Israel-Hamas war live updates: Netanyahu says Israel will not agree to a cease-fire; UNICEF says ‘more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day’

The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is warning that “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire has become a matter of life and death for millions,” stressing that “the present and future of Palestinians and Israelis depend on it.”

Philippe Lazzarini warned during an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council Monday that a further breakdown of civil order, following the recent break-ins at the agency’s warehouses by panicked Palestinians searching for food and other aid, will make it extremely difficult for the largest U.N. agency in Gaza to continue operating.

He said in a virtual briefing that he is worried about a spillover of the conflict and urged all 193 U.N. member nations “to change the trajectory of this crisis.”

The commissioner-general of the agency known as UNRWA, also said 64 of its staff have been killed in just over three weeks — the latest only two hours prior when UNRWA’s head of security in mid-Gaza was killed with his wife and eight children.

Lazzarini said most Palestinians in Gaza “feel trapped in a war they have nothing to do with” and “they feel the world is equating all of them to Hamas.” He stressed that the Oct. 7 Hamas atrocities in Israel don’t absolve Israel from its obligations under international humanitarian law, starting with the protection of civilians.

— Associated Press

Israel has warned its citizens to leave the northern Caucasus after a mob stormed an airport in Russia’s Dagestan region when a flight from Israel landed there.

Hundreds of men, some carrying banners with antisemitic slogans, rushed onto the tarmac of the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region, on Sunday night, looking for Israeli passengers on the flight from Tel Aviv, according to Russian news reports.

The attack seemed to be partly fueled by anger at Israel’s actions in Gaza, where it has been at war with Hamas following a deadly incursion by the militant group earlier this month. Several people in the mob were waving Palestinian flags.

More than 20 people were wounded, with two in critical condition, and police made 60 arrests.

Israel raised its travel warning level to 4, the highest level, calling on citizens to avoid all travel to Dagestan and neighboring regions, and for those who are there to leave as soon as possible.

— Associated Press

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby was asked during a press briefing to confirm reports that the U.S. was involved in convincing Israel to restore internet and communication services on the Gaza Strip after it was plunged into darkness Friday night, NBC News reported.

“I would just tell you that we’re glad to see that the internet connectivity was restored,” Kirby said,

Later he confirmed, “yes, we were part of the conversations that led to that restoration.”

The Gaza Strip was plunged into darkness Friday night as Palestinians lost access to internet and communication. Large explosions could be seen lighting up the night sky as Israel stepped up bombardment.

Communication services were slowly restored on Sunday.

— Riya Bhattacharjee

Israeli officials are going back on their promised refusal to grant entry visas to U.N. officials.

Martin Griffiths, the head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, tweeted Monday that he was in Israel — less than a week after Israel’s U.N. ambassador said it had “refused” to grant Griffiths a visa.

Israeli officials had expressed outrage over comments last Wednesday by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants “did not happen in a vacuum.”

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, accused Guterres on Israel’s Army Radio of justifying a slaughter, called for his resignation and said Israel would “refuse to grant visas to U.N. representatives.”

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Guterres stood by his remarks.

On Monday, Israel’s ambassador in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, said, “We haven’t said categorically that we’re not giving visas. We are … We understand their need to be there.”

Eilon Shahar confirmed that Griffiths was in Israel, as well as other officials, including Han Kluge, the regional head of the World Health Organization.

But she continued to voice Israel’s frustration that U.N. institution chiefs didn’t speak out more forcefully against Hamas militants for “butchering civilians and women in such a vicious way.”

“The United Nations has let down the people of Israel,” Eilon Shahar added. “When I say the United Nations, I’m talking about the multilateral organizations have let down the people of Israel.”

— Associated Press

Doctor Sobhi Skeik, director of the Turkish Palestinian Hospital, situated just south of Gaza City, said his hospital was damaged by an Israeli strike at 6:30 pm Monday evening.

The blast partially destroyed two rooms on the third floor of the small hospital, damaging the building’s oxygen system and water supply.

“Just out of luck no one was in the rooms at the time,” Skiek said. There was no evacuation order from the Israeli army before the strike.

