U.S. intel says it has ‘high confidence’ Israel didn’t cause Gaza hospital blast

Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Al Haka Dindi, blamed Western nations for civilian casualties in Gaza as Israel conducts airstrikes in retaliation for Hamas’ unprecedented terrorist attack on Israel.

“These massacres were not to happen if not for the insistence of some Western countries to give a carte blanche to Israel, which they call the right to self-defense,” he said at a Security Council meeting.

The Syrian Arab Republic is headed by Bashar al-Assad, whose military has been accused of war crimes.

Syria’s air force carried out chemical weapons attacks using sarin and chlorine on the town of Latamneh in 2017, the international chemical weapons watchdog the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapon has said. Assad has denied using chemical weapons.

Israel’s military said Wednesday local time that it struck “military infrastructure and mortar launchers belonging to the Syrian Army.”

The Israel Defense Forces said on X that it carried out the strikes after rockets were launched from Syria toward Israel.

The IDF said Tuesday that two launches from Syria fell in an open field and that artillery responded.

Agony and grief fill the halls of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, with wounded in the hallways.

“Forty percent of all of the wounded are children,” Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah said.

Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza has a bed occupancy of around 150%, according to the World Health Organization, which warns patients could die unless Gaza gets badly needed fuel.

Six hospitals across the Gaza Strip have already shut down because of lack of fuel, the WHO said.

“Unless vital fuel and additional health supplies are urgently delivered into Gaza, thousands of vulnerable patients risk death or medical complications as critical services shut down due to lack of power,” it said.

Abu-Sittah said the hospital has received 600 dead and three times that many wounded over the past 24 hours.

“This has been putting even more pressure on the system that’s falling apart,” he said.

Israel has been launching airstrikes against Hamas in Gaza since Hamas launched terrorist attacks against Israel. Israel’s military says that Hamas conceals itself in civilian areas and uses civilians as shields and that it is striking against Hamas.

Al-Shifa hospital supplies are dwindling. “We’re running out of everything from simple dressings to complex burn dressings,” Abu-Sittah said. The hospital has over 150 people on ventilators in intensive care.

Abu-Sittah said that another hospital in northern Gaza ran out of fuel and that the facility is using a much smaller generator just to power the operating room.

“Any minute now, this is going to happen to Shifa Hospital here,” he said.

A "daily emergency report" created by Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry described an emergency medicine system that's on the edge of failure.

According to the figures in the document, which could not be independently verified, 57 medical workers in the system had been killed, 25 ambulances had been taken out of service, and 15,273 people had been injured in the conflict.

The document, provided to NBC News by Dr. Medhat Abbas, a director at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, included detailed charts and figures that describe overcrowded hospitals' struggling with dwindling resources.

Dated Sunday, the document says it "reflects a daily summary of work progress in the Ministry of Health for 24 hours."

Of nine government hospitals, four are at capacity, and three have taken in more patients than there are beds, according to the report. Al-Shifa was reported to be at 147% capacity. In a voice memo, Abbas said operations were being performed in the hallways with no anesthesia because of the crowding.

According to the report, "12 hospitals and 32 health care centers are out of service because of lack of fuel or bombed."

There's concern for 68 babies on ventilators, considering the potential need to evacuate hospitals, according to the report.

There's also a critical shortage of Type O blood in the system, along with lab equipment and supplies, and the hospitals "want to appeal to international organizations and institutions to provide blood units from outside Gaza," the report said.

Hospitals in Gaza, already at a breaking point, could be forced to close and endanger the lives of many critically ill patients, health officials said today.

The United Nations relief agency UNRWA warned today that it will run out of fuel in two days, which would put the delivery of aid at risk.

In northern Gaza, the Indonesian Hospital was forced to shut down critical services because of the lack of fuel, the World Health Organization said.

“The Turkish Friendship Hospital, the only oncology hospital in the Gaza Strip, remains partially functional due to lack of fuel, putting around 2000 cancer patients at risk,” the WHO said.

Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said today that “fuel will not enter Gaza as long as it ends up in the hands of Hamas.”

The WHO warned, "Unless vital fuel and additional health supplies are urgently delivered into Gaza, thousands of vulnerable patients risk death or medical complications as critical services shut down due to lack of power."

