American citizen among hostages released by Hamas

Family of Abigail says little girl happy to reunite with extended family

The family of Abigail Mor Edan, the 4-year-old Israeli American girl who was released after being held in captivity for seven weeks, said she smiled and laughed when reunited with her extended family. 

Abigail “was hungry” upon her release and asked for food, water and juice, her great-aunt Liz Hirsh Naftali told reporters today.

“Abigail is home. Not in her home, but she is home in Israel. Because her home is destroyed,” Hirsh Naftali said. “They can’t return to where they lived. She has no parents to go home to.”

Abigail’s parents were killed in the Oct. 7 attack. Hirsh Naftali said she was grateful that the little girl, who turned four while being held captive, wasn’t alone on her birthday.

“We had hoped she would celebrate it with her family, but she didn’t,” she said. “But she was blessed to be with this woman and her three children. In this horrific tragedy, the thought that she wasn’t alone, completely, somewhere dark in Gaza was the only saving grace that we had to hope that that was what it was. And she was.”

She said the family is focused on getting the little girl and her siblings therapy and the support they need.

Regarding the hostage exchanges and the pause in fighting so far, Hirsch Naftali said: “Abigail coming home is proof that it works, proof that if we hope, we pray, we do all the work, these hostages will come home,” she said. “But we still have a lot of work to do.”

One American to be released today, Qatar official says

An American will be among the hostages released today, Dr. Majed Al-Ansari, the spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

A U.S. official confirmed that the Israeli-American dual citizen, Liat Beinin Atzili, was among those freed and handed over to the Red Cross today.  

Al-Ansari said 30 Palestinians, including 16 minors and 14 women, were set to be released today in exchange for the release of 10 Israeli hostages in Gaza. The latter includes five people with dual citizenship: a Dutch dual citizen, three German dual citizens and an American dual citizen.

Families of American hostages to meet with Jake Sullivan

The families of American hostages in Gaza will meet with national security adviser Jake Sullivan tomorrow at the White House. 

Some of the family members said they planned to ask about any intelligence or other information from negotiations that would indicate if their loved ones are being held from release because they are American.

The families noted repeatedly that hostages of a range of nationalities have been released, but the majority of the American hostages are believed to remain held. 

“Where are the U.S. citizens?” one father exclaimed to reporters in frustration.

Video shows release of two Russian Israeli women in Gaza

Humanitarian aid reaches UNRWA shelters in northern Gaza for first time since war began

Humanitarian aid has reached the shelters operated by the U.N. agency in the north for the first time since the war began, a UNRWA spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

“The situation is much worse than we expected,” the spokesperson said, adding more crossings need to be opened with Gaza with 130 trucks piled up on the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian side.

“The fuel is just as important as the medicine and the civil order is on the verge of collapse,” the spokesperson said.

IDF says 2 released hostages are in Israel

Two recently released hostages are now with IDF forces inside Israeli territory, according to a joint statement from the military and the Israel Security Agency.

They said that after the two undergo medical assessment, they will be escorted by the IDF to a hospital to be reunited with family members.

Israel identified the released hostages as Yelena Trupanov, 50, and Irena Tati, 73.

Baking bread on the shattered streets of Gaza

Max Butterworth

Children sit near Palestinian women making bread, surrounded by remnants of a destroyed building in the neighborhood of Khuza’a, Khan Younis, today.

A Hamas official said more Russian Israeli citizens would be released today in appreciation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s support for the Palestinian cause.

An Israeli man with Russian citizenship was released Sunday outside the truce deal with Hamas, becoming the first male hostage to return home.

“None of the Israeli men detained in Gaza were released, except for Roni Krivoi, of Russian origin, as a result of the movement’s appreciation for President Putin’s positions,” Musa Abu Marzouk, an official with the political wing of Hamas, said on X.

“Today, others will be released outside the deal in appreciation of President Putin’s commendable positions,” he added.

