Russian missile strike on Ukraine military college kills 41, Zelenskyy says

(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, tensions are escalating after the assassinations of two Hamas and Hezbollah leaders this week.

Here’s how the news is developing:

Hamas leaders decline ‘new conditions’ in cease-fire talks

Hamas leaders are asking mediators of the cease-fire negotiations with Israel to present a plan based upon previous talks instead of engaging in new ones, according to a statement Sunday.

Hamas also appeared to decline to discuss the “new conditions” proposed to the cease-fire plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July, saying Israel then “went on to escalate its aggression against our people and commit more massacres.”

The new development in the ongoing cease-fire negotiations came after a diplomatic push from the United States, Egypt and Qatar for a new round of talks to take place between Israel and Hamas on Aug. 15 in either Doha or Cairo. Israel agreed to send a delegation, but Hamas had yet to respond –- until now.

The upcoming talks were widely seen as the last, best possible chance at securing an agreement between the warring parties.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz, Nasser Atta

IDF expands evacuation orders in Khan Younis

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday ordered civilians in the al-Jalaa neighborhood of northern Khan Younis to evacuate as Israeli troops began raiding the area it alleges is being used by Hamas terrorists.

The IDF said the area — part of a humanitarian zone the Israeli military had initially set up in the southwestern Gaza Strip — was being exploited by Hamas “for terrorist activity” and is now considered “dangerous.” As a result, the IDF said, the boundaries of the humanitarian zone would be adjusted to exclude the al-Jalaa neighborhood.

The move comes just days after the Israeli military launched a fresh assault on Khan Younis, ordering civilians to evacuate the heavily destroyed eastern districts, where many Palestinians had returned less than two weeks ago after the IDF’s last incursion into Gaza’s second-largest city in July, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. The area was also once part of the designated humanitarian zone.

“Due to significant terrorist activity, exploitation of the Humanitarian Area for terrorist activity and rocket fire toward the State of Israel from the al-jalaa area, remaining in this area has become dangerous,” the IDF said in a statement Sunday morning. “Accordingly, at this time, the Humanitarian Area will be adjusted. The adjustment is being carried out in accordance with precise intelligence indicating that Hamas has embedded terrorist infrastructure in the area defined as a Humanitarian Area.”

The IDF said early warnings to civilians were being made to mitigate harm to the civilian population and keep civilians away from areas of combat.

-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor

World leaders react to Israeli attack on school killing 85 Palestinians

Leaders around the world have condemned an Israeli strike on a school in Gaza, making an appeal to the international bodies to stop the killing of civilians and protect displaced Palestinians. They also address the potential damage this attack has on the potential cease-fire negotiations.

“The deliberate killing of these huge numbers of unarmed civilians whenever the mediators’ efforts intensified to try to reach a formula for a ceasefire in the Strip is conclusive evidence of the absence of political will on the part of the Israeli side to end this fierce war,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Qatar called for an independent international investigation into the strike and for full protection for displaced people.

“The State of Qatar has strongly condemned the Israeli occupation’s bombing of a school sheltering displaced people east of Gaza city, which led to dozens of martyrs and injured, and deemed it as horrific massacre and brutal crime against defenseless civilians and a flagrant infringement of the fundamental precepts of international humanitarian law,” Qatar said in a statement.

Turkey also called it “a new crime against humanity.”

“This attack demonstrated once again that the Netanyahu Government intends to sabotage the negotiations for a permanent ceasefire. International actors who do not take steps to stop Israel are complicit in Israel’s crimes,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The European Union said it was “horrified” by the images of the strike.

“At least 10 schools were targeted in the last weeks. There’s no justification for these massacres We are dismayed by the terrible overall death toll,” Josep Borrell High Representative of the EU said in a statement.

Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur, called Gaza the “largest and most shameful concentration camp of the 21st Century.”

“Israel is genociding the Palestinians one neighborhood at the time, one hospital at the time, one school at the time, one refugee camp at the time, one ‘safe zone’ at the time. With US and European weapons. And amid the indifference of all ‘civilised nations.’ May the Palestinians forgive us for our collective inability to protect them, honoring the most basic meaning of intl law,” Albanese said.

