People hold posters of Ilan Weiss at the “International Rally – United We Bring Them Home” rally in Hostage Square on May 18th, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The bodies of two Israeli hostages — including Ilan Weiss who was killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel — have been recovered, according to a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
“The hostage families embrace the family of Ilan Weiss during this difficult time. Ilan’s return fulfills the State of Israel’s fundamental duty to its citizens,” the statement read. “Our hearts are with the family today. Alongside the grief and pain, his return provides some comfort to the family after 692 days of waiting in the nightmare of uncertainty.”
Ilan Weiss, was killed on Oct. 7, 2023, while his wife and daughter were kidnapped but later released during the first ceasefire in November 2023.
The remains of the second body recovered has not been identified, officials said.
“We wish to express our deep gratitude to the IDF and security forces who have worked and continue to work with dedication and courage,” the statement continued. “Only by bringing home all hostages can we achieve healing and national recovery.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The Kyivstar signboard visible on the facade of the building on December 15, 2023 in Lviv, Ukraine. (Photo by Mykola Tys/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Kyivstar — Ukraine’s leading digital operator — will ring the Nasdaq opening bell Friday morning as the first Ukrainian company to be listed on a United States stock exchange to celebrate its historic listing and the launch of its Invest in Ukraine NOW! campaign.
The company officially began trading on the Nasdaq on Aug. 15 under the umbrella of its parent company, VEON. Together, the companies launched the campaign to draw in U.S. and global investors, showcasing Kyvistar as a unique investment opportunity not only as a successful company, but also as a symbol of Ukraine’s economic growth and potential post-war recovery.
Beyond its nearly 22.4 million mobile customers, Kyivstar has expanded into entertainment, digital healthcare and ride-hailing platforms that all rank among Ukrainian market leaders.
“Kyivstar’s listing on Nasdaq under the ticker KYIV gives American investors a window into the Ukrainian economy as a whole,” said Augie K Fabela II, chairman and founder of VEON, in a press release.
The Invest in Ukraine NOW! campaign was attended by Ukrainian government officials, VEON and Kyivstar executives, investors, and business leaders. VEON and Kyivstar framed the initiative as both an image of wartime resilience and a practical effort to spur foreign investment.
“We have transformed Kyivstar into a robust digital operator with a globally attractive business model and growth story, while being the backbone of Ukraine’s resilience and reconstruction,” said Kyivstar President Oleksandr Komarov in a press release.
“This week we mark the resilience and potential of Ukraine. Together with our team, partners, investors and governmental counterparts, we mark the beginning of Kyivstar’s new chapter. We are excited to help build bridges for other Ukrainian companies to deepen their global partnerships, especially with the American and global business community.”
Rescuers work at the site of a residential building hit by a Russian missile on August 28, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine came under a major combined missile and drone attack overnight into Thursday, Ukrainian officials said, with at least 19 people — four of them children — killed in the capital.
“Kyiv is under massive attack,” Timur Tkachenko, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said in a post on Telegram. At least 63 people were injured across the city, including 11 children, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 598 drones and 31 missiles into the country overnight, of which 563 drones and 26 missiles were shot down or suppressed. Impacts were reported across 13 locations, the air force said, with falling debris reported in 26 locations.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post to Telegram that it was “a terrible night” for the capital. He reported “many damaged buildings” across five city districts.
“These include both non-residential buildings and high-rise apartments,” Klitschko said. “Educational institutions, transport infrastructure. Emergency services are working on site everywhere.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there were strikes on “a Turkish enterprise, the Embassy of Azerbaijan, the EU Delegation, the British Council, and residential areas.”
He said the strikes represented “a clear response to everyone in the world who for weeks and months has been calling for a ceasefire and real diplomacy. Russia chooses ballistics over the negotiating table. It chooses to continue the killings rather than end the war.”
“This means that Russia still does not fear the consequences,” Zelenskyy added. “Russia still takes advantage of the fact that at least part of the world closes its eyes to the killed children and looks for excuses for Putin.”