Putin has been critical of Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip and its toll on Palestinian civilians. He has urged a political solution to the conflict and has backed the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

One American hostage may be among those released today

An American citizen could be among the hostages released from Gaza today, according to a U.S. official and a diplomat with knowledge of the fast-moving events. The official cautioned the situation is still fluid and nothing is final.

There are currently two American women who would meet the criteria to be handed over as part of the truce, but it’s unclear whether that will expand beyond today. As it stands, the agreement is set to expire in a matter of hours.

The Biden administration maintains it is “hopeful” another two-day extension could happen and is actively involved in the talks to secure that, the official stressed, echoing remarks made by Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier in the day.

If an American is released today, the person would be only the second American to be freed as part of the humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas. The first American released during the truce was 4-year-old Abigail Mor Edan on Sunday.

Family of hostages asks for privacy after Hamas claims 3 were killed in Israeli strike

Fears were growing for Gaza’s youngest hostage after Hamas claimed that he and two other members of his family were killed in an Israeli bombing.

Israel’s military said it was looking into the claim that 10-month-old Kfir, his 4-year-old brother, Ariel, and their mother, Shiri Bibas, were killed. Relatives said they were “waiting for the news to be confirmed or hopefully refuted soon.”

NBC News could not independently verify the claim.

“We thank the people of Israel for the warm embrace but ask to maintain our privacy at this complex time,” the Bibas family said in a statement released by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Read the full story here.

U.S. envoy for hostage affairs travels to Israel

Abigail Williams

WASHINGTON — The special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, will travel to Israel today, according to a senior State Department official, marking his first visit to the region since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

He will support Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to the region, meeting with Israeli government officials and visiting the families of Americans held hostage in Gaza, the senior official said.

Carstens is in regular contact with the families and spoke by phone with some of them before leaving for Israel, a State official said.

Israel believes 161 people are still being held hostage

Israel believes 161 people are still being held hostage in Gaza, according to Eylon Levy, a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office.

Levy said in a news conference today that the remaining hostages include 146 Israelis and 15 foreign nationals. The estimated number of Israelis was not broken down by people who hold dual citizenship.

Of the remaining hostages, according to Levy, 126 are men, 35 are women and eight are under the age of 20.

“Israel is committed to bringing all of the hostages home, whether through this current hostage release pause or after further pressure,” Levy said.

Palestinians in Gaza still suffering despite pause in bombing

Despite the pause in Israeli bombardment, life for most Palestinians in Gaza remains grim, with many displaced from their homes, swaths of infrastructure reduced to rubble and shortages of all basic supplies.

“We are still living in a crisis without electricity, and there is a shortage of everything, including food, water and fuel,” said Yousef Mema, 30, an intensive care nurse who fled his home in Gaza City and now lives in the southern part of the strip.

As part of the agreement between Israel and Hamas, more humanitarian aid has been allowed to enter the enclave. But international aid agencies say this isn’t enough.

“Some humanitarian aid entered Gaza but nothing has really changed,” Mema said. “The only thing that has changed on the ground is that they stopped their massacre against the Palestinians.” He added, “Our living conditions are hard — but we are still alive.”

U.N. chief says failure to achieve peace condemns the world to a ‘never-ending cycle’

Failure to secure a permanent cease-fire and a long-term solution will condemn the world to “a never-ending cycle of death and destruction,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said in a speech today.

He made the comments to the Security Council following the implementation of a new U.N. resolution, which included a call for unconditional release of hostages, demands that parties follow international law, and the need for humanitarian pauses. But he went a step further and said that a “true humanitarian cease-fire” is needed.

“And we must ensure the people of the region finally have a horizon of hope — by moving in a determined and irreversible way toward establishing a two-state solution, on the basis of United Nations resolutions and international law, with Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” Guterres said.

He added that, “Failure will condemn Palestinians, Israelis, the region and the world to a never-ending cycle of death and destruction.”