U.S. spy agencies believe that the blast at a Gaza hospital a week ago was caused by a Palestinian rocket that suffered engine failure and broke apart into two pieces, with the warhead striking the hospital’s compound, intelligence officials said Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters by phone, the U.S. intelligence officials said they had “high confidence” in their assessment that it was not Israel that fired the rocket, but they were less certain which Palestinian militants fired the projectile on the evening of Oct. 17.

“We assess with high confidence that Israel was not responsible for the explosion at the hospital and that Palestinian militants were responsible,” an intelligence official said. “We assess with low confidence that Palestine Islamic Jihad was responsible for launching the rocket that landed on the hospital.”

U.S. officials had indicated that Palestine Islamic Jihad was most likely responsible, and Israel blamed the group for the blast. The militant group shares Hamas’ goal of destroying Israel, but it is smaller than Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

The evidence pointing to PIJ was based on intercepted conversations between suspected “Hamas affiliated militants” who appeared to be speculating about who was behind the rocket launch, the officials said.

”We can’t confirm who they are. We can’t confirm that what they are discussing in the intercept actually took place,” the official said. The audio was not the same as that released publicly by Israel’s military previously, and it was vetted and deemed authentic, the official said.

Intelligence officials said they did not have an estimate of the casualties caused by the blast. “We don’t have any independent ability to verify the specific casualty count in Gaza,” the official said.

There was no evidence that Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system shot the rocket down, officials said.

Read the full story here.

Residents in Khan Younis in southern Gaza were seen in video carrying people from a building that at least partly collapsed after it was struck by an explosion.

“There is no safety anywhere,” said a man recorded on video. He said that they were displaced and that they went there because they were told it was safe. Israel’s military has been telling people to leave northern Gaza, which includes Gaza City, as it conducts strikes on what it says are Hamas targets.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said today that “a cease-fire right now really only benefits Hamas.”

Kirby, responding to a question at a White House news briefing, said that Israel will make the decision whether to attack by ground but that combat between Israel and Hamas is already happening.

“We believe that a cease-fire right now is only going to benefit Hamas,” said Kirby, the NSC’s coordinator for strategic communications.

“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel has the tools and the capabilities that they need to defend themselves,” Kirby said. “We’re going to continue to try and get that humanitarian assistance in, and we’re going to continue to try and get hostages and people out of Gaza appropriately.”

Kirby said that at the Rafah crossing from Gaza into Egypt, “there are many” American citizens who want to leave Gaza.

U.S. Special Envoy David Satterfield is talking with Egypt and other partners about the possibility of other civilians’ leaving, as well.

Kirby said: “Again: innocent civilians, of many different nationalities, certainly Palestinians, that want to leave and should be allowed to leave an active war zone for their own safety and the safety of their families.”

Israel’s military said today that its naval forces targeted a “cell of divers” that tried to enter Israel from the sea from Gaza.

The IDF says that the divers were from Hamas and that they tried to enter the area of Zikim, which is near the Mediterranean coast north of Gaza.

“IDF fighter jets struck the military compound from which the terrorists departed in the Gaza Strip,” the military said in a statement.

The IDF said on X that it struck a tunnel that was used, as well as a weapons warehouse in Gaza.

The family of 85-year-old freed Hamas hostage Yocheved Lifshitz shared relief after having seen pictures of their loved one.

 “The fact that they have been found is extremely bright for the hostages that haven’t been found yet,” said Mark Vyvoda, her nephew.

His aunt and uncle are peace activists who regularly took Palestinians from Gaza to Israel for medical care, Vyvoda said. “After their experience, I think that their message of peace will be even more immediate.”

TEL AVIV — Debbie Rimon-Ansbacher and Guy Shuvali only just met — but today they came together to give free hugs in Dizengoff Square, where people have left tributes to loved ones killed and taken hostage in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

“We’re giving hugs to a crying nation,” Rimon-Ansbacher, 62, said as several people walked up to hug her and Shuvali, 33, over 15 minutes. “Some people cry on my shoulder, and some people don’t want to let go.”

Rimon-Ansbacher said she began offering free hugs in the early days after Hamas' attack, and Shuvali joined her for the first time today after having learned about it in a group chat.

Shuvali said he was injured in the military, so he hasn't been called up to serve, but he wanted to do what he could to support his community during a difficult time.

