What we know
- Global leaders expressed grief and outrage after Israeli forces were accused of opening fire on a crowd of Palestinians who were hoping to get food from aid trucks in Gaza City. More than 100 people were killed and hundreds wounded, the enclave’s Health Ministry said.
- The Israeli military confirmed that its forces used live fire in one of what it said were two incidents, but an IDF spokesman on Friday denied they fired on those seeking aid and blamed most of the deaths on a stampede. The IDF disputed the casualty numbers, but did not say how many it thinks have died.
- The U.S. is scrambling to salvage cease-fire negotiations following the incident, with several administration officials, including President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, making calls to their counterparts in the Middle East. But there was a growing sense of pessimism that a deal Biden recently said was close could be finalized, one official told NBC News.
- It came as the death toll in Gaza surpassed 30,000 and amid surging fears of starvation in the north of the territory. More than 70,300 have been injured, and thousands more are missing and presumed dead. Israeli military officials said at least 242 soldiers have been killed since the ground invasion of Gaza began.
Aid for children delivered to Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza
Aid, including vaccines and formula milk, was delivered to Al-Shifa Hospital in north Gaza today, according to UNICEF Palestine.
"These supplies will support hundreds of children in an extremely dire situation," UNICEF said on X. "More aid is needed to address the needs of children."
The mission was a partnership between the World Health Organization and the United Nations, including the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UNICEF.
Families of U.S. hostages in Gaza set to attend State of the Union
WASHINGTON — Family members of some of the Americans still held hostage in Gaza are expected to attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next week after receiving an invitation from a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
The families also plan to send a letter to every member of Congress asking them and their staffers to wear yellow ribbons and dog tags to the speech on Thursday night in a sign of solidarity for those desperately working each day to bring their loved ones home.
“It’s a living hell. A living hell from the moment you get up in the morning until you go to bed,” said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, who plans to attend the event at the Capitol with Sagui’s stepmother, Gillian Kaye.
The couple said they’re hopeful their presence will remind Americans of the horrific situation their son and 133 other hostages are dealing with and plead with lawmakers both in the United States and around the world to continue their effort to secure their release.
People in Gaza are 'closer to dying than living,' German foreign minister said
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has demanded that Israel’s army "fully explain how the mass panic and shooting could have happened" in the deadly aid convoy incident.
“People wanted relief supplies for themselves and their families and found themselves dead. The reports from Gaza shock me,” Baerbock said on X.
In the same post, Baerbock said that people in Gaza were “closer to dying that to living,” and called for an immediate cease-fire so hostages could be released, and humanitarian aid distributed safely.
Egypt 'hopeful' cease-fire and hostage release deal can be struck before Ramadan
Egypt’s foreign minister said today he is hopeful a cease-fire deal in Gaza will be reached before the start of Ramadan.
Qatar has been mediating negotiations between Israel and Hamas this week and talks about a potential cease-fire have also taken place among U.S., Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials in Paris.
“I can say that we have reached a point of understanding, we will still exert every effort with our brothers in Qatar and the U.S. and others close to the negotiations. We are hopeful that we can reach a cessation of hostilities and exchange of hostages,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Turkey.
The Israeli government has warned that unless Hamas frees all hostages held in Gaza by March 10, a large-scale offensive will be launched in Rafah.
“Everyone recognizes that we have a time limit to be successful before the start of Ramadan,” he said.
Most Palestinians injured in aid convoy incident were shot or wounded by artillery fire, doctor says
A doctor at Al-Shifa Medical Complex in north Gaza said that most of the injured Palestinians brought in for treatment after Thursday's deadly aid convoy incident were shot.
"Most of these injuries were the result of gunshots, injuries as a result of explosions of artillery shells and tank shells," ER Dr. Mohamed Mahmoud Eghrab said. "Most of the injuries were in the upper part of the body, in the head, the chest, and in the abdominal area. The majority of the injuries were severe injuries. Roughly about 70% of the injuries needed surgeries."
The Palestinian Health Ministry has accused Israel of opening fire on a crowd of people seeking food from aid trucks in Gaza City and killing over 100. The IDF has denied opening fire on those seeking aid and disputed the casualty numbers, saying most of those who died were killed in a stampede.
