‘I don’t know’: Trump says of Israeli claim there’s no starvation crisis in Gaza
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(LONDON) — Asked if he believed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claim that there’s no starvation crisis in Gaza, U.S. President Donald Trump replied, “I don’t know,” but then mentioned the images of starving children in Gaza appearing on TV.
“I don’t know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry, but we’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up,” Trump said Monday as he met with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.
Starmer quickly chimed in, calling what’s happening in Gaza a humanitarian crisis and “an absolute catastrophe.”
The comments came hours after the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said in a statement that another 14 people died of malnutrition over the previous 24 hours, including two children.
Another 29 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes since midnight local time, the ministry said.
Eleven people were also killed on Monday morning near aid distribution sites, two local hospitals that received the bodies told ABC News.
Those officials said the sites were run by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but a spokesperson for that group told ABC News no incidents had been reported as of midday.
Israel on Sunday said it was beginning daily military pauses in several densely populated areas to facilitate the movement of aid into the territory.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Education sent a warning to the accreditor of Columbia University on Wednesday, saying the Ivy League institution violated federal anti-discrimination laws.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a press release that the decision came after the spate of protests on university grounds opposing the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
McMahon alleged Columbia leadership “acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus.”
“This is not only immoral, but also unlawful,” McMahon said.
Columbia is accused of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin, according to the department.
The department said that by violating federal anti-discrimination laws, Columbia has failed to meet the standards of accreditation that have been set by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
The government claims Columbia leadershup failed to take several actions, including failing to establish effective reporting mechanisms for antisemitism until the summer of 2024, failure to abide by its own policies and procedures when responding to Jewish students’ complaints as well as governing misconduct against Jewish students and not investigating or punishing vandalism in its classrooms.
Now, the university’s federal accreditor is required to establish a plan to come into compliance with the federal law or “take appropriate action against” Columbia, the department said.
ABC News has reached out to Columbia University for a comment.
This is President Donald Trump’s administration’s latest action taken against prominent universities, claiming they have fostered a breeding ground for harassment of Jewish students amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Last month, the Trump administration announced and then backtracked on a decision to bar Harvard University from allowing international students to enroll at the university.
Harvard is also fighting the Trump administration’s attempt to freeze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the school. Harvard filed a separate lawsuit to challenge the funding freeze in April, and the next hearing in that case is set for July.
Trump has also expressed interest in revoking the university’s tax-exempt status.
(NEW YORK) — A dangerous heat wave has set in, leaving nearly 150 million people from Texas to Maine under heat alerts on Monday.
In some regions of the country, including the Northeast, thermometers are expected to rise this week to the highest temperatures in more than decade.
Nearly 50 cities could see daily high temperature records broken, including New York City, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
“This level of HeatRisk is known for being rare and/or long duration with little to no overnight relief, and affects anyone without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said in an advisory issued Monday morning.
A heat wave is a continuous period of abnormally hot weather, generally lasting over two days, according to the NWS.
However, the definition of a heat wave varies by region. In the Midwest and the Northeast, a heat wave is defined as three or more consecutive days of at least 90 degrees.
On Monday, the heat index, a measurement of what the sweltering weather feels like as opposed to the actual temperature reading, is forecast to soar above 100 degrees for much of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, as well as in the Midwest from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Memphis, Tenn.
Philadelphia is forecast to reach a high of 100 degrees on Monday, a temperature the city hasn’t seen since July 2012.
In anticipation of the first heat wave of the season, Philadelphia city officials declared a heat health emergency that began at noon on Sunday and will stay in place until at least 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
Dr. Palak Raval-Nelson, Philadelphia’s health commissioner, said a heat health emergency is declared when the temperature gets high enough to increase “the risk of getting sick or dying from the heat” — especially for elderly people, individuals with chronic medical conditions and pregnant women.
“The best way to protect our loved ones is to make sure they can get into air conditioning during the hottest part of the day,” Raval-Nelson said in a statement.
Philadelphia is opening more than 40 cooling centers across the city to help people beat the heat.
In New York City, the temperature surpassed 90 degrees by 11 a.m. and expected to rise to the mid-90s to upper 90s on Monday afternoon and reach the upper 90s on Tuesday.
The last time New York City hit 100 degrees was in July 2012.
“Extreme heat will not just be uncomfortable and oppressive for New Yorkers this coming week, it will be brutal and it will be dangerous,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
On Tuesday, temperatures across the Northeast and Midwest are expected to be slightly higher than on Monday, and the heat index will make cities like Syracuse, New York, and Burlington, Vermont, feel over 100 degrees.