Mourners in Jenin and Tel Aviv

Matthew Nighswander

A relative mourns 15-year-old Basil Suleiman Abu Al-Wafa, who was killed today during an Israeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

Lena Brodski, left, mourns her son, Sgt. Kiril Brodski, a 19-year-old Israeli soldier who was killed Oct. 7, during his funeral today in Tel Aviv. The IDF announced the death yesterday of Brodski and two other soldiers who were initially believed to have been kidnapped during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. But after examining new evidence, the IDF determined they were killed during the attack.

Israel looking into Hamas claims that youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, has been killed with 2 family members

Max Burman

Israel’s military said today it is in contact with the family of the youngest hostage held in Gaza and working to assess the accuracy of a Hamas claim that the 10-month-old had been killed along with his brother and mother.

“During the Hamas massacre of October 7, the Bibas family, including 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, his 4-year-old brother Ariel Bibas, and their mother Shiri Bibas — were kidnapped alive into Gaza,” the IDF said in a statement.

“The barbarism and cruelty of Hamas is on full display to the world. IDF representatives spoke with the Bibas family following the recent reports and are with them at this difficult time. The IDF is assessing the accuracy of the information,” it said.

It came after the armed wing of Hamas said earlier today that the three hostages, who have become some of the most prominent faces of the crisis in the country, had been killed in Israeli bombardment. NBC News has not verified the claims.

The IDF said that “Hamas is wholly responsible for the security of all hostages in the Gaza Strip. Hamas must be held accountable. Hamas’ actions continue to endanger the hostages, which include nine children.”

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Netanyahu ‘unequivocal’ fighting will continue after negotiations

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the return of dozens of hostages is “a great achievement” but was “unequivocal” that fighting would resume after negotiations are finished.

In the video speech released by the government, Netanyahu said the return of 85 hostages held in Gaza “would have sounded imaginary” a week ago “but we achieved it.”

However, he repeated a caveat that’s been hammered home by him and his top officials this week.

“In the last few days, I hear a question: After this phase of returning our abductees is exhausted, will Israel return to fighting?” he said. “So my answer is an unequivocal yes.”

“There is no way we are not going back to fighting until the end,” he added. “This is my policy, the entire Cabinet stands behind it, the entire government stands behind it, the soldiers stand behind it, the people stand behind it — this is exactly what we will do.”

Graphic video shows boys shot in West Bank amid Israeli raid

Video shared on social media this morning showed a group of boys being shot at in a side street in the occupied West Bank. It comes as Israeli forces conducted an intense raid on the Jenin refugee camp today.

In surveillance video that NBC News geolocated to Al Yasmine in Jenin, four boys are seen running for cover, one falling limp to the ground. Another boy drags him behind a car, leaving a trail of blood. The video is dated Nov. 29 and timestamped 2:19 p.m.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement today that two children were “killed by occupation bullets in Jenin,” naming them as Adam Samer Al-Ghoul, 8, and Basil Suleiman Abu Al-Wafa, 15. It was unclear whether the video showed this incident.

Israel’s military said it had killed a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander in a raid on the camp today. It did not mention the statement of the children being shot.

“In a joint operation by the IDF, the Shin Bet, and the Israel Defense Forces in the Jenin refugee camp, two high-ranking terrorists were eliminated by the IDF fighters, including the commander of the camp, Muhammad Zabeidi, who carried out shooting attacks in the sector and was involved in sending terrorists to the attacks,” a joint statement from the Israeli forces said. It added that “During the activity, exchanges of fire developed and explosives were thrown at the forces who shot at the terrorists and hit them.”

At least 2 communities on Gaza border say they won’t send representatives to meeting with Netanyahu

At least two kibbutzim that were violently attacked by Hamas last month said they will not meet with Israel’s prime minister during his scheduled visit with the Gaza border communities.

Israeli media reported that Netanyahu said yesterday he would meet with the leaders of southern areas, 4 kilometers from the border with Gaza.

Kibbutz Nir Oz said today it was joining Kibbutz Be’eri in not sending a representative to the meeting with Netanyahu, saying the current meeting format was “not acceptable.” Both kibbutzim were devastated by the Hamas attack Oct. 7.

