let's turn now to megan fitzgerald who's following developments live. what's the latest that we know >> reporter: frances, good morning to you not long after that week-long cease cease-fire expired, israeli fighter jets hitting targets in both the northern and southern part of gaza that's according to the team on the ground there israel, the idf coming out and saying that hamas violated the operational pause by firing towards israeli territory and then prime minister benjamin netanyahu, his office, also coming out with a statement that i want to read for you he says hamas has not meitits obligation we do know sirens were blaring in the southern part of israel along the border with gaza this morning. this happening after this week-long cease-fire, where israel was able to get back more than 100 hostages held by hamas. hamas receiving more than 240 of those palestinian prisoners that were imprisoned in israel, and this, of course, happening on the backdrop of secretary of state antony blinken being in israel, his third trip to the country since this war b

joining me now, megan fitzgerald, nbc news foreign correspondent. megan, what can you tell us about the latest escalation that were seen on the ground between russia and ukraine? michael, as you mentioned, we saw one of the most significant attacks on russian soil. among those who died includes children. russia vows that they will seek revenge, and that is exactly what we saw. overnight, russia pounded the city of kharkiv, which is in the eastern part of ukraine. dozens of people were wounded, at least two people were killed so far that we know of. that's according to kharkiv police. they say those two people were pulled from the rubble of a private hall. now, you remember on friday, ukraine saw what president zelenskyy has called the heaviest attack. one of the most significant attacks that ukraine has seen since the beginning of the war. explosions all over the country from lviv in the west, to kharkiv in the east, down in the south in odessa, and the capital city of kyiv. at least 40 people have died from that nationwide attack. more than 150 peo

nbc,'s megan fitzgerald, joins us from london. megan, what more can you tell us about this attack? a sign of more violence in the new year? >> absolutely. this could certainly be a precursor for more violence in the new year. what we know is that ukraine has been saying for months that they feared russia would stockpile weapons to use in cold, bitter winter months, which would resemble what the ukrainians saw last year where civilians and the country's energy grid was targeted, plunging thousands of people into the bitter cold and darkness. as you mentioned, yesterday ukraine saw attacks from the viva and the, west kharkiv in the, east and across the country. in the capital city of kyiv, the mayor there said two more bodies today were pulled from the rubble. bringing the death toll and his city to 13. the death toll across the country is over 30 people, with more than 100 people injured. no, ukraine has called for new year's day to be a national day of mourning. meanwhile, today, and a border city in russia, it came under attack. the kremlin is blaming ukraine, ukraine has not take

>> all right, megan fitzgerald from london, thank you. >>> now the middle east, where the u.s.exchanged fire with a militant group off the coast of yemen. the american show of force comes after the pentagon says houthi fighters -- commercial cargo ship the red sea. the iranian-backed militant group attacked the ships along this busy trade route shortly after the start of the israel-hamas war. joining me now from st. croix in the u.s. virgin islands, nbc correspondent erin gilchrist traveling with the president. what is the biden administration saying about the increased tensions and the attacks going on in the red sea? >> reporter: steven, we know president biden was briefed about this incident this morning he on st. croix by his national security adviser who is here as well. this reallydo represent an escalation in the tensions we've beentching the red sea for about o nths now. al since november is when we've been tracking these attacks. for the most part, they had been attacked drones and missiles that had been launched from houthi controlled parts of yemen into the red sea n

nbc news correspondent megan fitzgerald joining us now from london.already 2024 in lots of different places. can you tell us about the other celebrations, the other festivities we are seeing overseas? >> reporter: yes, steven, absolutely right. several countries have already brought in the new year as the united states and london, still counting down until midnight. but, you know, things feel a bit different this year. i can tell you several law enforcement agencies across europe, they are on this heightened state of alert. counter intelligence experts are concerned, just as antonia as mentioned, that the israel-hamas war could reignite extremist attacks across europe and the west. there are concerns that there could be attacks inspired by but not directed by hamas. so, let's start in france, for example, where they have deployed some 90,000 law enforcement officers. 1.5 million people are expected to celebrate along the champs-ÉlysÉes. the french interior minister says from 6000 police officers will be in paris tonight, citing, again, a very high ter

we want to go live now to megan fitzgerald who's following developments for us. what's the latest do we know >> reporter: frances, good morning. not long after that week-long cease-fire ended, we saw israeli fighter jets hitting targets in the northern part and southern part of gaza the idf coming out and saying, i want to read for you they say hamas violated the operational pause by firing toward israeli territory and prime minister benjamin netanyahu's office coming out with a statement which i want t read ha ma hamas has not met its obligations to release oall the women hostages this comes as we saw a week of progress, where we saw israel releasing 240-plus, palestinian prisoners. we saw hamas releasing those hostages, more than a hundred hostages that were released that were in hamas custody. and then this falls on the backdrop of secretary of state antony blinken making his third trip to israel since the war began, where he spoke out about how he hoped that the cease-fire would hold he also went on to say that if israel is going to resume the fighting he tal

joining us now nbc news correspondent megan fitzgerald.ttorney and his allies are concerned about his whereabouts. as you mentioned, it's been nearly a week since they heard from him. we know that navalny was being held in vladimir, russia, just outside of moscow. we know his lawyers showed up at the colony where he was being held and was told he's not there. they don't have any information of him being there. another attorney went to another facility in that area where he may have been transferred to, and, again, was told he's not on the roster. there's a great concern about his well being and the united states government is concerned. the u.s. state department issued a statement just within the last few hours. i'll read part of it for you. they said, we do not have any information about his whereabouts. we are deeply concerned for mr. navalny's well being. we communicated to the russian government that they are responsible for what happens to mr. navalny and they'll be held accountable by the international community. to give you some con