Hezbollah and Israel trade fire over Lebanese border
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah targeted “gatherings of enemy soldiers” at a barracks in northern Israel this morning, it said in a statement today.
The Iran-backed militia said it achieved "direct hits" with rockets and artillery after it targeted the Shomera barracks near Israel's northern border.
In a statement on Telegram, the IDF said it had identified a number of launches from Lebanon and it had "struck the sources of the fire with artillery." It added that fighter jets had "struck Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.
NBC News could not independently verify either claim.
IDF night operations in northern Gaza
This image, taken during a controlled tour of the Gaza Strip by the Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday and released today, shows Israeli soldiers during night operations in the north of the enclave. The image was reviewed by the IDF before it was released to global media outlets.
Hamas rejects hostage exchange deal for humanitarian ‘pauses,’ wants permanent cease-fire
A new report has suggested that Hamas rejected an Israeli offer for a weeklong cease-fire in exchange for the release of dozens of hostages, including remaining women and children, Egyptian officials told The Wall Street Journal.
Hamas officials announced yesterday that they refused to hold any talks about releasing hostages without a more permanent cease-fire, something Israel and the U.S. said would be a “surrender” to the group.
The failure to make headway on cease-fire negotiations comes as the United Nations estimates 500,000 people in the enclave are starving and the WHO said hospitals in the north of the strip were completely out of service.
Hamas hostage families plead with diplomats to help secure their freedom
Amid scenes of deep emotions, family members of several of the hostages held by Hamas addressed diplomats in Tel Aviv to ask for international assistance in securing their release.
How does the destruction in Gaza stack up historically?
By some measures, the destruction in Gaza has outpaced Allied bombings of Germany during World War II.
Between 1942 and 1945, the Allies attacked 51 major German cities and towns, destroying about 40%-50% of their urban areas, said Robert Pape, a U.S. military historian. Pape said this amounted to 10% of buildings across Germany, compared to more than 33% across Gaza, a densely populated territory of just 140 square miles.
“Gaza is one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history,” he said. “It now sits comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever.”
The U.S.-led coalition’s 2017 assault to expel the Islamic State terrorist group from the Iraqi city of Mosul was considered one of the most intense attacks on a city in generations. That nine-month battle killed around 10,000 civilians, a third of them from coalition bombardment, according to an Associated Press investigation at the time.
During the 2014-17 campaign to defeat ISIS in Iraq, the coalition carried out almost 15,000 strikes across the country, according to Airwars, a London-based independent group that tracks recent conflicts. By comparison, the Israeli military said last week it has conducted 22,000 strikes in Gaza.
Catch up with NBC News’ latest coverage of the war
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- This woman became the face of Israel’s music festival hostages. Why hasn’t she been released?
- Democratic lawmakers who served in uniform and in the CIA urge Biden to push Israel to change course in Gaza