Israel-Gaza-Lebanon live updates: US seeking ‘off-ramp’ as IDF pounds Hezbollah
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese village of Al-Mahmoudiye on September 24, 2024. (RABIH DAHER/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Israel and Hezbollah are exchanging hundreds of cross-border strikes in the wake of the shocking explosions of wireless devices across Lebanon last week.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Lebanon death toll rises to 558 people, ministry says
At least 558 people have been killed — including 50 children and 95 women — and another 1,853 people wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since Monday, according to the latest data from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Officials released the updated figures during a press conference on Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Israeli bombing prompts exodus from southern Lebanon
Thousands of people fled their homes in southern Lebanon after Israel killed hundreds in intensified airstrikes through Monday and Tuesday.
The mass movement of people — encouraged by the Israel Defense Forces before and during its expanding bombing campaign — prompted gridlock on highways running north toward the capital Beirut.
A journey that usually takes 90 minutes took up to 13 hours.
Authorities are working to turn schools and other educational institutions into makeshift shelters to house displaced people.
IDF, Hezbollah begin new day of cross-border fire
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday its warplanes struck “dozens of Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon,” with artillery and tanks also conducting fire missions in the area.
Hezbollah, meanwhile, fired at least 125 rockets overnight into Tuesday morning. Sirens were sounding through the early morning in northern Israel.
At least nine people suffered minor injuries as a result of rockets fired into the Western Galilee region of northern Israel on Tuesday morning, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service.
At least 492 people were killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes on Monday, according to Lebanese authorities. At least 1,645 people were reported injured.
The IDF said it struck at least 1,600 targets in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
Blinken seeks ‘off ramp’ as Israel pounds Lebanon, official says
A senior official in President Joe Biden’s administration told ABC News the U.S. cannot rule out the possibility of an Israeli invasion into Lebanon following the escalation of its airstrike campaign on Monday.
“I think it is important for everyone to take Israeli preparations seriously,” the senior administration official said.
The U.S. is putting its hope in engagements on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly this week, said the senior administration official, who expressed hope that the informal meetings could lead to “illusive solutions” or “at least make some progress” toward resolving the crisis in the Middle East.
The official said Secretary of State Antony Blinken would discuss “the increasing challenges” across the so-called “Blue Line” dividing Israel and Lebanon at a meeting with his G7 counterparts.
At that engagement and through the week, the a key U.S. focus will be “finding an off ramp,” they said.
“We’ve got some concrete ideas with allies and partners we are going to be discussing,” the official added.
New details emerge over US troops being sent to Middle East
A U.S. official tells ABC News that the “small number of additional U.S. military personnel being sent to the Middle East,” announced this morning by the Pentagon is a small special operations team that will work in planning for a non-combatant evacuation operation should it be needed.
Lebanon warns UN its citizens face ‘serious danger’ amid Israel-Hezbollah conflict
A Lebanese parliament member addressed the United Nations General Assembly Monday sharing a warning that the country’s citizens are in danger as tensions between Israeli forces and Hezbollah intensify.
Member Bahia El Hariri attended the U.N. meeting in place of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
“The people of Lebanon are in serious danger after the destruction of large areas of agricultural land and the targeting of residential buildings in the majority of the regions of Lebanon,” Hariri said.
“This has damaged the economy of our country and threatened our social order, especially since several countries have asked their nationals to leave our country,” she added.
Separately, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “gravely alarmed” by the escalating situation between northern Israel and southern Lebanon and the “large number of civilian casualties, including children and women, being reported by Lebanese authorities, as well as thousands of displaced persons, amidst the most intense Israeli bombing campaign since last October,” in a statement issued by his spokesperson Monday.
“The Secretary-General is also gravely alarmed” by the continued Hezbollah strikes on Israel, the statement added.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets attacked “1,600 terrorist targets of Hezbollah” in parts of southern Lebanon in “several attack waves,” on Monday, the IDF said in a post on X.
US Embassy in Jerusalem issues travel restriction for government employees
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem issued a security alert “temporarily” restricting travel for U.S. government employees and their family members to parts of northern and northeastern Israel.
