Biden hosts Israel’s president at the White House amid peace push
Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(LONDON) — President Joe Biden hosted Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House on Tuesday as the outgoing administration seeks cease-fire progress in Gaza and Lebanon before President-elect Donald Trump takes power in January.
“I know that you’re working very hard to make sure that this war will end,” Herzog told Biden as they met in the Oval Office. “And that there will be first and foremost security for the people of Israel, as well for the people of Lebanon.”
“Clearly, you’re thinking and working about the day after as well, which perhaps should be a trajectory of hope to the people of the region and the ability to have our neighbors, as well as us, live in security and peace,” Herzog added. “But first and foremost, we have to get the hostages back.”
“I agree,” Biden said.
While in Washington, Herzog’s office said, the president will also meet with Rep. Elise Stefanik — whom Trump has chosen to serve as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime foreign policy adviser to Trump.
Biden hosted Herzog amid international concerns that Israel is still failing to facilitate adequate humanitarian aid flows into Gaza.
The Biden administration gave Israel a 30-day window to “surge” food and emergency aid into the devastated territory last month, warning that failure to address the issue may trigger U.S. laws requiring restrictions on military aid to Israel. The deadline for progress is Tuesday.
A letter signed by several international aid agencies and published Tuesday said Israel has failed to address the concerns. The “situation is in an even more dire state today than a month ago,” the groups wrote, per a report by The Associated Press.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar appeared to downplay the situation on Monday, telling reporters that “the issue would be solved.”
Herzog’s visit comes as the Trump transition operation picks up steam, and shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touted his recent close contact with the president-elect.
Netanyahu said this week he had spoken with Trump three times since the Nov. 5 election, describing the conversations as “very good and important talks designed to further enhance the steadfast bond between Israel and the U.S.”
Axios reported that Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer — long a close confidante of Netanyahu — also met with Trump on Sunday at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
Trump is expected to loom large over Biden’s last months of diplomacy in the Middle East, as his administration seeks an end to the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, plus the release of dozens of hostages — among them four Americans — taken by Palestinian militants during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack into southern Israel.
Trump’s first term saw close U.S.-Israel alignment. The incoming president is expected to cement American backing for Netanyahu’s government and revive his “maximum pressure” approach to Iran.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have framed Tehran as the “head of the octopus” funding and directing attacks against their nation.
Netanyahu said this week of his conversations with Trump, “We see eye to eye on the Iranian threat in all its aspects, and on the dangers they reflect.”
ABC News’ Bruno Nota and Dana Savir contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group.
The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the devastated Palestinian territory.
Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides.
Amnesty accuses Israel of ‘genocide’ in Gaza
Amnesty International released a new report Thursday accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip amid its ongoing war with Hamas.
Israel, Amnesty alleged, has sought to intentionally destroy Palestinians via direct attacks, the destruction of vital infrastructure and the prevention of food, medicine and other aid deliveries.
Israeli conduct, the report suggested, cannot be justified by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel, or the presence of Palestinian militants among civilians in Gaza.
“Our damning findings must serve as a wake-up call to the international community: this is genocide. It must stop now,” Agnes Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, said.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the report as “fabricated,” “entirely false and based on lies.” In a statement to X, the ministry said Amnesty was a “deplorable and fanatical organization.”
“The genocidal massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, was carried out by the Hamas terrorist organization against Israeli citizens,” the ministry wrote. “Since then, Israeli citizens have been subjected to daily attacks from seven different fronts.”
“Israel is defending itself against these attacks acting fully in accordance with international law,” it added.
The ministry also shared an image of a bloodied room which it said was a photo of a child’s bedroom immediately after Oct. 7. The image, the ministry said, “tells you everything you need to know about Amnesty’s report.”
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Zoe Magee
Body of Israeli hostage recovered in Gaza
Israeli forces have recovered the body of Israeli hostage Itay Svirsky from Gaza, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Svirsky was declared dead in January. His parents were also killed on Oct. 7.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
At least 20 killed in strike outside Khan Younis
At least 20 people were killed in a large strike in Al-Mawasi, west of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
A camp where displaced people were staying was hit in the attack, injuring many. A search and rescue operation is underway.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
IDF confirms another strike in southern Lebanon
After warning people this morning to stay away from southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said they had carried out a strike in Majdal Zoun on a rocket launcher they said violated the ceasefire.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Israeli defense minister signals some optimism about hostage deal
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the Tel Nof airbase Wednesday, where he signaled some optimism about the hostage deal.
