Climate and environment updates: How to compost your pumpkin after Halloween
SimpleImages/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us. Hurricanes intensified by a warming planet and drought-fueled wildfires are destroying our communities. Rising seas and flooding are swallowing our homes. And record-breaking heatwaves are reshaping our way of life.
The good news is we know how to turn the tide and avoid the worst possible outcomes. However, understanding what needs to be done can be confusing due to a constant stream of climate updates, scientific findings, and critical decisions that are shaping our future.
That’s why the ABC News Climate and Weather Unit is cutting through the noise by curating what you need to know to keep the people and places you care about safe. We are dedicated to providing clarity amid the chaos, giving you the facts and insights necessary to navigate the climate realities of today — and tomorrow.
Compost your pumpkin and do a gourd thing for the planet
From carving jack-o-lanterns to baking pies, pumpkins are a staple of fall festivities and Halloween. According to the USDA, American farmers produced more than 1.6 billion pounds of pumpkins last year.
But what happens to all those pumpkins after the trick-or-treating and hayrides are done? The ones that aren’t turned into food end up at a local landfill and decompose into methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is contributing to climate change.
In the U.S., food is the most common material sent to landfills, making up 24% of municipal solid waste. The EPA estimates that food waste, including pumpkins, is responsible for 58% of fugitive methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills.
There are alternatives, however, to throwing out your pumpkins and other organic decorations like hay, cornstalks and leaves. But before you get started, make sure these materials are free of paint, coating and any nonorganic compounds. Those should be discarded in the trash.
Composting is an excellent option if your pumpkin doesn’t have any of those alterations. This can be done in your backyard or at a local community-based composting program. Just make sure you remove the seeds or your compost could turn into a pumpkin patch. To speed up the composting process, you can break your pumpkin into little pieces before spreading it into your garden. Unlike landfills that trap waste, bacteria in your backyard release very little methane when they break down organic material.
If you don’t want to compost it at home, look for local events and nonprofits, like Pumpkins for the People, that collect used pumpkins for farms and community composting. Some zoos and local farms also accept pumpkins and use them to feed their animals.
Besides composting, you can also chop up your pumpkin and leave it out for local wildlife to enjoy. The Nature Conservancy says that many animals, from squirrels to porcupines, enjoy feasting on this fall treat. But you should ask for permission before leaving it at a park or a managed open space like a state or national park, as some discourage this practice.
You could turn your pumpkin into a temporary bird feeder and leave the pumpkin seeds for birds completing their migration journey. You can also plant the pumpkin seeds. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the blooming flowers of the pumpkin plant provide a great source of nectar for certain bee species and insects.
-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck and ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
What caused the extreme flooding in Spain that killed more than 90 people?
The weather phenomenon responsible for the extreme rainfall and flooding in Valencia, Spain, isn’t rare or even uncommon. It was also well forecasted in the days leading up to the storm.
The Mediterranean region, including parts of eastern Spain, is frequently affected by heavy rainfall and significant flash flooding events. This recent disaster saw a year’s worth of rainfall in just eight hours. In September 2019, the same region saw 12 to 18 inches of rain in 48 hours.
What’s responsible for these events is a weather system known as a cut-off low. This happens when a low-pressure area is separated from the primary airflow.
Cut-off lows are common and can happen at any time of the year, anywhere in the world. When there is an extended stretch of cloudy, damp, and dreary weather, this is often related to a cut-off low.
However, the slow-moving nature of a cut-off low can set the stage for devastating extreme rainfall events when it interacts with other favorable factors, like the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea and nearby mountains. Because it is slow-moving, it can quickly pound areas with relentless rounds of heavy rain, resulting in significant flooding.
In Spain, these weather events are often called a “gota fría,” which translates to “cold drop.” But that term doesn’t tell the whole story. What happened in Valencia wasn’t caused by a sudden cold blast sweeping across the region but by the unique characteristics of a cut-off low.
That’s not to say that cold air in the atmosphere doesn’t play a role in enhancing the precipitation. It does bring more frequent rounds of heavy rain. As the system pushes the colder air over the very warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, it helps trigger and enhance areas of heavy rain.
Because the low-pressure system moves very slowly, it keeps sending waves of heavy rain over the same areas for an extended period, bringing extreme rainfall totals and catastrophic flash flooding.
The nearby mountains also likely enhanced the precipitation and impacts. Plus, the infrastructure in the Valencia region, like many municipalities, isn’t built to handle this amount of rainfall. Add in all of those factors, and you get catastrophic flash flooding.
What role, if any, does climate change play in these extreme weather events?
Climate attribution science will look at how much worse the rain was because of human-caused emissions, but we know that human-amplified climate change is supercharging the water cycle, bringing heavier rainfall and related flood risks. More intense extreme rainfall events increase the frequency and scale of flash flooding as the influx of water is more than the infrastructure of many municipalities was built to handle.
According to the U.S. Government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment, human-amplified climate change is contributing to increases in the frequency and intensity of the heaviest precipitation events. So, in a way, we are all making it rain more.
-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck and ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Reducing food waste is good for your budget and the planet
We waste a lot of food. According to the U.N., over a billion tons of it are wasted each year globally, most of it from households. Not only does wasting all this food cost the average American family $1,200 a year, but it’s a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.
The EPA says food waste in the U.S. is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of more than 50 million passenger cars and is responsible for 58% of methane emissions from municipal landfills.
Methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas because it traps more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. The U.N. Environment Programme says methane is “responsible for more than 35 percent of the global warming we are experiencing today.”
How does our food waste become methane?
Landfills act like big diaper linings on the ground, so nothing we throw away decomposes into the soil. There’s a barrier preventing it. Our food waste gets sandwiched between all the plastic, metal and non-organic trash, and without oxygen, it mummifies and releases methane. So, every time we throw away leftover food, we create methane and speed up climate change.
There are, however, ways to curb food waste at home. Composting can turn leftovers into fertilizer for your plants and homegrown produce. If you don’t have a garden, you can use a product like the Mill Kitchen Bin to turn your food waste into clean, dry grounds that don’t smell. Those grounds can then be used as part of the composting process at home or given to a local community garden or farm.
The Too Good To Go app is another way of keeping food out of landfills. The service allows people to purchase surprise bags of surplus food from nearby restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores, preventing perfectly edible items from being thrown away. The bags, priced between $5 and $10, are packed with various items that are still good to eat but would have been thrown away.
Understanding food labels can also significantly reduce your waste. The often confusing terms “use by,” “best by,” and “expiration dates” sound similar but mean different things.
A “use by date” is the last date recommended for eating a product while it’s still at its peak quality. After this date, the food might still be safe, but the quality may decline. For perishable items like dairy or meats, it’s often best to follow this date closely, but use your nose and eyes to help determine whether it’s still good.
“Best by” or “best before” dates are about the product’s quality, not safety. It indicates when the food will be at its best flavor or texture. After this date, the food is usually still safe to eat, but it might not taste as good or have the same texture. Often, you won’t even notice a difference.
“Expiration dates” are dates found on products where safety is a concern, like baby formula or certain medications. After this date, the product should not be consumed, as it may not be safe or effective.
-ABC News Chief Climate Correspondent Ginger Zee and ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Greenhouse gas concentrations reach new record high in 2023
Our planet is facing another unfortunate climate milestone.
According to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), carbon dioxide concentrations have increased by more than 11% in just two decades, making 2023 a record for the amount of the greenhouse gas currently in our atmosphere.
The WMO says CO2 is now building up in the atmosphere faster than at any time in human existence. They say massive vegetation fires, which emit greenhouse gases, and El Niño, which can reduce our forests’ ability to absorb CO2 due to drought, contributed to the recent surge. However, the U.N. agency also points out, “The reason behind this decade-long significant increase in CO2 is historically large fossil fuel CO2 emissions in the 2010s and 2020s.”