Zelenskyy called for pressure, such as sanctions and tariffs, and said Ukraine is “counting on strong steps.” He urged a response from nations like China and Hungary, which have expressed sympathy with Russia’s position. “It is definitely time for new tough sanctions against Russia for everything it is doing,” he added.
“All deadlines have already been missed, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy have been spoiled. Russia must feel its responsibility for every strike, for every day of this war,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the overnight strikes also damaged damaged the building housing the European Union mission to Ukraine in Kyiv. “We insist on strong international reactions to Russia’s brutal strike on Kyiv and other cities,” Sybiha wrote in a post to X.
European Council President Antonio Costa confirmed the damage to the building in a post to social media, describing the attack as a “Russian deliberate strike.” No injuries were reported at the building.
“Horrified by yet another night of deadly Russian missile attacks on Ukraine,” Costa wrote. “The EU will not be intimidated. Russia’s aggression only strengthens our resolve to stand with Ukraine and its people,” he added.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the attack served as “another grim reminder of what is at stake.” She added, “It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine.”
U.S. Ukraine Envoy General Keith Kellogg, who was in Kyiv earlier this week for meetings, said the “egregious attacks threaten the peace” that President Donald Trump is pursuing.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who confirmed that a building used by the British Council in Kyiv was damaged in the overnight bombardment, said, “Putin is killing children and civilians, and sabotaging hopes of peace. This bloodshed must end.”
The latest barrage continued the nightly tempo of Russian strikes, though the scale of the attacks through August have so far been smaller than in July and June. In August so far, Russia has launched a daily average of around 118 drones and four missiles into Ukraine, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News.
The daily averages for July were around 201 drones and six missiles, and in June there were 181 drones and eight missiles.
Wednesday night’s strike was the largest on Ukraine since Aug. 21 and the first major strike on Kyiv for several weeks.
Earlier this week, Trump expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the strikes, which continue despite White House efforts to broker a peace deal.
Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukrainian officials will meet with members of the Trump administration in New York on Friday. On the agenda are security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future Russian aggression — a key element of the negotiations that took center stage when Zelenskyy and a slate of European leaders visited the White House last week.
“The task is to accelerate as much as possible so that this too becomes a lever – a lever of influence: the Russians must see how seriously the world is determined and how dire the consequences will be for Russia if the war continues,” Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 102 Ukrainian drones overnight.
ABC News’ Nataliia Popova, Natalia Kushniir, Oleksiy Phemyskiy and Guy Davies contributed to this report.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Contributor/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — On NATO’s eastern edge, leaders of the Baltic nations have long considered themselves more awake to the threat from Moscow than their allies to the west, a collective memory of Russian and Soviet occupation seared into their national narratives.
“We know that Russia is going to move forward,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene told ABC News during her visit to Kyiv last weekend. “We in Lithuania, we remember very well. So, that means that we have to prepare ourselves.”
“This terrible threat is also an opportunity for us to grow the muscle where we need it to be,” Sakaliene added.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine from February 2022 served as vindication for NATO’s eastern-most nations, who for years had been warning their Western allies that Moscow could not be a reliable partner.
With President Donald Trump now seeking to press Moscow and Ukraine into a peace deal, Sakaliene said the West should focus on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions rather than his words.
“I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but this is an ongoing process, which, again, in my opinion, is severely complicated by the fact that Putin keeps bombing, that Putin keeps annihilating Ukraine,” Sakaliene said.
“When he talks about peace, it’s not even funny — it’s just absurd,” she continued. “He is now playing the game of pretending to be participating in talks, of having a dialogue, while at the same time he’s moving full speed forward.”
“This stalling of our additional sanctions, of additional pressure, simply gives him room for further military actions in Ukraine,” Sakaliene said.
Trump presses Putin on peace
Putin and his top officials have claimed willingness to make a deal, though have demanded the freezing of the current front lines and Ukraine’s withdrawal from key battlefields including those in Donetsk Oblast in the east of the country.
Moscow also wants Ukraine permanently barred from NATO membership, opposes the deployment of any Western troops to the country as part of any future security guarantees and wants all international sanctions lifted.
The shape of the intended security guarantees is still being forged. Trump has committed some level of American involvement, though also this month ruled out deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine.
