How Trump is likely to wield America’s power around the world
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(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump returned to office as president on Monday, reassuming his duties as commander in chief. His position once again puts him in charge of the world’s most powerful military, which — often at his discretion — can either engage in lethal warfare or act as a deterrent and a force for peace.
How Trump behaved as commander in chief during his first administration may offer a guide for the next four years.
In Monday’s inauguration speech, Trump set the tone for a significant change in U.S. foreign policy that could have seismic implications for America’s friends and foes.
“Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission — defeating America’s enemies,” he said.
His recent comments about taking over the Panama Canal and Greenland — refusing to rule out the use of military force to do so — raised eyebrows, along with referring to neighboring Canada as “the 51st state.” He also signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as “Gulf of America” on Monday.
“It was an intent to grab that media attention and put himself at the center of the news cycle,” retired Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, told ABC News. “This unpredictability means that all paths lead back to the Oval Office and his next statement.”
However, Trump’s slogans about making America great and putting America first may soon bump up against his need for the world to see him as a dealmaker. The war in Ukraine has been raging since 2022, but he’s promised to bring it to an end.
“Shortly after I win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled,” he said last August. “I’ll get it settled very fast.”
Trump warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that if the war doesn’t end soon, Ukraine could get substantially more aid.
At the same time, he has told Ukraine it won’t receive more U.S. support unless it enters into peace talks. Last week, White House budget director nominee Russell Vought declined during his Senate confirmation hearing to fully commit to doling out $3.8 billion in aid that Congress has already approved.
China’s threats against Taiwan and international shipping may also embolden Trump to show Chinese President Xi Jinping that America believes it has the upper hand militarily.
“He will always defer to a solution that makes him appear strong and in charge,” Lute told ABC News. “So I don’t think that there’s an easy way to simply walk away from a big competition with China.”
The situation at the border between the U.S. and Mexico is also top of mind, with Trump declaring a national emergency in his inaugural address.
“I will end the practice of catch and release and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” he said.
The biggest difference in American foreign policy may be seen in the Middle East, and the war between Israel and Hamas. On Jan. 7, he created a deadline for a Gaza ceasefire deal in exchange for Hamas releasing hostages they took in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
“If the deal isn’t done before I take office, which is now going to be in two weeks … all hell will break out,” he said during a news conference.
Then, last week, the outgoing Biden administration — along with incoming Trump envoys — helped broker a ceasefire and hostage exchange that went into effect on Sunday. However, the agreement is fragile and fraught with pitfalls. In particular, it remains unclear who will govern Gaza if the peace lasts.
The images on the streets betray an uncomfortable reality. It’s still the gunmen of Hamas in charge — a situation unacceptable to the Israeli government. The Trump administration is also unlikely to accept Hamas being in control.
Beyond Gaza, the situation in the Middle East has gone through considerable changes since Trump was last president. Iran, a major power in the region, has seen many of its allies weakened by various conflicts.
Hamas has been left devastated and weakened by months of conflict with Israel. Lebanese political party and armed group Hezbollah — designated as a terror group by the U.S. — is a shadow of its former strength, with its leader Hassan Nasrallah killed in an Israeli strike in September.
Former Syrian President Bashar Assad also fled from his country, his family held power for more than 50 years, after his regime was toppled by a rebel offensive in December.
Amid this new balance of power, Trump wants to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Such a pact could bring peace and stability in the region — the Biden administration was working to broker this agreement prior to Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel.
The Trump administration faces immense international challenges — and America going it alone may not be a viable option.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza and in Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on targets nationwide including in the capital Beirut.
The strikes continue despite a cease-fire push fronted by President Joe Biden’s White House as it prepares to hand power to President-elect Donald Trump.
Tensions also remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides.
Lebanon death toll rises ahead of possible cease-fire
Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said Tuesday that the death toll from Israel’s military operations in the country had risen to 3,768 people as of Sunday.
Another 15,699 people have been wounded since renewed fighting between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah began on Oct. 8, 2023, the ministry said.
Israel continued airstrikes on Monday night and Tuesday morning even amid reports of an imminent cease-fire deal. Lebanon’s National News Agency reported six people killed in multiple attacks in the southern Nabatieh Governorate.
IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee also issued fresh evacuation warnings for Beirut’s southern Dahiya area on Tuesday morning ahead of planned airstrikes there.
-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz
Details of Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire deal emerge
A cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah would begin soon after its announcement, with the aim of achieving a permanent cease-fire after 60 days, according to an Israeli source with knowledge of the potential deal.
