Death toll rises as Israel battles Hamas

U.S. lawmakers briefed on the situation in Israel were told at least four Americans have died in the Hamas attacks, and that the number would likely rise, three sources familiar with the briefing said.

The House and Senate legislators were briefed by phone by Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Sasha Baker, according to a Senate source.

During the call, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked for a classified briefing this week for all senators. Another source said lawmakers were told that the U.S. was supporting Israel at a high level, but it was still to be determined what new funding or aid would be needed.

The unprecedented scale and the sophisticated tactics Hamas used in its attack on Israel indicate Iran most likely played a significant role in the multipronged assault, former U.S. intelligence and military officers say.

From the use of fast boats to hostage-taking to swarming an adversary, the Hamas operation displayed an approach Iran and its proxies often use against opponents with superior conventional forces, said three former senior intelligence officials and a former senior military officer.

“The sophistication and the complexity of the attack seems beyond what Hamas could do on its own,” a former senior U.S. intelligence official said.

But in an interview, Ali Baraka, a senior Hamas official, denied that Iran supported or sanctioned the operation. “It was a surprise to everyone, including Iran,” said Baraka, the head of Hamas’ National Relations Abroad.

Baraka, speaking in Beirut, noted that Iran supports Hamas, but he insisted that “we did not inform them that there was an operation that would happen at dawn on Oct. 7.” He added, “After the operation began, we informed Iran.”

Read the full story here.

Visitors from the U.S. were sheltering in place today as they looked for safe passage from Israel.

A group of about 15 tourists from Texas were lying low in their accommodations in Israel, awaiting word that they can pass out of the country safely, their travel adviser said.

Kane Adkins, his wife and their two children were in a similar situation in another part of the country, he said. They scheduled a return flight to depart last night, but it was canceled amid Hamas-Israel clashes.

Instead of enjoying the comforts of home in Mesa, Arizona, the Adkins clan has been holding on in a multistory building that rocks when ordnance explodes nearby.

"It's like being in a movie," Adkins said. "It's been a little bit scary. Last night the building was shaking quite a bit from the bombs falling around us. We spent a portion of the night in the stairwells." 

Another party of visitors, the group from Texas, was part of a tour organized by a Florida-based concern, Mejdi Tours, that specializes in exposing Americans to different sides of life in a region long animated by religious and political divisions.

Its co-founders, Aziz Abu Sarah and Scott Cooper, who have Palestinian and Jewish backgrounds, respectively, create tours of Israel and occupied territories that include one Jewish or Israeli and one Palestinian guide who have knowledge about the momentous history of their people in the region.

Sarah said the Texas group hoped to leave by ground through Jordan tomorrow.

"Our tour guides have decided to stay with them," he said. "They are obviously heartbroken. The overall mood in the country is depression, is loss, is hopelessness."

Mejdi had about 50 American tour customers in Israel as the Hamas attack began yesterday, he said; a majority have been able to get out through Jordan.

He hopes that as the hostilities between Hamas militants and Israeli forces continue, reason can prevail.

Sarah said: "There's this wall of ignorance, this wall of fear and this wall of hatred that is dividing us. What we want it to do is just put cracks in this world. We're banging our heads against this wall and say there is another way."

Family members and friends of those missing after the Hamas attacks described the agony of losing contact with their loved ones at a news conference near Tel Aviv. 

Meirav Leshem Gonen, speaking at the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel, said she hasn’t heard anything about her daughter’s whereabouts since the morning of the attack. 

Meirav’s daughter, Rami, 23, called about 6:30 a.m. yesterday as sirens went off indicating an attack. Her daughter was at a party — and the rockets were exploding nearby. 

Meirav told her daughter to flee. Soon, gunmen attacked. 

“And then it was — I don’t know, a nightmare — that’s the best word I can have for that. We heard the firing, the guns. They shot everywhere,” Meirav said. 

Meirav said Rami hid in some bushes with a group of young people as she talked on the phone. 

“She was calling me and saying: ‘Mommy, I don’t know what to do. There are a lot of Arabs here, and they are shooting at us. I don’t know where to hide.’”

Later, she found a car and tried to flee. 

“A few minutes later at 10 o’clock, she called us and said: ‘Mommy, we were bombed. They shot at us. The car was shot. We cannot drive. Everybody here is hurt.” 

Then, Meirav heard the voices she believed were those of were attackers, speaking excitedly.

Meirav said she has heard little since then and is struggling to get answers from the Israeli government and political leaders.  

“She’s 23, and she’s so beautiful,” Meirav said in an interview with NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella. “We don’t know where she is. We don’t know if she’s alive. We don’t know anything.” 

Yifat Zailer, who spoke from a home in Herzliya tonight, said she feels she cannot rest until her relatives are returned home.

Six members of Zailer’s family were kidnapped from their kibbutz in southern Israel: Shiri Bibas, 30, a cousin; Shiri’s husband, Yarden Bibas, 37; their 9-month-old and 3-year-old boys; and Shiri’s parents, Yosi and Margit Silverman, who are in their late 60s.