"We need to make sure things like this don't happen again," he said.

Rimon-Ansbacher said she also wanted to do what she could to support those affected by the deadly attack.

"My father was a Holocaust survivor," she said. "In a way, I'm glad that he's not alive, because this would kill him."

The United Nations Children's Fund, commonly known as UNICEF, says more than 400 children in the Gaza Strip are injured or killed every day, calling the situation a "growing stain on our collective conscience."

It also called for an immediate cease-fire and requested unimpeded access to the area to provide humanitarian assistance.

"Even wars have rules," Adele Khodr, UNICEF's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a news release. "Civilians must be protected — children particularly — and all efforts must be made to spare them in all circumstances."

She warned that the death toll would increase exponentially if neonatal intensive care units and hospitals are closed because of fuel shortages and if children continue to drink unsafe water after five Gaza wastewater treatment plants ceased operation.

“The situation in the Gaza Strip is a growing stain on our collective conscience," she said. "The rate of death and injuries of children is simply staggering.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and Israel’s permanent U.N. representative, Gilad Erdan, called on U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres today to resign, saying he was "justifying terrorism."

The demand was made in response to Guterres' speech at a Security Council meeting earlier today, in which he acknowledged the Palestinian cause and said Hamas' attack "did not happen in a vacuum."

“Hamas is worse than ISIS,” Cohen told reporters. “They are the new Nazis. There is not two sides at this moment. There is only one side to support in front of the aggression of ISIS."

He also issued a plea to Qatar to work to release all the hostages being held by Hamas.

Erdan accused the U.N. of “moral bankruptcy” and “supporting terrorism,” claiming it was taking Hamas’ arguments at face value. He called for a reassessment of Israel’s relationship with the U.N., saying the organization is “failing” in its mission to prevent atrocities.

“Mr. Secretary-General, the U.N. was established to prevent atrocities, to prevent such atrocities, the barbaric atrocities that Hamas committed,” Erdan told reporters. “But the U.N. is failing. The U.N. is failing, and you, Mr. Secretary-General, have lost all morality and impartiality.

"Because when you say those terrible words that these heinous attacks did not happen in a vacuum, you are tolerating terrorism, and by tolerating terrorism, you are justifying terrorism.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen was just loudly heckled at a rally across the street from the United Nations, with many people chanting the Hebrew word for “shame.”

They demanded to know why the Israeli government apparently did not do more to prevent the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.

Cohen struggled to get through his prepared remarks as the heckling reached a fever pitch. He repeated his criticism of the U.N. hours after he canceled his meeting with its secretary-general, who said this morning that the arrack “did not happen in a vacuum.”

The rally was being held in honor of people taken captive by Hamas.

In a talk to troops today, Netanyahu said the Israeli military is "facing the next stage."

“I want to tell you where we are right now — we are hitting the enemy with tremendous force. Yesterday in our attacks in Gaza, we dealt the enemy the hardest blow he suffered in one day," he said.

The Israeli military's only task is " to crush Hamas," he said, adding that troops have killed "many dozens of terrorists, possibly much more than that."

"We are facing the next stage; it is on its way. You know it. You are part of it. You are part of the spearhead. I have enormous appreciation for what you know how to do, your fighting spirit, your willingness to save our country from these animals, and I am sure we will succeed in this," Netanyahu said.

The handover of Israeli hostages Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifshitz yesterday almost didn’t happen, NBC News has been told. “Talks were ongoing but Hamas, was attaching conditions that slowed them down a little and complicated them,” a diplomat with knowledge of the talks said. 

Then, Saturday night, Hamas “surprised everyone,” the diplomat said, by naming the hostages, releasing their identification numbers and accusing Israel of stalling.

“The aim was to pressurize Israel by releasing Nurit and Yocheved’s names and IDs,” the person said. “But it had the opposite effect, and Hamas backed down.”

Just more than an hour later, Hamas’ military wing promised to release the pair.

Hamas official Basem Naim said a six-hour cease-fire to enable a safe handover was agreed to through Qatar and Egypt. After the handover, Hamas' military wing accused Israel of violating the agreement by continuing its bombing. 