The U.S. will head a committee, joined by French and Arab partners, to monitor and verify the implementation of the ceasefire, the source said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a security cabinet meeting Tuesday to discuss the deal and hold a cabinet vote, Israeli officials said.
There is almost unanimous support in the cabinet for the U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal, and it is expected to be approved. Far-right leader Ben Gvir is expected to vote against it.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
‘We don’t believe we have an agreement yet’: State Department
The U.S. is hopeful that Israel and Hezbollah are close to a cease-fire deal, but striking a pact “is up to the parties, not to us,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a briefing Monday.
“We don’t believe we have an agreement yet. We believe we’re close to an agreement. We believe that we have narrowed the gap significantly, but there are still steps that we need to see taken, but we hope — we hope that we can get there,” Miller said.
Echoing comments earlier Monday by White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby, Miller emphasized that “nothing’s final until everything’s final.”
“Oftentimes the very last stages of an agreement are the most difficult, because the hardest issues are left to the end,” Miller said.
-ABC News’ Chris Boccia
Israeli strikes kill 31, injure at least 62 people in Lebanon
Israeli forces conducted strikes Monday in the southern suburbs of Lebanon’s capital Beirut and in southern Lebanon as talks of a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel continued on both sides.
At least 31 people were killed and 62 others injured in the strikes on southern Lebanon, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said in a post on X.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
No indication Netanyahu will call in cabinet and vote to approve Lebanon cease-fire
There are no indications that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to call in his cabinet and vote to approve the Lebanon cease-fire Monday night, Israeli officials told ABC News.
Netanyahu is planning a series of meetings Tuesday to discuss the Lebanon cease-fire deal, including talks with his minister of strategic affairs, former American ambassador Ron Dermer, along with his most senior defense officials.
Later in the afternoon, Netanyahu will hold a larger cabinet meeting that includes the far-right. That meeting may lead to a final vote to approve a deal, though that remains unclear. A deal can pass even if one of the two far-right leaders opposes it.
The cease-fire would last for 60 days, but would not require the Israel Defense Forces to withdraw right away.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Jordana Miller
White House says deal is close but nothing is final
A cease-fire deal between Israel and Hezbollah was close, White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby reiterated in a briefing Tuesday, but he would not give details about the deal or specific timing, saying he had to be careful not to get in the way of the tenuous diplomacy.
“We believe that the trajectory of this is going in a very positive direction. But again, nothing is done until everything is done. Nothing’s all negotiated till everything is negotiated. And you know, we need to keep at the work to see it through so that we can actually get the ceasefire for which we’ve been working for for so long and so hard,” Kirby said.
Kirby declined to say if any announcement from President Joe Biden and French President Emanuel Macron should be expected over the next few days.
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Far-right Israeli minister says Lebanon cease-fire would be a ‘big mistake’
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Monday that a potential cease-fire agreement to end the fighting in Lebanon would be “a big mistake.”
Ending the war would be a “missed opportunity” to “eradicate Hezbollah,” Ben-Gvir wrote on X.
Ben-Gvir has previously pressured Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reject any cease-fire deal in Gaza, where fighting continues with Hamas and other militant groups.
“We must continue until the absolute victory,” Ben-Gvir said of both the Gaza and Lebanon fronts.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Khamenei calls for ‘death sentence’ for Netanyahu, Israeli leaders
In an address to thousands of Basij militia members on Monday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued last week for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were insufficient.
“What [they have] done in Gaza and Lebanon is not a victory, it is a war crime,” Khamenei said.
“Now they have issued arrest warrants for them; this is not enough,” he added of the ICC decision. “A death sentence must be issued for Netanyahu and the criminal leaders of this regime.”
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif, who the Israel Defense Forces claimed to have killed in an airstrike in Gaza in July.
Netanyahu’s office expressed its “disgust” at the decision and dismissed the ICC warrant as “absurd.”
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian and Joe Simonetti
Israeli airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs
The Israel Defense Forces said its warplanes “conducted intelligence-based strikes on several Hezbollah command centers” in southern Beirut on Monday.
The strikes again focused on the Dahiya area in the south of the Lebanese capital, which is known as a Hezbollah stronghold.
Monday’s bombings followed an intense day of strikes on Sunday, as diplomats continued to push for a cease-fire agreement to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Joe Simonetti
1 hour ago
UAE arrests 3 people accused of rabbi’s killing
The United Arab Emirates’ Interior Ministry said Monday it arrested three Uzbek nationals suspected of the kidnapping and killing of Moldovan-Israeli rabbi Zvi Kogan.
Kogan, 28, was an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Nov. 21. He managed a kosher grocery store in Dubai.