Zailer learned the news after a friend messaged her a video showing Hamas militants capturing Shiri Bibas as she clutched her two small children in her arms. Zailer assumes the other family members were also taken, because their bodies were not among the hundreds found in the area.

“I miss my family. I need them close,” Zailer said, breaking down in sobs. “I need to know they’re OK.”

Zailer said she hopes people around the world who are following the news better understand “the gravity and the complexity” of the situation in the Middle East, adding: “It’s not about sides anymore. It’s about stopping innocent civilians from dying.”

If she could reach her loved ones directly, she would want them to know she is thinking about them nonstop. “I will go to sleep when they are back here, sleeping in their beds,” she said. 

U.S. citizens remain unaccounted for, a National Security Council official said today, declining to confirm whether Americans are among the hostages being held in Gaza. 

Earlier today, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said U.S. citizens were among those taken to Gaza as hostages. 

A National Security Council spokesperson earlier today confirmed the deaths of several U.S. citizens. 

Sen. Cory Booker posted an update to Instagram about having been in Israel when the surprise attack began.

In the video, he recalled jogging in the Old City when his chief of staff called, telling him to return to the hotel quickly because Israel was under attack.

Booker said that upon returning, he sheltered in a stairwell alongside other people and families.

“There was a sense of fear and worry and a knowledge to many of us that there were horrific things going around the country at that time,” he said.

“We who believe in peace and freedom and human rights for Palestinians, for Israelis, for all humankind must reject those who use terror as their weapon.”

Some attendees of Supernova, a DJ-driven trance music festival held near Israel's border with Gaza, hid in bushes as Hamas militants hunted for them amid their attack on Israel yesterday, a witness said.

Shoam Gueta, 24, survived the six-hour ordeal by hiding and awaiting rescue by the Israeli Defense Forces, he said. He estimated 20 festivalgoers hid to survive.

One attendee hid in a portable toilet, Gueta said.

About 260 people were killed at and near the festival grounds, said a spokesperson for ZAKA, an Israeli non-governmental rescue and recovery organization.

Gueta said that as he hid and maintained vital silence, Hamas militants came within a few meters of his position.

“If I had made any noise, I would have been murdered,” he said. "We saw terrorists killing people, burning cars.”

He saw terrorists cut a woman with a knife, he said. “It was crazy. They were shouting, like if you’ve ever seen the movie ‘The Joker,’” he said.

Gueta said he decided to hide because he’d learned about camouflage during his mandatory military service with the Israeli Defense Forces. He knew bullets fly faster than he could run, so he stayed put.

During the ordeal, he said, his brain played tricks on him. He saw rescuers approach, he said, but they were a mirage.

“We just kept hoping, and sometimes you see an illusion. You think you see a car [coming to rescue you], but it’s not,” he said.

Finally, he said, his rescue by IDF forces was real.

The unprecedented scale and the guerrilla tactics Hamas used in its attack indicate Iran most likely played a significant role in planning the multipronged assault, former U.S. intelligence and military officers say.

From the use of fast boats to hostage-taking to swarming its adversary, the Hamas operation displayed an approach often used by Iran and its proxies against opponents with superior conventional forces, three former senior intelligence officials and a former senior military officer said.

“The sophistication and the complexity of the attack seems beyond what Hamas could do on its own,” said a former senior U.S. intelligence official.

Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas spokesman, told the BBC in an interview today that Hamas had direct backing for the operation from Iran. Others helped, as well, Hamas said, without identifying them.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that Iranian security officials helped Hamas plan the surprise attack and approved it at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah. The Journal reported that officers in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the sophisticated air, land and sea assault.

Two U.S. officials told NBC News that they do not have information to corroborate the Journal account. Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on CNN, “We have not yet seen evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular attack, but there is certainly a long relationship” between Iran and Hamas.

A senior Israeli diplomatic source said they aren't concerned about a direct war with Iran.

"Iran’s strategy is that of proxy war and to deny a direct connection to Hamas’s efforts," the source said. "They work through proxies and that’s why they are the number one state sponsor of terror. So for now we are not concerned about a direct conflict with Iran."

Several U.S. citizens are among the dead in the attack and ongoing hostilities since yesterday, a National Security Council spokesperson said today.

"We can confirm the deaths of several U.S. citizens," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected, and wish those injured a speedy recovery."

The exact number of the dead and a number for injured Americans were unavailable.

"We continue to monitor the situation closely and remain in touch with our Israeli partners, particularly the local authorities," the NSC spokesperson said.

U.S. citizens in Israel can find travel advice and other advisories via the U.S. State Department. "Individuals should follow the instructions of security and emergency response officials," it said in an update today.

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey speculated that U.S. forces could join fighting in the Middle East if tensions continue to climb there and Iran, Syria or Hezbollah further threaten Israel. 

