2 hostages released by Hamas are American Israeli citizens

Frequent exposure to painful and shocking images of war can have a negative impact on your mind. Dr. Sue Varma discusses the impact of repeated exposure and how to balance happiness with being informed.

A handful of influential but unreliable accounts, some of which have been promoted by Elon Musk, are dominating the flow of news on X around the Israel-Hamas war and easily outpacing established mainstream news outlets, according to research published Friday by the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public.

Researchers analyzed viral posts about the conflict during a three-day period starting from the beginning of the attack against Israel on Oct. 7. They concluded that the most popular posts about the crisis revealed how news on the platform is “faster, more disorienting, and potentially more shaped by Musk himself.”

The new work adds data to a swell of recent anecdotal accounts from researchers, academics and journalists who have noted a change for the worse in the way news and information moves and is incentivized on Twitter over the last year, especially since the start of the Israel-Hamas crisis. A separate analysis published Thursday by NewsGuard, a nonpartisan company that tracks false narratives online, found verified accounts were responsible for nearly three-fourths of the most viral misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war on Twitter. 

Read the full story here.

Protests against Israel and the United States intensified today as crowds skirmished with authorities.

The protests also simultaneously came in pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah form and erupted from Bagdad to Bahrain.

A big fear for supporters of a cease-fire and long-term peace is the specter of a second war front between Iran-backed, Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Israel, already focused on Hamas in Gaza.

Skirmishes between Hezbollah and Israel have been taking place along Israel's northern edge, and the country plans to evacuate 20,000 from the northern city of Qiryat Shemona.

President Joe Biden tonight suggested that one of the reasons why Hamas attacked Israel was to stop the country from normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at a campaign fundraiser, Biden said Hamas may have attacked Israel “because they knew I was about to sit down with the Saudis.”

“Guess what? The Saudis wanted to recognize Israel,” Biden said, and "were about to recognize Israel."

Read the full story here.

The father of a U.S. citizen who Hamas freed from captivity told reporters today that his daughter sounded “very good” during a brief phone call and he expects her to return home next week.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for two long weeks,” Uri Raanan, 71, said of Natalie Shoshana Raanan’s release. “I haven’t been sleeping for two weeks.”

Uri Raanan said he has not spoken to his ex-wife, Judith Tai Raanan, who was also freed by Hamas earlier today.

He said his daughter had gone to Israel for her grandmother’s 85th birthday when she was taken hostage. They did not speak about how she had been treated while in captivity, he said.

“I’m going to hug her and kiss her,” Uri Raanan said of her anticipated return. “It’s going to be the best day of my life."

ASHDOD, Israel — While in some parts of Israel, restaurants and bars have stayed open in the midst of the war, along Ashdod's coast, empty chairs and tables abound.

Yefet Sogaoker's family owns Namaste, which he says is the only Indian restaurant in the area, and he said it's already been affected by the war after shutting the doors for the first week after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. Now, it's running only a delivery service, and he said orders have been few and far between.

Comparing the empty dining room and patio to his memories of lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic, he said he hoped government support would come soon if the situation continues.

"We cannot close for one month," he said.

With the release today of two American women, U.S. officials’ focus remains on the 10 other Americans who are unaccounted for along with 200 others allegedly taken hostage by Hamas. 

The number of journalists killed in the war zone and areas of skirmishes following Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel grew to 22 today, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

The new number includes the death of Mohammed Ali of Al-Shabab Radio, described by the committee as "youth radio." He was killed in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza, it said. Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the Cairo-based newspaper Al-Dostor were cited as sources for the information.

Additionally, the committee said eight journalists have been injured and three are missing or detained. No American journalists have been reported as killed.

The committee said it's not clear if all the dead were actively covering the war when they were killed.

Video shot by Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades captured the release of Judith Raanan and her daughter, Natalie, two American hostages abducted by Hamas militants.

Former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, the first person of Palestinian descent to serve in Congress, said today "several" of his relatives were killed in the church blast in Gaza.

"With great sadness, I have now confirmed that several of my relatives" died in the explosion at Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza, he wrote on X.

