What we know
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered his military to prepare for evacuating Rafah ahead of a ground assault. It comes after the U.S. joined aid groups and U.N. officials voicing mounting fears about an Israeli incursion into the Palestinian enclave's southernmost city, where more than a million people are sheltering in dire conditions.
- President Joe Biden said Israel's military offensive in Gaza has been ''over the top,'' offering what appeared to be his most pointed criticism yet of the U.S. ally's response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. He added that he was working to secure a sustained pause in the fighting, with a Hamas delegation in Egypt for new hostage talks.
- More than 27,900 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 67,400 have been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead.
- Israeli military officials said at least 224 soldiers have been killed during the ground invasion of Gaza.
- NBC News’ Keir Simmons, Raf Sanchez, Matt Bradley and Chantal Da Silva are reporting from the region.
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Airstrike hits building in Rafah, killing children
An NBC News camera crew was at the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah when victims from an Israeli airstrike were brought there.
The strike hit a nearby building. Children and babies were among the dead and wounded.
"We moved from Gaza to Khan Younis and from Khan Yonis to Rafah because we thought it would be safe, but as you can see, there is no safety," one man said.
Panic spreading in Rafah after Netanyahu statement on evacuation, Amnesty International says
Netanyahu's announcement of the military expansion into Rafah, in southern Gaza, and a mass evacuation of the governate has "spread panic," Amnesty International said.
"Such an operation will have catastrophic consequences for more than a million people — the vast majority of them displaced — who are living in desperate conditions in Rafah, squeezed into overcrowded areas, makeshift tents and schools or sleeping on the streets, who have nowhere to go," the organization said on X.
"Many have already faced successive waves of displacement. If these mass 'evacuation orders' are indeed issued they may amount to the crime of forcible transfer," the organization wrote, adding that a ground operation in Rafah will have "a disastrous impact" on the humanitarian aid system in Gaza.
Biden's comments that Israel is 'over the top' reflect growing divide with Netanyahu, senior official says
President Biden’s first on-camera remarks sharply criticizing Israel last night reflect a growing divide between the administration and Prime Minister Netanyahu that has become more pronounced during Secretary of State Blinken’s last two trips to the region, including the visit that just concluded Thursday.
At his news conference last night, Biden said “the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza strip, has been over the top.” A senior administration official tells NBC News that President Biden’s comments last night reflect a growing divide between the U.S. and Netanyahu over a potential hostage deal and Israel’s continuing offensive in Gaza.
According to the official, after Blinken’s meeting Wednesday with Netanyahu, the prime minister once again went on camera publicly rejecting the U.S. position before Blinken could address the media — this time, by rushing out to hold his own news conference. On Blinken’s last visit, Netanyahu released a video rejecting the U.S position.
During this week’s trip, which concluded Thursday, Netanyahu immediately rejected the Hamas counter-offer to the framework that CIA Director Burns had helped broker in Paris for a pause in the fighting and an initial hostage release in exchange for Palestinian prisoners as “delusional.”
Three Israeli intelligence officials — from Mossad, Shin Bet and the IDF — represented Israel’s government in Paris and signed the text that was agreed to there the weekend before last among the U.S., Egypt, Qatar and Israel. A few hours after Netanyahu denounced the Hamas response, Blinken told a news conference in Tel Aviv that although “there were clearly nonstarters in what was put forward (by Hamas) ... “we also see space in what came back to pursue negotiations.” He added, “We believe the space is there and we believe that should pursue it.”
At the same time, the senior administration official said Israel is privately still part of negotiations for the hostages. Two senior administration officials tell NBC News the administration believes Netanyahu’s public comments are partly a negotiating tactic to get a better deal with Hamas, along with an effort to reassure two hardline ministers that he will not accept a bad deal. The ministers have threatened to quit the coalition government over the negotiations, which would bring down the government.
There is even sharper disagreement between the U.S. and Netanyahu, according to the administration official, over the high number of civilian casualties. That has come to a head because the prime minister is now signaling he is preparing a ground offensive in Rafah, the southernmost area of Gaza where more than a million displaced Palestinians have been sheltering — many in tent camps.
Blinken made his opposition to a ground offensive in Rafah clear at his Tel Aviv news conference Wednesday night, as well as communicating the U.S. position privately to Netanyahu. Last night, Israel launched airstrikes against Rafah — but the U.S. believes Israel is not yet ready for a ground offensive that would spare the civilian population.
As part of his recent efforts to meet separately with key military and opposition leaders, Blinken had scheduled a meeting with the IDF chief of staff while in Tel Aviv. According to the senior administration official and a former Israeli official, “Bibi barged into the meeting” so the chief of staff would not meet one-on-one with the secretary.
Blinken did meet separately the next day with an opposition member of the coalition government, former General Benny Gantz, as well as with General Gadi Eisenkot, who has been publicly critical of Netanyahu’s war strategy. General Eisenkot lost both his son and his nephew in the Gaza fighting since Oct. 7th.
While there is also disagreement over the urgency to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza, two senior administration officials and a former Israeli official tell NBC News that both the U.S. and Israel agree on using UNRWA to deliver aid to Gaza for now until other agencies can replace the U.N. refugee organization.
