Israel to begin daily 4-hour pauses in fighting, U.S. says

Israeli soldiers help archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority sift through ashes today from burned dwellings at the Nir Oz kibbutz in southern Israel to identify residents who disappeared after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants. More than 20 people were reported killed and at least 75 were taken hostage from Nir Oz.

A U.N. report paints a stark picture of the collapsing Palestinian economy after a month of war and Israel’s near total siege of Gaza.

The gross domestic product shrank 4% in the West Bank and Gaza in the war’s first month, sending over 400,000 people into poverty — an economic impact unseen in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine or in any previous Israel-Hamas war.

At least 45% of all housing in the Gaza Strip has also been damaged or destroyed by Israeli bombardment, according to the assessment released today by the U.N. Development Program and the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for West Asia.

If the war continues for a second month, the U.N. projects, the Palestinian GDP, which was $20.4 billion before the war, will drop by 8.4%. That’s a loss of $1.7 billion. And if the conflict lasts a third month, Palestinian GDP will drop by 12%, with losses of $2.5 billion and more than 660,000 people pushed into poverty.

Al Dardari Abdallah, the assistant secretary-general of the U.N. Development Program, said a 12% GDP loss at the end of the year would be “massive and unprecedented.” By comparison, he said, the Syrian economy used to lose 1% of its GDP per month at the height of its conflict, which began in 2011, and it took Ukraine 18 months of fighting to lose 30% of its GDP.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will travel to Israel tomorrow, he announced at a town hall in Merrimack, N.H. Thursday.

The trip makes Christie the first Republican candidate for president to visit the country since Hamas militants attacked Oct. 7.

"I want to see it for myself," he told attendees. "I don’t think you can try to be president of the United States and be afraid to go and see what’s happening on the ground."

While there, he plans to meet with the families of kidnapped hostages, IDF soldiers and government officials.  

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied the lobby of The New York Times today, accusing the media of betraying a bias toward Israel in its coverage of the war and demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

Hundreds of protesters led by a group of media workers calling themselves “Writers Bloc” gathered outside the publication’s Manhattan headquarters, with many of them entering the building’s atrium for a sit-in and vigil that lasted more than an hour.

“The New York Times has extensively covered the Israel-Hamas war with fairness, impartiality, and an abiding understanding of the complexities of the conflict," Danielle Rhoades Ha, the Times’ senior vice president for external communications, said in a statement. "We fully support this group’s right to express their point of view, even as we disagree with their characterization of our coverage.”

The New York Police Department's communications office said that it estimated that 100 protesters were outside the Times' office, that there were "reports of 'a few' people inside" the building and that "it is not determined if those people have been escorted out."

The office said it had not heard of any arrests at the protest at the Times' building or any other protest today.

The sit-in followed a series of actions at high-profile locations in New York, including the Statue of Liberty and Grand Central Terminal, intended to bring attention to the growing death toll in Gaza.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society says 65 trucks loaded with aid from the Egyptian Red Crescent and seven ambulances from Kuwait passed through the Rafah crossing today.

The PRCS received 106 trucks yesterday.

In a joint news release this week, the Palestine and Egyptian Red Crescents called for increased support and listed fuel, drinking water, medical supplies and food as their priorities. While food, medical supplies and water have been provided, fuel has so far not been permitted to enter Gaza. Israel has opposed fuel aid, arguing Hamas could use the fuel to power rockets.

The Rafah border crossing, which is controlled by Egyptian authorities and Hamas, has been the only entry point for aid into Gaza. While the need for aid has skyrocketed, the current levels of aid entering the Gaza Strip are a fraction of the aid provided before the war.

U.N. humanitarian coordinator Lynn Hastings told NBC News about 450 aid trucks entered Gaza daily before Oct. 7.

The White House announced that Israel is committing to four-hour combat pauses every day to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. Earlier today, NBC News' Andrea Mitchell was joined by correspondent Raf Sanchez and Jason Straziuso, with the International Committee of the Red Cross, to discuss when the first pause will occur, how the deal came together and the significance of aid reaching Gazan citizens.

“We wish that we could force our way into where these hostages are," Straziuso said. "The fact is that we need permission from the people that hold the guns and from the people that control the territory.”

Israel agreed to daily four-hour pauses, a move that President Biden wished Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had done sooner, reports NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba.