Amash, who represented Michigan's 3rd Congressional District as a Republican, independent and libertarian before leaving the body, said his relatives were among hundreds at the church. The church said in a statement that as many as 200 may have been killed. The venue has traditionally served as sanctuary for Christians and Muslims during times of warfare and skirmishes.

"The Palestinian Christian community has endured so much," Amash said. "Our family is hurting badly."

 

In his call with freed American Israeli hostages Judith Tai Raanan and Natalie Shoshana Raanan, President Biden promised the government's full support throughout their recovery.

"Jill and I will continue holding close in our hearts all the families of unaccounted for Americans," Biden said on X after the call.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a video address earlier that 10 Americans remained "unaccounted for."

White House adviser Brett McGurk said federal support for the Raanans can include mental health and physiological health treatment.

McGurk, White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, said the president also spoke to Natalie's father today in a call he described as "emotional."

"It was really a call of extraordinary relief but also with determination to do all we can to have more days like this," he said on NBC News' "Meet the Press NOW."

Judith Raanan and her daughter, Natalie, had been living a typical American life in Evanston, Illinois, near Chicago, for many years before the unthinkable happened.

Judith, a 59-year-old artist, never missed a Sabbath service at her synagogue. Natalie, 17, had just graduated from Deerfield High School and hoped to work in fashion, interior design or tattooing following her summer and fall travel plans, which included visiting Italy before heading to Israel for the Jewish holidays and her grandmother’s 85th birthday, NBC Chicago reported.

It was there that Judith and Natalie were taken hostage on Oct. 7, when militants stormed kibbutz Nahal Oz where they had been staying with relatives.

They were released today after a nearly two-week ordeal.

Read the full story here.

The U.S. intelligence community believes that Iran is not currently seeking a direct war with the United States but that it is looking to ratchet up pressure on Israel and the U.S. through its proxies in the region, two congressional aides and a Pentagon official told NBC News.

Iran’s approach, however, raises the risk of miscalculation and an unintended regional conflict, the sources said.

Provocative actions by Iran’s partners, including Hamas in Gaza and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, are also designed to shape Israel’s calculations as it prepares for an expected ground operation in Gaza. Tehran’s efforts appear to be a bid to force Israel to limit the scope of the military campaign, the two congressional aides said.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment. The CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the full story here.

Chavah Rochel Golden broke down in tears when she learned that her close friend Judith Raanan and her daughter, Natalie, were released from Hamas captivity.

"Baruch Hashem," Golden said in a phone interview with NBC News, using the Hebrew expression for "blessed be God." Golden, who lives in Chicago, then spoke directly to her friend: "Judith, we love you — go home and get some sleep, then let's visit and hug each other."

Golden described Judith Raanan as a talented painter with a generous soul. "She never stops. If one thing doesn’t work, she tries something else, so it doesn’t surprise me that she’s coming home," Golden said.

Golden said she hopes that all the other hostages in Hamas captivity are soon freed: “I want to tell [Hamas] to let everybody go," she said. "There’s no use. There’s no purpose."

Israeli authorities released a photo of Judith and Natalie Raanan, two U.S. hostages released earlier today by Hamas.

In the photo, the mother and daughter are seen with members of the Israel Defense Forces.

The Raanans, who are relatives of former NBC correspondent Martin Fletcher, had been staying at a kibbutz in southern Israel when they were taken captive on Oct. 7.

National Security Council Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk said on NBC News Now that Natalie and Judith Raanan are being reunited with family "as we speak."

McGurk also said President Joe Biden just spoke with Natalie Raanan's father and Judith's ex-husband in an emotional phone call from the Oval Office.

"We have been in touch as a government not only with the families of Natalie and Judith but also with the families of the other missing Americans," said McGurk. "We made very clear that we’re doing all we can to secure their safety, too."

In a news briefing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Judith and Natalie Ranaan will see a team from the U.S. Embassy shortly to receive support and assistance.

“We share in the relief that their families, friends and loved ones are feeling,” said Blinken. “But there are still 10 additional Americans that remain unaccounted for in this conflict.”

Blinken thanked the government of Qatar for their “very important assistance,” but said he could not specify about what Qatar’s role was in the recovery of the hostages.

