German police said it shut down encampment over crowd fears before Greta Thunberg's visit
German police said that it had dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment in Dortmund, a city of about half a million people, after the camp announced that the activist Greta Thunberg would be visiting.
In a news release, police said the expectation was that the crowd for Thunberg would be "emotional and incited." Thunberg was arrested at a pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin on Sunday and Police Chief Gregor Lange alleged there was "real danger" of antisemitic crimes being committed.
"The presence of Ms. Thunberg and her sympathizers would have significantly changed the character of the previously peaceful protest camp," Lange said.
German authorities have cracked down on pro-Palestinian protests since the start of the war in Gaza.
Thunberg slammed the police for the allegations in a video posted to her Instagram today, accusing police of equating calls for Israel to stop bombing children with antisemitism. She asked her more than 14 million followers to support the protesters in Dortmund, who shut down their camp last night.
"Germany is silencing and threatening activists who are speaking up against the genocide and occupation in Palestine," Thunberg said.
Biden and Netanyahu have spoken, White House says
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken on the phone today, according to a statement from the White House.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for president, was also on the call. The White House said that more details would be released later.
The news comes as Israel prepares to retaliate against Iran for its ballistic missile attack on the country, which was the regime's response to Israeli assassinations of Iran's allies.
UNRWA says it has to shut down northern Gaza operations
The United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees said today that it had to put a pause on its work in northern Gaza. It added that it had to evacuate seven of the schools it was operating as shelters.
“Intensified military operations in the north are forcing us to shut down lifesaving services,” the agency said in a post on X.
Netanyahu agreed to cease-fire before opportunity to kill Nasrallah appeared, opposition leader says
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did agree to a 21-day cease-fire deal before he learned of the opportunity to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, according to a leading Israeli opposition figure.
Yair Lapid wrote in a thread on X that he was informed by “the Americans” that Netanyahu had “closed” on the proposed cease-fire. At the time, Lapid said he was pushing for a one-week deal instead.
“During this entire discussion, there was still no intelligence information that made it possible to eliminate Nasrallah. That came only later,” Lapid wrote. “Once that was placed on the table, it was obviously right to eliminate him.”
France and the U.S. lead the push for the proposed deal, which was agreed to by the European Union, Canada and several other allied nations. NBC News previously reported that Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that he “did not even respond” to the proposal.
Lebanese officials including the country’s caretaker prime minister have said that Nasrallah agreed to a cease-fire shortly before he was killed.
Northern Gaza hospital unable to evacuate patients, director says
Staff at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza are unable to evacuate its patients in compliance with Israeli military orders because they need help that is not coming, the hospital's director told NBC News today.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safieh said that the World Health Organization was mobilized to assist the hospital but it had been prevented from reaching the facility by the Israel Defense Forces.
"We were threatened by the army to evacuate the hospital immediately," he said. "We cannot evacuate patients and medical staff without guarantees and without the participation of the World Health Organization in order to protect patients and medical staff."
The remaining staff at Kamal Adwan are still providing what little medical services that they can but they have been limited "due to the siege on us," he said.
NBC News has reached out to the WHO for more information and the IDF for comment.
Palestinians trapped in northern Gaza amid a new Israeli assault
Israel has intensified its offensives on both Gaza and Lebanon as the situation in the Middle East continues to widen. There are concerns for the safety of thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza after Israeli troops pushed ahead with a ground assault on a refugee camp.
Hezbollah says it targeted Israeli forces again in southern Lebanon
Hezbollah has said that its fighters have targeted Israeli forces again in southern Lebanon after earlier clashes at a border village.
Hezbollah fighters targeted "an Israeli infantry force that tried to advance towards the Labbouneh area with a guided missile, causing casualties among them, including deaths and injuries," the Iran-backed militant group said. It had earlier claimed to have repelled Israeli soldiers around Labbouneh.
Hezbollah also said that its fighters bombed Israeli troops in "Mais al-Jabal with artillery shells,” and fired rockets "during an infiltration attempt by Israeli enemy infantry forces in Ras Al-Naqoura toward Al-Mushrifa."
Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah discuss post-Gaza plans
Leaders from Islamist group Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement discussed plans for cooperation after the war in Gaza in a new round of talks in Cairo today, a Hamas official told Reuters.
The talks are the first since the two groups met in China in July and agreed steps to form a Palestinian unity government for Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
They are also part of long-running and previously unsuccessful efforts to heal a schism that hardened when Hamas seized control of Gaza in a brief conflict with Fatah in 2007.
Turkish citizens evacuated from Lebanon
Turkish passport holders gather near a hotel on Beirut’s waterfront, ahead of their evacuation from Lebanon by Turkish Naval vessels today.
Netanyahu warns Lebanon of ‘destruction and suffering’
Israel's prime minister is warning Lebanon that it will face “destruction and suffering” like Gaza unless its people rise up against Hezbollah. Meanwhile, President Biden is scheduled to speak with Netanyahu for the first time since August.