Deal brokered to get medicine to hostages and more aid for Gaza

JERUSALEM — The United Nations is expressing renewed concerns about death from disease and famine. Among the most vulnerable are the estimated 1.1 million children trapped in the war-ravaged enclave.

“Children at high risk of dying from malnutrition and disease desperately need medical treatment, clean water and sanitation services, but the conditions on the ground do not allow us to safely reach children and families in need,” UNICEF Director Catherine Russell said. “The lives of children and their families are hanging in the balance.”

Mohamed Yazji is praying the war will end soon.

In October, his mother was killed in an airstrike and his father disappeared. Mohamed, 13, is doing the best he can to care for seven siblings, including his sister Toleen, who’s just months old.

After fleeing northern Gaza and moving several times, the siblings now call a small tent in the southern Gazan city of Rafah home.

The responsibility is weighing on Mohamed. “I do not know what to do,” he said. “It’s been 100 days, and each day it is more difficult than the one before.”

Nine-year-old Iyas, unable to see or speak, expresses his pain through muted whimpers and cries. NBC News first met Iyas in October at the Mabarit Rahme Orphanage in Gaza City, where nearly two dozen children, many with severe disabilities, were living. As northern Gaza grew more dangerous, the orphanage staff moved the children south. Some, including Iyas, are now sheltering in a garage in Rafah.

Having debilitating complex needs, Iyas requires regular medication and treatment. But, with only limited medical care, his condition is worsening.

"We’re telling the world that things are getting worse and worse. Our needs are growing, and we can’t meet them,” said Abdullah Mohamed, Iyas’ caretaker. “We could lose Iyas at any moment.”

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is expected to announce the labeling of the Houthi rebels as a "specially designated global terrorist group" as soon as tomorrow, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the decision. The move follows U.S. strikes targeting the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen in response to a series of attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. 

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said today the U.S. continues to reserve the right to take further action against the Houthis and called on countries with influence in Tehran to make the issue a priority.

"The entire world rejects wholesale the idea that a group like the Houthis can basically hijack the world as they are doing,” Sullivan said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “And so we want to work with countries across the board, countries who are allies and partners, countries who are not, in the common interest to get this to stop.”

The Houthis had been designated as both a "foreign terrorist organization" and a "specially designated global terrorist group" during the Trump administration, but they were removed from both lists under Biden in response to concerns over the repercussions for humanitarian groups working in Yemen.

The Biden administration is not expected to relabel the group as a foreign terrorist organization, and the sanctions associated with designation as a specially designated global terrorist group do not ban providing “material support” or restrict travel that would have a lesser impact on aid groups’ efforts.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said today that the bodies of 158 people killed in Israeli strikes have been taken to hospitals in the past 24 hours, bringing the war’s overall death toll to 24,285. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but it says around two-thirds of those killed were women and children.

Senior U.N. officials recently warned that Gaza faces widespread famine and disease if more aid is not allowed in. While they did not directly blame Israel, they said aid delivery is hobbled by the opening of too few border crossings, a slow vetting process and continuing fighting throughout the territory — all of which is largely under Israel’s control.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said U.N. agencies and their partners “cannot effectively deliver humanitarian aid while Gaza is under such heavy, widespread and unrelenting bombardment.” At least 152 U.N. staffers have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war.

Israeli officials say they have placed no limits on humanitarian aid and have called on the U.N. to provide more workers and trucks to accelerate delivery.

Israel completely sealed off Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and relented only under U.S. pressure. The U.S. and the U.N. have continued to push Israel to ease the flow of aid.

There is a "fairly serious and intensive discussions in Qatar about the possibility for another deal" between Israel and Hamas, Adm. John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, said at a news briefing today. 

"I don't want to get ahead of where we are, but we are having, I would say, very fairly serious and intensive discussions in Qatar about the possibility for another deal," Kirby said.

Kirby also said that while the images coming out of Gaza are "heartbreaking," Israel "has a right to defend itself." The U.S. is encouraging Israel to "shift to this new phase" of its military operation to defend itself "as surgically and as precisely as possible to minimize those casualties," he said.

A Palestinian man said Israeli soldiers used him as a human shield during a West Bank raid.

The IDF denied the claim, saying a riot broke out in the town of Dura, where 100 people threw Molotov cocktails at soldiers, "who responded with riot dispersal means and live fire."

“An assailant who hurled a Molotov cocktail at the forces was killed, and additional hits were identified," the IDF said in a statement.

