If former President Donald Trump is the Republican nominee in the 2024 election, the race will be overshadowed by the legal issues and other controversies he’s facing, creating a potent advantage for Democrats, rival Ron Desantis argued on Sunday.
“He’s focused a lot on things that concern him,” the Florida governor and 2024 primary candidate told ABC News “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl just one day before voting starts with the Iowa caucuses.
“Obviously, the distractions of everything that’s going along with all these legal issues has been a huge thing for him [Trump],” DeSantis said. “You’re gonna have criminal trials, you’re gonna have a lot of focus on things like Jan. 6 by the media, and I think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be advantageous for Democrats.”
“The notion that somehow all this stuff that’s swirling around him is going to be a positive in a general election, that’s just not true,” DeSantis said, warning of how the contest could be turned into “a referendum on Donald Trump.” (Trump denies all wrongdoing.)
“Whereas if I’m the nominee … I think it will be a crisp opportunity for a crisp victory for Republicans,” DeSantis said.
With the Iowa caucuses one day away — officially starting the 2024 Republican primary race on Monday in brutally cold winter weather — DeSantis is making his closing argument for why conservative voters should turn to him over Trump, who has remained the clear front-runner in state and national polling.
“I’ve delivered on 100% of my promises. Donald Trump, obviously, didn’t build the wall, didn’t drain the swamp and didn’t reduce the debt,” DeSantis told Karl. “I’ve also taken on and beaten the Democrats and the left. And in reality, Donald Trump, as president, oftentimes got beat by the Democrats.”
Still, many potential Iowa voters don’t seem swayed and Trump has dismissed DeSantis’ attacks, refusing even to debate with him.
A new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll released on Saturday showed the former president winning 48% support from likely Republican caucusgoers.
Meanwhile, DeSantis, who has put enormous resources into winning the state, building a robust ground game there, slipped down to third place — narrowly behind former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
DeSantis has repeatedly boasted over the past few months that he would win the Iowa caucuses but has changed his tune recently as voting approaches, now saying that the nominating contest is about winning the most delegates across every state and that he’s in the race for the “long haul.”
Pressed by Karl on “This Week” if he still promises to win Iowa, DeSantis said instead that “it’s good to be an underdog” and that his supporters in Iowa are ready to turn out for him.
“I’d rather have people lower expectations for us,” he said. “I tend to perform better like that.”
He also took a jab at Haley, who has risen in recent months to compete with him for second place behind Trump. Haley is “not getting support from conservatives,” DeSantis said. “She’s relying on Democrat-leaning independents for her support in the primary.”
Karl cited new ABC News/Ipsos polling that shows 68% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents feel Trump has the best chance to win in November. “Why are they wrong?” he asked.
DeSantis said GOP voters “understandably” see Biden as a “very feeble” candidate who would lose to anyone — but he argued past elections like in 2022 show Trump’s influence was rejected by many voters despite Biden’s poor popularity.
DeSantis also said he thinks current polling showing Trump beating out Biden in a hypothetical race, nearly a year away from the election, is “somewhat of a mirage.”
However, he would not say directly if he believes Trump would lose against Biden in another matchup
“My fear is doing 2024 with a rematch would have a lot of the same dynamics that we had in 2020,” he said.
And when Karl sought a direct answer from DeSantis on Trump’s moral character, the governor pivoted to his primary race pitch.
“For me, leadership is not about yourself, it’s not about showmanship or any of that,” he said. “It’s about producing results. So, when you make promises, do you deliver? And if you break the promises, then that’s not good leadership.”
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, one of President Joe Biden’s top surrogates, on Sunday downplayed Biden’s continued poor polling ahead of a likely rematch with former President Donald Trump in the 2024 race.
Pritzker’s comments come after a new ABC News/Ipsos survey found Biden’s approval rating sitting at a meager 33%, with the public reporting widespread economic discontent.
“Things are getting better in this country — and over the course of an election year, as the economy continues to improve, you’re gonna see poll numbers improve too,” the governor told ABC News “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
“I think your poll is a bit of an outlier, but here’s what I’ll tell you: This battle hasn’t even been joined yet. You’ve got a bunch of Republicans, MAGA Republicans, espousing things that are not good for the American public that are on the stage now,” Pritzker added. “And it’s not until they choose a nominee will we truly be in this battle. And then it’s a choice.”
Biden and allies like Pritzker have increasingly sought to cast the next presidential race as a referendum on Trump, highlighting issues like Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his support for abortion restrictions.
Republicans say the White House’s record shows failures on immigration, inflation and more.
“The truth of the matter is, this [the 2024 election] is going to be won among independents, and independents understand that, as Democrats do, that it’s the Republicans that are trying to take your freedoms away,” Pritzker argued on Sunday.
Asked about Trump choosing not to sign a voluntary candidate pledge in Illinois that he would not advocate for overthrowing the government — which many other candidates sign — Pritzker said it was more evidence of Trump’s unfitness for office.
“We just can’t afford to have a president who is acting in unconstitutional fashion, and in his own self-interest,” he said.
The Illinois Democrat also swatted away the persistent concerns about Biden’s age. At 81, he is the oldest-ever president. Trump is 77.
Citing the new ABC/Ipsos poll, Karl pressed Pritzker: “Just 28% think that President Biden has the mental sharpness to effectively serve for another term. So how does he address those concerns, those very real concerns, that voters have?”
“Maybe we ought to start by just acknowledging that Joe Biden has years of experience — that when you’re talking about someone’s age, you’re also talking about the wisdom that they gained over many years and how they’ve demonstrated their empathy that they’ve learned from so many experiences,” Pritzker said. “Joe Biden and Donald Trump are roughly the same age. Do you think Donald Trump has learned empathy in his life? He has not.”
Karl further pressed Pritzker on how Biden should handle historically high migrant crossings at the southern border, an issue Trump and other conservatives have been highlighting.
Pritzker maintained that it was Democrats, not Republicans, who have been pushing for major immigration changes and pointed to ongoing negotiations on Capitol Hill.
“My hope is that they’ll get something done. But not enough has been done, there’s no doubt about that. And I think that the president needs to do more. The Congress needs to do more,” he said.
He criticized efforts by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to transport migrants from his state to Democratic areas, particularly in light of the brutal winter weather battering parts of the country. Abbott has criticized Democrats’ handling of immigration and said border states like Texas suffer because of it.
“He does not care about people,” Pritzker shot back at Abbott on “This Week.”
Break out the gloves and hats: A record-breaking Arctic cold snap is bringing dangerously cold temperatures to much of the United States.
In Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, football fans braved negative-degree wind chills to watch the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Miami Dolphins.
Twenty-six states remain under wind chill alerts on Sunday.
With minus 30-degree wind chills expected in Chicago, the city has activated its “emergency operation plan for extreme cold.”
Even Texas is feeling the freeze, with temperatures dropping below zero.
Here is your cheat sheet for how to brave the frigid weather:
How to keep pipes from freezing
Keep the temperature in your home consistent during the day and night, the Red Cross advised. If you’re leaving home for the holidays, keep the heat on with the temperature set at a minimum of 55 degrees.
Prop open the cabinet doors in your kitchen and bathroom so warmer air can circulate around the plumbing, according to the Red Cross — just make sure to move any chemicals so children can reach them.
Keep your garage door closed if there are water supply lines inside, the Red Cross said.
You can also let the water drip, even at a trickle, from the faucet connected to exposed pipes, according to the Red Cross.
How to stay safe outside
Those with prolonged exposure or those not dressed appropriately for the weather are in danger of frostbite and hypothermia, National Weather Service meteorologist Jay Engle told ABC News.
Frostbite results in the loss of feeling and color in affected areas — usually the nose, ears, cheeks, fingers, toes or chin, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Frostbite could potentially cause permanent damage and, in severe cases, can lead to amputation, the CDC said.
Someone suffering from frostbite can be unaware of it because tissues that become frozen are numb, the CDC said. These are all signs of frostbite: numbness, white or grayish-yellow skin, or skin that feels unusually firm or waxy.
“Don’t rub your hands — if you have frost-nip or frostbite, rubbing actually causes tissue damage,” Dr. Randall Wexler, professor of family medicine at Ohio State University, told ABC News.
If you think you are developing frostbite, “keep the area covered if you can … because if you have frostbite on your hand and you pull off your glove, you may cause tissue damage,” Wexler said.
He added, “That’s also when you want to start trying to raise your core body temperature — get rid of wet clothes, put on clothes that are warm and dry.”
There’s also hypothermia — or abnormally low body temperature — which can impact the brain, “making the victim unable to think clearly or move well,” the CDC said. “This makes hypothermia especially dangerous because a person may not know that it’s happening and won’t be able to do anything about it.”
Warning signs for adults are shivering, exhaustion, confusion, fumbling hands, memory loss, slurred speech and drowsiness. Warning signs for infants are bright red or cold skin and very low energy, the CDC said.
Engle recommends to “dress in three or more layers. One big thick winter coat tends not to do the trick. You have to have a thick sweater underneath and then a lighter jacket on top of that and then your winter coat.”
