US citizens among Sicily superyacht missing as search continues

(KYIV, Ukraine) — Ukraine now controls over 80 Russian settlements, including the town of Sudzha, since launching its major incursion into the Kursk region last week, Ukrainian officials said Thursday.

Ukrainian troops have advanced more than 21 miles inside Russia and are now in control of 82 settlements and approximately 444 square miles of territory in the Kursk region, Ukrainian Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on Thursday.

Ukraine has also set up its first military office in the region, Syrskyi said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message Thursday that a Ukrainian military commandant’s office is being established in Sudzha following “the completion of the liberation of the town” from the Russian military.

“Several other settlements have also been liberated. In total, there are already more than 80 of them,” he said.

Ukrainian forces have continued to advance since launching their incursion into Russia. As of Tuesday, Zelenskyy said 74 communities — which are largely small villages and hamlets — were under Ukrainian control in the Kursk region.

Syrskyi said Wednesday that Ukrainian forces had completed search-and-destroy operations for Russian forces still in Sudzha, the main border town from which Ukrainian forces have been expanding their bridgehead inside Russia.

Amid the advance, mass evacuations are underway in the Kursk region and elsewhere.

Over 720 people have left border areas in the Kursk region over the past 24 hours, the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said on Thursday.

Provisional accommodation centers in 14 regions have received 9,500 people, including more than 6,500 in the Kursk region, the ministry said.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said Thursday that the military is “allocating additional forces” among its measures to increase security in regions bordering Ukraine.

“We are talking, first of all, about increasing the efficiency of the troop command and control system in interaction with other law enforcement agencies and the administration of the Belgorod region, about identifying responsible officials, as well as allocating additional forces and means that will be sent to carry out the main tasks,” Belousov was quoted by the defense ministry as saying.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Russian forces have been trying to advance towards the logistics hub of Pokrovsk for months, inching forward incrementally.

The head of the Civil Military Administration in Pokrovsk said Thursday that the “enemy almost approached our community to the city of Pokrovsk” and was a little more than six miles from the outskirts of the city.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — If someone asked Sara Bsaiso what her dream was one year ago, it would have been to finish her senior year of high school, complete her final exams and attend college or university.

However, those dreams were dashed when Sara became one of the more than 12,000 children and teenagers in the Gaza Strip who have been injured since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Sara suffered severe third-degree burns to much of her body and went months with limited medical care before she was able to be medically evacuated to the United States, she told ABC News. Two of her brothers were killed in the same strike that injured her, she said.

Now, sitting in a house in New Jersey, having undergone more than a dozen surgeries and with several more on the horizon, her dream now is to recover and for “stability.”

“When I was 17 years old, I had one dream and, now that I am 18 years old, my dreams have changed,” she told ABC News in Arabic. “My life goals have changed and the way [I] look at dreams in general has changed. The one thing I want right now is stability.”

‘I realized I am on fire’

On the day of the Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, Sara, then 17, was in her final year of high school. Sara said she had school in the morning and, as she was waiting to be picked up, she heard a noise that she thought was thunder.

“My dad said, ‘No, that is rockets hitting Tel Aviv’ and we all just started looking at each other,” Sara said. “I went to WhatsApp to ask my friends if they heard the same sounds. Everyone was confused and one of my teachers … was already at school and we told her the sounds are getting louder. [She said], ‘You should go home.’ That was the last time I talked to her, this teacher.”

Sara said her father felt the situation was too dangerous to remain in their home in Rimal — a neighborhood in Gaza City, located in the north — and told the family they should leave. Sara packed a bag that included her school uniform and some clothes and traveled with her eight siblings to her grandmother’s house nearby, also in Rimal.

They stayed there about one week before the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sent flyers ordering civilians to evacuate, Sara said. They fled to Rafah, in southern Gaza, where they stayed for six days before heading back to their grandmother’s house.

On the day of her injury, Dec. 7, Sara said she had just gotten a haircut and her 15-year-old brother, Ahmed, was outside making bread.

“I was just swishing [my hair] left and right,” she said. “We were all in the living room and I was just asking everyone what they thought of my new haircut. ‘What do you think of my hair? Do you see a difference?'”

She said Ahmed came into the house and asked her if she could bring inside her younger brother, Mohammed, who was scared of “fighting noises” outside.

Sara went outside to where her 8-year-old brother was and began to comfort him.

“I am at the door hugging him, telling him, ‘You are strong, don’t be scared,'” she recalled. “All of a sudden, as I tried to turn around, there is something so hot behind me. I took a minute to look at my arms, my legs and asked myself, ‘Where am I?’ Until I realized I am actually on fire.”

The family said a missile strike had hit the courtyard of Sara’s grandmother’s house — and Sara had been caught in the blast.

“It took me a minute to understand. By then, the slippers on my feet were melting so I couldn’t really run,” she said. “I just kept trying to run. …. When I reached the door, I couldn’t move anymore. So, I was about to fall down because my legs were melting.”