The ministry identified the three detained men as Olimpi Tohirovic, 28, Mahmoud John Abdul Rahim, 28, and Azizi Kamilovic, 33. It did not say whether charges had been filed and did not suggest a motive.
Israeli leaders have framed the killing as an antisemitic terror operation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his nation would “act by all means” to “bring justice to the murderers and their senders.”
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
IDF issues new Beirut airstrike warnings
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Monday morning that Israeli warplanes would soon begin new airstrikes in Beirut, following 24 hours of intense bombing of the city’s southern suburbs.
Adraee ordered residents of the Haret Hreik area of the southern Dahiya suburbs — known as a Hezbollah stronghold — to flee their homes and stay at least 500 meters from target buildings identified on an IDF map.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
More strikes on southern Beirut suburbs
There were more strikes Sunday night in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which have been pounded by dozens of Israeli strikes in the last few days.
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday night’s strikes in Dahieh were on “12 Hezbollah command centers.”
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaulé
29 dead in central Beirut after Saturday’s airstrike
The death toll from an Israeli strike Saturday in central Beirut has risen to 29, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
The update on casualties came as emergency workers continued to search collapsed buildings for survivors of the strike, an official said.
At least 67 people were also injured in the Israeli strike, according to the Ministry of Health.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
Israeli official confirms Netanyahu holding meeting on Lebanon cease-fire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding a meeting with security officials on Sunday night regarding ongoing Lebanon cease-fire talks, an Israeli official told ABC News.
The development comes after Netanyahu met last week in Israel with U.S. Special Envoy Amos Hochstein and discussed a possible cease-fire in Lebanon. Hochstein also traveled to Beirut, Lebanon, to discuss a cease-deal between Hezbollah and Israel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 5, 2023. (Photo by PAVEL BYRKIN/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — “Europe’s last dictator” — as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has often been termed — thus far appears to have kept his nation out of the worst of the spiralling war engulfing his neighbors to the east and south.
The 70-year-old provided invaluable material and political support for Russian ally President Vladimir Putin in his war on Ukraine, even offering Belarus as a launchpad for the doomed Russian drive towards Kyiv in the early stages of the full-scale invasion.
Since then, Russian forces have used Belarusian territory to launch ballistic missiles into Ukraine. Belarus houses bases at which Russian troops train for battle and hospitals where they recover.
Minsk even now hosts Russian nuclear warheads and Lukashenko brokered the short-lived settlement between the Kremlin and Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin after the latter’s ill-fated 2023 mutiny.
As the war in Ukraine escalated and the enmity between Moscow and its Western rivals deepened, Lukashenko’s apparent hesitance to fully commit to the conflict seems to have bought him some level of freedom from retaliation.
But with Moscow’s drone and missile barrages into Ukraine growing in scale and regularity, Belarusian opposition groups say the danger to their country is increasing.
The Belarusian Hajun Project — an open-source intelligence group banned as an “extremist” organization by Minsk — said a record-high total of 151 drones entered Belarus during November. At least three were shot down by Belarusian air defenses, it added.
One Russian attack in late November saw a record 38 strike drones cross into Belarus, the group said. ABC News could not independently verify the drone flights.
Neither the Belarusian Defense Ministry nor Foreign Ministry replied to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Russian drones were first reported over Belarus in mid-July, their appearance then relatively sporadic. In October, the Hajun Project said it tracked a total of 49 Russian drones flying into Belarusian airspace across the month. The monthly total trebled by the end of November.
At least one drone landed and exploded in the southeastern Gomel Oblast, according to Ukrainian and opposition Belarusian media reports.
According to Ukrainian air force after-action reports, Russian drones enter Belarus near-nightly. The air force has noted that its evolving electronic warfare countermeasures play some role in the increasing number of Russian strike drones going off course.
Minsk has complained of Ukrainian drones violating its airspace. In July, Lukashenko himself demanded that Kyiv ensure “comprehensive measures be taken to rule out any such future incidents in the future which could lead to further escalation of the situation in the region.”
In September, Belarus’ military said it had downed foreign drones.
Chief of the General Staff Col. Sergei Frolov said drones were shot down without specifying their nation of origin. “Timely actions by the air defense forces on duty destroyed all the violators’ targets,” he said in a statement quoted by the state-run Belta news agency.
Jonathan Eyal of the Royal United Services Institute think tank in the U.K., told ABC News that Lukashenko “has always been very careful to calibrate the policy in a way that allows implausible deniability of any involvement in the Ukraine war — and at the same time makes himself useful to the Russians.”