“People really should keep their heads covered because that’s where majority of heat gets lost,” Engle added.
Wexler said moving can generate heat. But try to avoid sweating.
“If you are overheated and start to sweat, that lowers your body temperature and makes you more susceptible to cold injury,” he said. “You want to be able to adjust your layers, zip and unzip.”
Wexler also recommended staying hydrated because “dehydration can help promote cold injury.”
The young and elderly should be especially careful in the cold.
“Their ability to maintain core body temperature is harder than mid-age and younger adults,” he said. “Kids, especially babies, lose a disproportionate amount of heat from their head — that’s why you want to have a hat on their head when you’re out there. Older people are more at risk simply because it is more difficult to regulate our core body temperature as we get older.”
It’s also more difficult to maintain your core temperature if you are diabetic or taking decongestant antihistamines or certain blood pressure medications, Wexler said.
How to keep your car safe
When the temperature dips, getting behind the wheel can prove to be a challenge. Problems include dead car batteries, iced-over windshields, broken car locks and driving with no traction.
Audra Fordin, founder of Woman Auto Know and the owner of Great Bear Auto Repair in Queens, New York, provided these tips:
1. Before you hit the road, check under the hood.
“If it’s really cold outside, you want to make sure that your battery is going to be good in the freezing cold weather,” Fordin said. “If you see any snow or blue stuff that’s growing off your battery, that’s an indication you want to go to the shop to have your battery checked.”
2. Iced out windshields? Turn to your wallet for help.
“If you get to your car and can’t see, pull out a credit card, and you can just wipe that frost away,” Fordin said.
3. Fighting a stubborn car lock? Get sanitizing.
“If your lock is frozen, put the sanitizer on the key, and then put the key into the lock,” Fordin said.
4. If your car can’t gain traction, let your floor mat give an assist.
“Grab your floor mat, you’re going to put it underneath the wheel,” Fordin said. “That will give you enough traction to pull your car out and hit the road.”
This story was originally published in the winter of 2017-2018.
Hours after a volcanic fissure opened north of an evacuated town in Iceland, a second fissure opened “just outside” the residential area, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said Sunday.
The first fissure cracked open at about 8 a.m., releasing a slow-moving river of lava that inched south toward Grindavík for hours.
The lava seemed to split into two paths, covering land alongside the berms being built to protect the town. It was about 450 meters from the town, officials said.
“The town had already been successfully evacuated overnight and no lives are in danger, although infrastructure may be under threat,” President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson said on social media. “No interruptions to flights.”
The office said at 12:40 p.m. that a second fissure had opened south of the first. On a live video feed from Icelandic state television station RUV, the lava from the second fissure could be seen bubbling near rows of vacant houses.
Sunday’s eruption followed an “intense” series of earthquakes that began around 3 a.m. near where a volcano erupted in December, the Met office said.
“At the time of publication, over 200 earthquakes have been measured in the area, and the seismicity has moved towards the town of Grindavík,” weather officials said in a notice posted before the eruption.
The earthquakes were in the Sundhnúksgígar crater, an area north of the town. The largest measured was an about 3.5 magnitude quake just after 4 a.m., the Met said.
Preliminary data showed Sunday’s eruption just southeast of Hagafell, a mountain on the Reykjanes peninsula, the Met said.
About 4,000 Grindavík residents were evacuated in November, as tens of thousands of earthquakes rumbled the region. Those tremors signaled a high likelihood of an eruption, Met officials said at the time.
Some residents had returned in recent weeks, as the government worked to build a kilometers-long berm in an attempt to protect the town from future eruptions.
That town was again ordered to evacuate on Saturday, officials said in a statement ahead of Sunday’s eruption.
As the lava flowed toward the town, workers could be seen moving construction equipment out of its path.
“This continues to surprise us,” Benedikt feigsson, of the Met Office, told RUV. “Things were slowing down after the eruption started, but about half an hour or an hour ago they started to pick up speed again. We are no longer seeing a slowdown in the town.”
ABC News’ Edward Szekeres contributed to this story.
After a close call on an Alaska Airlines flight where a door plug flew off of the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet last week, officials are advising on the safest way to travel with an infant or baby.
Jennifer Homendy, Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a press conference on Sunday, Jan. 7, that three babies were held in the laps of caregivers on the Alaska 1282 flight. While no injuries were reported to babies, she noted the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration both recommend that children under two be placed in their own car seat or carrier.
An NTSB safety alert focused on child passenger safety on an aircraft said that while caregivers are permitted to hold babies mid-flight, that is not the safest approach to infant travel.
“The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) official guidance emphasizes that the safest place for young children in turbulence or an emergency is in an approved child restraint system or device, not on an adult’s lap,” reads the alert.
A statement from the FAA offered similar advice and pointed to a webpage with specific advice for flying with children.
Sarah Nelson, International President of the Association of Flight Attendants, supported the car seat recommendation from the FAA and NTSB.
“The reality is that even the most loving mother and father cannot hang on to their child in an incident of a sudden drop in turbulence or in the situation of Alaska 1282 near a hole that’s punctured in the aircraft at that altitude or higher,” said Nelson.
Nelson said the conditions in the Alaska Airlines flight created “an explosive decompression, a massive sucking.”
“There’s no ability, even with all the love in the world, if you are near that, that you can hang on to your child.” said Nelson.
Nelson said many car-seat products for babies are stamped with FAA approval so consumers can be certain that it is a safe option for air travel.
Extreme turbulence and plane malfunctions are rare, but ABC News Aviation contributor Steve Ganyard warned that even regular turbulence can be a risk to unsecured babies.
“Oftentimes, the worst turbulence is not predicted or not able to be seen on radar so we see people getting hurt on planes with what’s called clear-air turbulence,” he said.
“Are you going to be ready to hold that child if all the sudden there is turbulence that’s so severe that it could to pop them off the ceiling or take them out of your arms?”
Ganyard recognized the financial burden of purchasing a new seat and advised caregivers looking to save money to remain vigilant and prepared while holding a baby mid flight.
Kiersten DeCook, a mother who said she has traveled both while holding her child and with an individual seat for her child, said oftentimes, it comes down to a financial decision.
“In my head it was like, why am I going to pay hundreds to possibly over $1,000 for her to be in her own seat? Whenever I can just suffer through for a few hours and save tons of money,” said DeCook, though she noted when her children grew big enough they slept better in their own individual seats.
“What happened on the Alaska Airlines flight was terrifying. And while it is super rare, it was super scary,” said DeCook.
DeCook said occasionally gate agents will allow her to take up an extra seat with a car seat free of charge, making the decision to secure her child in an individual seat easy.
DeCook noted that choosing to hold your child rather than put them in a car seat should not result in a judgment that a parent does not care about their kids safety.
The 2024 primary season begins with Donald Trump well ahead of his Republican opponents on key measures of popularity, while Joe Biden’s job approval rating has dropped to a low for any president in the past 15 years, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll finds.
With the Iowa caucuses Monday, the national survey finds Trump especially well rated by Republicans and Republican-leaning independents on three metrics: having the best chance to win in November, being a strong leader and being the party’s most qualified candidate.
Trump also leads his Republican opponents, by less of a margin, on two other attributes — empathy (i.e., understanding the problems of people like you) and shared values. And seven in 10 Republicans and GOP leaners report a favorable opinion of Trump overall.
In all, 72% of Republican-aligned adults would be satisfied with Trump as the nominee, similar to 75% in May. Sixty-one percent would be satisfied with Ron DeSantis. Others score lower — Nikki Haley, satisfactory to 48%; Vivek Ramaswamy, 44%; Chris Christie (who withdrew Wednesday), 23%; and Asa Hutchinson, 17%.
Satisfaction is harder to find among political moderates, who account for about three in 10 Republicans and GOP leaners. They’re 21 points less likely than conservatives to express satisfaction with Trump, 30 points on DeSantis and 22 points on Ramaswamy. These gaps essentially disappear for Haley, Christie and Hutchinson.
Compared with Trump on the Republican side, considerably fewer Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents would be satisfied with Biden as their party’s nominee, 57% — a reflection of his weak ratings overall and on issues including the economy and immigration.
This survey was produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates with fieldwork by Ipsos Public Affairs via its online, probability-based KnowledgePanel®. Past polls used for comparison were conducted by telephone, with efforts in this study to minimize differences; that said, mode effects may be a factor in some cases. The survey, fielded in English and Spanish, includes a robust sample of 2,228 respondents.
GOP CONTEST — Trump’s advantages in the Republican contest are particularly striking in terms of perceived electability and leadership. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents say he’s the candidate with the best chance of getting elected in November. That plummets to 12% for Haley, 11% for DeSantis and single digits for the rest.
Nearly as many, 65%, peg Trump as the strongest leader in the GOP lineup, again dropping precipitously for his opponents.
Fewer, but still 54%, say he is the candidate best qualified to serve as president. Fewer than half, 46%, say he best understands the problems of people like them and essentially as many, 45%, pick Trump as the candidate who best represents their own personal values. DeSantis and Haley score in the teens on these measures.
