Biden addresses the nation on Israel; U.N. calls for cease-fire to open Rafah crossing to get aid into Gaza

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.”

Fletcher said, “Hamas is using the hostages for psychological warfare.”

A spokesman for Hamas, the terrorist group that launched attacks on Israel, has said the militant group held about 200 hostages.

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.

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.

She said that in addition to humanitarian and military aid — part of a supplemental funding request the Biden administration is expected to announce this week — lawmakers need to speak up about the uptick in violence and threats against the Jewish community.

“A lot of people have asked me if I feel safe now that I’m back in the states, and honestly, the answer is no,” Sanandanji said, referring to pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country.

"This isn’t a fight between Israel and Palestine. This is a fight between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist organization," she said. "Killing innocent people is not going to free Palestine, and Hamas is just as complicit in the deaths of innocent Palestinians as they are in the deaths of innocent Israelis.”

Both antisemitic incidents and hate crimes against Palestinians and Muslims, as well as discriminatory rhetoric and threats, have been reported since the war began.

Sanandanji recounted her harrowing experience as she narrowly escaped death nearly two weeks ago.

When she heard the initial rockets, she said, a local told her not to worry — it happens often in that area, and the music would probably resume soon. But minutes later, the rockets only intensified, and Sanandanji was told to get in her car and leave.

“At this point, I thought to myself, ‘We’re going to be stuck in traffic for a while; it’s gonna take a while for us to get out,’” she said. “I went to the bathrooms by the exit of the festival, and a few days ago I saw a video surface of the Hamas terrorists going to those exact bathrooms, moments after I was there, and just shooting at every stall — trying to kill anyone who was hiding. And so that’s one of the moments where it hit me the hardest, how close I was to not being here today.”

After it became clear armed Hamas militants had stormed the area, Sanandanji and her friends ran for four hours to get to the nearest town. They hid under a tree to catch their breath when a white pickup began driving toward them. “We kind of all looked at each other and realized we have nowhere to run to if this is a terrorist. We just kind of all sat back down and accepted our fate.”

But it wasn’t a terrorist. It was a stranger who saved their lives.

"He picked us up. He drove us to his town, and as soon as he dropped us off, I didn’t even have a chance to thank him. He turned right back around to save more kids,” she recalled, holding back tears. “Whether it was God watching over me or whether it was luck, I don’t know. But I’d like to believe that it was God watching over me, and I believe it’s my duty to share this story for all those who can’t.”

Parts of Gaza’s oldest church, which was sheltering displaced families, have collapsed in an explosion.

Ibrahim Jahshan, a Palestinian Christian who is a singer and caretaker of the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrios, said he was there when the blast happened and had been sheltering there with his family. 

“We didn’t leave our church. We leave our house, we leave our homes, but we will die here,” he said, adding that there were still bodies under the rubble that people were trying to rescue.

“No one needs war, and the Christians here don’t have any bomb, any guns. Most of us here are sick and old and children,” he said, adding that many Muslims were sheltering there after having fled their homes in the area who had regularly helped out with upkeep of the church.

In a video showing the aftermath of the collapse, civilians and emergency responders use flashlights as they search through piles of rubble in the dark.

Many civilians are reportedly being taken to al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, which has been overwhelmed with injured patients. 

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

One shows injured civilians frantically exiting an ambulance in front of the hospital saying that there are people wounded and that “there are people under the rubble.” Another video shows a civilian pleading for help, saying he is a Christian Muslim in Gaza and has “no place left to live.”

“We don’t want war. We want peace,”  Jahshan said. “Please pray for the Christians and Muslims here in Gaza.”

The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem denounced what it described as a bombing in a statement obtained by NBC News.

“Targeting churches and its affiliated institutions, in addition to the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children and women who lost their homes because of the Israeli bombing of residential areas during the past thirteen days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored,” the statement said.

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

The church’s founding dates to A.D. 407. It became a mosque in the seventh century before a new church was built in the 12th century during the Crusades.

WASHINGTON — Biden spoke to the nation in a rare prime-time address tonight, explaining why he believes it’s crucial for Israel and Ukraine to win the wars they’re fighting, as he looks to build support for a hefty aid package aimed at strengthening both countries.

While Biden said Israel endured a horrifying attack from Hamas militants on Oct. 7, he cautioned Israelis not to repeat the mistakes an angered U.S. made after terrorists attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001.

“When I was in Israel yesterday, I said that when America experienced the hell of 9/11, we felt enraged, as well,” Biden said. “While we sought and got justice, we made mistakes. So I cautioned the government of Israel not to be blinded by rage.”

Read the full story here.

Biden said he and Netanyahu “discussed the critical need for Israel to operate by the laws of war” in its war with Hamas.

“That means protecting civilians in combat as best as they can,” Biden said.

He said civilians in Gaza urgently need food, water and medicine, and he referred to an agreement he reached with Israel and Egypt to allow humanitarian assistance to enter Gaza through the Rafah gate in Egypt.

Biden also called on Congress to pass a budget request for assistance for Israel and Ukraine, and he said the U.S. must make sure the Israelis have "what they need to protect their people, today and always."

“We’re going to make sure other hostile actors in the region know that Israel is stronger than ever and prevent this conflict from spreading,” he said.

Biden said tonight that “America is a beacon to the world” as he sought to call for the U.S. to stand by Israel and Ukraine in the wake of war and terrorist attacks.

Biden recalled former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s description of the U.S. as “the indispensable nation.”

“Tonight, there are innocent people all over the world who hope because of us, who believe in a better life because of us, who are desperate not to be forgotten by us, and who are waiting for us,” he said.

“Time is of the essence,” he said. “I know we have our divisions at home. We have to get past them. We can't let petty, partisan, angry politics get in the way of our responsibilities as a great nation."