The details about the talks reveal how Hamas is pushing for cease-fires and aid to Gaza (including fuel), as well as allowing injured Palestinians and the citizens of other countries to leave the enclave and more. So far, those demands have largely not been met even when Hamas has gone public.

Now, talks are underway again, and this time the release of a larger group is being discussed. But recent experience shows just how fraught and fragile the talks are. “They are progressing positively,” the diplomat with knowledge of the talks said. ‘There has not been a breakdown, but no breakthrough yet.”

As Israeli forces prepare for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, about 3 miles away in the Be'eri kibbutz, workers continue the grim task of clearing up after Hamas' terrorist attack.

At times taking shelter from incoming missiles, NBC News visited the devastated community. Whole homes have been burned and are collapsed in Be'eri — the result, said one of the people who lived there, of Hamas' setting fire to buildings while residents hid inside.

One hundred people were killed in Be'eri alone.

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum, an organization that represents people whose loved ones vanished Oct. 7, sharply criticized Guterres for saying this morning that Hamas' terrorist attack "did not happen in a vacuum."

"Shame on you for granting legitimacy to crimes against humanity when it comes to Jews," it said in a statement. "The UN Secretary-General’s statements are outrageous!"

"The families of the hostages and missing are asking for the assistance from the ambassadors of the Western and Arab world who understand that there is no justification for crimes against humanity, also when it comes to Jews," the group added, in part.

In remarks at a meeting of the U.N. Security Council this morning, Guterres said "the Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation ... their economy stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished."

"But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas, and those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," he added.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, says it will be forced to stop operations in Gaza tomorrow night if it does not get fuel urgently.

Palestinians look for survivors following an Israeli airstrike on the southern Gaza Strip, today.

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen tweeted this morning that he is canceling his planned meeting with António Guterres, roughly an hour after the U.N. chief said that the Hamas terror attack on Israel "did not happen in a vacuum" and accused the Israeli government of mistreating Palestinians for decades.

"I will not meet with the UN Secretary General. After October 7, there is no place for a balanced approach. Hamas must be wiped out," Cohen said in a post on X, which was written in Hebrew and translated by NBC News.

Guterres, speaking this morning at a U.N. Security Council meeting about the war between Israel and Hamas, said that the "Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation ... their economy stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished."

"But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas, and those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," he went on to say.

Danny Danon, Israel's former ambassador to the U.N. and the chairman of the international wing of Netanyahu's party, Likud, called on Guterres to retract his remarks or resign from his post.

"The U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres today said that the horrific crimes of the Hamas terrorists 'did not take place in a vacuum.' By saying this he is wrongfully legitimizing and justifying the gruesome massacre of men, women, children and babies, and the savage kidnapping of over 222 innocent babies, children and civilians who are still being held by Hamas," Danon said. "The U.N. Secretary General should be ashamed of himself."

Blinken, speaking to the U.N. Security Council this morning, confirmed that 33 Americans have been killed in Israel amid the country's war with Hamas.

The State Department previously said that 32 Americans were dead, with another 11 Americans unaccounted for.

Hospitals in Gaza are hours away from being out of service because of a lack of fuel and the large numbers of injured people, according to Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra.

“We are talking about a complete collapse of the health system, which has become unable to deal with the large number of wounded arriving at hospitals, with limited capabilities to treat the wounded, in addition to the rapid depletion of fuel, which will lead to a power outage,” he said. “We are only a few hours away from hospitals being out of service, and this was confirmed by international organizations familiar with the health situation in the Gaza Strip.”

On Sunday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, said it will run out of fuel that is critical for its humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip in three days.

“Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement today. “Without fuel, aid will not reach those in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance.”

Al-Qudra said Israeli airstrikes in Gaza were very severe yesterday, killing about 704 people, impacting 400 residential communities and causing "47 massacres." NBC News could not independently verify these claims.

Most of the dead are women, children and the elderly, Al-Qudra said. In addition, 1,023 people were injured.

A total of 5,600 people have been killed and more than 16,600 injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, Al-Qudra said.

The health system in Gaza is overwhelmed, according to him.

On Sunday, Al-Qudra said Gaza’s hospitals are in crisis amid a lack of fuel, which could put the lives of 1,100 kidney failure patients at risk, including 38 children.