Over the past few days, Skeik said dozens of missile strikes have hit the atmosphere and area surrounding the hospital, which specializes in cancer treatment. He said the hospital is currently housing 100 to 150 patients, 200 staff members and 100 displaced people.

— Associated Press

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on members of the Security Council to do more as the conflict in Gaza intensifies.

“Lives hang in the balance and we must all step up as the United States has done,” Thomas-Greenfield said before the Security Council.

Thomas-Greenfield said the United States is the “single largest donor to the Palestinian people” and has committed more than $1 billion to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency since 2021.

She added that the Biden administration has also recently announced another $100 million in humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people in Gaza as well as in the West Bank. 

“But of course, no amount of aid will matter if it cannot reach people in need,” Thomas-Greenfield said, adding that the U.S. continues to work with Israel, Egypt, the UN and other partners to move critical humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“Food, fuel, water, medicine and other essential services must be restored and while the number of trucks entering Gaza continues to increase, it is not nearly enough,” she added.

— Amanda Macias

President Joe Biden’s top national security adviser met with Saudi Arabian Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman Al Saud at the White House.

The two discussed a number of issues including the ongoing situation in Gaza.

“They affirmed the urgent need to increase humanitarian assistance for the people of Gaza. They further emphasized the importance of working towards a sustainable peace between Israelis and Palestinians, building on the work that was already underway between Saudi Arabia and the United States over recent months,” a readout issued by the White House said.

The two also discussed the importance of mitigating the expansion of the conflict in the region.

— Amanda Macias

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said that “more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day.”

“It’s a number that should shake each of us to our core,” Russell said, addressing the UN Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told the Security Council nearly 70% of those reported killed were children and women.

“Save the Children reported yesterday that nearly 3,200 children were killed in Gaza in just three weeks. This surpasses the number of children killed annually across the world’s conflict zones since 2019,”  Lazzarini said.

This cannot be “collateral damage,”  Lazzarini said, stressing that there must be strict “adherence to international humanitarian law.”

Read his full statement here.

— Riya Bhattacharjee

The U.S. Navy’s USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Mediterranean Sea en route to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the deployment of the carrier strike group in order to support Israeli security and to deter further aggression throughout the Middle East.

The U.S. Navy’s USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group is already in the region.

“Our arrival in the Mediterranean, en route to CENTCOM, provides reassurance to our allies and partners that we are committed to ensuring their security and well-being,” said U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Marc Miguez in a statement.

“Our presence, along with that of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier strike group, demonstrates the combat power and proficiency of the Navy’s deployed forces,” Miguez added.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the “appalling videos” from Makhachkala, Russia, showing an angry mob at the airport searching for Israeli citizens on a flight from Tel-Aviv.

“This is not an isolated incident in Makhachkala, but rather part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which is propagated by state television, pundits and authorities,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post on X.

Zelenskyy, whose country has been fighting off a full-scale Russian invasion for more than 600 days, called Russian antisemitism “deeply rooted.”

“The Russian foreign minister has made a series of antisemitic remarks in the last year. The Russian President also used antisemitic slurs. For Russian propaganda talking heads on official television, hate rhetoric is routine,” Zelenskyy wrote.

“Russian antisemitism and hatred toward other nations are systemic and deeply rooted. Hatred is what drives aggression and terror. We must all work together to oppose hatred,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. does not believe a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is currently “the right answer.”

Kirby made the comment at the White House press briefing when asked about the U.S.’s decision to vote against a UN resolution calling for humanitarian pauses.

“We do not believe that a ceasefire is the right answer right now,” Kirby said. “We believe that a ceasefire right now benefits Hamas, and Hamas is the only one that would gain from that right now.”

More than 8,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since Oct. 7, nearly half of them children. The number is expected to rise rapidly as Israel continues a ground offensive in Gaza.

Kirby said the U.S. supports “temporary, localized humanitarian pauses for aid” and to get people out.

— Emma Kinery

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby confirmed that Hamas was still blocking foreign nationals from exiting the Rafah crossing.

“Hamas is still the hold-up,” Kirby said, adding that Israeli and Egyptian officials are willing to process foreign nationals who successfully pass the Hamas side of the crossing.

Kirby said the Biden administration is working with partners on the ground as well as regional allies on the safe passage of civilians and aid through the Rafah border crossing.

