Munich police shoot ‘suspicious’ person amid ‘major’ operation in city center
Police officers secure the area around the Koenigsplatz square after a shooting near the building of the Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism (NS-Dokumentationszentrum) in Munich, southern Germany, on September 5, 2024. (PAULINE CURTET/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Munich police shot a “suspicious person” in the Karolinenplatz area of the southern German city on Thursday morning, authorities said, adding they had launched a “major operation.”
“Police officers spotted a person who appeared to be carrying a firearm,” Munich’s police force said in a statement on social media. “The emergency services used their service weapons and the person was hit and injured.”
The area was cordoned off, with a helicopter in the air above the scene, the force said.
“There are currently no indications of any other suspects,” police said, adding that there were no other reported injuries.
The shooting occurred next to the city’s Nazi Documentation Center, police said.
“Many emergency services are on their way to the site of operations,” the force noted. “We ask that you avoid this area as much as possible.”
The Nazi Documentation Center is one of the city’s most popular museums, located midway between the famous Karolinenplatz and Königsplatz squares just northwest of the medieval old town. It is less than 500 feet from the Israeli Consulate.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that there had been a “shooting incident” close to the consulate, noting that the facility was closed on Thursday coinciding with the anniversary of the deadly terror attack at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
“No one from the consulate staff was injured in the incident,” the ministry’s spokesperson said. “The shooter was neutralized by the German security forces and the incident is under their care.”
(MOSCOW) — In what is one of the largest drone attacks since the Russia-Ukraine war began, Moscow officials said they shot down at least 12 drones on Wendesday.
The Air Defense Forces of the Ministry of Defense shot down 10 UAVs Tuesday night and two more Wednesday morning, local time, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin.
It was not clear how many drones and missiles were launched in total.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization are ongoing, and Israeli forces have launched an assault in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Here’s how the news is developing:
11:21 PM EDT 1 killed, 4 injured by shrapnel in Tel Aviv explosion: Officials
A man in Tel Aviv has died after being injured in an explosion resulting from what authorities believe was an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
“During searches of the scene, an unconscious man was found in one of the buildings, with penetrating injuries,” Zachi Heller, a spokesperson for Israel’s emergency medical service Magen David Adom (MDA), confirmed to ABC News.
The man, who Heller said was 50, did not exhibit signs of life and it was determined he had died.
Information is still developing, but the Israel Defense Forces said early Friday morning that the person who died was hit by a fragment of the UAV.
Four people were treated for shrapnel injuries at the scene and four were treated by EMS for shock/anxiety. All eight were taken to the Wolfson and Ichilov hospitals, Heller said.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
9:33 PM EDT 2 injured, taken to hospital following blast in Tel Aviv: Officials
Two people were injured in a blast in Tel Aviv early Friday morning local time, Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom (MDA) confirmed.
Emergency services received a report at 3:12 a.m. that an object had exploded in Tel Aviv. After arriving on the scene, medics transported a 37-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman in mild condition to Ichilov Hospital. The victims had “shrapnel injuries to the limbs and shoulder,” MDA spokesman Zachi Heller said. Four additional victims were treated for shock/anxiety.
Following the incident report, five fire crews arrived and extinguished the fire. They are currently conducting searches in the area.
A United States official confirmed to ABC News that the explosion had occurred near the U.S. embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, but the building was not damaged. The official said that the cause of the blast is still being assessed and that the office is advising American citizens in Tel Aviv to shelter in place.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was unaware that an unmanned aerial vehicle infiltrated Israel’s defenses. The IDF is currently reviewing the incident.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Shannon Kingston
5:13 PM EDT Poliovirus detected in sewage samples in Gaza, health ministry says
Poliovirus has been detected in sewage samples in the Gaza Strip according to testing conducted in coordination with the United Nations, the Gaza Ministry of Health announced Thursday.
Samples were taken from sewage water that “collects and flows between the tents of the displaced and in the places where residents are located as a result of the destruction of the infrastructure” in war-torn Gaza, according to the ministry.
“The presence of the virus that causes polio … represents a new health disaster,” the ministry said in a statement. “There is severe overcrowding, a scarcity of available water and its contamination with sewage water, the accumulation of tons of garbage and the occupation’s prevention of the entry of hygiene materials, which creates a suitable environment for the spread of various epidemics.”
