Netanyahu says death of hostages 'broke nation's heart' as thousands rally for diplomatic resolution

The Jewish Federation of Central Alabama said six of its seven member locations were targeted by phone threats today.

Authorities using dogs that can sniff out explosives cleared three of the locations in Auburn, Montgomery and Selma, Phillip Ensler, the federation's executive director, said in a statement.

The calls were bomb threats, he said, but there have been no reports that the threats were genuine. Ensler lamented that it happened on "a day of rest and extra peace."

State Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, said his synagogue was evacuated during Shabbat services after it received one of the calls.

"This is exhausting," he said on social media platform X. "I pray for the day that we can worship and live in peace."

Thousands of people rallied in Tel Aviv today to call for the release of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas militants.

Some of the rallygoers included family members of hostages, who demanded that the Israeli government do more to bring their loved ones home.

“The Israeli families believe that the Israeli government needs to put an offer on the table today and not wait for an offer to come from Hamas, from Qatar or even from the United States,” said Ruby Chen, the father of 19-year-old Itay Chen, who was taken hostage by Hamas. “The Israeli needs to take the initiative and put an offer on the table.”

Hamas released a statement following the death of three hostages mistakenly killed by the Israel Defense Forces, saying Israel is "gambling with the lives of its soldiers captured by the resistance."

Hamas compared the killing to the "blatant criminal behavior" that Israel "continues to practice against its captives in Gaza" and said the incident was "deliberately" carried out.

Members of labor unions, including the United Auto Workers, rallied in Manhattan’s Herald Square today to protest Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza and to call for the U.S. to stop sending aid to Israel.

The group made its way down New York City's Sixth Avenue chanting and holding signs, some of which read, "END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!"

The protesters, who all appeared to be peaceful, chanted, "When people face genocide, resistance is justified," and, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the occupation has got to go."

There has been a communication blackout across the Gaza Strip since Thursday night, the U.N. said on X.

"Once again, Gazans find themselves completely isolated — cut off from their loved ones and from the rest of the world."

TEL AVIV — Lee Siegel, 71, normally likes to keep to himself, but in the weeks since his brother was taken hostage by Hamas, he has become an activist, joining thousands of people tonight in calling on the Israeli government to do more to see those still held captive released.

Keith Siegel, 64, and his wife, Aviva Siegel, 62, were taken hostage from their home on the Kibbutz Kfar Aza together on Oct. 7. Aviva Siegel was released several weeks ago, but Keith Siegel, who is an American Israeli dual national, remains held captive.

Siegel said his sister-in-law had described harrowing conditions during her time in captivity. Held both above and below ground, she said there were times when it was “very, very difficult to breathe” while underground. Food, mainly pitas and rice, and water were at times scarce, and she lost about 22 pounds, he said. She also described hostages being “physically intimidated and hurt,” but Siegel said she didn’t elaborate.

Siegel said he wanted the Israeli government to make negotiating a hostage deal a priority. He said he believes hostages, including his brother, will only be released “when there is not violence.”  

In a joint statement with the ISA, the IDF announced it has completed operations at the Kamal Adwan Hospital where "90 terrorists were apprehended and numerous weapons were located." According to the statement, the IDF soldiers questioned hospital workers, who they said disclosed that weapons were hidden in NICU incubators. Aside from the weapons, classified documents and tactical communications equipment were found, the IDF said.

TEL AVIV — Mounting anger at the Israeli government spilled onto the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday after it emerged that the country’s military had mistakenly killed three hostages in Gaza who “had a stick with a white cloth on it.”

In a plaza in downtown Tel Aviv known as “Hostage Square,” Raz Ben Ami, who was released from captivity late last month, told a crowd of hundreds that she had “warned” the Israeli government that military operations in Gaza were putting hostages at risk and had “unfortunately” been proven right.

Emotions were raw a day after news broke that Yotam Haim, Samer Talalka and Alon Shamriz had been killed by soldiers from their own side.

Ben Ami, whose husband, Ohad Ben Ami, remains in captivity, told the crowd that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war Cabinet should present a proposal to free the dozens of people still held by Hamas.

