(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Bob Menendez sought on Wednesday to dismiss the charges against him, arguing the government’s accusations that he sold his office and sold out his nation “are outrageously false, and indeed distort reality.”
Menendez has been charged with taking gifts — gold bars, wads of cash and luxury watches, among others — in exchange for doing official favors for New Jersey businessmen and the governments of Egypt and Qatar. He is the first sitting member of Congress to ever be charged with conspiracy for a public official to act as a foreign agent.
Menendez has pleaded not guilty.
In his motion to dismiss, Menendez argued, “Every official act the Senator took represented his good-faith policy judgments based solely on appropriate considerations.”
The senator’s defense attorneys argued requiring him to stand trial would “offend the Constitution,” because the “Framers believed Members of Congress should be principally accountable to the people, not to other branches of government; legislators must explain their conduct to voters, not to overzealous prosecutors.”
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which brought the case and will file a response to the court.
The defense argued the second superseding indictment — there has since been a third — violated the Speech or Debate Clause that precludes drawing in question the legislative acts of a member of Congress.
“Yet the Second Superseding Indictment here does exactly that. It calls into question how the Senator, in his work with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, exercised his committee prerogatives. It casts doubt on how New Jersey’s senior Senator advised the President in connection with federal nominations in his State. And it heaps shade on how the Senator performed fact-finding and information-gathering in support of his legislative functions. All of this conduct is constitutionally immune,” Menendez argued.
The motion followed a lengthy speech on the Senate floor Tuesday in which Menendez declared his innocence and lashed out at prosecutors.
Menendez said he received “absolutely nothing” from Qatar and criticized what he argued is a relentless campaign by prosecutors to get him to resign.
“The United States Attorney’s Office is engaged not in a prosecution, but a persecution. They seek a victory, not justice,” Menendez said Tuesday. “It’s an unfortunate reality but prosecutors sometimes shoot first before they even know all the facts.”
(NEW YORK) — As children, they were part of one of the most dangerous polygamous cult movements in history, with members committing a mass killing at the behest of its late leader.
And now two sisters who grew up in the LeBaron Cult are telling their story of escape, shock and living in fear.
“Daughters of the Cult,” a five-part ABC News Studios docuseries now streaming on Hulu, chronicles the story of several people, including Anna and Celia LeBaron, who were involved in Ervil LeBaron’s splinter Mormon fundamentalist group that operated throughout the Southwest and Mexico.
The sisters said they were lucky to be alive as their father controlled dozens of their family members and manipulated his followers to enact a deadly wave of violence against rival groups and others who opposed him.
“Many of my siblings are afraid to tell their stories, and I don’t blame them,” Anna LeBaron said.
“We’re afraid. We’re doing this afraid,” Celia LeBaron said, referring to participating in the docuseries.
After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ended polygamy in 1890, it excommunicated members who were still marrying multiple spouses. Those former members created their own splinter group to continue their polygamous relationships.
Ervil LeBaron and his brother Joel were descendants of that group and led the community in 1951 after their father died.
The brothers formed the organization called “Firstborn of the Fullness of Times.”
Ervil LeBaron had over 13 wives and at least 50 children, according to his family.
Celia LeBaron described her family’s upbringing as very “closed-minded,” as her father claimed to be the “Prophet of God.”
“We were indoctrinated from birth,…and it was absolute brainwashing,” she said.
A rift began to form between Joel and Ervil LeBaron when Ervil accused his brother of being a “false prophet.” Celia and Anna LeBaron said their father then became more militant, practicing military drills and arming his family and other cult members, including the children.
“Ervil wanted all of Joel’s followers to bend the knee to him and give him their tithe money,” Anna LeBaron said.
In 1972, Joel LeBaron broke off and formed another group, the “Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God.” Later that year, Joel LeBaron was murdered in Mexico by Ervil LeBaron’s followers at his orders, law enforcement learned.
Hunted by the FBI, Ervil LeBaron would move his family around the U.S. and Mexico to avoid capture, unbeknownst to his children. Anna LeBaron said she moved as many as 15 times before she was 10.
“We were awakened up in the middle of the night one night. Told not to ask any questions. It was all hush hush, urgent tones and scary,” she said. “We were just told, ‘quickly, put on your shoes. Don’t ask any questions.'”
