What we know
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken is meeting with Israeli officials as the U.S. pushes its ally to scale back its deadly assault on the Gaza Strip and seeks to avert a wider war. It follows days of talks with Middle East leaders, who warned that anti-U.S. opinion is growing in the region, multiple sources told NBC News.
- The Israeli military has indicated it is shifting to a less intense phase in the north but said it was expanding ground operations in the key southern city of Khan Younis as it battles Hamas but also bombards areas where masses of civilians fled at Israel's urging.
- Fears of broader escalation were stoked by an Israeli strike in Lebanon that killed an elite commander in the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Last week's assassination of a Hamas leader in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, has halted talks on a hostage deal, two senior administration officials told NBC News.
- More than 23,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 57,000 have been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead.
- Israeli military officials say at least 185 soldiers have been killed during the country's ground invasion of Gaza, which came after 1,200 people were killed and about 240 hostages were seized after Hamas launched multipronged attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
- NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, Richard Engel, Raf Sanchez, Ali Arouzi and Josh Lederman are reporting from the region.
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Multiple Israeli military operations fuel anger among Palestinians in small West Bank city
TULKAREM, occupied West Bank — On the outskirts of Tulkarem, a small Palestinian city in the northwest of the West Bank, hundreds took to the streets Tuesday.
Local leaders, residents, and members of the area’s militant groups marched in a funeral procession for three young men, shot dead Monday in a night-time raid carried out by the Israeli security forces. Masked militants fired semi-automatic weapons into the air as others carried the bodies of the dead to a nearby cemetery.
Tulkarem has long been home to large contingent of Palestinian hardliners, and the last several months have seen militant groups there only growing in popularity. Since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, there’s been an uptick of Israeli military activity in and around Tulkarem; the Israeli forces have carried out at least seven major operations in the area, according to local Palestinian officials.
The Nur Shams Refugee Camp in Tulkarem, a poor neighborhood outside the city center, has been the focus of much of Israel’s recent military activity in the area — where many residents have been detained, killed or have had homes damaged.
“The people are angry — for losing their children, for losing their homes,” Suleiman al-Zuhairi, a Nur Shams official, told NBC News. “The camp is a very hard place to live in and what we see from the Israeli action is that they are trying to create an enemy in every house. …Nobody knows why all the people have to be punished.”
U.S. Central Command confirms U.S. and ally shot down 21 munitions in Red Sea
U.S. Central Command confirmed tonight that U.S. forces, with the help of a British destroyer, shot down all 21 munitions fired by Iran-backed Houthi militants based in Yemen.
Central Command said the attack, one of the largest since the Houthis began targeting international containerships in response to Israel's incursions into Gaza in the fall, led to the launching and firing of 18 weaponized drones, two anti-ship cruise missiles and an anti-ship ballistic missile toward shipping lanes where dozens of merchant ships were at sea.
If wasn't clear whether there was a target more specific than merchant ships using the waterway, which is crucial to global trade. No injuries or damaged vessels were reported.
Central Command credited a "combined effort" that included F/A-18s from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier, as well as contributions from the U.S. and Royal Navy destroyers USS Gravely, USS Laboon, USS Mason and HMS Diamond.
It was the 27th attack by Houthis on the trade route since Nov. 19, according to NBC News' accounts. Two U.S. defense officials said the U.S. has prepared a plan with options for how it should respond.
The Houthis are one of a number of Iran-backed militant groups in the region that threaten to expand Israel's war with Hamas militants into a broader Middle East fight that would pit forces backed by Iran against Israel and its U.S. support.
U.S. diplomats have said they don't want to see the scenario play out.
U.K.’s Cameron says he’s worried Israel may have breached international law in Gaza
LONDON — Britain’s foreign minister, David Cameron, said today he was worried that Israel might have breached international law in Gaza and that the advice he had received so far was that Israel was compliant but that there were questions to answer.
Asked during a question-and-answer session with lawmakers whether Israel could be vulnerable to a challenge at the International Criminal Court in the Hague over whether their actions were proportionate, Cameron said the stance was “close to that.”
Britain has backed Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas attacks but also called on its military to show restraint and act within international law in its offensive in Gaza, which has laid waste to much of the Palestinian enclave.
Cameron did not directly answer lawmakers about whether he had received legal advice that Israel might have broken international law, but he said some incidents had raised questions about whether there had been breaches.
“Am I worried that Israel has taken action that might be in breach of international law because this particular premises has been bombed or whatever? Yes, of course,” he said as he took questions from Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
Cameron said there was always a “question mark” over whether a given incident broke international law, which lawyers would examine and then advise him over.
Israeli settler violence threatens 'imminent explosion' in West Bank, Palestinian foreign ministry says
Escalating violence by Israelis in the West Bank is pushing the occupied territory "towards an imminent explosion," the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement today.
Israeli settler violence toward Palestinians and hostilities from Israeli authorities "now threaten to explode the situation in the West Bank and push it into a spiral of violence that is difficult to control," the ministry said.
Palestinians are routinely subjected to inhumane and humiliating practices as part of the "apartheid systems and gradual colonial annexation" of land that dominate their daily lives, the ministry added.