The ministry called for “an immediate halt to the Israeli aggression, the provision of usable water, the repair of sewage lines and an end to the overcrowding at displacement camps.”
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus, which attacks the nervous system and can lead to irreversible paralysis, according to the World Health Organization.
Polio mainly affects children under 5, though the virus can strike at any age. It’s incurable but completely vaccine-preventable. The virus is highly contagious and can live for weeks in an infected person’s feces, which can contaminate food and water in unsanitary conditions and spread to other people. Polio remains endemic in two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to the WHO.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
1:47 PM EDT At least 2 people killed in Israeli strike on 9th school in 10 days
At least two people were killed and five others were injured after Israel carried out a strike on Al-Falah School in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, the ninth school the IDF has targeted in the last 10 days, according to the Gaza Civil Defense.
1:07 PM EDT Netanyahu shuts down plan to build field hospital for Gazan children
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has scrapped Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s plans to establish a field hospital for Gazans along the border with Gaza.
Netanyahu “announced in writing that he does not approve the establishment of a hospital for Gazans on Israeli territory — therefore it will not be built,” his office said in a statement Thursday.
Gallant had announced Wednesday that he had ordered the establishment of a temporary field hospital in southern Israel along the border with Gaza to treat sick Palestinian children who are unable to leave the war-torn enclave for medical care abroad, amid the extended closure of Gaza’s Rafah crossing into Egypt. Gallant said he had told his American counterpart, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, about the plan for the field hospital during a call earlier this week, according to a readout.
The World Health Organization’s representative for Gaza and the West Bank, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, told reporters Wednesday that some 10,000 patients in Gaza still require urgent evacuation for medical treatment.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
11:17 AM EDT Palestinians held in Israeli secret detention describe torture, beatings, starvation
Human rights group Amnesty International has accused Israel of mass incommunicado detention and torture of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, citing the documented cases of 27 Palestinians who were detained for periods of up to four-and-a-half months without access to their lawyers or contact with their families.
Those detained included doctors taken into custody at hospitals for refusing to abandon their patients, mothers separated from their infants while trying to cross the so-called “safe corridor” from northern Gaza to the south, human rights defenders, U.N. workers, journalists and other civilians.
The Israeli Prison Service told the Israeli NGO HaMoked that — as of July 1 — 1,402 Palestinians were detained under a law that grants its military sweeping powers to detain anyone from Gaza they suspect of engaging in hostilities against Israel or of posing a threat to state security for indefinitely-renewable periods without having to produce evidence. This count excludes those held for an initial 45-day period without a formal order.
“The Israeli authorities must immediately repeal this law and release those arbitrarily detained under it. Torture and other ill-treatment including sexual violence are war crimes – these allegations must be independently investigated by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor’s office,” Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard.
“The Israeli authorities must also grant immediate and unrestricted access to all places of detention to independent monitors – access that has been denied since 7 October,” Callamard said.
Jul 17, 2024, 4:29 PM EDT Gaza aid pier shut down, aid to flow in through Ashdod
The JLOTS temporary pier system has been shut down, with humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza will now taking place through the civilian port of Ashdod, CENTCOM told reporters.
The pier had successfully delivered close to 20 million pounds of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which USAID estimates provided food for 500,000 people for a month. The pier’s overall cost will come in “well underneath” the $230 million costs currently estimated though he couldn’t say by how much, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the deputy commanding general of CENTCOM, told reporters.
Cooper said that 1 million pounds of aid has already entered Gaza as a “proof of concept” and that there are about 5 million pounds of aid to still deliver from Cyprus.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jul 17, 2024, 3:29 PM EDT Netanyahu ally urges him to accept cease-fire deal
The leader of Israel’s Shas party, Areyeh Deri, is urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a cease-fire deal, publicly adding its voice to the choir of those calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, according to a letter from the Shas party.
“We believe that the conditions created now following the welcomed military pressure and the targeted assassinations create an appropriate time to reach a deal that preserves Israel’s vital security interests and returns the abductees home,” the letter said.