In his Oval Office speech tonight, Biden reaffirmed support for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestinians.

“As hard as it is, we cannot give up on peace. We cannot give up on a two-state solution,” Biden said.

“Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity and peace,” he said.

Biden also decried “too much hate” in the U.S. that has led to Islamophobia and antisemitism, which have intensified in the wake of the conflict.

He referred to the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, and the stabbing of his mother in Illinois in what authorities have said was a hate crime.

“We can’t stand by and stand silent when this happens,” Biden said. He said Americans must "without equivocation" denounce hate against Jewish people and Muslims.

Biden will send an “urgent budget request” to Congress seeking assistance for Israel and Ukraine.

He called the request an “unprecedented commitment to Israel’s security” that would help its Iron Dome missile defense system.

Biden said the request would be "to fund America's national security needs, to support our critical partners, including Israel and Ukraine."

Biden called it "a smart investment that's going to pay dividends for American security for generations" and "help us keep American troops out of harm's way."

Biden also said that the U.S. is sending weapons to Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles and that money allocated by Congress is used to replenish U.S. stockpiles with new equipment.

“American leadership is what holds the world together,” he said.

At a time when much of the rhetoric around the Israel-Hamas war is furious, Biden used the language of empathy to make his case.

"In Israel, I saw a people who are strong, determined, resilient and also angry, in shock and in deep, deep pain," Biden said, adding later that he is "heartbroken by the tragic loss of Palestinian life."

By now, it's not surprising that Biden turns to his trademark style to bolster his arguments. But his tone was still striking given that he was delivering an Oval Office address in which he was asking Congress for money for countries at war.

At the same time, Biden sought to show empathy for domestic audiences in both the Jewish and Muslim communities — at a moment when both are listening closely to, and judging, his every word.

"We must, without equivocation, denouncing antisemitism. We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia," he said. "And all you heard it as you’re hurting. I want you to know I see you. You belong. And I want to say this to you: You’re all American."

Biden told the nation today that if the U.S. abandons Ukraine, other countries will try similar acts of aggression.

In the rare Oval Office address, Biden made the case to the American public for why the U.S. should lend support for the foreign conflicts.

He said if Putin’s “appetite for power and control in Ukraine” is not stopped, “he won’t limit himself just to Ukraine.”

“Beyond Europe, we know that our allies and maybe most importantly our adversaries and competitors are watching, they’re watching our response in Ukraine, as well,” Biden said.

And if the U.S. walks away and lets Putin erase Ukraine’s independence, “would-be aggressors around the world will be emboldened to try the same,” he said.

Biden said Iran supports Russia's war against Ukraine and also supports Hamas.

In laying out the case for American support for Ukraine and Israel, Biden warned that if Russian President Vladimir Putin attacks a NATO country, “we will defend every inch of NATO.”

“We’ll have something that we do not seek — make it clear, we do not seek,” he said. “We do not seek to have American troops fighting in Russia or fighting against Russia.”

Biden called NATO "the cornerstone of American security" that for 75 years has kept peace in Europe.

Biden said in tonight’s address that Russia’s Vladimir Putin and the Gaza terrorist group Hamas are similar in that “they both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.”

“Hamas’ stated purpose for existing is the destruction of the state of Israel and the murder of the Jewish people,” Biden said.

Biden said that Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people and that it uses civilians as human shields. Putin denies Ukrainian statehood, Biden said.

"History has taught us that when terrorists don't pay a price for their terror, when dictators don't pay a price for their for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction," he said. "They keep going."

Biden tied the U.S. mission in Ukraine to its support for Israel, explicitly drawing a parallel between two conflicts in different regions of the world — an important through line for the consistency of both his policy and his political argument that he is a better defender of democracy than his predecessor and leading political rival, former President Donald Trump.

It's crucial for the administration's credibility that its support of democracy — and condemnation of the killing of innocents — remains the same in both theaters.

"Hamas and Putin represent different threats," Biden said, but he added that they have a common bond: "They both want to annihilate a neighboring democracy."

In asking Congress for a supplemental spending measure, he argued that "American leadership is what holds the world together."

To turn America's back on Ukraine or Israel would "put all that at risk," Biden said. In doing so, he challenged Republicans to choose between supporting America, its allies and democracy or being seen as abandoning them.

Biden said in his address to the nation tonight that “we’re facing an inflection point” and that the decisions today will affect decades to come.

Biden said that Hamas “unleashed pure unadulterated evil” in its attack on Israel and that his administration is “pursuing every avenue” to bring American hostages home.

The United Nations has called for “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire” to break the bottleneck at the Rafah crossing and enable desperately needed aid to reach Palestinians trapped in Gaza.

The call for a break in the fighting comes a day after Biden got the Israelis to agree to allow limited aid into the teeming Palestinian territory.

“For nearly two weeks, the people of Gaza have gone without any shipments of fuel, food, water, medicine and other essentials,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said at a news conference in Egypt. “Disease is spreading. Supplies are dwindling. People are dying.”

The Rafah crossing, along with the El Arish airport in Egypt, “are the lifelines to the people of Gaza,” Guterres said.

As Guterres spoke, aid trucks were lined up at the border crossing while Egyptian work crews rushed to repair roads badly damaged by Israeli missile attacks launched in retaliation for the brutal Hamas terrorist attack, which has sparked the latest war in the Holy Land.

Read the full story here.

The number of journalists killed in the conflict in Israel and Gaza has risen to at least 21, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Earlier this week the organization had said the number was 17.

Of those killed, 17 were Palestinian, three were Israeli, and one was Lebanese. A Reuters video journalist was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, near where Israel and Hezbollah militants had exchanged fire, the news agency reported at the time.

Eight journalists have been injured and three are either reported missing or detained, the committee said.

