1 years ago / 8:26 PM EST

People have a right to protest, Vice President Harris says

A pro-Palestinian rally in New York on Nov. 7.Kena Betancur / AFP - Getty Images

Amid ongoing rallies in the U.S. related the Israel-Hamas war, Vice President Kamala Harris said people have "a right to protest."

"We are a democracy," Harris told reporters. "And we should value the voices and listen to the voices."

Harris said it's "a very difficult time" and that she hopes "we can engage in conversation and discourse in a way that understands this is not binary and then appreciates that we are talking about real human beings."

1 years ago / 7:28 PM EST

Park Police will be lead federal agency at ‘March for Israel’, sources say

United States Park Police will be the lead federal agency for the “March for Israel,” set to take place Tuesday in Washington, two law enforcement sources tell NBC News.

Park Police have jurisdiction over the National Mall, where the rally organized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington will be held. Other agencies will coordinate, the sources said.

1 years ago / 6:21 PM EST

'Every minute, we hear bombing around us,' doctor at Al-Shifa hospital says

TEL AVIV — A doctor at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City described heavy bombing outside the medical facility late into the night this evening.

“Every time, every minute, we hear bombing around us,” Dr. Adnan Albursh, a consultant orthopedic surgeon at the hospital, said in a phone interview with NBC News at around midnight local time.

Albursh said there were also multiple bombardments around the hospital throughout the day. He said many people fled from the hospital, but there were still thousands there.

“We cannot evacuate the hospital because there are a lot of patients here,” he said. “There’s children, women, all ages.”

Dr. Marwan Abusada, a surgeon and the head of International Cooperation at the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, told NBC News he also heard multiple bombardments and shooting outside the hospital throughout the day. He said there was heavy bombing around the facility's gate late at night.

Both doctors said a number of people had died, and that others were injured.

1 years ago / 4:02 PM EST

Florida lawmaker says 'All of them' after colleague asks how many dead Palestinians are enough while calling for a ceasefire

A Florida lawmaker is facing criticism after saying "All of them" when a colleague asked how many dead Palestinians are enough while calling for a ceasefire.

Rep. Angie Nixon, D-FL., introduced a resolution today calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. During the debate, she asked “We are at 10,000 dead Palestinians, how many will be enough?”

Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-FL., interrupted her, saying, “All of them.”

Florida Rep. Michelle Salzman in Tallahassee in 2022.Phelan M. Ebenhack / AP file

“One of my colleagues just said 'All of them,' wow," Nixon responded. “That’s what we have become in this state? We don’t care about innocent babies that don’t get the chance to blow out their first birthday candle?”

Nixon’s resolution failed in a 104-2 vote.

In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Florida chapter condemned what they called Salzman’s "genocidal comment" and called on the state GOP to censure her as well as make a “public repudiation" of the statement.

1 years ago / 3:54 PM EST

Photos: A vigil in London for health care workers killed in Gaza

Ben Stansall / AFP - Getty Images
Ben Stansall / AFP - Getty Images

In London this evening, medical workers gathered outside Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Downing Street residence to honor the memory of Palestinian health care workers who have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. Sunak has resisted calls to support a cease-fire.

1 years ago / 3:30 PM EST

U.N. secretary-general: 821 trucks have entered Gaza, 101 UNRWA staffers killed and 12 children with cancer evacuated

Kelly Davis
Julia Jester and Kelly Davis

The spokesperson for the United Nations secretary-general, Stéphane Dujarric held a briefing describing the situation in Gaza, saying, "We remained very concerned about the escalating violence and tension we are seeing in the West Bank." Dujarric said more than 50,000 people left Gaza yesterday and 65 trucks of aid entered, bringing the total number of trucks to 821.

Aid convoy trucks cross back into Egypt after offloading aid in Gaza on Nov. 6.Mahmoud Khaled / Getty Images

Dujarric went on to say that 12 children with cancer and other blood disorders have evacuated with their families into Egypt and Jordan, and that 101 UNRWA staff members have been killed as a result of the conflict. The food situation has deteriorated in the north, as U.N. security partners have not been able to deliver assistance in the past eight days.