The IDF has killed three Hamas deputy commanders with help from the country's security agency, Shin Bet, spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on his X account.

NBC News did not independently verify these claims.

Hagai shared a black and white video of what appeared to be an airstrike along with the news.

TEL AVIV — Sirens rang throughout a large swath of central Israel early this evening in what appeared to be one of the largest rocket barrages fired from Gaza in the past two weeks.

The alarms rang — both on streets and via open source alert apps — from Ashkelon near the border with Gaza to Kfar Saba, a city just north of Tel Aviv — and a reporter for NBC News was among hundreds of thousands of people directed to head to air raid shelters.

Most missiles fired at Israel are intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system but a small number get through.

There have been eight attacks on health care facilities in Israel, resulting in seven deaths, the World Health Organization said in a statement published yesterday.

Overall, the health system in Israel is coping, said Michel Thieren, WHO special representative in Israel.

Thieren visited a hospital in the city of Ashkelon where many of the injured are being treated. Most of the victims did not want to speak about themselves, but about the people they'd seen die in front of them.

“Almost every one of those survivors had seen someone else die before they themselves were injured. They are absolutely haunted by this. It is dominant in their thoughts. So many need urgent mental health support.”

Many of the 200 hostages taken by Hamas, Thieren says, have "pre-existing health conditions requiring continuity of care." WHO is calling for their release.

“From what I am seeing, mental health problems appear to be rapidly spreading among the country’s population. The human suffering is immense," Thieren said. "People just don’t feel safe anymore, and this is a complete change in their recent history.”

Thieren also visited military bases where bodies of the victims are being kept in refrigerated containers.

“Doctors and forensic experts are still working to identify the bodies. They are all wrapped in plastic bags. There are obviously adult bodies and children’s bodies, but the vast majority of bags are misshapen," he said.

Only 700, barely half of the 1,400 victims, have been identified so far.

Google Maps and Waze, which is owned by Google, are no longer offering live traffic updates around Israel and the West Bank, a spokesperson said today.

“As we have done previously in conflict situations and in response to the evolving situation in the region, we have temporarily disabled the ability to see live traffic conditions and busyness information out of consideration for the safety of local communities. Anyone navigating to a specific place will still get routes and ETAs that take current traffic conditions into account,” the spokesperson said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that American officials have sent the regime two messages regarding the Israel-Hamas war in the hopes of keeping the conflict from spreading.

The messages included a request for the Iranian regime to show "self-restraint" and a disinterest in spreading the war, he said during a meeting yesterday with emissaries from Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. He criticized the U.S. for its foreign policy in support of Israel.

“Despite their claims [about being opposed to further spread of war], the Americans have been fanning the flames of war on Gaza during the past two weeks by sending thousands of arms consignments [to Israel] and supporting the regime,” Amirabdollahian said.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, speaking this morning at a Security Council meeting on the war between Israel and Hamas, repeated his calls for an immediate cease-fire, raised concerns about a widening conflict in the Middle East and condemned the Hamas terror attack.

He added that the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel "did not happen in a vacuum," however, lamenting the Israeli government's treatment of the Palestinian people over successive administrations.

"Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation" by the Israeli government, Guterres said. "Their economy stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished."

"But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas, and those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people," he added.

Guterres went on to say that the world must be vigilant about combating a rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia amid the war.

The World Health Organization reiterated its calls for a cease-fire, saying in a statement today that it has been unable to get and distribute fuel and vital medical supplies to hospitals in north Gaza because of security issues.

"Unless vital fuel and additional health supplies are urgently delivered into Gaza, thousands of vulnerable patients risk death or medical complications as critical services shut down due to lack of power," it said.

Though hospitals in the south Gaza Strip have been able to get a short-term supply of fuel, facilities in the north have been forced to completely shut down. Vulnerable patients include 2,000 cancer patients, 1,000 dialysis patients, 130 premature babies, and intensive care patients requiring ventilators or surgery.

JERUSALEM — The U.S. is issuing a new warning to ships traveling through the Red Sea after a drone and missile attack launched from Yemen during the Israel-Hamas war.

Today's U.S. Maritime Administration warning urged vessels to “exercise caution when transiting this region.”

The U.S. Navy says it shot down missiles and drones believed to have been launched by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in recent days amid wider tensions across the Middle East over the war.