Sky News’ Stuart Ramsay reports from the West Bank, where small groups are targeting Israeli forces, praying on the streets for the people of Gaza and sharing their views on the Israel-Hamas war. 

NEW DELHI — India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and conveyed his condolences for the loss of civilian lives at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza.

“We will continue to send humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people,” Modi said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

He said he “reiterated India’s long-standing principled position on the Israel-Palestine issue.” At a briefing earlier, India’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said India was in favor of negotiations to establish a two-state solution, which allows for an independent Palestinian state.

Modi told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week that “the people of India stand in solidarity with Israel in this difficult hour.”

During the Cold War, India leaned heavily in favor of the Palestinians, but its ties to Israel have grown since 1992 when the two countries established diplomatic relations. In 2017, Modi became the first prime minister to visit Israel.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday that he plans to make a one-day trip Israel to meet some of those affected by the war.

The Democratic governor will arrive in Israel Friday and will depart the same day. The announcement by Newsom’s office did not specify where the governor would go.

His office said California will send medical supplies to the region, including to the Gaza Strip.

California is home to the largest population of Arab Americans in the United States, according to the Arab American Institute. It also has the second largest populations of Jews in the U.S., according to the American Jewish Population Project at Brandeis University.

“We are going to win with all our might,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told IDF soldiers stationed at the Gaza border ahead of an expected ground offensive against Hamas.

Some Instagram users noticed the platform’s automatic translation feature had inserted the word “terrorist” into profile bios containing the word “Palestinian” and the Arabic phrase “ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ” — which means “praise be to God.”

Earlier this week, Instagram had translated the phrase “Palestinian 🇵🇸 ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّٰهِ” into “Praise be to god, Palestinian terrorists are fighting for their freedom.” Meta said the glitch has since been addressed.

“We fixed a problem that briefly caused inappropriate Arabic translations in some of our products,” a spokesperson for Meta told 404 Media, which first reported on the issue. “We sincerely apologize that this happened.”

It was unclear why these erroneous translations occurred or for how long they were in effect. NBC News has reached out to Meta for comment.

CENTRAL ISRAEL — Hundreds of people gathered at midday in the Holon cemetery in central Israel. The Middle Eastern sun showed no mercy, bearing down on all who gathered. They came to pay their respects to 23-year-old Ofek Kimhi, who was killed at the Supernova festival the morning of Oct. 7.

Kimhi loved his local football team “Hapoel Tel Aviv” and today, the club returned his love, showing up in the dozens, all dressed in red. His family, too, wore red shirts with his name on one line, the line below reading 2001 — 2023.

The sound of uncontrollable sobbing traveled through the crowd. The father was inconsolable. The mother was in a flood of tears but determined to speak to him one last time.

“You loved the land and the nature,” she said. “You loved to love life.” “You lit up every room.” “You were my gift."

“There’s no comfort,” she says. “For 12 days I didn’t know where you were, but I felt you.” 

“Sleep, my baby, sleep. Don’t be afraid,” his mother said.

“You’ll always be my prince, she said. “You’ll always be my child."  The song “A Mother’s Hero” played after the eulogies.

The family wailed as the body was lowered to the ground, holding on to one another. The agony of uncertainty was over as he was laid to rest among the fresh graves, all victims of the Oct. 7 massacre. Today his family is facing a new pain and a void that may never be filled.

The “laws of war,” also called International Humanitarian Law, refer to a set of rules agreed upon in international conventions and treaties over the last 150 years. A series of treaties, known as the Geneva Conventions, were adopted in 1864, 1906, 1929 and 1949 to limit “the barbarity of war,” according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Additional Protocols of 1977, the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, as well as conventional weapons conventions, are also part of International Humanitarian Law, also known as IHL.

The overriding goal of IHL is to protect civilians by restricting the actions of military forces. They are designed to protect people who do not take part in the fighting, such as civilians, medics and aid workers, as well as those who can no longer fight, such as wounded and sick combatants, and prisoners of war.

There are five basic principles under International Humanitarian Law: military actions must be necessary; they must distinguish between civilians and legitimate military targets; they must be proportionate, meaning they must avoid to the extent possible incidental harm; they must avoid unnecessary suffering, sometimes referred to as humanity; and, finally, the actions taken by the military must be honorable. 

Read the full story here

SAN FRANCISCO — Uber and Lyft said Thursday they were not seeing an increase in reports of discrimination on their ride-hailing platforms, despite social media posts suggesting otherwise. 

In the past two weeks, numerous unverified anecdotes have gone viral on social media alleging that drivers from Lyft or Uber were making death threats against passengers based on Jewish names. The anecdotes often cite second- or third-hand information and urge people to change their names on the apps. 

Uber said in a statement to NBC News that they “have not seen an increase in reports of discrimination or any verified reports that align with these social media posts.” Lyft also said it had not seen an increase in such reports. 

Uber and Lyft said they are asking passengers and drivers to report any instances of discrimination through their apps. Both companies said they condemn all forms of discrimination. On both apps, drivers see passengers’ first names but not their last names. 

Over the years there have been specific incidents of alleged antisemitism and anti-Muslim discrimination involving ride-share apps. In December, the X account @StopAntisemites posted a video that it said showed an Uber driver saying there were too many Jews. 

Not specific to ride-hailing apps, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that the Justice Department is monitoring an increase in reported threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities. U.S. law enforcement agencies have said they’re preparing for the possibility of violence related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The MTV Europe Music Awards, originally scheduled for Nov. 5, are no longer happening this year "out of an abundance of caution" during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

"As we watch the devastating events in Israel and Gaza continue to unfold, this does not feel like a moment for a global celebration. With thousands of lives already lost, it is a moment of mourning," a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement. "We look forward to hosting the MTV EMAs again in November of 2024."

