‘Be strong’: Father of 8-year-old girl believed kidnapped by Hamas speaks out
TEL AVIV — Thomas Hand, an Irishman who has lived in Israel for decades, let his daughter sleep at a friend’s house on the other side of the Be’er kibbutz Oct. 6. The next day, after Hamas militants terrorized their village and Hand was rescued by Israeli soldiers, he was told that his 8-year-old daughter, Emily, had been found dead.
But that was wrong, as weeks later IDF soldiers told Hand they had found no sign of her body and that they thought she had been taken to Gaza as a hostage, along with her friend and her friend’s mother.
The Red Cross has been unable to provide Hand with any proof of life for his only daughter, but he remains hopeful that she is alive, and he said, “The evidence that I’ve got is enough to tell me she is alive.”
Emily will celebrate her 9th birthday next week.
“We love you, we are waiting for you, we want you to come home soon,” Hand said in a message to Emily. “Hopefully you’ll be here for your birthday. Be strong, we know you’re strong.”
Iran warns that an expansion of the war in Gaza is 'inevitable'
Iran warned that the war in Gaza could lead to an expansion of the conflict, as Israel continues its aerial bombardment and its ground offensive presses deeper into Gaza.
“Due to the expansion of the intensity of the war against Gaza’s civilian residents, expansion of the scope of the war has become inevitable,” Reuters quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian as saying to his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
While it is unclear what exactly Iran meant by an inevitable expansion, the country has long maintained a network of proxy militias across the Middle East.
'More needs to be done' to protect civilians, Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the news that Israel would formalize daily humanitarian pauses but said that "more needs to be done."
"Far too many Palestinians have been killed, far too many have suffered these past weeks,” said Blinken, speaking in New Delhi at the end of a lengthy diplomatic trip across the Middle East and Asia.
“I think some progress has been made,” he said, but he added that “much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that humanitarian assistance reaches them.”
Heavy blasts hit near Gaza City hospitals
TEL AVIV — A whoosh as an object flies past, then a bang and then shouts and screams from people outside the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, all captured in graphic video that also showed people badly wounded and bloodied in the facility's courtyard.
Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Health Ministry, said in a statement that there had been multiple casualties at the hospital.
Gazan officials have also accused Israel of launching strikes near a number of hospitals in northern Gaza overnight and early this morning.
Dr. Mustafa Al-Kahlot, director of the Al-Rantisi and Al-Nasr hospitals for children, said at least one child had died while others were trapped. “We were bombed twice. The first was at the hospital gate and the second was directly on the departments,” he said.
NBC News has approached the Israeli Defense Forces for comment about the strikes near hospitals.
Top U.S. and Indian officials discuss range of issues including Israel-Hamas war
Top diplomats and defense chiefs from India and the United States met today focusing on security issues involving the Indo-Pacific, China and the Israel-Hamas war.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. and India have a strong partnership and would discuss matters with implications for the future.
“The future is now,” he told reporters.
“We are promoting a free and open and prosperous Asia-Pacific, including by strengthening our partnership in the Quad with Japan and Australia,” Blinken said in remarks at the start of the meeting.
Israel strikes target in Syria
Israel’s military attacked a target in Syria that launched a unmaned aerial vehicle toward Eilat yesterday and hit a school, it said in a statement today.
The IDF would “respond severely to every aggression against Israeli territory,” the statement said.
It added that Israel held Syria responsible for “every terror activity emanating from its territory.”
Israeli tanks seen near children's hospital in Gaza City
Multiple tanks can be seen in the vicinity of Gaza City's Rantisi Specialist Hospital, in videos posted on social media and geolocated by NBC News.
The videos show two tanks stationed in destroyed alleys, indicating the advancement of Israeli troops deep in the city. Witnesses told an NBC News crew that military vehicles were seen about a half-mile away from the Al-Shifa medical complex, also in Gaza City.
“The occupation is present in the vicinity of the hospitals square in central Gaza and is demanding its evacuation,” the Hamas-run government media office told NBC News. NBC News has reached out to the IDF for comment.
The reports of Israeli ground forces in the vicinity of the hospitals came after local health officials reported bombardment in the area left multiple hospitals damaged. Gaza Health Ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qudra said the attacks had not stopped all morning, causing a "major disaster."
A child takes in the damage in Rafah
A young girl rides on top of a bicycle as she stares at the destruction in the aftermath of an Israeli strike in Rafah, in southern Gaza, today.
Harvard shares plan for combating antisemitism after criticism
Harvard announced plans for fighting antisemitism on campus after intense criticism from students and alumni over its response to the Israel-Hamas war.
Prominent alumni have threatened to cut off donations, citing a letter signed by more than 30 student groups that blamed Israel for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, as well as video of a pro-Palestinian protest at Harvard Business School on Oct. 18 that appeared to show a Jewish student being harassed.
In an email to the Harvard community yesterday, President Claudine Gay said the school would implement a “robust program of education and training” for students, faculty members and staff on antisemitism at Harvard and beyond.
“As part of this program, we will provide education about the roots of certain rhetoric that has been heard on our campus in recent weeks, and its impact on Jewish members of our community, to help us all better recognize antisemitism in daily life and interrupt its harmful influence,” she said.
More than 50,000 Gazans flee south again, U.N. says
More than 50,000 people left northern Gaza yesterday, fleeing south via a humanitarian corridor along the main traffic artery, Salah Ah Deen road, according to a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Most of the people evacuated via foot or donkey carts, the report, published today, said. It added that "most were able to carry only few personal belongings."
The corridor will remain open today from 10 a.m. (3 a.m. ET) to 4 p.m, Avichay Adraee, a spokesperson for the Israeli military wrote on X in Arabic, adding that northern Gaza was a "fierce combat zone."