The WMO began reporting on greenhouse gas emissions in 2006. That year, they found that atmospheric CO2 levels for 2004 were at 377.1 parts per million. Last year, they were recorded at 420 parts per million. That puts CO2 concentrations at 151% above the preindustrial era.
Methane, one of the worst greenhouse gases in terms of global warming, also reached a record level for atmospheric concentrations. It is now 265% higher than preindustrial readings at 1,934 parts per billion.
Because CO2 stays in the atmosphere for 300 to 1,000 years, according to NASA, the WMO is warning that these high levels of greenhouse gases “lock in future temperature increase” even if emissions are cut to net zero.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
October record heat made more likely because of climate change
It may be fall, but it feels a lot like summer in much of the country. That has some people wondering: Is climate change responsible for these record-high temperatures? With climate attribution science, we can now answer that question and determine when human-amplified climate change is responsible for extreme weather events and the significance of that impact.
Using advanced computer models, climate attribution science takes a real-world weather event, such as a record high-temperature day or a hurricane, and compares it to the world where human-caused, post-industrial greenhouse gas emissions don’t exist. By comparing what is actually happening with what would have happened without human intervention, science can estimate how likely or severe a weather event has become due to climate change.
Climate Central, a nonprofit climate research and communications organization, uses climate attribution science to provide real-time data that shows “how much climate change influences the temperature on a particular day.” The information is displayed on a global interactive map called the Climate Shift Index.
For example, the Index showed that human-amplified climate change made Sunday’s record high in Tucson, Arizona of 98 degrees at least three times more likely. The same was true for Waco, Texas, which broke a record with 92-degree heat, and Mobile, Alabama, which hit a record 90 degrees.
Extreme heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in the U.S., with children and adults over 65 being among the most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses and death. And the average number of heat waves that major U.S. cities experience each year has doubled since the 1980s, according to the federal government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
How crops will fare with 45% of the US experiencing drought
The U.S. is experiencing the driest fall on record, which could potentially impact the quality of upcoming autumn harvests, experts told ABC News.
About 77% of the mainland U.S. is abnormally dry, and almost half of the country is experiencing drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The spatial pattern of the dry conditions varies widely across the continent, Josue Medellin-Azuara, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California Merced, told ABC News.
Improvement in the drought is not expected for most of the South, the Plains and parts of the Upper Midwest due to expected La Nina conditions this winter that would further reinforce the dryness, according to forecasts by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
However, a lot of the crops in these regions that harvest in the fall had good growing conditions throughout the summer and are in the process of being harvested, meaning overall output should not be heavily impacted, Joseph Glauber, senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute and former chief economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, told ABC News.
EPA cancels toxic pesticide used in growing produce
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it’s canceling any product containing the pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA), also known as Dacthal.
According to the EPA, their decision is based on comprehensive scientific studies that indicate potential thyroid toxicity linked to DCPA. The agency says research suggests that exposure to this pesticide during pregnancy can lead to changes in thyroid hormone levels in unborn children. Studies cited by the EPA indicate that these hormonal changes could be associated with various health concerns, including low birth weight, impaired brain development and reduced IQ. That research suggests that these developmental challenges may also have long-term effects on motor skills.
DCPA is used in the industrial farming of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and onions. While pregnant women working in agriculture are most at risk, pesticides can travel into neighboring communities via the air and runoff, putting non-agricultural workers at risk as well.
In a press release, EPA’s assistant administrator for the office of chemical safety and pollution prevention, Michal Freedhoff, wrote, “With the final cancellation of DCPA, we’re taking a definitive step to protect pregnant women and their unborn babies. The science showing the potential for irreversible harm to unborn babies’ developing brains, in addition to other lifelong consequences from exposure, demands decisive action to remove this dangerous chemical from the marketplace,” Freedhoff added.
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:
‘We are winning,’ Netanyahu tells United Nations
Taking the podium at the United Nations General Assembly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation is at war, vowing to return the hostages taken by Hamas.
He also issued warnings to Iran and the entire Middle East as Israeli officials said it is preparing to launch a ground invasion into Lebanon.
“There is no place in Iran that the long arm of Israel cannot reach. And that is true of the entire Middle East,” Netanyahu said.
“If you strike us, we will strike you,” Netanyahu said, addressing Iran.
Netanyahu received some boos and some members of the General Assembly walked out as he took the podium.
Netanyahu said he hadn’t intended to attend the U.N. this year, but “came here to set the record straight.”
Missile from Yemen targeting Israel intercepted as sirens go off
A ballistic missile was fired by the Yemen-based Houthis at central Israel, setting off sirens in several areas. Explosions were heard following the interception of the missile and there was falling shrapnel, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The missile launch follows a number of attacks by other Iranian-backed proxies based in Iraq in recent days.
In the last 72 hours, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have claimed responsibility for five attacks on Israel, including three explosive drones launched at Israel on Wednesday.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Tom Soufi Burridge
19 injured in Israel after missile fired from Yemen
While the Israel Defense Forces said a missile fired from Yemen was successfully intercepted by the “Arrow” Aerial Defense System on Thursday night, 19 people were still injured.
One person was injured and is in moderate condition, and 18 people were injured while seeking shelter and are in mild condition, the Israeli emergency services said in a statement.
The individual in moderate condition — a 17-year-old female — was hit by a vehicle that swerved off the road after sirens went off.
-ABC News’ Anna Burd
At least 92 killed in Lebanon today: Ministry of Health
At least 92 people were killed and another 153 wounded Thursday in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
More than 700 people have been killed in Lebanon since Monday, the ministry said.
Hezbollah confirms top commander killed
Hezbollah has confirmed that Muhammad Hussein Srour, the Commander of Hezbollah’s Aerial Command, was killed in a Thursday strike in Beirut.
“With great pride and honor, the Islamic Resistance announces the martyrdom of the Mujahid leader Muhammad Hussein Surur ‘Hajj Abu Saleh,’ born in 1973 in the town of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, who was martyred on the road to Jerusalem,” Hezbollah said in a statement.
Humanitarian situation in Gaza is worse than a month ago: UNRWA
The humanitarian situation in Gaza is worse than it was a month ago, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini told reporters at the UN Thursday.
“Women in Gaza are now shaving their heads because they don’t have shampoo to wash their hair,” Lazzarini said, giving one example of the situation on the ground.
Lazzarini and Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi spoke with reporters after a ministerial meeting in support of UNRWA co-hosted by Jordan and Sweden at the UN headquarters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly Thursday.
Lazzarini said about 50 countries attended the high-level meeting to show support for UNRWA, an agency that has come under intense scrutiny during the ongoing war in Gaza. Israel accused several UNRWA employees of being directly involved in the Oct. 7 attacks, prompting an internal UN probe and the halting of funding to the agency from many countries, including the U.S.
Since U.S. funding to UNRWA remains paused until March 2025, Lazzarini said the European Union and European Commission combined make up about 60% of the agency’s funding now.
“It is incomprehensible that a country is allowed to label a UN agency as a terrorist state,” Lazzarini said. “The world must not allow that, and we will stand up to it along with all of our partners who showed up in support of UNRWA today.”
“These are not just attacks against UNRWA, these are attacks against the broader United Nations system,” Safadi said.
In terms of getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza, Safadi said Jordan has the ability to scale up to send in 500 trucks a day, but the “problem is we’re not allowed to do that.” The other problem is once you get to the Kerem Shalom crossing, the only crossing point open into Gaza since the Rafah crossing closed in May, “you need to make sure people are empowered to receive it,” Safadi added.
“It’s not just allowing the aid in but also allowing the humanitarians to operate in Gaza,” Lazzarini said.
The successful completion of the first phase of the polio vaccine campaign “could not have happened without UNRWA,” Lazzarini said.