An additional 10% pick Ramaswamy as the candidate who best understands their problems. On all other measures, preferences for Ramaswamy, former candidate Christie and Hutchinson all are in single digits.
DeSantis and Haley trail Trump in favorability as well. Compared with Trump’s 71%, 60% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents see DeSantis favorably and 46% say the same for Haley. After all her months of campaigning, 22% still don’t offer an opinion of Haley; it’s 13% for DeSantis, vs. 1% for Trump.
There are some notable differences among groups. Republicans and GOP-leaners who have a four-year college degree are less likely than non-graduates to say Trump is best on each of the attributes tested. Most strikingly, just 27% of those with a college degree say Trump best understands the problems of people like them, compared with 57% of those without a four-year degree. There’s a similar 27-point gap by education in saying Trump “best represents your own personal values,” 24 points in saying he’s best qualified, 16 points in seeing him as the strongest leader and 10 points in seeing him as most electable.
Additionally, white evangelical Protestants, a core Republican group, are 11 points less apt than their non-evangelical counterparts to say Trump best represents their values, 40% vs. 51%, a slight difference given sample sizes. At the same time, Trump’s overall favorability rating is higher among evangelicals than in other religious groups, suggesting they’re using a different gauge than shared values to assess him.
BIDEN/TRUMP — A Biden/Trump general election, if that’s the outcome of the primary season, would represent a battle of markedly unpopular candidates. Among all adults, Biden’s approval rating is just 33% in this poll, worse than Trump’s low as president (36%) and the lowest since George W. Bush from 2006-2008. Fifty-eight percent disapprove of Biden’s work.
Among groups, just 31% of women now approve of Biden’s work in office, a new low (as do 34% of men). He won 57% of women in 2020.
He’s at 28% approval among independents, a customary swing voter group; a low of 32% among moderates; and a low of 41% among college graduates, 10 points off his career average in that group.
Further, Biden’s approval rating is 21 points below average among Black people and 15 points below average among Hispanic people, compared with 6 points among white people; more Black people, in particular, offer no opinion.
There’s a striking difference among Black people by age in their views of Biden: He has an approval rating of 65% among Black people age 50 and up, dropping sharply to 32% among Black people younger than 50. Age gaps are not apparent among white or Hispanic people.
Trump’s retrospective job rating is better than Biden’s, but still not positive — looking back, 41% approve of how he handled his presidency, a 7-point drop from four months ago. That includes a 13-point drop among men, with no meaningful change among women; and a 10-point drop among independents.
Another issue for Trump is the question of his ballot access. As reported Friday, 56% of Americans think the U.S. Supreme Court should either order Trump off the ballot in all states (30%) or let each state decide on its own (26%), given his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
FAVORABILITY AND ATTRIBUTES — Personal assessments are about equally negative for both men. Just 33% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Biden — down sharply from 50% the summer before the 2020 election — and about as few, 35%, express a favorable view of Trump. (It’s 28% for DeSantis and Haley alike.)
Biden leads Trump, by 15 points, in one of three attributes tested in the survey — being honest and trustworthy. Forty-one percent say this describes Biden, vs. 26% who say it applies to Trump. That’s down from a high of 38% for Trump, last reached in April 2017, three months into his presidency, and it’s a point from his low on honesty and trustworthiness.
Trump comes back, though, with advantages in two other areas. Forty-seven percent say he has the mental sharpness it takes to serve effectively as president, compared with 28% who say this of Biden. And more, 57%, say Trump has the physical health necessary to serve, again compared with 28% for Biden.
Trump’s ratings for mental sharpness and physical health both are down 7 points from last May. Similarly, Biden’s rating for health is down 5 points, and for mental sharpness, 4 points.
THIRD PARTY? — If Biden and Trump were the major-party nominees, 37% say they’d be likely to seriously consider a third-party candidate for president. Fewer, however, say they’d be very likely to do so – 15%. Results are identical among registered voters.
Readiness to seriously consider a third-party candidate in a Biden-Trump rematch peaks at 51% among independent women and moderate women alike. It’s 11 points higher among 2020 Biden voters than 2020 Trump voters, 37 vs. 26%. At the same time, it’s 46% among those who did not vote in 2020, a group that’s less likely than others to turn out this year.
ECONOMY/ISSUES — Broad economic discontent is a key force in current political attitudes. Given 2022’s 40-year high in inflation, just 13% of Americans now say they’ve gotten better off financially since Biden took office; 43% instead say they’re not as well off, a point from the 37-year record set in September. For comparison, in the middle of Trump’s term in office, just one-third as many people, 13%, said they were not as well off.
It follows that just 31% approve of how Biden is handling the economy, while 56% disapprove.
Another question explores why economic attitudes are so glum. Given a choice, 24% say “the economy is in good shape, given low unemployment and rising wages.” Far more — 71% — say “the economy is in bad shape, given higher prices and interest rates.”
unhappy with the economy are more likely to criticize the incumbent president. People who are aligned with the incumbent president are less apt to criticize the economy. So it is in this poll; 90% of Republicans say the economy is in bad shape, as do 74% of independents, compared with 49% of Democrats.
That said, Biden has a tepid 65% approval rating among Democrats for handling the economy, a career low.
The economy isn’t Biden’s only shortfall. His rating for handling immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border is especially low — just 18% approve, about half what it was in spring 2021, while 63% now disapprove. Biden has the lowest rating on immigration for any president in past ABC News/Washington Post polls to ask the question since January 2004 (with various changes over time in question wording).
Biden also gets a poor rating for handling the war between Israel and Hamas, with 26% approving and 48% disapproving; a substantial 25% don’t express an opinion.
That result might reflect frustration with the situation, not so much with Biden, since 43% also say the United States is doing about the right amount to support Israel and 39% say it’s doing about the right amount to help protect Palestinian civilians – both well higher than Biden’s approval for handling the situation.
About three in 10 say the United States is doing too much to support Israel; about two in 10 say it’s doing too little. These are roughly reversed in terms of protecting Palestinian civilians.
Thirty-seven percent of white evangelical Protestants think the U.S. is doing too little to support Israel, well higher than this view in other religious groups. Sample sizes of Muslims and Jews are too small for reliable analysis.
A final result, also on the international front, suggests an easing in criticism of U.S. support for Ukraine in its war with Russia. The share of Americans saying the United States is doing too much to support Ukraine rose from 14% in April 2022 to 41% in September; it’s down to 34% in this poll. An open question is whether that reflects recognition of Ukraine’s need for help — or the fact that further aid has been blocked in Congress.
METHODOLOGY – This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® Jan. 4-8, 2024, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 2,228 adults. Partisan divisions are 25-25-41 percent, Democrats-Republicans-independents. Results have a margin of sampling error of 2.5 percentage points, including the design effect, for the full sample. Sampling error is not the only source of differences in polls.
The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates, with sampling and data collection by Ipsos. See details on the survey’s methodology here.
While the Israeli army has gradually reduced the number of troops it has in northern Gaza, many residents and relief organizations said that part of the region had been largely isolated from humanitarian aid and is in dire need of help.
“People are absolutely desperate,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency Director of Communications Juliette Touma told ABC News. “Very, very little has been allowed to reach the north.”
The Israeli army has gradually drawn down its troops from northern Gaza after it announced last weekend it had “dismantled” Hamas’ military framework there. “Now, we are focusing on dismantling Hamas in the central and southern Gaza Strip,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Col. Daniel Hagari said in a briefing last week.
As the Israelis reduce their presence, aid agencies said they are pressing for better access to provide food and fuel for the thousands of people that remain in the north, largely cut off from the rest of Gaza.
ABC News has received detailed accounts of what life was like under Israeli siege in northern Gaza, with many residents telling us they received no aid for at least 50 days and were completely cut off.
“We had nothing left to eat,” Rafiq Hajo, a 69-year-old from the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood north of Gaza City, told ABC News. “My children went out to look for food, but the area did not have any market to buy anything. We were forced to take some canned goods and what we needed from supermarkets that were bombed.”
Food in UNRWA shelters in northern Gaza is “very, very limited,” according to Touma. “We’ve passed the stage of being concerned. We are alarmed.”
Since the start of the war, only a dozen UNRWA trucks have been able to make it to the north. Each time they arrive, they are swarmed by people, Touma said.
“They stop the trucks; they take the stuff. They don’t wait for distribution,” Touma said, adding that, “The highest levels of hunger and in fact starvation are in the north of Gaza.”
According to a December report by the United Nations into food insecurity in Gaza, “At least one in four households (more than half a million people) in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic acute food insecurity conditions (IPC Phase 5 – Catastrophe), characterized by extreme food gaps and collapse of their livelihood.”
The International Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is an international framework used to assess food insecurity and malnutrition. The IPC contains five phases of hunger crisis, ranging from phase 1 (minimal/none) to phase 5 (catastrophe/famine).
The situation is the worst in northern Gaza where “45% of households will be experiencing IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) levels of acute food insecurity and 30% of households will experience IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) levels of acute food insecurity,” the report said.