JERUSALEM — An unidentified drone hit a civilian building in the southern Israeli port city of Eilat, the Israeli military said on Thursday, causing only light damage and no injuries.

In recent weeks, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen has launched repeated missile and drone attacks on Israel, but all were either shot down or fell short.

“The identity of the UAV and the details of the incident are under review,” the military said in a statement, referring to an unmanned aerial vehicle.

In a separate incident, the military said that in the area of the Red Sea, which Israel has access to via Eilat port, its “Arrow” air defense system successfully intercepted a missile launched toward its territory.

The Houthis are part of the Iran-aligned regional alliance, which also includes Lebanon’s Hezbollah, that has backed Hamas in its conflict with Israel. The Houthis govern swaths of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, more than a thousand miles from Israel.

Hackers linked to Iran have been steadily targeting Israeli organizations since before the war, but do not appear to have significantly escalated their attacks, cybersecurity researchers say.

In a report released today, Microsoft said it had only tracked two instances recently in which Iranian hackers appear to have attempted destructive cyberattacks on Israeli infrastructure. In both cases, the hacks came more than a week after the conflict began and hackers’ online personas dramatically exaggerated their success and ability, Microsoft said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that, even though Iran funds Hamas, there is no direct evidence that Iran was involved in its surprise attack on Israel last month.

In a different report also published today, Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike said it had seen Iranian hackers targeting companies in Israel's transportation and technology sectors recently — but that they had been doing that for years before the current conflict, as well.

HAIFA, Israel — The mayor of Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, says she’s working to minimize the risk of a catastrophic explosion triggered by rockets launched from Lebanon earlier this week.

Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem told NBC News she had ordered that petrochemicals and other hazardous materials be moved away from the Haifa Bay, home to Israel’s largest port. She said city officials are meeting daily about the issue.

The nightmare scenario evokes the 2020 accident at the Port of Beirut, just 80 miles north of Haifa, where ammonium nitrate exploded, she said. Hundreds were killed and thousands injured, and huge swaths of the city were badly damaged.

The mayor spoke after rockets were launched at Haifa this week for the first time in the war, marking the deepest point in Israel targeted from Lebanon so far. Hamas militants claimed responsibility. Kalisch-Rotem said that if a missile is launched from Lebanon toward Haifa, residents have no more than 60 seconds to make it into a shelter before potential impact.

Nearly half of Democrats disapprove of how President Joe Biden is handling the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research — showing a deep divide within his party over the war.

The poll found 50% of Democrats approve of how Biden has navigated the conflict while 46% disapprove — and the two groups diverge substantially in their views of U.S. support for Israel. Biden’s support on the issue among Democrats is down slightly from August, as an AP-NORC poll conducted then found that 57% of Democrats approved of his handling of the conflict and 40% disapproved.

The Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed more than 1,400 people and Israel’s responding incursion into Gaza have created a political tightrope for Biden, who has supported Israeli sovereignty since the attack but also pressured Israel’s government to try to limit civilian casualties and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

CIA Director William Burns and the head of Israel’s intelligence service discussed releasing hostages in Gaza with Qatari leaders in Doha today, according to a U.S. official and an Arab official with knowledge of the meeting.

Burns and the chief of Mossad, David Barnea, met with Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, the U.S. and Arab officials said.

Burns also held talks with the country’s intelligence chief, the U.S. official said.

The discussions in Doha follow weeks of international efforts seeking the release of the hostages as well as more humanitarian aid deliveries into the Palestinian enclave. Qatar has been acting as an intermediary, relaying messages to Hamas leaders in and outside of Gaza.

Biden administration officials have been pressing Israel for pauses in its air and ground assault on Hamas to allow for the possible release of some hostages and more access for humanitarian aid into Gaza.

A refrigerated food truck has been brought into Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza to act as an additional morgue, a surgeon at the hospital said on X today.

Ghassan Abu Sitta, a professor and plastic and reconstructive surgeon, shared images of the vehicle on the platform.

Gunfire rang out as Israeli forces raided the occupied West Bank’s city and refugee camp in Jenin.

Residents said streets, water and electricity supplies were damaged, during what the Israeli military said were counterterrorism raids.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 10 people were killed and at least 20 others were injured in the raid.

A second humanitarian corridor will now allow people to flee hostile areas in the northern part of Gaza, the U.S. State Department announced in a news briefing today.