Thousands of fans, employees, artists and crewmembers were set to travel to Paris for the annual celebration of global music.

The Senate Intelligence Committee chair said Thursday on MSNBC that based on a classified intelligence briefing, he was “confident that Israel was not the source” of the bombing at a hospital in Gaza.

“We have two different types of intelligence that we’ve reviewed, and I am confident that Israel was not the source of this errant rocket,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said Thursday after the classified intelligence briefing. “I do think the challenge has been that folks rushed to judgment.” 

Speaking about President Joe Biden’s remarks telling Israel not to repeat the mistakes in their response to Hamas as the U.S. did after 9/11, Warner said it was a sign of maturity for an American leader to say that “taking out the perpetrators of 9/11 was the right thing to do” but at the same time being "willing to acknowledge that maybe we didn’t get it 100% right.” 

“I hope the world listens to that. I hope Israelis listen,” he added.

Israel has frozen more than 100 cryptocurrency accounts tied to Hamas, the country's National Cyber Directorate said Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"The freezing of crypto accounts to prevent funding for terror attacks is a proactive step in addressing the misuse of digital currencies for illicit purposes," the agency's post said.

A spokesperson for Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, told NBC News that it had frozen some accounts allegedly tied to Hamas but declined to comment further, saying the investigation was ongoing.

The State Department said Thursday that the United States met with Israeli and Egyptian officials today “to develop the exact mechanisms to implement the framework” of getting humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. 

“We continue to provide Israel with the assistance it needs to defeat Hamas, and you will hear the president speak more about that tonight,” Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the State Department, said at a news conference Thursday. “We continue to work to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

He said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken made clear during his trip this week in the Middle East that “the United States strongly supports Israel, and its right to defend itself “ and “that support is unwavering.” He added that the United States “supports the aspirations of the Palestinian people who are the victims of Hamas’ acts of terrorism. And we believe it is important to establish mechanisms to keep civilians in Gaza out of harm’s way and provide them with humanitarian assistance.”

A Telegram channel that appears to be affiliated with Hamas is offering a custom official media app, cybersecurity researchers say.

According to a report published Thursday by Recorded Future, the app is designed only for Android phones, which are overwhelmingly popular in the Middle East, and became available around the time Hamas invaded Israel last week. It's programmed to call back to an official Hamas site for information, and doesn't appear to be a front for deliberately malicious software, the report found.

Despite European Union regulations against sharing terror content, official branded Hamas videos have been posted to Telegram and gone viral on X, formerly known as Twitter, since the invasion. A dedicated media app could potentially serve as another way for the group to reach followers if the tech platforms did censor their posts.

The U.S. Department of State said Thursday that 32 Americans have been killed in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the State Department, said at a news conference Thursday that as part of the ongoing conflict, 32 Americans are dead, 11 remain unaccounted for and “with respect to our work to secure the release of hostages, that work is ongoing.”

ASHDOD, Israel — One student is facing suspension for posting a picture on social media celebrating her sister’s engagement. Others have been targeted for expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. All are suffering from what some schools and a legal advocacy group is calling an Israeli crackdown on free speech.

Along with police, schools and employers are seemingly targeting people for innocuous social media posts including quotes from the Quran, Adi Mansour, a lawyer with Adalah — The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, told NBC News on Wednesday.

In the days since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, Mansour said Adalah has received at least 80 reports from students at colleges and universities across Israel of being suspended, expelled or even arrested for their online musings.

Some social media users threatened “to kill them, to rape them, threats to go to their house,” Mansour said. He added that others had been doxxed, meaning their personal information was posted online.

Read the full story here.

In a statement, Hezbollah claimed it has struck five Israeli army positions with "direct and appropriate weapons."

"They were hit accurately and a quantity of their technical equipment was destroyed," the Iran-backed militant group said.

In recent days, Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants have clashed at Israel's northern border. Hezbollah fighters fired guided rockets and artillery into Israel just hours after the Hamas terror attack on Oct. 7; Israel retaliated with an artillery barrage.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told soldiers they will soon see Gaza “from the inside.”

“Be ready, the order will come. And those who now see Gaza from afar will see it from the inside. I promise you. Good luck,” he told infantry troops gathered at the Gaza border today.

Gallant said there would be no forgiveness for the attack on Israel, “only total annihilation of Hamas organization — terror infrastructures, everything that has to do with terrorists and whoever sent them.”

“It will take a week, it will take a month, it will take two months, until we eliminate them,” he said. “You are not alone in battle.”

Rows of white tents have gone up to shelter internally displaced people seeking safe haven from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) center in Khan Younis, southern Gaza.

“We left our homes to stay in tents, just like our ancestors. We never expected to be here in tents. We want a truce, we are tired,” Asmaa Sabah, a displaced Palestinian at the tent site, told Reuters. “What does Israel want from us? We are displaced from our homes, what more do they want?”

“All what we want is a truce, so that one can go home, to leave in safety and stability,” Fedaa Zaqout, another displaced Palestinian, told Reuters.

“Until now, there is no life, no food, no drink, no water,” Zaqout said. “This is not a life. We live in fear, we are scared.”

TEL AVIV — A difficult and bloody ground assault on the Gaza Strip is still likely in the coming days, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has told NBC News, despite mounting fury in the Arab world over a deadly hospital blast that has intensified fears of broader escalation in the region.

Barak — who has rare experience of such an operation after having served as defense minister during the country’s largest Gaza ground incursion in 2009 — said that if the spreads, it could spark a wider war involving "more time, toil, sweat, tears and blood."

He maintained, however, that even if that happens, Israel will not be under existential threat. “We don’t need another war. But if we have one, then we will fight one,” he said in a wide-ranging interview late Wednesday. “And Israel will win.”