Read the full story here.

Benjamin Netanyahu, in his first speech since it was announced that the IDF mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza, said the incident "broke my heart. It broke the whole nation's heart" and that "we are at war for our existence."

Still, he maintained that Israel will continue its military offense on the ground in the Gaza Strip.

“The military pressure is necessary both for the return of the kidnapped and for achieving victory over our enemies," Netanyahu said.

"We are more determined than ever to continue until the end — until we eliminate Hamas, until we return all our abductees, and until we ensure that in Gaza there is no longer any factor that educates terrorism, finances terrorism, and sends terrorism," he said.

He said yesterday's news that three Israeli hostages were killed by the IDF "shocked me" and that his is haunted by the thought of “what would have happened if only something had been different.” 

TEL AVIV — Gil Dickmann, whose cousin Carmel Gat was taken hostage by Hamas, emerged from a meeting with members of Israel’s war Cabinet with a sense of renewed hope.

Dickmann was one of several people representing hostage families to join the meeting in “Hostage Square” with Benny Gantz, who was later joined by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Dickmann said.

Dickmann said Gantz and Gallant appeared to understand the distress families felt after hearing three hostages had been mistakenly killed by the IDF. “From the look in their eyes,” he said, “I think they understood.”

He said he left the meeting feeling that Israel’s leadership would do what it can to secure a hostage deal, but said no clear promises were made.

Hamas in a statement called the IDF "Nazi leaders," blaming them and President Joe Biden's administration for the Palestinians killed at Kamal Adwan Hospital. Hamas called the attack a "horrific massacre" that caused the death of many wounded and displaced.

The Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum Headquarters released a statement announcing a march to the main gate of the Kiriya base, where Israel's war Cabinet meets, saying they will "entrench there 24/7 until the Cabinet presents an Israeli outline for releasing the hostages."

Former hostages and family members of current hostages spoke to the war Cabinet, where they advocated for said outline. Raz Ben Ami, who was released from Hamas captivity, said, "Ten days ago, I warned Cabinet members that the fighting could harm the hostages. Unfortunately I was right."

TEL AVIV — A massive crowd has gathered at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv with thousands of people spilling out into the streets as they call on the Israeli government to bring home hostages held by Hamas.

For weeks, this square has seen almost daily demonstrations, but after the IDF revealed it had mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza, thousands of people have gathered here to voice their anger and despair.

“Now! Now! Now!” many shout in unison, calling on the Israeli government to bring home the hostages who remain in Gaza.

TEL AVIV — Israeli war Cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot are meeting with representatives of hostage families in “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv tonight, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents many of the families.

It comes after the hostage families issued a call for the war Cabinet to release a proposal to see those still held captive returned home. Until they do, they said, demonstrators would “entrench” outside Israel’s Defense Ministry “24/7,” the forum said.

Two women were shot and killed by a member of the IDF inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, according to a statement by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem’s communication office. The statement identifies the women as Nahida and her daughter Samar and alleges that seven more people were shot and wounded inside the church compound.

Israel Defense Forces Lt. Jonathan Conricus told NBC News that the IDF was “looking into” reports of the killing and checking with troops on the ground.

“Categorically, I can say that we of course wouldn’t ever intentionally strike anything that isn’t enemy combatant, whether it is a church or a school or a mosque or a hospital,” Conricus said.

Hundreds were in attendance for the funeral of 25-year-old Samer Fouad Al-Talalka, one of three Israelis held by Hamas who were killed by Israeli forces. The hostages were mistakenly misidentified as threats by IDF forces and fired upon.

Ruby Chen, the father of 19-year-old Itay, an IDF soldier who was taken hostage by Hamas while serving near the Gaza border on Oct. 7, held an hourglass during his speech to crowds at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv, as he demanded that the war Cabinet engage with families and “put a best offer on the table to get the hostages back alive.”

“Did we lose our mind? Did the president of the United States give us more attention than the war Cabinet?” he said, as he thanked President Joe Biden for “being willing to do every bit possible to help us see our loved ones.”