Jeremy Bash, former CIA chief of staff, said Qatar likely has the best line of communication with Hamas because the militant group's political leadership works and lives out of Qatar and Turkey.

"When there has been a need to get messages to Hamas in the past, usually Qatar is one of the go-betweens," said Bash.

Bash said Judith and Natalie Raanan will likely be carefully debriefed by the IDF and the Israeli security agency Shin Bet about any information they heard from their time under captivity. That could include intelligence about other hostages and Hamas' communication tactics.

“This is going to be very actionable intelligence,” said Bash.

Mark Regev, senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, said Hamas’ release of two American hostages shows they are succumbing to “immense pressure” from the global community.

Natalie and Judith Raanan were transported from Hamas captivity in Gaza to Israel by the Red Cross, the organization said today.

"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) helped facilitate this release by transporting the hostages from Gaza to Israel, underscoring the real-life impact of our role as a neutral actor between the warring parties," the group said in a statement.

"More of this kind of humanitarian action is urgently needed so that even more families can be reunited. Many people are still desperately waiting for news of their loved ones," the statement said.

The government of Qatar announced it helped secure the release of the mother and daughter in coordination with the Red Cross.

"Two American civilian hostages have been released by Hamas and handed over to the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip. Today’s breakthrough comes after many days of continuous communication between all the parties involved," Dr Majid Al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement.

“We will continue our dialogue with both the Israelis and Hamas, and we hope these efforts will lead to the release of all civilian hostages from every nationality, with the ultimate aim of de-escalating the current crisis and restoring peace,” Al-Ansari said.

President Joe Biden said that Natalie and Judith Raanan, the two Americans released by Hamas today, will soon be reunited with their family.

"Today, we have secured the release of two Americans taken hostage by Hamas during the horrific terrorist assault against Israel on October 7," Biden said in a statement.

"Our fellow citizens have endured a terrible ordeal these past 14 days, and I am overjoyed that they will soon be reunited with their family, who has been wracked with fear," he said. "These individuals and their family will have the full support of the United States government as they recover and heal, and we should all respect their privacy in this moment."

Biden went on to thank the governments of Qatar and Israel for helping the U.S. secure the release, and vowed to continue working to free other hostages.

"As president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans held hostage around the world," Biden said.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Natalie and Judith Raanan are safe and receiving medical treatment after being released by Hamas.

"I am incredibly relieved that Natalie and Judith Raanan of Evanston have been released from captivity in Gaza," Pritzker said in a statement.

"In what was supposed to be a visit to their loving family in Israel, they were violently abducted by a terrorist organization," he said. "After being held against their will for nearly two weeks, they are now safe and receiving necessary medical treatment."

"I cannot wait to welcome them back home after demonstrating immense strength and bravery in the face of unthinkable terror. We must continue to advocate and pray for the safe return of those still held by Hamas. We will not let those who use terror as their weapon win," Pritzker said.

ASHDOD, Israel — A U.S. mother and daughter who were taken hostage by Hamas, both relatives of former Israel-based NBC correspondent Martin Fletcher, have been released.

Judith Tai Raanan and her daughter Natalie Shoshana Raanan were met by officials at the Gaza border this evening, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

They were “on their way to a meeting point at a military base in the center of the country, where their family members are waiting for them,” the spokesperson said.

The mother and daughter were taken captive when Hamas militants swept through their kibbutz, Nahal Oz, on Oct. 7, the spokesperson said.

In an interview with NBC News, Fletcher said his wife was told her family members were with the Red Cross in Israel.  There’s “obviously a huge sigh of relief and at the same time concern that there are still so many hostages,” Fletcher said.

Gaza's oldest Greek Orthodox church, which was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, was hit by a deadly explosion on Thursday night.

Ibrahim Jahshan, a Palestinian Christian and one of the church's singers, was sheltering there with his family when the fatal blast took place. He said approximately 500 Christians and Muslims had been sleeping there for several days to escape Israeli air raids near their homes by the sea.

"There were about 290 people when they bombed," he said in a phone conversation with NBC News on Thursday from the church. "We resorted to the church because the church is God’s house, nothing is safe like the church. They bombed God’s house."