According to the U.S., although the administration suspended future aid to UNRWA after Israel accused 12 of its workers of taking part in the Oct. 7th Hamas massacre, the Senate has removed the aid from the newly negotiated supplemental and Congress will not approve more money to the U.N. refugee agency. In addition, the U.S suspension only affects $300,000 currently in the pipeline for this year, not a critical amount. The suspension by European countries includes larger amounts that are more urgently needed for current humanitarian deliveries.
More than half a million children out of school in Gaza, UNRWA commissioner-general says
More than half a million children are out of primary and secondary school in Gaza as a result of four months of war, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.
"Every day of war deepens the scars, risking a lost generation vulnerable to exploitation," Lazzarini wrote on X. "Children are being robbed of childhood."
Lazzarini reiterated calls for a cease-fire in Gaza to help "reverse" the war's effect on children.
Israeli forces enter Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, Palestine Red Crescent Society says
Israeli forces have entered Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
"We are concerned about the safety of our teams inside Al-Amal Hospital, as well as the wounded and patients, due to the continuous occupation raid on the hospital," the organization wrote on X.
PRCS previously said that Israel forces targeted Al-Amal Hospital and the organization's headquarters in Khan Younis for several days, killing at least 43 people.
NBC News has not independently verified the details of the PRCS updates. The IDF said in a statement today that it is conducting a "precise sweep and clear operation to locate terrorists and dismantle terrorist infrastructure in the vicinity" based on intelligence that Hamas is conducting terrorist activities within the hospital.
U.N. secretary general worried about Israeli operation in Rafah, says Gazans in city ‘have nowhere to go’
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres expressed concern in a briefing yesterday about the Israeli military's "focus" on Rafah.
"Half of Gaza’s population is now crammed into Rafah. They have nowhere to go," Guterres said in his remarks on the U.N.'s 2024 priorities. "They have no homes — and they have no hope. They are living in over-crowded make-shift shelters, in unsanitary conditions without running water, electricity and adequate food supplies."
Guterres said the situation in Gaza "underscores the need for full respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians and ensuring their essential needs are met." One of the U.N.'s convoys was damaged by "Israeli naval artillery" this week and only 10 out of 61 aid convoys reached their planned destination in the north of the strip last month, Griffiths said.
"Let’s be clear: Denial of humanitarian access means denial of humanitarian relief for civilians," he said. Guterres reiterated calls for a cease-fire and the release of all hostages.
"And we need real, visible, concrete steps towards a two-State solution — based on U.N. resolutions, international law and previous agreements," he said.
IDF says it's 'possible' hostage Yossi Sharabi was killed due its own strikes
TEL AVIV — The IDF has said it is possible that Israeli hostage Yossi Sharabi, whose death Hamas announced weeks ago, was killed due to the actions of its own forces in Gaza.
The IDF said today that an investigation found it was "possible" Sharabi, who was 53, died in the collapse of a building near a structure that came under attack from Israeli forces.
The IDF said the structure it hit was a "legitimate target" that was approved according to procedure. It said intelligence suggested that an "attack on IDF forces" was "intended" to be launched from the structure.
Raz Matalon, the brother-in-law of Sharabi and his brother, Eli Sharabi —who remains held by Hamas — told NBC News the IDF informed his family of the development earlier today. He said he wanted people to know Sharabi was a "great man" — and that his family had always feared that the fighting in Gaza "endangers the hostages."
“This is what we’ve been afraid of from the beginning. You don’t have to be a soldier to understand it," Matalon said. He said his family is now clinging to hope that they will see Eli Sharabi, who turns 52 next week, emerge from Gaza alive.
Noa Argamani, who remains held in Gaza, and Itay Svirsky, who Hamas also said died last month along with Sharabi, were held in the same building that collapsed. But the IDF maintained that Svirsky was killed by Hamas and it said it could not be ruled out that Sharabi was also possibly killed by Hamas.
Houthis to be designated terrorist group unless they cease activities in Red Sea, U.S. ambassador to Yemen says
The Houthis will be designated as a terrorist group next week unless they cease activities in Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin said.
"The designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group will take effect February 16, but it can be reviewed if the Houthi militia ceases their activities in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden," Fagin said on X.
Satellite images show swelling population of Rafah as Gazans flee fighting elswhere in the country
Satellite images of Rafah, southern Gaza, on Oct. 13, 2023, and Jan. 14, 2024, show how sprawling tent camps now dot the city. The town is normally home to 280,000 people. But its population has swelled to over 1.5 million — roughly three quarters of Gaza’s population — as people flee fighting elsewhere in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s plans for Rafah assault 'dangerous prelude' to displacing our people, Palestinian presidency says
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned ground assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah — and evacuation of civilians from the area in advance of an assault — is as "a real threat and a dangerous prelude" to the displacement of Palestinians, the Palestinian presidency said today.
The administration held Israel fully responsible for the situation in Rafah, as well as the U.S., and stressed that the Palestinian people will not accept displacement.
“It is time for everyone to bear their responsibility in confronting the creation of another catastrophe that will push the entire region into endless wars," the administration said in the statement, obtained by Palestinian news agency, Wafa.