27m ago / 7:03 AM EDT
Father holds his child’s body in a Gaza morgue
A father holds his child’s body today next to others killed at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir Al-Balah, central Gaza.
42m ago / 6:47 AM EDT
Aerial exchanges near the Israel-Gaza border
RE’IM, Israel — Though the long-awaited ground assault has not yet started, the aerial war is raging in the skies above southern Israel.
NBC News just had to take cover after air raid sirens sounded in Re’im, near the Gaza border.
And artillery dug in near the kibbutz has let off several deafening rounds in the past 10 minutes. All the while the slow drumbeat of bombardment can be heard across the border in Gaza, accompanied by the whine of Israeli drones and the roar of its jets somewhere overhead.
58m ago / 6:31 AM EDT
Israel says it killed a senior Hamas commander
The Israeli military has claimed it killed the deputy commander of the Hamas rocket fire force last night, adding it was pounding Hamas targets as the country prepares for the next phase of the war.
“We continue to attack targets with an emphasis on Gaza City and its surroundings, but in the entire Gaza Strip, in preparation for the next phase of the war,” spokesperson Daniel Hagari said, adding there was an emphasis on targeting militant leaders. NBC News has not verified the claim.
He also repeated Israel’s call for residents of the Gaza Strip to move southward. “I call on Gaza residents – there is now Gaza North and Gaza South – in Gaza North we are attacking fiercely,” he said.
Almost half of the population of Gaza has been displaced but the south has also faced relentless bombardments with many residents saying there was nowhere to run.
1h ago / 6:02 AM EDT
Gaza skyline lit up orange as artillery pounds enclave
ISRAEL/GAZA BORDER — Overnight the Gaza skyline lit up orange at various points and we heard artillery fired in the direction of the enclave.
There were air raid sirens in central and southern Israel as rockets were fired in the direction of those areas.
We expect an Israeli ground offensive to take place in Gaza any day now. They do have everything in position to do so. It’s just a question of when.
2h ago / 5:48 AM EDT
Israel says 212 hostages are being held in Gaza
At least 212 hostages are being held in Gaza, Israel’s military spokesperson said this morning, a slight increase on the number announced to the public.
“We will not rest until we can bring them all back home. We keep in touch with their families,” Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a briefing, adding 307 Israeli soldiers had been killed.
The news follows the release of two American hostages by Hamas.
2h ago / 5:34 AM EDT
Continuous aid needed to ‘avoid catastrophe’ in Gaza, says U.N. agency
JERUSALEM — A consistent flow of aid is needed in order to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where food and drinking water has become scarce, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA.
“The situation is terrible, humanitarian supplies are very limited,” the director of the agency, which has been tasked tasked with supporting Palestinian development since 1949, said.
“We need a sustainable supply line of aid to avoid catastrophe in the Strip,” the director added.
2h ago / 5:26 AM EDT
Flowers and fear as a kibbutz near Gaza still lies empty
BE’ERI, Israel — The sun was shining on this kibbutz near the Gaza border this morning, the scent of fresh mint and flowers wafting into the streets from gardens where not long ago death had hung heavy in the air and lay heavy in body bags on the ground. But the destruction is still palpable from when Hamas militants swept through Be’eri, with some homes reduced to rubble, while others sit empty.
Survivors of the attack only return briefly and in small numbers to collect some of the possessions they were forced to leave behind. Otherwise, only soldiers remain. Bicycles lay burnt on the ground, while others are still intact but sit abandoned in a bid to escape.
Dozens of people lost their lives here, while others are feared to have been taken hostage by Hamas. It is unclear when residents will be able to return, or if they will even want to.
As the sound of missiles flying into Gaza rings out, IDF Staff Sgt. Ben, who asked that his last name be withheld, said many people want to return eventually, but “a lot of people aren’t ready to come back at all.”
3h ago / 4:57 AM EDT
Israeli airstrikes hit Syrian airports
JERUSALEM — Israeli airstrikes put runways out of service at the international airports of Damascus and Aleppo in Syria this morning, according to the Syrian defense ministry.
The “bursts of missiles” were fired from the Mediterranean Sea direction and “led to the martyrdom of a civilian worker at Damascus airport and the wounding of another worker,” it said in a statement. “Material damage to the runways at both airports led to them being out of service,” it added.
NBC News was unable to independently verify the claim. Israel has not commented publicly.
Israel’s military has targeted airports in the government-held parts of Syria in recent weeks an apparent attempt to prevent arms shipments from Iran to militant groups it supports, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
3h ago / 4:41 AM EDT
Evacuating a damaged building in Rafah
Palestinians leave a damaged building in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, this morning amid intense Israeli airstrikes.
3h ago / 4:32 AM EDT
Israel evacuates more than a dozen communities near Lebanon
JERUSALEM — Israel announced this morning it was evacuating more residents in the country’s north as tensions and clashes escalate on the border with Lebanon.
“The 14 communities added to the plan are: Snir, Dan, Beit Hillel, She’ar Yashuv, Hagoshrim, Liman, Matzuva, Eylon, Goren, Gornot HaGalil, Even Menachem, Sasa, Tziv’on and Ramot Naftali.u,” read a joint statement by the defense ministry and military.
Many residents had already begun moving south, fearing their towns could become a battleground between Israeli forces and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon.