Without new fuel arriving in Gaza, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency will be forced to end its aid operations there very soon.

The agency said that its fuel reserves are expected to run out entirely by tomorrow night and that fuel is not included in the current humanitarian aid convoys Israel has agreed to move into Gaza.

Juliette Touma, UNRWA director of communications, told MSNBC that fuel is used for hospitals, water desalination, bakeries and other essential functions.

"We are running out of time, I think Gaza is running out of time," she said. "The people of Gaza who depend on organizations like UNRWA are also running out of time.

In addition to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, more than 20 ministers from the Middle East, Europe and other regions are gathering in New York today for a high-level meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, several Western diplomatic sources confirmed to NBC News.

Among the most notable in attendance are the foreign ministers from Israel, Egypt and Jordan. The United Kingdom, France and Germany — or the E3 — will also be represented at the minister level.

The U.S. circulated a draft resolution Saturday condemning the Oct. 7 Hamas attack but did not call for a cease-fire, according to two Western diplomats. A vote on the resolution could come as soon as today, but the timing is still being determined. 

The U.S. vetoed a Brazilian resolution last week that called for a humanitarian pause in the fighting or cease-fire to deliver aid and supplies in Gaza.

As Gazan officials declared the health care system in total collapse, doctors continue to treat patients, paying special attention to the needs of children.

"The state of bombing and war affects child psychology," and they need to be reassured constantly Dr. Mohammed Younis told NBC News crews in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.

At Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, third-grade student Rima Shakshak whimpered faintly while she bled from her head onto the hospital bed.

"There is a deep-cut wound," said Dr. Younis, who then took the girl for an X-ray.

"Move slowly. Stay still ... You are a hero," he told the 8-year-old girl while lifting her for the scan.

In addition to physical injuries, the doctors say emotional wounds need care, too.

"One of the cases we received was a very sacred girl. Her wound was minor, but her physiological condition was terrible," Dr. Akram Ala’auiny said. "I blow a balloon for her. And try to play with her. To assure her that she is in safe hands at the hospital as much as possible. And there is hope."

One of the two Israeli hostages released yesterday said she was treated well by Hamas after going through "hell" when she and her husband were abducted from their kibbutz near Gaza.

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, said she was brought into the enclave on a motorbike and beaten. She was then taken through a network of Hamas tunnels.

"It looked like lots and lots of spiderwebs," Lifshitz said.

Once there, she said the militants promised not to harm them.

Lifshitz said she and four other people from kibbutz Nir Oz were given medical help and medications. They slept on mattresses, Lifshitz said, and Hamas cleaned their toilets and shared food with them.

There was always someone guarding them, and they were treated well, she said. "They took care of all our needs. To their credit, they were very kind."

Lifshitz blamed Israeli authorities for not taking signs of an impending attack seriously, weeks before it happened.

Then, Hamas came on Oct. 7.

"They opened gates of the kibbutz and dozens of them entered," she added. "It was a very, very sad and very difficult. And in my memory, I constantly have the pictures of what happened."

In a post on X today, the IDF shared a flyer asking Palestinians in Gaza to reach out with verified information on hostages in their area if their "will is to live in peace."

"The Israeli military assures you that it will invest maximum effort in providing security for you and your home, and you will receive a financial reward," the post said. "We guarantee you complete confidentiality."

More than 200 people were taken hostage in Oct. 7 attacks, and so far, four have been freed.

People taking refuge from Israeli airstrikes at a hospital in Khan Younis in Gaza collected the flyers dropped from Israeli planes and tore them up, Reuters reported.

JERUSALEM — Gaza's health care system has completely collapsed, the spokesman for the Health Ministry said today.

“We announce the complete collapse of the health system in the hospitals of the Gaza Strip,” Ashraf al-Qudra said in a news conference.

Humanitarian and aid organizations have been sounding the alarm for days that Gaza's health care system was on the brink of collapse.

Yocheved Lifshitz's grandson said that while he was thrilled to see her after her release, her fragile state renewed concerns for his grandfather, who remains a captive, Daniel Lifshitz told NBC News’ “TODAY."

"But I saw her, and also I felt such a huge, huge, huge sting in my heart to see her in that situation knowing that she’s been through so much,” he said.

