Biden team wants to finish strong on Ukraine, Gaza
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(WASHINGTON) — National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that President Joe Biden is looking to make as much progress as possible on foreign policy before he leaves office next month.
In an interview with “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Sullivan said that Biden is hoping to surge aid to Ukraine and move forward with ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas with his time left in office. Both conflicts have dogged the administration, with Ukraine struggling to retake territory it lost to Russia and little progress in Gaza despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“We are going to do everything in our power for these 50 days to get Ukraine all the tools we possibly can to strengthen their position on the battlefield so that they’ll be stronger at the negotiating table. And President Biden directed me to oversee a massive surge in the military equipment that we are delivering to Ukraine so that we have spent every dollar that Congress has appropriated to us by the time that President Biden leaves office,” Sullivan said.
When pressed on clinching a deal in Gaza and possibly broader diplomatic breakthroughs between Israel and Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Sullivan said, “The first step is getting the ceasefire and hostage deal. If we can get that into effect, then the possibilities for a broader diplomatic initiative in the region along the lines that you just described really open up, and we will use every day we have in office to try to generate as much progress towards that end as possible.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(GAZA) — Palestinians in Gaza and abroad are rejecting a proposal by President Donald Trump that the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and lead the redevelopment of the war-ravaged territory.
Palestinians interviewed by ABC News said they yearn to rebuild Gaza for themselves, the only place they say they have or will ever call home.
“This is not going to be accepted by any Palestinian, we will reject this totally,” said Abu Anton Al-Zabadi. “And if Trump is interested in the wellbeing of the Israeli people, America is a great country, it’s powerful and has lots of land — and if he wants to take in the Israelis to the U.S., he can do so. But this is our land, this is our homeland and this will never be accepted by any Palestinian. We are staying here.”
Tens of thousands of homes and cultural centers have been destroyed — including schools, churches, mosques and stadiums — and entire neighborhoods have been turned to rubble amid the monthslong Israeli retaliation following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed with thousands more wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
In a news conference Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said he hoped to “level the site” and rebuild it, after earlier saying Palestinians living there should leave and go to other areas or countries.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too,” Trump said. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out.”
Some human rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide and ethnic cleansing in carrying out its war with Hamas. Some of the Palestinians ABC News spoke to fear Trump’s comments about relocating Gazans are an extension of an effort to permanently displace them.
Many have lived or have been connected to Gaza for generations, recalling memories of swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, lounging on the beach with their families and visiting some of the world’s oldest historical sites found in Gaza before the war and bloodshed. It’s where they grew up, went to school and raised their families.
Some Palestinians had refused to leave Gaza despite the Israel-Hamas war and said they don’t plan on following Trump’s whims about casting them aside now, either.
“This is a very difficult decision for the people of Gaza, since they have lived through nearly 15 months of terror, killing, displacement and migration,” said Fouad Hatem Al Kurdi, a Jabalia Camp Resident. “Despite that, they stayed in their land and did not leave. After 15 months of suffering, no one will leave here … I live here, I know my work, I know how to build it, I know everything here.”
“It is impossible for anyone to leave their country and sell their country, despite the steadfastness and pain we have experienced,” said Muhammad Zarouk, a resident of Al-Shati Camp. “I will not leave, it is impossible. I will sacrifice my blood in order to stay here in my land.”
“Either I die in Gaza or I live in Gaza,” Amer Al-Sawafiri, another Palestinian in Gaza told ABC News. “Those who were displaced suffered a lot … I cannot leave my country and my family. Where will I go?”
“As for me, my children and my family, we will stand firm,” said Ilham Al-Durra, a Palestinian in Gaza. “I will not leave. This is my land, my country, I will not leave.”
Palestinian refugee Hani Almadhoun told ABC News he lost two brothers in the war, one who was a co-founder of the Gaza Soup Kitchen that provided food for Gazans amid the threat of famine during the Israel-Hamas war.
Almadhoun said his focus now is still on ensuring that people have food, medical care, and other necessities amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Rebuilding Gaza is not yet the focus for those on the ground, he said.
“We just recently relocated the grave of my brother from another place, because the cemetery was all destroyed. So even in death, we’re not finding peace,” said Almadhoun. “My family is trying to do as much as we can, and it’s sad because this needs a lot larger humanitarian response, and that’s not been fully authorized. We’re not even talking about rebuilding yet.”
He said he hopes one day Gazans achieve “economic development and stability.”
Yousef Aljamal, a Palestinian refugee residing in Turkey, left Gaza eight years ago and plans to return once he’s able. He said he’s not shocked by Trump’s rhetoric, pointing to other comments the U.S. president has made about taking over the Panama Canal and Greenland.
“Will his plan materialize on the ground?” Aljamal said. “I think the only people who can stop this plan is the people of Gaza. They are determined to stop his plan. They do not want to go anywhere.”