“The pressure on the monstrous organization Hamas is increasing — there is a chance that this time we will really be able to advance a hostage deal,” Katz said.
“We will not stop the war until we return all the kidnapped men and women and until we achieve the goals,” he later added.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Massive evacuation ordered in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza
A massive evacuation is underway Wednesday in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, with a Palestinian Civil Defense official telling ABC News more than 10,000 people were forced to leave in the last 24 hours.
About 225,000 people lived in Beit Lahia before the war, and less than 40,000 remain there now, the official said.
The area is facing relentless bombing and an unknown number of people are believed to be dead or injured.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Israeli West Bank settlers riot, attack Palestinians and security forces
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday said security forces personnel faced “violent” scenes while evacuating an illegal Israeli settler outpost in the Palestinian West Bank town of Huwara, close to the city of Nablus.
Dozens of settlers rioted, setting fire to Palestinian buildings, vehicles and attacking Palestinian residents after Israeli security forces moved in to conduct the evacuation.
The IDF said several Israelis were arrested.
“The IDF views with great seriousness any violence against its servants and the security forces, who commit nights and days to the security of the citizens of the region,” its statement read. “These events must be condemned and the violators of the law brought to justice.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
UN chief says Gaza aid ‘outrageously’ blocked
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a post to X on Tuesday that much-needed humanitarian aid for Gaza is being “outrageously blocked.”
Guterres said aid agencies are facing “gigantic humanitarian needs” in Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces continue military operations — particularly in the north of the devastated territory.
UN officials have repeatedly demanded that Israel do more to facilitate aid flows into Gaza.
“The nightmare is not a crisis of logistics,” Guterres said. “It’s a crisis of political will and of respect for fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Israeli forces conduct strike in Syria
The Israel Defense Forces said it conducted a strike in Damascus on Tuesday, to target Salman Nemer Jamaa, Hezbollah’s representative to the Syrian military.
“The Syrian regime has actively supported Hezbollah, enabling weapon smuggling to Lebanon and by that endangering Syrian and Lebanese civilians. Jamaa was a key Hezbollah figure supporting these operations,” the IDF said in a statement.
This Israeli strike is separate from active ongoing fighting between Syrian rebel forces and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Diseases spreading in Gaza as winter bites
Doctors Without Borders on Tuesday reported a significant spread of respiratory diseases, pneumonia, skin diseases and diseases resulting from immunodeficiency among citizens in Gaza.
The organization’s medical director, Fadi Al-Madhoun, warned of acute respiratory infection among children in the Gaza Strip due to the winter weather and their presence in tents that do not protect against the winter cold.
Last month, MSF described conditions in Gaza as “appalling” and said its teams treated more than 10,000 children under the age of 5 for upper respiratory tract infections like tonsillitis and the common cold.
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Joe Simonetti
Airstrike targets car near Damascus airport
Syria’s SANA news agency reported an Israeli airstrike targeting a car on a main road close to Damascus airport on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties from the strike, or who the target was.
The Israel Defense Forces has not yet commented on the report.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta, Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
IDF claims killing of Oct. 7 militants
The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday that it killed seven militants it accused of participating in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, infiltration attack into southern Israel.
The IDF said in a statement that troops of the 99th Division’s 990th Brigade killed the fighters during operations in central Gaza over the past two weeks.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Trump’s Israel ambassador pick demands ‘severe’ response to hostage death
Mike Huckabee, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the next American ambassador to Israel, said the U.S. must “exact severe consequences” after the Israel Defense Forces announced the death of missing American-Israeli soldier Omer Neutra.
Neutra, 21, was killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel and his body was taken back into Gaza, the IDF said Monday. He was previously thought to have been abducted alive.
Huckabee wrote on X, “There must be serious consequences for holding any hostage but America needs to exact severe consequences for kidnapping and murdering AMERICAN hostages.”
Trump said on Truth Social on Monday that there would be “ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East” if remaining hostages are not released from Gaza by the time he takes office on Jan. 20.
There are believed to be three surviving Americans still being held hostage in Gaza.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
9 killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, health ministry says
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said that Israeli airstrikes in the south of the country killed nine people on Monday, as last week’s fragile ceasefire continues despite renewed cross-border fire.