“If the existence of the state of Israel is at stake, if the Syrian military intervened, if Hezbollah started overwhelming the Israelis — in my judgment, at that point, we would consider actively intervening with air power, air and naval power,” McCaffrey, an MSNBC military analyst, said today on MSNBC.

McCaffrey said the U.S. is moving an aircraft carrier group to the eastern Mediterranean as more than a show of support for Israel; they are being sent out of concern that tensions could grow in the region and as a deterrent.

He said that officials will be watching the actions of Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon and whether the West Bank “ignites” and other countries in the Middle East join the conflict. 

“I would suggest to you: Our support of Israel will be absolute, and if we see Syrian military intervention, active Iranian intervention, we’ll go to war,” he said. 

The Biden administration has not outlined how it would act if the war broadened and escalated. McCaffrey acknowledged he was speculating, basing his comments on his experience as a retired general.

“There is absolutely no way any U.S. official would make the statement I just made,” McCaffrey said. 

At least 424 people have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank since yesterday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on its official Facebook page.

The victims include at least 78 children. Another 2,300 people or more have been injured, according to the ministry.

The Union of European Football Associations, or UEFA, has postponed its scheduled matches in Israel as conflict embroils the country and the region. 

Israel’s national team had been scheduled to face Switzerland on Thursday Oct. 12 in Tel Aviv in a qualifying match for the European Championship. That has been postponed, along with several international matches featuring younger players. 

UEFA is still considering whether to cancel a match between Israel and Kosovo’s national teams scheduled for Oct. 15 in Kosovo.

UEFA said it would communicate updates and new dates for matches.

German nationals are assumed to be among those kidnapped by Hamas, according to the German foreign ministry.

“At this point in time, we must assume that German nationals are among those kidnapped by Hamas yesterday," the federal agency said in an emailed statement.

They "are people who all have Israeli and German citizenship," according to the agency's information.

"The German Foreign Office and the German Embassy in Tel Aviv are coordinating very closely with the Israeli authorities," the statement continued.

The agency did not comment on any individual cases.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said it's working in partnership with Israeli and Jewish organizations in the U.S. to provide humanitarian help to Israel.

The chamber said in a statement that it's collaborating with the Jewish Federations of North America, the Israeli government and AmCham Israel to assist the U.S. business community in providing relief.

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to the people of Israel and stand in solidarity with them as they battle the scourge of terrorism,” it said.

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., was in Israel with his family when Hamas launched its surprise attack, his office said in a statement.

"Congressman Goldman and his family sheltered from Hamas rocket fire in their hotel’s interior stairwell until early Sunday morning, when they were able to safely depart for New York," the statement said.

Goldman was visiting the country with his wife and three youngest children for a family bar mitzvah when the attack occurred. His office extended Goldman's gratitude to the State Department and Israeli authorities who assisted their return home.

A chaotic scene ensued as multiple Tel Aviv-bound flights have been canceled or delayed at Istanbul Airport since yesterday's attack.

Most of the passengers booked on the flights are Israelis trying to return home from the major regional transit hub. Many have been unable to travel for over 24 hours and are visibly tired, frustrated and overwhelmed.

Several passengers were seen crying, sobbing and arguing with airport staff members and among themselves. Many passengers with valid tickets were unable to board flights because of the situation in Israel.

Airport staff members say flights to Tel Aviv can take off only when Israeli officials advise it's OK to do so.

"Even we don’t know what’s going on," a staff member said.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Israeli President Isaac Herzog by phone today, the White House said.

She condemned the “appalling and unprecedented attacks” and “made clear that such terrorist acts are never justified," according to a readout of the call. She also reiterated the Biden administration’s “commitment to provide Israel all appropriate means of support.”

Fulfilling Palestinians' right to self-determination is "the only path" to shared peace, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the United Nations, said today in New York.

"This is not a time to let Israel double down on its terrible choices. This is a time to tell Israel to change course," Mansour said. "There is a path to peace where neither Palestinians nor Israelis are killed."

In his speech, Mansour criticized Israel's right to defend itself as an interpretation for Israel's "license to kill," calling Israel's policies an assault on the humanity of Palestinians. People cannot say there is no justification to kill Israelis and then go on to justify killing Palestinians, he said.

"We need to think hard about what logic we want to see prevail here," he said. "If this is about vengeance, then many Palestinians will feel they have much to avenge. If this is about peace, then the way to it is not through further entrenching oppression and occupation, but by ending it."

"We are not subhumans. ... We will never accept a rhetoric that denigrates our humanity and reneges our rights," he added later.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley pushed back today after Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that the Biden administration does not have any evidence of Iran’s direct involvement in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Candidates running for the GOP nomination pointed fingers yesterday at the Biden administration for Hamas’ deadly attack against Israel. Several have insinuated, without evidence, that the attack was funded by the administration’s prisoner exchange with Iran. The administration informed Congress last month that it had issued a waiver to give Tehran access to $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue that U.S. sanctions had blocked, according to a State Department document sent to Congress and obtained by NBC News.