However, the U.N. is ready to increase aid, blaming the slow "trickle" of aid on the border clearance process. Dujarric also mentioned that the continued bombings on "civilian infrastructure" has a direct impact on the health care system.

1 years ago / 3:09 PM EST
NBC News

NBC News’ Josh Lederman reports on “one of the more intense displays of aerial fighting” spotted from a camera aimed at the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

1 years ago / 3:00 PM EST

Twenty students arrested at Brown University during sit-in protesting the war

Twenty students affiliated with the Brown University campus groups BrownU Jews for Ceasefire Now and Brown Students for Justice in Palestine were arrested this week after holding a sit-in on campus and refusing to leave an administrative building until the school's president agreed to a list of demands related to the Israel-Hamas war.

In a statement, Brown University said campus police officers repeatedly warned the activists they would face arrest for trespassing if they stayed in the building after the end of operating hours at 5 p.m. ET Wednesday. The arrested students were transported to the Providence Police Department and individually charged with willful trespass.

The students had demanded that Brown "promote an immediate ceasefire and a lasting peace by divesting its endowment from companies that enable war crimes in Gaza," including cutting ties with corporations linked to weapons manufacturers, according to a document shared with NBC News.

"We also wanted to change the conversation and complicate the narrative that there is one perspective of Jewish students on campus and there is one way to ensure and protect the safety of Jewish students," said Rita Feder, a student who is involved in Jews for Ceasefire Now but did not attend the sit-in. "For us, to be safe means to stand in solidarity with Palestinian students on campus ... It was important for us, as Jews, to stand up."

Lily Gardner, a co-organizer of the sit-in, said all 20 people were released on their own recognizance by 11 p.m. ET Wednesday. She said they are all scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 28.

1 years ago / 2:30 PM EST

IDF says it targeted Hezbollah in response to launches over the past day

Lina Dandees

The Israel Defense Forces says it targeted Hezbollah positions in response to launches over the past day.

The IDF says three soldiers were injured "due to an anti-tank missile launched at an IDF post in the area of Manara in northern Israel."

"Also, a short while ago, an IDF soldier was severely injured and another was moderately injured from the fall of a hostile aircraft that infiltrated into Israeli territory from Lebanon," the IDF said in a statement.

NBC News has not independently verified any of these claims.

1 years ago / 1:55 PM EST

Senior doctor says there are no Hamas fighters at Al-Shifa hospital

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Keir Simmons
Alex Holmes
Lawahez Jabari
Keir Simmons, Alex Holmes and Lawahez Jabari

A senior doctor in Gaza City’s largest hospital tells NBC News that militants were not allowed inside the facility amid growing fears that patients and medical staff will get further caught up in the fighting engulfing the enclave. 

“No, they won’t come,” Dr. Ahmad Mukhlalat, the head of the burn unit at Al-Shifa hospital, told NBC News when asked if he had seen Hamas or Islamic Jihad fighters. “The people won’t allow them. They are not in Shifa Hospital.” 

NBC News hasn’t verified the doctor’s claims.

Already the hospital has totally "collapsed" from a shortage of staff and supplies, Mukhlalat said. “You’re in a war zone. ... Every minute you hear one or two bombardments”

Patients and internally displaced people at Al-Shifa hospital today.Khader Al Zanoun / AFP - Getty Images

As the Israel Defense Forces fight through Gaza City, much of the world’s focus will be on the hospitals. It will be viewed as a test of how the war is being conducted. A good deal of global diplomacy will depend on news of the doctors, nurses and patients trapped amid urban warfare.

A senior security official told NBC News today that one of the strikes at Al-Shifa hospital resulted from “a projectile launched by a militant group.” And Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters today that it does not target hospitals unless soldiers see “Hamas terrorists shooting from hospitals. ... We do what needs to be done.”

Asked if he is scared tonight, Mukhlalat told us, “Absolutely.”