Sara said she felt her father grab her as she collapsed to the ground. She could feel water being poured on her and she could hear her brother, Mohammed, screaming. At the time, Sara said she took the screaming as a sign that he was still alive. What she didn’t know was that he had been severely burned as well.

Ahmed was killed instantly, and Mohammed died about a week later, according to the family.

Meanwhile, Sara suffered third-degree burns to about 60% of her body.

As of July 23, at least one quarter — or 22,500 — of those injured in Gaza are estimated to have “life-changing injuries” that will require rehabilitation services for potentially years, the WHO said during a briefing on Thursday. Major extremity injury is the most common injury, followed by amputation, burn, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, the WHO said.

Third-degree burns affect the outer layer of skin, the middle layer of skin and fat below the skin. A third-degree burn can also damage sweat glands, hair follicles and nerve endings, and needs to be treated by a health care provider.

In Gaza, where the health care system has nearly collapsed, proper care is much more difficult to obtain.

“The first two days, there was no medicine in my system,” Sara said. “I couldn’t feel pain anywhere. I just wanted to sleep. I was shivering from the cold. Then I started feeling worse and worse and developed a [104 F] fever. I could not speak and I was shaking in place.”

Sara’s family was able to locate medicine, but she said it was expired. When Sara noticed that one of her legs was turning green — discoloration is a prominent sign of gangrene — doctors who visited told her family her wounds had become infected.

Sara said her family was able to get an ambulance amid the fighting to take her to one of Jordan’s field hospitals operating in Gaza, where she stayed for a few days before returning to her grandmother’s house. Doctors were able to give her medicine, but Sara said the hospital was overwhelmed with people injured because of the war as well as people sheltering at the hospital.

“I know the Jordanian hospital is better than being nowhere, but it was absolute torture,” Sara said. “There would be times where there is no time for them to perform surgery on me. There were many times the dressing would unravel or not be strong enough and puss would come through.”

Sara was unable to walk because her burn wounds kept opening up, so she would be carried on a stretcher or transferred by ambulance, her family said. Although Sara was bandaged, she said the dressings were painful because there was no medicine or ointment her family could use to properly wrap the wounds. Her family said she didn’t undergo surgery at a hospital in Gaza but, when her dressings were changed, medical staff would put her under anesthesia when they could.

Israel has said its goal is to eliminate Hamas, and claims Hamas uses schools, hospitals and civilian buildings “to conduct and promote terrorist activity.” Israeli officials also claim that the IDF tries to minimize civilian casualties. Hamas has denied that it is conducting its operations out of civilian buildings and has condemned any of Israel’s attacks that have killed civilians.

The IDF did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the alleged attack that led to Sara’s injuries or on the war itself.

The months-long journey to evacuate Sara

Pictures and videos of Sara’s story began to circulate on social media, and eventually made their way to Steve Sosebee, founder of HEAL Palestine. The non-profit organization was set up in January to address the humanitarian needs on the ground in Gaza.

“A friend of mine in Dubai saw her story on social media and forwarded to me and asked if we could help, considering that she was stuck in the north and that she was not able to go south and get treatment, get access to medical care at all,” he told ABC News.

Sosebee said the team in Gaza reached out to Sara’s family to coordinate her evacuation from Gaza City down to southern Gaza and then to cross into Egypt. The family decided that her sister, Seham Besaiso, would accompany her.

Sara and Seham left their grandmother’s house on Jan. 21 and made their way down to the Rafah border, Sara said.

When they arrived at the border that night, the guards did not see their names on the list of people eligible to cross over, according to Sara.

“We tried to find a hospital I could stay at until we could leave,” Sara said. “We stayed at a hospital, I don’t remember the name, but it was a circus. People losing their lives on the floor, people sleeping on the floor, people choking. It was not a place to be with an open wound.”

“Seham and I were crying unsure of what to do. The ambulance driver was very kind and was able to get us a spot in a medical tent in the south,” she added.

The next morning, after waiting at the border for several hours, Sara said the crossing guards found their names on a list and they were able to cross over into Egypt, where they remained for 17 days.

Sosebee said HEAL Palestine secured visas for the sisters and coordinated with Northwell Health Burn Care Center in Staten Island to take on Sara’s case. He helped Northwell send a medical team to Egypt to see if Sara could be moved out of a hospital and be put on a commercial flight to the U.S.

The team “determined that it was not possible for her to fly commercial, given the extent of her injuries in the current state that she was in,” Sosebee said.

The Northwell team concluded Sara needed to be put on a charter medical evacuation flight, Sosebee said. HEAL Palestine teamed up with a partner organization to help cover the cost of the charter, and launched a social media fundraising campaign.

The group was able to raise more than $180,000 to cover the cost of the charter flight as well as additional funds to cover the cost of her medical bills in Egypt and some of the medical bills she would incur in the U.S. Northwell also agreed to cover much of her costs, Sosebee said.