The ministry said in posts to X that an Israeli attack on the town of Haris killed five people and injured two. A strike on the town of Talousa killed four and injured one, the ministry said.
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday it was striking targets in southern Lebanon and accused Hezbollah of “severe violation of the ceasefire.”
IDF says it’s hitting targets in Lebanon
The IDF said it is striking targets in southern Lebanon on Monday after Hezbollah officials said earlier they fired on an Israeli target.
“We will respond decisively to Hezbollah’s severe violation of the ceasefire —and will continue to do so. We have plans and targets ready to be carried out and at any given moment,” the Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, said Monday.
Hezbollah says it fired on Israeli target in southern Lebanon
Hezbollah officials said Monday they fired on an Israeli target in southern Lebanon, accusing Israel of “repeated violations” of the ceasefire agreement.
The Israel Defense Forces said Hezbollah launched two projectiles toward the area of Har Dov. There were no injuries, with the projectiles falling in open space, the IDF said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened a forceful response, calling it a “serious violation of the ceasefire.”
“We are determined to continue enforcing the ceasefire, and to respond to any violation by Hezbollah — minor or serious,” Netanyahu said.
Family of dead Israeli-American soldier release statement
The family of Omer Maxim Neutra, the Israeli-American soldier who had been believed to be in Hamas captivity, released a statement Monday after it was confirmed he was killed Oct. 7.
“Our hearts are shattered with this devastating news,” the family said. “The Neutra family is deeply grieving and are requesting the public, who has shown great support throughout this journey, to please respect their privacy until they are formally ready to announce the next steps.”
“May Omer’s memory be a blessing,” they added.
Netanyahu vows to recover body of US-Israeli soldier from Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, said in a joint statement Monday they “will not rest or be silent” until the body of killed U.S.-Israeli soldier Omer Neutra is recovered from the Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed Monday that Neutra, 21, was killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel and his body taken back into Gaza. Neutra — who was originally from New York — was previously thought to have been taken hostage. He was serving as a tank platoon commander at the time of the attack.
Neutra “fought fiercely at the head of his soldiers to defend the settlements surrounding Gaza, until he fell.” Netanyahu’s statement said. “We share in the family’s heavy grief,” it added.
“We will continue to act resolutely and tirelessly until we return all of our captives — the living and the dead,” the statement said.
There are still three American citizens thought to be alive as hostages inside Gaza.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
Israeli drone strike injures Lebanon soldier, army says
The Lebanese Armed Forces said on Monday that an Israeli drone “targeted an army bulldozer while it was carrying out fortification work” at a military center in the northeastern Hermel region close to the border with Syria.
The attack “resulted in one soldier being moderately injured,” the army wrote in a post to X.
The Israel Defense Forces has not yet commented on the alleged strike.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
IDF confirms death of US-Israeli hostage
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday confirmed that missing U.S.-Israeli soldier Omer Maxim Neutra, 21, was among those killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel.
Neutra was believed taken into Gaza as a hostage by militants during the attack. But the IDF said Monday he was killed during the Oct. 7 assault and his body was taken by militants.
Neutra — originally from New York — was serving as a tank platoon commander in the 77th Battalion of the 7th Brigade at the time of the Hamas attack. He was among hundreds of security forces personnel killed during the assault.
Neutra’s parents have been campaigning for a hostage release deal in the U.S., their activity including public appearances at the White House and the Capitol.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF reports ‘several operations’ against Hezbollah in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday it launched “several operations” targeting Hezbollah fighters that it claimed posed a direct threat to Israel “in violation of the ceasefire agreement.”
Among the operations was an attack on armed militants operating close to a church in southern Lebanon, the IDF said.
Those killed “were active in the ground defense, anti-tank and artillery formations in the sector, and took part in the fighting while using the church,” it wrote in a post to X.
The 60-day ceasefire that went into effect last week is holding despite continued sporadic fighting and Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon.
The deal stipulates that IDF troops will withdraw from their positions in Lebanon during the 60-day window and that Hezbollah forces will withdraw from the region south of the Litani River.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Hostage Edan Alexander’s father makes an appeal to Biden, Trump and Netanyahu
The father of American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander issued an emotional request on Sunday to President Biden, President-elect Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, telling the leaders to act now to bring the hostages home “before it’s too late.”