The U.K.’s secretary of defense, Grant Shapps, said today that a British navy ship had shot down a suspected attack drone over the Red Sea.

HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer designed to target guided air missiles, shot down a drone “targeting merchant shipping in the Red Sea,” Shapps said on X.

“The recent spate of illegal attacks represent a direct threat to international commerce and maritime security in the Red Sea. The UK remains committed to repelling these attacks to protect the free flow of global trade,” he added in a follow-up post, saying the drone was destroyed using a single missile.

TEL AVIV — As a large crowd has gathered in “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv tonight, a number of people who were held hostage by Hamas or have loved ones in Hamas’ captivity expressed outrage over news the IDF had mistakenly killed three hostages.

The first speaker, Raz Ben Ami, who was released from captivity but whose husband, Ohad Ben Ami, is still held hostage, demanded that Israel’s war Cabinet present a proposal for a hostage release deal. She said she had warned the Cabinet 10 days ago that the military operations were putting hostages at risk, and said unfortunately she was proven right.

Ruby Chen, the father of Itay Chen, who was taken hostage by Hamas, said it was clear the bid to “bring Sinwar to his knees” through a ground offensive “evidently isn’t a strategy that’s working too well.”

Holding an hourglass as he spoke, he said the Israeli government “needs to be active” in getting a new hostage deal.

At an evening protest in the plaza at the Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art, since renamed “Hostage Square,” released captives and the families of those remaining in Gaza renewed calls for Israel’s government to outline a plan for the release of the estimated 129 people remaining in the besieged strip. Turnout is expected to reach a peak this evening, as anger and grief mounts over the shooting of three hostages by IDF forces in Gaza yesterday.

Speaking under the slogan “Time is running out!” Raz Ben Ami, 57, a hostage released after 54 days in Gaza, said to gathering crowds that she told Israel’s war Cabinet 10 days ago that the military operations were risking the lives of hostages.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously told hostage families that “the conditions for a deal were not ready yet” and that “military operations would create the pressure to bring a deal,” said speaker Noam Perry, 40, whose father was taken by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7.

“How long do we need to wait for a deal?” she asked.

Dozens of people, mostly women and children, were killed by Israeli airstrikes on the north of the Gaza Strip this morning, WAFA, the Palestinian news agency, reported.

Warplanes bombed two houses in the northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 14 people and wounding others, the agency said, while “dozens” more were killed and injured in the bombing of a house in Jabalia refugee camp, it reported. Planes also targeted UNRWA-run al-Mazraa School in the central strip and houses in Rafah in the south, it added.

Israel also continued a siege on Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, it said, evacuating medical staff, patients and inhabitants to the hospital’s courtyard. Twelve babies remain inside in incubators without food or water, according to the agency, while the southern part of the hospital has been destroyed as forces target “anyone who moves” within it, the agency reported.

NBC News was not able to independently verify these reports.

Iran’s judiciary executed a man accused of spying for Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, Iran’s news agencies reported on Saturday.

The man was convicted of “connection with foreign spy services” and had been “giving classified information to the Mossad spy service through intermediaries,” Tasnim, a semiofficial agency associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said.

He was also charged with “disrupting order and propaganda in favor of groups and organizations opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran,” IRNA, Iran’s state news organization, added.

It was not clear when the man was arrested, and he had requested appeals and amnesty, which were rejected by the judiciary. He was executed at Zahedan prison in the impoverished southeastern providence of Sistan-Baluchestan, near Iran’s borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Hezbollah targeted Israeli soldiers using guided missiles and drones on Saturday morning, the militant group said in a statement, causing alarms to sound across the region.

Hezbollah said it targeted a bunker fortified with Israeli soldiers at an outpost at Birkat Risha, on Israel's border with Lebanon, early Saturday morning, resulting in casualties "both dead and wounded." It also later targeted an Israeli infantry force at the same site, it added, claiming to have achieved "confirmed casualties."