“In Gaza at this moment, literally the whole population is in crisis level of hunger or worse. And of those people, about 26%, meaning one-quarter of the population is literally starving. In number terms, we are talking about 577,000 people,” World Food Program’s Chief Economist Arif Husain told ABC News Friday.
“We are seeing a situation where there’s no food at all or very, very little, if any,” Maulid Wafa, senior emergency coordinator for UNICEF in Gaza, told ABC News Friday.
“The situation in Gaza could only be described as catastrophic. Extremely catastrophic,” he added.
The World Food Program paints an even bleaker picture. “If things continue as they are, or if things worsen, we are looking at a full-fledged famine within the next six months, ” Husain said.
Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, maintains it is working with international organizations to get more aid into the strip and to the north in particular.
“This coordination covers movements in favor of delivery of supplies and responding to the needs of the Gaza Strip residents, including residents of the northern Gaza Strip,” it said in a statement Friday. “All this is done subject to the prevailing security situation, considerations related to safeguarding our troops and protecting the moving convoys, while maintaining control to prevent the supplies from falling into the hands of the Hamas terrorist organization.”
This area of the Gaza Strip has seen some of the fiercest fighting and heaviest bombardments, entire streets have been destroyed and for periods it was completely cut off – no internet, electricity, water or access from the rest of Gaza, residents said.
“The heavy bombing completely annihilated the area,” Yahya Al-Madhoun, a 57-year-old from Beit Lahia, told ABC News. “There was no contact or communication with the world, and we could not fend for ourselves,” he explained.
“Every day that passes is an escape from death for us,” Al-Madhoun said. “If we survive the bombing, we will not survive the hunger. If we survive the hunger, we will not escape execution or arrest.”
Al-Madhoun had opted to stay in northern Gaza despite the Israeli military telling residents of his neighborhood to flee to the safe zones in the south. In mid-October, the IDF opened humanitarian corridors for northern Gazans to flee to designated areas in the south.
“I am a member of the Beit Lahia camp committee, and I felt that I had to stay to help my family and neighbors,” Al-Madhoun said. “In the beginning, it was good. We had some food and we could make bread, but when the bombing intensified greatly, the northern areas were separated from Gaza City.”
He describes the very difficult situation those sheltering in UNRWA schools there had to face.
“For 50 days, no aid arrived in the northern region. Tanks were surrounding the schools and firing shells at the displaced people inside. We felt hungry for long days. If we found food for one day, we would not find it for three days,” Al Madhoun said. “I used to eat one piece of bread a day. We were trying not to die of hunger due to the severe siege and the cutting off of everything from us.”
He said the Israeli military eventually stormed the UNRWA school he was sheltering in.
“We were asked to take off our clothes. A large number of men were naked without clothes. This is a difficult feeling of humiliation,” Al-Madhoun said.
“They accused us of supporting the events of the 7th of October. It was terrifying when they executed a man in front of us, Nawaf Al-Zaanin, who was 63 years old,” Al-Madhoun told ABC News. “We were very afraid that they would execute us all. That was on the 9th of December. They put us in a hole for four hours with our hands tied and blood almost pouring out of them.”
The Israel Defence Forces told ABC News that “individuals detained are treated in accordance with international law.”
“It is often necessary for terror suspects to hand over their clothes such that their clothes can be searched and to ensure that they are not concealing explosive vests or other weaponry,” the IDF said after a request for comment on this incident.
“Clothes are not immediately returned to the detainees, due to the suspicion they may conceal means that can be used for hostile purposes [such as knives]. Detainees are given back their clothes when it’s possible to do so,” the IDF said.
When asked specifically about the death that Al Madhoun said he witnessed, they responded, “The IDF is not aware of the death of a 63-year-old man in the school.”
UNRWA estimates 300,000 people remained in northern Gaza while it was under siege. Among them was Hajo. He told ABC News he could not follow the Israeli instructions to walk south along a humanitarian corridor because he has a disabled daughter.
“I have a 20-year-old girl with disabilities, and she has special needs and I cannot move her anywhere,” Hajo said. “She has a special room, and we deal with her in a special way, and she is accustomed to her life at home.”
Instead, Hajo and his family stayed at home, enduring some harrowing moments, “When the tanks were at the door of the house, we were very afraid that the soldiers would hear our voice in the house and break into it. I agreed with my family that no sound would ever come out from us,” he told ABC News.
“During the two weeks, we could not move and we ran out of water and we felt very thirsty. We have a window opposite our neighbor Louay’s house. I was throwing a very small stone at him in a low voice and he understood that I needed something and threw me a bottle of water. I drank very little water, just enough to wet my mouth. We were hearing the sound of shelling and intense clashes between the Israeli soldiers and the Palestinian resistance. We were constantly praying that they would withdraw from the area without blowing up the houses. We were very afraid of the sounds,” he said.
“When the tanks withdrew, we felt free. We miraculously escaped death,” Hajo said.
Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that left more than 1,200 dead, 6,900 injured and more than 200 taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.
Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground operation in the Gaza Strip that has killed at least 23,357 people and wounded at least 59,410 others, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
Raghad Al-Salem, a 35-year-old mother from Gaza City, also told ABC News about her experience under siege.
“We were forced to enter people’s homes to search for food inside in order to escape death,” Al-Salem told ABC News. “I was sitting in a room with my children and my husband and we held each other tightly and prayed that the night would pass quickly so that the sound of the terrifying bombing would end.”
She said their family lost more than 60 people since the war began.
“We are trying to escape death by any means possible, but we do not know if we will succeed or not,” Al-Salem said. “What I hope is to die with my family. I don’t want to die and leave my three children and my husband, and I don’t want one of them to die and leave me. Either we all survive or we all die.”
North Korea launched a suspected ballistic missile on Sunday afternoon, Japan and South Korea said.
The launch appeared to have been a shorter-range ballistic missile than those recently tested based on its flight time, Japan’s Defense Ministry said.
South Korean officials said the missile was launched from the Pyongyang area into the East Sea just before 3 p.m. local time. It traveled about 1,000 km, or about 621 miles, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
“We strongly condemn North Korea’s missile launch as a clear provocation that seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” South Korea’s military said in a statement.
North Korea last month tested a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile with an estimated range of about 9,300 miles, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at the time, citing the missile’s flight trajectory.
The one launched on Sunday appeared to have been a medium-range missile, South Korea said.
Japan and South Korea were working in close cooperation with the U.S. to analyze the launch, South Korea said.
Emphasizing a new era of collaboration, Japan, the U.S. and South Korea have significantly advanced their military cooperation, including making headway in overcoming past disputes, in response to North Korea’s missile launches, aggressive posturing and displays of military strength.
The three countries have activated a real-time network for sharing swift and accurate tracking data on North Korean missile threats.
Initiated the day after North Korea’s December ICBM launch — believed to be the solid-fueled Hwasong-18 — this newly operational capability is expected to deliver detailed data on missile launch points, flight trajectories, and predicted impact points. Moving beyond its previous limitation to drills, authorities claim the network will now be in continuous operation.
Kishida, who on Sunday was on a trip to earthquake-stricken Kanazawa, said the government was assessing information and would provide appropriate information when they know more.
Japanese defense officials said the missile was fired from North Korea’s inland area, saying it flew on a northeast trajectory. They estimate the missile had a maximum altitude of over 30 miles and a flight distance of at least 310 miles.
This afternoon at 2:57 p.m., Japan’s Coast Guard sent out a warning that a North Korean missile had likely been launched. At about 3:11 p.m. they sent another saying the likely missile had appeared to have fallen.
Ships were warned if they came across debris from the fallen missile, not t to approach it, and alert the coast guard. The Coast Guard said it had not received any information on possible damage to ships.
Japan said it believed the missile landed in the sea outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the country’s coast. The ministry said it was actively collating more information on the incident.
The missile launch comes ahead of a senior North Korean diplomat’s planned visit to Russia, according to TASS, a state-owned Russian news service.
North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui will begin a two-day diplomatic visit on Jan. 15 at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, TASS reported, citing the North Korean Central News Agency.
All of the Ecuador prison guards and administrative employees who were being held by inmates were released, the country’s prison agency said Saturday night.
As nationwide civil unrest unfolded in Ecuador, a total of 178 employees were taken hostage on Monday in at least five different prisons, according to the SNAI prisons agency.
According to SNAI, one prison guard had been killed in the El Oro prison.
The guards and staffers were being held by inmates in detention facilities in Azuay, Cañar, Tungurahua, Cotopaxi and Napo, the Interior Ministry said.
The hostage situation came amid widespread chaos and violence after President Daniel Noboa declared a countrywide state of emergency on Monday.
His declaration of a state of emergency followed reports of a prison escape by José Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as “Fito,” an alleged leader of the Los Choneros gang, which is said to have ties to the Sinaloa cartel. He had been convicted on charges including drug trafficking and homicide in 2011 and was being held in a high-security prison in Guyaquil.