“UNRWA and its staff made the ultimate sacrifice” in the ongoing conflict, Lazzarini said, noting that 222 UNRWA staff members have been killed in Gaza.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
IDF strikes at least 220 Hezbollah targets
Israel struck 220 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Thursday, including launchers used to fire projectiles into Israel, weapons storage facilities and Hezbollah members, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Israel has now struck thousands of Hezbollah targets in Lebanon since Monday.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Israel waiting ‘years’ for opportunity to attack Hezbollah: IDF chief of staff
Israeli officials are insisting they will continue fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shot down a 21-day cease-fire proposal submitted by the U.S. and France.
“We need to continue attacking Hezbollah, we have been waiting for this opportunity for years,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the chief of the General Staff for the Israel Defense Forces, said Thursday.
The IDF is working to “eliminate” more Hezbollah senior officials, “thwart the transfer of weapons, to detract from Hezbollah’s firepower and to attack it throughout Lebanon,” Halevi added.
After landing in New York before he is set to speak at the United Nations on Friday, Netanyahu doubled down on continuing to fight Hezbollah.
“The policy is clear: we continue to hit Hezbollah with all our might — we will not stop until we achieve all our goals,” Netanyahu said.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
‘No cease-fire’ in Lebanon, Israel’s foreign minister says
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared on social media on Thursday that there “will be no ceasefire in the north,” as U.S.-led efforts to prevent a full-scale Israeli invasion of Lebanon appeared to fall flat.
“We will continue to fight against the terrorist organization Hezbollah with all our might until victory and the safe return of the residents of the north to their homes,” Katz wrote in a post to X.
The statement came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed reports that the U.S. was gathering international support for a 21-day cease-fire. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday the plan had “significant” backing.
“This is an American-French proposal, to which the prime minister did not even respond,” a post to Netanyahu’s official X page said.
The Israel Defense Forces continued its bombardment of southern and eastern Lebanon overnight into Thursday while its troops prepared for an expected ground operation.
Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the chief of the IDF General Staff, told units at the northern border on Wednesday: “We are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory.”
IDF continues deadly strikes as ground offensive looms
At least 23 more people were killed as Israeli warplanes continued airstrikes in Lebanon through Thursday morning.
The Israel Defense Forces said its aircraft struck approximately 75 Hezbollah targets in the south of the country and the eastern Bekaa region overnight. The force said it is continuing operations “to dismantle and degrade Hezbollah’s capabilities.”
Since Monday, Israel’s intensified air campaign killed nearly 700 people and wounded more than 1,700 others, per data from the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The IDF said Hezbollah fired approximately 45 projectiles into Israel from Lebanon on Thursday morning, some of which were intercepted with the rest falling in open areas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, dismissed hopes of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that would forestall Israel’s planned ground invasion of southern Lebanon.
Netanyahu “instructed the IDF to continue the fighting with full force and according to the plans presented to him,” according to a statement published on his official X page on Thursday.
Netanyahu says cease-fire news ‘incorrect,’ vows to continue fight in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said news about a potential cease-fire deal between Hezbollah and Israel being discussed is “incorrect.”
“This is an American-French proposal, to which the prime minister did not even respond,” he said in a statement posted on social media on Thursday.
He added, “The news about the supposed directive to moderate the fighting in the north is also the opposite of the truth. The Prime Minister instructed the IDF to continue the fighting with full force, and according to the plans presented to him. Also, the fighting in Gaza will continue until all the goals of the war are achieved.”
Biden says ‘significant support’ for Israel-Lebanon cease-fire plan
President Joe Biden told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday night that the U.S. was “able to generate significant support from Europe, as well as the Arab nations” for a 21-day cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah to head off a full-scale war in Lebanon.
“It’s important this war not widen,” the president said. “I’ll have more to say about it tomorrow.”
In a call with reporters just before the president landed, senior administration officials described the proposal as a “breakthrough” they hoped would produce momentum in Lebanon and in stalled talks between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip
“This is an important breakthrough on the Lebanon side, given all that has gone on there, particularly over the last few weeks,” a senior administration official said. “But you know, we will try to use the space that provides wisely on all on all fronts.”
The officials indicated that a response is expected over the next several hours.
“I guess the parties are going to respond for themselves to the call, but I can share that we have had this conversation with the parties and felt this was the right moment, based on the call, based on our discussion, they are familiar with the text and again, we’ll let them speak to their actions of accepting the deal in the coming hours,” a senior administration official said.
Officials said they’d been negotiating with Lebanon nonstop for the past 48 hours, and that its leaders there were aware they speak for “everything that happens on that side of the border,” indicating that they will accept the deal on behalf of Hezbollah.
“So our expectation is when the government of Lebanon or when the government of Israel both accept this, this will carry and be implemented as a ceasefire on both sides, on both sides of the blue line, for the period of the 21 days,” an official said.
US troops in Cyprus preparing for Lebanon evacuations, official confirms
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that the small number of additional American military personnel deployed to the Middle East are on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, where they are planning for “non-combatant evacuation operations” in Lebanon.
The planning remains a precautionary measure, the official said. ABC News understands that between 12 and 24 American troops are involved in the preparations, not all of whom are special operations personnel.
Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said Wednesday she could not confirm the exact number of personnel deployed.
“What I can tell you is that we are sending a small number of additional U.S. military personnel forward to augment forces that are already in the region,” she told reporters.
“I’m just not going to be able to provide you more specifics,” she added. “I know it’s frustrating, but I’m just not going to be able to confirm more.”
Israel to use ‘all means’ in Lebanon if diplomacy fails, diplomat says
Danny Danon, Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told reporters on Wednesday that his nation would “prefer a diplomatic solution” to its unfolding conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon, but that “if it fails to return our residents to their homes, then we will use all means at our disposal.”
“We are entirely focused on achieving our objectives, which in the north is the return of our displaced citizens who have become refugees in their own country,” Dannon said.
“Do not mistake a peaceful nation for a defenseless one. We have the means, we have the capabilities to achieve this goal,” he said.
Danon again expressed that Israel was “open to ideas” to avoid a full-scale war.
“But you know, we are very honest about it. Our goal is to push Hezbollah from the fence, allow the residents to come back to the communities, and I hope we’ll be able to achieve it without using our military capabilities,” he said.
Israel is already conducting an extensive airstrike campaign across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, as well as limited airstrikes in the capital Beirut and elsewhere.
Israeli actions have killed more than 650 people — including at least 50 children — and wounded more than 1,700 others since Monday, according to Lebanese authorities.
Danon declined to weigh in on whether progress had been made towards a pause, but said negotiators “know exactly what we expect.”
Iran will not be ‘indifferent’ if Israel invades Lebanon, minister says
Iran “will not remain indifferent in case of a full-scale war in Lebanon,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
Araghchi also warned that Israel’s “crimes will not go unpunished,” and said the Middle East region “risks full-scale conflict” if the U.N. Security Council does not “act now to halt Israel’s war and enforce an immediate ceasefire.”
“The path to de-escalation is clear,” Araghchi said. “Israel must immediately stop its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon. Without a ceasefire in Gaza, there will be no guarantee of peace in the region.”
“The Security Council must act now to halt Israel’s war and enforce an immediate ceasefire, and by that, to save innocent lives. If not, the region risks full-scale conflict and history will hold Israel’s enablers, especially the United States, responsible,” Araghchi continued.
“Iran will not remain indifferent in case of a full-scale war in Lebanon,” the diplomat added. “We stand with the people of Lebanon with all means.”
81 dead and 403 wounded in Lebanon today: Ministry of Public Health
On Wednesday, at least 81 people were killed and 403 were wounded in Israeli strikes on Lebanon, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
In total, more than 650 people — including at least 50 children — have been killed and over 1,700 others injured since Monday, according to the ministry.
