Putin declares temporary truce during Victory Day anniversary celebrations

(VATICAN CITY) — In the wake of the death of Pope Francis, the spotlight has been placed on the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church as they gather for a secretive conclave to select the next pontiff.

Many of these clergymen are flocking to social media to share updates with the public, marking a stark difference to the last conclave in 2013 when digital platforms were not as established, according to Gustavo Entrala, a strategic communications consultant who previously worked with Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

“It’s clear that many cardinals are being more active right now on social media. That’s a huge contrast with the last conclave,” Entrala told ABC News.

Cardinal Isao Kukuchi, the archbishop of Tokyo, posted a selfie on a bus with other cardinals while they were en route to “pray in front of the tomb of Pope Francis” after his funeral on April 26.

Later, once the date of the conclave’s start was announced, Cardinal William Goh of Singapore immediately posted to X asking for people to “pray that we will choose the right candidate to be the successor of St. Peter to lead the Church in this complex world.”

Similarly, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, has attained almost 300,000 followers on X, where he has been posting daily videos describing his activities in Rome and sharing some of the locations of meetings and mass leading up to the conclave.

While the idea of cardinals posting on social media has been a rising trend within the Catholic Church over the years, Entrala said the type of content has shifted slightly since Francis’ death.

“If you watched what [cardinals] were doing one month ago, it was more doctrinal, more spiritual and encouraging to their people, but now they are talking about the papacy and the process that they are going through now,” Entrala said. “I think their content is much more oriented to explaining everything surrounding the papacy and the conclave.”

The openness to share bits of information while in Rome can allow for audiences to feel a stronger connection and sense of relatability to these cardinals, Entrala said.

“People don’t want to see the priests and cardinals or bishops as very distant people who talk to you from high up. [Cardinals] know that that doesn’t work anymore,” Entrala said.

Regardless of the type of content, Entrala said he “cannot see any of them posting for the fact that they want to be elected” as pope.

Still, the willingness cardinals feel to share online could potentially lead to major consequences, according to Kurt Martens, professor at the Catholic University of America and a canon law expert.

“When cardinals post on social media, they have to be extremely careful that nothing that’s been said [in private meetings] gets out,” Martens told ABC News. “If I were a cardinal, I wouldn’t say anything to the media right now other than ‘we are all praying very hard’ and ‘pray for us.'”

Martens said if a cardinal shares any information from their general congregation meetings prior to the conclave — or from the conclave itself — they could be subject to sanctions. Overall, anyone who “directly or indirectly violates the secrecy incurs an excommunication,” which is the highest sanction one could have in the church, Martens said.

Another potential challenge the cardinals face when posting on social media is a slew of negative comments, according to Walter Scheirer, professor of engineering who researches internet culture at the University of Notre Dame. These comments, which Scheirer describes as a “continual mockery of whoever is posting,” typically relate to political partisanship, critiques about the church and other “long-standing problems,” including the church’s sex abuse crisis.

Scheirer told ABC News the problem is that the cardinals do not respond to those comments, eliminating the back-and-forth that he says is the “point of social media.”

“What you see, especially with a high-profile account of a cardinal, is they don’t respond back. You see a string of negative comments, but the public figure never really engages with that. I think that’s a little bit disappointing,” Scheirer said.

Despite the potential downsides, social media has given users more access to the world of the Catholic Church and changed its traditional patterns of hierarchy, according to Jana Bennett, religious studies professor at the University of Dayton.

These platforms have widened the net of possibilities for people to gain religious insight from, instead of only relying on their local parish, Bennett said.

“You can sort of choose your own bishop, choose the people that you see as authoritative, where before, there wasn’t that choice,” Bennett said.

Along with the cardinals, the last two popes, Benedict and Francis, have also embraced social media, with Benedict introducing the papal Twitter account, @Pontifex, back in 2012, Entrala said.

Entrala said Francis was also “extremely active” on the account during his papacy and expects the next pontiff to do the same, and perhaps even increase their digital media presence through livestreaming.

“The idea of meeting the pope and having a selfie with him was unimaginable before Pope Francis,” Entrala said. “I think the next pope will be a man of his time. Even if he is not savvy in terms of using social media, he will accept it, no problem.”

The conclave to elect the Catholic Church’s 267th leader will begin on May 7, according to the Vatican.

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(LONDON) — Israel’s decision to halt all humanitarian aid from crossing into Gaza is entering its third month.

The Israeli government said the blockade is to pressure Hamas to release the remaining 59 hostages, including the remains of those who have died, and to accept a new proposal to extend phase one of the ceasefire deal, which ended on March 18.

Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) wrote in a post on X in late April that humanitarian personnel have been allowed to enter and exit Gaza to support humanitarian efforts in the strip.

But multiple doctors and international aid workers told ABC News that water, food, medicine and medical supplies are running low, and in some cases running out completely.

Children are becoming malnourished, diseases are at risk of spreading and those who are injured cannot be treated properly, the workers said.

“If nothing is done, if food is not brought in, if water is not brought in, if vaccines are not brought in at scale — we’re already in a catastrophe, and we’re going to have way more children dying [from] preventable causes,” Jonathan Crickx, chief of communication for UNICEF Palestine, told ABC News.