Following the Aug. 15 summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska, Trump appeared to have dropped his demand for a full ceasefire before peace negotiations. Ukraine and its European backers maintain that no terms can be agreed to while the fighting is ongoing.
“I think that we are moving forward, but slowly,” Sakaliene said.
“The killing has not stopped and it doesn’t really matter what term we use, the war is actively ongoing,” Sakaliene said when asked about the shape of any peace deal. “That means that talking about any security guarantees during the full-scale invasion — which is going on in a full-blown capacity — is not possible.”
Sakaliene said she was encouraged by Trump’s recent social media post suggesting that his predecessor, President Joe Biden, should have allowed Ukraine “to play offensive” by striking deep within Russia. “I agree wholeheartedly,” she said.
When asked if she thought Trump would greenlight such strikes, the minister replied, “We may hope.”
“All the patience and wish for diplomacy” so far demonstrated by Trump, she continued, “was not met with any goodwill from the other side. Russia has not demonstrated a single millimeter of goodwill.”
Trump this week again expressed his frustration with Russia’s continued long-range strikes on Ukraine, and again hinted at consequences “over the next week or two” if Moscow failed to make moves towards peace.
The president did not say what those consequences might be, though he has previously threatened more sanctions and secondary tariffs on customers of Russian energy exports. The White House has imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods related to New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian military equipment and energy goods.
“The United States has very powerful leverage,” Sakaliene said. Secondary sanctions, she added, could have “nuclear effects and we’d love to see them,” along with permission to “use whatever weapons to whatever targets” necessary to help Ukraine on the battlefield.
Those two measures are “the only tangible motivation for Putin to sit at the negotiation table,” Sakaliene said.
‘America First’
The Trump administration has made clear that Europeans — not Americans — will be expected to shoulder most of the burden of any future security guarantees for Ukraine. More broadly, Trump has long demanded that Europeans do, and pay, more to protect their own continent.
“We are going to do even more,” Sakaliene said, noting the recent agreement of NATO nations to raise the collective defense spending target to 5% of GDP. But the U.S., she said, will remain a key security partner and guarantor, regardless of Europe’s efforts to achieve greater self-reliance.
“When we talk about certain capabilities, let’s be honest, for at least a decade in certain areas, the United States is going to remain the ‘influencer,’ the main capability guarantor,” she said.
“Do you really want to lose the United States as the dominant power in security architecture globally?” Sakaliene asked. Without “a very clear dominance of the United States, then we have a dogfight,” she said.
“Then we have probably a very dangerous shift, a very dangerous shakedown of this current structure of power,” Sakaliene said. “I don’t think anybody’s going to like it. China is already trying to become number one.”
Europeans have already committed to buying more weapons from the U.S., both for themselves and for Ukraine. Indeed, arms sales have become a key metric of success for Trump.
Sakaliene said that both sides of the Atlantic will need each other in a coming era of great power competition.
“Regretfully, the level of our need is so much higher than the current level of supply,” she said of military resources. “And regretfully, this decade of wars is not over.”
Sakaliene traveled to Washington, D.C., in July with other Baltic defense ministers to meet with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. There, she said, the Baltic officials were assured that American forces are not about to abandon their allies.
“The United States is not leaving,” she said. “As they said, ‘The United States first, but the United States not alone’.”
For all the talk of America’s pivot to face down the China challenge in the Indo-Pacific, Sakaliene — who was sanctioned by Beijing after the European Union imposed sanctions on China over its policies in Xinjiang — suggested that different theaters cannot be so easily separated.
“Even though sometimes it seems that we can draw red lines on the map — this is the Indo-Pacific, this is Europe, this is the Middle East — that’s not how it works,” she said.
A secure and peaceful Europe would be a vital ally for the U.S. in any future conflict with China in the Indo-Pacific, Sakaliene said. Continued conflict with Russia on the continent, though, may hamstring Europeans and undermine a united Western front in Asia.
“This world has become as small as ever,” she said. “Joint coordinated actions by Russia and China and their smaller evil allies — this is what we are facing right now, and this is the main challenge of this decade, in my opinion.”
