The IDF fatally shot 15 emergency workers in Gaza, including paramedics, civil defense staff members and a U.N. employee. TEL AVIV — The Israeli Defense Forces faulted a series of “professional failures” and “breaches of order” in an incident last month when Israeli soldiers killed 15 Palestinian emergency workers in Gaza, an event that sparked widespread condemnation and calls for an independent investigation. In the summary of an internal report on the killings and a briefing to foreign media Sunday, the IDF said it “regrets the harm caused to uninvolved civilians” and announced that it had discharged the field commander leading the implicated unit and formally reprimanded a senior officer. The report and the IDF’s rare acceptance of blame were the culmination of a weekslong scandal that had heaped further criticism on Israel’s military just days after it broke a two-month ceasefire agreement with Hamas and restarted its offensive in the Gaza Strip. The controversy around the killings worsened after United Nations personnel recovered the bodies from a shallow mass grave near the scene of the incident on March 23, and cellphone video found on one of the corpses revealed serious inconsistencies in the IDF’s original version of events. “It’s like a chain of professional mistakes but with no ethical gaps,” Brig. Gen. Ephraim Defrin, said the newly appointed IDF spokesperson, in a presentation to reporters Sunday evening. “There was never any intention to deceive the public.” Some initial reports from Palestinian examiners claimed that some of the medics had been found with their arms bound. However, other Palestinian medics said there was no evidence that the medics had been restrained before they were shot execution-style, a claim the IDF also denied. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a statement after the bodies were found that the targeting of the medics “can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law, which the occupation continues to violate before the eyes of the entire world.” The aid workers included paramedics, civil defense staff members and a U.N. employee. Israel previously said its soldiers shot and killed people they considered to be “terrorists” who were “advancing suspiciously.” The IDF also claimed that vehicles that were approaching its position lacked headlights or emergency signals. At the time, Israeli forces reported that they killed nine militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The military later walked that back after video from the Palestine Red Crescent challenged its version of events. NBC News reviewed video from the phone of a paramedic who was killed, showing an ambulance with its headlights and emergency lights flashing at the moment the soldiers opened fire. The vehicle was clearly marked with the insignia of the Palestine Red Crescent Society. Flashing lights from two other vehicles are also visible in the video. The investigation revealed “several professional failures, breaches of orders, and a failure to fully report the incident,” the IDF said. But the public report and the presentation, which retired Maj. Gen. Yoav Har-Even, who led the presentation, said were conducted “outside the chain of command,” did not answer all of the questions surrounding the shootings. It did not provide evidence to back up the Israeli military’s contention that six of the 15 slain emergency workers were actually Hamas operatives, nor did it explain why the number of slain medics whom the IDF considered terrorists had changed. The report and the presentation also left it unclear why one of the surviving medics, Asaad al-Nassasra, was detained by the IDF and still remains in its custody. Alongside the report summary, Har-Even showed a video presentation that featured aerial surveillance of the early-morning shootings, including night-vision reconnaissance video. The probe found that troops were hampered by poor visibility and that they misidentified ambulances and rescue vehicles as threats during a mission targeting Hamas operatives, according to Sunday's report. Har-Even laid partial blame on the soldiers’ night vision goggles for leading to what he called the “tragic and undesirable result of a complex combat situation.” The goggles’ limited peripheral perspective, among other factors, made it difficult for the soldiers to recognize the trucks as civilian emergency vehicles despite their flashing emergency lights, he said. Another strike on a U.N. vehicle resulted from a breach of operational rules, the IDF’s report says. The field commander in charge of the operation on the ground, whom the report did not name but whom IDF public relations officers identified as a major, was dismissed in part for “providing an incomplete and inaccurate report during the debrief.” The commanding officer of the 14th Brigade received a formal reprimand that will appear in his personnel file, the report summary said, both because of his “overall responsibility” for the shooting and his “management of the scene afterward.”

Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy large “security zones” in the strip. Israeli strikes in Gaza have killed more than 90 people in 48 hours, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday, as Israeli troops ramp up attacks to pressure Hamas to release its hostages and disarm. The dead include 15 people who were killed overnight, among them women and children, some of whom were sheltering in a designated humanitarian zone, according to hospital staff. At least 11 people were killed in the southern city of Khan Younis, several of them in a tent in the Mwasi area where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are living, hospital workers said. Israel has designated it as a humanitarian zone. Four other people were killed in separate strikes in Rafah city, including a mother and her daughter, according to the European Hospital, where the bodies were brought. At the funeral in Khan Younis Saturday afternoon, families wept over the bodies of their relatives and cried out in pain. “Omar is gone ... I wish it was me,¨ screamed the brother of one of the victims. Israel has vowed to intensify attacks across Gaza and occupy large “security zones” inside the strip. For six weeks Israel also has blockaded Gaza, barring the entry of food and other goods. This week, aid groups raised the alarm, saying that thousands of children have become malnourished and most people are barely eating one meal a day as stocks dwindle, according to the United Nations. On Friday, Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the head of the World Health Organization’s eastern Mediterranean office, urged the new U.S. ambassador in Israel, Mike Huckabee, to push the country to lift Gaza’s blockade so medicines and other aid can enter the strip. “I would wish for him to go in and see the situation firsthand,” she said. In his first appearance as ambassador on Friday, Huckabee visited the Western Wall, the holiest Jewish prayer site in Jerusalem’s Old City. He inserted a prayer into the wall, which he said was handwritten by U.S. President Donald Trump. Huckabee said every effort was being made to bring home the remaining hostages held by Hamas. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Most of the hostages have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel’s offensive has since killed over 51,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The war has destroyed vast parts of Gaza and most of its food production capabilities. Around 90% of the population is displaced, with hundreds of thousands of people living in tent camps and bombed-out buildings.

In a video, Mahmoud Ajjour is beaming as he skips into the breeze. He breaks into laughter as he watches his kite flutter in the sky, pulling it along with a string tied around his waist, in a moment that captured the irrepressible joy of childhood. At 9 years old, Mahmoud has known more trauma than most will see in a lifetime. On Dec. 6, 2023, the fourth grader was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, a blast that severed one of his arms and left the other so badly damaged it had to be amputated. On Thursday, an image of Mahmoud, taken by Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times, was named World Press Photo of the Year, a haunting portrait of the impact of the war on children. Mahmoud now lives in Doha, Qatar, with his family, after becoming one of a very small number of Palestinians to be evacuated from Gaza for urgent medical treatment. When Mahmoud smiles, his happiness seems infectious, but some days are harder than others. “There are bad moments for him,” his mother, Nour Ajjour, 36, told NBC News by phone from Doha, Qatar’s capital. “He doesn’t want to play or go outside.” “We keep him busy and have fun with him,” Ajjour said. She sent videos of him gleefully speeding down a hallway on an electric bike, steering with his feet on the handlebars, and using his feet to play with a lump of bright-green clay. For now, Ajjour said, there’s not much Mahmoud can do on his own, and he’s impatient for prostheses, asking when he can have them so he can drink water on his own or help his family. “He likes to help a lot, and I let him help me and carry things on his shoulder,” Ajjour said. Doctors at Doha’s Hamad Limb Hospital are currently fitting him for protheses, and in another video, he smiles brightly as he tries on a pair of prosthetic arms. In Gaza, such treatment isn’t possible, and Mahmoud is one of at least 1,000 children in the enclave to have lost at least one limb during the war, according to UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund. Many of the children, like many adults, underwent surgery without anesthesia as the health care system buckled under Israel’s siege. “The first few days were very difficult,” Ajjour said. Both of his hands were gone, and without anesthetic, Mahmoud was in both physical and existential pain. “He would look at his hands and not see them,” the boy’s mother said. “He would scream and say, ‘Where are my hands,’ and the first thing he said was, ‘How will I hug you, how will I pray?’” These days, Mahmoud is learning how to type on a computer, write and use a phone with his feet. Ajjour said he dreams of going to university and becoming a journalist so he can tell the stories of Gaza’s children.