More than 3,000 police officers have been mobilized to arrest him, officials said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A man holds the body of a small child as he and others mourn while collecting the bodies of friends and relatives killed in an airstrike on January 13, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — More than a month after a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas ended, the Israeli military continues its bombardment of the neighboring Gaza Strip.
The end of the cease-fire came after Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza, freed over 100 of the more than 200 people its militants took hostage during the Oct. 7 surprise attack on southern Israel. In exchange, Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 13, 2:44 PM
Israel-Hamas war reaches 100th day
Saturday marked 100 days since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, the deadliest conflict between the two sides in recent history.
The fighting began on Oct. 7 when Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel. Since then, Israel has launched numerous airstrikes and a ground offensive. The Israeli government has previously claimed it is defending itself.
More than 23,300 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Meanwhile, 1,200 people have been killed in Israel along with 520 Israel Defense Forces officers since Oct. 7.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the U.N’s Palestinian Relief Agency, issued a statement marking 100 days of the war, saying there are now 1.4 million people in U.N. shelters in Gaza and facing a “looming famine.”
Meanwhile, families of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza are holding a series of events Saturday to mark 100 days since their captivity began.
-ABC News’ Mary Kekatos and Patrick Reevell
Jan 13, 8:22 AM
More than half a million people are starving in Gaza, UN says
About 577,000 people in Gaza, equal to a quarter of the population, are now starving, Arif Husain, chief economist for the U.N.’s World Food program, told ABC News.
Hussain has worked as an expert assessing hunger crises for 20 years and said, in terms of scale of severity and speed, he has never seen what is unfolding in Gaza right now, calling it “unprecedented.”
Even before the war with Israel, Gaza relied on humanitarian assistance to meet around 75% to 80% of its needs. With Israel now allowing very few supplies into Gaza, it has quickly run into massive shortages.
“If things continue as they are, or if things worsen, we are looking at a full fledged famine within the next six months,” he said.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Jan 12, 12:59 PM
Deal reached to get medicine to hostages, Israel says
A deal has been reached to get medicine to the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza over the next few days, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s office.
The families of the hostages are insisting that the Israeli war cabinet “demand visual proof that the medications did indeed reach the abductees, as a condition for any return from Israel.”
“After 98 days in the Hamas tunnels, all the abductees are in immediate danger and need life-saving medication,” the families said in a statement.
Jan 12, 9:30 AM
Israel rejects genocide charges at UN’s top court
Israel on Friday called on the United Nations’ top court to dismiss South Africa’s request to halt its offensive in the Gaza Strip amid “grossly distorted” accusations of genocide.
During opening statements to a panel of judges at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker said the country is fighting a “war it did not start and did not want.”
“In these circumstances, there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide,” Becker added.
He noted that “Israel is in a war of defense against Hamas, not against the Palestinian people,” and that the suffering of civilians during wartime does not amount to genocide.
“The key component of genocide, the intent to destroy a people in whole or in part, is totally lacking,” he said.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres and Morgan Winsor
Jan 11, 12:18 PM
Blinken says he found new willingness to discuss Gaza’s future, denies conflict is escalating
As Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his trip to the Middle East, he said he encountered a new appetite among Middle Eastern leaders to discuss contributing to what he often refers to as “the day after” in Gaza.
“I have to say what was different about this trip is that on our previous trips here, I think there was a reluctance to talk about some of the day after issues and long-term stability and security on a regional basis, but now we’re finding that our partners are very focused on that and wanting to engage on those questions,” Blinken said.
On his major goal of preventing the Israeli-Hamas war from spreading across the region, Blinken was optimistic.
“I don’t think the conflict is escalating. There are lots of danger points; we’re trying to deal with each of them,” he said.
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jan 11, 12:11 PM
Hostage families beg for Israel to ‘take the deal’: ‘This is hell’
The families of hostages held by Hamas came together for a news conference Thursday demanding that the Israeli war cabinet prioritize their loved ones’ return and approve any deal that would lead to their release.
“I demand the cabinet take any deal on the table,” said Shay Wenkert, whose son, Omer Wenkert, was kidnapped from the music festival on Oct. 7.
“My son has colitis,” Wenkert said. “This is hell. I’m begging you — you had opportunities for other deals and didn’t take them. Take action. You have to take the deal. Bring them home now.”
“No one is doing us any favors in Israel. They must do everything to release the hostages, at any price,” said Gilad and Nitza Corngold, parents of Tal Shoham, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Be’eri. “I suggest anyone who says ‘It’s not worth it’ to bring a family member of theirs and make a personal exchange with me — to give me their son and take mine out. Their time is running out.”
Jan 11, 11:48 AM
Genocide case against Israel begins at UN’s top court
Israel is defending itself in the United Nations’ top court starting Thursday against allegations that its ongoing military campaign in the neighboring Gaza Strip amounts to genocide of the Palestinian people — a claim that Israel vehemently denies.
South Africa, which brought forward the allegations, is initially asking the Netherlands-based International Court of Justice to order an immediate suspension of the Israeli military offensive against Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas, as part of a landmark case that is likely to take years to resolve.
“Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies as a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” South African attorney Adila Hassim told the panel of judges inside a packed courtroom in The Hague during Thursday’s opening statements. “Nothing will stop the suffering except an order from this court.”
South Africa insists Israel is committing genocide by design and that the country’s latest war in Gaza is part of its decadeslong oppression of Palestinians. South Africa’s ruling political party, the African National Congress, has a long history of solidarity with the Palestinian cause and sees parallels with its own struggle against the apartheid regime of white minority rule that ended in 1994.
“The violence and the destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023,” South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said. “The Palestinians have experienced systematic oppression and violence for the last 76 years.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has called South Africa’s allegations “atrocious and preposterous,” while Secretary of State Antony Blinken has dismissed the case as “meritless.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response Thursday called South Africa’s allegations “upside-down.”
“Israel is fighting against murderous terrorists who have committed terrible crimes against humanity: they slaughtered, they raped, they burned, they dismembered, they killed children, women, the elderly, young men, young women. A terrorist organization that committed the most terrible crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and now there are those who come to defend it in the name of the Holocaust,” Netanyahu said. “We will continue to fight the terrorists, we will continue to repel the lies, we will continue to maintain our right to defend ourselves and secure our future.”
Lawyers for Israel will address the court on Friday.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Edward Szekeres and Morgan Winsor
Jan 11, 11:08 AM
Man who lost entire family sifts through rubble in Gaza
The main highway connecting south and north Gaza, Salah al-Din Road, which Israeli forces used for a civilian corridor, has become impassable in Deir al Balah in central Gaza.
“When we came here, we were surprised — Salah al-Din is a main road connecting the north and the south in four directions, 70 meters wide,” Gaza resident Yahya Deeb Al-Laham told ABC News. Now there’s “no infrastructure, no electricity, no roads, buildings and areas are non-existent … there is nothing here, there are no signs of life. Homes for families have completely disappeared and not a single one of them remains.”
The Israelis have recently left the area.
One of the families who followed Israeli military instructions, evacuating from northern Gaza to Deir al Balah, has been completely wiped out.
The surviving family member, Muhammad Fouad Abu Safi, returned to the site to sift through the rubble and try to find what might be left of his family.
“They left me no family member, no sister, no brother, no cousin, no child,” he told ABC News. “There were about 50 people here. Only three children, girls, came out alive … the rest here were taken out as body parts or decomposing bodies.”
“Humanity has ended, mercy has ended,” he said. “Neither from America nor from any country, there is no humanity or mercy.”
ABC News’ Samy Zayara
Jan 11, 8:32 AM
UN court opens hearings on South Africa’s accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
Israel is defending itself in the United Nations’ top court starting Thursday against allegations that its ongoing military campaign in the neighboring Gaza Strip amounts to genocide of the Palestinian people — a claim that Israel vehemently denies.
South Africa, which brought forward the allegations, is initially asking the International Criminal Court of Justice to order an immediate suspension of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza as part of a landmark case that is likely to take years to resolve.
“Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies as a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” South African attorney Adila Hassim told the panel of judges in a packed courtroom at The Hague during Thursday’s opening statements. “Nothing will stop the suffering except an order from this court.”
South Africa insists Israel is committing genocide by design and that the country’s latest war in Gaza is part of its decadeslong oppression of Palestinians. South Africa’s ruling political party, the African National Congress, has a long history of solidarity with the Palestinian cause and sees parallels with its own struggle against the apartheid regime of white minority rule that ended in 1994.
“The violence and the destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on Oct. 7, 2023,” South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said. “The Palestinians have experienced systematic oppression and violence for the last 76 years.”
Lawyers for Israel will address the court on Friday.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has called South Africa’s allegations “atrocious and preposterous,” while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has dismissed the case as “meritless.”
Jan 10, 1:31 PM
Hamas official says hostages won’t return alive if Netanyahu doesn’t accept cease-fire
Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said in a statement that the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza “will not return alive to their families” unless Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli leaders respond to Hamas’ conditions, “the first of which is a comprehensive and complete cessation of their aggression against the Gaza Strip.”