Celia LeBaron said that she and her siblings were taught not to trust the authorities and that they were agents of evil.
“If they were to ask us any questions, we were literally trained to say ‘I don’t know,'” she said.
Ervil LeBaron eventually turned himself in to the Mexican police, and was convicted for his brother’s murder in 1974. However, his conviction was overturned by a higher court on a technicality and he was released.
This would be the start of years of violence orchestrated by Ervil LeBaron, who used members of his group and family, including two of his wives, to murder rival polygamous leaders.
“I think they felt like they were doing the right thing because we were God’s chosen people,” Anna LeBaron said.
Ervil LeBaron didn’t just target rivals with violence, according to Anna and Celia LeBaron. He used his supporters to murder family members who crossed him or threatened to leave the group.
Rebecca LeBaron, Anna and Celia’s half-sister, was believed to have been murdered while pregnant with her second child, at Ervil LeBaron’s orders, when she expressed interest in leaving the cult, according to the sisters. Her body was never found and no one was arrested in connection with her disappearance.
“So many of the women in our group were taught to stay quiet. You weren’t allowed to complain, you weren’t allowed to question, you weren’t allowed to think your own thoughts about anything. It was normalized to just do what you’re told, and not ask any questions. And so, that’s what we did,” Anna LeBaron said.
Authorities in both Mexico and the U.S. tried to apprehend Ervil LeBaron and even raided many of the places he and his followers lived.
In 1979, he was apprehended by Mexican authorities and extradited to the U.S., where he was convicted in the murder of Rulon Allred, another polygamous leader.
Although he was behind bars, Ervil LeBaron still wielded power among his followers and family, according to Anna and Celia LeBaron.
He allegedly wrote letters to his followers with violent messages and orders, including one where he told them to break him out of captivity.
“When you read his writings, you would understand that these are not the writings of a man who is in his right mind,” Anna LeBaron said.
Ervil LeBaron was sentenced to life in prison in 1980, and he died while in prison a year later from an apparent heart attack.
Shortly after his death, Anna LeBaron was living in Houston with her mother. Her sister Lillian and her brother-in-law Mark Chynoweth were also living in the city and they were having misgivings about the cult, according to Anna LeBaron.
Anna LeBaron claimed that Dan Jordan, her father’s second-in-command, met with her mother and claimed that Mark was evil and she needed to move to Denver.
Anna LeBaron, then 13, ran away from her mother to her sister Lillian’s home in 1983.
“I felt like I had one chance. One chance to get out of there. So I started walking,” she said. “I am absolutely certain that somebody is going to come and find me. It was very frightening because I knew if somebody saw me, that was the end.”
“I didn’t feel like I was being rebellious. It never occurred to me that I was gonna be isolated from my mom and my siblings,” Anna LeBaron added.
Celia LeBaron remained with the family in Denver for another three years and said she was being emotionally and physically abused by Jordan and his wife.
In 1986, she called her sisters in Houston and Lillian arranged for a flight to leave the cult.
“I landed in Houston and walked down the runway, and there was my sister and her husband. And I knew, in that moment, that I was safe. I moved in with my sister and I got reunited with Anna,” Celia LeBaron said.
The sisters would later find out that their former family and organization would be involved in a gruesome series of killings orchestrated from beyond the grave.
While in prison, Ervil LeBaron wrote a manifesto titled, “The Book of the New Covenants” which was printed and distributed to his members.
The book contained a hit list of people who were deemed enemies of the church.
Anna LeBaron said she and her family members had heard of rumors of such a kill list and were concerned.
On June 27, 1988, at exactly 4:00 p.m., members of Ervil LeBaron’s cult took part in simultaneous shootings targeting people who were on that hit list.
Former follower Duane Chynoweth and his 8-year-old daughter and Eddie Marston, Ervil LeBaron’s stepson, were among the victims.
Mark Chynoweth was also shot six times in what was dubbed the “4 O’Clock Murders.”
“It was other parts of our family. Other people that we loved were killing these precious humans that we adored,” Celia LeBaron said.
The sisters immediately told authorities about their father’s plans, but they remained in constant fear that they could be next.
Anna LeBaron said she had trouble applying to colleges as administrators feared other students’ parents would be concerned. Her sister Lillian would eventually take her own life.
