The Israeli military fired warning shots at a large delegation of European and Arab diplomats on an official visit near the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, drawing swift international condemnation. Delegations from more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Canada and others, were on an official mission to see the humanitarian situation around the besieged camp, according to the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which called the incident a “deliberate and unlawful act.” Video from the incident shows Israeli soldiers firing toward the delegation as it backs away from a gate blocking the road. At least seven shots can be heard in the video. One member of the delegation cautions the group, “be close to the wall, be close to the wall,” as they walk away from the scene. “The ministry holds the Israeli occupying government fully and directly responsible for this criminal assault and affirms that such acts will not pass without accountability,” the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the visit to the camp - the site of a major ongoing military operation that has destroyed more than 100 buildings and impacted thousands of families - was coordinated in advance. The military said it launched an initial investigation once it became clear that the group was a diplomatic delegation. “The delegation deviated from the approved route and entered an area where they were not authorized to be,” the military said in a statement Wednesday. “IDF soldiers operating in the area fired warning shots to distance them away.” The IDF said it will reach out to the delegations about the findings of the initial inquiry and “regrets the inconvenience caused.” The Palestinian Authority said the visit was announced 10 days in advance and that the group had been at the gate for more than 15 minutes before Israeli soldiers started shooting. Roland Friedrich, the director of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the West Bank, refuted the Israeli military’s version of events, saying that its explanations “do not fully capture the severity of today’s event.” “This incident is a stark reminder of the lax use of excessive force routinely deployed by Israeli security forces in the West Bank, often with lethal consequences,” Friedrich said. “This raises serious concerns over the way rules of engagement are applied to unarmed civilians.” Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, said after the incident that “any threats on diplomats’ lives are unacceptable.” “We definitely call on Israel to investigate this incident and also hold those accountable who are responsible for this,” Kallas said at a press conference Wednesday. Italy’s foreign ministry summoned Israel’s ambassador in Rome for an official clarification. “The threats against diplomats are unacceptable,” the country’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani added in a social media post on X. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that Israel’s ambassador to France would also be summoned following the incident, calling it “unacceptable,” while Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said that his government summoned the head of the Israeli embassy in Madrid. Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand confirmed on social media that four Canadian personnel were part of the delegation that was shot at, adding that she has asked officials to summon Israel’s Ambassador to convey “Canada’s serious concerns.” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told a news conference in Ottawa that Canada expected a full and immediate explanation of what happened. “It’s totally unacceptable,” he said. “It’s some of many things that are totally unacceptable that’s going on in the region.” On Wednesday evening, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told CNN’s Isa Soares that her country will be summoning the Israeli ambassador to Finland in response to the military’s actions. “Any deviation of any route – it is not an excuse,” Valtonen said. “It is prohibited to open fire against civilians, even under the laws of war. And, of course, these people were also under diplomatic protection.” A host of officials from other European nations condemned the shooting, including representatives from Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Foreign ministries from countries including Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar also strongly condemned the incident. “This attack, which endangered the lives of diplomats, is yet another demonstration of Israel’s systematic disregard for international law and human rights,” Turkey’s foreign ministry said. “The targeting of diplomats constitutes a grave threat not only to individual safety but also to the mutual respect and trust that form the foundation of inter-state relations. This attack must be investigated without delay, and those responsible must be held accountable,” it added. Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect the shooting incident occurred near the Jenin refugee camp, not within the camp.