Scores killed following strike on school in Gaza City

Scores have been killed following a strike on Al-Tabeen School in Gaza City early Saturday.

Al-Tabeen School is in Al Darj area of Gaza city and the school was housing hundreds of displaced persons, officials in Gaza said.

Many of the displaced people sheltering at the school had been performing dawn prayers at the time of the strike, according to the Government Information Office in Gaza.

Initial reports from Gaza officials said almost 100 people have been killed and dozens wounded, with an official casualty count expected to come from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

“Today, an Air Force aircraft attacked, under the intelligence guidance of the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet and the Southern Command, terrorists who were operating in a military headquarters located in the ‘Al-Tabin’ school complex near the mosque in Darje Tafah area, which is used as a shelter for the residents of Gaza City,” read a statement from the IDF following the strike.

Gaza’s Civil Defence said two floors of the school were targeted: the first was housing women and the ground was a prayer hall for the displaced.

There were a total of “93 martyrs, including 11 children and 6 women, as a result of the massacre committed by the occupation against the displaced people in the Al-Tabaeen School in the Al-Daraj neighborhood,” according to the Gaza Civil Defense.

Israel raids eastern Khan Younis for at least 4th time in past month

For at least the fourth time in the past month, the Israel Defense Forces raided the eastern part of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have killed at least 29 people in the central and southern areas of Gaza so far on Friday, including 19 in Khan Younis, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

The IDF ordered civilians east of Khan Younis to evacuate Thursday. On Friday morning, the IDF announced that its troops have begun “operational activity in the Khan Younis area” after receiving “intelligence indicating the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure.”

The IDF withdrew from the east of Khan Younis just 10 days ago.

Since dawn on Friday, there have been dozens of bombardments and shelling in various areas across war-torn Gaza, including the southern city of Khan Younis. The hardest-hit areas were Al-Maghazi camp, east of Al-Nuseirat camp; the eastern areas of Khan Younis; Bait Lahia in the north of Gaza; and Zaytoon neighborhood in the east of Gaza City.

At least 23 people have been killed in the central and southern areas of Gaza so far on Friday, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

US official says there’s ‘significant’ work to be done in cease-fire negotiations

A senior U.S. official told ABC News on Thursday that the call from President Joe Biden, the ‎‏Egyptian President and the Qatari Amir for Israel and Hamas to return to the negotiating table to work out a cease-fire deal was a step forward, despite more work needing to be done.

“It’s not like the agreement is going to be ready to be signed on Thursday,” the official said. “There’s still a significant amount of work to do, but we do believe that what’s left here really can be bridged, and there’s really just no time to lose.”

The official said that both Israel and Hamas have “very firm positions” on “about four or five issues” each. And though the official said they might seem to be “unbridgeable,” they have been able to find a way forward working through the issues one by one.

“We are determined to do all that we possibly can, recognizing that lives are on the line,” the official added.

US, Egypt and Qatar call on Israel and Hamas to resume cease-fire talks

In a joint statement, leaders from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar called on Israel and Hamas to resume discussions on Gaza.

The statement — signed by President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar — called for both sides to meet in Doha or Cairo on Aug. 15.

“‎‏It is time to bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza as well as the long-suffering hostages and their families,” the statement read. “The time has come to conclude the ceasefire and hostages and detainees release deal.”

Palestinian death toll climbs to 39,755

At least 39,755 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

On Oct. 7, about 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 200 were taken hostage.

IDF soldiers accused of abusing Palestinian prisoners denied release

Five Israel Defense Forces soldiers who are in custody under suspicion of aggravated abuse of a Palestinian prisoner have been denied release by a military court on Thursday, according to the IDF.

The Military Court of Appeals approved the detention of the suspects until Sunday, stating that from the evidence presented, there is “reasonable suspicion of the commission of the acts attributed to them. The military court also determined that there was a clear cause of danger from the attributed acts,” the IDF said.

United Nations experts have called the reported widespread torture of Palestinian detainees a “preventable crime against humanity.”

“Reports of alleged torture and sexual violence in Israel’s Sde Teiman prison are grossly illegal and revolting, but they only represent the tip of the iceberg, independent human rights experts warned,” U.N. experts said on Tuesday.