Osnat Peri, head of Nir Oz, said they urge Netanyahu to meet with the kibbutz community as a whole, including those who survived the Hamas attack.

“All of us, not only the representatives of the kibbutzim, need answers. All of us deserve to know why a quarter of our community was abducted or slaughtered,” Peri said.

It comes amid growing discontent with what some view as Netanyahu’s failure to prevent the attack and his government’s treatment of the victims.

Bereaved Israeli families say police broke up protest

Bereaved Israelis demonstrating against the government said their weekly protest outside the Jerusalem parliament was this morning broken up by police.

Around 200 people supporting those who lost loved ones during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack were outside the Knesset when police used “violence and threats of false arrests” even though they were not blocking the roads, the loosely organized group said in a statement to NBC News.

The group is calling for the Israeli government to resign over the failures leading to and during the attack. It released video appearing to show police officers shoving some of the demonstrators and confiscating a sign belonging to Yael Alon, whose father, an army medic, was killed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and whose son, a platoon commander, was killed Oct. 7. Her sign reads: “My father was killed in the failure of ‘73, my son was killed in the failure of ‘23.”

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Truce extension for at least 2 days is current expectation, source says

Richard Engel

The expectation is that the truce between Israel and Hamas will be extended for at least two additional days, a senior Arab diplomat directly involved in the negotiations told NBC News.

Talks are ongoing in Qatar to secure a new deal beyond tonight’s deadline, and allow for the release of more hostages and Palestinian prisoners.

The talks are, of course, fluid and nothing remains finalized.

Israeli soldiers conduct operations within Gaza

Max Butterworth

IDF soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip during a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas, in images released by the Israeli military today.

U.S. military warns Iran over ‘unsafe’ drone behavior in the Gulf

An Iranian drone “took unsafe and unprofessional actions” yesterday near a U.S. aircraft carrier deployed to the Middle East, the U.S. military has said.

“The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (IKECSG) was conducting routine flight operations in the international waters of the Central Arabian Gulf when it detected an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The UAV was visually identified as Iranian. Its closest point of approach to IKE was approximately 1,500 yards. Multiple hails and warnings were ignored by Iran,” said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

No injuries were reported and no aircraft was damaged, he said in a statement. “This unsafe, unprofessional, and irresponsible behavior by Iran risks U.S. and partner nation lives and needs to cease immediately,” he added.

The strike group was the second deployed to the region in a show of support for Israel and deterrence against Iran. This latest incident follows a growing number of attacks by Tehran-backed militant groups against U.S. forces across the region.

Aunt of 12-year-old released hostage says boy was forced to watch Hamas attack videos in captivity

PARIS — The aunt of an Israeli boy who was released as part of the hostage deal on Monday said he was forced to watch videos of the Oct. 7 attack while held captive by Hamas.

Deborah Cohen told French news broadcaster BFM TV that her nephew, Eitan Yahalomi, had experienced “horrors” while in captivity.

She said Yahalomi, 12, was forced to watch “horror films” of the Hamas attack and was beaten when he arrived in Gaza. She also said that each time a child cried, the militants would threaten them with a weapon for them to keep quiet.

NBC News has not independently confirmed Cohen’s claim.

Cohen said after the happiness about her nephew’s release, she is now worried about the things he has seen and experienced.

“Lots of psychologists. Lots of love. Lots of hugs,” Cohen said, when asked about Eitan’s readjustment back into normal life. “Surrounded by family that are there for him. He will feel we are there for him. All the time there for him.”

Negotiations underway to keep Israel-Hamas cease-fire in place

Richard Engel

TEL AVIV — Time could be running out for more hostage releases, as negotiators — and families of captives — push for an extended deal before tonight’s deadline.

In Gaza, people are also hoping the cease-fire will be extended. They’re lining up to get what aid is coming in now, before Israeli airstrikes resume. With large parts of the enclave destroyed, many are living in tents as winter sets in.