“He also knows that most of the Belarusian population has no interest in being dragged into the war at all,” Eyal added, describing a “balancing act” in which the Belarusian leader has to at least pretend to be defending the nation’s airspace.
“It’s not a great secret that the Russians can do more or less what they want with Belarusian airspace,” Eyal added. “The idea that somehow the Belarusian military is determined to defend its sovereignty is a bit far-fetched.”
“These are very calibrated messages from Lukashenko trying to persuade people — both at home and overseas — that somehow he remains a complete master of his own destiny,” Eyal said.
For Belarus’ pro-Western opposition — many now living in exile following Lukashenko’s crackdown on the mass protests that followed the 2020 presidential election — the drone flights are a sign of Minsk’s weakness.
Franak Viacorka, the chief political adviser to Belarusian opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told ABC News that drones “are flying over Belarus practically every single night.” An average week sees 40 or 50 UAVs transit border areas, he said.
Viacorka said Lukashenko’s government is working hard to hide any evidence of errant Russian munitions. “It’s very uncomfortable for them to say that the Russians are using our airspace,” he said. “It happens with the agreement of Lukashenko, or perhaps Russia doesn’t even ask Lukashenko for permission.”
Aliaksandr Azarau — a former police investigator who defected and now leads the opposition BYPOL group made up of former Belarusian security employees — said government propaganda seeks to hide the problem while framing all intruding drones as Ukrainian.
“The concern is only for the people who see these drones above their heads near the Ukrainian border,” Azaru said. “The rest of Belarusians don’t think about the drones — it’s not their problem.”
Official Belarusian reports of drones being intercepted, he added, are part of “a political game.” Azaru even claimed that Belarusian military aircraft have held fire and flown alongside Russian drones, effectively escorting them into Ukrainian airspace
When a drone does fall on Belarusian territory, Viacorka said, “the place is cleared immediately” and any witnesses are pressed by security services not to reveal any details.
The issue, he added, is politically sensitive for Lukashenko. “His narrative is that, thanks to him, Belarus has not gotten involved in war,” Viacorka said. “But when people see drones and shells flying over their territory, they see that Belarus is already involved in war.”
“It’s very worrying that Belarus is getting more and more involved,” Viacorka said.
Lukashenko and his Russian allies, he added, are “putting more and more people in Belarus in danger.”
Russia’s access to Belarusian airspace may also pose a threat to eastern NATO nations, three of whom — Poland, Lithuania and Latvia — border the country.
Russian freedom to act throughout Belarusian airspace has “many implications” for regional NATO states, Eyal suggested, as well as for western Ukrainian regions that will be more accessible for Moscow’s Shaheds.
In September, Latvia’s Defense Ministry reported that a Russian strike UAV crashed in the Rezekne region in the east of the country after flying across Belarus.
Since then, “improvements in all levels of Latvian airspace surveillance have been made, as well as in decision-making and information exchange algorithms,” a ministry spokesperson told ABC News. This includes the deployment of mobile air defense battle groups to the eastern Latgale border region, they said.
The procedures for NATO’s Baltic air policing mission “have also been clarified, allowing allied fighters to destroy aggressor drones entering Latvian airspace if necessary,” the spokesperson added.
“Russia has control over Belarusian foreign and domestic policies,” they continued. “Belarus is an additional Russian military district, so the threat coming from Belarus is orchestrated by Russia. Unfortunately, it is not up to Belarus and its citizens to decide how Russia uses Belarusian airspace to achieve its aggressive foreign policy goals.”
“Hybrid warfare is already happening between Russia and the West,” the ministry spokesperson said. “Belarus is just a tool for Russian aggressive foreign policy. In the short term, Russia will continue to use a wide range of hybrid warfare tools to weaken Western countries and divide their unity.”
“The Belarusian regime’s hybrid attack on the Latvian border with artificial migration demonstrates that we must prepare for all possible scenarios including violation of our airspace,” they said.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continued its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza — particularly in the north of the strip — and in Lebanon, with Israeli attacks on targets nationwide including in the capital Beirut.
Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after the former launched what it called “precise strikes on military targets” in several locations in Iran following Tehran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.
Famine risk looming in north Gaza, health officials warn
Acute food insecurity is a concern across Gaza, but the issue is especially pressing in the northern part of the strip where the Israeli military’s ongoing assault has intensified in recent weeks.
Dr. Abu Safiyeh — who works at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya — said the besieged facility is running out of all food, collecting video footage of the deteriorating situation there.
Safiyeh’s warning followed a statement last week from the United Nations’ food assistance arm warning that “the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza could soon escalate into a famine unless immediate action is taken.”