“U.S. government employees and their family members have been temporarily restricted from any personal travel north of highway 65 toward Afula and north/northeast of highway 71 from Afula to the Jordanian border. Any official travel in this area will require approval. Approved travel will take place only in armored vehicles. This is provided for your information as you make your own security plans,” the U.S. Embassy alert said.
Afula is a city in northern Israel.
“US citizens should take this into consideration when planning their own activities,” the alert read.
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli airstrike on Lebanon’s southern village of Kfar Kila on September 20, 2024. — Rabih Daher/AFP via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — As scores of rockets flew from Lebanon toward northern Israel on Friday, officials with the U.S. and other international leaders urged Hezbollah and Israel to seek diplomatic paths to de-escalate the conflict.
About 120 rockets were fired toward Israel by midday on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces told ABC News. Israel on Thursday struck more than 100 Hezbollah targets within Lebanon, the military said.
U.S. officials have this week privately urged their Israeli counterparts to find a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday. He added that U.S. was committed to the defense of Israel from all terrorist organizations, including Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies.
“We will continue to stand by Israel’s right to defend itself,” Miller said during a press briefing Thursday. “But we don’t want to see any party escalate this conflict, period.”
Miller and other U.S. officials joined a chorus of international officials who were also asking Israel and Hezbollah to step back from a conflict that’s at risk of spreading and increasing in intensity. Israel and Hezbollah have for most of the last 11 months fired a near-daily volley of projectiles across the border.
Those strikes appeared on Thursday to take on a new urgency, as Israel launched a series of strikes on Hezbollah targets within Lebanon. The strikes were among the largest in almost a year. And they followed an attack with explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies in both Lebanon and Syria, a deadly surprise attack that Israel was behind, according to a source.
A spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon told Reuters on Friday the agency was also calling for de-escalation after seeing this week “a heavy intensification of the hostilities across the Blue Line,” a reference to the border between Israel and Lebanon.
European leaders had on Thursday made similar pleas. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy both called for de-escalation in the Middle East in separate public statements.
Macron posted a message in French on social media addressing the Lebanese people, saying they cannot live in fear of an imminent war and conflict must be avoided.
Lammy said he met with his American, French, German and Italian counterparts Thursday and all four of them agreed that “we want to see a negotiated political settlement” between Israel and the Lebanon-based militant group.
“We are all very, very clear that we want to see a negotiated political settlement so that Israelis can return to their homes in northern Israel and indeed, Lebanese can return to their homes,” Lammy told reporters Thursday.
He added, “And that’s why tonight I’m calling for an immediate cease-fire from both sides so that we can get to that settlement, that political settlement that’s required.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Monday morning for his third visit to the country since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.
The Pentagon said in a statement that Austin “will meet with Ukrainian leadership and underscore the U.S. commitment to providing Ukraine with the security assistance it needs to defend itself from Russian aggression on the battlefield.”
Austin will end his fourth visit to Ukraine as defense secretary with an address on Kyiv’s successes, American commitment to supplying its troops and — with just over two weeks until the U.S. presidential election — “why Ukraine’s fight matters for U.S. security,” the Pentagon said.
A senior defense official told ABC News that Austin’s visit is intended as an opportunity to consider the overall status of the war, plus to underscore the U.S. role in defeating Moscow’s strategic objectives and inflicting “astronomical casualties” on Russian forces.
Austin will meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, the official said, with the former’s “victory plan” among the planned topics of conversation.
Ukraine, the senior U.S. official said, is in a stronger position now than one year ago, although battlefield conditions are difficult.
Kyiv’s forces are being slowly pushed back in the east of the country, while Russian counter-offensives are chipping away at Ukraine’s pocket of seized territory in the western Russian Kursk region.
Meanwhile, Russian drone and missile attacks continue across the country. The strikes have been particularly punishing for the country’s battered energy grid in the lead up to winter.
Manpower also remains a constant strain, and conversations continue in Ukraine about lowering the minimum conscription age from 25 to 18 to bolster available troop numbers.
Conscription is a politically sensitive topic, and April’s decision to drop the minimum age from 27 to 25 followed almost a year of debate.
Ukraine, the defense official said, should be able to take advantage of strategic opportunities as they arise. The challenge is in how to best its synchronize forces and prioritize its goals, they added.