Seven cult members were arrested over the next two decades in connection with the murders. Five were convicted. Cynthia LeBaron was granted immunity for testifying against her co-conspirators.
Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron was captured in 2010 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct religious beliefs a year later. She was sentenced to five years in prison but was released early.
“It was better that they be in prison. But there are a lot of mixed emotions,” Celia LeBaron said. “These are people that you love. That you care about. It was heart-wrenching.”
The sisters said they have tried to live their lives the best they can despite their trauma.
“It’s been over 40 years since I escaped my father’s cult,” Anna LeBaron said. “To be able to grow and become the person that I am today. To heal enough that I was able to write my own story and to publish my book. I want to be an inspiration to others. Anyone who’s experienced abuse, neglect, abandonment, those things don’t have to define us today. I have overcome all of the odds, and here I am.”
“Daughters of the Cult” is produced by ABC News Studios, All3Media and Main Event Media. Emily Bon, Jimmy Fox and Jacob Cohen-Holmes are executive producers. Sara Mast is director and executive producer, and Smith Glover is co-executive producer. ABC News Studios’ David Sloan is the senior executive producer, and Beth Hoppe is the executive producer.
(NEW YORK) — Severe weather across the U.S. has left at least five people dead and is causing rivers to rise to dangerous levels as more winter storms move in.
Hundreds of thousands of customers are without power across the U.S. Wednesday, with New York and Pennsylvania hit the hardest.
While the rain in the Northeast has stopped for now, it could still cause rivers to rise over their banks in the next two days.
The Raritan River crested Wednesday in Piscataway Township, New Jersey, and local police urged residents to move cars near the river to higher ground.
In Norwich, Connecticut, dam conditions prompted officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order on Wednesday for areas along the Yantic River.
“Residents evacuating from Yantic are advised that they may be displaced from their residences and businesses for several days,” Norwich Public Utilities warned.
The Pawtuxet River in Rhode Island and the Pompton and Passaic rivers in New Jersey could also go to into major flooding stages.
On Tuesday, the storms caused at least five fatalities across the U.S.
In Wisconsin, one person was killed in a car crash due to poor road conditions amid snowfall, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
Another car crash killed a 35-year-old woman in Webber Township, Michigan, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
In Cottonwood, Alabama, an 81-year-old woman was killed when a possible tornado blew her mobile home over multiple times while she was inside, according to the Houston County medical examiner and coroner.
Another person was killed when severe weather damaged multiple residences at a mobile home park in Claremont, North Carolina, and the National Weather Service is evaluating where a tornado occurred in the area, according to the Catawba County Government.
In Jonesboro, Georgia, a tree fell on the windshield of a car, killing the driver, according to the Clayton County Police Department.
This week at least 23 tornadoes have been reported across Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.
The same system brought up to 15 inches of snow to the Midwest and winds as high as 65 mph to the Northeast.
More than 3 inches of heavy rain fell on top of melting snow in the Northeast, crippling travel as floodwaters spilled into roadways.
Now, another winter storm is heading from the West Coast to the East Coast.
The storm already dumped up to 30 inches of snow and brought rare blizzard conditions to the Pacific Northwest over the last 24 hours.
On Wednesday, the heavy snow is falling in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and will move through the Rockies on Thursday.
This storm will bring another severe weather outbreak to the South from Thursday night through Friday. Damaging winds, large hail, flash flooding and tornadoes are possible from Texas to Florida to the Carolinas.
In the north, snow will stretch from Iowa to Missouri to Michigan to Chicago on Friday and Saturday, with more than 1 foot of snow possible in some spots.
The storm will reach the Northeast late Friday night into Saturday morning. More heavy rain, gusty winds and flooding are expected.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The price of Bitcoin vaulted skyward on Tuesday afternoon after the Securities and Exchange Commission appeared to deliver a major breakthrough for the cryptocurrency in a post on X.
Minutes later, SEC Chair Gary Gensler punctured the euphoria, saying on X that a hacker had commandeered the agency’s account and sent out a fake message. The price of Bitcoin plummeted.
The frenzy swirled around a long-awaited approval for a trading product called a Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), which some analysts say could bring tens of billions of dollars of investment this year and catapult the price of Bitcoin.