The IDF also addressed a video of the incident, saying it showed a soldier arresting a suspect, not using him as a human shield.

The crisis in the Red Sea poses serious risks to oil flows and prices could change quickly if tensions lead to a major supply disruption in the Middle East, Chevron CEO Michael Wirth told CNBC.

“It’s a very serious situation and seems to be getting worse,” Wirth said in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Wirth said he was surprised that U.S. crude oil was trading below $73 a barrel, because the “risks are very real.”

“So much of the world’s oil flows through that region that were it to be cut off, I think you could see things change very rapidly,” Wirth said.

Chevron has continued transporting crude through the region as it works closely with the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, Wirth said. He cautioned that the situation is evolving.

“We really have to watch very carefully,” he said.

Read the full story here.

Yossi Sharabi and Itai Svirsky, two Israeli hostages who had been held by Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack, have died, according to Be’eri kibbutz and the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum.

"Yossi Sharabi (53) was a loving and devoted father and husband, a real family man with a big heart. A kind soul, he was caring and known for his dedication to all those around him," the two groups said in a statement, adding that Sharabi's brother Eli is still being held hostage.

In a second statement, the groups said: “We share in the profound grief of the Svirsky family. This loss is unfathomable for the families. Everything must be done to bring the living home safely and the murdered for proper burial."

Video Hamas released yesterday purported to show the bodies of the two hostages, but the Israeli military initially said it could not confirm their deaths, Reuters reported.

Thanks to mediation efforts by Qatari and French officials, Israel and Hamas have reached a deal to deliver medicine and humanitarian aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip in exchange for getting medication to Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity.

Majed bin Mohammed Al-Ansari, the spokesperson for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, announced that medications are expected to leave Doha tomorrow en route to Egypt, in preparation for their transport into Gaza.

DAVOS, Switzerland — Saudi Arabia is “incredibly concerned for regional security” in the Middle East, the country’s foreign affairs minister said today.

“We think the priority needs to be de-escalation in the Red Sea and the wider region,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said at the World Economic Forum.

He added that the kingdom could recognize Israel, “but that could only happen through peace for the Palestinians through a Palestinian state.”

Calling for a cease-fire, he said, “We need to focus on the immediate crisis, and the immediate crisis is the situation for the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Saudi Arabia has not seen “any real sign that any strategic objectives that Israel has set are coming any closer,” he added.

The Council of the European Union has added Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to the E.U. terrorist list and imposed sanctions.

"This decision comes as part of European Union’s response to the threat posed by Hamas and its brutal and indiscriminate terrorist attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023," the council said in a statement today.

The E.U. has frozen Sinwar's funds "and other financial assets in EU member states" and prohibited E.U. operators from making funds available to him.

The U.S. military has conducted another strike against Houthi militants in Yemen.

The U.S. struck an anti-ship ballistic missile site after it determined that the missiles there posed an imminent threat to merchant commercial vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea, two U.S. defense officials said.

U.S. Central Command said the Houthis were preparing to launch the four missiles.

Meanwhile, the Houthis said in a statement this morning that they had targeted a vessel that was headed toward Israel and achieved a direct hit. The ship was targeted "after the ship’s crew rejected warning calls," according to the statement, which was posted on Telegram.

Central Command confirmed the attack.

"M/V Zografia, a Maltese flagged bulk carrier reported they were struck but seaworthy and were continuing their Red Sea transit. No injuries were reported," it said in a statement.

Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh has arrived in Egypt for medical treatment, according to the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate.

"The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate extends its thanks to the Egyptian state and the competent authorities for responding to the Syndicate’s request to facilitate the entry of colleague Wael Al-Dahdouh into Egypt to receive treatment," said Khaled El Balshy, the head of the syndicate. "The Syndicate contacted Al-Dahdouh after his arrival on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing to check on him."

Al Jazeera confirmed that Al Dahdouh has left Gaza.

Al Dahdouh has lost his wife, his 15-year-old son, his 7-year-old daughter and a grandson in Israeli airstrikes since the war began. Last week, his 27-year-old son, Hamza Dahdouh — also a journalist and cameraman with Al Jazeera — was killed, as well.

In an interview with CNBC, Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed a planned walkout of federal workers in support of Gaza, which is expected today.

"From my perspective, I want to make sure that people feel that they can say what they believe, express themselves," Blinken said, adding: "They ultimately have to be on the job and do their jobs."

