A federal judge on Thursday blocked the deportation of Badar Khan Suri, an Indian national who is in the U.S. on a student visa. taken into custody this week and targeted for deportation by the Trump administration never made any pro-Hamas or antisemitic comments, his lawyer said. Immigration agents detained Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow who teaches at Georgetown and has a visa, outside his home in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday night, his attorney has said. The Department of Homeland Security claimed Suri is “actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.” Suri’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, denied Thursday that Suri ever made pro-Hamas or antisemitic statements. Ahmad has objected to Suri’s detention as "beyond contemptible." “This is still the United States of America, and we don’t punish people, we don’t whisk them away and send them 1,000 miles away from their family, based on what they may have said, what they may have posted on social media or who they are related to,” Ahmad said. A federal judge in Virginia ordered Thursday that Suri not be removed from the United States unless ordered by the court. Sophia Gregg, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, said the judge’s block on any deportation was “exactly what we were hoping for.” “We were very concerned for our client, especially when we learned that he was at a Louisiana staging facility, which is the last stop on the way to tarmac,” she said Thursday. “That was a big concern for us, that he would be summarily deported.” Suri was at the Alexandria Staging Facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, on Thursday, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement website. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday on X, “Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas.” Suri has a wife who is a U.S. citizen and three children in Virginia. His wife’s father, Ahmed Yousef, who lives in Gaza, is a former adviser to now-deceased Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh — but he told The New York Times that he left the Hamas-led government of Gaza more than a decade ago and does not have a senior position with Hamas. Yousef told the newspaper that Suri was not involved in any “political activism,” including on behalf of Hamas, the Times reported. Yousef has also publicly criticized Hamas’ decision to attack Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the newspaper reported. Ahmad told NBC News that he has no information that Suri has been in regular contact with Yousef. “I’m only aware of one instance when my client had contact with his father-in-law, and that was to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage,” Ahmad said. The Trump administration is trying to deport two other people involved in protests against the war in Gaza at Columbia University. One of them, Mahmoud Khalil, is a Columbia graduate student who is a legal permanent resident and is married to a U.S. citizen. The second is Leqaa Kordia, a Palestinian woman who attended Columbia but overstayed her visa, officials said. The Trump administration is seeking to deport Suri and Khalil under part of U.S. immigration law that allows it if a person “would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.” The ACLU and others have called the administration's actions an attempt to punish people for expressing their constitutionally protected views about Israel and the war in Gaza. "Political speech — however controversial some may find it — may never be the basis for punishment, including deportation," Mary Bauer, the executive director of ACLU of Virginia, said in a statement Thursday. "We will not let this egregious, unprecedented, and illegal abuse of power go unchecked.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio has defended attempts to deport Khalil by saying that “no one has a right to a student visa.” A judge has temporarily blocked Khalil's deportation. President Donald Trump in his election campaign condemned student protests against Israel's military action in Gaza, which followed the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel. Some congressional Republicans have also criticized universities for what they called antisemitic behavior at protests. The Justice Department in February announced what it called an antisemitism task force focused on college campuses. The Trump administration on March 7 also said it was canceling around $400 million in federal grants to Columbia. On March 4, Trump said on his social media platform, Truth Social, "All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests." Suri is a postdoctoral fellow at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown. The director of that center, Nader Hashemi, told NBC Washington that he is shocked by Suri’s arrest and the attempt to deport him. Hashemi said that that Suri was not political or an activist, and that he was focused on his teaching and research. “I would never imagine in a million years to see a faculty member, a student who’s engaged in exercising their First Amendment rights would be picked up by the state and thrown into jail and then deported,” Hashemi told the station. “That’s what they do in Putin’s Russia. That’s what they do in Xi Jinping’s China,” he said. “That’s what they do in the Islamic Republic of Iran, not in the United States, at least until now.”