These talks are being led by Qatar in Doha. The CIA director and the head of Israel’s Mossad are involved, with the hope being that these extensions could eventually lead to a longer-term deal.

Presidential envoy for hostage affairs traveling to Israel today

Abigail Williams

Roger Carstens, special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, is traveling to Israel today to support Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to the region and meet with his Israeli counterparts, a senior State Department official said.

He will also visit the families of Americans being held hostage in Gaza.

Newly released images show Gaza hospitals from above

Max Butterworth

Satellite images captured by Maxar Technologies on Sunday reveal three of the main hospitals in Gaza from above, surrounded by the rubble of destroyed buildings after weeks of intense bombing in the region by Israeli forces.

Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City:Indonesian Hospital in Jabaliya, northern Gaza:

Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City:

More Gazans could die from disease than bombings, WHO chief says

More people in Gaza could ultimately be killed by disease outbreaks than bombings, the World Health Organization has warned.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that more than 1.3 million people are living in overcrowded shelters in Gaza, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.

Overcrowding and the lack of basic necessities and access to medication are resulting in a high number of illnesses, he said. More than 110,000 people are suffering from acute respiratory infections, he added, with thousands more suffering from scabies and lice.

“It’s a matter of life or death for civilians,” Ghebreyesus said, urging an immediate and sustained cease-fire.

Hamas’ biggest fear is ‘Israelis and Palestinians living side by side,’ Biden says

Biden said Hamas attacked Israel because it fears “nothing more than Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace.”

“To continue down the path of terror, violence, killing, and war is to give Hamas what they seek,” he said in a post on X overnight. “We can’t do that.”

The post attracted attention on social media, but appeared to be an extract from an address delivered over the weekend rather than any new statement.

The Biden-Obama divide over how closely to support Israel

WASHINGTON — In the first weeks of the Israel-Hamas war, Biden privately pointed to praise for his unconditional public support of Israel, as well as some initial successes in influencing its government, as vindication of advice he said former President Barack Obama and his closest aides dismissed, according to five people familiar with his comments.

Biden recounted in private that when he was vice president in 2014 and Israel mounted a military assault on Gaza, Obama and his staff rejected his belief, held for decades, that the best way to approach the Israelis is to hug them close but not criticize them, the people familiar with his comments said.

The president’s private comparisons with his former boss subsided as outrage over rising civilian deaths in Gaza eclipsed the early praise for his approach, according to three of the people familiar with his comments.

But Biden’s confidence in his strategy has not wavered, these people said. If anything, it has hardened, they said, despite his administration’s recalibrated public message urging Israel to minimize civilian casualties and intense pressure for Biden to change course, some of it from members of his own Democratic Party.

Read the full story.

Inside Gaza during the cease-fire

TEL AVIV — The cease-fire in Gaza, which is set to end today, is offering a brief respite from seven weeks of Israeli bombing in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. NBC News reports more on the destruction done to the area from the bombardment.

Truce agreement nears its end but both sides discuss a new deal

The truce deal between Israel and Hamas is due to end today, having already been extended for two days after an initial four-day agreement.

But the two sides are in talks for a new extension that could see a broader hostage deal with a larger number of hostages released in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners along with a longer humanitarian pause.

CIA Director William Burns is in Qatar for the talks.

Hundreds gather to support family still in captivity, including 2 young boys

TEL AVIV — At what is now known as Hostage Square, just outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, a few hundred people gathered tonight to support the Bibas family.

Yarden Bibas and his wife, Shiri, were kidnapped by Hamas from the Nir Oz kibbutz Oct. 7, along with their two boys — 4-year-old Ariel and Kfir, now 10 months old.

“These two young little redheads really got in the hearts of everybody in Israel and also in the entire world,” said Bibas’ sister, Ofri. She called the last seven weeks a “nightmare.”

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Hostages released in southern Gaza overnight

Max Butterworth

Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters hand over newly released hostages to the Red Cross in Rafah, southern Gaza, overnight.

Catch up with NBC News’ latest coverage of the war