Barak’s worldview stems from his lifelong career as a military man-turned-politician. He rose from a special forces commando to commander in chief of the Israel Defense Forces, before entering politics and serving as prime minister once and defense minister twice, as well as stints heading up the interior and foreign ministries.

Read the full story here.

The State Department issued a worldwide caution advisory Thursday, due to “increased tensions in various locations around the world, the potential for terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests," it said.

The State Department said U.S. citizens should stay alert in tourist locations, follow the department on social media and enroll in its Smart Traveler Enrollment Program to receive alerts and make those citizens easier to locate during an emergency overseas.

JERUSALEM — Diplomatic efforts are ramping up in the Middle East. 

Leaders in the region are heading toward the Egyptian capital, Cairo, and a broad Arab summit seems likely with leaders from the Gulf countries. Officials from Egypt, the King of Jordan and many others are attending to try to discuss ways to contain the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

People in the region are now talking about the possibility of a war, one that could have consequences for generations, which kings and other leaders are desperately trying to avert.

The summit will be similar to the one President Joe Biden was supposed to attend yesterday, which was canceled after the blast at al-Ahli Hospital, a Christian-run medical complex in central Gaza City.  

Following evacuation orders, Nowar Diab, 20, fled her home in Gaza City last week to stay with relatives in Khan Younis in hopes of dodging air strikes.

"We drank salt water because we had no access to clean water," she said, referring to the dire water shortage in Gaza that is plunging the overcrowded southern side of the strip into a deeper humanitarian crisis.

Diab said after several days of drinking salt water, her family was now filling bottles of clean water "whenever we have access to it" and conserving it for the day.

"Showering is difficult, the basic humanitarian needs are so difficult," she said. "I feel lucky that I can shower. I feel lucky that I can drink water."

Diab has been staying in the south for nearly a week now. No humanitarian aid has entered yet with signs it might finally cross on Friday.

"I thank God for everything. But for you just to feel like all these basic things for you are so much. I feel like a little bit sad because of this. All the basic things are difficult," she said

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Thursday that a convoy “carrying 60 tons of aid, including urgently needed medical items” has been mobilized for Gaza, “but safe humanitarian access is urgently needed to deliver them to civilians in need.”

The ICRC also said that a four-person surgical team that includes a chief surgeon, an orthopedic surgeon, an anesthetist, and a nurse were on standby to support overwhelmed hospitals in the Gaza Strip.

“The recent violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory is at a level that the ICRC has not witnessed in many years,” the statement said. “The conflict has the potential to spiral further out of control, causing even more suffering to civilians on both sides.”

The ICRC added that “hospitals are on the brink of collapse, electricity is running out and people have little food or water. The level of humanitarian needs created by the violence requires sustained humanitarian relief.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has delivered planes of humanitarian aid to Egypt with 40 tons of supplies to arrive in the coming days, but are still waiting for the Rafah Crossing to open the route to Gaza.

General Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said WHO has provided equipment and medications that can meet the needs of 300,000 people with medical conditions, including pregnant women.

Israel said yesterday it will not block the delivery of food, water, and medicine into Gaza, but Ghebreyesus also stressed the importance of fuel to power hospitals.

"Our trucks are loaded and ready to go,” Ghebreyesus said. "We’re working with Egypt and Palestine Red Crescent societies to deliver our supplies into Gaza as soon as the border crossing is opened, hopefully tomorrow.”

All the pallets of aid are "extremely well documented" and pre-packed, but getting them across the Rafah crossing is only the first part the journey, said Dr. Michael Ryan, WHO's executive director of emergency programs.

"The roads are very badly destroyed," Ryan said. "There’s a huge issue of deconflicting those routes so that the trucks that carry that material are not attacked in any way or disrupted — and that the goods can be offloaded safely and put into storage for further distribution."

The organization has distributed resources in numerous conflict zones, but Ryan noted that humanitarian assistance needs to be delivered every day into Gaza.

"I pray this evening — and I don't pray very often — that that border will open tomorrow.... Two and a half million people need assistance," Ryan said. "Twenty trucks is a drop in the ocean."

The Israeli military allowed media into the Nir Oz kibbutz in Israel today, where photographers encountered charred and bloody interiors in the aftermath of an attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7.

Eli Beer, the head of United Hatzalah, a volunteer emergency medical services organization in Israel, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" today that Biden's visit yesterday "uplifted the spirit of every Israeli" in the wake of the Hamas terror attack.

Beer, who founded United Hatzalah and spoke with Biden yesterday, described some of the atrocities he witnessed on Oct. 7:

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., one of the lawmakers who joined a bipartisan trip to Israel last week, told Willie Geist on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" today that the families of people taken hostage by Hamas are "really looking towards the United States" for help in getting their loved ones home.

Cassidy added that many of those families are "very disappointed" with Israel's military and political leadership for being "so caught off-guard" by the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, which killed more than 1,000 people.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) posted video on X purporting to show "huge bombardments" around Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City last night. The organization is a branch operating under the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and Al-Quds is one of its hospitals.

Al-Quds "is sustaining damages and shrapnels inside the buildings of PRCS and constituting high threat — noting that more than 8,000 IDPs [internationally displaced persons] are taking refuge at PRCS," the post said.

The organization added the hashtags "NotATarget" and "WarCrimes" to the post.

A grandmother and granddaughter missing since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7 were confirmed dead by the Israeli military — the worst possible news for Abbey Onn and the rest of their family.

Carmela Dan, Onn’s elderly aunt, and Noya Dan, Carmela’s 12-year-old granddaughter, were found dead yesterday, according to a post from the official Israel account on X. Onn says she was told their bodies were found in Gaza by IDF soldiers.

“We believe that their bodies were found over the Gaza border,” Onn, who is Israeli American, told NBC News’ Lester Holt on Thursday. “There was an operation by the Israeli army some days ago at this point to retrieve bodies and we believe that it took them time to run what we know to be three DNA tests and to identify that it was both of them.”