Notably, Haley, who was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, did not join most of her Republican 2024 rivals in explicitly blaming the Biden administration for Hamas’ attack. She did, however, directly criticize the Biden administration in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” this morning.

“Do you think it was irresponsible of your rivals to level that allegation without any evidence or proof?” NBC News’ Kristen Welker asked.

Haley said: “I actually think it was irresponsible for Secretary Blinken to say that the $6 billion doesn’t weigh in here. I mean, let’s be honest with the American people and understand that Hamas knows and Iran knows they’re moving money around as we speak, because they know 6 billion is going to be released. That’s the reality.”

Read the full story here.

The U.S. military is moving an aircraft carrier strike group and military aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support, and it will also begin supplying Israel with munitions and other military supplies immediately, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Austin said this afternoon that he had directed the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to go to the eastern Mediterranean. The group includes the carrier, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, and four Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

“We have also taken steps to augment U.S. Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16, and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons in the region,” he said. “In addition, the United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions. The first security assistance will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days.

“Strengthening our joint force posture, in addition to the materiel support that we will rapidly provide to Israel, underscores the United States’ ironclad support for the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people,” Austin said. “My team and I will continue to be in close contact with our Israeli counterparts to ensure they have what they need to protect their citizens and defend themselves against these heinous terrorist attacks.”

Two U.S. officials familiar with the planning said the assets, specifically the ships, will not be in place for several days. 

The U.S. is also working through plans for a possible noncombatant evacuation — helping Americans get out of Israel, the officials said. Nothing has been decided or ordered, but officials are working through options, including one that would involve putting some Americans on the Navy ships to get them to safety.

An Israeli man is searching desperately for his family after they appeared to have been kidnapped and taken to Gaza. 

Yoni Asher told MSNBC that his wife and daughters were traveling near the Gaza border to visit his wife’s family. He said his wife called him to say militants had entered the house where they were staying. Then they lost connection. 

"The last thing she said to me was that there are terrorists in the house and that they are making a mess and she couldn’t keep talking,” Asher said. 

He tracked his wife's cellphone to Gaza and later identified members of his family in a video Hamas posted to social media, including his wife and two daughters, who are 2 and 4 years old. He believes his mother-in-law is captive, also. 

“The feeling is horrible,” Asher said on MSNBC. “’I just want my little baby girls to be back home with my wife and my mother-in law.’’

Asher said his wife has German citizenship, and he has appealed to the country’s embassy for help. Since he viewed the video on social media, he hass found no new information about his family’s whereabouts. 

“We have a feeling of uncertainty and frustration,” Asher said. 

At least 413 people have been killed in Gaza, including 78 children, the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement on its official Facebook page.

Another 2,300 people have been injured, including 213 children. Medicine shortages and the cutoff of fuel have created difficulties in treating patients, the ministry also said.

"The continuation of the electricity crisis poses a challenge to the health system and endangers the lives of hundreds of injured and sick people in the sensitive sections," the Palestinian Health Ministry said, according a translation of the Facebook post.

More than 2,200 people have been taken to hospitals for treatment, Israel's Health Ministry reported today.

Of those, 22 are considered critical but 343 were critically injured. The majority of the people treated were considered to have mild to moderate injuries. Some were also treated for anxiety, and others are still being evaluated, the ministry said.

President Joe Biden had another call today with Netanyahu in which he expressed sympathy for all those missing, injured and killed since yesterday's attack, according to a readout released by the White House.

"The President also conveyed that additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces is now on its way to Israel with more to follow over the coming days," the release said.

Biden spoke on the call about the "intensive diplomatic engagement" U.S. officials have undertaken in support of Israel.

At least 700 people have been killed in Israel, and that is not likely to be the final death toll, Lt. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, told MSNBC today.

"We have had the worst day in Israeli history when it comes to casualties. ... In American terms, this is a Pearl Harbor and a 9/11 all together," Conricus said.

A key unanswered question is how groups of militants were able to slip across the border despite the presence of surveillance cameras and ground motion sensors, former U.S. intelligence and military officers say.

Israel’s border with Gaza is fortified with a series of fences, security posts, regular patrols and sophisticated cameras and sensors. The fact that Hamas militants were able to cross over with relative ease at multiple points on the border raises the possibility that they may have jammed the cameras and electronic sensors, depriving the Israelis of an early warning as the attack began, Mark Montgomery, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral who recently visited the border area, told NBC News.

Some of the security sensors may have been “compromised very early,” he said, and that would have “allowed forces to push through before there was an adequate response.”

As internet users circulate photos and videos depicting the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, misinformation continues to proliferate — and it’s being spread by prominent voices.

Actor Jamie Lee Curtis posted a photo on Instagram yesterday of children looking up at the sky with fearful expressions. She captioned it, “TERROR FROM THE SKIES,” tagging the photographer and including an Israeli flag emoji.