On the Baltic front
The Baltic region, Sakaliene suggested, can offer valuable lessons to the U.S. and its fellow NATO allies for the conflicts of the future.
“See the bigger picture,” she said when asked what lessons she wants to impart to her NATO counterparts. “I’ve had some very useful meetings with my colleagues from the Indo-Pacific and the problems that we see in the Baltics are very similar to what the Philippines, or Singapore, or Japan — or of course, Taiwan — see.”
The use of shadow fleets to evade sanctions, attacks on underwater critical infrastructure, cyber attacks and electronic warfare — most prominently the use of GPS jamming and spoofing technologies — have all become commonplace in the Baltic Sea. Such tactics could also become more visible and common in the waters of the Indo-Pacific in years to come, Sakaliene said.
For now, she suggested, the capacity of Europe’s military industry still lags far behind its civil industry. Western allies need to produce quality technology at great speed and in greater mass, Sakaliene said, potentially aided by combining civil and military capacities.
“Technologies do evolve,” she said. “We really have to speed it up.”
Rescuers work at the site of a residential building hit by a Russian missile on August 28, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine came under a major combined missile and drone attack overnight into Thursday, Ukrainian officials said, with at least 18 people — four of them children — killed in the capital.
“Kyiv is under massive attack,” the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Timur Tkachenko said in a post on Telegram. At least 48 people were injured across the city, the military administration said.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 598 drones and 31 missiles into the country overnight, of which 563 drones and 26 missiles were shot down or suppressed. Impacts were reported across 13 locations, the air force said, with falling debris reported in 26 locations.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a post to Telegram that it was “a terrible night” for the capital. He reported “many damaged buildings” across five city districts.
“These include both non-residential buildings and high-rise apartments,” Klitschko said. “Educational institutions, transport infrastructure. Emergency services are working on site everywhere.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the strikes represented “a clear response to everyone in the world who for weeks and months has been calling for a ceasefire and real diplomacy. Russia chooses ballistics over the negotiating table. It chooses to continue the killings rather than end the war.”
“This means that Russia still does not fear the consequences,” Zelenskyy added. “Russia still takes advantage of the fact that at least part of the world closes its eyes to the killed children and looks for excuses for Putin.”
Zelenskyy urged a response from nations like China and Hungary, which have expressed sympathy with Russia’s position. “It is definitely time for new tough sanctions against Russia for everything it is doing,” he added.
“All deadlines have already been missed, dozens of opportunities for diplomacy have been spoiled. Russia must feel its responsibility for every strike, for every day of this war,” Zelenskyy wrote.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the overnight strikes also damaged damaged the building housing the European Union mission to Ukraine in Kyiv. “We insist on strong international reactions to Russia’s brutal strike on Kyiv and other cities,” Sybiha wrote in a post to X.
European Council President Antonio Costa confirmed the damage to the building in a post to social media, describing the attack as a “Russian deliberate strike.” No injuries were reported at the building.
“Horrified by yet another night of deadly Russian missile attacks on Ukraine,” Costa wrote. “The EU will not be intimidated. Russia’s aggression only strengthens our resolve to stand with Ukraine and its people,” he added.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the attack served as “another grim reminder of what is at stake.” She added, “It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorize Ukraine.”
The latest barrage continued the nightly tempo of Russian strikes, though the scale of the attacks through August have so far been smaller than in July and June. In August so far, Russia has launched a daily average of around 118 drones and four missiles into Ukraine, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News.
The daily averages for July were around 201 drones and six missiles, and in June 181 drones and eight missiles.
Wednesday night’s strike was the largest on Ukraine since Aug. 21 and the first major strike on Kyiv for several weeks.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the strikes, which continue despite White House efforts to broker a peace deal.
Zelenskyy said Wednesday that Ukrainian officials will meet with members of the Trump administration in New York on Friday. On the agenda are security guarantees for Ukraine to prevent future Russian aggression — a key element of the negotiations that took center stage when Zelenskyy and a slate of European leaders visited the White House last week.