— Amanda Macias

The United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, said the World Health Organization has tallied more than 30 attacks on healthcare facilities in Gaza since the war started on Oct. 7.

“Twelve of Gaza’s 35 hospitals, which are also being used as shelters for displaced people, can no longer function,” UNICEF Director Catherine Russell said before the United Nations Security Council.

Russell called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution to remind the warring parties to respect international humanitarian law, which would include targeting civilian infrastructure.

— Amanda Macias

Gaza is being depleted of clean water as a single desalination plant operates well under capacity, according to UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

Clean water is “quickly running out, leaving more than 2 million people in dire need,” Russell said during a United Nations Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in the region.

The remaining desalination plant is operating at only 5% capacity, Russell said, while Gaza’s water waste treatment plants are nonoperational.

“The lack of clean water and safe sanitation is on the verge of becoming a catastrophe,” she added. “Unless access is urgently restored, more civilians will fall ill or die from dehydration or waterborne diseases.”

—Chelsey Cox

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has no plans to resign, despite a public uproar over the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas raid that killed over 1,400 Israelis and sparked the current Israel-Hamas war.

Netanyahu was asked at a news conference Monday if he has considered stepping down.
“The only thing that I intend to have resigned is Hamas. We’re going to resign them to the dustbin of history,” he said. “That’s my goal. That’s my responsibility.”

Netanyahu also said he would not agree to a cease-fire, saying it would be tantamount “to surrender to Hamas, to surrender to terrorism, to surrender to barbarism. That will not happen.”
He said Hamas was responsible for the high death toll in Gaza, accusing the group of using civilians as human shields.

The Palestinian death toll in the Israel-Hamas war has reached 8,306, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.

— Associated Press

The White House said that approximately 45 trucks carrying humanitarian aid passed through the Rafah crossing into Gaza.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the White House that the Biden administration is working with partners in the region to accelerate the delivery of additional aid.

— Amanda Macias

Hundreds of influential Israeli economists are warning the government that it must make big economic changes quickly, including re-opening the country’s budget.

The letter released Monday by the Israeli Economists’ Forum comes as the war with Hamas approaches its fourth week.

The economists call on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich “to wake up and start responding to the tough challenges that the Israeli economy faces.”

Read the full story here.

— Jason Gewirtz

Extremely graphic pro-Israeli ads have been showing up on children’s video games, according to a Reuters report.

Reuters said it has documented at least six cases across Europe where the same pro-Israel video, which carried footage of rocket attacks, a fiery explosion, and masked gunmen, was shown to gamers, including children.

In at least one case, the ads were played inside the popular “Angry Birds” game made by SEGA-owned developer Rovio.

Rovio confirmed to Reuters that “somehow these ads with disturbing content have in error made it through to our game” and were now being blocked manually. Spokesperson Lotta Backlund did not provide details on which of its “dozen or so ad partners” had supplied it with the ad.

Read the complete Reuters report here.

— Terri Cullen

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on all civil states to back Israel in its war against Hamas during an evening address from Tel Aviv.

“Israel will fight until this battle is won, and Israel will prevail,” Netanyahu said, adding, “Israel’s victory is your victory.”

“We cannot give up the fight because then I think this will have disastrous consequences not only for the future of my country but for the future of your countries,” the Israeli leader told reporters following his address.

“This is a battle of civilization against barbarians. The barbarians will do something that civilized countries will never do. And civilized countries will make every effort to prevent this,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

A senior Treasury Department official sought support from Middle East partners on counter-terrorist actions amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

Brian E. Nelson, under-secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, explicitly condemned the attacks by Hamas when he traveled to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Doha, Qatar, last week.

Nelson emphasized the importance of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s role in mitigating escalating violence as he co-chaired a meeting of the Terrorist Financing Targeting Center in Riyadh. The members agreed to share information on alleged terrorist financing sources.

In Doha, Nelson met with leaders to discuss efforts to crack down on terrorist fundraising through the Qatari financial system. He also promised continued coordination between the Treasury and regional partners to disrupt funding streams to Iran-backed terror groups.

— Chelsey Cox

The State Department said the last scheduled U.S. chartered flight out of Ben Gurion Airport will depart on Oct. 31.