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Joe Simonetti
Gaza situation ‘has not significantly turned around,’ US says
The State Department said Monday that Israel has not done enough to improve humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip, as a 30-day deadline looms for Israeli officials to meet certain requirements or risk potential restrictions on military assistance.
The U.S. set out its conditions in a letter sent to Israeli officials last month and signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
The letter gave Israel until Nov. 12 to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the devastated Palestinian territory.
“As of today, the situation has not significantly turned around,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
“We have seen an increase in some measurements,” Miller continued. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of crossings that are open. But just if you look at the stipulated recommendations in the letter, those have not been met.”
Miller did not say what steps the U.S. would take if the situation did not improve before the deadline. “I don’t want to forecast in any way what it is that we’ll do at the end of those 30 days,” he said.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston and Joe Simonetti
Deadly Israeli strikes continue in Gaza
Around 30 people were killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to Palestinian health officials.
At least 20 people — including eight women and six children — were killed by an airstrike on a home sheltering several displaced families in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, officials said.
The town is at the heart of Israel’s most recent offensive in the northern part of the strip, which officials at the Hamas-run Health Ministry say has killed around 1,800 people and injured another 4,000.
Separate strikes elsewhere in Gaza killed at least 10 people, health officials said.
-ABC News’ Bruno Nota and Joe Simonetti
Death toll in Lebanon crosses 3,000: Health ministry
More than 3,000 have been killed since the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began over a year ago, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health.
Sixteen people were killed in Lebanon on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 3,002, it said.
60 rockets fired into Israel, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces said that at least 60 rockets were fired into Israel by Hezbollah on Monday.
Some of the rockets were intercepted and others fell “in open areas,” the IDF wrote on X.
The IDF also said it attacked one Hezbollah launcher suspected of firing up to 30 rockets, posting what it said was a video of the strike to its X page.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Israeli strikes kill 31 in Gaza, health officials say
Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 31 people in Gaza on Sunday.
Almost half of the deaths occurred in northern areas, health officials said, where Israel Defense Forces troops are pressing an intense campaign intended to root out surviving Hamas fighters and stop its units from regrouping.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that around 1,800 people have been killed and 4,000 injured by Israel’s north Gaza campaign, with “widespread destruction of hospitals and infrastructure.”
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Guy Davies
IDF says 4 drones intercepted in north and east
The Israel Defense Forces said in a post to X on Monday that military aircraft intercepted four drones.
Some of the unmanned aircraft were intercepted after crossing into Israel from Lebanon, while the others were shot down before entering the east of the country from the direction of Syria and Iraq, the IDF said.
IDF claims killing of Hezbollah commander in south Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that it killed Hezbollah’s commander of the Baraachit area of southern Lebanon in an airstrike.
The IDF said Abu Ali Rida was responsible for rocket and anti-tank missile attacks on Israeli forces and commanded Hezbollah units in the Nabatieh area.
Israel notifies UN of plans to terminate cooperation with UNRWA
The Israeli government notified the United Nations of its plans to terminate cooperation with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in a letter to the president of the U.N. General Assembly on Sunday.
UNRWA is the main U.N. agency operating in Gaza and is responsible for coordinating and supplying humanitarian aid. It also operates in the West Bank. The Israeli government has accused UNRWA of having ties to Hamas. After the initial accusations, the U.N. conducted an internal investigation, and some UNRWA staff members were fired.
Israel maintains that UNRWA still has ties to Hamas. But aid organizations warn if the agency stops operating in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis there will only worsen.
Israel’s termination of UNRWA in the country follows legislation passed by Israel’s parliament at the end of October severing the country’s ties with the organization.
Israel’s governmental body passed two bills — one banning UNRWA from operating in Israel, including in east Jerusalem, and another prohibiting any Israeli state or government agency from working with UNRWA or anyone on its behalf.
The legislation has a three-month waiting period before it goes into effect. It is set to go into effect at the end of January.
Israeli Director-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jacob Blitshtein wrote in the letter released Sunday that Israel will “continue to work with international partners, including other United Nations agencies, to ensure the facilitation of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not undermine Israel’s security.”
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Northern Gaza hospital says Israeli artillery fire injured children
The Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza said Israeli artillery fire hit a floor of the hospital, injuring children who were being treated there.
The hospital also said there was heavy bombing overnight on the block where it is located, threatening the nearby Al Yemen al Saeed Hospital.
The hospital director said in a statement on Sunday the glass of the doors and windows of the facility were shattered by the force of the blasts.