Egyptian mediators have been trying to revive the January ceasefire deal, which broke down when Israel resumed airstrikes and sent ground troops back into Gaza. JERUSALEM — Israeli airstrikes hit around 40 targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day, the military said on Friday, hours after Hamas rejected an Israeli ceasefire offer that it said fell short of its demand to agree a full end to the war. Last month, the Israeli military broke off a two-month truce that had largely halted fighting in Gaza and has since pushed in from the north and south, seizing almost a third of the enclave as it seeks to pressure Hamas into agreeing to release hostages and disarm. The military said troops were operating in the Shabura and Tel Al-Sultan areas near the southern city of Rafah, as well as in northern Gaza, where it has taken control of large areas east of Gaza City. Egyptian mediators have been trying to revive the January ceasefire deal, which broke down when Israel resumed airstrikes and sent ground troops back into Gaza, but there has been little sign that the two sides have moved closer on fundamental issues. Late on Thursday, Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza. But he dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions”. Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. The ceasefire offer it made through Egyptian mediators includes talks on a final settlement to the war but no firm agreement. Defense Minister Israel Katz also said this week that troops would remain in the buffer zone around the border that now extends deep into Gaza and cuts the enclave in two, even after any settlement.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said the strike was one of the deadliest since the U.S. began its attacks on the Iran-backed militants in Yemen. U.S. strikes on a fuel port in Yemen killed at least 58 people, Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said, one of the deadliest since the United States began its attacks on the Iran-backed militants. The United States has vowed not to halt the large-scale strikes begun last month in its biggest military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January, unless the Houthis cease attacks on Red Sea shipping. Al Masirah TV said 126 people were also wounded in Thursday’s strikes on the western fuel port of Ras Isa, which the U.S. military said aimed to cut off a source of fuel for the Houthi militant group. Responding to a Reuters query for comment on the Houthis’ casualty figure and its own estimate, the U.S. Central Command said it had none beyond the initial announcement of the attacks. “The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis, who continue to exploit and bring great pain upon their fellow countrymen,” it had said in a post on X. Since November 2023, the Houthis have launched dozens of drone and missile attacks on vessels transiting the waterway, saying they were targeting ships linked to Israel in protest over the war in Gaza. They halted attacks on shipping lanes during a two-month ceasefire in Gaza. Although they vowed to resume strikes after Israel renewed its assault on Gaza last month, they have not claimed any since. In March, two days of U.S. attacks killed more than 50 people, Houthi officials said.

The Islamic Republic displayed its military might, parading thousands of troops through the streets of the capital, Tehran, along with military hardware. TEHRAN, Iran — On Army Day in Iran, the Islamic Republic displayed its military might, parading thousands of troops through the streets of the capital, Tehran, along with its S-300 missile defense system, drones and other military hardware. Watched and praised by President Masoud Pezeshkian, it was a very public show of force. But behind the scenes, Iran is pushing for diplomacy, with Foreign Minister Sayyid Abbas Araghchi traveling to Moscow, where he met with President Vladimir Putin, before sitting down for talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on Friday. “Our Russian friends gave us the necessary information,” Araghchi was quoted as saying by Russia's state-run Tass news agency after his meeting with Putin on Thursday. He is scheduled to travel to Rome for talks with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff on Saturday, where they are expected to resume discussions about Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The pair met in Oman last Saturday and held the first round of talks between the two countries since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. But while both sides described those talks as positive and constructive, Iran has said since that it has been confused over the mixed messaging by the Trump administration on whether it wants Iran to completely dismantle its entire nuclear program. “The reality is, we are receiving contradictory and inconsistent messages from the United States,” Araghchi was quoted as saying in Moscow by Iran’s Mehr News Agency. “From our perspective, what matters is what is said at the (indirect and mediated) negotiation table.” Witkoff had earlier suggested that Iran could enrich uranium to a cap of 3.6%, but then later walked it back, saying the complete abandonment of the program was the goal. Were it to be capped at that level, it would have been in line with the 2015 nuclear deal Iran signed with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — the U.S., Russia, France, China and the United Kingdom — as well as Germany and the European Union. Formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it offered Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for agreeing to curb its nuclear program. But Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal in 2018 and imposed sanctions on Tehran. Iran then abandoned all limits and is believed to have enriched uranium up to 60%, closer to the weapons-grade level of 90%. Western powers, including the U.S., consider uranium enrichment to be a key step in producing nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, The New York Times reported that Trump waved off plans by Israel to strike Iranian nuclear sites in favor of renegotiating a deal. “I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death — and I’d like to see that, that’s my first option,” Trump told reporters Thursday at the Oval Office, when asked about possible airstrikes on Iran. So far, Iran has approached the talks with caution and suspicion of Trump, but at a weekly Friday prayer service attended by hard-line clerics and members of the military, the message from the imam was revealing — the country should be open to these negotiations. Although some of the crowd of thousands of people at the University of Tehran campus shouted "death to America," the imam said Iran should treat the talks with great caution because the U.S. and the Trump administration have proven they are not to be trusted. Trump has nonetheless threatened to bomb Iran if no deal was reached, and the U.S. moved a second aircraft carrier into Middle Eastern waters ahead of Saturday's talks. The president has also threatened to extend tariffs on other countries over buying Iranian oil, in a bid to force Tehran's hand on top of the sweeping sanctions already in place. Elsewhere, on a visit to Iran on Thursday, Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the talks were “in a very crucial” stage. Richard Engel and Marc Smith reported from Tehran. Mithil Aggarwal reported from Hong Kong.