The lawsuit, which also named law enforcement agencies and 20 counterprotesters, said the university “repeatedly and systemically” violated protesters' rights last year. More than 30 pro-Palestinian activists have filed a civil rights lawsuit against UCLA, alleging the university “repeatedly and systemically” violated the civil rights of protesters during demonstrations at the campus encampment last year. Plaintiffs said they were deprived of “their rights to assemble, speak, learn, and organize freely and safely” and left with “life-altering injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder,” according to a news release about the lawsuit. Stett Holbrook, a spokesperson for the University of California president’s office, said the office had been notified of the lawsuit and was “gathering additional information.” The lawsuit, announced Thursday, was filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. It lists 35 plaintiffs — including students, faculty members and legal observers — who were on campus during the protests last year. In addition to alleging that university officials violated the “civil rights of all pro-Palestinian protesters” and failed to "address and prevent" discrimination, the lawsuit names the Los Angeles Police Department, the California Highway Patrol and 20 individuals it calls a "rioting mob" as defendants. The plaintiffs claim the law enforcement agencies used “excessive physical force” and unlawfully arrested protesters. The plaintiffs alleged that on May 2, when more than 200 people were arrested at the encampment, police “shot powerful kinetic impact projectiles at peoples’ heads and faces.” Spokespeople for the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles Police Department said the agencies do not comment on pending litigation. The people the lawsuit describes as a rioting mob are defined as those who participated in a "brutal, hours-long riot" against the encampment. Many of them are identified in the complaint as Los Angeles residents but not members of the UCLA community. The campus police chief resigned in May after he drew intense criticism over his response to the April 30 attack on the encampment, when videos taken at the scene showed counterprotesters beating people and hitting people with poles. The complaint alleges that the counterprotesters “violently assaulted protesters" by "breaking their bones, sexually assaulting them" and "burning their eyes with chemical munitions." The plaintiffs allege in the suit that “police and private security watched from just a few yards away as the attack raged for hours." "It was immediately apparent that there was not a semblance of protection for the physical safety of the encampment members, and the mob had successfully transformed a peaceful, interfaith community space into a site of horror," the complaint says. Plaintiffs' personal testimony included in the lawsuit describes violence they say counterprotesters and police officers inflicted upon them. A student, Jack Kearns, said a member of the group hit him in the head with "a large piece of wood," rendering him unconscious. Another student, Faraaz Qureshi, said he was hit with rubber bullets four times, causing a severe open fracture in his finger and contusions and abrasions on his chest and back. The lawsuit seeks monetary damage for the physical and psychological injuries it said the protesters experienced. Holbrook said the university has instituted “system-wide reforms to promote safety and combat harassment and discrimination” on UC campuses.

“It was a bloody night for the people of Beit Lahiya,” a health official said. “The situation is catastrophic.” DEIR-AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Local health officials said Israeli strikes killed at least 85 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, bringing the total to nearly 600 killed since Israel shattered a truce that had facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages and brought relative calm since late January. Hours later, Hamas fired three rockets at Israel without causing casualties, in the first such attack since Israel broke the ceasefire Tuesday. Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the records department at the Gaza Health Ministry, said Israeli bombardments have killed at least 592 people in the past three days. The Israeli military said it was again enforcing a blockade on northern Gaza, including Gaza City. Palestinians were not being ordered to leave northern Gaza but can no longer enter, the military said, and are only allowed to move south on foot using the coastal road. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had returned to what remains of their homes in the north during the ceasefire. Early Friday, Israel’s Cabinet unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request to fire the head of the country’s Shin Bet internal security service. The late-night decision to sack Ronen Bar deepens a power struggle focused largely over who bears responsibility for the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza. It also could set the stage for a crisis over the country’s division of powers. Israel’s attorney general has ruled that the Cabinet has no legal basis to dismiss Bar. Israeli ground forces, meanwhile, are pushing into Gaza near the northern town of Beit Lahiya and the southern border city of Rafah, the military said Thursday. The operations come a day after Israel moved to split Gaza in two by retaking part of the strategic Netzarim corridor that divides Gaza’s north from south. The military ordered Palestinians to evacuate an area in central Gaza near the city of Khan Younis, saying it would operate there in response to Thursday’s rocket fire from Hamas. The Palestinian militant group said it targeted Tel Aviv. One rocket was intercepted and two fell in open areas, according to the army. Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels also launched two missiles at Israel, one early Thursday morning and another in the evening, the military said. Both were intercepted before reaching Israeli airspace, according to the army, and no injuries were reported. Air raid sirens rang out and exploding interceptor rockets were heard in Jerusalem. There have been three such attacks since the United States began a new campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis earlier this week. A ‘bloody night’ for hard-hit Gaza Gaza’s Health Ministry said overnight Israeli strikes killed at least 85 people, mostly women and children. The ministry’s records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The Indonesian Hospital said it received 19 bodies after strikes in Beit Lahiya, near Gaza’s northern border, which was heavily destroyed and largely depopulated earlier in the war. “It was a bloody night for the people of Beit Lahiya,” said Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministry’s emergency service in northern Gaza, adding that rescuers were still searching the rubble. “The situation is catastrophic.” Israel’s military said Thursday its airstrikes in Gaza had killed the head of Hamas’ internal security apparatus and two other militant commanders. Israel has said it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas. A United Nations-backed group of human rights experts accused Israel last week of “disproportionate violence against women and children” during the war in Gaza. One of the strikes early Thursday hit the Abu Daqa family’s home in Abasan al-Kabira, a village outside Khan Younis near the border with Israel. It was in an area the Israeli military ordered evacuated earlier this week, encompassing most of eastern Gaza. The strike killed at least 16 people, mostly women and children, according to the nearby European Hospital, which received the dead. Those killed included a father and his seven children, as well as the parents and brother of a month-old baby who survived along with her grandparents. “Another tough night,” said Hani Awad, who was helping rescuers search for more survivors in the rubble. “The house collapsed over the people’s heads.” War in Gaza has no end in sight President Donald Trump’s administration reiterated its support for Israel, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying, “The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay.” Israel, which cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians, has vowed to intensify its operations until Hamas releases the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed alive — and gives up control of the territory. Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, as called for in the ceasefire agreement mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar. Hamas says it’s willing to hand over power to the Western-backed Palestinian Authority or a committee of political independents but will not lay down its arms until Israel ends its decadeslong occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state. Shin Bet chief’s dismissal deepens Israeli political turmoil Netanyahu said Sunday he would seek Bar’s dismissal, saying he had lost faith in his security chief. But critics say the move is a power grab by Netanyahu against an independent-minded civil servant. Tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated across the country in recent days in support of Bar, including a mass gathering outside Netanyahu’s office late Thursday in the pouring rain. A Shin Bet report into the Oct. 7 attack acknowledged failures by the security agency. But it also said that policies by Netanyahu’s government created the conditions for the attack. Netanyahu is also upset that the Shin Bet has launched an investigation into connections between some of his close aides and the Gulf state of Qatar. His office said Bar’s dismissal would take effect April 10 or before then if a replacement is found. Bar did not attend the meeting but sent a letter to the Cabinet ahead of time protesting the firing. He said the dismissal was meant to hinder the agency from further investigating the failures of Oct. 7 and undermining the investigation into whether Qatar influenced the prime minister’s office. “This is a direct danger to the security of the state of Israel,” Bar wrote. The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, according to Israeli officials. Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants, but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence. The war at its height displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population and has caused vast destruction across the territory.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said parts of the Palestinian enclave would be "annexed to Israel" unless the remaining 59 captives, dead and alive, were freed. Israel ordered its troops to permanently seize parts of the Gaza Strip — to be “annexed to Israel” — unless Hamas hands over the remaining hostages, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday. The statement came after Israel this week broke the two-month ceasefire with Hamas, with the resumption of airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza killing nearly 600 people. The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to intensify those operations until the militant group, which nominally controlled Gaza before this round of conflict, returns the 59 dead and living hostages who it continues to hold captive. “I have instructed the IDF to seize additional areas in Gaza, while evacuating the population, and to expand the security zones around Gaza for the protection of Israeli communities and IDF soldiers,” Katz said in a statement. “The more Hamas persists in its refusal to release the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed to Israel.” Katz also threatened the use of “all military and civilian pressure tools including the evacuation of Gaza’s population southward and the implementation of voluntary relocation plans for Gaza residents,” while describing the new more expansive phase of Israel's military offensive in the enclave. He added that this