US in ‘active discussions’ to secure cease-fire between Israel, Hezbollah
The U.S. is currently “in active discussions” with Israel and other countries to try to secure a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, according to a U.S. official.
The Biden administration has floated at least one draft proposal aimed at temporarily halting the conflict, but Israel has signaled it intends to move forward with battle plans aimed at ending months of tit-for-tat exchanges with Hezbollah across its northern border by decimating the militant group, two officials told ABC News.
Negotiations are still ongoing, but at this hour officials said they are growing increasingly resigned to full-blown warfare on a second front in the Middle East.
The U.S. also has little leverage over Hezbollah, so it’s unclear whether the group would abide by any such agreement to pause the fighting, officials said.
The administration could potentially rely on partners with direct ties to Hezbollah to contain the group, but all of its efforts to halt its attacks on Israel over the last year have been unsuccessful, officials said.
The U.S. is still pursuing “concrete options” for de-escalation, and Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Tuesday that Israeli leadership remained “open-minded,” officials said.
The Biden administration is also still fervently focused on keeping Iran — a chief military and financial supporter of Hezbollah — on the sidelines through indirect diplomacy. Multiple conversations between countries that communicate directly with Iran are taking place on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly, officials said.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston and Michelle Stoddart
Netanyahu says operation in Lebanon will continue
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation in Lebanon will continue, despite international calls for a diplomatic resolution to Israel’s conflict with Hezbollah.
“I cannot detail everything we are doing, but I can tell you one thing, we are determined to return our residents in the north safely to their homes. We are inflicting blows on Hezbollah that [the group] did not imagine. We do it with power, we do it with guile. I promise you one thing — we will not rest until they come home,” Netanyahu said.
Biden says ‘all-out war’ is possible in the Middle East
When asked about how real the threat of a wider war in the Middle East really is, President Joe Biden said “an all-out war is possible,” but added that there’s still the opportunity for a resolution contingent on Israel changing “some policies.”
“We’re still in play to have a settlement that can fundamentally change the whole region,” Biden said, in an interview on “The View,” which covered a range of topics.
“The Arab world very much wants to have a settlement, because they know what it does for them. They’re willing to make arrangements with Israel and alliances with Israel, if Israel changes some policies.”
Biden said he has a strong relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he said that there “needs” to be a two-state solution.
“I don’t agree with his position. There needs to be a two-state solution. Ultimately, it needs to happen. There’s a way to do it, and they have a possibility,” Biden said.
Biden added that if a cease-fire agreement is reached in Lebanon, then they’ll have to deal with Gaza, but he insisted that he and his team are “using every bit of energy” to
Israel preparing a ground operation into Lebanon
Israel is preparing a ground invasion into Lebanon, according to Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, the chief of the General Staff for the Israel Defense Forces.
“We will continue, we are not stopping; we keep striking and hitting them everywhere. The goal is very clear — to safely return the residents of the north,” Halevi said Wednesday, while visiting Israeli troops at the northern border.
“To achieve that, we are preparing the process of a maneuver, which means your military boots, your maneuvering boots, will enter enemy territory, enter villages that Hezbollah has prepared as large military outposts, with underground infrastructure, staging points, and launchpads into our territory and carry out attacks on Israeli civilians,” Halevi said.
Full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war ‘wouldn’t solve the problem,’ Blinken says
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Wednesday that the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon “needs to be contained.”
“We’re working to make sure this doesn’t get into a full-scale war,” Blinken said.
Asked if he believes such escalation can be prevented, Blinken responded: “I do.”
“Israel has a legitimate problem it has to solve,” Blinken said, noting Hezbollah’s near-constant cross-border strikes since Oct. 8 and the subsequent evacuation of parts of northern Israel.
Blinken also acknowledged those fleeing their homes amid Israeli retaliation in southern Lebanon.
The “best way” to address Israel’s problems in the north, Blinken continued, “is through diplomacy.”
There were “a number of times” where full-scale war at the shared Israel-Lebanon border seemed imminent since Oct. 7, Blinken said.
“Diplomacy by the United States prevented that from happening,” he said.
“But if there were to be a full-scale war, that wouldn’t solve the problem,” Blinken said.
President Joe Biden and his top administration officials say they are working hard to de-escalate the situation in Lebanon.
In a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Biden condemned Hezbollah’s “unprovoked” attacks into Israel since Oct. 8.
“Almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remain displaced,” the president said.
“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest,” he added. “Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes on the border safely.”
“That’s what we’re working tirelessly to achieve,” Biden said.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a series of posts to X on Wednesday that Hezbollah would survive Israel’s ongoing airstrike campaign in Lebanon.
Khamenei touted the “organizational and human strength and the authority and ability” of Hezbollah, which is supported by Tehran and coordinates closely with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israeli attacks “martyred some of the effective and valuable elements of Hezbollah,” Khamenei wrote.
“This was definitely a loss for Hezbollah, but it is not to the extent that it destroys Hezbollah,” he added.
27,000 people in Lebanon displaced by Israeli bombing, UN says
More than 27,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced by Israeli military action over the past 48 hours, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Wednesday — citing Lebanese authorities.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Tuesday that the country already had around 110,000 people displaced before the intensification of Israeli strikes beginning on Monday.
“Now probably they’re approaching half a million” Habib said.
Filippo Grandi, UN high commissioner for refugees, said the “bloodshed is extracting a terrible toll, driving tens of thousands from their homes.”
“It is yet another ordeal for families who previously fled war in Syria only now to be bombed in the country where they sought shelter. We must avoid replaying these scenes of despair and devastation. The Middle East cannot afford a new displacement crisis. Let us not create one by forcing more people to abandon their homes. Protecting civilian lives must be the priority,” Grandi said.
Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees and over 11,000 refugees from other countries, per UNHCR’s count.
IDF in third day of ‘extensive strikes’ in Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it was again “conducting extensive strikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa area” to the east of Beirut.
Almost 600 people — including at least 50 children — have been killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon since Monday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Hezbollah targets Mossad headquarters in Tel Aviv
Hezbollah claimed the launch of a Qadir-1 ballistic missile targeting the Mossad intelligence agency’s headquarters on the outskirts of Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning.
“It is the headquarters responsible for the assassination of leaders and the bombing of pagers and hand-held radios,” the militant group said in a statement, referring to last week’s communication device explosions in Lebanon and Syria.
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv amid the attack.
“One surface-to-surface missile was identified crossing from Lebanon and was intercepted,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
The IDF later said in a social media post that it destroyed the launcher from which the missile was fired in southern Lebanon.
The launch at Tel Aviv is the first time Hezbollah has attacked the city in central Israel since the war in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7.
Hezbollah confirms death of division commander
Hezbollah has confirmed the death of rocket and missile division commander Ibrahim Qubaisi in a post on their Telegram channel.
Hezbollah said he was killed in southern Lebanon.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said an Israeli air attack in Da’ahia in Beirut killed Qubaisi.
52 killed in Gaza in past 24 hours, officials say
Israeli forces targeted eight residential homes in the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, killing at least 52 people, spokesperson Major Mahmoud Basal of the Hamas-run Gaza Civil Defense said Tuesday.
At least five of those people were killed after a house in the town of Al-Nasr, northeast of Rafah, was targeted, the civil defense spokesperson added.
The IDF said they were conducting “precise, intelligence-based operations in the Rafah area” in a statement Tuesday.
Nearly 500,000 displaced in Lebanon, foreign minister says
The number of people displaced in southern Lebanon as a result of Israeli airstrikes may be approaching half a million, according to Lebanese Foreign Minister Bou Habib, who stressed that “the war in Lebanon will not help the Israelis return to their homes, and negotiations are the only way to do so.”
Habib spoke at an event hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Tuesday while attending the United Nations General Assembly.
