran-backed Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon could get involved, escalating the Israel-Hamas conflict into a regionwide war.

A possible ground offensive or hostage rescue in Gaza will present unique challenges because of Hamas’ extensive underground warren of tunnels.

The challenges Israeli troops could encounter in Hamas’ tunnels

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Military experts warn that the system could be a soldier’s nightmare and caution against sending personnel inside the stuffy, narrow passages, which are low on oxygen but full of twists and turns. Many of the high-tech advantages Israel enjoys aboveground disappear when soldiers go underground.

Regular night vision goggles don’t work, communication among the IDF tunnel combatants is highly limited, and soldiers must bring their own oxygen supplies, respirators and chemical protective masks. 

“It’s like being underwater,” said retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mark Schwartz, who ran U.S. security coordination in Israel and the Palestinian Authority from 2019 through 2021.

Read the full story here.

ISRAEL/LEBANON BORDER — Gaza saw the most intense night of airstrikes last night since the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7. Medical officials said it was also the deadliest night, with hundreds of Palestinians killed from northern Gaza to the south.

On the ground, thousands of Israeli troops and tanks are in position for an invasion into Gaza. But Israeli media is reporting that the ground offensive may be delayed.

Pushing back the offensive would give more time for negotiations, being led by Qatar, to free hostages held by Hamas.

The United States is also hardening its defenses in the region. If or when Israel invades, fears are growing that the war could quickly spread to Lebanon — where Hezbollah has been stepping up its attacks on Israel — or potentially Iran, which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah.

Concerns grow over broadening of war beyond Israel and Hamas

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The operation to neutralize Hamas in the Gaza Strip could take up to three months, Israel’s defense minister has said.

"In terms of the operational aspects of maneuvering — at the end of the day, nothing will stop the IDF," Yoav Gallant was quoted as saying by his office, as he was briefed on Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip and on the norther border, adding that it will be the "last maneuvering operation in Gaza" for the Israeli military.

"It may take a month, two or three, but at the end there will be no more Hamas," he said yesterday, according to his office.

Former NBC News correspondent and Tel Aviv bureau chief Martin Fletcher told the "TODAY" show that the release of his extended family members Judith and Natalie Raanan over the weekend was a "great relief," but they remain concerned for eight other relatives who remain hostages.

"We know they are resting. They are in a family member’s house in Israel," he said this morning. "They are actually sitting shiva at the moment, the Israeli week of mourning, for two other members of the family who were killed. So there is great relief obviously but great concern as well. There are another eight members of the family who are still held hostage in Gaza.”

Fletcher said he did not know why the two were selected for release from more than 200 confirmed hostages.

"Maybe they were the closest to the border and it was just simply the easiest to free them when the time came," he said.

NBC correspondent on family members being released by Hamas

02:31

In Gaza, people are losing hope.

"There is no safe haven in Gaza. There is no safe road in Gaza,” said Adel Salem, a 60-year-old Palestinian American from Missouri. “There is no humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza. There’s nothing but bombs and bombs and bombs.”

Mazin Sadam, a 48-year-old father of five, fears the worst. "I’m waiting for death," he said, "we're all waiting for it."

As the death toll grows and airstrikes continue, children are unable to escape the images of death around them.

“People have nothing to do with what happened, and now they are bombing their houses,” Habiba Seidam, 17, said. “Why, what did we do?”

There’s little relief in the hospitals, as doctors are stretched to a breaking point.

“It’s unbelievable, you cannot believe,” said Dr. Mohammed Qandil, head of the emergency department at Nasser Hospital in Gaza City. "Whatever I’m describing, whatever I’m saying — it’s not the reality, the reality is more worse.”

Those in Gaza who are citizens of other countries and awaiting rescue from their governments grapple with leaving their loved ones behind — but worry there may not be a way out.

“We’re trying to leave,” says Amir Al Qaoud, a 20-year-old Palestinian American from California. "We can't leave. There's nothing to do."

Voices and faces of war seen and heard from inside Gaza

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ISRAEL/LEBANON BORDER — Health authorities in Gaza said today that the death toll has surpassed 5,000, and includes more than 2,000 children.

More than 15,000 have been injured, they said. According to humanitarian organizations, the enclave's health care system is on the brink of collapse.

A wounded Palestinian woman cries as she holds the hand of her dead relative outside her home in Gaza City today, an area being hit with intense Israeli airstrikes. Abed Khaled / AP

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell joined calls today for a pause in the conflict between Israel and Hamas to let more aid supplies into Gaza.

"Now the most important thing is for humanitarian support to go into Gaza," he told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of E.U. foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

Borrell said the ministers would discuss the call from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres for a pause to allow much more humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians to enter Gaza.

ISRAEL/LEBANON BORDER — While trucks with medical supplies, food and water have started trickling into Gaza over the weekend, fuel remains in short supply, despite being as badly needed as any other lifesaving resource, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said today.

"We need fuel — it’s as urgent as water and food," it said on X.

Humanitarian organizations have raised the alarm that the lack of fuel will make it much harder to distribute aid in Gaza, and leave the health care system in peril.

Government authorities in Gaza said no fuel has entered the enclave with the aid trucks that arrived over the weekend.