He added that there were still "many people" under the rubble who they were still trying to get out.

So far, 18 Palestinian Christians have been killed in what the Jerusalem diocese described as an "Israeli bombing," according to Hamas.

"I have two pregnant women here," Jahshan said. "You have no idea how the bombing affected them physically and psychologically."

The Israeli military said it had targeted a Hamas command center nearby, causing damage to a church wall, according to The Associated Press. 

On what he wanted the world know, Jahshan said he wanted people to know the difference between the Palestinian civilians living in Gaza and the officials that govern it.

"We are peace advocates. We are love advocates," he said. "Please deliver this message. Today, I am living. I don’t know if I am going to live or die," he said.

Hamas announced today that it has released two U.S. hostages it had been holding for nearly two weeks, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.

Read more: 2 Americans held by Hamas have been released

The Israeli military told them to leave the north, so many Palestinians packed up and fled to southern Gaza. 

Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have intensified, following a lull during President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel on Wednesday.

And within hours of him leaving the Ahmed Abdelaziz school in the southern city of Khan Younis, a blast killed at least five and left dozens injured, according to local health officials. Crying children and panicking residents filled the hallways in video filmed at the scene by NBC News. 

One after another, civilians were lifted onto stretchers and loaded into ambulances. Those who weren’t injured improvised first aid for those who were: torn cloth soaked up blood from one man’s wounds, and a piece of wood served as a splint for another’s leg as he was carried into the hospital on a mattress.

The school is among the 183 run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, the agency tasked with supporting Palestinian development since 1949. 

Read more: As Israel-Hamas war rages, a school blast shows people in Gaza have nowhere to run

Thousands of people gathered in major cities today to demonstrate in support of Palestinians. In Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday prayers ended with marches to major government offices, including U.S. embassies.

Protesters denounced U.S. support for Israel, chanting things like “God is great” and “Save Palestinians.” In Jakarta, some of the demonstrators were seen burning photos of President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Read more: Massive protests seen at U.S. embassies in several countries after Gaza hospital bombing

ASHDOD, Israel — Most of the Israelis who have been held captive by Hamas for the past two weeks are still alive, the Israel Defense Forces are saying.

This is significant because part of the Hamas playbook is to claim that Israelis they have already killed are still alive to increase their value as human bargaining chips.

Relatives of the hundreds of Israelis who remain in Hamas captivity took comfort in each other by welcoming Sabbath together in the presence of a table with more than 200 empty seats — one for each of the hostages.

“The earth trembles beneath us and our loved ones are there," Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau said at the gathering in what's now being called the "Hostages and Missing Plaza" outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. "We came here to send them a blessing of life, and to send you dear families hands of hope, faith, and love. We are a people with nowhere else to go. We are a people who believe that this long journey has a happy ending.”

Tears flowed as Israeli singer Kobi Aflalo sang his songs "Michtav Le’achi (Letter to My Brother)" and "Shir Lama’alot (A Song of Ascents)."

“No one could have imagined such a Kabbalat Shabbat," a representative for the families said. "A simply heartbreaking moment. We hope that next Shabbat we will celebrate together with our loved ones who will return home.”

Israel’s National Cyber Directorate issued an updated urgent warning Friday for all citizens to immediately turn off their internet-connected video cameras.

Many security cameras come preset with minimal cybersecurity and are a common target for hackers who can view or broadcast footage that's uploaded to the internet. 

The warning called especially for Israelis to be careful not to broadcast sensitive areas that might reveal military operations, like roads.

About two weeks into the Israeli-Hamas war, the Israeli Prime Minister's office has released some grim new arithmetic: 1,400 Israelis dead, 4,800 injured, and "at least 30 of the abductees are children under the age of 16."

"Two weeks have passed since the attack on the seventh of October," the briefing began. "Israel demands the release of the abductees without conditions. We want our children at home."

The Israeli Defense Force has also confirmed that 10 to 20 of the 203 kidnapped Israelis are 60 years old or older, the prime minister's office said. And it said some 7,380 missiles "have been launched towards Israel."

In retaliation, the prime minister's office said "over 100 targets in Gaza were attacked during the night, including underground tunnels and Hamas headquarters. A senior Hamas operative was eliminated."