Speaking in St. Peter’s Square, the new pope urged “an end to the hostilities whose heartbreaking price is being paid by children, the elderly and sick people.” VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV called Wednesday for humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip and for an end to the “heartbreaking” toll on its people, as he presided over his first general audience in St. Peter’s Square. The Vatican said that around 40,000 people were on hand for the audience, which came just days after an estimated 200,000 people attended the inaugural Mass on Sunday for history’s first American pope. Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost of Chicago, began the audience with a tour through the piazza in the popemobile and stopped to bless several babies. In addressing specific greetings to different groups of pilgrims, Leo spoke in his native English, his fluent Spanish as well as the traditional Italian of the papacy. “I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entrance of dignified humanitarian aid to Gaza and to put an end to the hostilities whose heartbreaking price is being paid by children, the elderly and sick people,” he said. Leo did not mention the plight of hostages taken by Hamas during the assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, as Pope Francis normally would. The general audience on Wednesdays is a weekly appointment that popes have kept for decades to allow ordinary faithful to have a face-to-face encounter with the pontiff. It features the pope delivering a brief reflection on a theme or Scripture passage, with summaries provided by others in different languages and the pope directing specific messages to particular faith groups. The encounter, which lasts more than an hour, usually ends with a brief topical appeal by the pope about a current issue or upcoming event. Leo began it with his now-frequent mantra “Peace be with you.” To that end, Leo on Tuesday reaffirmed the Vatican’s willingness to host the next round of ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine during a phone call with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, the Italian leader’s office said. Meloni made the call after speaking with President Donald Trump and other European leaders, who asked her to verify the Holy See’s offer. “Finding in the Holy Father the confirmation of the willingness to welcome the next talks between the parties, the premier expressed profound gratitude for Pope Leo XIV’s willingness and his incessant commitment in favor of peace,” Meloni’s office said in a statement late Tuesday. Trump had referred to the Vatican’s longstanding offer to host talks in reporting on his phone call Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. While low-level talks could take place in Rome, Italy would be hard-pressed to allow Putin to fly into Rome for any higher-level negotiation. Putin is subject to an international arrest warrant against him from the International Criminal Court, of which Italy is a founding member and therefore obliged to execute its warrants.

Edan Alexander, who was believed to be the last living U.S. citizen held captive in Gaza, was freed May 12 after being captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack. TEL AVIV — On Mother’s Day, Yael Alexander got perhaps the best gift: the news that her son Edan Alexander would be released from Hamas captivity the following day. One week after that life-changing phone call, NBC News spoke to Yael Alexander and her husband, Adi Alexander, about their son’s more than a year in captivity and his eventual release. Edan Alexander, who was believed to be the last living U.S. citizen held captive in Gaza, was freed on May 12 after having been captured by Hamas during its Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. Born in Tel Aviv, Edan, 21, grew up in New Jersey but had returned to Israel to serve in the army. His parents said he recounted to them the details of his capture and his time in captivity. Attacked on his army base on Oct. 7, Edan faced off with almost 30 militants by himself before he was kidnapped, Adi Alexander said. His son called the first year in captivity “complete hell,” he said, because he was frequently moved around to various locations above ground, underground and in tents, at one point during the war living in a tent that, his father recounted, Edan said he couldn’t leave for weeks. “The conditions in those tents are not easy. They couldn’t get out,” Adi said, noting that Edan’s time in the tent was his “toughest period” in captivity. Edan was in good physical shape when he was taken, whereas a number of other captives, including injured people, children and the elderly, weren’t, Adi said, so Edan helped those being held with him, especially when they moved between locations. Edan endured hunger, eating only hummus, pita bread, rice and whatever his captors served him from cans, his father said, a reflection of the food scarcity in Gaza since the start of the war. Fears of famine have heightened there in recent weeks as Israel has carried out a nearly three-month blockade on the enclave — the longest of its kind since the start of the conflict. Israel said Sunday it would begin allowing limited resources to flow into the Gaza Strip to avoid a “hunger crisis.” Worries of such a crisis aren’t new, with aid groups warning about such conditions for months as a result of Israel’s military operation. Food began to flow more regularly during the fragile January ceasefire brokered during the Biden administration, offering the hostages an opportunity to eat meat, Adi Alexander said. Edan told his parents conditions improved during what Adi called the “second phase” of his son's captivity — after Donald Trump was elected president. By then, he said, Edan, who had