Jan 10, 11:50 AM
Israelis in Egypt for hostage talks: Egyptian security source
A delegation from Israel is in Egypt on Wednesday for new discussions on swapping Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for Palestinians in prison in Israel, an Egyptian security source confirmed to ABC News.
Jan 10, 11:18 AM
Israeli minister warns ‘Hamas will regain control’ if combat in Gaza stops
Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz warned Wednesday that “Hamas will regain control” of the Gaza Strip if the Israeli military ceases combat operations there.
“We must go on. If we stop now, Hamas will regain control,” Gantz, a retired army general who previously served as Israel’s defense minister and alternate prime minister, said during a press conference in Tel Aviv. “In most areas, we have completed the phase of operational takeover and now, we are deep in the phase of dismantling the terrorist infrastructure, which will lead to the demilitarization of the strip.”
However, Gantz noted that “the most urgent thing is the return of the abductees.” More than 100 Israeli citizens are believed to still be held hostage by militants in Gaza after being taken captive during the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
“This has precedence over every move in combat,” he said.
Gantz also warned that the Israeli military “will act in southern Lebanon as we act in northern Gaza” if the neighboring country “continues to serve as an Iranian terrorist outpost.” His remarks came as Israeli forces continue to exchange fire with Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, amid fears that regional tensions could escalate into a wider war in the Middle East.
“This is not a threat to Lebanon,” Gantz added. “It is a promise to the residents of [northern Israel].”
Israel’s war cabinet is expected to meet on Wednesday evening, followed by a meeting of the wider security cabinet.
ABC News’ Dana Savir and Morgan Winsor
Jan 10, 10:06 AM
IDF claims to have found ‘further evidence of Hamas’ exploitation’
The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday claimed to have found “further evidence of Hamas’ exploitation of the civilian population for terrorist activity across the Gaza Strip.”
The 55th Brigade combat team made the alleged discovery in recent days while “operating to destroy terror infrastructure” in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to the IDF.
“During the operations on the military targets, the soldiers located a UAV launch post, a loaded rifle underneath a child’s bed, along with grenades, cartridges, Hamas uniforms, and many intelligence materials inside the residences of terrorist operatives,” the IDF said in a statement. “During the operation, the soldiers found a tunnel shaft near a school, a rocket launcher near a kindergarten, and a training compound near a mosque.”
Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs Gaza, has denied Israel’s claims that it deliberately shelters behind civilians by hiding its fighters, infrastructure and weapons in hospitals, schools and other areas populated by civilians.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
Jan 10, 9:49 AM
At least 40 killed in Israeli strike near Gaza hospital, Hamas says
More than 40 people, including a journalist, were killed Wednesday when Israeli forces bombed an inhabited house across the street from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas Government Media Office.
Hamas claimed the Israeli military had declared the city of Deir al-Balah safe before striking the area.
There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.
Earlier Wednesday, the IDF said its aircraft and ground troops were continuing to operate against Hamas in central Gaza within the area of the Maghazi refugee camp, a couple miles north of Deir al-Balah.
Jan 10, 8:40 AM
What we know about the conflict
The Israel-Hamas war has reached the three-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 23,357 people have been killed and over 59,410 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 297 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Jan 09, 2:24 PM
Blinken announces UN-led mission in Gaza to pave way for displaced Palestinians to return to north
Speaking from a podium in Tel Aviv, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that he and Israeli officials had agreed on a plan to carry out a United Nations-led mission in Gaza that will pave the way for displaced Palestinians to return to their homes in the north — a significant step toward restoring a sense of normalcy in the enclave.
“As Israel’s campaign moves to a lower intensity phase in northern Gaza, and as the IDF scales down its forces there, we agreed today on a plan for the U.N. to carry out an assessment mission. It will determine what needs to be done to allow displaced Palestinians to return safely to homes in the north,” he said.
“Now, this is not going to happen overnight. There are serious security, infrastructure and humanitarian challenges,” Blinken cautioned, later describing traps and explosives left by Hamas as a hinderance. “But the mission will start a process that evaluates these obstacles and how they can be overcome.”
Blinken stressed the U.S. focus on humanitarian issues stemming from the conflict, but he also slammed a case brought by South Africa before the U.N.’s highest legal body, the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza, declaring that it “distracts the world” from vital efforts.
“Moreover, the charge of genocide is meritless,” Blinken asserted. “It’s particularly galling given that those who are attacking Israel — Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, as well as their supporter, Iran — continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews.”
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford
Jan 09, 8:28 AM EST
UNICEF: All children under 5 in Gaza at ‘high risk of severe malnutrition’
All children under the age of 5 in the Gaza Strip — approximately 335,000 — are at “high risk of severe malnutrition and preventable death as the risk of famine conditions continues to increase,” according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.
“To get children the life-saving support they desperately need, we need a humanitarian ceasefire. Now,” UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa office wrote Tuesday in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Jan 09, 7:43 AM EST
Blinken meets with Herzog, Netanyahu in Israel
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with top officials in Israel on Tuesday during his fourth visit to the Middle East since the Oct. 7 terror attack.
Blinken met first with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and then with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv. He was also expected to sit in on an Israeli war cabinet meeting.
Speaking to reporters alongside the Israeli president on Tuesday morning, Blinken said he valued Herzog’s leadership during these “incredibly challenging times” for Israel and other nations in the Middle East. The U.S. secretary said he would be sharing with Israeli officials what he had heard from leaders in regional countries.
Blinken’s latest weeklong trip is aimed at calming tensions across the Middle East amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the neighboring Gaza Strip. The current conflict was sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Jan 08, 3:05 PM EST
Blinken says he will press Israel on protecting civilians in Gaza
Just before he departed Saudi Arabia for Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined what he hoped to accomplish during his time in the country.
Blinken said that while he was on the ground, he would have an opportunity to relate what he had heard in meetings during his several previous stops in the Arab world, as well as “talk to them about the future direction of their military campaign in Gaza.”
“I will press on the absolute imperative to do more to protect civilians and to do more to make sure that humanitarian assistance is getting into the hands of those who need it,” he said.
Summarizing his trip so far, he said that he found a united front among leaders in Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
“Everywhere I went, I found leaders who are determined to prevent the conflict that we’re facing now from spreading, doing everything possible to deter escalation — to prevent a widening of the conflict,” he said, adding they also agreed on the importance of Israel’s security, and that the West Bank and Gaza should be united as one state led by Palestinian governance.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford
Jan 08, 2:38 PM EST
Hezbollah responds to Netanyahu visit to Lebanon border
A Hezbollah leader issued a threat to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his visit to the Lebanon border on Monday.
“If you want a large-scale war in which you attack our country, we will go to the end and we are not afraid of your threats, your bombing, or your aggression, and we have prepared for you what you never imagined,” Muhammad Raad, head of the Hezbollah bloc of Lebanese parliament, said.
Israel said it hit military targets in southern Lebanon on Monday amid skirmishes that have been ongoing since October.
Netanyahu visited Kiryat Shmona, a city in northern Israel near the Lebanon border, on Monday, where he said Hezbollah got Israelis wrong in 2006 — a reference to the 34-day war between the two countries. He also added that he hopes to return Israeli evacuees to the region.
“We will do everything to restore security to the north and allow your families, because many of you are local, to return home safely and know that we cannot be messed with,” Netanyahu said. “We will do whatever it takes. Of course, we prefer that this be done without a wide campaign, but that will not stop us.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Nasser Atta
Jan 08, 1:12 PM EST
Biden says he’s working with Israel ‘to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza’
President Joe Biden’s speech at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina on Monday was interrupted by a handful of protesters who shouted, “Cease-fire now!”
Biden responded to the interruption by saying, “I understand their passion. And I’ve been quietly working … with [the] Israeli government to get them to reduce and significantly get out of Gaza, using all I can to do.”
ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim, Libby Cathey and Fritz Farrow
Jan 07, 8:38 PM EST
Blinken expresses concern about a wider conflict during Middle East visit
The Israel-Hamas war “could easily metastasize” beyond the Palestinian territory as “profound tension” in the region raises the prospect of a wider conflict, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday during an ongoing trip to the Middle East.
Such fighting would “cause even more insecurity and suffering,” Blinken told reporters in Doha, Qatar, alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Blinken is roughly halfway through a nine-stop tour around the Middle East, his fourth diplomatic mission since the war began after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel killed 1,200.
Looking ahead to his meetings with Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv and the West Bank set for early this week, Blinken said Sunday, “I will also raise the imperative of doing more to prevent civilian casualties. Far too many Palestinians, innocent Palestinians, have already been killed.”
The secretary of state, like other U.S. officials including President Joe Biden, have sought to stress their support for Israel’s retaliatory operations against Hamas while calling for Israel to do as much as possible to curb civilian casualties in light of the ongoing onslaught in Gaza and high death toll.
Jan 07, 2:52 PM EST
International Rescue Committee withdraws from Gaza’s Al Aqsa hospital
The International Rescue Committee and Medical Aid for Palestine (MAP) said Sunday they were “forced to withdraw and cease activities” at Gaza’s Al Aqsa hospital “as a result of increasing Israeli military activity” around the medical facility.
