Israel Hamas War : IDF 'Close To Dismantling The Military System' In Northern Gaza

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Israel is “close to dismantling the military system in the northern Gaza Strip,” the IDF’s chief of staff said. Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi added that more of the enclave’s regions will be targeted after the IDF urged residents of several neighborhoods in Khan Younis in southern Gaza to evacuate.

Israeli forces searched several hospitals in northern Gaza, saying they had found tunnels, weapons and at least one vehicle. The IDF has so far not provided definitive evidence that Hamas command centers exist beneath Al-Shifa and other hospitals, a claim that Israeli and American officials have repeatedly made and Hamas and doctors have forcefully denied.

The IDF said it had found the body of Yehudit Weiss, a hostage abducted by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack, and that of Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier taken hostage by Hamas. The military describe both as being found “adjacent” to Al-Shifa Hospital.

Civilians in Gaza are at immediate risk of starvation given that “food and water are practically non-existent there,” according to the United Nations World Food Programme.

More than 1.6 million people have been displaced in Gaza, and health officials there say 12,000 have been killed. Israel estimates 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas terrorist attack Oct. 7, with 239 people still held hostage in Gaza.

NBC News’ Keir Simmons, Raf Sanchez, Erin McLaughlin, Matt Bradley, Jay Gray and Chantal Da Silva are reporting from the region.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Several people were killed and at least two more injured in a strike on a building in the occupied West Bank, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said early on Saturday, local time.

The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment on the incident at Balata refugee camp, in the central city of Nablus.

The PRCS earlier said its medics were dealing with several serious injuries from the blast.

NBC News could not independently confirm the details of the incident.

The West Bank, part of territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, has seen a sharp surge in violence since the deadly attack on southern Israel by Hamas gunmen from Gaza last month.

The humanitarian situation in Al-Shifa medical complex is “catastrophic,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health in Gaza said.

Dr. Ashraf Al-Qudra told Al Jazeera in a phone interview that the food that was delivered to the complex is sufficient for only about 400 people, though between 7,000 and 10,000 people are in the hospital complex.

“The patients in the Shifa complex are starving and in pain, and the displaced cannot find a piece of bread,” he said, according to an NBC News translation.

A number of patients, including babies, have died, and more are at risk without aid, he told Al Jazeera.

Dr. Ahmed El Mokhallalati, a plastic surgeon at the facility, told NBC News today that IDF soldiers had provided some sandwiches and drinking water, but it was not enough.