Around 9,500 Palestinians, including hundreds of children and women, are currently imprisoned — about one-third of them without charge or trial, according to the U.N.

27 killed in Gaza, IDF says Hamas weapons workshop found in Khan Younis

At least 27 people were killed in different parts of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. Of those killed, 18 Palestinians were killed in eastern and central Khan Yunis.

The Israeli Defense Forces said they found a Hamas weapons manufacturing workshop in a tunnel below Khan Yunis in a statement Wednesday.

-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Jordana Miller

Egypt advises airlines to avoid Iranian airspace

Egypt has issued a notice to all Egyptian airlines to not fly over Iranian airspace at times when Iran is conducting military exercises on Wednesday and Thursday.

59.3% buildings in Gaza Strip damaged or destroyed, CUNY analysis shows

A new map based on open-access satellite data shows the damage across the Gaza Strip through July 27, where an estimated 59.3% of buildings have been damaged or destroyed since Oct. 5, 2023.

According to the analysis, most of the destruction in July was in Rafah, where 750 additional buildings were damaged or destroyed last month, bringing the total infrastructural damage in the southernmost city of Gaza to 45.4%.

The damage analysis of the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite data was done by Corey Scher of CUNY Graduate Center and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University.

-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini

2 killed, 6 injured in Israeli strike on southern Lebanon

At least two people were killed and six others were injured in an Israeli drone raid on the town of Joya in southern Lebanon Wednesday.

The attack comes as Israel awaits a military response from Hezbollah or Iran after it assassinated leaders of Hezbollah and Hamas.

Hezbollah said it carried out three retaliatory strikes on northern Israel on Wednesday — attacking the Al-Raheb site with artillery shells, the Jal Al-Alam site with artillery shells and the Al-Malikiyah site with rockets.

IDF calls Sinwar terrorist following appointment, remains committed to killing him

Shortly after Hamas announced it appointed Yahya Sinwar as a the head of its political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, a spokesperson for the IDF said Israel remains committed to killing him.

“Yahya Sinwar is a terrorist, who is responsible for the most brutal terrorist attack in history – October 7th. There is only one place for Yahya Sinwar, and it is beside Mohammed Deif and the rest of the October 7th terrorists. That is the only place we’re preparing and intending for him,” Daniel Hagari said in an interview with Al-Arabia.

Last Israeli designated missing after Oct. 7 attack confirmed dead

Bilha Yinon, the last hostage who was unaccounted for by the Israeli government, has now been confirmed dead.

Yinon was killed on Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Yahya Sinwar will replace Haniyeh as head of Hamas political bureau

Hamas has announced that Yahya Sinwar will replace Ismail Haniyeh as the head of the group’s political bureau after Israel’s assassination of Haniyeh. Sinwar was the head of Hamas in Gaza.

Sinwar has a $400,000 bounty on his head following the group’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Sinwar was chosen unanimously in negotiations managed by leadership, according to a top Hamas official.

-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Ghazi Balkiz

‘Hezbollah is obligated to respond’ to Israel, Nasrallah says

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to respond to the Israeli assassination of senior official Fouad Shukr, and predicted a response from Iran after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran last week.

“After the assassination of Commander Sayyed Fouad Shukr, Hezbollah is obligated to respond, and the enemy is waiting, anticipating, and calculating that every shout at him is a response. This Israeli weeklong waiting in anticipation — for a Hezb response — is part of the punishment, part of the response,” Nasrallah said in a speech Tuesday.

Multiple IDF troops injured in Rafah, humanitarian road closed

Several Israeli troops were injured and a humanitarian road was shut down after anti-tank missiles were fired toward them during operations in Rafah.

Injured troops have been evacuated to a hospital for medical treatment.

The Kerem Shalom Crossing and the other entry routes for humanitarian aid are operating, according to the IDF.

Lebanon aims to prevent Hezbollah response to avoid wider war, says foreign minister

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said the country is working to ensure that Hezbollah’s response to Israel does not trigger a total war, saying, “It would not benefit any of the countries involved.”

“Only those who want to incite conflict would gain from such a situation. We, as officials, do not want any war. Therefore, if a response is necessary, it should not be collective or so severe that it escalates into a broader conflict,” Bou Habib said.