The first corridor, which has been open for 4-5 hours every day for the past few days, has already enabled thousands of people to reach safer areas. The second route will run along Gaza's coast, spokesperson Vedant Patel said.

Yesterday, 106 trucks of humanitarian aid came into Gaza through the Rafah crossing, which remains open today for the influx of aid and for foreign nationals to depart, Patel said.

The University of Connecticut said today that a former student received a hateful voicemail and that the UConn Muslim Student Association received a similar email, with references to death and racist language.

The university's review determined that the call originated from an Oklahoma number and there is no connection to the UConn community or the state itself. The identity of the person could also not be identified because they used an alias.

"UConn unequivocally condemns Islamophobia, just as it condemns antisemitism and all forms of hatred," UConn spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said in a statement to NBC News.

"The incidents have been documented through the UConn Bias Reporting process and reported to UConn Police and, in the case of the voicemail, to the police department with jurisdiction in the municipality where the former student resides," Reitz added.

TEL AVIV — After days of near-deadlock and difficult talks, it appears there is now some movement with the hostage negotiations.

Despite widespread reports that there would be a multiday pause in hostilities to secure the release of multiple hostages, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog told NBC News today that, according to his knowledge, “there is no real substantial information that is showing any real offer of any process on the table.”

Now the White House has announced Israel has agreed to daily four-hour pauses in the north of Gaza, raising hopes once again that this could presage the release of at least some hostages.

An official with knowledge of the visit told NBC News today that CIA Director William Burns and Mossad Director David Barnea are both visiting Qatar’s capital, Doha, for trilateral talks on hostages and humanitarian aid entering Gaza.

Talks have been progressing well, I’m told. But as one official told me tonight, after so many difficult days, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

An Israeli flag flies on the top of a destroyed building today in the northern Gaza Strip, close to the border with southern Israel.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim advocacy organization in the U.S., announced today that it saw an "unprecedented" surge in reports of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias across the nation from the start of the war, on Oct. 7, to Nov. 4.

In that four-week period, CAIR's national headquarters and chapters received 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias, the organization said in a news release. The complaints came from a wide spectrum of people in the U.S., including college students, doctors and protesters.

In an average 29-day period last year, CAIR received just 406 complaints, according to the group's data.

In interviews, Muslims and Jews around the country have described feeling especially vulnerable since the start of the war between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in Gaza.

The Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish advocacy organization, says it recorded 312 antisemitic incidents from Oct. 7 to Oct. 23.

Before boarding Air Force One on his way to Illinois for a campaign event, President Biden told reporters he has asked for a longer humanitarian pause in Gaza than has been reported. “You know, I’ve been asking for a pause for a lot longer than three days," he said.

As for the hostages still in captivity, he said, “We’re hopeful. Things are moving along.” And asked if he is frustrated with how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is responding to his input, Biden said he is "taking a little longer than I hoped."

Biden also discussed the looming potential government shutdown and what that could mean for aid for Israel and Ukraine. "I wish the House would just get to work. I’m not being facetious. That’s not a political statement. The idea we’re playing games with a shutdown at this moment is just bizarre," he said.

"And I think that we ought to be able to combine Ukraine and Israel, and I’m open to discussions on the border. And I’ve already made some proposals. So there’s no need for any of this.”

The military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group that operates in Gaza, has said it will release two Israeli hostages when security conditions allow.

Abu Hamza, a spokesperson for Al-Quds brigade, said in a video on the Telegram messaging app that an elderly hostage, Hanna Katsir, would be released for health reasons because they could not provide her with medicine.

He added that the group was also willing to release Yagil Yaqoub, who is 12, for humanitarian reasons. In a statement yesterday, Israel's government said the child had a life-threatening peanut allergy.

Overcrowding and the disruption of health, water and sanitation systems in Gaza are contributing to the rapid spread of infectious diseases, the World Health Organization warned today.

There has been a significant increase in cases of diarrhea, particularly in children under 5, the WHO said in a news release. Since mid-October, over 33,500 cases have been reported, it said.

“Lack of fuel has led to the shutting down of desalination plants, significantly increasing the risk of bacterial infections like diarrhea spreading as people consume contaminated water,” the release said.

“Lack of fuel has also disrupted all solid waste collection, creating an environment conducive to the rapid and widespread proliferation of insects, rodents that can carry and transit diseases,” it added.

The Israeli military insisted there was “no ceasefire” in Gaza after White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby announced there would be four-hour pauses in fighting in northern areas of the enclave.