The haunting picture of 9-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour was taken by Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf. A haunting portrait of a young Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip who lost both of his arms in an Israeli strike has been named World Press Photo of the Year for 2025. Mahmoud Ajjour, 9, was fleeing an Israeli attack in Gaza with his family when he turned back to urge his loved ones to move forward, the World Press Photo organization said in a statement accompanying the picture taken by Palestinian photographer Samar Abu Elouf. Then he was hit in an explosion, the Netherlands-based nonprofit added. One of Ajjour's arms was completely severed, while the other was left severely injured and ultimately had to be amputated. “One of the most difficult things Mahmoud’s mother explained to me was how when Mahmoud first came to the realization that his arms were amputated,” Abu Elouf said in the statement from World Press Photo. “The first sentence he said to her was, ‘How will I be able to hug you?’” "The first few days were very difficult. He was in a lot of pain as there was no anaesthetic," she said. "He would look at his hands and not see them. He would scream and say, 'where are my hands?' And the first thing he said was, 'how will I hug you?' and 'how will I pray?'" Ajjour was evacuated out of Gaza for treatment in Qatar's capital, Doha, where Abu Elouf took his portrait for The New York Times. The photographer also fled to the city. Ajjour is one of hundreds of children in Gaza to have lost at least one limb during the war, which has seen more than 51,000 people killed since Oct. 7, 2023, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave. UNICEF warned in December 2023 that around 1,000 children in Gaza had seen one or both legs amputated alone since Oct. 7, 2023, when Israel began its military campaign in the enclave following the Hamas-led terror attacks in which some 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. “These are unbelievable numbers,” Dr. Ahmed Al-Fara, head of the pediatric department at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis told NBC News’ crew on the ground in an interview earlier this month, noting that thousands of children have also been killed and more still have been left without one or both parents. Al-Fara said he could not understand “the silence of the world” in the midst of the widespread devastation in Gaza, where much of the enclave has been destroyed. Many of the operations children in Gaza have had to undergo have been done without anesthetic, according to UNICEF, with the enclave's health care system also hit hard by Israel's offensive, which it restarted last month after a pause in the fighting. Talks for a permanent end to the fighting were supposed to begin after the first phase of the ceasefire deal — in which Hamas released 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight in exchange for around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners and detainees — ended March 1. But Israeli forces shattered the fragile truce and have since launched airstrikes on the enclave while also resuming military ground operations. Israel has also barred the entry of medical supplies, along with food, water and other vital aid, during a more than monthlong blockade of the enclave. Efforts to secure a more permanent ceasefire and secure the release of hostages held in Gaza have so far failed to yield results. In the meantime, Ajjour is learning how to live without his arms. "We all help Mahmoud in everything, in food, drink, clothing and the smallest things." But she said her son is also learning to use his feet to do things like writing and playing games on his mobile phone. His hope now, she said, is to receive prosthetic limbs — a dream now shared by a growing number of children in Gaza

Children crowding around a charity kitchen holding empty pots and pans clamoring for food to take to their families. Hours spent in search of clean water and scouring piles of garbage looking for trash to burn for a fire to cook or keep warm. These scenes, which NBC News’ crew in the Gaza Strip captured over the past week, come as humanitarian agencies sound the alarm over a dire and worsening situation in in the Palestinian enclave as Israel enforces a blockade on food, water, fuel, medical supplies and other aid and goods. Israeli officials maintain there is "no shortage" of aid in Gaza and accuse Hamas of withholding supplies. Israel says its blockade is crucial to its goal of weakening the militant group's control over the population. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) told NBC News they had seen "no evidence" of a diversion of aid in Gaza. Both warned that supplies in the enclave were running out. 