At least 8 Palestinians killed during Israeli military raids in occupied West Bank

At least eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during military raids in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian health authorities said.

Five were killed in the city of Jenin, two in the nearby village of Khafer Dan and one in the city of Bethlehem, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank.

Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said at least 15 people were injured during the raid in Jenin on Tuesday. A spokesperson for PRCS told ABC News that the organization’s medical teams were stopped by Israeli troops from reaching the wounded.

ABC News has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Camilla Alcini

Palestinians in West Bank being blocked from medical care: New report

Palestinians in the West Bank are being restricted access to medical care, including for physical injuries and mental trauma, according to a new report from Doctors Without Borders.

“Access to medical care for Palestinians in Hebron is rapidly deteriorating because of restrictions imposed by Israeli forces and violence perpetrated by Israeli soldiers and settlers,” Doctors Without Borders said.

Ministry of Health clinics across Hebron, in the West Bank, have been forced to close, pharmacies have run short of medications and ambulances transporting the sick and wounded have been obstructed and attacked. Faced with restrictions on their movements and the threat of violence, many sick people delay seeing a doctor or have no choice but to stop medical treatments altogether, according to data collected by Doctors Without Borders between June 2023 and April 2024.

“The movement restrictions, and harassment and violence by Israeli forces and settlers, is inflicting immense and unnecessary suffering on Palestinians in Hebron,” said Frederieke van Dongen, the group’s humanitarian affairs manager.

Israeli prisons are ‘network of torture’ for Palestinians: Human rights group

B’tselem, a major Israeli human rights group, published a report alleging that the Israeli prison system has become a “network of torture camps” for Palestinians arrested since Oct. 7.

The group reported abuse including “frequent acts of severe, arbitrary violence; sexual assault; humiliation; deliberate starvation and sleep deprivation.”

The number of Palestinians in Israeli jails and detention centers stands at 9,623, the rights group said, including, 4,781 held without charge. An estimated 60 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody.

The Israeli army and government have denied allegations of systematic abuse, and the prisons service said it is are not aware of the claims in the report.

But, Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right minister for national security who is in charge of the prisons service, has long championed the deteriorating conditions in prisons for Palestinian prisoners, who he said are “terrorists,” as a matter of policy.

“Since I assumed the position of Minister of National Security, one of the highest goals I have set for myself is to worsen the conditions of the terrorists in the prisons, and to reduce their rights to the minimum required by law,” he said in July. “Everything published about the abominable conditions of these vile murderers in prison was true.”

In response to claims of overcrowding, Ben-Gvir has advocated the death penalty as a response.

Israel, Hezbollah exchange fire, killing at least five in Lebanon and injuring two in Israel

Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets and drones toward northern Israel on Tuesday morning and afternoon, injuring at least two people, after an earlier Israeli airstrike killed at least five people in southern Lebanon, according to authorities on both sides.

The Lebanese militant group said in separate statements that Tuesday’s attacks against Israel — at least four so far — were carried out both in support of the Palestinian people in the war-torn Gaza Strip and in response to recent Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon.

One of those drones was intercepted by Israeli air defense and the falling shrapnel injured “several civilians” south of Nahariya, the northernmost coastal city of Israel, according to the IDF.

Israel’s Magen David Adam rescue service said its first responders were deployed to the scene and treated a 30-year-old man in serious condition and a 30-year-old woman in mild-to-moderate condition with shrapnel injuries to the lower limbs. Both patients were transported to the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.

“We saw the male unconscious in the car with a severe head injury from shrapnel. A female who was fully conscious with shrapnel injuries to her lower limbs was in a parking lot nearby,” paramedic Roi Vishna and senior EMT Noam Levi said in a joint statement released by MDA.” We treated the male including ventilating him and providing medications, and evacuated him by MICU in very serious condition to hospital. The female casualty was evacuated in mild to moderate condition.”

Hezbollah launched the counterattacks after an Israeli airstrike on the town of Mifdoun in southern Lebanon killed at least five people on Tuesday morning, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health. It was not immediately clear whether civilians were among the casualties.

Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily strikes for the past 10 months amid the ongoing war in Gaza. But regional tensions have soared following last week’s assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran’s capital and Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Lebanon’s capital.