“There is no ceasefire,” the Israel Defense Forces said on X. “There are tactical, local pauses for humanitarian aid for Gazan civilians.”

In a separate statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, “The fighting continues and there will be no ceasefire without the release of our hostages.”

Settler violence and military incursions by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank have caused record-high death tolls among Palestinians, the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency said today.

Speaking at a conference in Paris attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Philippe Lazzarini said he was “deeply concerned about the potential spillover of this conflict beyond Gaza.”

UNRWA focuses on providing relief to Palestinian refugees. It operates 150 schools and buildings across the Gaza Strip, where more than 700,000 displaced people are now sheltering, said Lazzarini.

The shelters are overcrowded and running out of food and water, he added.

TEL AVIV — Yonatan Zeigen's mother, 74-year-old Vivian, was taken from Kibbutz Beeri on Oct. 7, one of the more than 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas in a terror attack that sparked the Israeli military's aerial bombardment, ground offensive and seige of the Gaza Strip.

Zeigen, 35, is still waiting for her to be released, as the military response continues to intensify with little sign of abating. In an interview with NBC News one month on, Zeigen said that saving hostages is "not the first priority here, which is maddening."

When he hears the chant, "no cease-fire without all the hostages," Zeigen said, what he hears is not a call to save the hostages at all costs, but a call to continue the military assault, "and we’ll see who’s left of the hostages."

"It’s not realistic," Zeigen said. "I'm fearful that we’ve given up on the hostages. Because we can’t get them back without a cease-fire. We can't get them back without talking."

However, Zeigen said that his pessimism is mixed with hope. Israelis and Palestinians are not the only ones that have been seemingly locked in an intractable conflict. Britain and France have been, as well as the Jewish people and Germany during World War II. "We have great relations with Germany now," Zeigen said. "Perhaps this war could turn into "a big shift, a tectonic move" in Israeli-Palestinian relations, Zeigen said.

Israel will implement four-hour pauses in fighting in areas of the northern Gaza Strip every day, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said today.

An announcement would be made three hours before the pauses, Kirby told reporters. The Israeli military had told the U.S. that there would be no military operations in the areas involved during the pauses, he added.

“We remain concerned that Hamas will discourage or prevent civilians from fleeing the same time when encouraging people to leave,” Kirby added. “It’s critical, absolutely vital, that humanitarian supplies and assistance are expanded in the areas where people are moving, in this case, southern Gaza.”

The leader of a Palestinian group was arrested today ahead of an anti-war protest in the Israeli city of Nazareth, a legal advocacy group said.

Mohammad Barakeh, leader of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, was detained, along with the four members of the Balad political party, Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel said in a statement.

“We are witnessing a draconian ban by police being implemented on the ground,” said Hassan Jabareen, the group’s general director.

He added that the police were “silencing all forms of criticism and suppressing the freedom of expression and assembly of Palestinian citizens and their leaders.”

Turkey’s president has accused Western nations of “weakness” in the face of civilian deaths in Gaza and called on Muslim nations to display unity against Israel’s actions.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, made the comments today at a meeting of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organization in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

He said Western nations and organizations are observing these “massacres by Israel” from afar but are “too weak to even call for a cease-fire, let alone criticize child murderers.” He added: “If we, the Economic Cooperation Organization, as Muslims, are not going to raise our voices today ... when will we raise our voices?”

Erdogan also said Turkey would continue with its diplomatic efforts to implement a cease-fire and prevent the spread of the conflict.

Almost 1,000 patients are currently in the emergency department of the Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, its director told an NBC News crew yesterday.

“What to do with this huge number of injured people? How to evacuate these people?” said Dr. Marwan Abu Saada, adding that there were “around 450 patients who are on renal dialysis on daily basis.”

Vowing that the medical staff would stay at the hospital, where the corridors are overflowing with people and others have camped outside in tents, he said they “will not leave our patients” even if Israeli troops arrived.

JERUSALEM — Israel has received no substantial offer from Hamas on a deal to free the hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, the country's president has told NBC News, rejecting reports that a deal may be close at hand. 

“There is no real proposal that is viable from Hamas’ side on this issue,” Isaac Herzog said in an interview in his office in Jerusalem today.

He also denied any rift with the U.S. over humanitarian pauses in the fighting, which could form part of any agreement.

Read the full story here.