would be done "through permanent Israeli control of the territory." Hamas said Friday that it "remains at the heart of the negotiations," and was engaging with mediators including "discussing the Witkoff proposal and the various ideas on the table." The group said in a statement that its aim is "achieving a prisoner exchange deal that secures the release of prisoners, ends the war, and achieves withdrawal." Since signing the ceasefire in January, Netanyahu has faced the twin pressures of hostage families urging him to facilitate their return, and his hard-right coalition members threatening to collapse his government unless he restarts the war. On Tuesday, his military opted for the latter, launching strikes into Gaza that he and the White House blamed on Hamas’ refusal to release more hostages. But Netanyahu's accusations do not reflect the structure of the deal. In the first phase of the truce, Israel exchanged 1,800 Palestinian prisoners and detainees for the return of 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight more of the roughly 250 who were taken captive during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed, according to Israel. Nearly 49,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave, according to local health officials, whose figures the World Health Organization has said in the past are reputable. The first phase of the ceasefire ended March 1 and was meant to precede a second phase 16 days later involving the exchange of all remaining hostages and the establishment of a permanent ceasefire. That never happened, with Netanyahu agreeing to a proposal tabled by White House envoy Steven Witkoff to extend the ceasefire by 50 days in order to discuss phase two. This was immediately rejected by Hamas, but Katz said Friday that Israel was still standing by it. The White House has made it clear it stands with Israel’s decision but has yet to respond to NBC News' request for comment on Katz's remarks Friday. “The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday.

At least 45 people were killed by airstrikes across the Gaza Strip overnight Thursday as Israel's resumption of its ground and air offensive left a trail of destruction observed by an NBC News team on the ground. More than 30 of those killed in the strikes by the Israel Defense Forces were brought to the city's European Hospital, while 13 were taken to Nasser Hospital, officials there told NBC News. One family had 12 members killed, including several children. The strikes hit multiple homes in the middle of the night, with children killed as they slept, The Associated Press reported. Sirens that had become increasingly rare during the ceasefire rang out in a number of areas in central Israel on Thursday, after projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip, the IDF said. NBC News' team in central Israel reporting heard blasts around the same time. In the hours before the strikes, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz suggested that civilians in the enclave would "pay the full price" if hostages who remain held by Hamas were not returned. “Return the hostages and eliminate Hamas — the alternative is complete destruction and annihilation,” he said Wednesday in an address to Palestinians in Gaza as the Israeli military issued evacuation orders for areas it said were "battle zones." Hamas said in a statement late Wednesday that Israel’s ground offensive constituted a “new and dangerous violation of the signed ceasefire agreement.” Thursday's strikes came after the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that more than 400 people had been killed overnight Tuesday when Israel resumed strikes across the enclave, breaking the fragile ceasefire after two months of relative calm. Both Israel and the United States have blamed Hamas for the renewed fighting, accusing the militant group of rejecting a proposal to extend the first phase of the current ceasefire agreement, even though that was not part of the original deal. At least 59 hostages, both dead and alive, are thought to remain in Gaza out of around 250 who were taken captive during the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks, in which some 1,200 people were killed, according to Israel. Nearly 49,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its offensive in the enclave, according to local health officials, whose figures the World Health Organization has said in the past are reputable. The resumption of war has already brought renewed devastation to the Gaza Strip, with babies and pregnant mothers among those killed in Israeli strikes on the tent camps where they had sought shelter. Among those killed was Afnan Fouad Al-Ghannam, 20, who was 7 months pregnant, and her 1-year-old son, Mohammad, when their shelter in the Muwasi tent camp was hit. While Muwasi has long been designated a humanitarian zone, it has been struck on multiple occasions during the war. The boy's father could be seen cradling his son, wrapped in a bloodied white shroud, in video captured by NBC News' crew on the ground Wednesday. “I would give my life for you,” Alaa Abu Hilal said, holding Mohammed in his arms. "Your separation hurts me," the father told his son. "Take care of your mother." Israel's military sent ground troops back into Gaza on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the IDF said, a fresh escalation in its renewed attack on Gaza. The military said that its “targeted ground operation” was focused on the central and southern Gaza Strip and that ground troops had retaken about half of the Netzarim corridor — the Israeli-built roadway that bisects Gaza and has been used to cut off traffic between its north and south. While this week's strikes have shattered what had often appeared to be a fragile ceasefire, Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanou said Thursday in a statement that talks with mediators were ongoing. He added that he hoped negotiators would push Israel to "back down from its plan" and abide by the ceasefire deal agreed in January.