lost about a quarter of his body mass, stayed in one “secure and safe” location for the rest of his time in Gaza and was able to regain some weight. Adi lauded his son’s “wisdom to get along with the captors and survive,” even when death from bombardments by the Israeli army — which he said Edan described as “like an earthquake” — seemed possible. At one point, Edan also survived a tunnel collapse, his father said. “We consider ourselves lucky that he survived that day,” Adi said of the collapse. “He has some injury from that event, but I don’t think it’s something major now.” Adi said he and his family were devastated when the ceasefire collapsed and “the war re-started.” On May 5, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an intensive military operation aiming to take the whole of the Gaza Strip in an effort to eliminate Hamas, a move approved by the country’s security Cabinet. But the plan hasn’t been without pushback. A number of military reservists have rejected the call to serve in the operation, saying it is part of a war that has become politically motivated. At a Knesset committee meeting this month, the father of one of the remaining hostages called on soldiers “not to report for reserve duty for moral and ethical reasons.” More than 1,200 people were killed in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, and around 250 hostages were taken, according to Israeli tallies. Fifty-eight hostages are believed to remain in captivity. More than 53,000 people — many of them women and children — have been killed in Gaza in the resulting war, according to health officials in the enclave, which Hamas has run since 2007. Talks to end the war have stalled, even as many Israelis urge their leaders to bring the rest of the hostages home. Adi Alexander expressed reservations about the “mixed messaging.” “My hope is that it’s just a political posture,” he said of Netanyahu's plan for an expanded military operation. “My expectation is going back to the bargaining table, rising above politics and prioritizing human life.” The Alexander family knows all too well the suffering of the hostages. Yael Alexander recalled how her son said he held on to hope in captivity, thanks in part to seeing glimpses of his family on the news. “He saw us,” she said. “He knew we were fighting for him.” Their fight culminated on Mother’s Day with a call from Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, who told the Alexanders that Hamas would be announcing the release of their son momentarily. Yael said she immediately packed her things and got the next flight to Israel. Adi and their other children followed on a later flight. “It was perfectly timed, and everyone was together just one time,” Yael said of Edan’s release. “It was amazing.” Despite being a bit thinner, paler and weaker, Yael said, her son is the same as before he was captured, and in their first conversation since his kidnapping, he joked that he needs a tan. “It’s the same laughter, the same smile, the same kind eyes,” she said. “This is our boy.”

The Israeli leader doubled down on allowing "basic" aid into the Gaza Strip, even as the ground and air assault on the enclave killed 300 in the three days to Monday, health authorities said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that his country's military was “moving toward full control” of the Gaza Strip as its intensifying airstrikes and ground operation there killed dozens more people overnight. Israeli bombardment had killed more than 300 people in the 72 hours to early Monday, the Health Authority in Gaza said. Children were among the dead after a wave of airstrikes in the southern city of Khan Younis that came even after Netanyahu said his forces would allow in limited amounts of food to avoid the risk of famine. In a statement Monday, Gaza's Hamas-run government urged the international community to pressure Israel to allow the entry of at least 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily, adding that “signs of famine and humanitarian collapse are worsening at a terrifying rate.” That came after the Israeli government announced plans Sunday that, if actioned, would end its 11-week aid blockade of Gaza and allow in “basic” quantities of food. Netanyahu doubled down Monday on his decision, responding on Telegram to critics from Israel’s political right wing. “There is a lot of criticism from the right this morning regarding the humanitarian issue — and that’s understandable. But it’s important to know the facts,” he said, adding that “we must avoid a situation of famine, both in substance and in perception.” “If there is famine,” he added, “we will lose international support and won’t be able to achieve victory.” That decision came even as Israel moved ahead with plans for a new ground offensive, dubbed “Chariots of Gideon,” after its security Cabinet earlier this month unanimously approved plans to seize all of the Gaza Strip. It was in his statement Monday that Netanyahu said that “there is intensive and large-scale military activity in Gaza” and that the Israeli military was “moving toward full control of the entire Strip.” Israel says the operation is aimed at defeating Hamas and ensuring the return of the remaining hostages of the 250 taken captive during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli counts. The ensuing war in Gaza has killed more than 53,000 people in the enclave, Palestinian health officials say. That death toll is still rising. Those killed in airstrikes added to what has become one of the deadliest weeks of the conflict since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed in March. In a statement Monday, Hamas said that the Israeli military had launched “hundreds of highly destructive shells, missiles, and bombs daily, targeting residential neighborhoods and densely