Asked if the two were hostages at any point, Onn said that the fact they were found over the border may point to that, but they are still waiting to get more information. 

The family has been trying to cope with uncertainty for more than a week, even holding an 80th birthday party for Carmela on Tuesday in the hopes it would bolster their emotional strength. But Onn said they have finally been forced to sit down with their young family members and tell them what has happened. 

Onn says Israelis want to “live without the fear” and the families of hostages have expressed to all the leaders they’ve spoken to that they want action.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut alerted Americans in Lebanon to make plans to leave as soon as possible "while commercial options are still available."

"We recommend that U.S. citizens who choose not to depart prepare contingency plans for emergency situations," the alert said. "U.S. citizens in Lebanon who need emergency assistance should contact the Department of State using this crisis intake form."

This follows a State Department Travel Advisory issued on Tuesday advising U.S. citizens to not travel to Lebanon "due to the unpredictable security situation."

The European Union has escalated its investigations into both Meta and TikTok for how they each are moderating Hamas terror content.

The European Commission, the E.U.’s executive arm, said Thursday that both companies have until next Wednesday, Oct. 25, to provide more information about how they’re protecting users from terror content, in accordance with strict regulations adopted earlier this year.

The announcement comes one week after a similar warning was given to X, formerly known as Twitter. Unlike Meta and TikTok, which appear to be conducting at least some enforcement of terror content, official branded Hamas content has gone viral on that platform after multiple verified accounts reposted their videos.

Homeland Security is warning that the war between Israel and Hamas has led to a dramatic increase in online hate speech in the United States, leading law enforcement to step up their readiness amid concerns about potential violence. NBC’s Tom Costello reports for "TODAY."

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel today, where the two leaders "underscored the need to prevent any regional escalation in the conflict," according to a Downing Street spokesperson.

In recent days, clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon at Israel's northern border have stoked fears of a widening crisis.

Sunak is said to have "welcomed" Netanyahu's announcement yesterday that Israel would open up aid access to the Gaza Strip via Egypt, according to the spokesperson. The British leader "emphasized the importance" of getting more food, water, medicine and fuel into the Palestinian enclave, and making sure that British nationals trapped there can leave.

Sunak "underscored the U.K.’s firm belief in Israel’s right to self-defense in accordance with international humanitarian law, as they work to end the threat of Hamas and secure the freedom of hundreds of Israeli hostages," the spokesperson said.

JERUSALEM — Israel's Defense Forces said a Hamas militant who was trying to escape back into Gaza was caught on Wednesday and handed over to authorities.

“The task of purifying the area is not over yet,” IDF spokesperson Daniel Hagari said during a briefing on Thursday.

Hagari also said that the number of families who have been notified that their loved ones have been taken hostage by Hamas has grown to 203.

So far, Hamas has released a video statement from only one Israeli hostage, but it was not clear when and where the footage was shot. The fate of the remaining hostages remains unclear, but many are believed to have been taken into Gaza.

Hamas has claimed some Israeli hostages have died in Gaza as the result of Israeli airstrikes, but it has not provided their names or proof of their deaths.

JERUSALEM — Shortly after President Biden left, Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip intensified. Within hours of him taking off, the bombs rained down on the besieged enclave.  

The Gaza Strip remains cut off.  Fuel and medical supplies are running out.

TEL AVIV — Most of the rockets fired by Palestinian militants at Israel are intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system, but occasionally one gets through. And NBC News just witnessed an explosion perhaps 100 yards offshore from the beach in Tel Aviv.

It wasn't clear if the Iron Dome failed to intercept this missile or left it alone because it wasn't headed for a populated area, which the military often does.

The blast appeared to consist of gray smoke and a large splash of water, but no fireball. It followed citywide sirens and mobile app alerts, which are raised most days and usually followed by the distant thud of the missile defense system, the protection of which the people of Gaza do not enjoy.

NBC News analyst Jeremy Bash joins "TODAY" to weigh in on the intelligence that led U.S. officials to conclude that it was not Israel behind a deadly bombing at a hospital in Gaza and what is preventing aid from getting into Gaza from the Egyptian border.

Two senior leaders in Hamas have been killed in Israeli strikes, the group said, and a third has been arrested in the West Bank.

Maj. Gen. Jihad Mheisen, commander of Hamas' security forces, was killed along with several family members in a bombing on his home in Gaza City, according to an obituary from the Palestinian Ministry of Interior and National Security Forces.

Jamila al-Shanti, the first and only woman to be elected to Hamas’ political bureau, was also killed in a strike.

Palestinian officials also said a senior Hamas leader, Hassan Yousef, was arrested in the West Bank. Yousef is a co-founder of Hamas and has been arrested several times.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the risk of the Israel-Hamas war expanding into a region-wide conflict is "quite serious," Russian state news agency Tass reported today.

"We are observing attempts to blame everything on Iran and consider them quite provocative," Lavrov added, according to Tass. "The Iranian leadership, I believe, takes a fairly responsible, balanced position and is calling for preventing this conflict from spreading to the entire region and neighboring countries."

There has been speculation about just how much of a role Tehran had played in the bloody incursion into Israel by Hamas earlier this month, with Iranian officials denying any involvement.

Russia has warned against "unacceptable" casualties in Gaza should Israel go ahead with a ground offensive and has tried to play the role of an international peacemaker, as it fights its own war in Ukraine.

JERUSALEM — The death toll in Gaza has reached 3,785 people, Palestinian health officials said Thursday. More than 13,000 people have been injured, they said, as the enclave is still waiting for medical aid to resume with its health care system on the brink of collapse.

Saudi Arabian citizens have been warned to either leave Lebanon and "exercise caution" amid the demonstrations taking place in support of Palestinians.