The head of the U.N. Office for Project Services declined to say who carried out the strike on a U.N. guesthouse in the Gaza Strip. An international United Nations staffer was killed and five others were wounded in a strike on a U.N. guesthouse in the Gaza Strip, a U.N. official said Wednesday. Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the U.N. Office for Project Services, declined to say who carried out the strike but said the explosive ordnance was “dropped or fired” and the blast was not accidental or related to demining activity. He did not provide the nationalities of those killed and wounded. The Israeli military, which has carried out a heavy wave of airstrikes since early Tuesday, denied earlier reports that it had targeted the U.N. compound. But Moreira da Silva said strikes had hit near the compound on Monday and struck it directly on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, when the staffer was killed. He said the agency had contacted the Israeli military after the first strike and confirmed that it was aware of the facility’s location. “Israel knew this was a U.N. premises, that people were living, staying and working there,” he said. There have been no reports of rocket fire or other Palestinian militant attacks since Israel unleashed the airstrikes overnight and into Tuesday, ending a ceasefire that took hold in January. The Israeli bombardment continued into Wednesday, though at a lower intensity. The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 436 people, including 183 children and 94 women, have been killed since Israel launched the strikes early Tuesday. It said another 678 people have been wounded. The military says it only strikes militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas. Gaza’s Health Ministry records do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

More than 400 people were killed in the Israeli attacks and hundreds more were injured, according to health officials. Israel shattered its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a barrage of deadly airstrikes overnight Tuesday that killed hundreds of Palestinians across the Gaza Strip — and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that “this is just the beginning.” More than 400 people were killed and hundreds more injured, according to health officials in the Hamas-run enclave. Video captured by an NBC News crew at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis showed charred tent camps and bloodied bodies, including those of young children. On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it had launched a "targeted ground operation" in central and southern Gaza to build a partial buffer between the northern and southern parts of the enclave. Why, after nearly two months of relative peace in the enclave, did Israel break the fragile truce and what does it mean for the future of the ceasefire? Why did the ceasefire break down? Both Israel and the Trump administration have blamed Hamas for the resumption of hostilities, citing the militant group's refusal to meet Israel's demand to release more hostages in return for the resumption of talks. But this was not part of the original ceasefire agreement that went into effect Jan. 19. The first phase of that deal, which had Hamas release 25 living hostages and the bodies of eight in exchange for around 1,800 of Palestinian prisoners, ended March 1. The second phase was set to kick in 16 days later and would have included the exchange of all the remaining hostages and the establishment of a permanent ceasefire. In phase three, the bodies of all dead hostages were to be returned and a commitment made to rebuild Gaza. But the second phase never began after Netanyahu said he had accepted a plan by Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, to extend the ceasefire for 50 days to discuss phase two — a proposal that was immediately rejected by Hamas. Following Hamas' rejection, Israel blocked the flow of aid and goods into Gaza in a move condemned by rights groups. Israel's military called Tuesday’s strikes “pre-emptive” and suggested without providing any evidence that Hamas was attempting to rearm. Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has faced significant and conflicting pressures from various parties inside Israel, while drawing widespread international criticism for the Israeli military's conduct and the mounting death toll in Gaza. Families of hostages taken during Hamas' terror attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, have long called for a deal that would see the release of their loved ones. Around 250 people were taken captive that day and 1,200 killed, according to Israeli tallies. More than 48,000 people have died in Gaza in the Israeli military campaign since then, according to health officials in the enclave. But far-right members of the Israeli government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have threatened to quit if Israel moves to the second phase of the deal, while calling for the total annihilation of Hamas. Were that to happen, it would most likely bring about early elections, and Netanyahu, who is currently on trial over graft allegations, could be pushed out of power. On Tuesday, he appeared to side with far-right members of his government who have been vocal in demanding a resumption of the war.