But the photo, according to the photographer, Samar Abu Elouf, was of “Palestinian families seek[ing] refuge with their children” in Gaza.

Multiple commenters have called out the alleged mistake, and some are pointing it out on X, formerly Twitter. Curtis has not addressed the incident online, and her representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Capitol Police has notified staff members from the House and the Senate that "all flags throughout the Capitol Complex are to be flown at half-staff, for the next 24 hours, to stand in solidarity with Israel," said a source who shared the message with NBC News.

A spokesperson for Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said he was able to leave Israel safely earlier today.

Booker, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, arrived in Israel on Friday "for several days of planned meetings and site visits ahead of the start of an Abraham Accords-focused N7 summit on regional economic integration in Tel Aviv, at which he was scheduled to speak on Tuesday," the spokesperson, Maya Krishna-Rogers, said in a statement.

Krishna-Rogers added that "Booker and accompanying staff were in Jerusalem when Hamas launched their attacks against Israel on Saturday, and sheltered in place for their safety."

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak offered Netanyahu "any support Israel needs" after Hamas attacked Israel, his office said in a description of a call between the two leaders today.

“The Prime Minister outlined the diplomatic work the UK is doing to ensure the world speaks with one voice in opposition to these appalling attacks," his office said. "Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked the Prime Minister for the UK’s support."

Sunak also stressed his commitment to the Jewish community within the U.K.

The U.S. military plans to move Navy ships and military aircraft closer to Israel as a show of support, said two U.S. officials familiar with the planning.

The movements could start immediately, but all the assets will not be in place for several days (specifically the ships). 

The U.S. is also working through plans for a possible noncombatant evacuation — helping Americans get out of Israel. Nothing has been decided or ordered, but it is working through options, including one that would involve putting some Americans on the Navy ships to get them to safety.

Air Canada is allowing passengers to cancel flights to, from or via Tel Aviv.

Passengers who booked flights to Tel Aviv with the airline up until Friday for travel from Saturday and Oct. 14 and would like to cancel will get full refunds, Air Canada said in a statement.

Those who want to make alternative travel arrangements can also do so free of charge to a date between now and Oct. 21 in the same cabin the original booking was purchased in.

Previously, Delta Airlines canceled flights in and out of Tel Aviv through the weekend.

United Airlines suspended Tel Aviv flights "until conditions allow them to resume," it said in a statement. The airline operated two flights out of Tel Aviv last night and early today to accommodate customers and crew members who were at the airport.

The Hamas assault does not appear to have included any major cyberattacks, Israel’s top defense cyber agency said yesterday.

Still, the internet is rife with minor hacktivist groups seeking to cause disruptions. One such group has claimed it has overwhelmed the website for The Jerusalem Post, one of Israel’s major newspapers, with web traffic, in what’s known as a distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack. The site has been only intermittently accessible today.

Avi Mayer, the Post’s editor-in-chief, said Sunday on MSNBC that “there’s clearly a very concerted effort to ensure that the truth is not getting out there and people are not hearing the reporting from the ground.”

One of the most visible pro-Russian hacktivist groups announced on Telegram it was trying to knock the Israeli government offline with a DDoS attack, but the site appears to be fully functional.

Separately, in Gaza, several major internet service providers have suffered significant interruptions, according to the web traffic analysis company Kinetic.

There were more than 500 fighter jets used to attack 120 targets in Gaza's Beit Hanon neighborhood, according to Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for Israel Defense Forces.

"In our attack in Gaza we destroyed 800 targets by helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles," Hagari said on the operation in general. "The Air Force is in full operation."

The military is also following Hezbollah and "all the enemies on the north front," Hagari added. Israeli citizens are advised to follow the orders of the IDF's Home Front command.

See full story here.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has expressed the country's support to Netanyahu as well as coordinated with allies, Scholz said today.

Hamas' attack on Israel and taking of hostages into the Gaza Strip "shocks us deeply," he said. Germany's leadership has been in contact with allies in the U.S., France and U.K. to discuss the ongoing situation.

"It is clear that we condemn Hamas’ actions in the strongest possible terms," Scholz said. "Above all, we are doing everything we can to ensure that this attack does not turn into a wildfire with incalculable consequences for the entire region."

Germany has also bolstered protection of its Jewish and Israeli institutions since yesterday's attack.

A doctored White House press release posted online falsely claimed that the Biden administration had authorized $8 billion in emergency aid to Israel on Saturday. The fact that it was faked didn’t stop it from being posted across the internet and rising to the top of Google search results.

The faked document is one of the most far-reaching instances of misinformation to come out of the most recent violent conflict between Hamas and Israel, fooling several online publications into writing full articles about the fake news, which are still surfacing prominently in online search results.

Read the full story here.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken with European leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Sunday afternoon, an update from the Prime Minister’s Office said on X.

The leaders expressed their “unreserved support for Israel’s right to defend itself as necessary,” the statement said.

