What we know
- President Joe Biden is hopeful a cease-fire will be reached by next week. "My hope is by next Monday we will have a cease-fire," he said today.
- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh submitted the resignation of his entire government today. Shtayyeh said his government was resigning because of “aggression against our people in Gaza” and “the unprecedented escalation in the West Bank.” President Mahmoud Abbas must still decide whether he accepts the resignation, which could open the door to U.S.-backed reforms in the Palestinian Authority.
- Israel's military has presented the war Cabinet with an evacuation and operational plan for areas of fighting in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said today. Netanyahu had asked for a plan for the civilian evacuation of Gaza's southernmost city, Rafah, ahead of a planned assault on the area where more than 1 million people are seeking shelter.
- The active-duty airman who set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., has died, according to a U.S. official. The service member was hospitalized yesterday after recording the protest, yelling "Free Palestine" and collapsing to the ground.
- Israel has failed to comply with an order by the United Nations' top court to provide urgently needed aid to the people in the Gaza Strip, Human Rights Watch said today, a month after a landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered the country to moderate its war. The plan submitted to Israel's war Cabinet included proposals to get aid into the enclave.
- More than 29,700 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 69,800 have been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead.
- Israeli military officials said at least 237 soldiers have been killed since the ground invasion of Gaza began.
U.S. State Dept. in touch with 3 Americans detained by Israel
The U.S. State Department is in touch with three Americans who were detained by Israel last month, agency spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Last week, embassy officials met with Samaher Esmail, a U.S. citizen being held in the occupied West Bank, over allegations of “incitement on social media.”
Officials also met today with Borak Alagha, 18, and Hashem Alagha, 20, two brothers born in the Chicago area, who were detained by Israeli forces.
Miller couldn't provide any details about the individual cases, adding that the State Department is only in the beginning stages of gathering information to determine whether they were wrongfully detained.
"I don’t have any assessment to offer about their case other than that is true for all Americans in Israel or anywhere around the world: Their safety and security is our first priority," Miller said.
Biden ‘hopeful’ for cease-fire by Monday
President Joe Biden said today that he is hopeful that a cease-fire will be announced in the coming days. “We’re close," he said.
“My national security adviser tells me we’re close. We’re close. It’s not done yet,” Biden said during a stop in New York City to get ice cream. “And my hope is by next Monday we’ll have a cease-fire.”
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier today that even if there were a temporary cease-fire, "we will then continue fighting until the very last hostages return.”
The U.S. has not seen Israel's plan for Rafah, State Dept. says
The U.S. has not seen Israel's plan for a military offensive in Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, according to U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
"We have not engaged with the government of Israel. We have seen press reporting, but we haven’t sat down to have a detailed … had a detailed conversation with the government of Israel about this plan yet," Miller told reporters.
Miller also said the U.S. believes a hostage deal is possible, but when asked if it could come ahead of Ramadan, he said he couldn't provide a timeline. The Islamic holiday begins March 11.
"I can’t make that assessment because it depends on Hamas. We believe a deal is possible, and we hope Hamas will agree," Miller said, adding that the U.S. has been in conversation with Israel, Egypt and Qatar. "I don’t want to offer any comment other than what I said a moment ago, which is we did make progress in these conversations over the weekend and the last few days."
On the U.S. potentially influencing Israel in this war, Miller said all the U.S. can do "is present our vision for peace and security in the Middle East."
"And make clear to the government of Israel, and make clear to the people of Israel that there is a path forward for lasting security, for better relations with Israel’s neighbors," Miller said. "And they have to take it, and if they’re ready to do it, we are ready to work with them on how to achieve that vision."
Terrorist group expresses solidarity with U.S. airman who set himself on fire
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department, expressed solidarity with the airman who set himself on fire yesterday in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
"The act of an American soldier sacrificing himself for Palestine is the highest sacrifice and a medal, and a poignant message to the American administration to stop its involvement in the aggression," the group said in a statement.
Aaron Bushnell, 25, of San Antonio, Texas, set himself on fire in apparent protest of the Israel-Hamas war. In a recording of the protest, he yelled “Free Palestine” and collapsed to the ground. He later died.
IDF says it killed Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said it had killed Hezbollah Commander Hassan Hossein Salami in a strike on Lebanon's Hujair region, in the south.