Sara is one of 21 children with medical needs HEAL Palestine has helped evacuate, according to Sosebee, and one of 5,000 people have been evacuated for treatment outside Gaza since October 2023, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

“When all of us came together and worked together on this, we were able to get a plane put together, to get the money raised for it, and to get [Sara] and her sister …. on that flight and on their way to the U.S.,” Sosebee said. “The finances and the money [are] secondary to the health and the obligation that we have to step up and do all we can to get her the medical care that she needs, and it’s minimal in comparison to what Northwell provided in the treatment that they gave her.”

Receiving care leads to dancing down a hallway

The journey took 24 hours, and Sara and Seham arrived in the U.S. on Feb. 6.

Seham said visitors are not typically allowed to stay overnight in the burn center due to infection control procedures, but they let her stay on Sara’s first night.

“On the first day Sara was in Egypt, she wasn’t sleeping … so it was on my mind when I first arrived here to America that Sara isn’t going to sleep,” Seham told ABC News. “[But] while I was talking to her, I looked at her and saw she had fallen asleep.”

At the burn center, Sara underwent several skin grafting procedures, which is when healthy skin from one part of the body is transplanted to another part of the body.

When severe open wounds go without skin grafts for long periods of time, the wounds can take longer to heal and are more susceptible to infection. Seham said this is what happened to Sara’s fingers, which required some of them to be partially or fully amputated.

Seham said she originally told Sara the amputations needed to occur because her fingers had melted, afraid to tell her the real reason.

“I didn’t tell her because it was really [upsetting] her so, when it happened, I was afraid to tell her that ‘This had happened to your fingers,’ so I told her it was because they had melted,” she said. “But they had …. necrosis. So, they couldn’t be left in her body, so they were amputated.”

At the burn center, Sara underwent rehabilitation, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, nutritional therapy, pain management care and palliative care, Sosebee said.

Sara was in the hospital until late May, a little over three months, when she was discharged. On the day she left, a video was recorded and shared to social media of her dancing down the hallway. She said that her physical therapist often encouraged her to dance while she was undergoing treatment.

“This was the last day, and she would tell me, ‘Don’t be shy. We are gonna dance no matter what,'” Sara said. ‘I looked at her like, ‘What do you mean? I am gonna dance in front of all these people?’ She’s like, ‘No, don’t be shy. We’ve danced on the street before.'”

“Basically, we left the burn unit with us all dancing,” she continued. “I was excited, scared and anxious. All the emotions were running through me that day. I had been waiting for this moment since I entered [the hospital].”

Waiting in ‘limbo’ and hoping for the war to end

HEAL Palestine set up Sara, Seham and their mother — who was able to join them in the U.S. after the organization helped secure a visa — with a home in New Jersey.

Sara, now 18, is currently undergoing occupational therapy, which she will need for at least another three months to help her recover. She practices exercises that help her regain her strength and improve the use of her fingers.

Although Sara has undergone at least 20 surgeries so far, she said she will still need several more, including skin grafting procedures. Last month, she was able to take bandages off her fingers for the first time.

Sometimes she looks at old photos or videos “and compare to see if my hair got longer or my skin is better and compare myself from then to now,” she said. “When I look at [them], I feel better.”

Sara said when she can, she talks to her family in Gaza, including her father and two brothers, who remain in northern Gaza and are unable to join the family in the U.S.

“The connection is not secure so it’s hard to reach them and it cuts off a lot, [but] when my dad opens the camera and sees me, he says, ‘Wow,'” Sara said. “He can see the changes and the differences. He would ask me to show my fingers. He wants to see how much progress I have made.”

“As for my brothers, I would tell them I bought something new that we can play with and we will play with them together,” she added. “I just hope this all ends so they can come and be here with me.”

As Sara continues her recovery, Seham and their mother attend all her doctors’ appointments together and help encourage Sara as she practices her occupational therapy exercises.

Prior to the war, Seham, 20, was in her third year of college, studying dentistry. The university has resumed with online classes, but she said it is difficult to start classes again because the third year is “pre-clinic,” which requires practicing dental training, including on dummy heads and plastic teeth.

She said she has paused her studies for now, focusing on helping Sara recover.

“My life from before [the war] will not return. That’s for sure. Because everything is gone. Nothing remains,” Seham said. “We have memories, but even that they took. Thank God, we are still alive. And still, as long as we are here, there is hope inside us that we can return, someday, under better circumstances. Under circumstances that are not like what they are now.”

Both Sara and Seham said they hope the war — which is closing in on the one-year mark — will end and are hoping for “stability” in Gaza so they can return home one day.

“As long as we are in this limbo, I can’t think about what I will study and when I will finish school,” Sara said. “The one thing that we need is for the war to stop. … The most important thing is that this war ends and that voices are heard.”

