Israel-Hamas war: Gaza food aid ship delayed as Ramadan begins with no cease-fire

Northern Lebanese area of Baalbek hit by Israeli airstrikes, state news says

Lebanese state news reported that Israeli airstrikes targeted towns surrounding the city of Baalbek in northern Lebanon.

One of the strikes hit a residential building in Ansar, south of Baalbek, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency. Injuries were reported, but there no additional details were available. The nearby towns of Shamstar and Taraya were also hit, according to local reports.

Al-Jadeed, a Lebanese news station, reported that an olive oil mill was struck and a worker was missing.

NBC News has not independently verified the reports, and the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to a request for more information.

Nassar Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Khan Younis, abandoned to trash after Israeli siege

NBC News returned to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis weeks after it came under siege by Israeli forces.

The hospital grounds are largely abandoned and surrounded by waste, as the remaining doctors and staff try to clean up the complex with hopes of restoring some medical services.

“We have nothing here: no food, no water, no electricity,” one woman told NBC News. “Our homes are destroyed and my son died.”

Hezbollah says it stages drone strike on Israeli outpost in Golan Heights

AMMAN — Lebanon’s Hezbollah group said it carried out a drone attack today against an Israeli air defense outpost across the border in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

It said the four drones hit their target with “accuracy” in an operation to support Palestinian militant groups in Gaza. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967.

The Iran-aligned Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire along Lebanon’s southern border since October, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in support of its Palestinian ally, Hamas, which is at war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli strikes had been mostly limited to the southern border region of Lebanon, although they have edged further north in recent weeks. Hezbollah last month said it fired rockets against the same target in the Golan Heights.

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The armed group has used surface-to-air missiles on several occasions since Oct. 7 to target Israeli aircraft. It has also launched its own surveillance drones into northern Israel.

The Israeli military said two hostile aerial targets crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory in the northern Golan area “fell in open areas.” It also said Israeli warplanes struck a Hezbollah military site in the border area of Jibbain and overnight hit another Hezbollah outpost in the Taybeh area.

Aid truck denied over scissors in medical kit, refugee agency says

A truck filled with aid was denied access to Gaza over the scissors packed inside medical kits, according to Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner of the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency.

Lazzarini wrote in a post on X that very little aid is getting into Gaza as new restrictions, which are imposed by Israel, are increasing. Aid trucks are screened prior to entering Gaza and those that don’t meet the requirements are turned away.

“Medical scissors are now added to a long list of banned items the Israeli Authorities classify as ‘for dual use,'” Lazzarini wrote. “The list includes basic and lifesaving items: from anesthetics, solar lights, oxygen cylinders and ventilators, to water cleaning tablets, cancer medicines and maternity kits.”

NBC News has reached out to the IDF and Israel’s office of Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories for comment.

IDF still trying to determine whether it killed Hamas leader in Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces is still trying to confirm whether it killed a Hamas leader during overnight strikes Saturday to Sunday in Nuseirat, according to military spokesperson Daniel Hagari.

Fighter jets targeted an “underground compound” that housed Marwan Issa, a man believed to be a high-ranking Hamas official working under militant leader Mohammed Deif, Hagari said.

He added that another military combat leader, Raazi Abu Tameh, was also believed to be in the compound.

“I want to emphasize, and this is important, that according to all the intelligence indications we have checked and examined carefully, as well as those we had at the time of approval of the attack, there were no Israelis held captive in the area,” Hagari said.

Biden’s criticism of Netanyahu hasn’t translated to policy changes

Tensions in the relationship between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have seeped into the public recently, but it appears the disputes may not translate into policy changes.

NBC News correspondent Richard Engel noted that while Biden said there is a “red line” in regard to an invasion of Rafah, “there’s no red line when it comes to continuing to supply Israel with weapons.”

There has not yet been any policy change to date on how Biden has defended Israel despite his frustrations with Netanyahu, said New York Times Chief White House Correspondent Peter Baker.

“But it’s true that there is also widespread support in Israel across the political spectrum, it’s not just Netanyahu, for the military operation there,” Baker said. “And so, obviously this personal relationship between the two is fraught.”

12 Israeli human rights groups say Israel has failed to abide by order to prevent genocide

Israel has failed to abide by a provisional order from the International Court of Justice to prevent civilian genocide in Gaza, a dozen human rights organizations in Israel said in a joint letter today.

The letter was signed by Israel based-groups, such as The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual; and Breaking the Silence.

They also said humanitarian aid to Gaza dropped 50% in February, the month after the court’s ruling was issued.

“We urge the Israeli government to comply with the ICJ order and implement the court’s provisional measures, which are essential to mitigating and overcoming the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” the letter said.

South Africa brought the case to the court, accusing Israel of conducting a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, which Israeli officials have vehemently denied. An official ruling on the case could take years.

Last week, South African officials asked the court to impose further measures on Israel as children in Gaza began to die of malnutrition.

Palestinian foreign ministry condemns Israel’s restrictions on Al-Aqsa during Ramadan

The Palestinian foreign ministry is condemning Israel’s efforts to restrict access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a revered holy site in Islam, particularly during the month of Ramadan.