He expressed his “disappointment” over U.S. President Joe Biden’s speech at the U.N., saying it was “neither strong nor promising and will not solve this problem,” but said he “hopes that Washington can intervene to help.”
“Lebanon cannot end the fighting alone and needs America’s help, despite past disappointments,” Habib said, adding that the U.S. is “the only country that can truly make a difference in the Middle East and with regard to Lebanon.”
Mediators as far from a cease-fire deal as ever, US officials say
Mediators between Israel and Hamas are as far away from a cease-fire deal as they have ever been, with both sides impeding negotiations, multiple senior U.S. officials told ABC News.
Many officials have long been skeptical that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar would ever sign off on an agreement that involves ceding rule of Gaza, and in recent weeks Hamas has deeply frustrated the Israeli government by adding demands related to Palestinian prisoners that would be released in an exchange.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also become increasingly intractable, according to U.S. officials. While high-level engagements between the U.S. and Israel often moved the needle at the beginning of the conflict, those meetings are now unproductive, officials said — a major reason Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn’t stop in Israel during his last visit to Middle East.
When it comes to these negotiations, the ball is actually in the Biden administration’s court. Blinken promised during the first week of September that the U.S. would present a new, final proposal to both Israel and Hamas “in the coming days,” but almost three weeks later, there’s no indication that has happened yet.
The reason for the delay is the struggle to devise an arrangement both sides might agree to — but that’s just one more factor contributing to the gridlock, according to U.S. officials.
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith, Shannon K. Kingston and Martha Raddatz
Israel has ‘additional strikes prepared,’ Gallant says
Israel has “additional strikes prepared” against Hezbollah, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, in a discussion with troops on Tuesday.
“Hezbollah, today, is different from the organization we knew a week ago – and we have additional strikes prepared. Any Hezbollah force that you may encounter, will be destroyed. They are worried about the combat experience you have gained,” Gallant said.
G7 warns escalation could lead to ‘unimaginable consequences’ in the Middle East
The foreign ministers of the Group of 7 said they have “deep concern” over “the trend of escalatory violence” in the Middle East, in a joint statement Tuesday.
The statement doesn’t call out Israel by name, it does call for “a stop to the current destructive cycle,” warning “no country stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East.”
“Actions and counter-reactions risk magnifying this dangerous spiral of violence and dragging the entire Middle East into a broader regional conflict with unimaginable consequences,” it reads, while calling for the full implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that implemented a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
Additionally, the statement reaffirms the G7’s “strong support” for the ongoing efforts to broker a hostage release and cease-fire deal in Gaza.
Israel claims it killed top Hezbollah commander
Israel claimed it killed a top Hezbollah commander in Tuesday’s strike on Beirut, which killed at least six people and injured 15 others, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
The IDF said it targeted and killed Ibrahim Muhammad Kabisi, a commander of Hezbollah’s missile and rocket array.
“Kabisi commanded the various missile units of Hezbollah, including the precision missile units. Over the years and during the war, he was responsible for the launches towards the Israeli home front. Kabisi was a central center of knowledge in the field of missiles and was close to the senior military leadership of Hezbollah,” the IDF said in a statement.
The IDF also claimed he was responsible for the planning and execution of many terrorist plots against IDF forces and Israeli citizens.
At least six dead in Israeli strike on Ghobeiry neighborhood in Beirut
At least six people were killed and 15 others were wounded after Israel carried out a strike on the Ghobeiry neighborhood of Beirut on Tuesday, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
It appears the top floor of a concrete apartment building took the brunt of the strike.
US continues to urge Israel to avoid ‘all-out war’ with Lebanon as tensions remain high
The U.S. is continuing to urge Israel to avoid an “all-out war” with Lebanon as tensions between the two countries remain high, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said in an interview on “Good Morning America” Tuesday.
“I think we don’t believe it’s in Israel’s interest for this to escalate, for there to be an all-out war there on the north on that blue line between Israel and Lebanon. If the goal is to get families back to their homes, we think there’s a better way to do that than an all-out conflict,” Kirby said.
“The Israelis will tell you, yesterday, that they had to take some of these strikes because they were about to be imminently attacked by Hezbollah. They do have a right to defend themselves, but what we’re going to keep doing is talking to them about trying to find a diplomatic solution here, a way to de-escalate the tensions so that the families can go back in a sustainable way,” Kirby added.
Given the State Department’s warning to Americans to get out of Lebanon while commercial travel is still available on if he believes Israel may target airports in Lebanon as they have in the past.
“We want to make sure that there are still commercial options available for Americans to leave, and they should be leaving now while those options are available. But I won’t get ahead of operations,” Kirby said.
Kirby also dodged questions on what we might see from Hezbollah’s response to Israel, telling GMA he “won’t get into the intelligence assessment.”
“It’s obviously going to be something we’ll monitor very, very closely. I will just tell you that while we won’t get involved in the conflict itself there, around that blue line, because we don’t want to see a conflict at all. We’ll do what we have to continue to do to make sure Israel can defend itself.”
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.
(LONDON) — Israeli forces continued their intense operations inside Gaza after Hamas leader and Oct. 7, 2023 attack mastermind Yahya Sinwar was killed in a firefight with Israeli forces.
The development comes as Israel continues intense air and ground campaigns against Hezbollah in Lebanon and against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and mulls its response to Iran’s latest ballistic missile attack.
‘Beirut in flames’ after night of airstrikes, foreign minister says
“Beirut in flames,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Monday following an intense night of airstrikes on the Lebanese capital.
“A wide-scale Israeli attack targeted Hezbollah’s financial infrastructure in Beirut and across Lebanon last night,” Katz said.
“Massive fires were seen above Beirut as over 15 buildings were struck following evacuation warnings to residents,” the foreign minister wrote.
“Hezbollah has paid and will continue to pay a heavy price for its attacks on northern Israel and its rocket fire. We will keep striking the Iranian proxy until it collapses.”
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
IDF claims ‘dozens’ of strikes on Hezbollah financial targets
Israel Defense Forces warplanes launched “a series of targeted, intelligence-based strikes against dozens of facilities and sites used by the Hezbollah terrorist organization to finance its terrorist activities,” the IDF said in a Monday post to X.
The Sunday night strikes hit targets in Beirut, southern Lebanon and elsewhere “deep within” the country, the IDF added.
The IDF said the targets were linked to the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, which Israel has accused of acting as a key financier of Hezbollah activities.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
US investigating intelligence leak on Israel’s alleged plan to attack Iran
Documents purporting to show classified U.S. intelligence-gathering on Israel’s preparations for a possible retaliatory strike against Iran appeared on social media platforms late last week.
The impact of the circulation of these documents on current and future planning by the Israeli military is unclear at this time.
U.S. officials declined to comment on the situation when reached by ABC News. However, a law enforcement source on Sunday confirmed with ABC News that there is an investigation underway.
Markings on the documents indicate that they would have originated from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which collects, analyzes and distributes intelligence gleaned from satellite and aerial imagery.
If the documents are authentic, it would indicate a major intelligence breach.
According to Mick Mulroy, an ABC News national security and defense contributor, who served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East: “The future coordination between the U.S. and Israel could be challenged, as well.”
The Department of Defense, Federal Bureau of Investigation and a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence all declined to comment when contacted by ABC News.
House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared on CNN Sunday and acknowledged that there is an investigation underway into the possible intelligence leak, adding, “We’re following it closely.”
-ABC News’ T. Michelle Murphy
IDF says it’s targeting infrastructure in Lebanon of group allegedly financing Hezbollah
The Israel Defense Forces announced it was targeting infrastructure Sunday night in Lebanon that has been linked to the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association, an organization it alleges is involved in financing Hezbollah.
The United States placed sanctions on the Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association in May 2021 related to financing Hezbollah activities.