Israel kills another Hezbollah commander

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Monday they had killed another Hezbollah commander in a strike on Lebanon. Ali Jamal Aldin Jawad, a commander in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force, was killed in the strike.

The death was also confirmed by Hezbollah.

“His elimination significantly degrades the capabilities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization to promote and carry out terror activities from southern Lebanon against northern Israel,” the IDF said.

Israel’s killing of a Hezbollah official in Beirut, Fuad Shukr, and a Hamas official in Iran, Ismail Haniyeh, has pushed the Middle East to the brink of further war.

Remains of about 80 deceased Palestinians returned after being taken by IDF

The deceased remains of an estimated 80 Palestinians — which Israeli forces took from Gazan cemeteries to identify whether hostages had been buried there — were returned by the Israel Defense Forces.

The bodies were decomposed beyond recognition, with Gazan officials saying between three and four bodies were in each bag. They will be reburied in a mass grave in Khan Younis.

A Gazan civil defense official on the ground said there is no data as to who these individuals were.

“I wished I could find him, to be at peace,” Suwa Abu Rajilah, a mother who traveled to the site to see if her son, killed in the war, was there. “To say I buried him, but I couldn’t find him.”

-ABC News’ Dia Ostaz

9 UN employees fired after investigation into ties to Oct. 7 attack

The U.N. has fired nine employees following a lengthy investigation into ties to the Oct. 7 attacks, the organization said.

The U.N.’s Office of Internal Oversight Services investigated 19 staff members with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East as part of the probe.

For nine of the staffers, evidence was found that they “may have been involved in the armed attacks,” the U.N. said.

“The employment of these individuals will be terminated in the interests of the Agency,” the organization said in a statement.

There was no evidence or insufficient evidence that the other investigated staffers had been involved, they added.

At least 7 Hezbollah attacks Monday

In another active day on the northern Israeli border, Hezbollah launched at least seven attacks on Monday.

The IDF said they “successfully intercepted” the projectiles, and no injuries were reported.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying in a statement they had launched them “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honorable resistance.”

The IDF also said Monday that they had “identified a terrorist cell operating a drone in the area of Meiss El Jabal in southern Lebanon.”

“Shortly following the identification, the IAF struck and eliminated the terrorists,” they said.

Israeli officer and soldier injured in aerial attack from Lebanon: IDF

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer and a soldier were injured after an aerial attack in northern Israel’s upper Galilee region near Ayelet HaShahar early Monday morning local time, the IDF said in a statement.

The aerial targets crossed from Lebanon, the IDF said.

“Israel Fire Services are currently operating to extinguish a fire that was ignited in the area as a result of the attack,” the IDF said.

Netanyahu says Israel will strike wherever necessary

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel is prepared to stand against attacks from Iran and its proxies.

“Iran and its detractors seek to surround us with a choke ring of terrorism on seven fronts. Their open aggression is insatiable,” Netanyahu said during a state memorial service commemorating the death of Revisionist Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky in 1940.

Netanyahu added, “We are determined to stand against them on every front, in every arena, far and near. “

Netanyahu’s comments came just days after the assassination in Iran of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. He was killed in an explosion on Wednesday at a guest house in Tehran that he was staying in while attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for “revenge” against Israel.

Haniyeh’s assassination followed the death of Mohammed Deif, commander of Hamas’ military wing, in a “precise, targeted strike” in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis on July 13. Deif was allegedly one of the masterminds of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

IDF officials also announced that they killed top Hezbollah military commander Fuad Shukr in a precision missile strike Tuesday in Beirut, Lebanon. Officials claim he had been orchestrating drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel, including one on July 27 in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights that killed 12 children and teenagers playing soccer.

“Anyone who murders our citizens, anyone who harms our country, will not be cleared of responsibility,” Netanyahu said Sunday. “He will pay a very heavy price. Our long hand strikes in the Gaza Strip, in Yemen, in Beirut, wherever necessary.”

Netanyahu said Israel’s goals are to “secure our future” and the ensure that hostages taken by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attack in Israel are returned home.