In a post on X, the ministry showed photos of Muslims lined up against what appeared to be metal barricade fences guarded by Israeli troops at a gate to enter the mosque’s compound.

“The Ministry confirms that the occupation’s continued aggression against Al-Aqsa is the shortest way to blow up the entire conflict arena and bring it into the furnace of a fire that is difficult to control,” it said in a statement.

The ministry urged international leaders to intervene on Israel’s encroachment on Jerusalem’s holy sites and protect the mosque.

IDF commander censured for demolishing university in Gaza without proper approval

JERUSALEM — An Israel Defense Forces commander has been formally censured for ordering the demolition of a university in Gaza without the proper approval.

Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram, commander of the 99th Division, failed to ask permission from the head of the Southern Command to destroy the building, the IDF said.

The IDF said an investigation into the demolition of the university found that Hamas had used the site and its surroundings for military activity against Israeli forces, but that the destruction of the building was carried out “without the required approvals.”

It was not immediately clear exactly when Hamas used the site. The IDF said it could not immediately provide a response to a request for comment from NBC News.

The incident continues to be investigated by the General Staff Fact-Finding Assessment Mechanism, the body responsible for probing exceptional incidents during the war, the Times of Israel reported.

Hamas-linked website warns Palestinians not to work with Israel

GAZA — A Hamas-linked website is warning Palestinians against cooperating with Israel to provide security for aid convoys and if they do, they’ll be treated as collaborators.

The warning came on the Hamas Al-Majd security website, quoting a security official in Palestinian militant forces. It came in response to Israeli media reports that Israel was considering arming some Palestinian individuals or clans in Gaza to provide security protection for aid convoys.

The convoys would be part of wider planning for humanitarian supplies after the fighting ends.

The Israeli prime minister’s office has declined to comment on the report, which came a week after dozens of Palestinians were killed in an incident in which crowds surrounded a convoy of aid trucks entering northern Gaza and troops opened fire.

“The occupation’s attempt to communicate with the leaders and clans of some families to operate within the Gaza Strip is considered direct collaboration with the occupation and is a betrayal of the nation that we will not tolerate,” the website said, quoting the official. “The occupation’s (Israel) efforts to establish bodies to manage Gaza are a ‘failed conspiracy’ that will not materialize.”

With civil order increasingly strained in Hamas-run Gaza and police refusing to provide security to convoys because of the risk of being targeted by Israeli forces, the issue of secure distribution of desperately needed food and other supplies has become a major problem.

162 UNRWA employees killed since start of the war, agency says

At least 162 staff members with the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency have been killed since the start of the war, the agency said in its situation update today.

More than 400 internally displaced civilians have also been killed at UNRWA facilities that have been hit directly or indirectly, the agency said.

An estimated 1.7 million of the roughly 2.2 million civilians inside the Gaza Strip are sheltering in or near UNRWA facilities.

Worshippers gather at Al-Aqsa Mosque for the first night of Ramadan prayersOscar-winning ‘The Zone of Interest’ director condemns violence in Gaza and Israel

British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, accepting the Academy Award for best international feature yesterday, denounced the bloodshed in the Middle East and asked the audience to consider how it could “resist” the “dehumanization” of the war in Gaza.

Glazer received the Oscar for “The Zone of Interest,” a drama that follows Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss and his family as they attempt to build an idyllic life right outside the walls of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland during the Holocaust.

The film, a co-production of the United Kingdom and Poland, pointedly avoids showing the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime inside Auschwitz, instead focusing on the day-to-day domestic routines of the Höss family.

“All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present — not to say, ‘Look what we did then,’ rather, ‘Look what we do now.’ Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst,” Glazer said, reading from prepared remarks. “It shaped all of our past and present.”

Glazer, who is Jewish, then said: “Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many people.”

Read the full story here.

Hundreds attend Ramadan prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque as Israeli police restrict access

Hundreds of Palestinian Muslims have gone to Al-Aqsa Mosque to pray as Ramadan begins even though Israeli forces have enforced restrictions on the area.

The start of Ramadan was officially declared for many Muslims yesterday evening after the crescent moon was spotted in the night sky, making today the first day of fasting. Palestinians within Israel’s borders went to the mosque last night to perform their Tarawih prayers, a special prayer done only during the month of Ramadan, but many were met with Israeli forces blocking their way.

Video circulated on social media of a large crowd being blocked from accessing a gate leading to the mosque and at least one officer was seen hitting people with a baton as the group was being pushed back. NBC News verified the videos using geolocation and has reached out to Israeli police for comment.

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According to the Palestinian Ministry of Information, Israeli forces refused access to young men who were attempting to go to the mosque as part of restrictions and witnesses saw some detained.

“It is noteworthy that the occupation forces have imposed a strict siege on Al-Aqsa Mosque for five months and prevented entry to it,” the ministry said.

Israel has restricted access to the mosque to only Arab-Israeli citizens and residents of Jerusalem, preventing Palestinians in the West Bank from being able to pray there. Al-Aqsa is one of the holiest sites in Islam and Israeli forces have previously raided the mosque during Ramadan, saying last year they were seeking out young men who threw firecrackers at them outside.