A Trump administration official told ABC News there is a no-yet-finalized plan to administer the delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza, starting with fewer than half a dozen distribution sites set up throughout the enclave.

The Israel Defense Forces did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.

Children becoming malnourished

The lack of food entering Gaza is one of the most severe problems the strip is facing, according to aid workers.

Osama As, the lead for quality, evidence and learning with the Mercy Corps Gaza Emergency Response Program, said the situation “is getting worse day after day, especially in relation to food” because most people in Gaza depend on humanitarian aid and community kitchens for food.

He said most families survive on one meal a day, and that most food available is canned food and bread.

“I never imagined that we would reach this point. Most people cannot afford the remaining items, which are either like canned foods and few quantities of vegetables which are produced locally here in Gaza,” As, who is based in Gaza, said. “The prices are very high, so I think most people cannot afford these kinds of items to buy from the local market.”

Dr. Ahmed Alfar, head of the pediatrics department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, said he has seen many examples of malnourished children over the past two months.

One example he gave is a baby girl named Siwar, who was born four months ago. At birth, she weighed 2.5 kilograms, or 5.5 pounds.

Four months later, she should be weighing about 5 kilograms, or 11 pounds. Instead, she is only about 6 pounds, according to Alfar.

Alfar said the mother is unable to lactate and the family does not have much money, so they have been unable to feed Siwar milk, just sweetened water.

“That means in four months she gained just 200 grams, and this is unbelievable,” he told ABC News in Arabic. “She was a full-term baby. She was delivered vaginally. Her health was completely normal. … We called it one of the most severe [cases of] malnutrition. Now Siwar is facing a severe, critical situation.”

Similarly, Crickx, from UNICEF Palestine, who is currently in Al Mawasi, in southern Gaza, said he visited Nasser Hospital this week and met a 4-year-old boy named Osama.

Crickx said Osama should weigh 15 to 16 kilograms, about 33 to 35 pounds. Instead, he weighs 8 kilograms, or 17.5 pounds, Crickx said.

He said UNICEF and its partners have a small number of ready-to-use therapeutic foods to treat malnutrition, but they are running out. UNICEF has already run out of food meant to address the first signs of malnutrition.

“[Osama] has, really, the skin on the bones, and he was healthy before the beginning of this terrible war,” Crickx said. “So, we are now in a situation where children are hungry, they are little by little being affected more and more by acute malnutrition, acute severe malnutrition. And if nothing is done, we fear that the worst will happen to them.”

Community kitchen workers told ABC News if the border crossings remain closed, markets will close, and ingredients will run out. Some food relief organizations have already closed.

In late April, the United Nations’ World Food Programme said it had delivered its last remaining food stocks to hot meal kitchens in Gaza, and it expected to fully run out of food in the coming days. Additionally, the nonprofit group World Central Kitchen (WCK) announced on Wednesday that it had run out of supplies and ingredients needed to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza.

WCK said it has trucks loaded with food and cooking fuel that have been ready to enter Gaza since early March as well as additional food and equipment ready to be shipped from Jordan and Egypt.

“In recent weeks, our teams stretched every remaining ingredient and fuel source using creativity and determination. We turned to alternative fuels like wood pallets and olive husk pellets and pivoted away from rice recipes that require more fuel in favor of stews with bread,” WCK said. “But we have now reached the limits of what is possible.”

Risk of spreading disease

The blockade has also had an impact on the spread of disease in Gaza, aid workers said.

Overcrowding in tent camps — along with a lack of clean water, hygiene products and poor sanitation — puts Gazans at risk of contracting infectious diseases, they said.

Limited supplies of soap and hygienic products “will continue to lead to escalation in skin manifestations of diseases like scabies,” Dr. Aqsa Durrani, a pediatrician who was recently on assignment in Gaza with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders, told ABC News.

It’s unclear how many infections have been diagnosed over the past two months but a study from April 2024 estimated 55,400 cases of scabies and lice outbreaks among children under age five who were displaced.

Limited clean drinking water and overcrowded camps has also led to a rise in diarrheal diseases. A report from the Institute for Palestine Studies estimates at least half of cases recorded as of Jan. 2024 have been among children under 5 years old.

Crickx said a majority of children are affected by chronic watery diarrhea, which can lead to serious complications for babies and toddlers.

There has also been a rise in vaccine-preventable diseases in Gaza including hepatitis A, chickenpox, measles and polio.

Aid workers say the blockade imposed by Israel has halted the delivery of vaccines, such as the oral polio vaccine to Gaza, leaving residents vulnerable to diseases.

“Even in these terrible conditions, we have pregnant women and babies still being born in this community and population of 2 million people,” Durrani said. “And so, we need more vaccinations as well vaccines.”

Hospitals running out of supplies to treat injured

Since Hamas launched its surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel responded by declaring war, thousands have reportedly been killed or injured. Israel has said its goal is to destroy Hamas and that it attempts to minimize civilian casualties as often as possible.

More than 15 months into the conflict, Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire deal. The ceasefire saw the withdrawal of some Israeli forces to allow more aid to get in and the release of some of the hostages.