'Scraping the barrel' Humanitarian groups describe a spiraling crisis on the ground, with bakeries shuttered for weeks because of a lack of wheat, food parcels for families running out, supplies of hot meals dwindling and medical supplies drying up. "In terms of humanitarian supplies ... I mean, to say dwindling would be putting it nicely," Liz Allcock, head of humanitarian protection of Medical Aid for Palestinians, a United Kingdom-based humanitarian organization, told NBC News on Tuesday. “We’re really scraping the barrel in terms of being able to provide anything of substance," Allcock, said, speaking from Gaza. Abeer Etefa, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme, described the situation in Gaza as "dire and worsening," with all WFP-supported bakeries across the territory closing after wheat flour ran out March 31. By early April, she said, the WFP had also exhausted its stocks of food parcels for distribution. "Remaining stocks of hot meals commodities are being dispatched to the kitchens of partners providing hot meals," she said, adding: "We have around 1,000 tons or less left for these hot meals kitchens." The WFP and its partners have 85,000 tons of food waiting to enter the enclave, she said. The Global Nutrition Cluster, a coalition of humanitarian groups, has warned that in March alone, 3,696 children were newly admitted for care for acute malnutrition alone, out of 91,769 children screened — a marked increase from February, when 2,027 children were admitted from a total of 83,823 screened, OCHA said in a report Tuesday. Meanwhile, the United Nations has sounded the alarm that medical supplies in the enclave are running low, while casualties continue to fill hospitals. Etefa added that Israeli military activity across the enclave was affecting humanitarian groups' ability to deliver aid, with the decision to block the flow of aid coming just more than two weeks before Israel shattered its ceasefire with Hamas last month, bringing two months of relative calm in the Gaza Strip to an end. Israeli policy on aid In a statement Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said his country’s policy in Gaza was “clear and unequivocal,” including the policy to stop humanitarian aid, a move he said “undermines Hamas' control over the population, and creating an infrastructure for distribution through civilian companies later." Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has maintained that there is "no shortage of aid," pointing to the fact that more than 25,000 aid trucks entered the territory during Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas. Hamas was withholding supplies from civilians "in order to create an image of shortage," Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein told NBC News on Wednesday without providing evidence. OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke said the U.N. body's team on the ground described "no evidence of diversion of aid." Etefa said the WFP also had not seen any evidence, adding that the organization did not experience any looting during the ceasefire. Hamas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the accusation. But Thursday, the militant group, which has faced protests calling for its ouster and an end to the war, accused Israel of committing a war crime by "declaring the use of starvation as a weapon." Under international humanitarian law, parties of a conflict cannot use starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare or deprive civilians of essential supplies as a legitimate means to subdue an enemy. Marmorstein previously denied that Israel is violating international humanitarian law with its blockade in a post on X, saying war parties are not obliged to allow aid in if it is "likely to assist the military or economic efforts of the enemy." The war in Gaza began after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, which killed 1,200 and saw around 250 kidnapped, according to Israeli counts. Israel's military offensive in the enclave since then has killed more than 51,000 people, including thousands of children, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza, which has been run by Hamas since 2007. By the numbers Data published by COGAT, the Israeli military's liaison with the Palestinians, shows that 25,200 aid trucks entered Gaza during the ceasefire, carrying more than 447,500 tons of aid into the enclave. Before the war began, around 500 trucks carrying food and other supplies were entering Gaza each day, according to the British Red Cross. This suggests that by prewar standards, the 25,200 trucks that entered during the ceasefire, according to COGAT’s data, would likely be sufficient for around 1½ months, and was already roughly the length of the ceasefire, before the blockade began on March 2. The blockade has gone on for an additional 1½ months, with COGAT's database showing “no data” for aid entering the enclave between March 2 and April 16. Presented with the above data and asked to comment on the current aid situation on the ground, a spokesperson for COGAT told NBC News they could only confirm that more than 25,000 aid trucks had entered Gaza during the ceasefire. The spokesperson referred other questions related to the flow of aid to Israel's political leadership. In a report released this month, the WFP warned that humanitarian aid is the “primary food source” for 80% of households across Gaza. Meanwhile, it said Israel’s closure of crossings into the territory had “exacerbated the fragility of the Gaza market,” leading prices to soar between 150% and 700% compared with prewar levels, and by 29% to as much as 1,400% above prices during the ceasefire. As officials debate the reality of the situation on the ground, families across the enclave tell NBC News that they are struggling to survive.