“Don’t get tired of watching and listening … There are people’s lives destroyed, dreams being buried,” she continued. “People who had hopes and trying to live just like you do, but all of a sudden they found themselves under the ground. God willing, the war ends and people can go back to their lives. That is the most important thing.”

Since Oct. 7, at least 41,000 people in Gaza have been killed and at least 95,000 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. In Israel, at least 1,500 people have been killed including more than 800 civilians and 700 IDF soldiers.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the latest round of cease-fire discussions appears to have reached an impasse.

Meanwhile, after six hostages were found dead in Gaza, protests erupted in Israel. Protesters have demanded its government bring the hostages home.

Here’s how the news is developing:

Netanyahu defends keeping troops in Philadelphi corridor

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his position that Israeli forces cannot leave the Philadelphi corridor and still achieve Israel’s goals of the war in Gaza during a press conference in Jerusalem Wednesday.

“I’m telling you that if we relieve the pressure, if we get out of the Philadelphi corridor, we are not going to get the hostages back,” Netanyahu said.

The Philadelphi corridor — a narrow strip of land on the Gaza side of the Gaza-Egypt border — has been one of the main sticking points in reaching a hostage and cease-fire deal.

Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel needs to control the corridor to release the remaining hostages in Gaza.

“I’m committed to returning the remaining 101 [hostages]. I’ll do everything to get them, but leaving Philadelphi does not advance the release of the hostages, because the deal cannot be advanced,” he said.

-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman

Israel hits southern Lebanon after dozens of rockets fired, IDF says

Around 65 projectiles were fired into Israel from Lebanon on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, with air raid sirens sounding and air defense units active in border areas.

“The IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted some of the projectiles, and some fell in open areas,” the force said.

“A number of fires were ignited by fallen projectiles,” it added, noting that emergency services were responding.

The IDF said it was “currently striking Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon.”

Hamas threatens Netanyahu with more hostage deaths

Hamas has issued a new threat tying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership to the fate of the surviving Gaza hostages.

“Aggression stops = prisoners return alive,” a Wednesday morning post on the group’s official Telegram channel said. “Aggression continues = prisoners’ fate unknown.”

“Every day that Netanyahu continues to rule may mean a new coffin,” the post — which was written in English, Arabic and Hebrew — continued. “The decision is yours.”

Hamas and Netanyahu have blamed each other for the failure to reach a cease-fire deal. Hamas said Netanyahu’s demands are “aimed at obstructing reaching an agreement to preserve his power.”

Netanyahu, for his part, said this weekend of the militant group: “Whoever murders hostages — does not want a deal.”

There are 101 hostages still inside Gaza, around half of whom are believed to still be alive.

187,000 Gaza children receive polio vaccine, WHO says

More than 187,000 children in central Gaza have received polio vaccines since Sunday, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Wednesday that the “first phase of polio vaccination in central Gaza is complete,” with more than 187,000 children under the age of 10 vaccinated.

That is higher than the target number of 156,500, Ghebreyesus said.

“Four fixed sites will continue to offer polio vaccination for the next three days in central Gaza to ensure no child is missed,” the WHO chief added.

Preparations are underway to expand the vaccine roll out campaign into southern Gaza, Ghebreyesus said. Vaccinations there are expected to begin on Thursday.

Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies hope to vaccinate 640,000 children.

Israel agreed to partial pauses in the fighting in Gaza to facilitate the polio vaccination campaign, saying the drive will continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day.

“We ask for the humanitarian pauses to continue to be respected,” Ghebreyesus wrote. “We continue to call for a cease-fire.”

Protesters plan gathering at Netanyahu ally’s home

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum will again lead cease-fire and hostage release demonstrations across Israel on Wednesday, according to a schedule posted to social media.

“The public is called to join and come together with the families of the abductees to the houses of the ministers and coalition members and hold demonstrations and protest vigils demanding that they exercise their authority to bring about a deal now,” the Forum wrote on X.

Among the gatherings will be one outside the Jerusalem home of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer — a former member of the dissolved war cabinet and long considered a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Activists plan to protest at the homes of eight other government ministers and three members of parliament, the Forum said.

Far-right minister ‘working to stop’ cease-fire talks

Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he is “working to stop the negotiations with Hamas,” as talks over a cease-fire and hostage release deal continue under massive public and international pressure.

Ben-Gvir — one of the most vocally hawkish members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government — wrote on X that Israel should end negotiations and cut fuel and electricity to Gaza in response to Hamas’ recent killing of six hostages in the southern strip.

“Continuing the negotiations only spurs them to produce more and more terror,” including in the West Bank, Ben-Gvir said.

Ben-Gvir is a longstanding proponent of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. He has called on the government to “encourage” Israelis to settle in Gaza while suggesting “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from the territory.

Ben-Gvir was convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terror organization in 2008, related to an anti-Arab placard he displayed at a protest following a Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem. Signs referring to the far-right Kach movement — a Jewish group banned as a terror organization — were also found in his car.