"The Ministry holds the Israeli government fully and directly responsible for the results of this dangerous escalation, and considers it a translation of the racist and colonial incitement campaigns practiced by the right and the ruling Israeli extreme right, and a disregard for all regional and international efforts and calls made to protect civilians, besiege the conflict, and resolve it by peaceful means in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution, in the forefront of that stop the genocidal war on our people," the statement said.
Houthis carry out possibly largest attack on commercial shipping in the Red Sea
Iranian-backed Houthi militants conducted what may have been the largest and most complex attack against commercial shipping since the recent spate of attacks began on Nov. 19, two U.S. defense officials said.
Houthis fired multiple missiles and one-way drones toward the busy shipping lane in the southern Red Sea, the officials said, but all the projectiles were shot down by U.S. Navy ships in the area, including the USS Laboon. No injuries or damage to ships were reported, the officials said.
The ships are part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, the new maritime patrol mission in the area that is intended to defend ships from Houthi attacks.
The latest Houthi attack is the 27th on merchant ships since Nov. 19. U.S. officials have prepared response options to strike back at the Houthis, but nothing has been ordered.
Israel says ‘no damage or casualties’ after Hezbollah drone attack in northern Israel
The Israel Defense Forces said there was "no damage or casualties" after a drone attack in northern Israel for which Hezbollah claimed responsibility.
The IDF didn't specify the location of the army base, while the Iran-backed militant group said it targeted the army's northern command headquarters in the region of Safed.
Hezbollah said in a statement that the operation was in retaliation for an Israeli attack last week that killed Saleh Arouri, a top Hamas official, and another strike yesterday that killed its commander, Wissam al-Tawil.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading fire over the border with Lebanon as tensions escalate.
In a statement, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for several attacks today, including what it said was a direct rocket weapons hit on the Yiftah site in the north.
Hezbollah denies IDF claim that fighter killed today was aerial commander
Hezbollah denied claims by the Israeli military that a member of its organization who died today was the commander of an aerial unit.
“Hezbollah Media Relations categorically denies this false and baseless claim and confirms that the Mujahid brother in charge of the Drone Unit in Hezbollah was never subjected to any assassination attempt as the enemy alleged,” Hezbollah’s statement said.
Earlier today, Hezbollah confirmed the death of one of its fighters, Ali Hussein Barji, but did not provide additional information. The IDF later claimed responsibility for Barji's death, alleging that he was commander of the organization’s aerial unit in southern Lebanon.
IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in his briefing that the targeted killing happened three hours after the military identified launches of explosive unmanned aerial vehicles from Lebanon toward Israel.
Blinken optimistic Hamas 'can and will' engage on hostage talks despite targeted killings
The U.S. remains hopeful that Hamas “can and will” resume negotiations on hostage releases even after the targeted killing of one of its leaders and two Hezbollah commanders in Lebanon, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC News.
Talks with Hamas about the release of more than 130 hostages have reportedly been strained following the death of Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas leader killed in Beirut last week. But Blinken is not deterred and says the American government is in talks with regional partners to re-engage the group. The return of hostages is a top priority for President Joe Biden.
“As you know, we succeeded before in the midst of this conflict and getting more than 100 hostages out,” Blinken said. “And it’s my belief that they can and will engage on this. And that’s something we’re intensely focused on with Qatar and with Egypt.”
Watch the full interview tomorrow on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” at 12 p.m. E.T.
Gaza’s health system is rapidly collapsing, WHO warns
World Health Organization officials today warned of the possible collapse of the health care system in southern and central Gaza as many medics and patients have fled these areas for safety reasons, calling the situation “really worrying.”
“What we continue to see is the health system suffering, health workers unable to go to their workplace to care for patients because they fear for their lives, they fear for their safety,” Sean Casey, WHO emergency medical teams coordinator in Gaza, said at a press briefing in Geneva.
Casey said in a video statement today that he had witnessed intensifying fighting near several hospitals, including European Gaza Hospital and Nasser Hospital, adding that they are the “last line” of secondary and tertiary health care in the enclave.
“We are seeing this humanitarian catastrophe unfold before our eyes. We’re seeing the health system collapse at a very rapid pace,” he said. “The single strongest request I’ve heard from many hospital directors was: protect our health facility."
Only a third of hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning, according to a statement from WHO representative Richard Peeperkorn last month, with one in the north and 10 in the south.
Iran denies involvement in attacks on shipping vessels, blames 'root cause' of Israel
Iran accused the U.S. and Israel of “diverting international attention away” from the “root causes” of the situation in the Red Sea, the Iranian envoy to the U.N. said in a statement.
Amir Saeid Iravani said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that the U.S. and Israel had made “baseless” accusations that Iran is behind the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
Iran has always “placed great importance on maritime security and freedom of navigation,” he said yesterday.
He added that the “root cause” of the attacks was what Israel had been doing in Gaza, accusing the U.S. of standing by Israel.
Yemen’s Houthis, financially backed by Iran, have launched attacks targeting vessels linked to Israel in the Red Sea, saying they are in retaliation for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Major oil and shipping giants, including MSC, have suspended operations through the waters for safety reasons.