“The task is to accelerate as much as possible so that this too becomes a lever – a lever of influence: the Russians must see how seriously the world is determined and how dire the consequences will be for Russia if the war continues,” Zelenskyy said Wednesday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 102 Ukrainian drones overnight.
ABC News’ Nataliia Popova, Natalia Kushniir, Oleksiy Phemyskiy and Guy Davies contributed to this report.
Pope Leo XIV holds his weekly General Audience at the Paul VI Hall on August 20, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican.Photo by Mario Tomassetti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Leo XIV said on Wednesday he supports the statement put out by the last remaining churches in Gaza City, which called for an end to the war and said they will not evacuate amid Israel’s ramped-up military action and threats to destroy Gaza City.
“I return today to address a strong appeal to both the parties involved and to the international community to put an end to the conflict in the Holy Land that has caused so much terror, destruction and death,” the pope said in Italian on Wednesday at his weekly audience. “In particular, the obligation to protect civilians and the prohibitions on collective punishment, indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population.”
The churches said Tuesday that the clergy and nuns have decided they will “remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds,” the churches said in a joint statement to the Israel Defense Forces.
Hundreds of civilians — including women, children and elderly — have been seeking refuge in the Greek Orthodox compound of Saint Porphyrius and the Holy Family compound since the outbreak of the war and the Latin compound has been hosting people with disabilities who have been under the care of the Sisters Missionaries of Charity for many years, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement Tuesday.
“Like other residents of Gaza City, the refugees living in the facilities will have to decide according to their conscience what they will do. Among those who have sought shelter within the walls of the compounds, many are weakened and malnourished due to the hardships of the last months. Leaving Gaza City and trying to flee to the south would be nothing less than a death sentence. For this reason, the clergy and nuns have decided to remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds,” the churches said.
The churches criticized Israel’s plans surrounding its decision to take control of Gaza City, saying, “There can be no future based on captivity, displacement of Palestinians or revenge.”
“We echo what Pope Leo XIV said a few days ago: ‘All peoples, even the smallest and weakest, must be respected by the powerful in their identity and rights, especially the right to live in their own lands; and no one can force them into exile,'” the churches said.
The churches called for an end to the war and the “spiral of violence.”
“There has been enough devastation, in the territories and in people’s lives. There is no reason to justify keeping civilians as prisoners and hostages in dramatic conditions. It is now time for the healing of the long-suffering families on all sides,” the churches said.
Israel began the first stages of its attack on Gaza City last week, calling up 50,000 to 60,000 reservists for the operation to occupy the city, according to IDF spokesman Eddie Defrin and an Israeli military official.
Mass protests against the military action on Gaza were seen across Israel on Tuesday, with protesters demanding the Israeli government get a ceasefire deal in Gaza that would secure the release of the remaining hostage held there.
Israel is also facing criticism for Monday’s attack on a hospital in Khan Younis that killed five journalists and 15 medical workers, according to their media organizations and the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Netanyahu called the attack a “tragic mishap.”
The IDF released an initial report on Tuesday, which concludes that “six of the individuals killed were terrorists, one of whom took part in the infiltration into Israeli territory on October 7th.”
Palestinians, including children, who are struggling to access food due to Israel’s blockade and ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, wait in line to receive hot meals distributed by the charity organization in Gaza City, Gaza on July 30, 2025.(Photo by Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said last week that famine was determined in parts of Gaza for the first time.
The IPC report projected that famine would expand in the region by the end of September and more than 100,000 children under age 5 were at risk of death from acute malnutrition through June 2026.
In a statement, the Israeli prime minister’s office called the IPC’s determination of famine “an outright lie” and “a modern blood libel.”
Humanitarian experts and doctors described the report as unsurprising — a situation they have warned about for months — but “appalling” nonetheless.
“The situation itself is appalling,” Scott Paul, director of peace and security for the non-governmental organization Oxfam America, told ABC News. “I think if anyone is surprised by this news, then they haven’t been paying attention to the repeated warnings of local communities, Palestinian organizations, international organizations and other states and humanitarian donors.”
Aid organizations have said the next steps after such a report are securing an immediate, and permanent, ceasefire and opening border crossings to allow unhindered access of humanitarian aid and medical supplies.