Nighttime temperatures are expected to provide little relief and could be particularly dangerous for people without air conditioning. Overnight temperatures are forecast to be hovering near 80 degrees.
The heat wave is expected to subside on Wednesday, but it will take until Thursday for much of the eastern United States to see real relief from the extreme temperatures.
Elsewhere across the country, the cold front that will help break the heat wave will move through the upper Midwest, producing severe thunderstorms from Kansas to Michigan. The primary risks for the Midwest will be damaging winds, hail, flash flooding and the possibility of tornadoes.
(MILFORD, MA) — Protests have erupted over the arrest of an 18-year-old Massachusetts high school student who state officials say was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents over the weekend while on his way to volleyball practice.
Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a Brazilian national who is a junior at Milford Public High School, was arrested on Saturday, according to a court filing from his attorney.
Students at the high school staged a walkout on Monday in support of Gomes da Silva, holding signs that said “Free Marcelo.” The protest followed community demonstrations at the Milford Town Hall on Sunday calling for his release.
The teen, who is currently in ICE custody, was not the target of the operation but was a collateral arrest, according to ICE officials.
“When we go out into the community and we find others who are unlawfully here, we are going to arrest them,” ICE acting Field Director Patricia Hyde said at a press briefing on Monday. “We’ve been completely transparent with that. He’s 18 years old. He’s unlawfully in this country.”
Gomes da Silva’s father was the actual target of the operation, according to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. The father, Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira, was sought because he “has a habit of reckless driving” at speeds over 100 mph, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Agents made a traffic stop on the father’s vehicle, which Gomes da Silva was driving at the time of his arrest, Lyons said during the briefing. The father has not turned himself in yet, he said.
Gomes da Silva entered the U.S. in 2012 through a student visa, which has since lapsed, according to his attorney. He has no criminal history and is “eligible for and intends to apply for asylum,” his attorney stated in a habeas corpus petition filed Sunday seeking his release.
A federal judge issued an emergency order Sunday afternoon directing the government not to remove Gomes da Silva from the U.S. or to transfer him out of the judicial district of Massachusetts for at least 72 hours. On Monday, a federal judge ordered that the government not transfer the teen out of Massachusetts without first providing the court at least 48 hours advance notice of and reasons for the move.
The ICE detainee locator website lists Gomes da Silva as being in custody but does not list where he is being held. His habeas petition indicates “on information and belief” that ICE is detaining him at a field office in Burlington, Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she is “demanding immediate answers from ICE” about the teen’s arrest, where he is being held and “how his due process is being protected.”
“I’m disturbed and outraged by reports that a Milford High School student was arrested by ICE on his way to volleyball practice yesterday,” Healey said in a statement on X on Sunday. “Yet again, local officials and law enforcement have been left in the dark with no heads up and no answers to their questions.”
Kevin McIntyre, the Milford superintendent of schools, said in a statement that the student was detained off-campus, and several parents have also been detained by ICE in recent weeks.
“We are all distraught by this news,” McIntyre said in a statement. “The Milford Public Schools play no part in immigration enforcement and support all of our students and families, including those who are immigrants to the United States. They are members of the community, students in our classrooms, athletes that compete representing Milford, musicians, artists, friends, and neighbors. We will do everything in our power to support our students and families during these difficult times.”
Gomes da Silva was supposed to play in the band at the high school’s graduation on Sunday, Boston ABC affiliate WCVB reported. Some graduates marched from the ceremony to the protest at Milford Town Hall, still in their caps and gowns.
The teen’s friends expressed shock and dismay at his arrest. His girlfriend, Julianys Rentas, told WCVB that he plays drums for her church.
“He’s a member of his community and he’s never done anything wrong,” she told the station while fighting back tears.
U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, who attended Sunday’s rally, also expressed disbelief at the teen’s detainment.
“I don’t see how a kid en route to volleyball, who is an honors student, who’s a musician in the high school band — that kid is not a threat to law and order,” the Democrat told WCVB.
ICE arrested 1,461 “alien offenders” in the region in May as part of a large-scale operation, according to Hyde. Over half — 790 — had “significant criminality as well,” she said.
Pressed by reporters on whether Gomes da Silva was a danger to the community, Lyons said, “I didn’t say he was dangerous. I said he’s in this country illegally.”
“We’re not going to walk away from anybody,” he added.
ABC News’ Luke Barr and James Hill contributed to this report.