A day after seeing his son for the first time in a year in a propaganda video released by Hamas’ military wing, Adi Alexander of New Jersey spoke at a rally in New York City’s Central Park, saying, “No father should hear his child plead for his life like that.”
“President Biden, President Trump, Prime Minster Netanyahu, I call on all of you to act,” Alexander said. “This is not a moment for politics or hesitation. This is a moment of courage, collaboration and decisive action.”
He appealed to Biden to use the United States’ influence “to negotiate a deal before it’s too late.”
Directing his words to Trump, he said, “You do not have to wait until January to make an impact. The world is watching. Act now.”
To Netanyahu, Alexander said, “The fate of the hostages, including my son, rests in your hands. You have the power to bring them home. Don’t let this opportunity slip away.”
Edan Alexander, 20, was serving in the Israeli military and stationed near Gaza when he was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023.
The White House issued a statement, saying, it has been in touch with the Alexander family and called the hostage video a “cruel reminder of Hamas’s terror against citizens of multiple countries, including our own.”
“The war in Gaza would stop tomorrow and the suffering of Gazans would end immediately– and would have ended months ago– if Hamas agreed to release the hostages,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement. “It has refused to do so, but as the President said last week, we have a critical opportunity to conclude the deal to release the hostages, stop the war, and surge humanitarian assistance into Gaza. This deal is on the table now.”
Netanyahu to hold meeting to discuss hostages, Lebanon, Syria tonight: Official
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security meeting Sunday night to discuss the issue of the hostages, as well as Lebanon and Syria, an Israeli official told ABC News.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
UN pauses aid deliveries to Gaza amid safety concerns
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini on Sunday announced a pause to Gaza aid deliveries via the strip’s main crossing point, citing serious threats to the safety of staff.
The road out of the Kerem Shalom crossing “has not been safe for months,” Lazzarini said in a post to X.
“This difficult decision comes at a time hunger is rapidly deepening,” Lazzarini said. “The delivery of humanitarian aid must never be dangerous or turn into an ordeal.”
The UNRWA chief said a “large convoy of aid trucks was stolen by armed gangs” on Nov. 16, with several more aid trucks taken on Saturday.
Lazzarini also said that Israel’s “ongoing siege” of Gaza, “hurdles” put in place by Israeli authorities and “political decisions to restrict the amounts of aid” were among the other problems facing U.N. staff.
“The humanitarian operation has become unnecessarily impossible,” he wrote. “The responsibility of protection of aid workers [and] supplies is with the state of Israel as the occupying power.”
(SEOUL and LONDON) — The two survivors of South Korea’s deadliest plane crash in decades were recovering at separate hospitals in Seoul on Monday, as investigators began far-reaching probes into both the fatal crash and the country’s broader aviation operations.
The only survivors, a man and a woman, were among the six crew members onboard the Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 when it skidded along a runway, crashed into a wall and burst into flames on Sunday morning, officials said. A total of 181 people were onboard.
The man who survived, who was receiving treatment for fractures in an intensive care unit, was alert and speaking with medical staff, Ju Woong, director of the Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, said at a press conference on Monday.
The man, a flight attendant identified only by his surname, Lee, had “already been rescued” when he woke up, the hospital official said. “(Lee’s) fully able to communicate,” Woong added. “There’s no indication yet of memory loss or such.”
The woman, 25-year-old flight attendant named Koo, was also recovering, though not in intensive care, hospital staff and officials with the Korean Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport said. Neither survivor had life-threatening injuries, the ministry said, adding that both had awoken in the hospital without a clear recollection of what had happened after they heard a blast during the landing.
Authorities were working on Monday to confirm the identities of more than three dozen of the 179 people who were killed when the plane crash-landed. The bodies of 141 people had been identified through their fingerprints or DNA, but 38 of the dead remained unidentified, local officials said.
Officials had recovered the flight’s data recorders from the wreckage and were releasing information. The acting president, Choi Sang-mok, who has been leading the country since Friday, ordered an emergency safety inspection of South Korea’s entire air fleet and operations.
The transport ministry said it will conduct a full inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft in use in South Korea. Six low-cost airlines operate a total of 101 of that model aircraft, including the 39 operated by Jeju Air. But the airline said it would not suspend operations of those planes.