"The Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Republic of Lebanon said that it is closely following the developments of the current events in the Southern Lebanon region, calling on all citizens to adhere to the travel ban decision, and for those who are currently in Lebanon to leave Lebanese territories immediately," the embassy statement said.

CAIRO, Egypt — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met today with Michael Kurilla, commander of the U.S. Central Command, to discuss shared interests in Israel and Gaza.

According to a Facebook post from the president's official spokesperson, both Sisi and Kurilla expressed their "keenness" to strengthen partnerships between the two countries. Sisi stressed the importance of humanitarian aid for Gaza and containing the crisis.

Sisi also spoke to Kurilla of the importance of "shifting to the approach of reviving the peace path based on the solution of two states living side-by-side in peace and security, taking into account the danger of the security consequences of this conflict extending to the entire regional environment."

Egyptian footballer and Premier League star Mohamed Salah spoke out about the Hamas-Israel war on Wednesday, calling for all lives to be protected.

In a 51-second video message, Salah said there has been "too much violence and too much heartbreak and brutality."

He called for humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza immediately as the enclave faces the 11th day of a complete blockade by Israel, saying the people there are in a "terrible condition."

"The people of Gaza need food, water and medical supplies urgently," Salah, who plays for the Liverpool Football Club in England, said. "I am calling on the world leaders to come together to prevent the further slaughter of innocent souls. Humanity must prevail."

ASHDOD, Israel — Children have come out to play in Ashdod, where people have over the past couple of days appeared to start trickling out from their homes and into the streets.

The usually busy area was almost entirely empty in the days after Hamas’ deadly attack on Oct. 7, with rocket warnings also sounding in the days that followed. 

PARIS — France’s government is threatening prison terms and heavy fines for callers who make fake bomb threats after a rash of false alarms forced the evacuation of 15 airports and cancellation of 130 flights and shut the doors of Versailles Palace three times in five days.

French officials suggested young people and children may be responsible. Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti blamed “little jokers, little clowns” and vowed, “They will be found, they will be punished.”

French law allows prank calls to be punished by up to 3 years’ imprisonment and fines of $47,000, the minister said. He said minors’ parents could be made to pay for damages.

“We don’t need this. We don’t need troublemakers, psychosis, at this moment,” he said Wednesday.

France has been on heightened alert since the fatal stabbing of a schoolteacher last week that was blamed on a suspected Islamic extremist who allegedly declared allegiance to the Islamic State group.

French Transport Minister Clement Beaune said false threats were made against 17 airports on Wednesday, causing widespread disruption, the evacuation of 15 airports, cancellation of 130 flights and many flight delays.

“These false alerts are not bad jokes. They are crimes,” Beaune posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Authorities in the U.S. are ramping up security amid warnings about potential violence mounting nationwide over the Israel-Hamas war. NBC News’ Maggie Vespa has more details on a Homeland Security official saying the DHS is monitoring a “heightened threat environment.” 

Josh Paul, a director at the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, publicly resigned from his position Wednesday, citing his opposition to the "continued lethal assistance" the U.S. government is providing to Israel.

Paul said in a two-page letter on LinkedIn that it was his firm belief that third parties in conflicts such as this must choose the side of "the people caught in the middle, and that of generations yet to come."

"The fact is, blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interests of the people on both sides," he wrote. "I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer."

Paul said in an interview with HuffPost that it was "clear that there’s no arguing with" this current policy. Before resigning, Paul supported U.S. security assistance, arms transfers, and global defense partnerships at the State Department, and previously worked with the U.S. and U.K. governments on development and security issues in Iraq and Palestine.

"Given that I couldn’t shift anything,"  Paul said, "I resigned.”

SEOUL, South Korea — Hamas fighters most likely fired North Korean weapons during their Oct. 7 assault on Israel, a militant video and weapons seized by Israel show, despite Pyongyang’s denials that it arms the militant group.

South Korean officials, two experts on North Korean arms and an Associated Press analysis of weapons captured on the battlefield by Israel point toward Hamas using Pyongyang’s F-7 rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-fired weapon that fighters typically use against armored vehicles.

The evidence shines a light on the murky world of the illicit arms shipments that sanction-battered North Korea uses as a way to fund its own conventional and nuclear weapons programs.

Read the full story here.

U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said Gaza needs to return to pre-war levels of humanitarian aid, calling for 100 trucks a day in assistance to sustain the needs of civilians caught in the crossfire between Hamas and Israel.

In his report to the U.N. Security Council yesterday night, Griffiths called for an urgent mechanism to allow for the regular provision of emergency assistance to Gaza, "up to what it was before these terrible weeks."

"We need to get back to that level of ambition," Griffiths said.

Another night of protests swept the region last night, from Turkey to Morocco as civilians marched on embassies and expressed their ire at the Israeli siege on Gaza.

Overnight Turks marched with Palestinian flags and chanted slogans denouncing Israel in at least a dozen Turkish cities, including outside the Israeli embassy in the capital Ankara. Police used pepper spray and water cannon to disperse thousands of protesters who tried to enter the compound of Israel’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city.

The U.S. Consulate in Adana, Turkey, is closed until further notice as "large demonstrations" are expected throughout the next few weeks, it said. Personnel have also been advised to minimize their movements.

Security forces in contained thousands of protesters at the al-Kalouti Mosque in Amman, Jordan, and prevented them from marching on the Israeli embassy.

Jake Nelson, spokesperson for the U.S Embassy in Beirut, thanked Lebanese security forces for helping contain protests outside its building overnight.

"Unfortunately, violent protesters damaged private property in the surrounding neighborhood of the embassy, but embassy personnel and facilities remain secure and undamaged," Nelson said.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, urged Americans to take caution and avoid large gatherings throughout the country.