"People feel the need to speak up and speak out. That’s a cherished part of our democracy. It’s a cherished part of my view of patriotism. But people also need to be beyond the job, do the job," Blinken said.

A total of 158 people were killed in Gaza in a 24-hour period that ended this morning local time, according to the enclave's Ministry of Health.

"The Israeli occupation committed 15 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip," the ministry said in a statement on Telegram.

There are also people buried under rubble, according to the ministry.

This brings the total of those killed in Gaza by Israel since Oct. 7 to over 24,000, the ministry said. More than 61,000 people have been injured.

Iran launched missile attacks into Iraq and Syria, with explosions reported near the American consulate. U.S. officials say there were no reports of Americans injured.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it is "absurd" to suggest that he incited genocide of Palestinians by referencing the Amalekites, seen as the biblical enemy of the Jews.

At the International Court of Justice in The Hague last week, South Africa presented its case accusing Israel of perpetrating genocide in Gaza. One of its arguments was that Netanyahu referenced the Amalekites in a speech to the Israeli army in late October and in a letter to his forces in early November, thereby invoking "the retaliatory destruction of an entire group of people known as the Amalekites."

In a statement today, Netanyahu's office called that a "false and preposterous charge."

"The comparison to Amalek has been used throughout the ages to designate those who seek to eradicate the Jewish people, most recently the Nazis," the statement said.

Israeli soldiers work on a tank near the Gaza border in southern Israel today.

The Gaza Strip has gone without substantial internet or phone connection for four days, the Palestinian enclave's longest streak since the conflict began.

Two major internet traffic analysts, Kentik and NetBlocks, confirmed the ongoing outage.

Gaza has repeatedly suffered blackouts since Israeli bombardment commenced in October. The largest telecommunications provider in the region, Paltel, has blamed both “continuous aggression” and a lack of power for interrupting service.

On Sunday, Paltel said that two repair workers had been killed working to repair infrastructure. NBC News has not verified the claim.

Israel's right-wing national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called the decision to withdraw some troops from Gaza and scale back the military operation there an "acute and serious error" that will cost human lives.

In a post on X, Ben-Gvir cited a rocket barrage that was launched at the border community of Netivot earlier today, which he said was from an area in Gaza that IDF forces had left only yesterday. This proved that "the occupation of the Strip is necessary for the realization of the combat goals," he said.

Yesterday, Israel’s defense minister said the military offensive inside Gaza was moving toward a lower intensity stage after three months of fighting. The IDF also announced that it was pulling one of four divisions out of the Gaza Strip for "a period of refreshment and training."

Ben-Gvir has previously faced criticism for his comments calling for the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Displaced Palestinians line up for water at a makeshift tent camp by the beach in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip today.

After Donald Trump won the Iowa caucuses last night, he vowed to resolve both the Israel-Hamas war and Russia's invasion of Ukraine "very fast" if re-elected.

In his victory speech, Trump said that if he was still in charge, "Russia would have never attacked, Israel would have never been attacked," as he called the situations both Israel and Ukraine find themselves in "so horrible."

"We are going to get them solved very fast," Trump added, without going into detail about how exactly that would happen.

In office, Trump helped Israel sign normalization deals with some of its Arab neighbors, agreements that largely sidelined the issue of the Palestinians.

Israeli special forces carried out a strike in southern Lebanon, the country's military said in Telegram post this morning.

They "struck in order to remove a threat in the area of Ayta ash Shab in Lebanon," the IDF said in English. Ayta ash Shab is a village in southern Lebanon close to Israel's northern border.

The IDF did not say what the "threat" was. It also said its aircraft struck a Hezbollah anti-tank missile launcher in a town in southern Lebanon.

It comes amid growing fears of the Israel-Hamas war spilling into neighboring Lebanon and exploding into a broader conflict with the country's Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

The IDF later reported aerial and artillery strikes on Hezbollah targets in the area of Wadi Saluki in southern Lebanon, which the Israeli military said the militant group was exploiting for "terrorist activity" to conceal its assets and infrastructure used to attack Israel.

NBC News has not verified that that claim.

An Israeli community close to the border with Gaza said it was hit with a barrage of "many launches" from the enclave today.

The municipality of Netivot said there were no injuries and one building was damaged when one of the rockets fell at the entrance of the city. It said there were also a lot fragments scattered throughout the city from air defense interceptions.