However, resumption of hostilities in mid-March led to an increase in injuries, Crickx said. UNICEF estimates that more than 500 children have been killed since March 18 and more than 1.250 children have been injured.

Durrani — who worked as medical activity manager for MSF at a field hospital in Deir al Balah in central Gaza from the end of February until the end of April — said she saw injuries caused by air strikes, fires after air strikes and from large cooking fires.

“Because there’s no cooking gas, people are burning household items and trying to cook over large open flames,’ she said. “So, we also saw children with burns due to those flames, as well as scald burns from children who had been waiting in food distribution lines, and the jostling of the food items would then lead to them being injured from hot food.”

What’s more, burn victims or those who are injured can take longer to heal due to malnourishment. They can also be at risk of infections or skin graft failure.

Durrani explained that poor wound healing can be associated with poor nutrition, which resulted in some pediatric burn patients developing infections.

“Not only was our staff hungry, but we also had no food for our patients, including our pediatric patients,” Durrani said. “Other than just being harrowing from a human perspective, it’s also, from a medical perspective, really impacts the way that people can heal from these injuries, and these types of burns.”

“Not even being clear that we will have enough antibiotics to treat the infection if the patients develop infections,” she continued. “In the face of also not having enough surgical materials or concern that we may run critically low on anesthesia supplies if they need to go back to the [operating room].”

In conversations with doctors this week, Crickx said hospitals are experiencing shortages of anesthetics and anticoagulants. There is also a lack of medical supplies to fix bones when they suffer fractures, he said.

Durrani said her team was forced to ration medications, including painkillers, antibiotics and critical surgery supplies. They often had to perform painful procedures and wound dressing changes without any pain control.

She said she didn’t want to cause pain by removing dressings without proper pain control, but if the dressings aren’t removed, then it could lead to infections for patients.

“We’re being forced to make impossible decisions like that, which is unconscionable, given that just miles away there are trucks and trucks full of food and supplies and medications and nutritional sources,” she said. “For me personally, this is the first time that I had to look patients in the eye and say I didn’t have something that I know is just miles away.”

ABC News’ Shannon Kingston and Diaa Ostaz contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) –At least 20 people have died and 55 are injured as the casualties continue to rise Saturday following an overnight blitz by Russia near Donetsk in Ukraine, officials said.

“Last night, the Russian army fired two ballistic missiles at the center of Dobropillya in the Donetsk region,” according to a translated statement on Telegram from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Saturday morning. “After our services arrived at the scene, they launched another strike, deliberately targeting rescuers. A vile and inhumane tactic for intimidation that the Russians often resort to.

Zelenskyy confirmed that several children were among those injured, while a total of eight five-story buildings were damaged.

“I thank all emergency services, police, the State Emergency Service, and doctors who, despite the threat of repeated strikes, are not afraid and are saving people from this terror. To everyone who protects life, risking their own,” Zelenskyy said. “Such strikes show that Russia’s goals are unchanged. Therefore, it is very important to continue to do everything to protect life, strengthen our air defense, and tighten sanctions against Russia. Everything that helps Putin finance the war must break down.”

These latest strikes come just over 24 hours after the United States paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine. This means Ukrainian forces have now lost access to Maxar satellite imagery, a Ukrainian military source told ABC News as Russia continued to carry out attacks on the country this week.

Ukrainian access to U.S. government-purchased commercial satellite imagery, which includes Maxar, was suspended, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) spokesperson told ABC News.

“In accordance with the Administration’s directive on support to Ukraine, NGA has temporarily suspended access to the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery system, or GEGD, which is the primary portal for access to U.S. government-purchased commercial imagery,” an NGA spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

Starlink remains operational, and Ukraine continues to use the company’s satellite systems, a U.S. official told ABC News.

Ukraine’s European allies had harsh words for Russia and President Donald Trump’s stance on the war following the night of deadly strikes.

“This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians. More bombs, more aggression, more victims. Another tragic night in Ukraine,” Polish President Donald Tusk posted to X.

The European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, Kaja Kallas, said, “Russian missiles keep relentlessly falling on Ukraine, bringing more death and more destruction. Once again, Putin shows he has no interest in peace. We must step up our military support – otherwise, even more Ukrainian civilians will pay the highest price.”

Russia has dramatically increased the number of drones launched against Ukrainian cities in recent months.

It now appears likely that Russia will try to increase these attacks at a critical time as the end of U.S. intelligence sharing and supplies of anti-aircraft missiles could weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend against them.

With Russian missiles and drone attacks a nightly occurrence in Ukraine, the country has become largely reliant on Western anti-air weapons to defeat incoming projectiles.

U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine had allowed Kyiv to give warnings to targeted areas ahead of Russian drone and missile strikes, tracking Russian aircraft taking off, drones being launched and missiles being fired.

Trump has repeatedly — and falsely — blamed Ukraine for starting the war with Russia while seeking to undermine Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as president. The White House is pushing Kyiv to accept a deal to end the fighting and to sign an agreement giving the U.S. access to Ukrainian mineral resources.

ABC News’ Morgan Winsor and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.

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