The global crisis unfolding in Israel is putting renewed scrutiny on Congress, which has been without a permanent House speaker since Kevin McCarthy was ousted last week.

As an unelected Speaker Pro Tempore, Patrick McHenry is effectively powerless on the matter. Per House rules, the interim speaker can only act on matters that relate to the election of a new Speaker: gavel in, gavel out, and preside. This post-9/11 rule was designed for continuity of government, and not for an unprecedented political situation like the one we are in now. Two scholars with knowledge told NBC News the House would need to elect McHenry as Speaker Pro Tem for this to change.

Read the full story here.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday on "Meet The Press" that the U.S. is “actively working” to verify reports that several Americans may be among the dead in the Israel-Hamas conflict, as well as reports that there could be some U.S. hostages.

“Does the administration know at this point if U.S. citizens were among the dead or those taken hostage?” NBC News’ Kristen Welker asked Blinken.

Blinken said: “So we have reports that several Americans may be among the dead. We are very actively working to verify those reports. Similarly, we’ve seen reports about hostages and they’re, again, we’re very actively trying to verify them, and nail that down.”

Read the full story here.

As militants ransacked her community, Adele Raemer hid for 8 hours inside her home less than 2 miles from the border with the Gaza Strip.

“They tried to break into houses, they tried to break into mine,” the retired teacher told NBC News Sunday, adding that “they broke the slots on my window, and for some reason, they didn’t continue.”

She added that her son-in-law had locked himself in a safe room with her two granddaughters. When militants broke in, he shot at them, she said.

“This is worse than our worst nightmares. I’ve lived here since 1975. I’ve never been so fearful for my life,” she said.

SDEROT, Israel — I’m standing in front of what remains of an Israeli police station that was overrun by Hamas gunmen. There was a 20-hour gunbattle here and all morning we have watched as bodies were pulled from the rubble.

Meanwhile, fears are growing that the fighting could spread across the region. Every indication is that Israel is preparing for what would be at once a large-scale ground offensive into Gaza and one of the most complex hostage rescue operations the world has ever seen.

Amid rocket fire from Lebanon and two Israeli tourists killed in Alexandria, there are signs that the violence that started here may not be staying here.

Israel’s Security Cabinet has officially approved a “war situation,” the Prime Minister’s Office said Sunday on X.

"To this end," it said, the lawmakers had given the green light to "the taking of significant military steps, as per Article 40 of Basic Law."

Article 40 of the Israeli constitution refers to the decision by the government to start a war, or a significant military activity. Notice of war is given to the defense subcommittee of the Knesset, or Israeli parliament, as well as the wider plenum, as soon as possible after the decision is made by the sitting prime minister, it says.

“The war that was forced on the State of Israel in a murderous terrorist assault from the Gaza Strip began at 06:00 yesterday (Saturday, 7 October 2023)” the tweet from the Israeli prime minister's office said.

France's Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told French television that Air France, the country's national airline, had suspended flights to Tel Aviv in light of Hamas' attack on Israel beginning Saturday.

“Air France has suspended its flights for the time being,” Borne told BFM TV Sunday.

Israeli police apprehend the occupants of a vehicle on Sunday as they conduct a search during a traffic stop in Ashkelon, near the border with Gaza.

Security has been stepped up around synagogues and Jewish schools in France in light of this weekend’s attacks on Israel by the Islamist group Hamas, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said on Sunday.

“We have stepped up security at places of worship and at the schools,” Borne told BFM TV.

“There is no specific threat at this stage, but we will remain extremely vigilant,” she added.

The scale and suprise caused by the Hamas attacks will likely lead to an lead “overhaul” of the Israeli intelligence, according to former CIA director John Brennan.

“This is extensive planning that would have to take place over the course of many months,” Brennan told NBC News Saturday.

“They have to wonder about why their very exquisite, sensitive technical collection systems, were not able to pick up anything,” he said.

Hamas said Sunday that 13 residential buildings were completely destroyed in Israeli raids, with 1,210 residential units partially demolished.

According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, at least 20,363 Palestinians have been displaced to the agency's schools as of Saturday night.

The Israeli army published the names of an additional 18 soldiers killed yesterday in clashes with Hamas fighters, bringing the total known number of Israeli soldiers killed to 44.

IDF Lt. Col. Richard Hect told CNN Sunday that he believes “there’s more to come.”

The “infrastructure of Hamas will be totally, totally destroyed,” Israel's ambassador to the U.K. Tzipi Hotovely said Sunday.

Israel just went through the “hardest day” it had ever experienced, she told British broadcaster Sky News, referring to Saturday’s multipronged attack on her homeland by Hamas militants. “Israelis could not be safe in their own homes,” she said.

“it’s a new level, it’s another scale," she said, adding that her country had never experienced a situation where main cities in Israel were "taken over" by militants.

Relatives carry the bodies of children from the Abu Quta family during their funeral on Sunday. They were killed in Israeli strikes on the Palestinian city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Mohannad Aklouk, the Palestinian representative to the Arab League, submitted a request for the league's Council of Arab Foreign Ministers to convene an emergency meeting, according to WAFA, the Palestinian news agency.