“There are no plans to suspend operations, but they will examine those parts once more and check them thoroughly during the inspection process,” said Song Kyung-hoon, head of Jeju Air’s Management Support Division.
Flight 7C2216 had taken off from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand before dawn on Monday, according to Flightradar24, a flight tracker.
As the aircraft approached South Korea’s Muan International Airport at 8:54 a.m., the control tower gave it permission to land on a south-to-north runway, according to an official timeline by the transport ministry.
Three minutes later, the flight control tower issued a warning of a possible bird strike, the transport ministry said. About two minutes after that warning, a pilot sent a distress signal, saying, “Mayday, mayday, mayday, bird strike, bird strike, going around,” the ministry said.
The plane ascended and made a 180-degree before descending from the north side, crash-landing and crashing into the wall at 9:03 a.m., the ministry said.
The official death toll, provided by the National Fire Agency, climbed steadily in the hours after the crash. By nightfall on Sunday, local officials said all but two of the 181 people onboard had died in the crash.
The aircraft’s voice and data recorders, or “black boxes,” were recovered from the wreckage, the Air and Railway Investigation Committee said. The flight data recorder was found partially damaged and the cockpit voice recorder was collected intact, officials said.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday it would send an investigative team — which was to include members from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration — to assist South Korean officials. The results of that investigation will be released by the Republic of Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board, or ARAIB.
Efforts were being made to speed up the identifications of the remaining 38 people who died, but some bodies were too damaged for their fingerprints to be used.
Others were the bodies of minors, whose prints were not on file to compare, authorities said. According to the flight manifest, the youngest passenger on board was 3 years old. The manifest recorded five children under 10 years old on the flight.
Jeju Air, which operates an all-Boeing fleet, is a popular low-cost carrier in South Korea. The airline operated about 217 flights a day and carried more than 12 million people during 2023.
More than 68,000 Jeju Air tickets have been canceled since the crash, according to Jeju Air. All will be fully refunded, the airline said.
ABC News’ Sam Sweeney, Hakyung Kate Lee, Jack Moore, Will Gretsky, Victoria Beaule and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — On the streets of Alfafar on Wednesday, cars and caravans were strewn like toys in the muddy aftermath of the floodwater that had rushed through the Spanish town.
Emergency crews descended on Wednesday on that town and others surrounding Valencia, wading through washed-out neighborhoods, searching homes and looking for missing people following devastating flooding, according to emergency officials.
More than 1,000 troops had been deployed to the province to help with the emergency response, the Military Emergencies Unit, a branch of the Spanish military, said on social media on Wednesday.
The flash floods were caused by heavy rain, which by Wednesday morning had begun “easing off,” according to the country’s meteorological agency
“[B]ut there is still an orange warning in inland Castellón until 2:00 p.m.,” the agency said. “Caution in the northeast of the peninsula and western Andalusia: very heavy showers are possible. Stay informed!”
For some, the flood water arrived quickly and almost without warning.
Kewin Jacek Ryfa Stelmach told ABC News he was out to dinner with his wife on Tuesday in Alfafar when they noticed the water beginning to rise. He said he got up to move his car to a spot near the entrance of the restaurant.
“I saw the water was already entering the restaurant, so my wife and I ran to the car,” he said. “We started to drive not knowing which direction to take.”
As they drove, they became boxed in by other vehicles that had been stopped by the flooding, he said.
“For a moment I thought I was going to get trapped, since there were many cars and no one was moving,” he said. “We managed to cross a tunnel that was still dry. I managed to save myself and save the car. I saw a lot of people who couldn’t move forwards in their cars, others were broken down, and others abandoned them.”
In that town’s shopping district, some people had been trapped in an IKEA store as the surrounding area flooded, according to videos verified by ABC News.
And Ryfa Stelmach’s bother, Oskar, told ABC News his car became trapped in rising waters in the town, forcing him to flee with his partner on foot.
“The water reached our waists,” Oskar said. “We took a lady having an anxiety attack out of her car and headed to Sedavi Bridge.”
They waited until the floodwaters receded at 5 a.m. before walking towards Valencia, he said.
The regional emergency services of Valencia estimated that 62 people were dead in the wake of the flooding that took over the southeast of Spain after Tuesday’s storms.
ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