populated civilian areas.” The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that it had struck 160 of what it called “terror targets” in the past 24 hours. The attacks come as international aid groups have repeatedly warned in recent weeks of the risk of famine in Gaza after the Israeli government maintained a complete aid blockade since March 2. “We’re in a race against time to avoid famine,” the United Nations' World Food Programme said in an X post Sunday, in which it urged the international community to “act urgently to get aid flowing again.” Those warnings have sparked alarm among even Israel’s closest allies, with President Donald Trump telling reporters Friday that “a lot of people are starving” in Gaza. The United Nations said Monday that 92% of homes in Gaza have already been destroyed or damaged, in a post on X, adding that “countless people have been displaced multiple times, and shelter is scarce.” In footage captured Sunday by NBC News’ crew on the ground, Israeli missiles struck a cluster of tents sheltering displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area, west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, killing at least 40 people and injuring dozens of others. “I brought five charred bodies to Nasser Hospital, but many more are still by the tents — we couldn’t reach them because of the flames,” Jaafar Ezzedine, a civil defense medic, told NBC News. Warda Waleed Al-Shaer, a displaced woman from Rafah, told NBC News that her brother, his wife and their children had been killed in the attacks. “Why? What happened? How can I live with losing all of them at once?” she said. Following Israel’s announcement to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza, Reuters reported that aid trucks were seen lining up Monday in Egypt’s northern Sinai city of Arish, apparently waiting to enter Gaza through its southern Rafah crossing.

Health workers in Gaza have said that hundreds of people have been killed in recent days, including at least 103 people overnight and into Sunday. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel says it will allow a limited amount of humanitarian aid into Gaza after a nearly three-month blockade to avoid a “hunger crisis,” after global experts on food crises warned of famine. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his Cabinet approved a decision to allow a “basic” amount of food into the territory of over 2 million people. Israel imposed a complete blockade on humanitarian aid starting March 2. Netanyahu said allowing some aid in would enable Israel to expand its new military operation, which began Saturday. It was not immediately clear when aid would enter Gaza, or how. Netanyahu said Israel would work to ensure that Hamas will not control aid distribution and ensure the aid does not reach Hamas militants. Earlier on Sunday, Israel launched “extensive” new ground operations in Gaza. Airstrikes in its new offensive killed at least 103 people, including dozens of children, overnight and into Sunday, hospitals and medics said. The bombardment forced northern Gaza’s main hospital to close as it reported direct strikes. Israel began the offensive — the largest since it shattered a ceasefire in March — with the aim of seizing territory and displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Israel is pressuring Hamas to agree to a temporary ceasefire that would free hostages from Gaza but not necessarily end the war. Hamas says it wants a full withdrawal of Israeli forces and a path to ending the war as part of any deal. “When the Jews want a truce, Hamas refuses, and when Hamas wants a truce, the Jews refuse it. Both sides agree to exterminate the Palestinian people,” said Jabaliya resident Abu Mohammad Yassin, who was among those fleeing the new offensive on foot or in donkey carts. “For God’s sake, have mercy on us. We are tired of displacement.” Israel’s military, which recently called up tens of thousands of reservists, said the ground operations are throughout the Palestinian territory’s north and south. Israel’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said that plans include “dissecting” the strip. Before the announcement, airstrikes killed more than 48 people — including 18 children and 13 women — in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, which said it struggled to count the dead because of the condition of bodies. In northern Gaza, a strike on a home in Jabaliya killed nine members of a family, according to the Gaza Health Ministry’s emergency services. Another strike on a residence there killed 10, including seven children and a woman, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government. Israel’s military had no immediate comment. Its statement announcing the ground operations said preliminary strikes over the past week killed dozens of militants and struck more than 670 targets. Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militant group operates from civilian areas. Shortly afterward, Israel’s military said that it intercepted a projectile from central Gaza and another fell in an open area, with no injuries reported. Talks in Qatar Israel had said it would wait until the end of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East before launching its offensive, saying it was giving ceasefire efforts a chance. Trump didn’t visit Israel on his trip that ended Friday. Netanyahu’s office said his negotiating team in Qatar was “working to realize every chance for a deal,” including one that would end fighting in exchange for the release of all remaining 58 hostages, Hamas’ exile from Gaza and the disarmament of the territory. Hamas has refused to leave Gaza or disarm. Israel ended the previous eight-week ceasefire in March. Gaza’s Health Ministry has said almost 3,000 people have been killed since then. Days before resuming the war, Israel cut off all food, medicine and other supplies to Gaza. The blockade is now in its third month, with global food security experts warning of famine across the territory of more than 2 million people. Frustration in Israel has been rising. A small but growing number of Israelis are refusing to show up for military service, even risking imprisonment. Other Israelis have been displaying photos of children killed in Gaza during weekly rallies demanding a deal to free all hostages and end the war. The war in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and abducting 251 others. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. Hospital cites Israeli ‘siege’ Health officials said fighting around the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza and an Israeli military “siege” prompted it to shut down. It was the main medical facility in the north after Israeli strikes last year forced the Kamal Adwan and Beit Hanoun hospitals to stop offering services. “There is direct targeting on the hospital, including the intensive care unit,” Indonesian Hospital director Dr. Marwan al-Sultan said in a statement, adding that no one could reach the facility that had about 30 patients and 15 medical staff inside. Israel’s military said that troops were operating against militant infrastructure sites in northern Gaza, including the area “directly adjacent” to the hospital. Israel has repeatedly targeted hospitals, accusing Hamas of being active in and around the facilities. Human rights groups and U.N.-backed experts have accused Israel of systematically destroying Gaza’s health care system. In northern Gaza, at least 43 people were killed in strikes, according to first responders from the Health Ministry and civil defense. Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital said 15 children and 12 women were among the dead. A drone strike Sunday afternoon killed at least seven Palestinians near a school sheltering displaced people northwest of Gaza City, according to the Health Ministry’s emergency service. Other strikes in central Gaza killed at least 12 people, hospitals said. One in Zweida town killed seven people, including two children and four women, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in Deir al-Balah. Another hit an apartment in Deir al-Balah, killing parents and their child, the hospital said. In Gaza City, Um Mahmoud al-Aloul lay across the shrouded body of her daughter, Nour al-Aloul. “You took my soul with you,” she cried. “I used to turn off my phone from how much you called.”

The Israel Defense Forces appeared to be moving ahead with plans of a new ground offensive, including the buildup of tanks along the border. Israel has launched a major new offensive in Gaza following a wave of airstrikes that have killed more than 300 people in 72 hours, according to local authorities, in one of the deadliest weeks of the conflict since the ceasefire collapsed in March, and recalling the intensity of the early months of the war. The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday appeared to be moving ahead with plans of a new ground offensive, including the buildup of armored forces along the border. In a statement late Friday, the IDF said it had “launched extensive attacks and mobilized forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening moves of Operation Gideon’s Chariots and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza.” The statement described the latest offensive as a renewed effort to release hostages and defeat Hamas. It comes after Israel’s security Cabinet unanimously approved plans earlier in May to seize all of the Gaza Strip. The United Nations says 70% of Gaza is already “within Israeli militarized zones, under displacement orders, or both.” Fresh evacuation orders were issued last week, just days after Israel declared large swaths of Gaza City unsafe. On Friday, an NBC News team in Gaza captured people moving in search of safety, some driving in battered trucks and others using carts pulled by donkeys, while others fled on foot. “I’ve been displaced four times, back and forth,” said Yusra Abu Warda from the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. “There is no place, no shelter. I will stay on the streets.” Other residents have given up on moving despite the evacuation orders, too exhausted or disillusioned to flee yet again. “Last year, we saw hundreds of thousands forced from area to area, but now people are just too exhausted,” said Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for UNRWA, the United Nations humanitarian agency serving Palestinians, speaking to NBC News from Amman, Jordan. “They’re just too tired to move.” After returning home during a six-week ceasefire in January and February, Wateridge said many Palestinians are now disregarding new orders, uncertain of their safety wherever they move. “They’re just kind of staying put and accepting that wherever they go, they’re not going to be safe,” she added. No aid has entered Gaza since March 2, and the risk of famine hangs over Gaza’s population, prompting alarm even among some of Israel’s closest allies. A U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aims to start work in the enclave by the end of May, transporting aid into Gaza via so-called secure hubs, from which aid groups will handle distribution, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters. Wateridge said the plan was “essentially using food to bait people, to move people around, to forcibly displace people.” “Is this going to be used to move people out of areas? Because if people are starving, of course they will go,” she said. “If the intent was genuine to feed people, that can be done tomorrow,” Wateridge said, referring to existing humanitarian systems that had been effectively distributing aid in the 16 months prior. “So that does beg to question what the intent is.” Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid, a claim the group denies. A senior Israeli security official said last week that the “humanitarian blockade will continue, and only later — after the operational phase begins and a large-scale civilian evacuation to the south is completed — will a humanitarian plan be implemented.” They added that, unlike in the past, the military “will remain in every area it secures to prevent the return of terror.” The mass internal displacement of Palestinians comes amid further reports that Palestinians could be relocated outside of Gaza. Earlier this year, Trump said that Jordan and Egypt could take in Palestinians from Gaza. On Friday, sources told NBC News that the Trump administration may be working on a plan to permanently relocate up to 1 million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya, according to five people with knowledge of the effort. The plan is under serious enough consideration that the administration has discussed it with Libya’s leadership, two people with direct knowledge of the plans and a former U.S. official said. No final agreement has been reached, and Israel has been kept informed of the administration’s discussions, the same three sources said. The State Department and the National Security Council did not respond to multiple requests for comment. However, after publication, a spokesperson denied the reports were true.

Trump's visit did not include Israel, focusing instead on deals with Gulf nations including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have killed more than 100 people in the last 24 hours and injured hundreds more, according to the Health Ministry, as President Donald Trump tours the Middle East with few remarks on Israel's intensifying war on the enclave. The United States would no longer give "lectures on how to live" to the Middle East, Trump said, as he focused instead on speeches about American glory, luxury jets and handshakes with billionaires. Trump wrapped up his four-day tour of the region Friday, which included stops in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but not Israel, skirting attention on ceasefire negotiations or the lifting of Israel's total blockade on aid entering Gaza. Since March 2, Israel has blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid, medicine or commercial goods into Gaza, which Israeli officials say is intended to pressure Hamas into releasing the remaining hostages. United Nations officials have accused Israel of using “starvation a bargaining chip.” The aerial offensive is raising fears of another ground invasion, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that he would order the military to ramp up its operations and seize the entire strip. One of those Israeli missiles landed on the home of 11-year-old Ibrahim Al-Banna in southern Gaza on Thursday evening. Ibrahim's uncle Abd Al-Banna arrived at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, carrying his dead body wrapped in a green blanket. The boy's mother broke down into tears, seeing her son's body on a gurney, a NBC News crew witnessed. “My darling, my Abdu … you are my heart … I wish it were me instead of you,” she said, crying and embracing his lifeless body. As his family wrapped Ibrahim's body into a white funeral shroud at the morgue, his uncle leaned into him and said, "When you meet God, tell him they left Gaza alone — without food, without water, without hope.” Aside from broadly declining to discuss human rights issues with Middle Eastern officials, as previous U.S. leaders have done, Trump's public statements on Gaza has been limited to saying he wanted to make Gaza a “freedom zone.” He did not elaborate on details of such a proposal, but said Friday, “We're looking at Gaza. And we're going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving.” Trump’s relationship with Netanyahu has been strained in the weeks ahead of his trip as they grow apart on two of the region's most pressing issues: the war in Gaza and aggression from Iran, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials with the knowledge of the tensions told NBC News. Despite an alignment on display in the early days of Trump's administration, in which he encouraged the Israeli military to “finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza and restarted supplying weapons to Israel that then-President Joe Biden had paused, Trump has since become frustrated with the staunch U.S. ally, including Netanyahu’s decision to intensify the military offensive on the enclave. In turn, Netanyahu is said to be frustrated with Trump’s refusal to support military strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites, opting instead to negotiate with Iran, and for stepping back from U.S. strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Israel's intensified strikes on Gaza were paired with ongoing violence in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have ramped up their raids and settler violence has soared. The Israeli military killed five members of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Thursday, the group's military wing said after Israeli forces surrounded their homes in a West Bank town. The raid was in response to a gunman opening fire on a vehicle carrying Tzeela Gez, a pregnant 30-year-old Israeli woman who was being driven to the hospital. Gez died while giving birth, though her baby survived. Netanyahu said he was “deeply shocked by the horrific attack.” Hamas praised it as "heroic." Palestinian health officials say more than 53,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel killed about about 1,200 people with about 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.