Aklouk's hope for the meeting includes discussions to "politically mobilize both at the Arab and international levels to halt the ongoing Israeli aggression on Gaza, provide international protection for the Palestinian people, and achieve peace and security based on international law," WAFA said.

The memorandum submitted to the league accuses Israel of attacking civilians and destroying residential buildings in its “unprecedented aggression” on the Gaza Strip. It does not mention Hamas' ongoing attacks on Israel.

Pope Francis called for an end to attacks in Israel on Sunday, saying “every war is a defeat.”

“Terrorism and war bring no solutions, but only to the death and suffering of many innocent lives,” he said in his weekly address to faithful in Vatican City's St. Peter’s Square.

Praying for “all those who are experiencing hours of terror and anguish,” the pontiff said, “let the attacks and weapons cease, please.” He added that he was following the fighting with “apprehension and sorrow.”

The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, is continuing its fight with Israel's military on "several fronts," Abu Ubaida, a spokesperson for the militant group said in a statement Sunday.

“The Qassam Brigades were able to replace their forces and carry out new infiltration operations," he said, adding that support for the fighters was being provided with rockets and mortar shells.

Young men look at the remains of a destroyed mosque following an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip on Sunday.

Israel is aiming to evacuate Israeli communities living near the border with Gaza, IDF spokesman Richard Hecht said in a briefing to reporters on Sunday.

Evacuation efforts would focus on the "Gaza envelope" — populated sections of Israel less than 5 miles from the border with Gaza and therefore within the range of mortar shells and rockets launched by militants from within the strip.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the IDF also urged Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip to seek shelter and to leave their homes Sunday if they thought they might share a building with Hamas militants.

The Gaza Strip is a densely populated, isolated coastal enclave that has been under blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2007, with closed borders on both sides and few means of civilian exit. Hecht said that the IDF would attempt to enable civilian evacuation efforts from within Gaza on Sunday, but did not provide further details.

Israel was in a state of shock and a state of war Sunday after an unprecedented attack that saw Hamas fighters rampage through the country’s south, killing hundreds and seizing hostages in a surprise breakout from Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a “long and difficult war” to come, but his military was still battling to drive out militants while launching deadly retaliatory strikes on the densely populated coastal enclave.

The Palestinian militant group’s daring land, air and sea operation left Israel reeling and threatened the gravest escalation in the region in decades.

Read the full story here.

An Egyptian citizen opened fire at a group of Israeli tourists, fatally shooting two and their Egyptian tour guide, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson said.

One more Israeli was wounded and is in moderate condition after the incident in the city of Alexandria, the statement said.

The Israeli foreign ministry, along with Israel's embassy in Cairo, the IDF and the Prime Minister's office are working to bring the rest of the group back to Israel as soon as possible, according to the statement.

Israel’s military is still engaged in ongoing battles in eight areas of the country, a spokesperson said Sunday.

Richard Hecht said told a news briefing the Israel Defense Forces were "still completing our efforts to retake full control" with "eight points of engagement" ongoing with Hamas fighters.

The United Nations' peacekeeping mission in Lebanon confirmed Sunday that “several rockets” had been fired towards its southern neighbor Israel, which it said had responded with an artillery barrage.

“We urge everyone to exercise restraint,” the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said in a thread on X, formerly known as Twitter. It added that both sides should use U.N. co-ordination resources to “prevent a fast deterioration of the security situation.”

U.N. officials are in contact with authorities on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border working to “contain the situation,” it said.

Japan has said it “strongly condemns” the launch of “a number of rockets as well as infiltration into the Israeli territories from the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other Palestinian militants.”

A statement issued by its foreign ministry Saturday urged “all the parties concerned to exercise maximum restraint in order to avoid further damage and casualties.”

It also expressed its “heartfelt sympathies to the injured.”

Hamas' intelligence headquarters has been been hit by a strike, the Israeli military said in an operational update Sunday.

A military compound belonging to the militant group's aerial forces was also hit as part of wider attacks on 10 high-rise buildings connected to Hamas, the update said.

In a separate update on X, formerly known as Twitter, the the Israel Defense Forces said fighter jets had hit the home of Hamas' intelligence chief in Gaza. They did not name them.

More than 300 people have been killed in aerial strikes on the enclave, according to Gaza health authorities.

There will be a military response from Israel, that much is sure. The only question is how big it will be.

Israel has in the past not been shy about using its superior force to hit Hamas targets in Gaza, but the real limiting factor is the many hostages taken by Hamas.

If Israel launches a broad invasion of Gaza right now it could inadvertently kill some of its own citizens. Gaza is densely populate, there are many tunnels and it is a place Hamas knows better than Israel.

The other limiting factor: Public opinion, particularly in the Arab world. If Israel is seen as carrying out a blanket response against Palestinians in Gaza with a huge death toll, there may be a risk of a broader regional war.