Austin arrived shortly after Zelensky said Ukraine had “clear data” showing that North Korea is supplying Russia with military personnel.
“A new threat has emerged — the malign alliance between Russia and North Korea,” Zelensky said in a video statement posted to social media on Sunday evening.
“These are not just workers for production, but also military personnel,” the president said. “We expect a proper and fair response from our partners on this matter.”
“If the world remains silent now, and if we face North Korean soldiers on the front lines as regularly as we are defending against drones, it will benefit no one in this world and will only prolong this war,” Zelensky said.
Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov — the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence — said there are now “nearly 11,000 North Korean infantry troops training in eastern Russia to fight in Ukraine.”
Budanov said the troops will be ready to join battle by Nov. 1, the first group of around 2,600 soldiers earmarked for the fighting in Kursk.
South Korea’s spy agency warned last week that 1,500 North Korean soldiers were already inside Russia, in what it described as a “grave security threat.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed foreign concerns about deepening bilateral ties. “There is a lot of contradictory information, and that is probably how it should be treated,” he said, describing North Korea as a close neighbor and partner.
“This should not cause anyone any concern, because this cooperation is not directed against third countries,” Peskov added.
ABC News’ Britt Clennent, Lauren Minore, Yulia Drozd and Guy Davies contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the latest round of cease-fire discussions appears to have reached an impasse.
Meanwhile, after six hostages were found dead in Gaza, protests erupted in Israel. Protesters have lashed out at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanded the government bring the hostages home.
Here’s how the news is developing:
UNRWA says employee killed by the IDF in the West Bank
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said an employee was killed by the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank, marking the first time a member of its staff has been killed there in 10 years.
“Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad was shot and killed on the roof of his home by a sniper during an overnight Israeli military operation in the early morning of 12 September. Sufyan worked as a sanitation labourer in El Far’a Camp and is survived by his wife and five children,” UNRWA said in a statement Friday.
“Civilian infrastructure, including water and electricity networks, have been destroyed, with precarious access for communities to basic supplies. UNRWA has been forced to suspend services to refugees because of the unacceptable risk to staff and beneficiaries during these operations,” the UNRWA said.
First round of polio vaccination campaign completed in Gaza
The first round of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza was completed Thursday.
Hundreds of thousands of children received dosages, successfully reaching 90% vaccination coverage, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
“Our next challenge will be providing the second dose, needed in the coming weeks,” the UNRWA said.
IDF has not found any operational smuggling tunnels in Rafah
In the nearly four months the Israel Defense Forces have been in Rafah, it has not found any operational smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, multiple Israeli sources told ABC News..
The IDF found nine tunnels that ran under the Philadelphi corridor, all of which were blocked at some point on the Egyptian side, sources said. The IDF has located a total of 200 tunnels in the Rafah area.
For months, the military has been pushing back against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claims that Israel needs to maintain a military presence on the Philadelphi corridor because that’s where Hamas smuggles weapons into Israel via the tunnels.
This pushback has become increasingly vocal, and is echoed by the very top of the military and defense chain of command. They are quietly demanding a cease-fire deal and are calling Netanyahu’s bluff.
IDF sources said they now believe most of the smuggling was happening above ground through the Egypt-Gaza border crossing.
-ABC News’ Matt Gutman
WHO leads largest medical evacuation from Gaza since October 2023
The World Health Organization said it had evacuated at least 97 patients and 155 companions from Gaza on Wednesday, taking them to the United Arab Emirates for medical treatment.
This was the largest medical evacuation from Gaza since October 2023, according to Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory.
Patients were transported in ambulances via the Kerem Shalom crossing from Gaza to Ramon Airport in Israel for travel to Abu Dhabi.
Patients included 45 children and 52 adults with a wide range of diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, congenital anomalies, blood and liver diseases, trauma and injuries.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Experts believe 2,000-pound bombs were used in deadly Israeli strike in Al Mawasi, Gaza
It is possible 2,000-pound bombs were used in deadly Israeli strike in the humanitarian area of Al Mawasi in Gaza on Sept. 10, two experts told ABC News.