While some experts told ABC News it’s not too late to increase aid and ready-to-eat therapeutic food for cases of malnutrition, others are less optimistic that the report will result in meaningful change.
“What will be done will be nothing,” Dr. John Kahler, a pediatrician and co-founder of MedGlobal, who has been on multiple medical missions to Gaza, told ABC News. “There’s plenty of money and plenty of resources available. It’s 100% access. And so, this [famine determination] won’t do a thing to move that needle.”
He added, “I’m in a difficult position with organizations at large, because they think the production of yet another document has some dramatic meaning. We knew this.”
To determine if a famine is happening, three thresholds have to be met: 20% of households must be facing an extreme food shortage, 30% of children must be acutely malnourished and either two adults or four children must be dying every day per 10,000 people, according to the IPC.
A termination is separate from a declaration. The IPC itself doesn’t issue official declarations of famine, but its findings can inform governments and bodies such as the U.N. to make a famine declaration.
Humanitarian experts have said there is no legal mechanism that a government body or the U.N. would have to go through to formally declare a famine.
“Governments or international organizations might have their own sort of processes internally to go into famine mode, but I don’t think that anyone should be holding their breath for a piece of paper that says ‘famine declaration’ on the top, because that likely won’t come,” Paul, of Oxfam America, said.
He noted that the U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator already addressed the famine determination during a press conference with reporters on Friday and acknowledged it in the wake of the IPC classification.
“This isn’t the penultimate step. This is it. We have arrived at famine,” Paul said.
Kahler agreed, adding that the IPC report should not be taken as a warning — rather that the warning should have occurred months ago with previous reports.
“The health system’s collapsed, the educational system’s collapsed, the public health system’s collapsed,” he said. “I’m not sure what else to warn people about.”
Paul said normally what would follow would be an immediate “all hands-on deck” effort from the U.S. government and others to influence the Israeli government to secure a ceasefire and increase the flow of aid, which he said should have been done with prior warnings of emergency levels of food insecurity famine warnings.
Since May, the U.S. has participated in providing aid to Gaza through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which set up designated aid distribution sites rather than delivering aid throughout the strip. Palestinians and aid organizations reported incidents of people being shot at while trying to retrieve aid as well as general chaos at the sites, which continues to be an ongoing issue.
The Israel Defense Forces has previously said it only fires “warning shots” toward people who are allegedly “advancing while posing a threat to the troops.” The Israeli government has also previously claimed that Hamas shoots people waiting in food lines and films the events for propaganda videos. Hamas has denied these claims.
Israeli officials have argued there are hundreds of truckloads of aid sitting at the border for the U.N. and its partners to distribute. The U.N., however, said it can’t deliver the aid safely.
“One of the things that is not well understood is how complex it is for the United Nations to do our work here in the Gaza Strip,” Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for UNICEF who is currently in Gaza, told ABC News. “I think what is not well understood is the challenges that we face on a daily basis that impede our work. It’s like a game of ‘Snakes and Ladders.’ We take one step forward and then we have to take two steps backwards because there are constantly hurdles in front of us that we have to overcome, and many of these hurdles do not need to be there.”
These threats include poor road conditions, lack of route alternatives, poor telecommunications, large crowds of desperate people and unpredictable supply lines, according to the U.N.
Paul noted that a prior IPC report, issued at the end of July, found that a “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza.
“It was less than a few weeks ago that the same technical body on hunger issued a very clear warning [on] famine, which is about as close as they can come to an official confirmation without doing it,” he said. “The situation will get worse, and famine will continue to spread as long as all routes for humanitarian assistance … is not immediately opened up.”
Diana, Princess Of Wales.(Photo by Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — A time capsule that was laid by Princess Diana in 1991 at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London has been opened, with officials revealing a collection of 1990s artifacts just days before the 28th anniversary of her death on August 31st, 1997.
Jason Dawson, the hospital’s executive director who opened the capsule earlier this year as GOSH started its new project to develop a new children’s cancer center, called the moment “really quite moving, almost like connecting with memories planted by a generation gone by.”