Emhoff says parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin told him, Harris they don’t want son’s death to ‘be in vain’

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff said Tuesday night that the parents of Oct. 7 hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who the Israeli military found had been killed last week, do not want their son’s “death to be in vain.”

Emhoff opened up about the recent conversation he and his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, had with the couple after learning of the death of their son.

Speaking at a vigil hosted at the Adas Israel Congregation synagogue in Washington, D.C., which was organized to honor the memory of the six Israeli hostages found killed by Hamas in Gaza, Emhoff said Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin remained committed to seeing the remaining hostages released.

“And yet, with this unspeakable tragedy that they were going through … they were comforting us, but also asking about the latest in the negotiations,” Emhoff told those gathered at the vigil about the call with the grieving couple, which occurred last week. “They were asking how we can use this terrible moment to make progress on the deal. And they told the vice president, in no uncertain terms, they do not want Hersh’s death to be in vain. And they spoke with such grace, such compassion, such strength. And even though part of Rachel and Jon’s world had just ended, they were somehow still looking forward and looking out for others.”

DOJ charges senior Hamas leaders over involvement in Americans’ deaths in Oct. 7 attack

The Justice Department unsealed charges Tuesday targeting multiple senior members of Hamas’ leadership for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murdering of Americans during the Oct. 7 attack.

The criminal complaint, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, names six members of Hamas’ leadership structure and details extensively their terrorist activities on behalf of the group.

White House says Israel originally agreed to remove IDF from areas of Philadelphi corridor

The White House is pushing back on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance of keeping Israeli troops along the Philadelphi corridor — a narrow strip of land on the Gaza side of the Gaza-Egypt border — saying the prime minister originally agreed to removing troops in the Israel-approved framework that was announced in May.

“I’m not going to get into a debate with the prime minister and what he said over the weekend about the Philadelphi corridor,” White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said. “The deal itself, the proposal, including the bridging proposal that we started working with … included the removal of Israeli Defense Forces from all densely populated areas, and that includes those areas along that corridor. That’s the proposal that Israel had agreed to.”

Kirby acknowledged Israel’s belief that they need “some security” along the corridor, but Kirby did not give the U.S. position on whether the administration supports the IDF remaining in less dense areas along the border.

“The proposal says that they have to remove themselves to the east from densely populated areas — and that core essential element of the proposal has not changed,” Kirby said. “But the Israelis have said publicly that they believe that … they would need some security along that corridor.”

-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez

Gantz: Netanyahu is holding up a deal

National Unity party leader Benny Gantz slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, claiming he is holding up a cease-fire and hostage deal.

Gantz said that on Monday, Netanyahu in his speech “did not look directly at the public and told the truth: That he will not bring the kidnapped alive, that he will not truly protect the southern bracket, that he will not return the residents of the north to their homes, that he will not deny Iran nuclear weapons.”

“This did not surprise me, because during the period that we sat in the War Cabinet, Netanyahu delayed the ability to move forward with the abducted deals serially, including in the first outline,” Gantz said. “This does not surprise me because already at the beginning of the war, when we asked to extend the military pressure to Khan Yunis and then to Rafah, Netanyahu hesitated and stopped.”

“The time has come to say yes and move forward: we need to bring a deal – either in stages or in one stage,” Gantz said.

Netanyahu in response laid out the Israeli military’s recent successes.

“Since Gantz and his party resigned from the government, Israel has eliminated the Hamas Chief of Staff and the Hezbollah Chief of Staff, attacked the Houthis, captured the Philadelphia axis – Hamas’s armament pipeline – and carried out a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah that thwarted its malicious plan and destroyed thousands of rockets aimed at the Galilee,” Netanyahu said. “Whoever does not contribute to the victory and the return of our hostages, it is better not to interfere.”

-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
 

Thousands gather for new protest in Tel Aviv

Thousands gathered in Tel Aviv Tuesday for a new protest organized by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

The event was led by the younger members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum who are calling for a deal to bring all of the hostages home, the organization said.

43 killed in Israeli operation in Gaza

Forty-three people have been killed from ongoing operations in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.

Israeli forces said its soldiers “struck a compound where Hamas terrorists were operating” and killed eight Hamas members. The strike was near the Al-Ahli hospital compound but wasn’t within the hospital premises, the IDF said.

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said in a statement.

-ABC News’ Sami Zayara and Jordana Miller

Kirby hedges on ‘final proposal’ reports, says Biden is personally still working on deal

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby hedged on reports that the U.S. is putting forward a “final proposal” when it comes to hostage negotiations, saying the administration — including President Joe Biden – is still working to get a deal.

Kirby refused to give any details about the current proposal, or how it might differ from previous offers put forward, but he stressed that the deal is “actively” being worked on with Qatar and Egypt.

“The president himself is personally involved in working with our team and working with leaders around the world to secure this deal,” Kirby said, adding that this weekend’s recovery of six slain hostages “underscores the sense of urgency that we have.”