HONG KONG — Families of hostages taken by Hamas asked China to help secure their release today.

At a news briefing with Hong Kong media, Adva Adar said her 85-year-old grandmother Yaffa “was kidnapped from her bed,” adding that her elderly relative had been without her medicines for a month. “We are very worried for her condition. We can’t let her die slowly, painfully,” Adar said.

Eilon Bibas, whose 10-month-old cousin Kfir was kidnapped along with his parents, Shiri and Yarden Bibas, and his sister Ariel, 4, said it was driving them “crazy that one month later, we don’t have any piece of information about them.” He added that they wanted their families back “but we want them alive.”

Both Adar and Bibas appealed directly to the Chinese government for help to secure the release of their family members.

A smoke plume rises from buildings in northern Gaza after an Israeli bombardment, seen from a position across the border in southern Israel today.

LOS ANGELES — Clashes broke out between rival groups outside the screening of a documentary made by the Israeli military based on footage captured during the Oct. 7 attacks.

The LAPD said there were at least two reports of misdemeanor battery outside Los Angeles' Museum of Tolerance yesterday.

Police added that they were aware of video footage appearing to show multiple skirmishes and would be investigating.

Around 2,000 people marched in silence in Cologne, Germany, to mark the 85th anniversary of “Kristallnacht.” The commemoration was intended to show support for the victims of the Hamas attack in Israel in October.

Both Israel and Hamas have been accused of committing war crimes by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Calling for an immediate cease-fire and the release of hostages, Volker Türk said yesterday that Hamas holding people captive was a war crime, as was Israel’s “collective punishment” of Palestinian civilians.

“Even in the context of a 56-year-old occupation, the current situation is the most dangerous in decades, faced by people in Gaza, in Israel, in the West Bank but also regionally,” Türk told reporters on the Egyptian side of Gaza’s Rafah border crossing.

“The international community needs to be part of finding a just and equitable future for the Palestinian and Israeli people,” he added.

A young man looks at black smoke rising from the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank during an Israeli military operation this morning.

LONDON — British Home Secretary Suella Braverman has come under pressure today for describing pro-Palestinian demonstrators as "hate marchers" who support terrorism.

The Conservative Party politician criticized a large march planned in London on Saturday, following similar protests in the British capital since Hamas’ attack Oct. 7 and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza.

“We have seen with our own eyes that terrorists have been valorized, Israel has been demonized as Nazis and Jews have been threatened with further massacres,” she wrote in The Times of London, adding that the marches were “disturbingly reminiscent” of sectarian groups in Northern Ireland.

Jonathan Reynolds, a senior lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party, told Sky News that Braverman was “out of control” and said Prime Minster Rishi Sunak should fire her if he had not signed off on the article. But a spokesperson for the prime minister later said that Sunak had “full confidence” in Braverman.

JERUSALEM — A walk through Jerusalem's Old City feels like strolling through a city abandoned. Most of the tourist shops around the holy sites are shuttered for lack of tourists. Food stalls and shops selling basic essentials are open but with fewer customers than usual. 

In the Christian quarter, we breeze into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre through an archway where we’re told there would typically be an hourlong wait. The heavy smell of incense fills the air inside, with only the occasional sight of a pair of monks or a solitary nun going about their business. 

From there, we walked to the Muslim quarter and, after some negotiation, Israeli military guards allow us to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They demanded we leave cameras outside “because of the war,” although we could keep our mobile phones.  

As night falls,  the emptiness of the compound inside feels unusual. Old Jerusalem feels like it is holding its breath, waiting, like the rest of us, for what comes next.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim advocacy group in the United States, criticized the House of Representatives for censuring Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over her remarks on the Israel-Hamas war, saying she was targeted for supporting Palestinian human rights.

“The American Muslim community stands against this hypocritical and racist targeting of Representative Tlaib, whose voice is indispensable in representing the concerns of millions of Americans who are horrified by the war crimes our government supports against the Palestinian people,” the group’s national executive director, Nihad Awad, said in a statement yesterday. “She should wear this cowardly censure as a badge of honor.” 

Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, was censured in a 234-188 vote Tuesday for “promoting false narratives” regarding the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and “calling for the destruction of the state of Israel,” based largely on a video she posted on social media. Twenty-two of her fellow Democrats voted for the measure.

Tlaib, who is one of the few lawmakers calling for a cease-fire rather than a “humanitarian pause,” argued before the vote that she was protected by free speech.

