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As fears of a ground invasion in an already devastated Gaza continue to swirl, the IDF announced it had conducted a rare “targeted” raid with tanks into the northern part of the enclave before leaving the area. Israel said the move was part of “preparations for the next stages of combat.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already said the country was “getting ready” for a ground invasion, although he did not elaborate.
In the last 24 hours — the latest day of an increasingly aggressive bombing campaign Israel has branded self-defense, the IDF said it hit 250 targets in Gaza, as the humanitarian crisis there worsens.
The hospital system is on the brink of collapse, the U.N. warned and said that it may be forced to pause humanitarian efforts because of a lack of fuel, which Israel has yet to allow over the border.
Despite international calls for a ceasefire that would allow for aid, Israel has rejected even a “pause” — as President Joe Biden called for — and directed ire at U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres over comments about the conflict.
The body’s security council once again failed yesterday to come to an agreement about how to ensure aid reaches the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian Health Ministry released a list of almost 7,000 names, including over 2,500 children, that it said had died in Gaza. The document was in Arabic and NBC News could not independently verify the information.
What we know
- Israel said it conducted a rare "targeted" raid into northern Gaza using tanks overnight before it left the area as part of what it called "preparations for the next stages of combat." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said the country was “getting ready” for a ground invasion, which has been widely expected.
- The United Nations has warned that hospitals in Gaza are on the brink of closing and that its humanitarian efforts may be forced to pause because of a lack of fuel in the enclave.
- President Joe Biden called on Israel to consider a “pause” in its military offensive against Hamas militants to allow aid to enter Gaza as the humanitarian crisis there worsens.
- International calls for a cease-fire have been rejected by Israel, which also angrily denounced U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres over comments about the conflict.
- The Israeli military said it hit 250 targets in Gaza in the last 24 hours — the latest day of an intensive bombing campaign the country says is necessary for its own defense.
- More than 7,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials. In Israel, about 1,400 people have been killed, including 309 members of the military, the Israel Defense Forces said.
- At least 224 people were taken hostage during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack — many of them foreigners.
- 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.
Biden has said that Israel must “do everything in its power” to protect civilians, but also said he has “no confidence” the Hamas-provided death toll of Palestinian civilians is accurate.
Some Arab citizens of Israel say they are not speaking out or posting on social media about the Israel-Hamas war out of fear of retaliation for their comments.
Human rights groups say hundreds of Arabs have been fired, suspended from universities, and even arrested in Israel for being accused of sympathizing with terror or supporting Hamas.
Parts of Gaza look like a wasteland from space
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip — Apartment buildings are crumpled. Neighborhoods lie in ruins. Terrain is transformed into moonscape.
The destruction of areas of northern Gaza is visible from space in satellite images taken before and after Israeli airstrikes, which followed the raids carried out by Hamas militants on Oct. 7.
In images shot Saturday by Maxar Technologies, four- and five-story buildings in the Izbat Beit Hanoun neighborhood are in various states of collapse. Huge chunks are missing from some, others are broken in half and two large complexes lie in piles of rubble.
The pattern of destruction in the Al Karameh neighborhood can be traced by a widespread pattern the color of ash.
Tightly packed streets in Beit Hanoun look obliterated, with a rare white structure standing out in the gray wasteland.
Israel has carried out thousands of airstrikes since the war began following a cross-border raid that killed 1,400 people in Israel and took over 200 others hostage. Palestinian health officials say over 7,000 people in Gaza have been killed since the fighting erupted.
With the airstrikes continuing around the clock, the full extent of the damage remains unknown. The satellite photos provide a glimpse of the devastation, particularly in the hard-hit northern Gaza Strip.
John Kirby: We have to make sure aid gets into Gaza safely
John Kirby, the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications, discusses the effort to get humanitarian aid into Gaza and the possibility of a ground invasion in Gaza.
The Israel-Hamas war has led to rising tensions in the U.S., fueling an alarming increase in antisemitism.
Since Oct. 7, antisemitic incidents are up 388% over the same period last year, according to the Anti-Defamation League. There have also been disturbing and violent incidents against Palestinian Americans, including the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old boy.
E.U. calls for humanitarian pauses for Gaza aid as Israel raids enclave
European Union leaders urged pauses in Israeli bombing and Hamas rocket attacks so humanitarian aid could be delivered to Gaza, and President Joe Biden told Iran’s supreme leader not to target U.S. personnel in the Middle East.