“From now on, Israel will act against the militant group with increasing intensity,” he said, adding that negotiations to end the fighting would from now on “only take place under fire.” Almost immediately, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned as minister for national security over his opposition to the ceasefire deal, rejoined the coalition along with his Otzma Yehudit party. Ending the war would also mean Netanyahu having to sacrifice at least one or two of his three war objectives in Gaza: securing the return of the hostages held by Hamas, eliminating the group's military and governmental abilities, and removing the threat of possible future attacks. While Netanyahu has been repeatedly criticized by the United Nations, the European Union and individual states about Israel’s military campaign, he does retain the support of Israel's main ally, the United States, especially under the Trump administration. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News that Israel had consulted the Trump administration before launching Tuesday’s strikes. And in a statement to the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Dorothy Shea, said that the resumption of hostilities in Gaza lay solely with Hamas and that the U.S. supported Israel in its next steps. Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv think tank, said he believed Israel was attempting to push Hamas to the “decision phase”with the latest strikes. With Trump in power, “Israel is very well coordinated with the American administration,” he said. What happens now? Netanyahu has maintained that any negotiations going forward will unfold amid an assault in Gaza. The Israeli military said Wednesday morning that it had continued strikes overnight. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told NBC News on Wednesday that the group was still “committed to the agreement we signed, which must end with a ceasefire and a complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces. He said Hamas was committed to engaging in any negotiations toward that goal. As it stands, a resumption of the ceasefire would appear to require concessions on one side or both. At the moment, neither appears willing to back down.

The Israel Defense Forces announced the incursion just over a day after it broke the ceasefire with a sprawling bombing campaign that killed hundreds across the enclave. TEL AVIV — Israel’s military sent ground troops back into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces announced, just over a day after it broke a two-month ceasefire with a sprawling bombing campaign that killed hundreds across the enclave. The “targeted ground operation” has focused on the central and southern Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the IDF said in a statement. Ground troops had also retaken about half of the “Netzarim Corridor,” the IDF said, referring to the Israeli-built roadway that bisects Gaza and has been used to cut off traffic between the northern and southern parts of the enclave. Hamas said in a statement Wednesday evening that Israel’s ground incursion “constitutes a new and dangerous violation of the signed ceasefire agreement.” Israel’s defense minister issued a bellicose statement, threatening that the military would once again begin evacuating civilians from combat zones. “The air force attack against Hamas terrorists was only the first step. The rest will be much more difficult and you will pay the full price,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in the statement. “If all the Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not eliminated from Gaza — Israel will act with forces you have never known before.” The return of Israeli ground forces marks the collapse of a U.S.-negotiated ceasefire that had largely quieted the fighting in Gaza for two months after 15 months of war laid it to waste. Alongside its statement, the IDF circulated a video that showed Israeli tanks, as well as infantry soldiers walking, taking up positions and gathering in groups around destroyed homes in what the IDF said was central Gaza. Under the terms of the treaty, which went came into effect Jan. 19, Israeli forces had gradually withdrawn their ground operations to Gaza’s periphery. Though the treaty dramatically diminished the intensity of the fighting, health officials in Gaza said Israeli forces had killed at least 160 people during the two-month truce. More than 400 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the renewed offensive early Tuesday, according to Palestinian health officials, and at least a dozen were killed Wednesday. An American security company and Egyptian security contractors who worked for a Qatari-Egyptian committee had been securing the Netzarim Corridor. They vacated the roadway today ahead of advancing Israeli forces. At about 9 a.m. local time Wednesday, Israel’s Arabic-language spokesman published a map on social media advising residents in Gaza to vacate areas around the perimeter and move toward the coast, highlighting two square blocks of territory in the enclave’s northeast and southeast for urgent evacuation. In