“We urge those wishing to leave to take advantage of these charters while they are available,” the State Department wrote in an update.

“Please go to Ben Gurion International Airport, Terminal 3 if you wish to depart Israel. U.S. Embassy personnel will be present to direct you and provide specific flight information. Be prepared to wait,” the State Department wrote in an update.

State Department spokesman Matt Miller said that the U.S. has seen the demand for chartered flights drop in recent days. Miller added that the last flight, which was described as a commercial-sized passenger aircraft, had five people who took the charter.

The State Department has the following local phone numbers for U.S. citizens in the region who are seeking assistance:

U.S. citizens in Israel please call the local number (03-519-7426)

U.S. citizens in Lebanon please call the local number (961-4-543 600)

U.S. citizens in Iraq please call the local number (0760-030-4400)

— Amanda Macias

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday regarding President Joe Biden’s supplemental funding request.

The hearing is slated to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration requested more than $105 billion from Congress to support the security needs of Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the U.S. southern border. The biggest request in the package is for about $61 billion for Ukraine, but it also calls for another $14.3 billion for Israel.

— Amanda Macias

The Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, wrote in a social media post on X that Israeli soldier Private Ori Megidish was now with her family after she was kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7.

“She is home,” the IDF wrote, adding “Ori is now home with her family.”

Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant declined to provide additional details about Megidish, who was freed during a group operation carried out by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Gallant said during a press briefing that sharing additional details could jeopardize the release of other hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

— Amanda Macias

Secretary of State Antony Blinken thanked Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani for Doha’s help in securing the release of two American citizens from Hamas.

The two also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and ways to mitigate the conflict from spreading, according to a readout provided by the State Department.

“The secretary and the prime minister discussed the vital importance of protecting all civilian lives and providing sustained humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller added.  

Over the weekend, Blinken held calls with his Turkish counterpart and British counterpart about the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

— Amanda Macias

Family members of hostages held by the Hamas militant group said that they supported an all-for-all prisoner exchange deal when they met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, local media reported Monday.

“We made it clear to him that there needs to be an all-for-all deal,” representatives of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum told the press, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. An all-for-all deal would entail a blanket release of Palestinian prisoners.

The family members also told Netanyahu that Israel should not take any action that could jeopardize the captives currently held in Gaza.

Netanyahu on Saturday announced a widening of Israel’s invasion into Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

— Karen Gilchrist

A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American woman and her young son pleaded not guilty Monday following his indictment by an Illinois grand jury, the Associated Press reported.

Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of Hanaan Shahin on Oct. 14. Authorities said the victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith.

Shahin told police that Czuba, her landlord in Plainfield in Will County, was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked them after she had urged him to “pray for peace.”

Shahin, 32, is recovering from multiple stab wounds. Hundreds of people attended her son’s funeral on Oct. 16.

The murder charge in the indictment against Czuba describes the boy’s death as the result of “exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior.”

Czuba appeared in court Monday wearing a red jail uniform, socks and slippers.

His attorney George Lenard entered the not guilty plea. Czuba did not speak, looking down at the podium as he stood before the judge in the court in Joliet, 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.

— Associated Press

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as “cruel psychological propaganda” a video released by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which shows three hostages captured by the militant group lambasting Netanyahu’s leadership.

“This is cruel psychological propaganda by Hamas-ISIS. We hug the families. We will do everything to return all the kidnapped and missing people home,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by the prime minister’s office.

The video released on Monday shows three hostages who were seized during the Hamas terror attacks of Oct.7, and remarks from one captive woman accusing Netanyahu of political and military negligence, blaming him for civilian deaths and calling for the release of hostages.

It is unclear if the woman was speaking of her own volition or whether she acted under duress and her remarks were scripted by Hamas.

Netanyahu said in his statement that the government was “doing everything to bring all the kidnapped and missing people home.”

It comes as Israel on Monday said it is expanding its ground incursion into Gaza and pledged to continue its “large scale, significant strikes” in pursuit of Hamas militants.

— Karen Gilchrist

As the Israel-Hamas war draws into into its fourth week, the risks to the global economy are rising, economist Mohamed el-Erian said Monday.