Inside lay a snapshot of 1991 — a Kylie Minogue CD, Casio pocket television, solar calculator and other artifacts that were cutting-edge three decades ago.
As winners of a BBC competition 34 years ago, the items were chosen by David Watson, a then-11-year-old boy from Devon, and Sylvia Foulkes, a then-9-year-old girl from Norwich, to represent life in the 1990s.
Watson contributed the Kylie Minogue “Rhythm of Love” album and a European passport, along with a pocket TV and recycled paper.
Foulkes added British coins, tree seeds from Kew Gardens in London, a hologram snowflake and a solar calculator. Princess Diana included her own photograph and a copy of The Times newspaper that featured Gulf War headlines at the time.
As Great Ormond Street Hospital’s president from 1989 until her death, Diana played a central role in GOSH’s Wishing Well Appeal, raising £54 million — equivalent to £200 million today – considered the largest U.K. charity appeal at the time, according to GOSH.
Princess Diana famously made regular ward visits, sitting on children’s beds, holding hands and providing physical comfort at a time when many feared contact with seriously ill patients.
After her divorce in 1996, Diana reduced her charitable commitments from over 100 organizations to just six focused causes, with Great Ormond Street Hospital being one of the remaining ones.
Stephen Lee, director of the U.K. Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers, called her impact “probably more significant than any other person’s in the 20th century.”
Modern royal philanthropy directly traces to Diana’s deeply personal approach, living on through Prince William’s homelessness work and Harry’s veteran advocacy, according to Emma Hart, director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, who notes that notes Diana “forced the British monarchy to move into the 21st century” and that she “showed how the royal family could be a force for good.”
Meanwhile, following the opening of the capsule and the continuation of construction of the new cancer center, officials say that the new facility aims to increase patient capacity by 20% when it opens in 2028.
“Replacing outdated facilities on Great Ormond Street itself, the centre will be a national resource for the treatment of childhood cancers, with a focus on research and innovation,” GOSH said in a statement following the announcement of the time capsule being opened. “Developed with families and clinicians, the centre’s design will make it easier for clinical teams to develop kinder, more effective treatments, all delivered in a child-focused environment where children can play, learn and be with their family while at hospital.”
The Flag of Greenland, known nationally as “Erfalasorput”, flies above homes on March 28, 2025 in Nuuk, Greenland.(Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The top U.S. diplomat in Denmark was summoned for a meeting at the country’s foreign ministry, Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen confirmed on Wednesday, over alleged pro-American influence operations in Greenland.
“We are aware that foreign actors continue to show an interest in Greenland and its position in the Kingdom of Denmark,” Rasmussen said in a statement. “It is therefore not surprising if we experience outside attempts to influence the future of the kingdom in the time ahead.
“Any attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of the kingdom will of course be unacceptable,” Rasmussen said. “In that light, I have asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to summon the U.S. chargé d’affaires for a meeting at the ministry.”
“The cooperation between the governments of Denmark and Greenland is close and based on mutual trust, just as there is close cooperation and dialogue between the relevant Greenlandic and Danish authorities,” Rasmussen added.
The meeting came after Danish public broadcaster DR published a report in which unnamed government and security sources said that three Americans with connections to President Donald Trump were conducting influence operations in the semi-autonomous Danish territory.
DR said it was unclear whether the Americans were acting on their own initiative or under orders from others.
Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to take control of Greenland, framing the huge Arctic territory as vital for American national security. The president has proposed purchasing the island and refused to rule out taking military action to take control of it.
Politicians in Denmark and Greenland have said that the island is not for sale.
In a statement sent to ABC News on Wednesday, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service said it is aware that Greenland has been the target of “various types of influence campaigns” aimed at “creating discord in the relationship between Denmark and Greenland.”
“Influence activities can generally be carried out via traditional physical influence agents or via disinformation, i.e. deliberate production and dissemination of misleading information,” the statement added.
ABC News’ Dada Jovanovic contributed to this report.