It did not identify the operative by name. And it warned Hezbollah, Hamas’ allies in Lebanon, not to "try us." "Israel fought on several fronts in the past and won them," the prime minister's office said.

As for the badly needed Palestinian aid that is currently stuck at the Rafah Crossing, the prime minister's office said that "humanitarian aid will be possible in the south of the Gaza Strip, where the civilian population in Gaza has been asked to evacuate."

"The aid will include water, food and medicine," the office said. "And this is on the condition that this aid does not reach Hamas. We will not allow this aid to feed the Hamas war machine."

JERUSALEM — Ohad Munder-Zichri’s family doesn’t know if he has his glasses. 

It may seem like a small thing given the situation — the 8-year-old is believed to be among the roughly 200 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. But in the long nights of waiting for news, the thought of Ohad being unable to see is a source of sharp pain for his loved ones.

“He cannot manage without his glasses,” his cousin, Osnat Meiri, told NBC News Thursday at her mother’s home in Jerusalem. “This is something that weighs a lot on his father. He always talks about, ‘What about his glasses?’ I hope they let him keep it.”

Ohad, who turns 9 on Monday, was at a family gathering at the kibbutz Nir Oz when Hamas terrorists burst through the Gaza border fence on Oct. 7, said Meiri, 53.

Read more: Israeli family fears child may spend his 9th birthday as a hostage of Hamas

A Palestinian man walks Friday next to buildings destroyed in the Israeli bombardment of al-Zahra, on the outskirts of Gaza City.

The last phase of Israel's military campaign against Hamas will involve the "removal of Israel’s responsibility for life" in the Gaza Strip and the establishment of a "new security reality for the citizens of Israel," Israel's defense minister said Friday.

In a briefing of parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said there will be three stages of Israel's drive against Hamas, consisting of a military campaign that currently includes strikes, and will later include maneuvering to neutralize Hamas. The second stage will involve eliminating what Gallant called "pockets of resistance" among the militants.

"The third phase will require the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza strip, and the establishment of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel," Gallant said in a statement from his office.

Gaza has no access to the outside world except through Israel, which controls 90% of its land and sea boundaries, and Egypt, which has a narrow land border to the south.

Israel has enforced a rigid blockade on the enclave since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007, imposing comprehensive curbs on exports and imports, and severely restricting who could enter or leave.

A mother comforts her child, who was wounded in an airstrike, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday.

Most people in the Arab world were asleep when President Joe Biden addressed America last night. This morning, one observer, who knows many Gulf leaders well, gave the president’s message a cautious welcome.

“Just mentioning the Palestinians and humanizing them is new,” said Mamoun Fandy, the president of the London Global Strategy Institute, a think tank based in the British capital. “Obviously Biden is backpedaling.”

In his address to the nation last night, Biden said: “We must without equivocation denounce antisemitism. We must also without equivocation denounce Islamophobia.”

But Fandy, who in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks worked with Congress on how to win hearts and minds in the Muslim world, said many would view his speech as paying "lip service" to a two-state solution and noticed he has not attempted to "convene a peace conference."

He added that "putting Ukraine and Gaza in the same speech" was confusing and by equating Putin and Hamas he might risk oversimplifying the global picture. Russia’s relationship with Iran, which supports Hamas, is not straight forward and when an American president presents them as one and the same it could help unite them, he said.

An Israeli soldier is kissed by his partner as she visits him near the border with the Gaza Strip, southern Israel, on Friday.

The Israeli military said today that a Greek Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip, which was sheltering displaced Palestinian families, was not the target of an Israeli air strike.

Parts of the church collapsed in an explosion late Thursday, leaving 18 people dead and dozens remain under the rubble, Palestinian health officials said.

The IDF said in a statement that its fighter jets targeted the command and control center belonging to Hamas, involved in the launching of rockets and mortars toward Israel.

As a result of a strike, a wall of a church in the area of the center was damaged, the statement said, and it was aware of reports of casualties.

"The IDF can unequivocally state that the church was not the target of the strike," the statement added.

But the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem denounced what it described as “the Israeli bombing that targeted one of its church buildings in Gaza City” in a statement.