At least 19 people were killed and 60 others were injured in the attack, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Videos and photo captured from the site of the deadly strike show two large craters with fabric and debris buried in the sand. A photo captured by Quds News Network shows what appears to be a conical-shaped missile fragment.
The remnant of a missile recovered from the site and large craters suggest the most likely munition used to conduct the attack was “a 2,000-pound-class air-delivered bomb fitted with an Israeli-made SPICE 2000 guidance kit,” N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of the consultancy Armament Research Services, told ABC News.
Satellite imagery captured the day before the attack show a cluster of a dozen tents at the location of the strike in the densely populated Al Mawasi area. Imagery captured after the attack shows the temporary structures are nowhere to be seen, replaced instead by two large craters, one measuring almost 46 feet in length.
The craters are consistent with “multiple MK-84s which are 2,000 pounds” and “the fragment recovered appears to be from a Spice-2,000 bomb guidance kit tail section,” Trevor Ball, a former US Army EOD specialist, told ABC News after reviewing the photos and satellite imagery.
The United Nations’ Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said the kill radius of a 2,000-pound bomb is almost 110 feet.
-ABC News’ Chris Looft
Netanyahu says Hamas is hiding its opposition to cease-fire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday accused Hamas of blocking a cease-fire and hostage-release deal.
“Hamas is trying to hide the fact that it continues to oppose the hostage release deal and prevents it from materializing,” Netanyahu said in a statement posted to X.
Netanyahu said Israel accepted the offer put forward by the U.S. on Aug. 16, but that “Hamas rejected it and murdered six hostages in cold blood.”
“The world must demand that Hamas release the hostages immediately,” the prime minister said, referring to the 101 hostages still held in Gaza, around half of whom are believed to be alive.
Hamas has repeatedly blamed Netanyahu for the gridlock, alleging the prime minister is intentionally sabotaging talks to retain political power in Israel.
Egyptian and Qatari officials met with a top Hamas official in Doha on Wednesday in a bid to restart cease-fire negotiations, which fell apart after the last round of talks in August.
Hamas released a statement on Wednesday evening reiterating they want to revert to the deal proposed on July 2.
Israel’s Gaza school strikes ‘totally unacceptable’: UN chief
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres accused Israel of “dramatic violations of international humanitarian law” over its continued airstrikes on schools-turned-shelters in the Gaza Strip.
Six United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA) were among at least 17 people killed in a Wednesday strike on the Al-Jaouni School in Nuseirat in central Gaza, the agency confirmed. It is the fifth time that the school has been targeted since Oct. 7.
Guterres wrote on X: “What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable. A school turned shelter for around 12,000 people was hit by Israeli airstrikes again today.”
The attacks “need to stop now,” he added.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X: “Endless & senseless killing, day after day.”
“Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” he added, noting that at least 220 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza.
“The longer impunity prevails, the more international humanitarian law & the Geneva conventions will become irrelevant,” he wrote, adding it was time for both a cease-fire and “accountability.”
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday that the strike targeted “a Hamas command and control center in the area.”
Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories body hit back at Lazzarini’s social media complaint, alleging in its own post that Gaza schools “have been Hamas weapons storage facilities, tunnel access points, and bases of operation for over a decade.”
“Maybe if you hadn’t turned a blind eye to Hamas’s use of UNRWA schools, the current situation would be entirely different,” the organization wrote.
Slain American-Turkish activist’s family responds to Biden
Aysenur Eygi’s family responded to President Joe Biden’s statement released earlier Wednesday where he called her death “totally unacceptable.”
The family said that Biden has not called them.
“Let us be clear, an American citizen was killed by a foreign military in a targeted attack. The appropriate action is for President Biden and Vice President [Kamala] Harris to speak with the family directly, and order an independent, transparent investigation into the killing of Ayşenur, a volunteer for peace,” the family said in a statement.
17 dead in IDF strike on school in Gaza
Search and rescue operations are ongoing after an Israel Defense Forces strike on a school in Gaza killed at least 17 people and wounded over 18 others, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
This is the fifth time the IDF has bombed this school. It was previously struck by the IDF on July 6.
Six of the people killed in the strike worked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, according to the agency. Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people.