Asked about the United Kingdom’s new restrictions on some arms exports to Israel, Kirby said he would not “comment one way or another on the decisions that our British counterparts made.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament on Monday about 30 of its 350 export licenses were suspended because “there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

“I can just tell you that, No. 1: We’re going to continue to do we have to do to support Israel’s defensive capabilities,” Kirby said. “No. 2: We have, as I’ve said many times, reviewed individual reports as best we can, and talking to the Israelis about individual reports about compliance with international humanitarian law. And as we speak, there’s been no determination by the United States that they have violated international humanitarian [law].”

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle

Al-Shifa Hospital reopens 2 departments

Al-Shifa Hospital, the largest and most comprehensive hospital in the Gaza Strip, reopened two of its departments on Sunday after facing shelling, raids and two sieges in the ongoing war, Al-Shifa Medical Complex Director Dr. Marwan Abu Saada told ABC News.

The reopened departments are the Emergency and Accidents Department — which has 70 beds, two operating rooms, one intensive care unit room and one X-ray room — and the Kidney Dialysis Department, which has about 22 kidney dialysis machines and serves 36 patients with kidney failure, Abu Saada said.

The hospital had capacity for 800 beds before the war, Abu Saada said.

“As for the medical staff, there is a large deficit in medical personnel, but at least we want to work and serve the community,” he said.

The maternity building will undergo a six-month restoration to become a general surgery building, he added.

-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini

Cease-fire protesters plan action near Tel Aviv Defense Ministry

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced a fresh protest scheduled for 7 p.m. local time Tuesday in Tel Aviv, close to the entrance of the Defense Ministry building.

The action will be “led by the younger members of the families,” the Forum wrote in a post on X, who will “call for a deal to bring all 101 hostages home.”

Attendees will protest what the Forum called “the abandonment of the hostages in Hamas captivity.”

Additional demonstrations elsewhere will include a gathering outside the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, a protest outside Foreign Minister Israel Katz’s residence in Kfar Ahim, one in front of Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter’s home in Ashkelon and another outside Deputy Prime Minister Yariv Levin’s home in Modi’in.

Gaza polio vaccination drive reaches 160,000 children

Some 160,000 Gaza children received their first vaccination for polio on Sunday and Monday, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The emergency rollout began on Sunday, facilitated by a partial pause in fighting in the strip. Medical teams in the central part of the territory said they were able to vaccinate 72,611 children on the first day of the campaign.

Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies said they were hoping to vaccinate 640,000 children during the push. Israel agreed to some pauses in fighting to support the campaign, though airstrikes have continued in its first two days.

Israel has said the vaccination program will continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day.

Polio is among the illnesses feared to be thriving in Gaza after 10 months of war. The strip’s long-standing humanitarian difficulties have been exacerbated by the destruction of health care facilities, critical infrastructure, and the displacement — sometimes repeated displacement — of most of the territory’s residents.

Gaza recently reported its first polio case in 25 years — a 10-month-old boy, now paralyzed in a leg. The World Health Organization said the case suggests there could be hundreds more infected who are not symptomatic.

Netanyahu asks hostage families for forgiveness, says pressure should be directed at Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is asking for forgiveness from the families of the six slain hostages whose bodies were recovered this weekend.

“I ask you for forgiveness that we did not succeed to bring your loved ones back alive. We were close, but we did not succeed,” Netanyahu said at a Monday news conference.

Netanyahu again said the Israel Defense Forces must maintain a presence on the Egyptian border, but he said the IDF does not need a “large” presence of forces there. It needs groups of forces in key areas all along the border, he said. Netanyahu also reiterated that the IDF must maintain a presence in the Philadelphi corridor to reach the goals of the war.

When asked how he would define “total victory” in the war, Netanyahu responded, “When Hamas no longer rules Gaza — we throw them out. I would define the end of the war of World War II when the Nazis no longer ruled Germany. To do that you need to have a military victory and you have to have also a political victory to destroy their governance.”

Netanyahu also said that international “pressure” must be directed at Hamas, not Israel.

“These murderers executed six of our hostages, they shot them in the back of the head. And now after this we’re asked to show seriousness, we’re asked to make concessions? What message does this send Hamas?” he said.

Netanyahu added, “I don’t believe President [Joe] Biden or anyone serious about achieving peace and achieving the release [of hostages] can seriously ask Israel to make these concessions. We’ve already made them. Hamas has to make concessions.”

A Hamas military spokesman said in a new statement the Israeli hostages won’t be freed by force.

“Netanyahu’s insistence on freeing the prisoners through military pressure instead of concluding a deal will mean their return to their families in coffins, and their families will have to choose between dead or alive,” the spokesperson said.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

Biden: ‘We’re in the middle of negotiations’ on hostage, cease-fire deal

President Joe Biden told reporters “we’re still negotiating” when asked if there will be a final hostage and cease-fire deal proposed this week.