El-Erian, who is chief economic advisor at Allianz, said that the longer the fighting continues, the greater the chance that it will escalate into a regional conflict with implications for global financial markets.

“The longer this conflict goes on, the more likely it will escalate,” el-Erian told CNBC’s Dan Murphy during a panel session at the AIM Summit in Dubai.

“The higher the risk of escalation, the higher the risk of contagion to the rest of the world in terms of economics and finance,” he continued.

El-Erian said that such contagion would compound the already pervasive issues facing the global economy, including stagnating growth, stubbornly high inflation and the broader fragmentation of markets.

— Karen Gilchrist

The U.S. is making efforts to send a “strong” message of deterrence to Iran, the White House said, amid concerns that the Israel-Hamas war could spread across the wider Middle East.

“We’re certainly going to act, if we have to, to continue to protect our troops and our facilities. We have proven that we will strike and act to do that. And that’s a strong message that Iran needs to take away. We take those responsibilities seriously,” White House National Security spokesman John Kirby told the press on Monday, according to CNN.

The U.S. has sent two aircraft carrier strike groups to the region to defend American military assets there, Kirby added. “We’ve got to make sure we send a signal to all actors, not just Iran, but all actors, certainly Iran included, that we will take our national security interest very seriously. We will protect and defend our troops. And we’ll do it at a time in a manner of our choosing.”

A day prior, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on social media that Israel had “crossed the red lines” that “may force everyone to take action.” Iran funds Hamas and Hezbollah, militant organizations that are respectively based in Gaza and Lebanon and have stated aims to destroy Israel. Observers worry that Israel’s intense bombardment of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip will motivate more of its adversaries to attack it from new fronts.

— Natasha Turak

Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsiya on Monday said that flights from Tel Aviv to Makhachkala and Mineralniye Vody, both in Russia’s heavily Muslim North Caucasus, would be temporarily redirected to other cities.

The interior ministry said earlier that 60 people were arrested after an anti-Israeli mob stormed Makhachkala airport in the Dagestan region on Sunday night, as a plane arrived from Israel.

The Kremlin said on Monday that the storming of the airport was the result of “outside influence”. In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “ill-wishers” had used widely seen images of suffering in Gaza to stir people up in the region.

— Reuters

An Israeli tank and armored vehicle struck a civilian car on a crucial road running from north to south near Gaza City, according to Palestinian eyewitnesses and a video whose geolocation has been verified by NBC.

The video shows a car being shot at by what appears to be a tank on the Salah al-Din road, which many in Gaza have been using to escape southward at the instruction of the Israel Defense Forces, as Israeli military bombards the north of the besieged territory.

“We were working, my colleague and I, in the main street of Salah al-Din, where the Israelis said was safe – we saw a tank and bulldozer as we were arriving in the area,” Palestinian freelance journalist Bashar Talib, who was in a nearby car, told NBC News in an interview. “There was a car, a Skoda, ahead of us, that appeared to see the tank at the last minute, they tried to stop the car which had civilians including children in it. That could have been us that was struck by the tank fire.”

NBC has reached out to the IDF for its response. IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari was asked about the tanks during a morning briefing and declined to offer any information, the BBC reported.

The location of the Israeli tank and armored vehicle raised speculation that the IDF could be advancing on Gaza City, the largest city of the blockaded territory.

The Israeli military officially says it does not target civilians and only seeks to remove the military capabilities of Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

— Natasha Turak

An angry mob of hundreds of people in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region of Russia stormed a local airport apparently looking for Jewish passengers after a flight landed from Israel.

“More than 150 active participants in the riots were identified,” the ministry of internal affairs for the region said, adding that authorities had arrested 60 people, and that nine police officers were injured.

In videos verified by NBC News, protestors at the Makhachkala airport swarmed the site and the tarmac, shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Great.” Some carried Palestinian flags, and videos show them breaking glass doors and asking an airport official questions outside the plane once it landed, with the official responding that the passengers had left.

— Natasha Turak

Talks to free some of the hostages held by militant group Hamas stalled over Israel’s unwillingness to send fuel to Gaza, its base, and Hamas’ objection to guaranteeing it would release a large number of foreign captives, according to a former U.S. official with knowledge of the ongoing negotiations over the release of some of the estimated 230 hostages.