 Ashraf Amra / Anadolu via Reuters

Jack Guez / AFP - Getty Images

Jack Guez / AFP - Getty Images

Photos taken today from the Israeli city of Sderot, near the northern border with Gaza, show a cloud of smoke from an Israeli strike into Gaza, top, and a rocket fired toward Israel.

Biden spoke with U.S. allies yesterday as part of Washington's diplomatic effort to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from widening into a regional war, the White House said.

Biden spoke with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Britain about the fighting. According to a readout from the White House, "the leaders reiterated their support for Israel and its right to defend itself against terrorism and called for adherence to international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians."

They also discussed the first humanitarian aid trucks reaching Palestinians in Gaza, and committed to ensure "sustained and safe" access to food, water and medical care, the readout said.

Mohammed Salem / Reuters

Members of the al-Zanati family are taken to a cemetery for burial today in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

At the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, medical staff are being forced to improvise without supplies as they struggle to treat the hundreds of injured arriving every day.

"Last night, it was a horror movie. Blood and dead bodies everywhere," Naseralldin Abutaha, an emergency nurse at the hospital, told NBC News this morning.

Without the most basic equipment at Gaza hospitals, Abutaha, 21, said sometimes the staff would be forced to use shirts as tourniquets. Even water was not available, he said, adding, "I swear I once used cola to wash a cut."

"I feel if I didn't die, I'm dead inside. I can't cry anymore," said Abutaha, who said he was seeing as many as 200 patients every day in a 12-hour shift.

TEL AVIV — French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will arrive in Israel today and tomorrow for meetings with Netanyahu, his office said.

It comes after Netanyahu held several talks with European leaders over the weekend, according to his office.

Their visits will follow those of Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week, both of whom traveled to Israel to pledge their solidarity and support.

ISRAEL/LEBANON BORDER — The Israeli military said today that families of 222 hostages taken by Hamas have been notified so far that their loved ones are being held in the Gaza Strip, including foreign nationals.

Armored and infantry forces are continuing limited raids inside Gaza in order to search for information about Israelis who have been kidnapped or are still considered missing, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters.

He added that Israel was holding more than 1,000 Hamas militants, both dead and alive.

ASHDOD, Israel — Officials in Gaza say at least 30 people, including children, were killed in the bombing of a refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The Palestinian Civil Defense in the Jabalia refugee camp, located north of Gaza City, said it recovered at least 30 bodies from the rubble of bombed buildings in the camp, which is the largest of eight refugee camps in Gaza, according to UNRWA, the United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees in the region.

NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify the information.

The Israel Defense Forces did not provide an immediate response to questions about whether the camp was hit after a spokesperson said the IDF hit more than 320 military targets in Gaza within a 24-hour time frame. The spokesperson did not specify where exactly those targets were based.

The Indonesian Hospital in nearby Beit Lahia said it was aware of at least 13 people killed as a result of bombing at the Jabalia refugee camp, while the Interior Ministry in Gaza said people died in strikes on residential areas, including "in the vicinity of the Al-Ternis area and the Al-Albani Mosque in the middle of the Jabalia camp."

 Anas al-Shareef / Reuters

Alexi J. Rosenfeld / Getty Images

A seamstress pins an Israeli flag before sewing it at the Marom factory yesterday in Kfar Saba, Israel. The factory is running 24 hours a day since the war began two weeks ago, manufacturing thousands of flags of all sizes for funerals, state visits, government offices and the military.

Israel's military said it struck four Hezbollah “terrorist cells” operating on the border with Lebanon overnight.

"Our forces struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon, including a military compound and an observation post," the IDF said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Fears have been mounting about a new front emerging in Israel's north should the Iran-backed militants enter the conflict, with Netanyahu warning Hezbollah against such action yesterday.

The head of the World Health Organization has called for "sustained safe passage" for humanitarian convoys into the Gaza Strip, as he said more of the agency's medical supplies have already arrived in Egypt.

Over the weekend, trucks with aid started crossing into Gaza for the first time since the war between Hamas and Israel erupted, but humanitarian organizations have said the supplies will be enough to only help a fraction of Gaza residents.

ASHDOD, Israel — Israel's military says it hit more than 320 targets in Gaza within a roughly 24-hour time frame.

A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said the military struck targets that “posed a threat" to forces surrounding Gaza as they prepared for ground operations, including dozens of mortar shell and anti-tank missile launch posts.

The targets also included "tunnels containing Hamas terrorists, dozens of operational command centers, some of which concealed Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists, military compounds, and observation posts," the spokesperson said.

The IDF said it also thwarted what it called a number of terrorist cells, including an anti-tank missile cell.

NBC News was not able to independently confirm the information.

Videos show a huge explosion in Gaza and streaks of rockets launched towards Israel

00:42

ASHDOD, Israel — With anticipation building for a ground invasion of Gaza by Israel, concerns are also growing that the war could widen amid intensifying border exchanges. Netanyahu said this weekend that if Hezbollah joins the war, he will order an attack on targets across Lebanon.

Fears of wider war growing as Israeli troops exchange fire with Hezbollah in Lebanon

02:49

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