Eghrab said only two operation rooms are functioning at Al-Shifa, so medical staff are having to prioritize patients according to the seriousness of their condition.
"Unfortunately, due to the lack of medications, lack of oxygen, and lack of medical supplies, a large number of these patients lose their lives while waiting to undergo an operation," Eghrab said.
The medical complex received a large number of dead and injured as a result of the incident on Al-Rashid Street. So far, over 70 people have been killed and 500 have been injured — and these are the casualties at Al-Shifa alone, Eghrab said.
Eghrab said while some of the victims were injured by trampling, most of them were shot.
"Perhaps a small number of them were due to trampling and pushing, but the trampling itself happened after the shooting occurred by the Israeli occupation forces," Eghrab said.
Biden announces U.S. will airdrop food aid into Gaza as famine concerns grow
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden announced Friday that the U.S. will drop food aid into the Gaza Strip, noting that the humanitarian aid flowing into the region for Palestinians is insufficient.
“Aid flowing into Gaza is nowhere nearly enough… lives are on the line,” Biden said as he announced the decision about the airdrops during an Oval Office meeting he was holding with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“We should be getting hundreds of trucks in, not just several,” he continued. “We’re going to pull out every stop we can.”
The president reiterated that the U.S. is trying to push for an immediate cease-fire between Hamas and Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, where he said “innocent people” have died.
‘The U.S. is going to have to act now’ after deadly aid convoy incident, former CIA official says
Former senior CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos joined Ana Cabrera on MSNBC to discuss how the incident reflects the worsening humanitarian crisis at hand in Gaza.
“You’re going to see announcements from the White House as well that we’re going to consider things like airdrops, airdrops of humanitarian aid from U.S. Air Force aircraft and also perhaps opening some kind of maritime quarter, meaning ships off the coast of Gaza,” Polymeropoulos said. “You know, sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances, tragedies like this that can spur change.”
“I think the status quo can’t remain in terms of the humanitarian issue situation, and the U.S. is going to take up, in a sense, unilateral action with Israeli OK. But I think the U.S. is going to have to act now.”
Some Biden administration officials denounce White House response to ‘“Hunger Games” style massacre’
Some Biden administration officials, who are all political appointees, are expressing outrage over President Joe Biden’s handling of the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza on Thursday as they were waiting for food aid.
A handful of them provided a statement to NBC News. The staffers have all asked to remain anonymous out of concern about retaliation for speaking out against the administration’s position on the Israel-Hamas war.
“Saying there are two ‘versions of what happened’ when we have video proof of what occurred is absolutely disgusting. ... From pastors, labor unions and veterans to members of Congress, President Biden is out of touch with the reality that the majority of this country supports a permanent ceasefire,” the statement said.
“On Thursday morning we all woke up to a ‘Hunger Games’ style massacre, weaponizing starvation and over one hundred people dead and this administration’s response is that we need to clarify information? It’s baffling,” the statement continued. “President Biden has the unique power to mitigate the harms being done—not through useless backchannel conversations, but through established processes of international law and strong diplomacy.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry has accused Israel of opening fire on a crowd of people seeking aid and killing over 100. The IDF has denied opening fire on those seeking aid and disputed the casualty numbers, saying most of those who died were killed in a stampede.
The statement is the latest addition to growing calls on Biden from within his administration to demand a cease-fire and reassess his handling of Israel’s war with Hamas.
Since the war began on Oct. 7, several efforts have launched from within the government to push for the de-escalation of the conflict, including letters from hundreds of Biden’s former 2020 campaign staff, Muslim and Jewish congressional employees and more than 400 Biden administration staffers who signed an open letter in November demanding he pursue a cease-fire.
3 more bodies recovered from deadly aid convoy incident, Gaza Health Ministry says
Three more bodies have been recovered from yesterday's deadly aid convoy incident in Al-Rashid Street, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza.
The bodies were taken to Al-Shifa Hospital. The ministry reports that at least 115 people were killed and more than 750 were wounded in the incident, where Israeli forces are accused of opening fire on Palestinians waiting for aid.
Israel’s military said it was bringing in a convoy with aid when a group surrounded the trucks and troops fired at crowds. IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari later denied that civilians were attacked from the air or the ground, saying tanks issued “warning shots” and attempted to retreat.