NBC News has not independently verified either side's claims.

New aerial images show destroyed buildings in al-Zahra, south of Gaza City, today, following overnight Israeli bombardment.

Humanitarian aid is still held up at the Rafah border crossing amid Israel’s bombardments in southern Gaza. NBC News’ Jay Gary reports on the latest aid situation and the purported Israeli airstrike on a Greek Orthodox church.

Israel has called up 360,000 troops, mostly reservists, as it signals that its long-anticipated ground offensive into the Gaza Strip could be coming.

While this would be much more deadly for Palestinians, it is also risky for Israeli soldiers.

Fears abound that it could tip the region into a wider war and further deepen anger against Israel and the United States, as demonstrations are planned today in many Middle Eastern cities.

TEL AVIV — A Shabbat table prepared in a square outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is so long it almost disappears into the baking midday heat. Its 203 empty place settings, each ready to receive wine and challah bread, represent the number of Israeli hostages confirmed kidnapped by Hamas nearly two weeks ago.

It's one of several public art installations by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, established hours after the Oct. 7 attacks. Posters plastered over the city feature its slogan, “Bring Them Home Now,” alongside faces of the missing. Nearby, a 20-foot ream of paper allows people to write messages, which the group plans to hang outside the White House.

“This is a traditional Jewish Friday night table, including the wine, the special bread," said Nimrod Arluk, 49, a volunteer who works as a tech entrepreneur. "We have 203 seats, including baby seats, and we’re keeping them empty until they come back."

The Israeli government’s response to the hostage crisis has bitterly divided the nation. An apparently imminent ground offensive into Gaza has raised fears the hostages may be killed in the crossfire. “It is unbelievable,” said Orna, 66, who has come to pay her respects but declined to give her last name when discussing politics at this sensitive site.

“The hostages are the main issue, but for some reason it is not the main thing we are talking about, both on Israeli TV and internationally.”

Others are “not thinking about any of that,” Arluk said. “I am focusing on my mission, which is bringing them home.”

Two rockets were fired at U.S. and coalition forces in Baghdad, Iraq, this morning, an American defense official confirmed to NBC News.

“We can confirm a rocket attack on U.S. and Coalition forces at the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center, near the Baghdad International Airport, occurred Friday at approximately 2:50 am local,” the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said.

They added that, according to an initial assessment, one rocket was intercepted by an aerial defense system while the other hit an empty storage facility. No one was injured.

ASHDOD, Israel — More than 20 of the at least 200 people taken hostage by Hamas in its unprecedented attack on Israel are under the age of 18, the Israel Defense Forces has said.

Sharing new information on the status of hostages, the Israeli military said that between 10 and 20 of those taken captive were over the age of 60.

The IDF also said most of those taken hostage were alive, but that there were also deceased people taken into Gaza by Hamas militants. NBC News was not able to independently verify the IDF’s statements.

The IDF said it is acting “in full transparency with the hostage families, and in constant communication over every update that can be shared.” Previously, those with loved ones considering missing told NBC News that they were receiving limited, if any, communication from the IDF and Israeli government.

The head of the World Health Organization said he hoped the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza will reopen today, warning that delays will result in more suffering and deaths.

"Our trucks are loaded and ready to go," Tedros said in a video statement. "We are working with Egypt and Palestine Red Crescent Societies to deliver our supplies into Gaza as soon as the Rafah crossing is opened."

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres was at the crossing earlier in the day, saying the aid trucks waiting to go across are a "lifeline" to the Palestinian civilians in Gaza, as the enclave is faced with a humanitarian crisis amid a complete blockade by Israel.

Two more staff members with the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency have been killed in Gaza, it said, bringing the total number to at least 16 since the Israel-Hamas war began.  

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said today in a report that 10 other staff members have been injured.

"The actual number is likely to be much higher — these figures include only those that the agency has been able to confirm," the report said.

Israel is signaling that it’s long-anticipated offensive into Gaza could be coming, with Israel’s defense minister telling troops that they’ll be seeing Gaza soon from the inside. NBC’s Richard Engel reports for "TODAY."