“We will continue to press the pedal,” Netanyahu said. “We did not let up from the pressure in all combat areas. We will take an offensive, creative, persistent initiative — until victory comes.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(RIO DE JANEIRO) — Scientists have quantified how much more fire-prone South America has become in recent decades, as several parts of the continent experience severe wildfires.

Some regions in South America are experiencing many more days with extreme fire conditions, putting some of the continent’s most important ecosystems — such as the Amazon rainforest and the Gran Chaco forest — in grave danger of a single spark starting an uncontrollable wildfire, according to a study published Thursday in Communications Earth & Environment journal.

Since 1970, the number of days per year that are extremely hot, dry and have conditions of high fire risk, such as heavy winds, have tripled — even quadrupled — in some parts of South America, the researchers found. Millions of square kilometers have experienced the high increase to fire risk, Raul Cordero, a climate scientist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and lead author of the study, told ABC News.

A concurrence of a drought and heat wave is a “horrible” cocktail for the onset of a wildfire, Cordero said. While the conditions have existed in South America before, the frequency at which the fire-risk days are happening today “cannot be compared what used to be normal in the 80s,” Cordero said.

“If somebody sets a fire, it’s going to make it quite hard to control the propagation of that fire,” Cordero said.

The researchers calculated the number of days per year that each 30-by-30 kilometer grid cell on the South American continent experienced simultaneous hot, dry and flammable extremes between 1971 and 2022. The extremes for each condition were measured by daily maximum temperature records, 30-day rainfall averages and daily fire weather index records, according to the paper.

The frequency of these simultaneous extremes increased across the entire continent during the time frame, the data showed.

There are four fire-prone “hotspots” in South America that researchers found to have particularly increasing risk for fire: the Amazon rainforest in most of its nine-country span; the border between Venezuela and Colombia; the Gran Chaco, the second-largest forest on the continent located in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay; and central Chile, which experienced severe wildfires in February, Cordero said.

The main driver to the increase of fire conditions is climate change, Cordero said.

Places like the Amazon rainforest have been experiencing persistent drought for the last two decades, while the global temperature has been increasing simultaneously, he said.

When agricultural fires are set, it gives way for the fires to get out of control, and fast, Cordero said. Agricultural fires are typically set by farmers aiming to clear the land before the next season but also for illegal activity, such as logging, he said.

“Because of the weather conditions are so extreme, they set the fire, and then the propagation on the fire can’t be controlled,” he said. “That’s the problem.”

In addition, the warm El Niño phase increased the fire risk in the northern Amazon region, while the cooler La Niña phase led to increased fire risk in central South America, the paper found.

Several parts of South America are currently experiencing record-breaking wildfires, including the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado tropical savanna and the Pantanal wetlands.

Further deforestation in the region will lead to more severe wildfires in the future, experts say.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the U.S. military announced it is moving more forces to the Middle East.

The United States and its allies continue to plead for a cease-fire deal while Israel anticipates possible retaliatory action from Iran or Hezbollah following multiple assassinations of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in recent weeks.

Here’s how the news is developing:

Israel closes humanitarian route through Rafah

Israeli forces “temporarily” closed the humanitarian route in the area of Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Tuesday, saying Hamas operatives “opened fire” toward the route.

This is the second time the IDF has closed this route in the past week.

The route is an 8-mile road going from the Kerem Shalom crossing, near Rafah, north near Khan Younis and the humanitarian zone.

Hamas not attending cease-fire negotiations in Qatar

Hamas said it will not be attending cease-fire negotiations in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday.

“The movement demands a clear commitment from the occupation to what was agreed upon on July 2, according to the clarifications conveyed by the mediators, and if that happens, the movement is ready to enter into the mechanisms for implementing the agreement,” Hamas Political Bureau Member Dr. Suhail al-Hindi told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed TV.

Israel to send delegation to Qatar to negotiate cease-fire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the sending of an Israeli delegation to Doha, Qatar, on Thursday to continue negotiations for a cease-fire agreement.

This comes as Netanyahu is receiving pushback internally and externally amid reports he changed the parameters of what he would agree to.

Biden expects Iran to hold off on retaliatory attack if a cease-fire deal is reached

President Joe Biden addressed the rising tensions in the Middle East Tuesday after U.S. officials warned Iran could launch a retaliatory attack on Israel as early as “this week.”