Tala Herzallah, a 22-year-old student in Gaza, told ABC News that Trump’s comments felt like a slap in the face after everything Palestinians have endured for over a year.
“‘Just leave your homeland, leave your country for us to rebuild it in a way that we see is good for us, not for you'” she characterized Trump’s remarks. “I can’t understand how this can be considered justice,” said Herzallah.
(SEOUL) — A 33-year-old flight attendant, one of just two survivors of the Jeju Air plane crash in South Korea that killed 179 people, is awake and talking to medical staff, according to a hospital official.
The survivor, who was only identified by his surname Lee, told doctors he had “already been rescued” when he regained consciousness following Sunday’s fiery crash at the Muan International Airport, Ju Woong, director of the Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, said during a news conference on Monday.
Lee and another flight attendant on Jeju Air Flight 7C2216, who was identified by her surname Koo, were the only ones aboard the aircraft to live through what authorities said was South Korea’s deadliest plane crash in decades and one of the worst in aviation history.
The 25-year-old Koo is reportedly in stable condition at a different hospital than the one where Lee is being treated. Koo suffered injuries to her ankle and head, medical staff at the hospital told the Yonhap News Agency. The medical staff treating her declined to answer further questions about her condition.
Ju said Lee is being treated in the intensive care unit for multiple fractures.
He said Lee is “fully able to communicate.”
“There’s no indication yet of memory loss or such,” Ju said.
The hospital director said Lee is under special care due to the possibility of total paralysis.
Ju said he did not question Lee about the details of the crash, saying he didn’t believe it would be helpful with the patient’s recovery.
Lee was initially taken to a hospital in Mokpo before being transferred to the Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital.
The crash unfolded just before 9 a.m. local time on Sunday at the Muan International Airport after the air traffic control tower gave the flight crew permission to land on a south-to-north runway, according to an official timeline by the Korean Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport.
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 turn before descending from the north side, crash-landing and slamming into a wall at 9:03 a.m., the ministry said.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-800, skidded along a runway, crashed into a wall and burst into flames, officials said. A total of 181 people were onboard.
The flight had originated before dawn Sunday at the Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand, according to Flightradar24, a flight tracker.
An official cause of the crash is under investigation by South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board.
(LONDON) — Ukraine’s intelligence services released new information Tuesday about the conduct of North Korean troops now fighting alongside Russian forces in the western Russian region of Kursk, which since August has been a key front of Moscow’s war on its neighbor.
U.S. and Ukrainian estimates suggest there are between 10,000 and 12,000 North Korean troops currently inside Russia, with their focus on the Kursk region. Ukrainian and American officials now say North Korean forces are actively engaged in fighting and taking casualties.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) this week reported at least 30 North Korean troops killed and wounded in Kursk.
On Tuesday, the GUR said North Korean forces were taking additional security measures to try to blunt the threat of drone strikes.
“After serious losses, North Korean units began setting up additional observation posts to detect drones of the security and defense forces of Ukraine,” the GUR wrote in a post to its official Telegram channel.
The directorate said North Korean troops gather in groups of between 20 and 30 soldiers before launching attacks, moving “to the concentration area in small groups of up to six servicemen” and using red tape for identification.
“The constant accumulation of assault groups by the personnel of the DPRK army in the Kursk region indicates that Moscow does not want to lose the pace of offensive actions,” the GUR added, using an acronym for the country’s official name of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The Security Service of Ukraine, meanwhile, claimed on Tuesday to have intercepted a phone call between a nurse at a hospital near Moscow and her husband — a soldier fighting at the front.
In two days, the nurse said, more than 200 wounded North Korean servicemen were brought to one of the Russian hospitals near Moscow.
“Are they elite, these Koreans?” the nurse asked in the purported recording, which ABC News cannot independently verify. “We are freeing up certain wards for them.”
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told a Tuesday briefing that the U.S. assesses “that North Korean soldiers have engaged in combat in Kursk alongside Russian forces.”
“We do have indications that they have suffered casualties, both killed and wounded,” he added, though declined to provide specific numbers.
“I would say certainly in the realm of dozens, several dozens,” Kirby added when pressed. The North Korean forces are now also moving “from the second line to the front line,” Kirby said.
An unnamed senior U.S. official, meanwhile, told the Associated Press that a couple hundred North Korean troops had been killed or wounded while fighting in Kursk.
The North Korean deployment followed more than two years of closer ties between Moscow and Pyongyang, a relationship that previously saw North Korean munitions sent westwards to support Russian operations in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s foreign partners have condemned what White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby called a “dramatic move.”
Both the U.S. and European Union this week introduced additional sanctions on individuals and entities they said are involved in North Korean military assistance to Russia.