"Salami was part of Hezbollah’s Nasser Unit and commanded recent terrorist activities by Hezbollah against Israeli civilians and soldiers, including anti-tank missile launches toward Kiryat Shmona and the headquarters of the 769th Brigade," the IDF said in a statement.
NBC News could not independently verify the IDF's claims.
Gallant: ‘Even if we cease fire temporarily, we will continue fighting until last hostages returns’
Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant says the country will continue fighting in Gaza until all the hostages are returned, even if there's a temporary cease-fire.
"The defense establishment’s position will be clear — the full return of civilians to the northern area of the Gaza Strip will only take place following the return of all the hostages," Gallant said during a meeting with families of soldiers taken hostage. "Even if we will have to cease-fire temporarily, we will then continue fighting until the very last hostages return."
Gallant said Israel has "no moral right to stop the fighting" as long as there's a single hostage in Gaza.
Palestinians displaced to Rafah struggle to feed and shelter their families
Scores of Palestinians displaced to Rafah described living in a dire situation with their families as they struggle to find shelter and food.
Muhammed Subhi, who was displaced from northern Gaza to the Nuseirat refugee camp before ending up in Rafah, was setting up a tent for his family, a process he said is costly.
"Here I am, setting up a tent," Subhi told an NBC News crew. "And every time I move, I need new things that help me to set up the tent, because the wood breaks when we move from one place to another. This tent cost me around 500 to 600 shekel." (One shekel is about 27 cents in U.S. currency.)
Subhi was displaced with eight members of his family, including his father, who is blind, and another person who has cancer.
"Someone with me has cancer, he always says that he is in pain," Subhi said. "My father also cannot hear well, and it's troubling me that he can't hear. He hears loud sounds and thinks they're near him. He always tells me that we must leave places and complains about what’s going on."
"I'm just looking for a safe place, but there is no safe place in Gaza," he said.
Children could be seen walking around barefoot, trying to help adults as they attempt to build tents with tarps and wooden slabs.
Ka'inat Abed said she is staying in a single tent with 22 family members. She described her family's situation in Rafah where food is scarce and the air is polluted as "a tragedy."
"It's a tragedy, really it's a tragedy," Abed said. "We used to live in our house, we had water to shower with, we had food and drink. Now you feel as if you're living in empty land, it was just an empty land. We do not have bathrooms like other people, no water, no food, there is only sickness. We started scratching our bodies and got lice, the kids scratch their bodies all day because of the lice because there is no water."
Abed said her children urinate themselves from fear.
"We have nothing to do with what’s going on, we didn't do anything," Abed said. "We are poor people, what have we done? What is our crime?"
Amid the hardship, Abed does her best to cook nutritious meals for her family.
"We cook lentils and add potatoes for iron and carbs," Abed said as she stir fried potatoes in a pot on a makeshift burner. "Lentils have carbs in them but for the children, I cook them together, because the lentils alone aren't enough."
85% of Gaza population displaced since war began, UNRWA says
Around 85% of Gaza's population has been displaced in the nearly five months of war, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
"Aid struggles to enter #GazaStrip due to security constraints & temporary closures at both crossings. The crisis is a man-made disaster," the organization said on X.
Humanitarian aid entering Gaza fell by 50% from January to February, according to Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.
"Aid was supposed to increase not decrease to address the huge needs of 2 million Palestinians in desperate living conditions," Lazzarini wrote on X.
He reiterated calls for a cease-fire and to lift the siege to allow aid and supplies into Gaza.
Aid entering Gaza fell by 50% in February, UNRWA says
The amount of aid entering Gaza fell by 50% from January to February, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
"Aid was supposed to increase not decrease to address the huge needs of 2 million Palestinians in desperate living conditions," Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on X. "Among the obstacles: lack of political will, regular closing of the crossing points & lack of security due to military operations + collapse of civil order."
Lazzarini said a cease-fire and lifting the siege to allow aid and other supplies into Gaza "are long overdue."
IDF says it struck Hezbollah air defenses in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck Hezbollah air defenses in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, in the eastern part of the country.
"This is in response to the launch of surface-to-air missiles at a remotely manned aircraft of the ‘Zik’ type, which fell earlier today," IDF said in a statement.
The IDF said it will continue to defend Israel and conduct airstrikes against Hezbollah.