The Times of Israel reported earlier today that more than 50 rockets were fired at the city, calling it the largest rocket barrage from Gaza in several weeks. NBC News could not immediately confirm how many missiles were launched at Netivot.

A team of Navy SEALs that lost two members who went overboard while searching a small boat off the coast of Somalia went on to find Iranian missile parts bound for Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the U.S. military said this morning.

The team found “Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missiles components” including propulsion, guidance, and warheads for medium-ranged ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, U.S. Central Command, which oversees the military in the Middle East and parts of Asia, said in a statement posted on X.

American ships and aircraft are continuing a huge search and rescue mission in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, after the two SEALs disappeared into rough, nighttime seas during the boarding operation last Thursday.

Read the full story here.

The head of the World Health Organization has called for "a fundamental step change" in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in the enclave that's home to more than 2 million people.

In a post on X, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for the opening of new entry routes into Gaza and for more trucks being allowed through border checks every day.

He also said there is a need for fewer restrictions on the movement of humanitarian workers and guarantees of safety for people accessing and distributing aid.

Qatar’s prime minister offered stinging criticism of Israel and the international community this morning over the ongoing Israeli war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as Qatar’s foreign minister, said a two-state solution was required to end the conflict and warned that Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack and the Israeli response showed the region could not go back to the way it was before.

“Gaza is not there anymore. I mean, there is nothing over there,” he said, speaking in Davos, Switzerland. “It’s carpet bombing everywhere.”

He also brought up the ongoing tensions in the occupied West Bank, which has seen Palestinians killed as well by Israeli security forces, and urged for an end to Palestinian divisions.

“We cannot have a two-state solution without having a government and politicians in Israel who believe in coexisting together side by side peacefully and we cannot have all this ongoing without ending this war,” he said.

Iraq labeled Iran's attacks on the city of Erbil "an aggression" against its sovereignty and security, and has recalled its ambassador from Tehran in response.

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X that Iran targeted "residential places with ballistic missiles," which led to casualties among civilians. The Kurdistan Region Security Council said in a statement that four civilians were killed in Erbil and six others were injured as the result of the attack. NBC News could not verify the claims.

The Foreign Ministry said it will take "all legal measures" against Iran's behavior, including submitting a complaint to the U.N. Security Council. The country has also recalled its ambassador from Tehran for further consultations, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

The State Department also "strongly condemned" Iran’s actions, adding that it opposes Tehran's "reckless missile strikes," which undermine Iraq’s stability.

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said no U.S. personnel or facilities in Iraq were targeted in the strikes, and they continue to assess the situation while supporting Iraq's sovereignty.

Iran said it launched ballistic missiles at targets in Iraq and Syria in defense of its sovereignty and security, as well as to counter terrorism amid rising fears of the escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it attacked the “spy headquarters” of Israel in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region late yesterday, in addition to striking in Syria against the Islamic State.

The Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment on Iran's claims.

The Iranian semiofficial news agency ISNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Naser Kanaani as saying the operations were part of Tehran’s just punishment against those who act against the country’s security.

At least four civilians were killed and six injured in the strikes, the Kurdistan government’s security council said. Multimillionaire Kurdish businessman Peshraw Dizayee and several members of his family were among the dead, killed when at least one rocket crashed into their home, Iraqi security and medical sources said.

Israel's defense minister said yesterday evening that the military offensive inside Gaza is moving toward a lower intensity stage after the conflict reached the 100-day mark.

Yoav Gallant said that when he and the Israeli military leadership presented the war plan for the Gaza Strip after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, they made it clear that the intensive maneuvering stage would last for about three months.

"In the northern area of the Gaza strip this phase will come to an end," Gallant said. "In southern Gaza we will reach this achievement and it will end soon, and in both places, the moment will come when we will move to the next phase."

Gallant's comments came as the Israel military said yesterday it has withdrawn one of four divisions in the Gaza Strip for "a period of refreshment and training."

Israeli soldiers during ground operations at an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip, in an image supplied by the IDF this morning.

TEL AVIV — We are learning new details about what happened to 4-year-old American hostage Abigail Idan, from the fellow hostage who was with her while they were held by Hamas. Plus, the family of a 1-year-old hostage still held by Hamas speaks to NBC News.

• U.S. says no damage or injuries after missile strike in Erbil, Iraq
• U.S. ignored warnings about Houthi threat, senior Yemeni leader says
• 100 days on, devastation in Gaza mounts and hostage families grow desperate