Edan Alexander, who grew up in New Jersey, was doing voluntary service with Israel’s military when he was taken hostage Oct. 7, 2023. Fears are growing for Edan Alexander, the last living U.S. citizen held hostage in Gaza, after Hamas said it lost contact with the group holding him following Israeli strikes on the area it was based in. “We are still trying to reach them,” Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, the Qassam Brigades, said in a statement Tuesday, adding that the group had come under “direct bombardment” from Israel. As of Wednesday morning, it was unclear whether that had changed. NBC News was not able to independently verify Hamas’ claim and the Israel Defense Forces and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Alexander, who grew up in New Jersey, was doing voluntary service with Israel’s military when he was taken hostage Oct. 7, 2023, along with around 250 others. Israeli officials say 1,200 people were killed during the Hamas-led terrorist attacks, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. More than 51,000 people have been killed in the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip since then, according health officials in the enclave, which has been run by Hamas since 2007. Alexander is one of at least 59 hostages remaining in Gaza, according to Israeli officials, although less than half are believed to be alive. His family did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But after Hamas released a video of him, likely speaking under duress, on Sunday, his father, Adi Alexander, expressed fears for his son. “It was very tough to observe, very tough to see our son in this situation,” he told NewsNation’s "Morning in America" show. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of those held captive in Gaza, said it would not "respond to or acknowledge" Hamas' statement. “We do not consider any statements from Hamas to be credible,” it added. The group has previously expressed fears that Israel’s military offensive was imperiling the safety of hostages held in the enclave. Hamas said in March that it was willing to release Alexander, as well as the bodies of four dual nationals, but wanted to begin negotiations to start the second phase of a three-part ceasefire deal with Israel. Talks for a permanent end to the fighting were supposed to begin after the first phase of the ceasefire deal — in which Hamas released 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight in exchange for around 1,800 Palestinian prisoners and detainees — ended March 1. But Israeli forces shattered the fragile truce last month and have since launched airstrikes on the enclave while also resuming military ground operations. Meanwhile, Netanyahu, who has shown little sign that he is willing to end the conflict, made a trip to northern Gaza on Tuesday, along with a group that included Defense Minister Israel Katz. Calling on Hamas to release the hostages, his office quoted him as saying that the militant group would "suffer more and more blows," until they were freed. The visit came as he faces mounting pressure from the Israeli public, including former members of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and the military, to agree to an end to the hostilities.

Assad al-Nassasra's fate had remained unknown since he was targeted along with other Palestine Red Crescent Society medics in Rafah. A Palestinian medic who has been missing for almost three weeks since a deadly attack by Israeli troops on a convoy of emergency vehicles in the Gaza Strip is being detained by Israel, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday. The ICRC “received information” that Assad al-Nassasra was being held “in an Israeli place of detention,” chief spokesperson Christian Cardon said in a statement Wednesday. He added that the organization had informed Nassasra's family along with his employer, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS). The PRCS said Monday in a post on X that until it was informed by the ICRC that Nassasra was alive, “his fate had remained unknown since he was targeted along with other PRCS medics in Rafah.” The Israel Defense Forces would not confirm if Nassasra was in its custody when asked about his whereabouts by NBC News. The Israeli military has been widely criticized after it walked back its account of the incident March 23, which saw 15 Palestinian paramedics and emergency workers killed. The IDF — having initially said that its soldiers opened fire as the vehicles approached its position “suspiciously” without headlights or emergency signals, killing what it described as nine Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants — later changed its account after contradicting video of the incident emerged. The vehicle was also marked with the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s insignia. Lights on two other vehicles can also be seen flashing when soldiers opened fire on the convoy. The bodies of the killed workers were found buried in a mass grave in the southern Gaza Strip a week later. Autopsy reports for 14 of the 15 people killed revealed that they had died mainly from gunshots to the head or chest, according to The New York Times, which obtained the results and published the findings Wednesday. It did not obtain the autopsy result for one United Nations worker who was also killed. The reports showed that four had been shot in the head, while at least six were shot in their chests or backs, the newspaper reported, adding that 11 had gunshot wounds and had been shot multiple times. All 14 had been wearing either part of or their whole Red Crescent or Civil Defense uniforms at the time they were killed, the Times reported citing the reports about the autopsies. The autopsies were carried out between April 1 and April 5 by Ahmad Dhair, the forensic head of the Health Ministry in Gaza. Norwegian pathologist Arne Stray-Pedersen, who had been in Gaza earlier in March, subsequently reviewed photos of the autopsies and consulted with Dhair to write the summary report, the Times reported. The IDF did not comment on the reported autopsy findings but said in a statement to NBC News on Wednesday that the incident had been “transferred to the General Staff’s Fact-Finding and Assessment Mechanism for investigation.” Meanwhile, Cardon of the ICRC said the organization had not been granted access to Nassasra or any other Palestinian detainees since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Oct. 7, 2023 which saw 1,200 killed and around 250 people taken hostage, according to Israeli counts, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict. More than 51,000 people have been killed in the Israeli military assault on the Gaza Strip since then, according health officials in the enclave, which has been run by Hamas since 2007. “The ICRC continues to call for access to all places of detention and reiterates publicly and privately that all detainees must always be treated humanely and with dignity,” Cardon said.