It also conducted an air attack on the Ramim barracks in the Hunin valley, the Iran-backed militant group said in a separate statement, again claiming to have caused casualties on the Israeli side.

Israel said alarms sounded in Sderot and the surrounding area. It denied casualties and said damage had not been reported. It did not say whether any retaliatory attacks had been carried out against Lebanon.

Palestinians injured in an airstrike today receive treatment at Nasser Hospital in the southern cith of Khan Younis, Gaza.

Yemeni Houthi rebels targeted the port town of Eliat in southern Israel today using "a large batch of drones," the group said in a statement, following numerous attacks on Israeli shipping over the past several weeks.

The group said it had carried out "a military operation" against "sensitive targets" in support of Palestinians living under "killing, destruction and siege in the Gaza strip."

NBC News was unable to independently verify this report. No claims of casualties or damage have yet been made.

The Houthis are an Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen but are not recognized as a government internationally.

Since November, they have launched repeated attacks on vessels bound for Israel in the Red Sea, preventing passage through the Bab el-Mandeb strait. They have previously said that they will continue their attacks on ships heading for Israel until humanitarian aid is accessible in Gaza.

At least one of the three Israeli hostages shot by IDF forces in Gaza was holding a white flag, a military official told reporters today.

Three Israeli hostages who had either "been abandoned or escaped" emerged from a building "tens of meters [yards]" from IDF positions on Friday, as the military was engaged in "intense fighting" in the neighborhood of Shuja’iyya in Gaza City, the official said.

At least one of them carried "a stick with a white cloth on it" as all three emerged "without shirts," the official said. They were identified by one soldier, but another "feels threatened and opens fire," killing two immediately and injuring one more, the official said.

A battalion commander issued a cease-fire order after "a cry for help is heard in Hebrew," the official said, but there was another "burst of fire towards the third figure," who also died.

The hostages were killed hundreds of meters from a building marked with writing reading "SOS," he said, adding that the military would investigate any connection.

Describing the action as "against our rules of engagement," the official said that a "preliminary investigation" was being conducted at the "highest level" as the deaths of the hostages sparked protests in Tel Aviv last night. The IDF has previously encouraged Palestinian civilians to carry white flags with them to identify them as noncombatants.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah yesterday to discuss a two-state solution, the stability of the West Bank, and efforts to increase the flow of lifesaving humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, according to a statement from the White House.

In their meeting, Abbas told Sullivan that “the Gaza Strip is an integral part of the Palestinian State” and that a potential two-state solution must include “the entire territory of the State of Palestine in the West Bank, including East Quds [East Jerusalem], the Gaza Strip,” Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

He also stressed the need for the U.S. to intervene in what he described as the “silent annexation” of the West Bank, as Palestinian civilians are increasingly displaced by growing settler violence.

Sullivan reiterated President Joe Biden’s “longstanding vision” for peace in the Middle East, including “a path to a two-state solution,” according to the White House statement, telling reporters ahead of the meeting that Palestinians displaced in the northern Gaza strip should be able to return and “feel real security.”

A telecommunications blackout that began on Thursday is still ongoing into this morning, according to internet access advocacy group NetBlocks.org.

The internet and phone outage is hindering aid deliveries and rescue efforts, with the Palestine Red Crescent Society saying on X that it had lost contact with its teams on the ground, nor can the injured call emergency services.

IDF forces conducted raids at Al-Mu’tasim Bi’llah and Al-Farabi schools in Gaza City, as well as raids on the Jabalia refugee camp and operational compounds in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, the Israeli military said in a statement Friday.

The raids on the two schools were “due to information regarding Hamas terrorists that concealed themselves within schools,” the IDF said. Thousands of displaced Palestinian civilians are sheltering in school buildings and compounds.

The IDF also struck a compound in Jabalia after identifying “the movement of a number of Hamas terrorists on the roof” from which “shots were fired,” it added.

NBC News was not able to independently verify these reports. Hamas did not immediately confirm the death of any of its fighters and has previously denied using schools in this way.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will embark on a multiday trip to the Middle East today, stopping first in Israel before heading to Qatar and Bahrain.