Most victims, including women, children and a journalist, were killed by Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza that hit homes and tents, local medics said. Israeli military strikes killed at least 60 people in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian medics said, as the United States and Arab mediators pushed for a ceasefire deal and U.S. President Donald Trump visited the Middle East. Most of the victims, including women and children, were killed in Khan Younis in southern Gaza in Israeli airstrikes that hit homes and tents, they said. The dead included local journalist Hassan Samour, who worked for the Hamas-run Aqsa radio station and was killed along with 11 family members when their home was struck, the medics said. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has intensified its offensive in Gaza as it tries to eradicate Hamas in retaliation for the deadly attacks the Palestinian militant group carried out on Israel in 2023. Hamas said in a statement that Israel was making a “desperate attempt to negotiate under cover of fire” as indirect ceasefire talks take place between Israel and Hamas, involving Trump envoys and Qatar and Egyptian mediators in Doha. Israel carried out the latest strikes on the day Palestinians commemorate the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced to flee their hometowns and villages during the 1948 Middle East war that gave birth to the state of Israel. With most of the 2.3 million people in Gaza internally displaced, some residents of the tiny enclave say suffering is greater now than at the time of the Nakba. “What we are experiencing now is even worse than the Nakba of 1948,” said Ahmed Hamad, a Palestinian in Gaza City who has been displaced multiple times. “The truth is, we live in a constant state of violence and displacement. Wherever we go, we face attacks. Death surrounds us everywhere.” Palestinian health officials say the Israeli attacks have escalated since Trump started a visit on Tuesday to the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that many Palestinians had hoped he would use to push for a truce. The latest strikes follow attacks on Gaza on Wednesday that killed at least 80 people, local health officials said. Little has come of new indirect ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas led by Trump’s envoys and Qatar and Egyptian mediators in Doha. Hamas says it is ready to free all the remaining hostages it is holding in Gaza in return for an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefers interim truces, saying the war can only end once Hamas is eradicated. “At a time when mediators are exerting intensive efforts to put the negotiation back on the right track, the Zionist occupation (Israel) responds to those efforts by military pressure on innocent civilians,” the group said in a statement. “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants an open-ended war and he doesn’t care about the fate of his hostages,” it said. Israel invaded Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken as hostages to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 52,900 Palestinians, according to local health officials. It has left Gaza on the brink of famine, aid groups and international agencies say. A U.S.-backed humanitarian organization will start work in Gaza by the end of May under an aid distribution plan, but has asked Israel to let the United Nations and others resume deliveries to Palestinians now until it is set up. No humanitarian assistance has been delivered to Gaza since March 2, and a global hunger monitor has warned that half a million people face starvation in Gaza.