The Israeli military has dropped leaflets designating areas surrounding the hospital as a “red zone,” the relief organizations said in a statement.
“Given the recent history of attacks on medical staff and facilities in Gaza, the team is unable to return,” the statement said. “Many local health workers have also been unable to access the hospital to care for the hundreds of patients that remain due to the conflict.”
A MAP staff member is currently a patient at the hospital after she was injured and her three sisters were killed in an Israeli bombing of a house they were staying in, according to the statement.
ABC News reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment.
Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also said Sunday it was evacuating its staff and families from the neighborhoods around the Al Aqsa hospital.
-ABC News’ Zoe Magee
Jan 07, 1:43 PM EST
IDF says it has completed the ‘dismantling of Hamas’ military framework’
The Israel Defense Forces claimed on Sunday that it has “completed the dismantling of Hamas’ military framework” in the northern Gaza Strip, hitting hundreds of targets and taking out key leaders of the terrorist group.
In an assessment of the first three months of the war between Israel and Hamas, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson, said Israeli forces have met their goals through airstrikes, ground operations and intelligence gathering in the primary objective of eliminating Hamas.
He said the IDF’s efforts in northern Gaza have included a relentless barrage of missile strikes, most of them targeting Jabaliya, the onetime stronghold of Hamas. In Jabaliya alone, Hagari said IDF airstrikes had hit 670 targets before ground forces entered the area and another 300 targets after ground troops moved in and helped direct precision airstrikes.
“In these strikes in the Jabaliya area, we eliminated the battalion commander, the deputy brigade commanders, and 11 company commanders leading the terrorists in the field,” Hagari said during a news conference.
Among the Hamas commanders eliminated was Ahmad Randor, Hagari said, showing what he said was a photograph of Randor sitting with his command echelon in a bunker 40 meters, or about 131 feet, underground.
“We have completed the dismantling of Hamas’ military framework in the northern Gaza Strip and will continue to deepen the achievement, strengthening the barrier and the defense components along the security fence,” Hagari said.
Since the war started, IDF forces have located and destroyed 40,000 weapons across the Gaza Strip, some of which were found in schools, hospitals, mosques, and even under the beds of children, Hagari said. In Jabaliya, IDF troops also infiltrated about 5 miles of tunnels and more than 40 tunnel shafts leading to Hamas’ northern headquarters and retrieved the bodies of five hostages, according to Hagari.
“Hamas no longer operates in an organized manner in this area. We have deprived it of its main terror capabilities in the region,” Hagari said.
He noted that while there are still terrorists in the Jabaliya area, “they now operate without a framework and without commanders.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Jan 06, 3:17 PM EST
Blinken voices ‘real concern’ over Israel-Lebanon tensions
While taking questions on the tarmac in Greece before heading to Jordan in his latest round of Middle East shuttle diplomacy, Secretary of State Antony Blinken wouldn’t reveal diplomatic conversations on the latest flareup in northern Israel, where Hezbollah missiles struck early Saturday, but said the U.S. is “actively working” on the issue.
“One of the areas of real concern is the border between Israel and Lebanon,” he said, pointing to the “tens of thousands forced from their homes in northern Israel.”
“We are looking at ways diplomatically to try to defuse that challenge, that tension, so that people can return to their homes, that they can live in peace and security,” Blinken said.
Blinken said the broad priorities of his trip include “preventing this conflict from spreading,” to “maximize the protection for civilians, maximize humanitarian assistance, getting it to them, and also to get hostages out of Gaza,” and paving the way for a postwar, “Palestinian-led” Gaza.
He also praised U.S.-Greek cooperation, pointing to the Greeks’ help in Operation Prosperity Guardian to keep the Red Sea safe amid increasing Houthi attacks on commercial vessels.
“I can’t think of a time when the partnership, the friendship between our countries has been stronger,” he said.
-ABC News’ Chris Boccia
Jan 05, 2:00 PM EST
Refugee camp resident on conditions in Gaza: ‘Poverty, hunger and diseases’
Al Nuseirat Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, was home to about 100,000 people before the war. Now, only a few hundred remain.
Umm Ahmed, a mother of three, told ABC News she has evacuated three times but has returned to Al Nuseirat Camp.
“I see people sitting and sleeping in the streets,” Ahmed said. “The situation doesn’t allow movement from here to there. It is financially expensive.”
Ahmed said the situation in Gaza is “very, very, very bad.”
“The situation, in all honesty, is no food, no drinking, no water, not even drinkable water, poverty, hunger and diseases,” she said. “Skin diseases are also difficult for children.”
Abu Muhammad, another resident of the camp, told ABC News he did not sleep last night due to bombing. But he does not want to leave.
“My message to the world is that we are here, and this is our land and we will not abandon it,” he said.
ABC News’ Sami Zayara
Jan 05, 11:14 AM EST
Israeli kibbutz announces death of hostage initially believed to be alive
An Israeli man who was believed to be alive and held hostage by militants in the Gaza Strip has been confirmed dead, his community announced Friday.
Tamir Adar, 38, was killed during the Hamas-led assault on the kibbutz of Nir Oz in southern Israel on Oct. 7 before militants took his body back to neighboring Gaza, according to a statement from the kibbutz. His grandmother, Yaffa Adar, was abducted alive and later released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
Tamir was “born and raised in the kibbutz and lived there with his family,” the statement from Nir Oz said. He is survived by his wife and two young children.
“Tamir was a family man, he loved people and nature,” the statement added.
ABC News’ Anna Brund, Jordana Miller and Morgan Winsor
Jan 05, 7:37 AM EST
Israeli kibbutz announces death of hostage initially believed to be alive
An Israeli man who was believed to be alive and held hostage by militants in the Gaza Strip has been confirmed dead, his community announced Friday.
Tamir Adar, 38, was killed during the Hamas-led assault on the kibbutz of Nir Oz in southern Israel on Oct. 7 before militants took his body back to neighboring Gaza, according to a statement from the kibbutz. His grandmother, Yaffa Adar, was abducted alive and later released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.
Tamir was “born and raised in the kibbutz and lived there with his family,” the statement from Nir Oz said. He is survived by his wife and two young children.
“Tamir was a family man, he loved people and nature,” the statement added.
-ABC News’ Anna Brund, Jordana Miller and Morgan Winsor
Jan 04, 6:10 PM EST
Mother, uncle of US service member rescued from Gaza
The mother and uncle of an American servicemember were rescued from Gaza in an operation involving Israel and Egypt — the first known mission of its kind to take place since the war broke out — U.S. officials confirmed on Thursday.
Zahra Sckak and her brother-in-law, Farid (a U.S. citizen), were shepherded out of Gaza days ago, though the details of the operation were kept quiet due to security concerns surrounding the operation.
The U.S. played a “liaison role” in the case, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
“There wasn’t an operational presence by any U.S. forces or U.S. personnel there to help these family members escape, but we were glad to see them make their way safely out of Gaza and we’ll continue to work to do what we can to facilitate the departure of others,” Miller told reporters Thursday.
Fadi Sckak, a brother of the U.S. servicemember, told ABC News Live last month that his mother was on the list of individuals approved to leave Gaza through the Rafah gate, but that she couldn’t get to the border crossing because of the heavy fighting surrounding the area where she was sheltering.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford
Jan 04, 4:48 PM EST
3 missing Israeli citizens recognized as hostages: IDF
Three Israeli citizens previously considered missing are now recognized as hostages, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Thursday.
“This decision was made following the completion of search and investigation operations in Israel and after examining all plausible scenarios and the information we have,” he said during a briefing.
That brings the total number of Israeli hostages held in Gaza to 136, including 23 believed to be dead, officials said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Jan 04, 2:13 PM EST
Secretary Blinken to make another trip to Middle East
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be making a marathon trip to the Middle East — his fourth visit to the region since the Oct. 7 attack, the State Department announced Thursday.
The trip, running from Jan. 4 to 11, will technically be his fifth visit to Israel since the war began; he stopped there twice on his trip in October.
“Throughout his trip, the Secretary will underscore the importance of protecting civilian lives in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza; securing the release of all remaining hostages; our shared commitment to facilitating the increased, sustained delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the resumption of essential services; and ensuring that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced from Gaza,” State Department Spokesperson Matt Miller said in a statement.
The last part of the agenda Miller lays out — “ensuring that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced from Gaza” — runs counter to the rhetoric put forth in recent days by Israeli Minister of National Security Ben Gvir and other far-right politicians, comments the Biden administration have already denounced.
As of now, Blinken is scheduled to spend time in eight countries: Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt. He will also be stopping in the West Bank.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jan 04, 12:15 PM EST
Houthi leader calls for protests against Israel’s war in Gaza
The leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebel group has called for mass protests to take place on Friday against Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
“Let the dear Yemeni people make their voice and word heard to the whole world, in their steadfastness in their faith, moral and humanitarian stance in supporting the oppressed Palestinian people, against whom the Jewish Zionists are committing crimes of genocide, completely destroying their cities and homes in Gaza, and are creative in practicing the most heinous crimes against them, such as burying the living and crushing them,” Houthi leader Abdul Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi said in a statement on Thursday.
