Israel expands Gaza offensive into ‘new battle zone,’ warns war will go on for many months

Netanyahu asks Xi and Putin for help freeing hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin for their help in freeing hostages still being held by Hamas.

Addressing a special Knesset session Monday on the estimated 129 remaining hostages, Netanyahu said he had summoned Cai Run, the Chinese ambassador to Israel, and asked Xi to personally intervene to secure the release of Noa Argamani, who was kidnapped from a music festival on Oct. 7.

Though Argamani is not a Chinese national, her mother, who has advanced cancer, is from the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

“I told the ambassador that I was asking him to please tell Xi Jinping, outside of protocol, outside the rules, which I know very well, that this is the daughter of a Chinese mother and that I am asking for his personal intervention,” Netanyahu said, adding that the ambassador said he had conveyed the request to Xi.

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Netanyahu adviser discussed key points regarding Gaza war, White House officials say

A meeting yesterday between U.S. officials and Israel’s Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer covered several issues related to the war in Gaza, a White House official said.

Dermer met with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The issued discussed, according to the White House official, were:

• The transition to a different phase of the war to maximize focus on high-value Hamas targets.

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Palestinian residents of West Bank village say they’re being driven out by Jewish settlers

Richard Engel

In the village of At-Tuwani in the West Bank, residents say Jewish settlers have become far more aggressive in their long campaign to drive Palestinians from this land since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks.

NBC News’ Richard Engel visited the area and reports on the high tensions among the two groups.

Meta accused of censoring social media support for Palestinians

Human Rights Watch has accused Meta of stifling pro-Palestinian content on its Instagram and Facebook platforms in what it described as a “pattern of undue removal and suppression,” in a 51-page report.

“Human Rights Watch found that the problem stems from flawed Meta policies and their inconsistent and erroneous implementation, overreliance on automated tools to moderate content, and undue government influence over content removals,” the group said today on Instagram.

The organization said it reviewed 1,050 cases of online censorship from over 60 countries and found that in many cases Meta “misapplied” policies about dangerous organizations, violent and graphic content, violence and incitement, hate speech, and nudity and sexual activity. In at least 300 cases, Human Rights Watch said, users were unable to appeal suspensions or content removals because of a “malfunction” of the appeal system.

A spokesperson for Meta said in a statement that the report “ignores the realities” of enforcing policies during a “fast-moving, highly polarized and intense conflict.” The statement also said it was misleading to describe 1,000 examples out the high volume of content posted about the conflict as proof of censorship.

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