Biden told reporters he expects Iran to hold off on carrying out a retaliatory attack against Israel if a cease-fire deal with Hamas is reached.

“That’s my expectation, but we’ll see,” Biden said after arriving in New Orleans, LA.

Last week, Biden along with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar jointly called for Israel and Hamas to return to the negotiating table and reach an agreement that would free hostages and end the war in Gaza.

Hamas leaders declined the new set of cease-fire conditions on Sunday, asking for negotiations to resume around what was presented in July.

US approves $20 billion more in arms sales to Israel

The U.S. State Department has signed off on several large arms transfers to Israel, notifying Congress on Tuesday that it has approved the sale of more than $20 billion worth of weaponry and military equipment.

All of the sales surpass the value threshold that requires the State Department to formally notify Congress 15 days before initiating the transfer process. Congress can move to reject the transaction by adopting a joint resolution of disapproval within that timeframe.

Some of the items aren’t scheduled to arrive in Israel for years.

Israeli forces kill two Hezbollah fighters, IDF says

Israeli forces killed two Hezbollah fighters from its Southern Front on Tuesday, the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement. Hezbollah has confirmed the death of two of their fighters on Tuesday.

These attacks come as Israel awaits a response from Hezbollah and Iran for killings in recent weeks.

CIA director, Biden aide to head to Middle East to salvage hostage talks

Several U.S. officials are headed to the Middle East this week in a bid to de-escalate regional tensions and try to salvage hostage negotiations, as the window for a deal appears to be closing.

CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to arrive in Doha, Qatar, this week, where he will lead a crucial meeting on the hostages, according to a U.S. official. It’s not clear, however, whether a representative of Hamas will attend.

Meanwhile, Brett McGurk, Biden’s top adviser on the Middle East at the White House, was expected to travel separately to Cairo, according to the U.S. official.

Axios first reported the travel plans for Burns and McGurk, noting that McGurk’s plan was to nail down a security plan for the Egypt-Gaza border.

The diplomatic trip also comes as the U.S. has been scrambling to revive a coalition of countries that helped to defend Israel last April during an attack by Iran.

Israel has been bracing for Iran to launch a retaliatory attack following the assassination of a senior Hamas official in Tehran.

The U.S. official acknowledged “there have been complications” with getting some of the Arab countries on board but added they’ve been “able to put in place preparations” to defend Israel successfully.

-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty

Western leaders call on Iran to ‘stand down’

The leaders of the U.S., U.K., France, Germany and Italy called on Iran to “stand down” and expressed their support for Israel’s defense “against Iranian aggression” during a call on Monday, according to a joint statement released by the White House.

“We called on Iran to stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security should such an attack take place,” the statement said.

The leaders also expressed their support for ongoing efforts to reach a cease-fire and hostage release deal in Gaza, according to the statement.

-ABC News’ Justin Gomez

Hostage deal talks expected to move forward: State Department

As the Middle East continues its uneasy wait for Iran’s response to the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, the State Department is pressing on with its high-stakes diplomatic campaign to constrain military action from Tehran amid fresh waves of uncertainty.

“We continue to work diplomatically to prevent any major escalation in this conflict,” deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters Monday. “We obviously don’t want to see any kind of attack or response happen in the first place.”

Multiple officials within the State Department said they are still cautiously optimistic that Iran will limit the scope of its retaliation, but that they increasingly expect the country will strike at Israel before Thursday — the date the Biden administration, along with Egypt and Qatar, set to relaunch hostage/cease-fire deal talks in hopes of bringing Israel and Hamas back to the table for a final push.

A joint statement issued by the mediators last week was designed not only to pressure the parties involved, but as a message to Iran that an agreement was in the offing meant to persuade the country against military action that could scuttle a deal, according to an official.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby also publicly warned Monday that Iranian military action could impede progress at a critical point in the negotiations.

However, Hamas’ earlier announcement that it would not participate in the round of negotiations and public infighting among top Israeli officials have cast significant doubt over whether the Thursday meeting will even happen — undercutting the administration’s intended message to Tehran.