Houthi rebels, who have been at war with Yemen’s internationally recognized government since 2014 and currently control a large part of the country, have carried out attacks on ships in the Red Sea in recent weeks in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, a territory ruled by Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Morgan Winsor
Jan 04, 11:05 AM EST
Israeli defense minister warns of ‘short window’ for diplomacy with Hezbollah
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Thursday that diplomatic solutions with Hezbollah are running out.
Gallant made the remark at the Israeli Ministry of Defense heaquarters in Tel Aviv during a meeting with Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden. The two discussed the situation in northern Israel and along the border with Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been exchanging fire with Hezbollah. The Lebanese militant group has voiced support for Palestinians amid Israel”s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
“There is only one possible result — a new reality in the northern arena, which will enable the secure return of our citizens,” Gallant said. “Yet we find ourselves at a junction — there is a short window of time for diplomatic understandings, which we prefer. We will not tolerate the threats posed by the Iranian proxy, Hezbollah, and we will ensure the security of our citizens.”
ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Morgan Winsor
Jan 04, 8:22 AM EST
IDF says it struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday morning that one of its fighter jets struck an “observation post and terrorist infrastructure” belonging to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
An “anti-tank missile terrorist cell in the same area” was also identified and struck, according to the IDF.
The IDF said its soldiers fired mortar shells overnight “in order to remove a threat” in another area of southern Lebanon, which shares a border with Israel.
There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah on the Israeli strikes.
Jan 03, 3:21 PM EST
‘Hamas still has a significant force posture inside Gaza,’ White House says
The White House was pressed on Wednesday about how close Israel may be to its stated goal of eradicating Hamas, as the death count in Gaza surpasses 22,000.
Notably, White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby declined to give specific stats on damage done to Hamas but said, “Hamas still has a significant force posture inside Gaza.”
“We have estimates. I’m loath to put the numbers out there now because they are just estimates but Hamas still has a significant force posture inside Gaza,” he said in response to a question about how many more Hamas fighters are left.
He added that Israel has said they’ve been successful “against a range of leadership” and have “without question” had an effect on “Hamas’ ability to command and control itself, to resource itself, and quite frankly to lead their troops.”
But he wouldn’t give specifics on how many members of Hamas have been killed or any measures of progress that Israel has made.
“I’ve been trying real hard not to give them a report card here and I think that is a wise thing for us to do, is to refrain from analyzing and armchair-quarterbacking their military operations,” Kirby said.
Still, on multiple occasions, he was asked if Israel can still eradicate Hamas, which has been the country’s stated goal.
“It can be done militarily. Are you going to eliminate the ideology? No. And are you likely going to erase the group from existence? Probably not. But can you eliminate the threat that Hamas poses to the Israeli people? Absolutely,” Kirby said.
Jan 03, 1:38 PM EST
Hezbollah leader warns of response for killing of top Hamas official
The head of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassam Nasrallah, said in a speech Wednesday that the killing of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri was a “serious and heinous crime that will not remain without response and punishment.”
“Whoever thinks about war with us will regret it and it will be costly,” al-Arouri said in Arabic.
Nasrallah said they did receive messages that the assassination of al-Arouri was “not targeting Lebanon and the southern suburbs.”
The speech Wednesday was the first time the leader of the Lebanese group has spoken since Nov. 3. It followed the death Tuesday of al-Arouri in a bombing.
Israel has not claimed responsibility, but Hamas and Hezbollah have pointed the blame.
ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Ellie Kaufman
Jan 03, 1:01 PM EST
Israel says it dismantled tunnels under Al-Shifa Hospital
The Israeli army said in a release Wednesday it had destroyed Hamas’ tunnels underneath the Al-Shifa Hospital without causing damage to the hospital complex.
Israel said the tunnels under the hospital spanned over 250 meters and “led to a number of significant terrorist centers and was used for carrying out terrorist operations.” It added that humanitarian operations continued at the hospital.
Hamas, as well as doctors at the hospital, has denied that terrorists were operating from the hospital complex.
ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Jan 02, 3:42 PM EST
US denounces Israeli officials’ remarks on emigration from Gaza
The U.S. State Department is denouncing recent comments from Israel’s far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calling for the emigration of Palestinians from Gaza, calling the officials’ statements “inflammatory and irresponsible.”
“The United States rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement. “We have been told repeatedly and consistently by the Government of Israel, including by the Prime Minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately.”
ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford
Jan 02, 2:11 PM EST
Top Hamas leader killed in Beirut strike, official says
A top Hamas leader and at least five others were killed in a strike in Beirut on Tuesday, a Hamas official said.
The leader, identified by the official as Saleh Arouri, was second in command in Hamas and the head of Hamas in the West Bank.
Lebanese Security Services said six people were killed in the strike, which Hamas blamed on Israel.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson declined to comment on the incident, but told ABC News that Israel “is on high alert and prepared for any scenario.”
“I want to be clear we are focused on the fight against Hamas,” the spokesperson, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, added.
Jan 02, 12:38 PM EST
Top Hamas leader killed in Beirut strike, official says
A top Hamas leader and at least five others were killed in a strike in Beirut on Tuesday, a Hamas official said.
The leader, identified by the official as Saleh Arouri, was second in command in Hamas and the head of Hamas in the West Bank.
Lebanese Security Services said six people were killed in the strike, which Hamas blamed on Israel.
ABC News did not immediately receive a response from Israeli officials on the incident.
The head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, said Tuesday the militant group has sent its conditions for a truce to Egypt and Qatar.
In a statement, Haniyeh said the position “is based on a comprehensive cessation of aggression against our people.”
Jan 02, 11:53 AM EST
Maersk halts all transit through Red Sea
Maersk, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, has decided to pause all transit through the Red Sea “until further notice,” the company said Tuesday morning.
The company made the announcement in the wake of an attack on its vessel Maersk Hangzhou by small boats carrying Houthi militants on Sunday.
U.S. Navy helicopters returned fire and sank three of the four small boats, killing the crews, U.S. officials said. The fourth boat fled the area.
Sunday’s incident was the second time in 24 hours that the Hangzhou had issued a distress call, U.S. Navy officials said.
Houthi leaders have said they will not stop the Red Sea attacks until Israel ceases its assault in Gaza.
Jan 02, 10:46 AM EST
What we know about the conflict
The Israel-Hamas war is nearing the three-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 22,185 people have been killed and over 57,000 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry and the Government Media Office.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 297 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Jan 01, 8:31 PM EST
What we know about the conflict
The Israel-Hamas war is nearing the three-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 21,978 people have been killed and 57,697 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry and the Government Media Office.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 297 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Jan 01, 1:30 PM EST
Some Israeli communities near Gaza can return soon: Defense minister
Some communities in southern Israel near the Gaza border will be able to return soon, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said Monday.
“In accordance with the recommendations given by the IDF and the defense establishment, we will soon be able to return [displaced] communities home, in areas within a range of four to seven kilometers north of the Gaza Strip,” Gallant said during an operational situation assessment held in Kibbutz Dorot.
Gallant said the “gradual return” will start with communities within seven kilometers, before moving on to the remaining communities.
Earlier Monday, Gallant toured the kibbutz and discussed the security measures required for the return of its residents.
Jan 01, 10:29 AM EST
Israel to move some troops out of Gaza, IDF announces
The IDF announced Monday it is adjusting deployment plans for forces in Gaza and the reserve system.
Some reservists will return to their families and employment, while others will return to scheduled training. The IDF says this is expected “to significantly alleviate economic burdens and enable them to gather strength for upcoming activities in the next year, as the fighting will persist, and their services will still be needed.”
“These adaptations aim to ensure effective planning and preparation for the continuation of operations in 2024” in anticipation of further warfare into the year, according to the IDF statement.
Dec 31, 4:47 PM EST
IDF says it expects war to last all of 2024
The war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group is expected to last all of 2024, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said Sunday.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement that the Israeli military is making adjustments to its deployment of troops in the Gaza Strip as it anticipates the war lasting for the entirety of 2024.
“We are adjusting the fighting methods to each area in Gaza, as well as the necessary forces to carry out the mission in the best way possible,” Hagari said. “Each area has different characteristics and different operational needs.”
Hagari added that as 2024 begins, “The goal of the war requires lengthy fighting, and we are prepared accordingly.”
The Israeli military, according to Hagari, will be carrying out “smart” management of its forces in Gaza, allowing reservists to return home to help boost the economy, and allowing standing army troops to train to become commanders.
“It will result in considerable relief for the economy, and will allow them to gain strength for operations next year, and the fighting will continue and we will need them,” Hagari said.
He said the adjustments are necessary for the IDF to endure the long road ahead.
“The IDF needs to plan ahead, out of the understanding that we will be needed for additional missions and continued fighting during the entire coming year,” Hagari said.