Heavy machinery is tearing through what locals are calling “Wet Wipe Island,” an 820-foot shoreline of flushed bathroom debris that has transformed a stretch of London’s Thames River into an environmental nightmare. ABC News / Dakota Bennett
(LONDON) — Heavy machinery is tearing through what locals are calling “wet wipe island,” an 820-foot shoreline of flushed bathroom debris that has transformed a stretch of London’s Thames River into an environmental nightmare.
The clean-up near Hammersmith Bridge in West London represents the United Kingdom’s first attempt to mechanically remove wet wipes from a river and, over the next month, excavators will extract an estimated 180 tons of congealed waste — equivalent to the weight of 15 double-decker buses spread across an area the size of two tennis courts.
“We’re doing the first mass removal of wet wipes that’s ever taken place in the country,” Emily McLean, senior technical advisor for the Port of London Authority, which is coordinating the operation, told ABC News.
The mechanical intervention comes after nearly a decade of volunteers painstakingly collecting wet wipes by hand. Thames21, an environmental charity, has documented the problem since 2017, with volunteers removing 140,000 individual wipes while mapping the contamination’s spread.
“It’s a validation of eight years of work,” said Ann Willard Sullivan, a Thames21 volunteer who leads cleanup efforts in the area. “It’s a sign that there can be big change, don’t give up.”
The volunteer data proved crucial in convincing authorities to act and, what started as citizen science, became the foundation for both this cleanup and potential broader policy changes down the line.
The Thames’ 23-foot tidal range creates a narrow window for the cleanup work meaning excavators can only operate during a four-hour window around low tide when the debris becomes accessible.
McLean said that engineers are using a “rake and shake” method to separate wet wipes from river sediment, ensuring that essential materials for the Thames ecosystem remain on the riverbed while removing only the contamination.
“We’re removing that contaminated layer while retaining as much of the foreshore as we can,” explained Grace Rawnsley, sustainability director for the Port of London Authority.
The cleanup represents the latest chapter in the clean-up of the Thames after it was declared “biologically dead” by the Natural History Museum in 1957.
“This is a huge moment — after years of campaigning, wet wipe island hopefully is no more!” said Fleur Anderson, the MP for Putney, Southfields, Roehampton and Wandsworth Town. “The ban I’ve introduced will mean 3.8 billion wipes removed from the network every year. A win for our waters, sewers and environment!”
Now, nearly 70 years later, it supports 125 different fish species and serves as a nursery for five types of sharks, according to the Zoological Society of London.
Wet wipes, however, have recently threatened this recovery, with the plastic-laden debris breaking down into microplastics that clog digestive systems of fish and disrupt feeding patterns, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Recent scientific research indicates that an estimated 70% of Thames flounder contain plastic fibers in their stomachs.
“They get stuck in fish stomachs,” McLean said. “So, we really think that by removing them, we’re taking out those contaminants, and that will help the water quality.”
The Hammersmith cleanup coincides with Britain’s groundbreaking approach to wet wipe pollution when, in April 2024, the U.K. government announced plans to ban plastic-containing wet wipes, with implementation expected by 2026.
Currently, Britons use approximately 11 billion wet wipes annually, with an estimated 2.5 billion flushed down toilets, according to Thames21.
Thames Water says that it spends £18 million ($24 million) yearly removing 3.8 billion wipes from London’s sewage system alone, costs that are ultimately passed to consumers through higher water bills.
The wet wipe issue extends far beyond the Thames, however, with water companies across the U.K. collectively spend £100 million ($135 million) annually clearing 300,000 sewer blockages, with 93% caused by flushed wipes, according to an October 2021 research report from United Utilities.
“These wet wipes should never be entering into the river,” Felicity Rhodes, Thames program manager at Thames21, told ABC News.
The charity advocates for a “multi-stakeholder approach” involving manufacturers, water companies, government regulation and consumer behavior change.
The Port of London Authority estimates the monthlong operation will cost “hundreds of thousands” of pounds, a fraction of the ongoing costs of wet wipe pollution.
For the rowers gliding past the cleanup site, the mechanical intervention represents both an end and a beginning: the removal of London’s most embarrassing landmark and a step toward the Thames that millions of Londoners want their river to become.
ABC News’ Maggie Rulli and Charlotte Gardiner contributed to this report.