The Al-Qard Al-Hassan group has 31 branches in Lebanon — including in Beirut and Bekaa, officials said. At least one strike was reported Sunday evening in the Chyah neighborhood of Beirut.
“The ‘Al-Qard Al-Hassan Association’ is involved in financing the terrorist activities of the Hezbollah organization against Israel, and therefore the IDF has decided to attack this terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF said in a statement Sunday. “The IDF continues to work forcefully to destroy Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure. Therefore, we call on people inside buildings used by Hezbollah to stay at least 500 meters away from them for the next few hours.”
(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 demanded its government bring the hostages home.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Netanyahu defends keeping troops in Philadelphi corridor
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his position that Israeli forces cannot leave the Philadelphi corridor and still achieve Israel’s goals of the war in Gaza during a press conference in Jerusalem Wednesday.
“I’m telling you that if we relieve the pressure, if we get out of the Philadelphi corridor, we are not going to get the hostages back,” Netanyahu said.
The Philadelphi corridor — a narrow strip of land on the Gaza side of the Gaza-Egypt border — has been one of the main sticking points in reaching a hostage and cease-fire deal.
Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel needs to control the corridor to release the remaining hostages in Gaza.
“I’m committed to returning the remaining 101 [hostages]. I’ll do everything to get them, but leaving Philadelphi does not advance the release of the hostages, because the deal cannot be advanced,” he said.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Israel hits southern Lebanon after dozens of rockets fired, IDF says
Around 65 projectiles were fired into Israel from Lebanon on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, with air raid sirens sounding and air defense units active in border areas.
“The IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted some of the projectiles, and some fell in open areas,” the force said.
“A number of fires were ignited by fallen projectiles,” it added, noting that emergency services were responding.
The IDF said it was “currently striking Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon.”
Hamas threatens Netanyahu with more hostage deaths
Hamas has issued a new threat tying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership to the fate of the surviving Gaza hostages.
“Aggression stops = prisoners return alive,” a Wednesday morning post on the group’s official Telegram channel said. “Aggression continues = prisoners’ fate unknown.”
“Every day that Netanyahu continues to rule may mean a new coffin,” the post — which was written in English, Arabic and Hebrew — continued. “The decision is yours.”
Hamas and Netanyahu have blamed each other for the failure to reach a cease-fire deal. Hamas said Netanyahu’s demands are “aimed at obstructing reaching an agreement to preserve his power.”
Netanyahu, for his part, said this weekend of the militant group: “Whoever murders hostages — does not want a deal.”
There are 101 hostages still inside Gaza, around half of whom are believed to still be alive.
187,000 Gaza children receive polio vaccine, WHO says
More than 187,000 children in central Gaza have received polio vaccines since Sunday, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Wednesday that the “first phase of polio vaccination in central Gaza is complete,” with more than 187,000 children under the age of 10 vaccinated.
That is higher than the target number of 156,500, Ghebreyesus said.
“Four fixed sites will continue to offer polio vaccination for the next three days in central Gaza to ensure no child is missed,” the WHO chief added.
Preparations are underway to expand the vaccine roll out campaign into southern Gaza, Ghebreyesus said. Vaccinations there are expected to begin on Thursday.
Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies hope to vaccinate 640,000 children.
Israel agreed to partial pauses in the fighting in Gaza to facilitate the polio vaccination campaign, saying the drive will continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day.
“We ask for the humanitarian pauses to continue to be respected,” Ghebreyesus wrote. “We continue to call for a cease-fire.”
Protesters plan gathering at Netanyahu ally’s home
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum will again lead cease-fire and hostage release demonstrations across Israel on Wednesday, according to a schedule posted to social media.
“The public is called to join and come together with the families of the abductees to the houses of the ministers and coalition members and hold demonstrations and protest vigils demanding that they exercise their authority to bring about a deal now,” the Forum wrote on X.
Among the gatherings will be one outside the Jerusalem home of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer — a former member of the dissolved war cabinet and long considered a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Activists plan to protest at the homes of eight other government ministers and three members of parliament, the Forum said.
Far-right minister ‘working to stop’ cease-fire talks
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he is “working to stop the negotiations with Hamas,” as talks over a cease-fire and hostage release deal continue under massive public and international pressure.
Ben-Gvir — one of the most vocally hawkish members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government — wrote on X that Israel should end negotiations and cut fuel and electricity to Gaza in response to Hamas’ recent killing of six hostages in the southern strip.
“Continuing the negotiations only spurs them to produce more and more terror,” including in the West Bank, Ben-Gvir said.
Ben-Gvir is a longstanding proponent of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. He has called on the government to “encourage” Israelis to settle in Gaza while suggesting “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the territory.
Ben-Gvir was convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terror organization in 2008, related to an anti-Arab placard he displayed at a protest following a Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem. Signs referring to the far-right Kach movement — a Jewish group banned as a terror organization — were also found in his car.
Emhoff says parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin told him, Harris they don’t want son’s death to ‘be in vain’
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff said Tuesday night that the parents of Oct. 7 hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who the Israeli military found had been killed last week, do not want their son’s “death to be in vain.”
Emhoff opened up about the recent conversation he and his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, had with the couple after learning of the death of their son.
Speaking at a vigil hosted at the Adas Israel Congregation synagogue in Washington, D.C., which was organized to honor the memory of the six Israeli hostages found killed by Hamas in Gaza, Emhoff said Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin remained committed to seeing the remaining hostages released.
“And yet, with this unspeakable tragedy that they were going through … they were comforting us, but also asking about the latest in the negotiations,” Emhoff told those gathered at the vigil about the call with the grieving couple, which occurred last week. “They were asking how we can use this terrible moment to make progress on the deal. And they told the vice president, in no uncertain terms, they do not want Hersh’s death to be in vain. And they spoke with such grace, such compassion, such strength. And even though part of Rachel and Jon’s world had just ended, they were somehow still looking forward and looking out for others.”
DOJ charges senior Hamas leaders over involvement in Americans’ deaths in Oct. 7 attack
The Justice Department unsealed charges Tuesday targeting multiple senior members of Hamas’ leadership for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murdering of Americans during the Oct. 7 attack.
The criminal complaint, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, names six members of Hamas’ leadership structure and details extensively their terrorist activities on behalf of the group.
White House says Israel originally agreed to remove IDF from areas of Philadelphi corridor
The White House is pushing back on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance of keeping Israeli troops along the Philadelphi corridor — a narrow strip of land on the Gaza side of the Gaza-Egypt border — saying the prime minister originally agreed to removing troops in the Israel-approved framework that was announced in May.
“I’m not going to get into a debate with the prime minister and what he said over the weekend about the Philadelphi corridor,” White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said. “The deal itself, the proposal, including the bridging proposal that we started working with … included the removal of Israeli Defense Forces from all densely populated areas, and that includes those areas along that corridor. That’s the proposal that Israel had agreed to.”
Kirby acknowledged Israel’s belief that they need “some security” along the corridor, but Kirby did not give the U.S. position on whether the administration supports the IDF remaining in less dense areas along the border.
“The proposal says that they have to remove themselves to the east from densely populated areas — and that core essential element of the proposal has not changed,” Kirby said. “But the Israelis have said publicly that they believe that … they would need some security along that corridor.”
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Gantz: Netanyahu is holding up a deal
National Unity party leader Benny Gantz slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, claiming he is holding up a cease-fire and hostage deal.
Gantz said that on Monday, Netanyahu in his speech “did not look directly at the public and told the truth: That he will not bring the kidnapped alive, that he will not truly protect the southern bracket, that he will not return the residents of the north to their homes, that he will not deny Iran nuclear weapons.”