About 12,000 displaced people live in the school, mainly women an children, according to the UNRWA.
The IDF, confirming the strike, claimed that the school had been used by Hamas terrorists to plan and execute attacks against Israel.
Israeli helicopter crashes in Gaza killing 2
An Israeli air force helicopter crashed in the Rafah area of the Gaza Strip, killing two soldiers overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The helicopter was “on a mission to evacuate an injured solider to a hospital for medical treatment,” the IDF said. An initial inquiry “indicates the crash was not caused by enemy fire,” but the cause of the crash is still “under investigation,” the IDF said.
Seven additional soldiers were injured “to varying degrees” and were evacuated to a hospital for treatment, the IDF said.
The families of the killed and injured soldiers have been notified, the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Egyptian, Qatari officials meet with top Hamas official in Doha
Egyptian and Qatari officials met with a top Hamas official in Doha on Wednesday, hoping to potentially restart cease-fire negotiations after they fell apart again.
Hamas is repeating its demand that the deal proposed in early July be put back on the table, according to a statement confirming the meeting. Hamas also reiterated its demand for a total withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
17 dead in IDF strike on school in Gaza
Search and rescue operations are ongoing after an Israel Defense Forces strike on a school in Gaza killed at least 17 people and wounded over 18 others, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
This is the fifth time the IDF has bombed this school. It was previously struck by the IDF on July 6.
The IDF, confirming the strike, claimed that the school had been used by Hamas terrorists to plan and execute attacks against Israel.
Over 80% of targeted Gazan children receive polio vaccines
As of Tuesday evening, 82.5% of children in the Gaza Strip under the age of 10 have received their first dose of the polio vaccine as part of the ongoing emergency polio vaccination campaign.
The third round of vaccinations continues “despite the ongoing occupation aggression on the Strip, despite the great danger to their movement and travel between vaccination centers, and this is the case of our people in the Strip who are keen to vaccinate children against the disease,” the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement Wednesday.
13 dead in IDF strike on school in Gaza
Search and rescue operations are ongoing after an Israel Defense Forces strike on a school in Gaza killed at least 13 people and wounded over 18 others, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
This is the fifth time the IDF has bombed this school. It was previously struck by the IDF on July 6.
The IDF, confirming the strike, claimed that the school had been used by Hamas terrorists to plan and execute attacks against Israel.
Biden ‘outraged’ by Israel’s killing of American activist
President Joe Biden said he is “outraged and deeply saddened” by the killing of American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank by Israeli forces.
“The shooting that led to her death is totally unacceptable,” the president said in a statement published Wednesday morning.
The Israel Defense Forces published its initial report into the killing on Tuesday, finding it “highly likely” that the dual American-Turkish activist “was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her.”
Biden said the U.S. government has “full access” to the preliminary investigation “and expects continued access as the investigation continues, so that we can have confidence in the result.”
“There must be full accountability,” the president said. “And Israel must do more to ensure that incidents like this never happen again.”
Eygi, 26, was with the International Solidarity Movement in the West Bank, working to protect local Palestinian farmers from attacks by Israeli settlers.
Biden said Wednesday that the violence in the West Bank “has been going on for too long.”
“Violent extremist Israeli settlers are uprooting Palestinians from their homes,” he continued. “Palestinian terrorists are sending car bombs to kill civilians.”
“I will continue to support policies that hold all extremists — Israelis and Palestinians alike — accountable for stoking violence and serving as obstacles to peace,” he said.
Two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza helicopter crash
Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven injured were injured in a helicopter crash in southern Gaza on Tuesday night, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The helicopter “was on a mission to evacuate an injured soldier to a hospital for medical treatment,” but “crashed while landing in the Rafah area” in the south of the territory, the IDF wrote on X.
“An initial inquiry conducted indicates that the crash was not caused by enemy fire,” the force said. “The cause of the crash is still under investigation.”
Seven other troops were “injured to varying degrees, the IDF said. They have been hospitalized for treatment.
Israeli Air Force commander, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, appointed an investigative committee to probe the incident, the IDF added.
Israel hits dozens of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
Israeli warplanes “struck approximately 30 Hezbollah launchers and terror infrastructure sites which posed a threat to Israeli civilians” in southern Lebanon overnight, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Wednesday.