On Wednesday, the SEC faces a deadline to decide whether Bitcoin ETFs are legal.
A Bitcoin ETF would allow investors to buy into an asset that tracks the price movement of Bitcoin, while avoiding the inconvenience and risk of purchasing the crypto coin itself. But critics warn the investment product could do harm to investors exposed to the volatility and uncertainty of crypto.
Here’s what to know about Bitcoin ETFs and what’s at stake in their potential approval:
What is a Bitcoin ETF?
A Bitcoin ETF uses a decades-old trading method as a means of easing investment in digital assets.
An ETF amounts to a bucket of securities that gives investors a way to bet that an underlying asset will increase in price without purchasing that asset.
For instance, an ETF for gold allows individuals and institutions to put money on the price movement of the precious metal rather than buy, lug and store the physical item.
A Bitcoin ETF, in turn, would give investors access to the cryptocurrency market without facing the technical impediments and fees associated with navigating a crypto exchange.
Traders could find Bitcoin on traditional trading platforms and markets that many of them find trustworthy, assuaging concern about relatively young and scandal-ridden crypto technology.
Top investment firms like Fidelity and BlackRock are set to offer Bitcoin ETF products if they gain federal approval.
While nearly 90% of U.S. adults say they’ve heard at least a little about cryptocurrency, three-quarters say they aren’t confident about the safety and trustworthiness of current means for investing in the products, a Pew survey in April found.
What would happen if Bitcoin ETFs are made available?
Some analysts say the new products could unleash a flow of investment and trigger a major spike in the price of Bitcoin, supercharging the most well-known and successful digital asset.
A Bitcoin ETF would elicit more than $14 billion of investment inflows within its first year on the market and nearly $40 billion by the end of the third year, according to Galaxy Digital, a crypto management and research firm.
Standard Chartered Bank, a U.K.-based lender, offered a more bullish assessment, saying the financial instrument could induce as much as $100 billion worth of inflows by the end of this year, crypto outlet CoinDesk reported on Tuesday.
Under such a scenario, the price of Bitcoin could reach near $200,000 by the end of 2025, more than quadrupling the current value of the crypto coin, Standard Chartered Bank said, according to CoinDesk.
The price of Bitcoin has jumped nearly 70% over the past six months, in part due to anticipation of a surge if the Bitcoin ETF gains approval.
Critics of the financial instrument, however, say it could wreak significant damage to investors due to the volatility of Bitcoin as well as its potential use in illicit activities.
Dennis Kelleher, the CEO of nonprofit transparency group Better Markets, co-authored a letter to an SEC official last week warning of significant risk posed by the pending approval.
“It would be a grave if not historic mistake almost certainly leading to massive investor harm if the SEC approves the pending rule changes,” Kelleher wrote.
He added, “The massive and unrelenting fraud and manipulation in the bitcoin market means that approving these products would expose those investors to the very harms that the SEC exists to prevent.”
Why does this matter?
The crypto industry entered this year bruised after a series of high-profile collapses and company scandals.
Sam Bankman-Fried, formerly one of the industry’s most prominent figures, could serve decades in prison after he was convicted on fraud charges in a federal trial. Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of major cryptocurrency exchange Binance, faces a jail sentence of up to 18 months after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of money laundering.
Government approval for a Bitcoin ETF could inject a much-needed jolt of good news for the ailing sector. But, as some critics fear, the financial product could widen the reach of crypto and pose further risk.
“We believe retail investors should wait to see whether these products can garner enough traction to see the light of day — let alone see convincing performance,” Manan Agarwal and Sabeeh Ashhar, analysts with financial services firm Morningstar, wrote in August.
(NEW YORK) — Severe weather across the U.S. has left at least five people dead and is causing rivers to rise to dangerous levels as more winter storms move in.
Hundreds of thousands of customers are without power across the U.S. Wednesday, with New York and Pennsylvania hit the hardest.
While the rain in the Northeast has stopped for now, it could still cause rivers to rise over their banks in the next two days.
The Raritan River crested Wednesday in Piscataway Township, New Jersey, and local police urged residents to move cars near the river to higher ground.
In Norwich, Connecticut, dam conditions prompted officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order on Wednesday for areas along the Yantic River.