The Australian retail chain Kmart has removed a Christmas-themed ham bag that says “Merry Ham-mas” from its website after coming under fire from a Jewish group.

The Australian Jewish Association flagged the item yesterday, saying it had “politely” suggested that it be pulled. “Although this is potentially funny (the AJA committee has tossed around some non-PC jokes) it’s really not a good look,” the group said in a post on X.

The group later said it had been contacted by senior management at Kmart’s parent company, Wesfarmers, and told that it would be removed from the website and all stores.

“We got it wrong on this occasion, and we apologize unreservedly,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. “When designing this product we clearly didn’t think through all the implications and the product has been removed from sale.”

Israeli soldiers are pictured on top of a tank as they pass a shattered building in northern Gaza yesterday, during ongoing military ground operations in the region.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are again set to move south from northern Gaza today in a corridor established by the Israeli military.

It comes after the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that “50,000 people evacuated during the day” yesterday, by far the largest number since the corridor opened Nov. 5.

Most of the evacuees are moving on foot, it said. That estimate matches numbers given by the IDF for yesterday's exodus.

The Israeli military said this morning its troops had captured a Hamas stronghold after a 10-hour battle in northern Gaza.

The IDF also said it had killed a Hamas commander in charge of anti-tank operations.

Ibrahim Abu-Ma’asiv had operated many anti-tank missile launches toward civilians and soldiers, the IDF said.

NBC News has not verified the claims.

As Israel's ground operation inside Gaza continued within the strip, the Israel Defense Forces said its troops have destroyed a total of 130 tunnel shafts used by Hamas since the war began.

"The enemy’s preparation for a prolonged stay in the tunnels can be seen based on water and oxygen means found in the tunnels," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said that countries must ‘work for a cease-fire’ in Gaza, as he opened a conference in Paris with various heads of state from Western and Arab countries to coordinate aid delivery.

Amnesty International also called on the leaders to push for a cease-fire.

“For this cease-fire to be effective, States must ensure it covers the entire Gaza Strip and that it’s long enough to allow a substantive alleviation of suffering,” Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said in a statement.

More than a hundred aid trucks were sent through Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt yesterday containing food, water and medical supplies, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said.

"The total number of trucks received since October 21, 2023, until now is 756 trucks, which is approximately 39 trucks per day," it said, adding no fuel has yet been allowed to enter the enclave.

The number of aid trucks entering Gaza has slowly increased over the past few days amid mounting international pressure on Israel to allow deliveries.

HAIFA, Israel — Troops from Israel and Hezbollah are sitting on either side of the border between Israel and Lebanon, watching and waiting to see what the other does as they communicate through a language of strikes and artillery shells, each range and caliber used signifying a different message.

One group of Israeli troops has been camped out for a month. When the order comes, they have four minutes to load their canon, aim and fire, often into no man’s land, to avoid escalating the conflict into a war.

There are very simple rules of engagement, an IDF lieutenant colonel told NBC News, explaining that his troops know where to shoot to avoid escalation.

Critical medical supplies were delivered to the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City yesterday, U.N. agencies said, making it the second such supply to the crisis-hit hospital near the center of fighting between Israel and Hamas.

“The emergency department and wards are overflowing requiring doctors and medical workers to treat wounded and sick patients in the corridors, on the floor, and outdoors,” the United Nations Relief and Works agency said in a joint statement with the World Health Organization.

Patients at the hospital were undergoing immense pain as anesthetics are running out, the statement added, with the aid delivered “far from sufficient.”

U.S. fighter jets conducted “a self-defense strike” at a weapons storage facility in Syria that was being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said yesterday.

The strike in eastern Syria was carried out at President Joe Biden’s direction, Austin said in a statement. “This precision self-defense strike is a response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by IRGC-Quds Force affiliates,” he said.

The message to Iran is “we want you to direct your proxies and militia groups to stop attacking us,” a senior defense official said. 

Read the full story here.

A Palestinian woman from the Abu Taim family comforts a little girl as they collect the body of a relative for burial from the Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, this morning.

• U.S. strikes eastern Syria in response to attacks
• Israel says 50,000 Palestinians have fled as its troops enter the ‘heart’ of Gaza City
• U.S., Israel and Qatar discussing pause in Gaza fighting of up to 3 days, diplomats say
• GOP presidential candidates compete to be seen as closest to Israel in debate