Asked what he wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do, Biden replied, “We’re in the middle of negotiations.”

“We’re still in negotiations. Not with him [Netanyahu], with my colleagues from Qatar and from Egypt,” Biden said.

Earlier on Monday, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team in the Situation Room.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan spoke on the phone Monday morning with Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, a U.S. official said. They discussed efforts to conclude a deal for the release of the hostages and for a cease-fire in Gaza, the official said.

-ABC News’ Karen Travers, Elizabeth Schulze and Lauren Peller

Protesters break through barriers near Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s residence

Protesters broke through barriers near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem on Monday as they demanded progress on a deal to return the hostages in Gaza.

Monday marks the second day of large protests across Israel after six murdered hostages were recovered in Gaza this weekend.

Israeli defense minister ‘deeply disheartened’ by UK decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement he was “deeply disheartened” to learn of the United Kingdom’s new restrictions on some arms exports to Israel.

“This comes at a time when we fight a war on 7 different fronts — a war that was launched by a savage terrorist organization, unprovoked,” Gallant said. “At a time when we mourn 6 hostages who were executed in cold blood by Hamas inside tunnels in Gaza. At a time when we fight to bring 101 hostages home.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament on Monday about 30 of 350 export licenses are suspended because “there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller

29 Palestinians killed in West Bank since IDF operation began

Twenty-nine Palestinians have been killed and 121 have been injured in the West Bank since the Israeli military’s operation began last Wednesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement Monday.

Eighteen people were killed in the Jenin governate of the West Bank, four in the Tubas governate, four in the Tulkarm governate and three in the Hebron governate, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

-ABC News’ Nasser Atta

Biden, Harris meet with US hostage deal negotiating team

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with the U.S. hostage deal negotiating team in the Situation Room on Monday, according to the White House.

Biden and Harris received an update from the negotiation team on the “status of the bridging proposal outlined by the United States, Qatar and Egypt” and “they discussed next steps” in the release of the hostages, the White House said.

Biden also “expressed his devastation and outrage at the murder” of Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages and he “reaffirmed the importance of holding Hamas’s leaders accountable,” the White House said.

Officials participating in the briefing included Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA Director Bill Burns and national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Netanyahu doubles down on Israeli troops remaining in Philadelphi corridor

In an Israeli cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his stance that he will not agree to a cease-fire and hostage deal that includes the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphi corridor in Gaza, according to an Israeli official.

Israeli troops remaining in the Philadelphi corridor has been a key sticking point in the ongoing negotiations. Hamas wants a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

“Everyone who says that it is possible to leave Philadelphi for 42 days, knows very well that it will be for 42 years. The world will not allow us to return,” Netanyahu said during Sunday night’s cabinet meeting, according to an Israeli official. “Everyone understands the importance of Philadelphi, and [Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar understands it best. That is why he insists. All smuggling the weapons to Gaza were through Philadelphi. If we change the cabinet’s decision, it will be a terrorist award, you will not return the hostages.”

The Hostages Families Forum said in a statement that Netanyahu’s comments are “dangerous.” The families said Netanyahu’s statement means “there will be no deal, and the families will not get to see their loved ones return home.”

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Dana Savir

Israeli president apologizes to Hersh Goldberg-Polin and his parents for not keeping him safe

As Israeli President Isaac Herzog gave a eulogy at the funeral of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, he apologized to the slain 23-year-old.

“I apologize that the country you immigrated to at the age of 7, wrapped in the Israeli flag, could not keep you safe,” Herzog said Monday, two days after the Israeli-American’s body was recovered in Gaza, along with five others.

The president also asked for forgiveness from Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, for not bringing their son home alive.

He said he learned of “a mother’s and father’s limitless love” from Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin.

“Jon and Rachel, against the senseless hatred, and unthinkable brutality of Hamas terror, pure barbaric evil, you have taught the world about human dignity,” Herzog said. “As a human being, as a father, and as the President of the State of Israel, I want to say how sorry I am. How sorry I am that we didn’t protect Hersh on that dark day. How sorry I am that we failed to bring him home.”

Though he said Israel will “continue fighting relentlessly against” Hamas, Herzog stressed that the remaining 101 hostages must be released.

“The time to act is now: Bring them home,” Herzog said.

“Decision-makers must do everything possible, with determination and courage, to save those who can still be saved,” he said. “This is not a political goal, and it must not become a political dispute. It is a supreme moral, Jewish, and human duty of the State of Israel to its citizens.”

-ABC News’ Becky Perlow

Biden says Netanyahu is not doing enough, says ‘we are very close’ to presenting final deal

When asked by reporters if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing enough on the hostage deal, President Joe Biden on Monday replied, “No.”

Asked about presenting a final hostage deal this week, Biden said, “We are very close to that.”

“Hope springs eternal,” Biden said, when asked what makes this final deal different, but he declined to provide details.