The IDF said they were aware of the damage to a Greek Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip, which was sheltering displaced Palestinian families, after parts of it collapsed in an explosion last night.

Spokesperson Richard Hecht said in a briefing the IDF is reviewing the incident, and will shortly release visuals and information on what happened and “what we were targeting.”

Several videos verified by NBC News showing Palestinian civilians at al-Shifa Hospital after the collapse have been shared on social media.

A Gazan health ministry spokesperson said 18 have died in the explosion and people remain under the rubble.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem denounced what it described as "the Israeli bombing that targeted one of its church buildings in Gaza City" in a statement.

NBC News has not independently verified that the blast that caused the collapse was from an Israeli strike.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza on Friday, pleading for aid trucks to start rolling over into the blockaded enclave and repeated his plea for a humanitarian ceasefire.

"Behind these walls, we have 2 million people that is suffering enormously — that has no water, no food, no medicine, no fuel, that is under fire. That needs everything to survive," Guterres said during a press briefing at the crossing.

"On this side, we have seen so many trucks loaded with water, with fuel, with medicines, with foods. Exactly the same things that are needed on this side of the wall. So these trucks are not just trucks. They are a lifeline."

Guterres said an agreement between Egypt and the U.S. to get the aid flowing into Gaza came with "some conditions and some restrictions." So the U.N. is working to "clarify those conditions," Guterres said, to get the trucks moving — and not just one convoy, but daily convoys with "meaningful numbers of trucks." He also called for fuel to be allowed in alongside the aid so that the U.N. on the Gazan side is able to distribute aid efficiently.

"What we need is to make them move, to make them move to the other side of his wall, to make them move as quickly as possible and as many as possible," he added.

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah’s media arm released a new video showing attacks along the border between Lebanon and Israel. It shows what the group claims is missiles striking several Israeli army positions on Wednesday.

Aid worker Hisham Mhanna is expecting a second son in the next few days, with his wife heading into her ninth month of pregnancy.

"She's due any moment now," Mhanna told NBC News in a telephone interview from Deir al Balah in central Gaza. But with hospitals overrun with injured patients and supplies running out, he worries how she'll be able to deliver the baby.

"Everyday is worse than before," said Mhanna, who is not only taking care of his pregnant wife and two-year-old son but is also carrying out aid work with the Red cross.

The Red cross said today that around 60 tons of aid, including medical supplies has been mobilized and is ready to be sent into Gaza, including a four-person surgical team.

All eyes are still on the Rafah crossing at Gaza's border with Egypt, where aid is expected to cross into the Palestinian enclave. the International Committee of the Red Cross said the waiting convoy and many more deliveries would be needed.

"We have more supplies ready to go which are on the way but this will only go so far. A sustained flow of humanitarian aid is needed," a spokesperson told NBC News Friday.

Israel's foreign minister has urged international unity in calling for the release of the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.

Eli Cohen said Friday he met with 22 foreign ambassadors and diplomats Friday whose citizens were taken hostage and are being held in Gaza to form "a unified and broad front" for their release as soon as possible.

"The crimes of Hamas are unforgivable. Kidnapping civilians, including babies, children, women and Holocaust survivors, is against every international law and every human norm," Cohen wrote on X.

"We will do everything to free all the abductees. In addition, we demand that the international organizations and the Red Cross reach out to the abductees in order to verify their condition and the conditions in which they are being held."

Israel on Friday released video of night attacks across Gaza, saying it hit over a hundred operational targets in the Gaza Strip.

JERUSALEM, Israel — Twenty-two people died and more than 70 were injured in the bombing of six homes in the southern city of Khan Yunis early Friday, Gaza's health authorities said.

One of the few Muslim members of Congress told NBC News she feels her life may be in danger after being inundated with threats since a terror attack sparked the war in Gaza, reflecting wider fears among Muslim Americans who feel they are being targeted to a degree unseen since the days after 9/11. 

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., whose family fled Somalia’s civil war before emigrating to the United States, unequivocally condemned the Hamas attack, but her longstanding criticism of Israel policy toward Palestinians and Washington’s support for the country has made her a lightning rod.