“This did not surprise me, because during the period that we sat in the War Cabinet, Netanyahu delayed the ability to move forward with the abducted deals serially, including in the first outline,” Gantz said. “This does not surprise me because already at the beginning of the war, when we asked to extend the military pressure to Khan Yunis and then to Rafah, Netanyahu hesitated and stopped.”
“The time has come to say yes and move forward: we need to bring a deal – either in stages or in one stage,” Gantz said.
Netanyahu in response laid out the Israeli military’s recent successes.
“Since Gantz and his party resigned from the government, Israel has eliminated the Hamas Chief of Staff and the Hezbollah Chief of Staff, attacked the Houthis, captured the Philadelphia axis – Hamas’s armament pipeline – and carried out a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah that thwarted its malicious plan and destroyed thousands of rockets aimed at the Galilee,” Netanyahu said. “Whoever does not contribute to the victory and the return of our hostages, it is better not to interfere.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Thousands gather for new protest in Tel Aviv
Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv Tuesday for a new protest organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.
The event was led by the younger members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum who are calling for a deal to bring all of the hostages home, the organization said.
43 killed in Israeli operation in Gaza
Forty-three people have been killed from ongoing operations in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
Israeli forces said its soldiers “struck a compound where Hamas terrorists were operating” and killed eight Hamas members. The strike was near the Al-Ahli hospital compound but wasn’t within the hospital premises, the IDF said.
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Sami Zayara and Jordana Miller
Kirby hedges on ‘final proposal’ reports, says Biden is personally still working on deal
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby hedged on reports that the U.S. is putting forward a “final proposal” when it comes to hostage negotiations, saying the administration — including President Joe Biden – is still working to get a deal.
Kirby refused to give any details about the current proposal, or how it might differ from previous offers put forward, but he stressed that the deal is “actively” being worked on with Qatar and Egypt.
“The president himself is personally involved in working with our team and working with leaders around the world to secure this deal,” Kirby said, adding that this weekend’s recovery of six slain hostages “underscores the sense of urgency that we have.”
Asked about the United Kingdom’s new restrictions on some arms exports to Israel, Kirby said he would not “comment one way or another on the decisions that our British counterparts made.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament on Monday about 30 of its 350 export licenses were suspended because “there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
“I can just tell you that, No. 1: We’re going to continue to do we have to do to support Israel’s defensive capabilities,” Kirby said. “No. 2: We have, as I’ve said many times, reviewed individual reports as best we can, and talking to the Israelis about individual reports about compliance with international humanitarian law. And as we speak, there’s been no determination by the United States that they have violated international humanitarian [law].”
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Al-Shifa Hospital reopens 2 departments
Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest and most comprehensive hospital in the Gaza Strip, reopened two of its departments on Sunday after facing shelling, raids and two sieges in the ongoing war, Al-Shifa Medical Complex Director Dr. Marwan Abu Saada told ABC News.
The reopened departments are the Emergency and Accidents Department — which has 70 beds, two operating rooms, one intensive care unit room and one X-ray room — and the Kidney Dialysis Department, which has about 22 kidney dialysis machines and serves 36 patients with kidney failure, Abu Saada said.
The hospital had capacity for 800 beds before the war, Abu Saada said.
“As for the medical staff, there is a large deficit in medical personnel, but at least we want to work and serve the community,” he said.
The maternity building will undergo a six-month restoration to become a general surgery building, he added.
-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini
Cease-fire protesters plan action near Tel Aviv Defense Ministry
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced a fresh protest scheduled for 7 p.m. local time Tuesday in Tel Aviv, close to the entrance of the Defense Ministry building.
The action will be “led by the younger members of the families,” the Forum wrote in a post on X, who will “call for a deal to bring all 101 hostages home.”
Attendees will protest what the Forum called “the abandonment of the hostages in Hamas captivity.”
Additional demonstrations elsewhere will include a gathering outside the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, a protest outside Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s residence in Kfar Ahim, one in front of Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter’s home in Ashkelon and another outside Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin’s home in Modi’in.
Gaza polio vaccination drive reaches 160,000 children
Some 160,000 Gaza children received their first vaccination for polio on Sunday and Monday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The emergency rollout began on Sunday, facilitated by a partial pause in fighting in the strip. Medical teams in the central part of the territory said they were able to vaccinate 72,611 children on the first day of the campaign.
Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies said they were hoping to vaccinate 640,000 children during the push. Israel agreed to some pauses in fighting to support the campaign, though airstrikes have continued in its first two days.
Israel has said the vaccination program will continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day.
Polio is among the illnesses feared to be thriving in Gaza after 10 months of war. The strip’s long-standing humanitarian difficulties have been exacerbated by the destruction of health care facilities, critical infrastructure, and the displacement — sometimes repeated displacement — of most of the territory’s residents.
Gaza recently reported its first polio case in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in a leg. The World Health Organization said the case suggests there could be hundreds more infected who are not symptomatic.
Netanyahu asks hostage families for forgiveness, says pressure should be directed at Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asking for forgiveness from the families of the six slain hostages whose bodies were recovered this weekend.
“I ask you for forgiveness that we did not succeed to bring your loved ones back alive. We were close, but we did not succeed,” Netanyahu said at a Monday news conference.
Netanyahu again said the Israel Defense Forces must maintain a presence on the Egyptian border, but he said the IDF does not need a “large” presence of forces there. It needs groups of forces in key areas all along the border, he said. Netanyahu also reiterated that the IDF must maintain a presence in the Philadelphi corridor to reach the goals of the war.
When asked how he would define “total victory” in the war, Netanyahu responded, “When Hamas no longer rules Gaza — we throw them out. I would define the end of the war of World War II when the Nazis no longer ruled Germany. To do that you need to have a military victory and you have to have also a political victory to destroy their governance.”
Netanyahu also said that international “pressure” must be directed at Hamas, not Israel.
“These murderers executed six of our hostages, they shot them in the back of the head. And now after this we’re asked to show seriousness, we’re asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas?” he said.
Netanyahu added, “I don’t believe President [Joe] Biden or anyone serious about achieving peace and achieving the release [of hostages] can seriously ask Israel to make these concessions. We’ve already made them. Hamas has to make concessions.”
A Hamas military spokesman said in a new statement the Israeli hostages won’t be freed by force.
“Netanyahu’s insistence on freeing the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean their return to their families in coffins, and their families will have to choose between dead or alive,” the spokesperson said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Biden: ‘We’re in the middle of negotiations’ on hostage, cease-fire deal
President Joe Biden told reporters “we’re still negotiating” when asked if there will be a final hostage and cease-fire deal proposed this week.
Asked what he wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do, Biden replied, “We’re in the middle of negotiations.”
“We’re still in negotiations. Not with him [Netanyahu], with my colleagues from Qatar and from Egypt,” Biden said.
Earlier on Monday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team in the Situation Room.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke on the phone Monday morning with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a U.S. official said. They discussed efforts to conclude a deal for the release of the hostages and for a cease-fire in Gaza, the official said.
-ABC News’ Karen Travers, Elizabeth Schulze and Lauren Peller
Protesters break through barriers near Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s residence
Protesters broke through barriers near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Monday as they demanded progress on a deal to return the hostages in Gaza.
Monday marks the second day of large protests across Israel after six murdered hostages were recovered in Gaza this weekend.
Israeli defense minister ‘deeply disheartened’ by UK decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement he was “deeply disheartened” to learn of the United Kingdom’s new restrictions on some arms exports to Israel.
“This comes at a time when we fight a war on 7 different fronts — a war that was launched by a savage terrorist organization, unprovoked,” Gallant said. “At a time when we mourn 6 hostages who were executed in cold blood by Hamas inside tunnels in Gaza. At a time when we fight to bring 101 hostages home.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament on Monday about 30 of 350 export licenses are suspended because “there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
29 Palestinians killed in West Bank since IDF operation began
Twenty-nine Palestinians have been killed and 121 have been injured in the West Bank since the Israeli military’s operation began last Wednesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement Monday.