the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City on Wednesday, people used hammers and other tools to dig into the rubble of a four-story building that was hit by an airstrike early that morning. Mohammed Al-Hattab said there were 30 people in the building, children and the elderly. They rescued a 6-month-old baby and a 1-year-old, but others were killed, he said. A 3-year-old boy was partially visible under the rubble — his upper body exposed, his lower half pinned beneath a heavy slab of concrete. Beside him lay his father, lifeless, yet still holding his hand. Nearby, their mother’s lifeless body was covered with a blanket. For hours, neighbors struggled to pull them out, thwarted by a lack of heavy machinery. “Enough of these wars, we are exhausted by them,” Al-Hattab said. “Enough of these wars.” The demise of the hard-won peace treaty ends a short period of calm in Gaza and threatens a return to the kind of Israeli attacks that Palestinian health officials say have already killed more than 48,000 people. Israel ended the peace treaty because, it said, Hamas refused to hand over the remaining hostages held in Gaza. Both sides agreed to a three-phase treaty in late January, with the details of each subsequent phase set to be negotiated during the proceeding period. The first phase of the treaty expired March 1, and repeated attempts to either extend the first phase or negotiate a move toward the second phase have failed. There were almost weekly exchanges of hostages for Palestinian prisoners during the ceasefire’s first phase. By the time it ended this month, Hamas had released 33 hostages for about 1,900 Palestinian prisoners. But while Hamas repeatedly tried to negotiate toward the second phase of the treaty, which would lead to a more permanent truce and eventually the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, Israel pushed for a weekslong extension of the first phase. Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, presented multiple “bridging” proposals that would have extended the first phase of the treaty. After Hamas refused, hewing to its insistence on negotiating toward the second phase, Israel’s government scrapped the treaty and moved to renew the fighting.

Israel's military on Tuesday launched the deadliest strikes on the Gaza Strip since the agreement of its ceasefire with Hamas, killing hundreds of people and shattering the fragile truce. The Israeli military was "conducting extensive strikes" against Hamas throughout Gaza, aimed at “the release of all our hostages — living and dead,” the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “From now on, Israel will act against Hamas with increasing military force,” it said, with the Israeli military later issuing evacuation orders to several neighborhoods across the enclave. At a news briefing Tuesday evening, Netanyahu warned that the strikes were "just the beginning" and that his aim is to "destroy Hamas and make sure Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.” The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, whose figures the World Health Organization has previously said it considers to be reliable, said hospitals across the enclave had received the bodies of at least 404 people killed, with more than 560 injured. It added that people were still buried under rubble, with recovery efforts underway. Dr. Muneer Al-Boursh, the ministry's director-general said "most of the victims" were women and children as he called on Gaza's residents to donate blood. While Tuesday's strikes are not the first to happen during the ceasefire, their scale puts the two-month-old ceasefire on shaky ground, although neither Israel or Hamas have explicitly said they considered the current ceasefire to be over. Still, Hamas accused Israeli officials of having violated the terms of the truce. “Netanyahu and his extremist government have decided to overturn the ceasefire agreement and are exposing the prisoners in Gaza to an unknown fate,” Hamas said in a statement. Video captured by NBC News' crew on the ground in southern Gaza's Khan Younis showed scenes of people being rushed to Nasser Hospital, while bloodied bodies could be seen being laid down on the floor and on metal stretchers, including those of young children. Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a volunteer with Medical Aid for Palestinians' emergency medical team at Nasser Hospital described the "frenzy" Tuesday morning as having "felt like Armageddon." “The windows were shaking, the doors flew open, it was non-stop and then within about ten minutes we started hearing the sirens," she said in a statement shared by MAP with NBC News. Gaza Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal said early Tuesday that dozens of people had been killed and wounded, following attacks on homes. “Our crews are unable to deal with the attacks due to limited resources and the dangerous situation,” Basal said. “We call on the world to stop this aggression.” The Israeli military issued evacuation orders Tuesday morning to Palestinians in neighborhoods across the enclave in Beit Hanoun, Khirbet Khuza’a, Abasan al-Kabira, and al-Jadidah, saying they were "dangerous combat zones." Residents were told to evacuate to known shelters in western Gaza City and Khan Younis. The strikes were the heaviest Israeli military bombardment in Gaza since the ceasefire deal was reached in January and brought a pause to fighting that followed the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, when more than 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. Since then, more than 48,500 people have been killed in Gaza, with much of the infrastructure across the enclave destroyed. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Tuesday morning called for an immediate “return to a ceasefire” amid Israel’s airstrikes. “The lives of our loved ones hang by a thread and cannot endure much longer,” the forum, which represents the families of those held hostage in Gaza, said in a statement. “After surviving months in captivity against all odds, they are now in critical danger.” Farhan Haq, spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the UN chief was "shocked by the Israeli airstrikes" and that Guterres "strongly appeals for the ceasefire to be respected, for unimpeded humanitarian assistance to be reestablished and for the remaining hostages to be released unconditionally." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News that Israel consulted the Trump administration and the White House about the strikes. The IDF said Saturday that it had identified two Hamas operatives “operating a drone that posed a threat to IDF troops” and saw others collecting drone-operating equipment. Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal in January, but since then, both sides have accused one another of breaching the truce's agreements. The first phase of the deal — which included the release of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 — expired this month. The second phase, designed to release male hostages, is intended to initiate talks for a long-term end to the war. Prominent human rights advocate Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, condemned the way Israel appeared to be attempting to “pressure Hamas into making further concessions” in negotiations to maintain the current ceasefire. Netanyahu’s office said in Tuesday’s statement that he and Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the military “to act forcefully against the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip.” "This, after Hamas repeatedly refused to release our hostages and rejected all offers it received from the US presidential envoy, Steve Witkoff, and from the mediators," Netanyahu's office said in reference to talks between international teams of negotiators in recent weeks. Witkoff, the special American envoy to the Middle East, told CNN on Sunday that the U.S. favored a proposal that would include the release of five living hostages in return for the release of a “substantial” number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The Israeli military said it struck a group of people who were part of a drone operation, but Hamas alleged the IDF released inaccurate identifications. Israeli military strikes killed at least 14 people in 24 hours, the Gaza Health Ministry said, as international negotiators engage in talks to reinforce the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. The ministry reported the deaths in a statement Sunday, saying 51 other people were taken to the hospital with injuries. The bodies of 15 other people who had previously died were recovered, the ministry added. The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement Saturday that it had identified two Hamas operatives “operating a drone that posed a threat to IDF troops” and saw others collecting drone-operating equipment. Israel’s military released the names of six people purportedly belonging to the group it was targeting. Hamas’ Government Media Office in Gaza denied the allegations in a statement, saying the names Israel released were inaccurate. It said that one of the people the IDF identified is alive and that others had no part in the team allegedly targeted by Israel. The IDF did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the alleged inaccuracies Hamas identified. Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in January, but the temporary pause in hostilities has been undermined by mutual accusations of violations. Hamas has delayed the releases of hostages at different times, while Israeli strikes have continued sporadically in Gaza. On Friday, Hamas agreed to release Edan Alexander, the last living U.S. citizen held hostage in Gaza. Four children were killed in an Israeli drone strike that day. The first phase of the ceasefire expired this month, and the second phase is designed for the release of male hostages. That stage of the agreement is intended to initiate talks for a long-term end to the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he sent negotiators to Egypt to meet with “senior Egyptian officials to discuss the issue of the hostages.” Hamas previously said it was ready for the next round of talks. Netanyahu met Saturday with the negotiating team and ministers to discuss a proposal from Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, under which the 11 living hostages in Gaza would be released and half of the hostages who were killed would be recovered.