His grandparents were taken into Gaza on motorbikes, and then separated, Lifshitz said. He said his grandfather was injured before he was captured while trying to hide from Hamas.

Lifshitz called his grandmother the strongest person he knew, but that her fragile state also worried him.

“To see my grandmother come back in that situation, because she was released in the humanitarian situation, which means her situation was not good,” he said. “Thinking about my grandfather and what he’s going through, I’m really afraid.”

In Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, airstrikes have become a way of life.

"I don't know how to sleep," Mohammed Abuakar, 22, told NBC News. "The situation is not good. There is very heavy bombing."

"There is no electricity or water. The internet is very weak too," he said in messages via WhatsApp.

JERUSALEM — Health officials in Gaza said today the death toll has risen to 5,791 people, just a day after it had surpassed 5,000.

More than 2,300 of dead were children, the officials said.

The enclave that's home to more than 2 million people has been facing devastating Israeli airstrikes and a complete blockade for more than two weeks, with humanitarian organizations warning its health care system is on the brink of collapse.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that the country does not want to expand the war by fighting with Hezbollah, but warned it was Lebanon that would suffer if fighting in the north escalates.

"But if Hezbollah will drag us into all, it should be clear that Lebanon will pay the price," he said. "Lebanon cannot be a sovereign member of the international community, its citizens carrying a Lebanese passport but when it comes to attacking Israel, they are not responsible."

The remarks were made in a sit-down with the visiting French president, who has a strong diplomatic relationship with Lebanon. Macron expressed solidarity with Israel, describing the Oct. 7 ambush by Hamas as an awful attack.

Macron said he has sent "very clear messages" to Hezbollah warning the group not to join the war.

The director of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Thomas White, said the group is struggling to comprehend the loss of 35 staff members in Gaza since Oct. 7.

The agency has previously said that many of the staffers who were killed were teachers in UNRWA schools.

France's leader has proposed creating an international against Hamas and the larger existential threat of terrorism.

"This fight against terrorism is obviously a matter of existence for Israel but it's a matter of existence for all of us," Macron said at a news conference with Netanyahu. "This is why we discussed together. ... I consider this is an international coalition to fight against terrorist groups that we have to build."

Macron's remark is an echo to the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh, a federation of 86 member states that was formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State terrorist group. Netanyahu responded to Macron by describing Hamas as a part of the "axis of evil," which then-President George W. Bush used to describe North Korea, Iran and Iraq in his 2002 State of the Union speech.

Netanyahu is using the term to describe Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis, an Islamist group based in Yemen.

The aid coming into Gaza is "throwing dust in the eyes" of residents and falls short of meeting the needs of the 2 million people who have been under Israel's blockade for more than two weeks, the director-general of Gaza’s Health Ministry said.

"Until now, we have not received a single piece of the aid that is being talked about entering the Gaza Strip," Munir Al-Bursh said.

His comments come after the first convoys of aid trucks crossed into Gaza from Egypt over the weekend.

NBC News reached out to the United Nations, which has been coordinating the distribution of aid, for comment.

One of the two Hamas hostages released yesterday has told reporters at a hospital in Tel Aviv that she went through "hell" when she was seized by militants who attacked her kibbutz.

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, described the ordeal of being taken hostage but also her time in captivity, where she said she was treated well. 

She spoke at the hospital, sat in a wheelchair alongside her daughter and surrounded by members of the media.

"I went through hell," said Lifshitz, who was released along with Nurit Cooper, 79. "We never thought and never knew that we could reach a situation like this."

She detailed how she was put on a motorcycle to be taken into Gaza, beaten with sticks, and then taken through a network of tunnels. 

But Lifshitz said she received medical care in captivity and was treated well. 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Israel not to neglect civilian safety in the process of defending itself, while telling his Palestinian counterpart that China “deeply sympathizes” with his people.

“All countries have the right to self-defense, but they should abide by international humanitarian law and protect the safety of civilians,” he said yesterday in a call with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, according to a readout from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Separately, Wang told Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki that China “deeply sympathizes with the difficult situation of Palestine, especially the people of Gaza” and that China would continue to provide humanitarian aid. China, like Russia, has not explicitly condemned Hamas over the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, driving a further wedge between the two countries and the United States.