The IDF has released the names of 26 soldiers who have been killed in fighting with Hamas.

In a series of personal cards and photographs released on the IDF website, the military force described them as "heroes of Iron Sword," the name given for the counter-operation against Hamas.

Their families have been informed, the IDF said. It was unclear exactly how many soldiers had been killed so far.

An Israeli man carries a baby past the rubble of a destroyed building in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning.

Al-Qassam, the armed wing of Hamas, said on X that it would publicly declare the number of Israeli prisoners they have "within hours."

The number of hostages taken by the militia has been the subject of wide speculation online, with Hamas releasing footage of captured IDF soldiers and civilians and claiming to have taken top-ranking commanders, though that claim was denied by IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari.

The Israeli Embassy in the U.S. said early Sunday that the number of captured soldiers and civilians had reached 100. NBC News was unable to independently verify this report.

Israel said it would halt the supply of electricity, fuel and goods to the Gaza Strip, according to a statement on X after a meeting of the country’s Security Cabinet — a top inner cabinet on defense and foreign policy.

An earlier, separate statement from energy minister Israel Katz on X announced that he had signed an order to stop supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip. “What was will not be,” he added.

Gaza, which is largely dependent on Israel for its electricity supply, has suffered chronic power shortages for several decades, according to the U.N., severely restricting the provision of vital civilian services such as healthcare, sanitation and water.

The 2.3 million inhabitants of the densely-populated coastal enclave have endured a blockade by Israel and Egypt that has been enforced to varying degrees since 2007.

Hamas remain involved in "fierce clashes in several combat sites" inside Israel, according to a military announcement from the al-Qassam brigades, the armed wing of the militant group.

Combat sites include Ofakim, Sderot, Yad Mordechai, Kfar Azza, Be’eri Whitted, and Kissufim in southern Israel, using artillery and rocket-propelled grenades, according to the group.

Palestinian health authorities said in a statement Sunday that 313 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip and 1,990 people have been wounded.

The statement added that seven people had been killed in cities in the West Bank and 50 people had suffered minor to moderate injuries.

Israeli soldiers armed with artillery cannons man their position at an undisclosed location in northern Israel bordering Lebanon on Sunday.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group fired dozens of rockets and shells on Sunday at three Israeli positions in a disputed area along the country’s border with Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hezbollah, a militant group allied with Hamas in Lebanon, said in a statement that the attack using “large numbers of rockets and shells” was in solidarity with the “Palestinian resistance.” It said the Israeli positions were directly hit.

Israel’s military fired back at the Lebanese areas, but there was no immediate word on casualties. The Israeli army said it shelled the areas where the fire came from on the Lebanese side of the border.

Chebaa Farms was captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war, but Lebanon considers it and the nearby Kfar Chouba hills as Lebanese territories.

The Golan Heights were annexed by Israel in 1981.

China weighed in on the war Sunday by calling for an immediate end to hostilities and a resumption of peace talks.

“The fundamental way out of the conflict lies in implementing the two-state solution and establishing an independent State of Palestine,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said in a Q&A published Sunday morning.

The spokesperson defined the war as one between “Palestine and Israel,” despite the leading role that militant group Hamas played in carrying out Saturday’s attacks.

“We call on relevant parties to remain calm, exercise restraint and immediately end the hostilities to protect civilians and avoid further deterioration of the situation,” the Ministry of Foreign affairs spokesperson said.

Before daybreak on Sunday, militants fired more rockets from Gaza, hitting a hospital in the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon. The hospital sustained damage, said senior hospital official Tal Bergman.

Video provided by Barzilai Medical Center showed a large hole punched into a wall and chunks of debris scattered on the ground of what appeared to be an empty room and a hallway. There was no report of casualties.

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza had intensified after nightfall, flattening residential buildings in giant explosions, including a 14-story tower that held dozens of apartments as well as Hamas offices in central Gaza City. Israeli forces fired a warning just before.

Around 3 a.m., a loudspeaker atop a mosque in Gaza City blared a stark warning to residents of nearby apartment buildings: Evacuate immediately. Just minutes later, an Israeli airstrike reduced one nearby five-story building to ashes.

After one Israeli strike, a Hamas rocket barrage hit four cities, including Tel Aviv and a nearby suburb. Throughout the day, Hamas fired more than 3,500 rockets, the Israeli military said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the country is “embarking on a long and difficult war” that aimed to “destroy enemy forces” who had penetrated into Israel. 

Concluding a meeting of Israel’s security cabinet Saturday, Netanyahu said Israel had begun an “offensive phase which will continue with neither limitations nor respite until the objectives are achieved,” according to a statement from his office posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Netanyahu vowed that his country would take “mighty vengeance” for the attack and urged the residents of Gaza to evacuate.

Gaza, a tiny coastal enclave, has long been blockaded and closed off from Israel by a security fence, so it was unclear how civilians might be able to get out before any new military operation.