This comes amid reports in Israeli media that Mossad chief David Barnea and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant have pushed Netanyahu to accept the deal. Without Shas, the Netanyahu-coalition would crumble.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jul 17, 2024, 3:08 PM EDT Group calls on Netanyahu to release journalists, allow access to Gaza ahead of US visit
The Committee to Protect Journalists released a statement calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release journalists held without charge and allow free, unimpeded access to Gaza ahead of his planned trip to the U.S.
“From the start of the war, Israel has continuously denied independent access to the media as Palestinian journalists struggle to survive. The loss of local journalists, an almost total ban on media from outside Gaza leaves a vacuum for propaganda, mis and disinformation. Claims and counterclaims remain extraordinarily difficult to verify independently. Facts are easily evaded and truth withers. No credible democracy engages in what is, in effect, a growing censorship regime,” Jodie Ginsburg, the CEO of CPJ, said in a statement Wednesday.
More than 100 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 and others have been arrested, often without charge, according to the CPJ.
“Journalists, like the thousands of civilians in Gaza killed, arrested or displaced continue to pay an astonishing toll,” Ginsburg said.
“An unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested, often without charge. They have been mistreated and tortured. The number of journalists reporting in Gaza is dwindling, and those who remain are doing so in treacherous conditions, but they cannot do so alone,” Ginsburg said.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Jul 17, 2024, 12:20 PM EDT Over 1,000 attacks on health care facilities in Gaza, West Bank since Oct. 7: WHO
The World Health Organization has registered more than 1,000 attacks on health care facilities in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, the agency’s top official in the region said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
There are currently no functional hospitals in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, following Israel’s recent offensive there, according to Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza.
Peeperkorn highlighted the urgency of allowing critically ill patients to leave the war-torn enclave, stating that around 10,000 patients in Gaza still require urgent evacuation –- half of whom are suffering from severe trauma, including spinal injuries and amputations.
-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini
Jul 16, 2024, 2:54 PM EDT IDF says it carried out 37,000 airstrikes on Gaza since October
The Israel Defense Forces has carried out 37,000 airstrikes on Gaza and targetted more than 25,000 terrorist infrastructures and launch sites since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the IDF said Tuesday.
The IDF also acknowledged carrying out strikes on hospitals, schools and humanitarian shelters throughout the Gaza Strip, claiming to target “terrorists who are located and based in sensitive sites,” the IDF said in a statement.
Jul 16, 2024, 2:03 PM EDT Dozens killed in Israeli strikes on UNRWA facility, safe zone
At least 23 people were killed and 73 others were injured after Israel struck a UNRWA school in a designated safe zone where displaced people are sheltering. Five UNRWA schools have been hit in the last 10 days, according to the UNRWA.
“UN facilities must be protected at all times. They must never be used for military or fighting purposes. No one is safe in Gaza, wherever they are. The people of #Gaza are children, women & men who have the right to live,” the UNRWA said Tuesday.
In another strike on a safe zone in Mawasi Khan Yunis, at least 17 people were killed and 26 others were injured.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that it struck the school, alleging it struck terrorists who were operating in a UNRWA school.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jul 16, 2024, 11:52 AM EDT Israel strikes Nuseirat refugee camp for second day in a row
Israel has carried out a strike on Nuseirat refugee camp, where internally displaced Palestinians have been told to shelter, for the second day in a row, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
This is the sixth school — a designated safe zone — to be targeted by Israeli Defense Forces’ airstrikes in one week.
Israel has not confirmed whether Saturday’s strike that killed 90 Palestinians killed two Hamas officials, including military chief Mohammed Deif, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a press conference.
“There is still no absolute certainty that the two have been eliminated, but I want to assure you that one way or another we will reach the entire top of Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said he was briefed about the type of weapons that would be used and the expected “collateral damage,” as well as confirming Israel did not believe any hostages were held in the area, before giving the go ahead for the strike.
“Why should we risk something leaking out? Suppose something leaked, Deif and his deputy would go underground in a second. We update our American friends when necessary,” Netanyahu said.
Asked about not telling the U.S. about the strike beforehand, Netanyahu said it was to avoid an information leak.