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are meeting with the U.S. hostage negotiation team Monday morning.

-ABC News’ Lauren Peller

‘We failed you,’ dad of slain hostage says

Hersh Goldberg-Polin was curious, self-assured and a deep, independent thinker, his dad, Jon Polin, said at his funeral on Monday.

The 23-year-old, who was found dead in Gaza this weekend, was “always seeking to understand the other, and always with dignity and respect,” Polin said.

“Hersh, we failed you. We all failed you,” Polin said with a “332” on his shirt, marking how many days his son was held hostage. “You would not have failed you. You would’ve pushed harder for justice … to bridge differences. … What you would be pushing for now is to ensure your death … [and the others’ deaths are] not in vain.”

“Maybe, just maybe, your death … is the fuel that will bring home the remaining 101 hostages,” Polin said.

“You have become a global symbol of bringing improvement to our world,” he said.

“The 23 years of life that we had with you were a blessing. We now will work to make your legacy a similar blessing,” he said.

Funeral underway for slain American hostage

A funeral procession is underway in Jerusalem for slain Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The 23-year-old was one of six murdered hostages recovered this weekend.

The Israeli Ministry of Health said the six hostages were killed “in a number of short-range shots” between Thursday and Friday morning.

The funeral comes one day after thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv to protest the deaths of the six hostages.

2 hours and 31 minutes ago
Tel Aviv braces for fresh protests

More than 1,000 people have gathered in the northern Israeli city of Tel Aviv for continued anti-government protests, demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conclude a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Hamas.

Other marches are taking place elsewhere in Israel. A general strike — called by Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union — also began on Monday morning in protest of the government’s failure to free those still held hostage inside Gaza.

Police reported violent clashes with anti-government protesters in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, saying officers had arrested 29 people.

The current wave of demonstrations was sparked by the recovery of the bodies of six of Hamas’ hostages from a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday.

-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and David Brennan

3 hours and 57 minutes ago
Israel Police accuses Tel Aviv marchers of ‘brutal’ vandalism, violence

The Israel Police has condemned what it called “brutal vandalism” during a night of anti-government demonstrations in Tel Aviv, sparked by the deaths in captivity of six of Hamas’ Gaza hostages.

In a statement, the Police Spokesperson’s Unit said officers arrested 29 suspects for a range of offenses including disorderly conduct, assaulting officers and vandalism.

The violence followed a planned protest at the Kaplan Junction in Tel Aviv, the statement said, after which “hundreds of protesters” left the approved demonstration area and moved to the Ayalon Highway, “with the intent to disrupt traffic and public order.”

Some marchers “violently pushed against barricades and officers, leading to a confrontation during which a policewoman was injured and lost consciousness,” the statement said. The officer was evacuated for medical treatment.

As officers attempted to clear the area, some protesters “breached security perimeters, blocked the Ayalon Highway, and set fires, while firing fireworks that nearly hit officers,” police said.

“The Israel Police strongly condemns the acts of vandalism and violence directed at officers,” the statement read. “We will pursue legal action against those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.”

The protesters were demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government agree to a cease-fire and hostage-release deal with Hamas.

A general strike called by Israel’s largest trade union — Histadrut — began on Monday morning in a bid to pressure the government into reaching an accord with the militant group.

-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and David Brennan

8:12 PM EDT
Harris calls parents of slain Oct. 7 hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin

Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff spoke with the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American-Israeli hostage who was found dead in Gaza on Saturday along with five other Oct. 7 hostages, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The vice president and her husband called parents Rachel Goldberg and Jon Polin on Sunday to “express our condolences following the brutal murder of their son by Hamas terrorists,” Harris said in a statement on X.

“My heart breaks for their pain and anguish,” Harris continued.

“I told them: As they mourn this terrible loss, they are not alone. Our nation mourns with them,” Harris said.

4:59 PM EDT
Protest erupts in Tel Aviv as demonstrators demand cease-fire deal

Protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv Sunday night, demanding a cease-fire agreement and the release of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas terrorists.

The demonstration came a day after Israel Defense Forces recovered the bodies of six hostages in tunnels under the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

Protesters were seen waving Israeli flags as they demanded a cease-fire agreement, chanting “Deal. Now.”

-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule

3:25 PM EDT
6 killed in IDF strike on Gaza school, says Gaza Civil Defense

At least six people were killed on Sunday when Israel Defense Forces conducted an airstrike on a school in Gaza City, according to Gaza Civil Defense.

The IDF said in a statement that the strike was aimed at Hamas terrorists they allege were operating a command-and-control center inside the Safad school to plan and carry out terrorist attacks against the IDF and Israel.

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said in a statement.

The Gaza Civil Defense confirmed the Safad school was hit in the IDF strike, but said the school houses displaced people from the Al-Zeitoun area east of Gaza City.

-ABC News’ Victoria Beaulé

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