The strikes occurred in the areas of Jibbain, Naqoura, Deir Seryan and Zibqin, the IDF said. Israeli artillery also hit the area of Al-Dahira.
Suspect killed after West Bank ‘ramming attack,’ IDF says
One person was critically injured in an alleged ramming attack near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank on Wednesday.
The Israel Defense Forces said that the “terrorist” attacker “was neutralized at the scene.” The incident occurred at the Givat Asaf junction, close to the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
Magen David Adom — Israel’s emergency service — said its responders were “treating a male about 20 years old in critical condition.”
The MDA said on social media that the victim was hit by a “fuel tanker.”
Death toll in Gaza surpasses 41,000: Gaza Ministry of Health
The death toll in Gaza has passed 41,000 as of Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
The ministry reported that 41,020 people have died and 94,925 have been injured since Israel launched its war against Hamas in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023, following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.
That figure does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
IDF releases video of tunnel where 6 hostages were held
The Israel Defense Forces has released footage of the blood-stained tunnel where six hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, were held captive and murdered last month.
The “passageway” tunnel spanned 120 meters and was 20 meters deep, the IDF said.
The IDF estimates the hostages were in the tunnel for “weeks.”
The Israeli military believes the six hostages were shot and killed on Aug. 29. The IDF said its soldiers found one of the tunnel’s shafts on Aug. 30, and the hostages’ bodies were discovered on Aug. 31.
The IDF said the hostages were killed with bullets from two guns.
The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters said in a statement that the “shocking” video “proves the unimaginable, inhuman conditions in which the 6 hostages Alex, Hersh, Eden, Ori, Carmel and Almog were held for months.”
“Carmel, Hersh, Alex, Almog, Ori, and Eden suffered until their last breath. They begged to be released, pleaded for their lives,” the group said. “Time is running out! That light, that hope, cannot die. A deal must be signed NOW!”
Blinken condemns ‘unprovoked’ Israeli killing of American activist
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that the IDF’s initial report into the killing of U.S. citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi suggests “her killing was both unprovoked and unjustified.”
“No one should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just for freely expressing their views,” Blinken said, using some of the strongest terms to condemn the killing by any American official yet.
“In our judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement,” Blinken continued, adding that the U.S. was well aware of longstanding allegations concerning Israeli authorities’ use of excessive force against Palestinians in the West Bank.
“Now we have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. It’s not acceptable. It has to change, and we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government,” Blinken said.
“Now we’re looking carefully at the results of this investigation, but even on an initial read and even accepting it at face value, it’s clear that there are serious issues that need to be dealt with, and we will insist that they be dealt with,” he added.
‘Highly likely’ Israeli troops killed American activist: IDF
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published the results of its initial inquiry into last week’s killing of American Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank.
“The inquiry found that it is highly likely that she was hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire which was not aimed at her, but aimed at the key instigator of the riot,” the IDF press release stated, referring to a period of reported unrest at the Beita Junction.
“Israel has sent a request to carry out an autopsy,” it added. “The IDF expresses its deepest regret over the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.”
Eygi, 26, was a dual Turkish-American citizen and activist working for the International Solidarity Movement in the West Bank, working to protect local Palestinian farmers from attacks by Israeli settlers.
South Gaza polio vaccine drive reaches 446,000 children: WHO
The polio vaccination campaign in southern Gaza concluded on Monday with more than 446,000 children vaccinated since the drive began on Sept. 1, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“Five health facilities will continue offering polio vaccination to make sure no child is missed,” Ghebreyesus wrote on X. “We are grateful to the families for their cooperation, and to all vaccinators and health workers for their dedication.”
The polio vaccination campaign is continuing elsewhere in Gaza, and Ghebreyesus said continued humanitarian pauses are “key” in facilitating the program. Preparations to expand the drive into the north of the devastated territory “are ongoing,” he added.
“The children in Gaza deserve lasting peace, not just polio vaccines,” Ghebreyesus said.
US expects ‘transparent’ probe into killing of American in West Bank
The State Department is “urgently working to get more information” on the killing of American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank last week, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told journalists at a Monday briefing.