-ABC News’ Anna Burd
Jul 13, 2024, 4:14 PM EDT UN Human Rights Office condemns IDF’s strikes in Gaza humanitarian zones
The United Nations Human Rights Office has condemned the Israel Defense Forces’ use of weapons in populated areas of Gaza, including humanitarian zones, hours after an attack killed 90 Palestinians.
“The latest attack and casualty followed right after another massive attack on the north, which lasted for a week, resulting in further destruction and casualties,” the UN Human Rights Office said in a statement.
The U.N. said the IDF’s use of weapons in densely populated areas “despite the overwhelming evidence that these means and methods have led to disproportionate harm to civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure, suggests a pattern of willful violation of the disregard of [International Humanitarian Law] principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.”
“The use of such weapons in an area to which IDF is ordering people to evacuate demonstrates a rampant disregard for the safety of civilians. Even if Palestinian armed group members were using the presence of civilians in these areas in an attempt to shield themselves from attack, which would violate IHL, this would not remove IDF’s obligations to comply with these fundamental IHL principles of proportionality, distinction and precaution,” the U.N. said.
Jul 13, 2024, 3:14 PM EDT Death toll from Israeli attack on Khan Younis rises to 90
The death toll from Israel’s deadly attack on Al Mawasi, west of the southern city of Khan Younis, has now risen to 90 people killed and 300 injured, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Israel had admitted earlier that the strike was in the expanded humanitarian zone.
Pope Francis is welcomed during his arrival at SoekarnoHatta International Airport in Jakarta on Sept. 3, 2024. (Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images)
(JAKARTA, Indonesia) — Pope Francis on Monday embarked on his 45th and most ambitious trip of his papacy, both in terms of distance and duration.
It’s a 12-day, four-country, two-continent odyssey; with stops in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore.
This is not his first journey to the region: Early in his pontificate, he made four long-distance trips to South Korea, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Japan. In more recent years he has also visited Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand and, last year, Mongolia.
The historic voyage comes amid recent concerns regarding his health. The Pope suffers from mobility issues and has been repeatedly hospitalized with respiratory illnesses.
As he often does, on Monday he boarded the Papal plane in a wheelchair, using a lift. He later used a cane to walk down the aisle to greet reporters, but appeared to be in good spirits. Francis turns 88 in just three months; this marks the first time he’s left Italy in almost a year.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, the Pope’s message will focus on interreligious dialogue and cultural plurality, according to the Vatican. Francis will deliver remarks at Jakarta’s famed Istiqlal Mosque, alongside Indonesia’s Grand Imam.
Later the Pope will visit the “Tunnel of Fraternity” linking the mosque to a nearby Catholic church. The underground lane was recently built as a symbol of religious harmony.
On the eve of this departure, Pope Francis appealed for “concrete commitment” to tackle climate change. Francis will also travel to more remote parts of the country to meet with missionaries. According to Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni, some of the trip’s other themes include social and technological development, as we well as the environment and the need to combat climate change.
In Papua New Guinea, one of the world’s poorest countries, Pope Francis will stop in Port Moresby, one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
The Pope will then head to Timor-Leste, Asia’s newest country, where he’ll be confronted with the aftermath of another clergy sex abuse scandal. The Pope’s first visit to the country comes just two years after the Vatican sanctioned independence hero Bishop Carlos Ximenes for having sexually abused young boys.
Many in the deeply Catholic country have brushed aside the allegations, choosing instead to continue celebrating the Nobel Peace Prize winner as a figure who saved lives during the country’s bloody struggle for Independence. It’s unclear if Francis will address the issue or meet with some of the victims, as he has in the past in other countries.
And in Singapore, the pope will again focus on how different religions can live in harmony.
“Pope Francis will especially meet young people engaged in interreligious dialogue, entrusting them with the future of this path, so that they may become protagonists of a more fraternal and peaceful world,” Cardinal Piero Parolin told Vatican Media.
His trip to Singapore is also widely seen as an attempt to improve ties with China, a constant diplomatic push by the Vatican over recent years, in the hope of improving circumstances for Catholics in China. The pope has previously said it is his dream to visit the country. Three-quarters of the city state’s population of Singapore are ethnically Chinese, and Mandarin is one of four official languages.