"Even demonstrations or events intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence," the embassy said.

China would like the Israel-Hamas war to end as soon as possible, and is willing to work with Arab countries to find a lasting solution to the conflict, President Xi Jinping said Thursday.

Xi said a cease-fire was a “top priority” to prevent the war from spreading to the broader region or spiraling out of control, Xinhua, China’s state-run news agency, quoted him as telling Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

The remarks were among Xi’s first on the conflict since Hamas launched its surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

Xi said China supports Egypt’s efforts to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, Xinhua reported. President Joe Biden announced the deal with Egypt, which will allow up to 20 trucks to enter the Palestinian enclave through the Rafah crossing, after he visited Israel on Wednesday.

The bodies of a 12-year-old girl and her 80-year-old grandmother have been found, almost two weeks after they were feared to have been taken hostage by Hamas fighters, a social media account run by Israel's foreign ministry said.

The @Israel account on X said: "Our hearts are broken."

Noya Dan and her grandmother, Carmela Dan, were reported to have hidden in a safe room in a kibbutz when Hamas fighters stormed through Israeli communities near the Gaza border on Oct. 7. No details were released on where the bodies were found or the apparent cause of death.

Relatives had been sharing a picture of Noya Dan dressed as a Hogwarts student from the Harry Potter book series, an appeal shared on social media by its author, J. K. Rowling.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said late Wednesday that another of its bakeries in Gaza was hit overnight. The bakery was distributing bread to displaced families in shelters.

"Of the 23 bakeries we work with, only 4 are operational today as most have run out of fuel," Cindy McCain, WFP's executive director, said on X, formerly Twitter.

Food, water, fuel and electricity are all running out in the enclave after it was completely blockaded by Israel last week, leaving its more than 2 million residents facing a humanitarian crisis.

Meanwhile, the WFP said today that it has 951 tons of emergency food supplies ready to deploy, awaiting clearance to enter from Egypt, just miles from the border with Gaza.

The current war is at a“very real, and extremely dangerous" risk of expanding beyond Israel and Gaza, warned Tor Wennesland, the United Nations' the Middle East Peace Process.

"I fear we are the brink of a deep and dangerous abyss that could change the trajectory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — if not the Middle East as a whole," he said. "After more than a century of conflict, and over half a century of occupation, we, the international community, have failed."

Wennesland made his remarks yesterday during a United Nations Security Council Briefing, urging that the current situation must not distract from the future. What happens "the day after" war is what the body must start working on immediately.

"What the people of Israel, Palestine and the region need, what we all need, what this Council’s mandate is in existence to secure, is for sanity and humanity to prevail, drawing on the provisions of international humanitarian law, and for urgent efforts to arrest any further descent into this brutal calamity," he said.

Palestinians work to rescue a boy trapped in the rubble today following an Israeli strike on a house in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrived in Israel on Thursday to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials.

Sunak's trip follows that of President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

Hundreds of protesters in Chicago marched on Wednesday evening, echoing demonstrations that erupted globally amid outrage over the deadly bombing of Gaza City’s al-Ahli Hospital.

Shaaban Sawada was sitting in front of his house in Gaza's Deir al Balah, when an Israeli strike bombed the house next door. He died on Tuesday from losing blood at the hospital after his leg was cutoff from the strike, his family said.

His brother, 54-year-old Maryland resident Adnan Sawada, told NBC News Wednesday, "I dropped everything and started crying like a baby. Every time I remember how he was treating my parents, he used to treat them like kids."

Sawada regretted not helping his brother move out of Gaza and getting the U.S. citizenship.

"We are kind of like the ones who don’t have any strength or support. It’s just hopelessness. Israel gets supported from the United States, Iran gets support from Russia, we don’t get anything even though we are the occupied people for years,” he said.

At the Gazan side of the southern Rafah crossing between the embattled enclave and Egypt are hundreds of thousands of people. Some have been refugees for years; some had moved south after an Israeli warning.

“We are not sleeping. We are afraid to sleep," said Allaaeldin Abusakar.

Abusakar, 30, is living with his family in Rafah and had just returned from Egypt after finishing his MBA. Now he's leading a charity, the Palestine Charity Team, which is distributing almost 5,000 food baskets a day.

The population of the Rafah camp has doubled in the past few days, he said, with the density so high that "if they bomb one house, 10 houses will be destroyed."

President Joe Biden is back in the U.S. after visiting Israel on Wednesday, where he pledged to always stand by Israel after it was attacked by Hamas earlier this month.

In Israel, Biden met with Netanyahu, his war cabinet and Israeli families who lost loved ones in the Hamas assault.

His high-stakes trip was overshadowed by an explosion at the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza, for which Israel and Hamas have blamed each other.

During a refueling stop at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on his way home, Biden told reporters he spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and they agreed that Egypt will allow up to 20 trucks with humanitarian aid to go into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, which has been closed since the fighting between Hamas and Israel started. The United Nations is going to be on the other side, distributing the newly-delivered aid, Biden added.

"If Hamas confiscates it or does not let it get through or just confiscates it, then it is going to end," Biden said. "Because we are not going to be sending any humanitarian aid to Hamas if they’re going to be confiscating it. That’s the commitment that I’ve made."

Aviv and Livnat Kutz along with their three children were found in one another’s arms after being killed by Hamas militants in Kfar Azza.

Here are some of the articles we've published in the last 24 hours.

• What we know about the Gaza hospital bombing
• Biden expected to seek $60B for Ukraine and aid for Israel in $100B funding request
• Biden to deliver a primetime foreign policy address Thursday
• Pro-Hamas extremists and neo-Nazis flood social media with calls for violence
• Israel says it wants to destroy Hamas. But who would govern Gaza after that?
• Xi and Putin meet in China as divisions deepen with West over Israel-Hamas war