Medicine for hostages enters Gaza in aid deal

Pakistan carried out strikes inside Iran that targeted terrorists Thursday morning local time, Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

The strikes in the Sistan and Baluchistan province of Iran were “highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes against terrorist hideouts,” the ministry said.

They came after Iran launched missiles that struck Pakistan.

“Pakistan fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Foreign Affairs Ministry said. “The sole objective of today’s act was in pursuit of Pakistan’s own security and national interest which is paramount and cannot be compromised.”

The ministry said that its country's strikes targeted terrorists called Sarmachars, who were hiding in Iran. It said the Sarmachars are from Pakistan.

“This morning’s action was taken in light of credible intelligence of impending large scale terrorist activities by these so called Sarmachars,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry recalled its ambassador to Iran after Iran's strikes in Pakistan.

Iranian state media said missiles and drones had targeted two bases in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Baluchistan belonging to the militant group Jaish al-Adl, which has carried out past attacks against Iranian security forces in the border area between the two countries.

Pakistan said that two children were killed and that the attack was unprovoked.

The U.S. attacked 14 Houthi missiles in its latest strikes against the rebels in Yemen, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

The missiles “were loaded to be fired in Houthi controlled areas in Yemen,” Central Command said.

“These missiles on launch rails presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region and could have been fired at any time, prompting U.S. forces to exercise their inherent right and obligation to defend themselves,” it said.

Houthi rebels are Iranian-backed militants who have seized control of parts of Yemen, according to U.S. officials.

The U.S. has conducted strikes on Houthi positions in rebel-held areas of Yemen in response to missile and drone attacks launched by the Houthis against commercial ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis declared support for Hamas against Israel.

The U.S. strikes were carried out at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday Sanaa time, Central Command said.

DAVOS, Switzerland — At least $15 billion will be needed to rebuild houses in Gaza, the head of the Palestine Investment Fund said today, underlining the scale of devastation caused by Israel’s offensive.

Chairman Mohammed Mustafa said international reports indicated 350,000 housing units had been partly or completely damaged in Gaza. Assuming 150,000 of these would need to be rebuilt at an average cost of $100,000 per unit, “that’s $15 billion for housing units," he said.

“We still didn’t talk about infrastructure, we didn’t talk about the hospitals that were damaged, the grids,” he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The figure points to reconstruction costs that will dwarf previous bills for rebuilding Gaza after earlier conflicts, with the war not yet over more than three months after it began.

After a war between Hamas and Israel in 2014, which lasted seven weeks and killed 2,100 Palestinians, Qatar spent over $1 billion on housing and relief projects in Gaza. Israel has laid waste to much of the territory in a campaign that health authorities in Hamas-run Gaza say has killed 24,448 people since Oct. 7, when the Palestinian group ignited the war by storming Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 240 more, according to Israeli tallies.

Figures released by the Hamas-run media office in Gaza say that more than 360,000 housing units have sustained severe or partial damage and that more than 70,000 have been completely destroyed.

The U.S. has labeled the Houthi rebels a "specially designated global terrorist group."

The new designation is said to put a stranglehold on the money the Houthis use to support terrorist acts. During the last several weeks, the Iran-backed rebels have fired dozens of missiles at ships in the Red Sea — upending global shipping routes and supply chains.

Leon Panetta — former defense secretary, former CIA director and former White House chief of staff — tells NBC News the U.S. needs stronger intelligence on targets as the risk of escalation increases.

The International Ice Hockey Federation says Israel will be allowed to compete in a coming tournament in Bulgaria next week following confirmation of safety and security measures it says it needed for the team to compete.

The federation's statement today said Bulgarian authorities and other stakeholders are implementing steps to handle “the identified risks.” It added that future decisions will be made case by case.

"A one-week tournament with the participation of the Israeli National Team without any guarantee about safety and security of all people involved is irresponsible," the statement said.

Last week, the federation said it was restricting the Israeli national team from participating in its under-20 Division III tournament over security concerns but did not mention the ongoing war or escalated tensions since it began.

Recounting his most recent trip to Gaza, United Nations Relief and Works Agency Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said every time he visits the enclave, he watches civilians sink further into despair as survival consumes their every hour.

Civilians in Rafah are so overcrowded in makeshift shelters, some of which house 20 people under plastic, that one could "barely drive a car amid the sea of people," he said. There is little to no information about conditions in north Gaza, where Lazzarini was not permitted to enter.

"In Deir al-Balah, in the middle areas, I visited one of our schools-turned-shelter," he said. "The overcrowding was claustrophobic, and the filthiness was striking. I heard stories of women forgoing food and water to avoid having to use the unsanitary toilets."

Lazzarini again called for parties to implement an immediate humanitarian cease-fire to increase the flow of aid.

“This has gone on for far too long," he said. "There are no winners in these wars. There is endless chaos and growing despair."

The U.S. military struck multiple missile sites in Yemen tonight, according to two U.S. defense officials.

U.S. Navy ships launched Tomahawk missiles to take out multiple Houthi missiles and launchers, the officials said. Defense officials are calling the strikes pre-emptive or defensive because they took out missiles and launchers that posed an imminent threat to ships in the Red Sea.

The strikes come after a U.S.-owned ship was hit by a Houthi attack drone earlier today. While the ship was damaged, no injuries were reported.

The White House welcomed Qatar's announcement that a deal was reached for "badly-needed medicine" to reach the hostages who remain captive in Gaza, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement earlier today.

"We will continue to pursue every effort to secure the release of the hostages and reunite them with their families," Watson said. "The United States remains the leading provider of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza and we are working to sustain and further expand those efforts over the coming weeks.”

A spokesperson for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a post on X that medicine and aid entered into Gaza today for the benefit of all civilians in the Palestinian enclave, including the hostages.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. today, said it made a direct hit on an American vessel in the Gulf of Aden as it "will not stop" targeting ships supporting Israel.

The group added that "a response to the American and British attacks is inevitably coming, and that any new attack will not remain without response and punishment."

Houthi rebels have launched repeated attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that it believes support Israel and have refused to stop until the siege on Gaza is over.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations issued an alert today after a ship reported being hit by a drone, causing a fire onboard that was extinguished.

Genco Shipping confirmed in a statement to NBC News that its crews were safe after it was hit by an "unidentified projectile."

"An initial inspection by the crew indicates that damage to the vessel’s gangway is limited, and the vessel has remained stable and underway on a course out of the area," the company said.