“Hamas has been insistent on receiving fuel,” said the former U.S. official, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to talk publicly. “The Israel and U.S. side, plus other countries, want a large batch of their citizens released.”

— NBC News

The high and growing number of children killed in Israel’s offensive against Gaza is “harrowing,” charity organization Save the Children said in a statement.

“The numbers are harrowing and with violence not only continuing but expanding in Gaza right now, many more children remain at grave risk,” Jason Less, the charity’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said.

Save the Children cited a child death toll in Gaza of more than 3,100 — a figure provided by the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry — which it said is higher than the annual combined number of children killed across the world’s conflict zones since 2019.

The U.N. secretary-general’s annual reports found that 2,985 children were killed in conflicts around the world last year, an increase from 2,515 in 2021 and 2,674 in 2020.

— Natasha Turak

Shani Louk, a 23-year-old German-Israeli woman kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7, has been found dead, and her body has been identified, Israel’s foreign ministry reported.

“We are devastated to share that the body of 23 year old German-Israeli Shani (Louk) was found and identified,” the ministry posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Louk was identified in video footage as the young woman whose body had been stripped and driven around Gaza in the back of a pick-up truck by Hamas militants on Oct. 7. The terror attack killed more than 1,300 people, with at least 239 taken hostage in Gaza, the IDF said.

Israeli rescue workers said that more than 260 bodies were recovered from the Nova festival site itself.

Louk was “tortured and paraded around Gaza by Hamas terrorists,” the foreign ministry statement said, adding that she “experienced unfathomable horrors.”

“May her memory be a blessing,” it said.

Louk’s mother, Ricarda Louk, confirmed to German news outlet RTL that the family has been informed that the young woman is no longer alive, according to a Google translation.

— Natasha Turak

The Israeli Defense Forces updated the number of hostages held captive by Hamas in Gaza to 239.

“So far we have notified the families of 311 (deceased) IDF soldiers., and 239 people held hostage. I want to explain this number. It’s an incomprehensible number: 239 hostages,” Israeli Military Spokesperson Daniel Hagari told the press.

The IDF previously said they revise the publicly disclosed number of hostages as they alert the families of captives.

“Among the hostages are foreign workers, not a small number of them, for whom the process of identification and reaching families is complicated for us. It is taking us time to build up this picture. Hence the number I have cited: 239.”

Four of the hostages have been returned since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, with the help of Qatar-led negotiations, the Biden administration said at the time of the releases.

— Natasha Turak

Blasts have rung out less than 200ft from the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City which is sheltering thousands of people, a spokesperson for the Palestine Red Crescent Society told NBC News by telephone this morning. 

Many women and children are among at least 14,000 people packed into the facility and a large number need medical care, said Nebal Farsakh. She added that others simply believed it would be the safest place to shelter from Israeli strikes in northern Gaza.

Farsakh said the hospital received at least two warnings calls ordering officials to evacuate the facility. “They ask people to evacuate themselves with no transportation, with no fuel, no cars. How are they going to make it?” she said, adding that the area surrounding the hospital has come under intense bombardment, she said.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NBC News on whether warning calls were made or whether the area surrounding the hospital was being targeted.

— NBC News

Antisemitic threats to the Jewish community of Cornell University in New York have been reported to the FBI as a potential hate crime, according to a letter from the university’s president to the student community.

“Earlier today, a series of horrendous, antisemitic messages threatening violence to our Jewish community” were posted to a website that was not connected to Cornell, the university’s president, Martha E. Pollack, wrote. She added that the threats named the address of the campus Center for Jewish Living, saying that university police reported the incident to the FBI as a possible hate crime.

Cornell police have been assigned to the living center and will offer protection on site, Pollack wrote.

— Natasha Turak

The death toll in Gaza since Israel began its bombing campaign of the country on Oct. 7 has surpassed 8,000, according the Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank, which drew the number from sources in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

“The toll of the Israeli aggression reached 8,005 martyrs, including 3,324 children, 2,062 women, and 460 elderly people, in addition to 20,242 citizens sustaining various injuries since October 7,” the ministry’s statement said on Telegram, according to a Google translation. The proportion of women, children and the elderly among those killed amounted to 73% of the total, according to the ministry’s numbers.