The attacks came amid President Donald Trump’s four-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He is not expected to visit Israel. Hours after Israel was accused of making “starvation a bargaining chip” in Gaza, its military launched a wave of deadly strikes across the enclave, killing at least 70 people, Palestinian health officials said “A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, unable to be reached by ambulances and civil defense crews,” the Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement. The strikes came less than 24 hours after United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher called an Israel-initiated and U.S.-backed humanitarian aid distribution plan for Gaza a “cynical sideshow” and “a deliberate distraction.” At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Fletcher said the plan was a “fig leaf for further violence and displacement” of Palestinians in the war-torn enclave, adding that the international community should reflect on what it will tell future generations about what actions were taken “to stop the 21st century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza.” No humanitarian aid has been delivered to Gaza since March 2, and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises, has warned that half a million people, or around a quarter of the enclave’s population, face starvation. Wednesday’s strikes came after at least 48 people, including 22 children, were killed strikes on two hospitals in Gaza on Tuesday. It was like the “earth split open and swallowed people,” Asma Abu Daqqa told the crew as she frantically searched for her children who were inside the hospital at the time of the strike. “They left us with no safe place. They targeted us in the hospitals,” she added. Tomo Potokar, a British plastic surgeon, said he was thrown off his bed when the strikes hit. “There’s damage all around here. There’s damage to the operating theater,” he said. “This hospital has many patients in it that need treatment who were already badly injured." Calling the strikes “targeted,” the Israeli military said it had destroyed an “underground” Hamas infrastructure beneath the hospital that was the site of a “command and control center.” Israel has justified previous strikes on Gaza hospitals the same way. Hamas has denied it uses the facilities to shield fighters and weaponry, while the U.N. has said the strikes reflect a “pattern of deadly attacks” that have pushed Gaza’s health care system “to the brink of total collapse.” Many of the injured from the strikes on the European Hospital were transferred to Nasser Hospital, which was also hit by an Israeli strike that left a gaping hole through the third floor and damaging a burn unit. “The ward is almost destroyed,” Ahmed Ryad Seiam, a paramedic at the hospital, told the NBC News crew at the scene. Palestinian health officials say almost 53,000 people have died in Gaza since the outbreak of the war that began with Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. The latest strikes came amid President Donald Trump’s four-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. He is not expected to visit Israel. Palestinians were hoping his visit would pressure Israel into a reduction of violence. Hamas on Monday released Edan Alexander, the last known living American hostage it had been holding. Trump said in Riyadh on Tuesday that more hostages would follow and that the people of Gaza deserved a better future.

Alexander, a dual citizen from New Jersey, was serving in the IDF when he was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas agreed to release Edan Alexander, a dual U.S. and Israeli citizen believed to be the last living U.S. citizen who remains captive in Gaza, weeks after saying it had lost contact with the group holding him hostage. His release is part of “the steps being taken to achieve a ceasefire, open the crossings, and allow aid,” Khalil al-Hayya, head of Hamas’ negotiating team, said in a statement Sunday. Al-Hayya did not provide information on Alexander’s condition. Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, confirmed the agreement to NBC News and said he is traveling to Israel to secure Alexander’s release. “We are picking him up probably tomorrow,” Witkoff said. “There was a long negotiation with lots of people to thank.” He went on to describe this as a gesture of goodwill toward President Donald Trump, adding that it is a big moment “in large part” because of Trump. “The family is ecstatic,” Witkoff said. In a post to his Truth Social account, the president said he hopes Alexander's release signifies a step toward ending the war between Israel and Hamas. "I am grateful to all those involved in making this monumental news happen," Trump wrote. "This was a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones." The Hostage Family Forum released a statement on behalf of Alexander's family confirming that they were informed of the agreement. They are "in ongoing contact with the U.S. administration" regarding his potential release in the coming days.​ Alexander was serving in the Israel Defense Forces when he was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, along with roughly 250 others. Hamas previously agreed to release Alexander in March along with the bodies of four other dual nationals. But weeks later the militant group said it lost contact with group holding him. At the time, Hamas blamed the issue on Israeli strikes that hit the area where Alexander was allegedly being held. Hamas and Israel agreed to a temporary ceasefire in January, which led to the release of hostages in exchange for freeing Palestinians in Israeli custody. It also saw an influx of aid for Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. But the fragile ceasefire fell apart in March after negotiations stalled on how to expand the pause in hostilities into a sustainable end to the war. Al-Hayya added on Sunday that Hamas was ready to negotiate "and exert serious efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war." Gaza's future is unclear after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last week that the country's security Cabinet approved a plan to capture the entire enclave. Under this plan, more than 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza would be "moved" out of the strip as Israel's military launched operations to defeat Hamas. This plan was made public after a full-blown blockade on aid into the strip by Israel reached its third month. Representatives for the United Nations and Palestinians accused Israel of using aid as a "weapon of war" at the International Court of Justice last month. Disagreements on how to approach the situation in Gaza as well as Iran has led to tension between Trump and Netanyahu, according to two U.S. officials, two Middle Eastern diplomats and two other people with knowledge. While Netanyahu wants to continue a military approach, Trump sees an opportunity to make a deal with a now-weakened Iran, the sources told NBC News. Netanyahu denied the reports on Sunday, insisting in a video on X that his relationship with Trump was "excellent." He added that the two allies see "eye-to-eye on almost everything."