Eygi, 26, was an activist working for the International Solidarity Movement and was shot dead in the West Bank village of Beita on Friday. The dual American-Turkish citizen was allegedly killed by Israeli troops.
Patel told reporters that “our partners in Israel are looking into the circumstances of what happened, and we expect them to make their findings public, and expect that whatever those findings are, expect them to be thorough and transparent.”
IDF defends strike on Gaza’s Khan Younis humanitarian area
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said a Monday night strike on tents in a designated humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip targeted Hamas figures “directly involved” in the Oct. 7 attack.
The Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense reported at least 40 people killed and at least 60 injured in the bombing. Search and recovery efforts were underway at the scene on Tuesday.
The IDF said Tuesday that its strike targeted “senior Hamas terrorists” in a “command and control center embedded inside the humanitarian area in Khan Younis.”
Among those killed were Samer Ismail Khadr Abu Daqqa, the head of Hamas’ aerial unit in Gaza, the IDF said.
Osama Tabesh, the head of the observation and targets department in Hamas’ military intelligence headquarters, and Ayman Mabhouh, another “senior Hamas terrorist” were also hit, the force said.
“According to an initial review, the numbers published by the Hamas-run Government Information Office in Gaza, which has consistently broadcast lies and false information throughout the war, do not align with the information held by the IDF, the precise munitions used, and the accuracy of the strike,” the IDF statement added.
At least 40 killed in strike on humanitarian area: Gaza Civil Defense
At least 40 people were killed and at least 60 people have been wounded after an Israeli strike in a designated humanitarian area of Khan Yunis, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense.
The strike hit “a gathering of displaced persons’ tents consisting of at least 20 inhabited tents,” a Gaza Civil Defense spokesperson said early Tuesday morning local time.
The Israeli Air Force “struck significant Hamas terrorists who were operating with a command and control center embedded inside the Humanitarian Area in Khan Yunis,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
Hamas changed ‘some of the terms’ of the hostage exchange: White House
The White House is remaining hopeful that talks for a cease-fire in Gaza and release of the remaining hostages can be salvaged after Hamas proposed new amendments to the deal following the killing of six hostages.
“Hamas did change some of the terms of the exchange. And that has made it more difficult for us to get there,” National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said at Monday’s press briefing.
“We still believe that, even for the new amendments that Hamas has made, that it’s still worth an effort to try to see if we can’t get back into a cease-fire negotiation,” he added. “But we’re not there right now.”
Kirby would not say if President Joe Biden will be increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a deal and potentially hold the transfer of weapons to Israel in order to secure a deal, similar to the recent decision by the United Kingdom.
“I can’t think of anything we haven’t put more pressure on ourselves than to try to get this deal,” Kirby said. “We know how urgent this is. And we’re working night and day to try to see if we can get a deal in place. Hamas is the main obstacle to this right now.”
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Aerial attack targets northern Israel, officials say
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported “a hostile aircraft infiltration” in the north of the country on Monday morning.
“Two suspicious aerial targets were identified crossing from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” The IDF said in a statement. “An aerial target fell in the area of Nahariya. No injuries were reported.”
The Magen David Adom (MDA) — Israel’s emergency services — said in a social media post that its personnel “located the site of the impact, as of now no casualties have been found.”
Israeli media reported that a drone detonated after crashing into an apartment block.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir and David Brennan
Hundreds gather in Central Park for hostage vigil
The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters organized twin protests in Tel Aviv and New York on Sunday, as pro-cease-fire activists look to build pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and American politicians.
Hundreds of people rallied in Central Park “to mourn six Israeli and American hostages murdered after 11 months in captivity,” the Forum said in a press release.
Among the speakers were Gilad and Nitza Korngold — the parents of hostage Tal Shoham who was abducted into Gaza on Oct. 7.
“The Red Cross has refused to help our loved ones while shamelessly requesting better conditions for the terrorists in Israel’s imprisonment,” they said, per the Forum’s press release. “We ask everyone here to call your representatives and demand the release of our loved ones from captivity.”
Moran Stela Yanai — released in November 2023 after 54 days as a hostage in Gaza — also spoke, telling attendees: “My brothers and sisters in captivity are hungry and in pain and in constant danger.”