Israel’s military, which has been carrying out limited raids into Gaza as it prepares for a ground incursion of the enclave, said early Friday it was “currently conducting raids in the Gaza Strip” as part of preparations for the next stage of the operation.
As the plight of Palestinian civilians grows more desperate, the issue of whether to have humanitarian pauses or cease-fire agreements in the Hamas-run coastal enclave will come before the 193-member U.N. General Assembly later Friday in a draft resolution submitted by Arab states calling for a cease-fire.
Unlike in the Security Council, where resolutions on Gaza aid failed this week, no country holds a veto in the General Assembly. Resolutions are nonbinding, but they carry political weight.
Bank of Israel’s war cost estimates are optimistic: Finance Ministry official
JERUSALEM — Israel will most likely have to spend more to finance the war against Hamas than the Bank of Israel estimated this week, but costs will not top those incurred during the Covid pandemic, a top Finance Ministry official said.
“I don’t think it will top what we spent on Covid, and I think they [the central bank] are too optimistic” about war costs, the unnamed official in the accountant general’s department, which manages government funds and debt, told reporters at a briefing today.
The central bank Monday estimated that the budget deficit would be 2.3% of gross domestic product in 2023 and 3.5% in 2024, compared to a surplus in 2022, if the conflict stays contained to Gaza and does not spread to other fronts.
During Covid, the state spent around 200 billion shekels ($49 billion) on measures to handle the pandemic.
Hamas gunmen from Gaza launched the deadliest attack on Israel’s civilians in the country’s history on Oct. 7, and Israel has since bombarded Gaza with the goal of eliminating the militant group.
Costs of financing military needs and compensating Israeli citizens affected by the attack and the thousands of rockets fired from Gaza are still unclear. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said the government will spend whatever is needed on the war and on compensation.
Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron cautioned Monday that it was “important to continue conducting responsible fiscal policy.”
The central bank projects the debt-to-GDP ratio growing to 62% this year and to 65% in 2024 from 60.5% in 2022.
Covid spending pushed the budget deficit to nearly 12% of GDP and the debt-to-GDP ratio to 72% in 2020, figures that dropped to 5.5% and 69%, respectively, in 2021.
The Covid slowdown was followed by an immediate and robust recovery.
Israel will have to raise more debt, but the government still has some maneuvering room, given the relatively low budget deficit and debt-to-GDP ratio before the war, as well as its long-term debt portfolio, the ministry official said.
Israel says it killed top Hamas commander in airstrike
Israel’s military says it took out a top Hamas commander in an airstrike.
The news comes hours after its biggest ground incursion yet into Gaza, with armored bulldozers and tanks, as fears for hostages grow and the civilian death toll in Gaza climbs.
Iranian foreign minister warns U.S. will not be 'spared from the fire' if Israel keeps fighting in Gaza
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's foreign minister, was crystal clear about his position on the Israel-Hamas conflict at the U.N. General Assembly emergency session today: Gaza and the West Bank belong only to original Palestinians.
"No institution or country has the right or can give any part of it of this land to another person or group," he said, adding later that Israel's claims of self-defense are a "very ridiculous joke."
Amir-Abdollahian also pointed a finger at the U.S. for holding up action at the Security Council and said the country, which has provided Israel with military aid, won't escape the consequences.
"I say frankly to the American statesman who are now managing the genocide in Palestine that we do not welcome to expansion of the war in the region, but I warn if the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire," he said.
Cousin of released hostage confirms Hamas has killed another family member
Ayelet Sella, the cousin of Judith Raanan, who was among the first hostages released by Hamas, said today that the family has learned one of its members who was believed to be a hostage is confirmed dead.
Seven other relatives are missing and believed to be held hostage by Hamas. Sella said Hamas also killed the husband of the family member who is now confirmed dead, leaving their children orphaned.
The family has not heard any sign of life for the rest of its relatives and doesn’t know any details about their whereabouts, though Sella says she’s not sure she wants to know.
Sella also had a powerful message about the ground offensive: “Prior to any other decision or tactic goals, hostages first. Everything else after, if at all.”
Spain's acting prime minister calls for international peace conference
BRUSSELS — Acting Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called today Thursday for an international peace conference on the Middle East conflict to take place within six months with the aim of resolving the Israel-Hamas war.
“From Spain, we propose that an international peace conference be held within six months so that the entire international community feels involved, is involved, and we can definitively find a two-state solution to Israel and Palestine,” he said in Brussels ahead of a European Union Council meeting.
Sánchez also called for a humanitarian cease-fire to get aid into Gaza and called on Hamas to release the people who are being held hostage.