He will meet with Israeli military leaders to discuss an “eventual” cessation of high-intensity ground operations and airstrikes, a senior defense official at the Pentagon said yesterday.

Austin’s meetings in Qatar — a country that has played a critical role in facilitating negotiations with Hamas — will focus on the U.S.’ “gratitude” for “their work with us on a range of regional and global objectives,” the official said.

In Bahrain, Austin is expected to visit U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and attempt to convene a “multinational framework” to reduce threats to shipping in light of “increasing Houthi aggression in the Red Sea,” the official added.

At a funeral today, mourners wept over the body of Al Jazeera journalist Samer Abu Daqqa, who was killed in a drone strike while covering the aftermath of strikes on a school in Khan Younis yesterday.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, as of yesterday, 64 journalists and media workers have been confirmed dead since the start of the war on Oct. 7. Most were Palestinian journalists.

International Rescue Committee President and CEO David Miliband told NBC News, “It’s impossible to deliver aid, and it’s impossible to protect civilians, while the fighting is going on. That’s the humanitarian case for the cease-fire.”

“Now we can also and must ameliorate the situation literally minute by minute, hour by hour. There’s an International Rescue Committee team in Egypt at the moment. We have medical expertise. We have expertise in containing contagious diseases,” Miliband said. “We have partners inside Gaza, but it’s impossible to work while there’s such a threat to life and limb from the fighting.”

TEL AVIV — The shrapnel pierced through the thin film of 7-year-old Sidal Abu Jamea’s tent, tearing a hole through the pink blanket she was wrapped in and killing her as she slept.

“She didn’t scream,” her mother, Najwa Abu Jamea, told NBC News. “I didn’t even hear her breathe.”

It’s a death that has played out thousands of times in Gaza — a child, the most blameless of civilians, killed in a war that the Israel Defense Forces said is targeting Hamas, but has exacted a toll of more than 18,700 so far, according to Palestinian health authorities. At least 70% of those killed have been women and children.

The family, originally from Khan Younis, had fled south to a refugee camp in Rafah, on the Egyptian border, inside a shrinking corner of the Gaza Strip where the IDF had told Palestinians they would be safe.

Read the full story here.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent the past several weeks maneuvering to maintain power and shore up public support amid attacks from political rivals, pressure from the Biden administration, and growing international criticism of his handling of the war.

In an apparent effort to play to his right-wing base, Netanyahu publicly broke this week with President Joe Biden and rejected any talk of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He called the Oslo peace agreement, which established the Palestinian Authority in 1994 and gave it the power to govern the West Bank and Gaza, a “mistake” that should not be repeated. The statement was a blunt rebuke of Biden, who has called for a “revamped” Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after Hamas is defeated.

Netanyahu’s move follows a long-running pattern of the Israeli leader making hard-line statements for his own political gain, according to current and former Israeli officials, who asked not to be named.

U.S. and Israeli officials told NBC News that they fear Netanyahu has adopted some positions in the war against Hamas to prolong his own political survival.

Read the full story here.

TEL AVIV — “Free the hostages! Now!”

The chant that has become an almost daily occurrence in Tel Aviv rang out with renewed vigor tonight, after the IDF revealed it mistakenly killed three Israeli hostages in northern Gaza during the offensive to free the dozens still held captive by Hamas.

Hundreds of people filled the streets for an impromptu march outside Israel’s Defense Ministry, bringing traffic to a halt as they called on Israel’s leadership to do more to see the more than 100 hostages released.

“We came to support the hostages’ families whose children and babies, mothers, daughters, grandparents are kidnapped in Gaza,” said Guy Anitz, 30. Holding up an Israeli flag as he joined the march, he said that he didn’t personally know anyone taken hostage but felt compelled to make his voice heard.

“We’re asking our government to do more to bring them back — and safe,” Anitz said. He said he largely blamed Hamas for the IDF’s accidental killing of three hostages.

He said he believed the fighting will continue until Hamas militants “put their guns down” and release the hostages.

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