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Thousands of people in Gaza are hoping the first convoy of trucks with the badly-needed humanitarian aid will be allowed to enter the enclave on Friday through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

President Joe Biden said after returning from his trip to Israel on Wednesday that he agreed with the Egyptian government to allow up to 20 aid trucks to go into Gaza, but it was not clear how imminently that could happen.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, who has been pleading for unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, is expected to visit the crossing on Friday as part of his visit to Egypt.

It comes as more than 2 million people inside Gaza are desperately waiting for the resumption of humanitarian aid after Israel cut off food, water, fuel and electricity last week in retaliation for the bloody Hamas incursion earlier this month, leaving the enclave on the brink of the humanitarian collapse.

llege students have faced backlash after participating in Israel-Palestine protests on campus, with potential employers rescinding offers to candidates. NBC News' Jake Ward reports.

ASHDOD, Israel — Residents of the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, near Israel's border with Lebanon, will be evacuated from the area, Israeli officials announced this morning.

The IDF notified the city's mayor of the evacuation plans "a short while ago," the Israeli Ministry of Defense's National Emergency Management Authority and the IDF announced, saying the program would be led by the local municipality.

They said residents would be evacuated into "state-subsidized guesthouses."

It comes as Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have clashed at the border in recent days, with the Iran-backed militant group claiming yesterday it had hit five Israeli army positions with "direct and appropriate weapons."

A U.S. Navy warship on Thursday shot down multiple drones and three cruise missiles that were fired from Yemen and heading “potentially towards Israel,” a Defense Department spokesman said.

The USS Carney was in the northern Red Sea when it took out the missiles and more than a dozen drones, said Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary.

There were no casualties, but such incidents “may be ongoing,” he said.

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Israel’s Defense Minister told troops they would soon see Gaza “from the inside,” signaling a potential Israeli ground operation could come soon.

NBC News' Richard Engel reports from Israel on fears of a widening war in the Middle East and the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Here are just some of our article on the conflict in the last 24 hours.

• Inside the White House’s outreach to the family of the slain 6-year-old Palestinian American boy
• Israel-Hamas war ignites fight between Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley
• Biden urges aid for Israel and Ukraine and calls on Israel ‘not to be blinded by rage'
• U.N. calls for cease-fire to break bottleneck at Rafah Crossing and get aid into Gaza
• Drones attack U.S. troops in Syria as tensions flare in Middle East over Gaza hospital blast
• Israel is primed for a Gaza ground assault ‘soon,’ former PM says, despite delays and concerns
• Veteran State Dept Official resigns over U.S.’ ‘blind support’ of Israel in its war against Hamas
• Death threats and doxxing: War with Hamas fuels free speech debate on Israeli college campuses
• E.U. demands Meta and TikTok detail efforts to curb disinformation from Israel-Hamas war

Former NBC News foreign correspondent Martin Fletcher said today that two members of his wife’s family are being held hostage by Hamas.

Fletcher, NBC News’ former Middle East correspondent, told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle that he found out only today.

“This is a very personal thing,” Fletcher said. The two are Americans from Evanston, Illinois, who were in Israel visiting their grandmother for her 85th birthday, he said.

“They were last seen, their hands tied, being dragged away by the Hamas terrorists,” Fletcher said. “So it’s personal, it’s real, and nobody is really confident that it’s possible to get them back alive. Of course, everybody’s hoping.”

WASHINGTON — A Jewish American woman who survived the Hamas terrorist attack on the Supernova music festival that killed at least 260 people in Israel was in Washington today to plead for support from U.S. government officials.

Natalie Sanandanji, a New Yorker born to Israeli and Iranian parents, said she feels “detached” from her near-death experience.

“I do believe that the fact that I feel so detached is what’s giving me the strength to share my story, and for now I’m going to use that strength because I share my story as much as I can,” she told NBC News at the Capitol.

Sanandanji, 28, met with second gentleman Doug Emhoff and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history.

Biden’s call for “building a better Middle East” may be a difficult argument to make, but it’s one that’s necessary, NBC News’ Keir Simmons reports.

As the Hamas-Israel conflict continues in the Middle East, U.S. officials are spotlighting an increase in reported threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities and institutions in the United States.