U.S. President Joe Biden has cast doubt on the figures coming from Gaza’s health ministry as it is run by Hamas. In response, the ministry published a list more than 200 pages long detailed the names of all those it says it had confirmed as dead. No independent body has been able to enter Gaza to verify casualty numbers as its borders are sealed.

— Natasha Turak

UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly said he is working with Israel and Arab allies to reach a pause in the fighting to allow more aid to reach civilians in Gaza.

“We’re working extensively with the Egyptians, with the Israelis and others to try and have a humanitarian pause, a temporary pause so that we can get that humanitarian aid to the people that need it,” Cleverly was quoted as telling Reuters from Abu Dhabi.

“It’s trickling through but we need a significant increase in the volume,” he said.

A handful of aid trucks have been allowed into Gaza via its Rafah border crossing with Egypt, but aid workers say what has come in so far is a “drop in the ocean” compared to the vast need of some 2.2 million people who have been cut off from water, food and electricity following Israel’s siege on the territory.

Israel says the siege is necessary to pressure Hamas to release hostages and stop firing rockets into Israel.

— Natasha Turak

The Israeli Defense Forces said it expanded its ground incursion into Gaza overnight, as the country enters a second phase of its war against Hamas.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the IDF said one of its aircraft struck a Hamas post while forces “eliminated multiple terrorists barricaded within civilian buildings and terrorist tunnels who attempted to attack the forces.”

CNBC has not independently verified the reports.

— Matt Clinch

Global growth will be impacted if the ongoing Israel-Hamas war spills into the broader Middle East region, the World Trade Organization’s director-general has warned.

“If it spreads beyond where it is now, to the rest of the Middle East, there will be an impact,” Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told CNBC’s Martin Soong.

That’s because the Middle East is “the source” of a lot of the world’s natural gas and oil, the WTO chief said.

Escalating conflict could further weigh on trade growth which is already “quite grim,” she added.

Read more of the story here.

– Sheila Chiang

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said on Sunday it shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon with a surface-to-air missile, the first time it has announced such an incident, as clashes on the Lebanese border escalate.

The drone was hit near Khiam, about 5 km (3 miles) from the border with Israel, and was seen falling in Israeli territory, Hezbollah added. Two security sources in Lebanon said it was the first time Hezbollah had announced downing an Israeli drone.

The Israeli Defence Ministry did not provide comment. Israel’s military, which claimed more strikes on what it described as Hezbollah targets on Sunday, also did not comment.

Mohanad Hage Ali, of the Carnegie Middle East Center, said Hezbollah has “insinuated they have this capability but it is the first time they declare they have this kind of capability to shoot down a drone.”
— Reuters

Before and after satellite images from Maxar Technologies show destruction of neighborhoods in Northern Gaza from continued Israeli airstrikes.

Before: Atatra neighborhood

After: Atatra neighborhood

Before: Al Karameh neigborhood

After: Al Karameh neigborhood

Before: Izbat Beit Hanoun neighborhood

After: Izbat Beit Hanoun neighborhood

Before: Beit Hanoun neighborhood

After: Beit Hanoun neighborhood

— Adam Jeffery

The Israeli military struck targets in Lebanon and Syria on Sunday after projectiles were fired into Israel.

Clashes have been taking place across Israel’s tense border with Lebanon since the onset of the Hamas-Israel war, mostly contained to several border towns.

But on Sunday, rockets were fired from Syria as well, falling into open Israeli territory, the military said. It fired back at the site where the rockets were launched.

Israel’s military also provided video of multiple strikes inside Lebanon, showing explosions erupting among trees and missiles hitting a building on a hillside. The military said it shot down a drone and killed a militant who tried to approach the border fence.

On Sunday evening, Hamas said its forces in Lebanon had fired 16 missiles at the northern Israeli town of Nahariya. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, a Hamas ally, also announced it had fired missiles at several sites across the border Sunday afternoon, including one that it said had hit an Israeli infantry unit near the town of Birket Risha and caused “confirmed injuries.”

— Associated Press