The Israel-Hamas war is likely to be a topic of discussion as Wang visits Washington from Thursday to Saturday. He will meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in what could be a prelude to a meeting next month between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, which would be their first in a year.

In an escalation of violence, at least 95 Palestinians, including 28 children, have been killed by military activity or settler violence in the West Bank since Oct. 7, according to the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The last few weeks have been the deadliest period for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2008.

Four people were killed between Sunday and yesterday, OCHA said, during two search-and-arrest operations in Ramallah and Nablus. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified two of the dead as Muhammad Nidal Yaqoub Alyan, 22, and Mahmoud Saif Ahmed Nakhla, 20.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Authority said 85 were arrested in a targeted campaign in the West Bank by dawn yesterday. There have been 1,215 arrests in the West Bank since the Oct. 7 attack.

The two elderly hostages who were released by Hamas yesterday have been recovering at the Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv.

The hospital said in a video statement that the medical condition of the two women was "fine" and they had a reunion with their family members.

"Right now, for them and for the family members, it’s a very, very exciting situation. We are happy that they are here with us," the hospital's spokesperson said.

Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, were released by Hamas for what the militants said were humanitarian reasons. Their elderly husbands remain in captivity, according to Israeli officials.

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Israel today in a show of support, following visits by Biden and several European leaders in recent days.

His office said Macron's objectives for the visit include de-escalating violence, pleading for a humanitarian truce and the release of hostages.

In a post on X, Marcon said he met with the families of the French Israeli victims, killed or kidnapped by Hamas, adding that France is "linked to Israel" by mourning.

Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reported yesterday that France saw 588 incidents of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, as he vowed to fight the spike with "total determination."

DOHA — Qatar’s ruling emir has urged the international community not to grant Israel “unrestricted authorization to kill” Palestinians in its fight against Hamas, in what he called a dangerous escalation that threatens global security.

“We say enough. Israel shouldn’t be granted an unconditional green light and unrestricted authorization to kill,” Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said in an annual speech to open the Gulf Arab state’s advisory Shura Council, his first public comments since Qatar began its most recent efforts to mediate between Israel and Hamas.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the Gaza death toll had topped 5,000 in two weeks of Israeli airstrikes in response to Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, in which the Islamist militant group killed more than 1,400 people and captured more than 200 hostages.

"We do not accept double standards and acting like the lives of Palestinian children aren’t accounted for, as if they don’t have faces or names," Tamim said.

ISRAEL/GAZA BORDER — In Israel, workers are trying to identify hundreds of unrecognizable bodies two weeks after the massacre by Hamas, while in Gaza the death toll is increasing rapidly, making it difficult to name the dead. 

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said it struck more than 400 targets in Gaza in the last 24 hours, and killed several Hamas commanders and numerous operatives preparing attacks on Israel.

"In a wide-scale operation to dismantle Hamas’ terrorist capabilities, the Israel Defense Forces struck dozens of Hamas gunmen setting up to fire rockets and carry out terror attacks against the Israeli home front," the IDF said in a release today.

It added that its fighter jets struck "dozens of terror infrastructure and Hamas staging grounds," and a tunnel that gave the militants quick access to the coastline.

Amid the intensified bombardment, the death toll in Gaza continues to rise. According to Gaza health authorities, more than 5,500 people have been killed and about 17,000 injured.

Biden spoke with Netanyahu last night and reaffirmed efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, the White House said.

Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to ongoing efforts to secure the release of all the remaining hostages taken by Hamas — including Americans — and to provide for safe passage for U.S. citizens and other civilians in Gaza,” the White House said in a statement.

The two leaders spoke on the day Hamas released two additional hostages, bringing the total freed to four. Israel’s military says Hamas is still holding more than 200 other people hostage.

Biden “also underscored the need to sustain a continuous flow of urgently needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza” and informed Netanyahu of new U.S. military deployments, the White House said.

• Hamas releases two more hostages
• Family of Americans released by Hamas say they can’t celebrate until all hostages are released
• Hamas ‘abduction manual’ shows that hostage-taking was a central aim of attack
• Why Palestinians fear that if they leave northern Gaza they may never be able to return
• ‘It’s like being underwater’: What Israeli soldiers will face inside the labyrinth of Hamas tunnels