“We must find the strength to keep fighting for them and bring them home,” she added, as quoted in the Forum’s press release.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and David Brennan
Jordanian border crossings partly reopened after shooting
Israeli and Jordanian authorities confirmed the partial reopening of border crossings on Monday following their closure due to the killing of three police officers at the Allenby Bridge.
An Israel Airport Authority spokesperson said the crossings at Yitzhak Rabin near Eilat, at the Jordan River near Beit Shean and at the Allenby Bridge would open for passenger traffic.
The media spokesman for the Jordanian Public Security Directorate said that King Hussein Bridge leading to the Allenby entry point would remain closed to freight traffic.
Meanwhile, Jordan’s Interior Ministry said that its preliminary investigations into Sunday’s shooting at the Allenby Bridge crossing confirmed that the alleged gunman was a Jordanian citizen named Maher Dhiyab Hussein Al-Jazi.
The alleged shooter — whom Israeli security forces said they shot and killed — was a resident of the Al-Husseiniyah area in Ma’an Governorate, and was crossing the bridge as a driver of a freight vehicle carrying commercial goods.
Al-Jazi acted alone, the ministry said, noting its investigation is ongoing. Authorities are attempting to organize the return of his body so he can be buried in Jordan.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Ghazi Balkiz and David Brennan
Airstrikes hit Syrian scientific research center, state media says
Strikes targeted a Syrian scientific research area in the city of Masyaf in the Hama countryside on Sunday night, Syrian state media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said.
“Ambulance vehicles rushed towards the center of the area” amid reports of casualties, the SOHR — a U.K.-based war monitor — said on its website.
Both Syrian state media and the SOHR attributed the strikes to Israel. The SOHR said Syrian anti-aircraft weapons intercepted some Israeli missiles.
There was no immediate confirmation on the number of casualties. At least 14 people were killed and 43 others were wounded, Syrian state news agency SANA reported. ABC News was not able to immediately confirm the reported casualties or whether they were military personnel.
ABC News asked the Israel Defense Forces for comment. Israel typically does not confirm or deny responsibility for strikes in Syria, where it has been engaged in a “shadow war” with Iran and its allies — including the Lebanese Hezbollah militia — for several years.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and David Brennan
Nearly 70% of children in Gaza vaccinated against polio, health ministry reports
The polio vaccination campaign continued today in south Gaza, Khan Younis and Rafah, after early issues in the region when vaccines could not be properly distributed to the eastern side of Gaza.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced Sunday that 441,647 children in Gaza have received the first dose of the polio vaccine, so far.
This accounts for about 69% of the targeted population, according to the ministry.
According to the World Health Organization, 95% of children need to be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease effectively.
On Monday, vaccinations will be offered in northern Gaza where daily, eight-hour pauses in fighting and airstrikes will be instituted so children can be taken to one of the roughly 33 locations across Gaza City and north Gaza where the vaccine will be administered, according to the ministry.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaulé
Israel closes Jordan border crossings after deadly shooting
Israel closed on Sunday the two land crossings between Jordan and Israel, as well as the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the occupied West Bank, the Israel Airports Authority — which oversees the crossings — told ABC News.
The closures followed a shooting on Sunday morning at Allenby that killed three police officers.
The gunman — who was shot dead by security forces — came from the Jordanian side, but it was not immediately clear if he was affiliated with any militant group. Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad issued congratulatory statements about the shooting.
Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying it was attributable to the “murderous ideology led by Iran’s ‘Axis of Evil’.”
Israel did not say how long the closures would last. The Allenby crossing is one of the key entries through which goods destined for Gaza pass.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Nasser Atta, Victoria Beaule and David Brennan
Hamas rocket commander ‘eliminated’ in Gaza: IDF
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported the killing of a Hamas rocket commander in an airstrike last week.
The IDF wrote on social media on Sunday that its Southern Command “eliminated” Raef Omar Salman Abu Shab — the commander of the rocket unit of the eastern Khan Younis Brigade — in an airstrike on Tuesday
The commander was “responsible for launching rocket barrages from the area of Khan Younis toward southern and central Israel since the start of the war,” the IDF said.