At the podium Monday, Patel said mediators “fully expect talks to move forward as they should” in order to “bring this deal to conclusion.”

He declined to say whether Hamas or Israel was the bigger impediment.

“I’m not going to color it one way or the other,” Patel said while noting that “the prime minister of Israel immediately welcomed this initiative and confirmed that the Israeli team will be there, and they’ll be prepared to finalize the details of implementing the deal.”

-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston

Retaliatory attack on Israel could come ‘this week’: Kirby

A United States assessment shows a retaliatory attack by Iran and its proxies against Israel could be launched “this week,” the White House said Monday.

“We share the same concerns and expectations that our Israeli counterparts have with respect to potential timing here. Could be this week,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. “We’re continuing to watch it very, very closely.”

Kirby said it’s difficult to ascertain what a potential attack could look like at this time but that “we have to be prepared for what could be a significant set of attacks.”

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari told reporters on Monday that Israel remains “on high alert.”

“We take seriously the threats of our enemies and that is why we are on high alert offensively and defensively,” he said.

Hagari said the IDF will “work hard to give the public time to get organized.”

-ABC News’ Justin Gomez

Netanyahu accuses defense minister of ‘adopting anti-Israel narrative’

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant appeared to take a swing at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Knesset committee meeting about Israel’s response to ongoing cross-border tensions with Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

“I hear all the heroes with the war drums, the ‘absolute victory’ and this gibberish,” Gallant reportedly said, alluding to Netanyahu’s slogan through the war, according to Israeli media.

Netanyahu’s office released a statement shortly after, saying Gallant too is bound by the policy of “absolute victory.”

“When Gallant adopts the anti-Israel narrative, he hurts the chances of reaching a deal for the release of the abductees,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said. “He should have attacked [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar, who refuses to send a delegation to the negotiations, and who was and remains the only obstacle to the kidnapping deal.”

National Unity Party Chairman Benny Gantz warned about internal divisions in Israel during an address on Monday.

“If we don’t come to our senses, there will be a civil war here,” Gantz said.

He said there have been “heroes,” from soldiers to volunteers, in the wake of the Oct. 7 attack, but also “leadership that dissolves, networks that poison the well from which we live.”

“The patriotic Israeli majority should stop the hatred and make amends,” Gantz said.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Hezbollah says it is still determined to attack Israel

While the weekend passed with no direct retaliation from Hezbollah for the killings of several top leaders by Israeli strikes, the group said it still plans to strike.

“The response is coming and inevitable and there is no turning back from it,” Ali Damoush, the deputy chairman of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, said Monday.

The Hezbollah official saif America, Great Britain, Germany and everyone who supplies Israel with weapons is a partner in the Gaza massacres.

“Israel does not find any practical and serious response to its massacres, and this is what encourages it to continue committing crimes and massacres, and without effective pressure Netanyahu will not stop his crimes,” Damoush claimed.

Israeli Air Force bans travel abroad

Amid fears that an attack from Iran may be imminent, the commander of Israel’s Air Force, Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, has issued an order barring servicemembers from traveling abroad. The directive applies to career officers and non-commissioned officers, not conscripts, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

US is ‘strengthening’ military force in Middle East over ‘escalating’ tensions

The U.S. is “strengthening” its capabilities in the Middle East by sending an additional guided missile submarine to the region “in light of escalating regional tensions,” according to a statement from Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder issued on Sunday.

The update comes the same day Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III spoke with Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

“Secretary Austin reiterated the United States’ commitment to take every possible step to defend Israel,” according to the statement.

Secretary Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, equipped with F-35C fighters, to accelerate its transit to the Middle East, which was previously expected to get there by the end of the month.

The Lincoln was already en route to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt, but will now add to the capabilities of the Roosevelt

Additionally, Austin has ordered the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the Middle East.

The statement doesn’t say how soon the Lincoln or the USS Georgia will arrive in the region.

Israeli forces intercept ‘projectiles’ crossing from Lebanon, no injuries: IDF

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intercepted approximately 30 “projectiles” that were identified as crossing from Lebanon into northern Israel early Monday morning local time, the IDF said in a statement.

No injuries were reported from the attacks, the IDF said.

“The IDF is striking the sources of fire,” the IDF added.

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