Eighteen people were killed in the Jenin governate of the West Bank, four in the Tubas governate, four in the Tulkarm governate and three in the Hebron governate, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta
Biden, Harris meet with US hostage deal negotiating team
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team in the Situation Room on Monday, according to the White House.
Biden and Harris received an update from the negotiation team on the “status of the bridging proposal outlined by the United States, Qatar and Egypt” and “they discussed next steps” in the release of the hostages, the White House said.
Biden also “expressed his devastation and outrage at the murder” of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages and he “reaffirmed the importance of holding Hamas’s leaders accountable,” the White House said.
Officials participating in the briefing included Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA Director Bill Burns and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
Netanyahu doubles down on Israeli troops remaining in Philadelphi corridor
In an Israeli cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his stance that he will not agree to a cease-fire and hostage deal that includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi corridor in Gaza, according to an Israeli official.
Israeli troops remaining in the Philadelphi corridor has been a key sticking point in the ongoing negotiations. Hamas wants a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
“Everyone who says that it is possible to leave Philadelphi for 42 days, knows very well that it will be for 42 years. The world will not allow us to return,” Netanyahu said during Sunday night’s cabinet meeting, according to an Israeli official. “Everyone understands the importance of Philadelphi, and [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar understands it best. That is why he insists. All smuggling the weapons to Gaza were through Philadelphi. If we change the cabinet’s decision, it will be a terrorist award, you will not return the hostages.”
The Hostages Families Forum said in a statement that Netanyahu’s comments are “dangerous.” The families said Netanyahu’s statement means “there will be no deal, and the families will not get to see their loved ones return home.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Dana Savir
Israeli president apologizes to Hersh Goldberg-Polin and his parents for not keeping him safe
As Israeli President Isaac Herzog gave a eulogy at the funeral of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, he apologized to the slain 23-year-old.
“I apologize that the country you immigrated to at the age of 7, wrapped in the Israeli flag, could not keep you safe,” Herzog said Monday, two days after the Israeli-American’s body was recovered in Gaza, along with five others.
The president also asked for forgiveness from Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, for not bringing their son home alive.
He said he learned of “a mother’s and father’s limitless love” from Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin.
“Jon and Rachel, against the senseless hatred, and unthinkable brutality of Hamas terror, pure barbaric evil, you have taught the world about human dignity,” Herzog said. “As a human being, as a father, and as the President of the State of Israel, I want to say how sorry I am. How sorry I am that we didn’t protect Hersh on that dark day. How sorry I am that we failed to bring him home.”
Though he said Israel will “continue fighting relentlessly against” Hamas, Herzog stressed that the remaining 101 hostages must be released.
“The time to act is now: Bring them home,” Herzog said.
“Decision-makers must do everything possible, with determination and courage, to save those who can still be saved,” he said. “This is not a political goal, and it must not become a political dispute. It is a supreme moral, Jewish, and human duty of the State of Israel to its citizens.”
-ABC News’ Becky Perlow
Biden says Netanyahu is not doing enough, says ‘we are very close’ to presenting final deal
When asked by reporters if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing enough on the hostage deal, President Joe Biden on Monday replied, “No.”
Asked about presenting a final hostage deal this week, Biden said, “We are very close to that.”
“Hope springs eternal,” Biden said, when asked what makes this final deal different, but he declined to provide details.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are meeting with the U.S. hostage negotiation team Monday morning.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
‘We failed you,’ dad of slain hostage says
Hersh Goldberg-Polin was curious, self-assured and a deep, independent thinker, his dad, Jon Polin, said at his funeral on Monday.
The 23-year-old, who was found dead in Gaza this weekend, was “always seeking to understand the other, and always with dignity and respect,” Polin said.
“Hersh, we failed you. We all failed you,” Polin said with a “332” on his shirt, marking how many days his son was held hostage. “You would not have failed you. You would’ve pushed harder for justice … to bridge differences. … What you would be pushing for now is to ensure your death … [and the others’ deaths are] not in vain.”
“Maybe, just maybe, your death … is the fuel that will bring home the remaining 101 hostages,” Polin said.
“You have become a global symbol of bringing improvement to our world,” he said.
“The 23 years of life that we had with you were a blessing. We now will work to make your legacy a similar blessing,” he said.
Funeral underway for slain American hostage
A funeral procession is underway in Jerusalem for slain Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The 23-year-old was one of six murdered hostages recovered this weekend.
The Israeli Ministry of Health said the six hostages were killed “in a number of short-range shots” between Thursday and Friday morning.
The funeral comes one day after thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest the deaths of the six hostages.
2 hours and 31 minutes ago Tel Aviv braces for fresh protests
More than 1,000 people have gathered in the northern Israeli city of Tel Aviv for continued anti-government protests, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conclude a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Hamas.
Other marches are taking place elsewhere in Israel. A general strike — called by Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union — also began on Monday morning in protest of the government’s failure to free those still held hostage inside Gaza.
Police reported violent clashes with anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, saying officers had arrested 29 people.
The current wave of demonstrations was sparked by the recovery of the bodies of six of Hamas’ hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and David Brennan
3 hours and 57 minutes ago Israel Police accuses Tel Aviv marchers of ‘brutal’ vandalism, violence
The Israel Police has condemned what it called “brutal vandalism” during a night of anti-government demonstrations in Tel Aviv, sparked by the deaths in captivity of six of Hamas’ Gaza hostages.
In a statement, the Police Spokesperson’s Unit said officers arrested 29 suspects for a range of offenses including disorderly conduct, assaulting officers and vandalism.
The violence followed a planned protest at the Kaplan Junction in Tel Aviv, the statement said, after which “hundreds of protesters” left the approved demonstration area and moved to the Ayalon Highway, “with the intent to disrupt traffic and public order.”
Some marchers “violently pushed against barricades and officers, leading to a confrontation during which a policewoman was injured and lost consciousness,” the statement said. The officer was evacuated for medical treatment.
As officers attempted to clear the area, some protesters “breached security perimeters, blocked the Ayalon Highway, and set fires, while firing fireworks that nearly hit officers,” police said.
“The Israel Police strongly condemns the acts of vandalism and violence directed at officers,” the statement read. “We will pursue legal action against those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.”
The protesters were demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government agree to a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Hamas.
A general strike called by Israel’s largest trade union — Histadrut — began on Monday morning in a bid to pressure the government into reaching an accord with the militant group.
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff spoke with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who was found dead in Gaza on Saturday along with five other Oct. 7 hostages, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The vice president and her husband called parents Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin on Sunday to “express our condolences following the brutal murder of their son by Hamas terrorists,” Harris said in a statement on X.
“My heart breaks for their pain and anguish,” Harris continued.
“I told them: As they mourn this terrible loss, they are not alone. Our nation mourns with them,” Harris said.
4:59 PM EDT Protest erupts in Tel Aviv as demonstrators demand cease-fire deal
Protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv Sunday night, demanding a cease-fire agreement and the release of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas terrorists.
The demonstration came a day after Israel Defense Forces recovered the bodies of six hostages in tunnels under the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Protesters were seen waving Israeli flags as they demanded a cease-fire agreement, chanting “Deal. Now.”
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
3:25 PM EDT 6 killed in IDF strike on Gaza school, says Gaza Civil Defense
At least six people were killed on Sunday when Israel Defense Forces conducted an airstrike on a school in Gaza City, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
The IDF said in a statement that the strike was aimed at Hamas terrorists they allege were operating a command-and-control center inside the Safad school to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against the IDF and Israel.
“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said in a statement.
The Gaza Civil Defense confirmed the Safad school was hit in the IDF strike, but said the school houses displaced people from the Al-Zeitoun area east of Gaza City.