“Residents evacuating from Yantic are advised that they may be displaced from their residences and businesses for several days,” Norwich Public Utilities warned.
The Pawtuxet River in Rhode Island and the Pompton and Passaic rivers in New Jersey could also go to into major flooding stages.
On Tuesday, the storms caused at least five fatalities across the U.S.
In Wisconsin, one person was killed in a car crash due to poor road conditions amid snowfall, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
Another car crash killed a 35-year-old woman in Webber Township, Michigan, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
In Cottonwood, Alabama, an 81-year-old woman was killed when a possible tornado blew her mobile home over multiple times while she was inside, according to the Houston County medical examiner and coroner.
Another person was killed when severe weather damaged multiple residences at a mobile home park in Claremont, North Carolina, and the National Weather Service is evaluating where a tornado occurred in the area, according to the Catawba County Government.
In Jonesboro, Georgia, a tree fell on the windshield of a car, killing the driver, according to the Clayton County Police Department.
Since Monday, at least 23 tornadoes have been reported across Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.
The same system brought up to 15 inches of snow to the Midwest and winds as high as 65 mph to the Northeast.
More than 3 inches of heavy rain fell on top of melting snow in the Northeast, crippling travel as floodwaters spilled into roadways.
Now, another cross-country weather system is headed toward the East Coast.
The storm has already dumped up to 30 inches of snow in the Pacific Northwest.
The system is expected to move through the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada mountain range on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving several feet of snow, before shifting east and producing another severe weather outbreak from Texas to the Carolinas, with the possibility of tornadoes.
Another major snowstorm is expected in the north with up to 1 foot of snowfall from Nebraska to Michigan.
Storms are forecast to move into the Northeast on Friday night and Saturday morning, bringing up to 4 inches of heavy rain and the potential for flooding.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
AED are portable, life-saving devices designed to treat people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating suddenly and unexpectedly. CREDIT: Boy_Anupong/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Bystander use of automated external defibrillators, or AEDs, for witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrests remains low despite legislative efforts to improve access to these life-saving devices at recreational facilities across the United States, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Missouri-Kansas City reviewed how frequently bystanders used AEDs in 9,290 cases of witnessed cardiac arrest at recreational facilities, based on data from the Cardiac Arrest Registry to Enhance Survival (CARES). They further compared the frequency of AED use among states with and without enacted laws requiring the presence of AEDs on site at recreational facilities.
Although 46.8% of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest had shockable heart rhythms, bystander use of AEDs remained low across the country, with only 19% of bystanders using AEDs in AED-enacted law states, and 18.2% of bystanders using AEDs in non-law states, the JAMA study, published Jan. 2, found.
Low rates of “bystander use of AEDs could be due to several reasons, including lack of AED availability on-site,” “unawareness that an AED is available, or not knowing where it is located,” wrote Dr. Ahmed Kolkailah, corresponding author of the study, from the division of cardiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. “Even if an AED is available, bystanders may not know how to use it or may be afraid of causing harm.”
Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation was only performed in 5,693 cases, or 61.3%, the study found. Additionally, rates for surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and making it to the hospital were similar for patients living in AED law states (44.5%) and non-law states (45.0%).
These findings emphasize the need to increase public awareness of the lifesaving measures AEDs can provide, and where they can be found.
“If CPR is not started within the first few minutes, brain function and survival decline by 10% for every minute without CPR. We need to educate people about CPR and AED use. The American Heart Association strongly advocates for CPR and AED training as a high school graduation requirement,” according to Dr. Dianne Atkins, a pediatric cardiologist and volunteer for the American Heart Association’s Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee.
“AEDs placed in public areas need to be made very visible. Often AED signage is placed on the wall instead of perpendicular to the wall, so as you’re walking you can see it easily. AEDs need to be obvious and quickly found,” Atkins said. “I always look for an AED when I’m in a new building. Sometimes I’ll ask a receptionist or security guard where the AED is.”
“Cardiac arrest can happen to anyone at any time. CPR and AED use should be considered life skills for everyone,” wrote Dr. Steven Brooks, emergency medicine physician at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and lead author of an American Heart Association statement from the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation published in 2022.
“Using an AED may seem intimidating, but it’s important to remember that all you have to do is power on the unit, and it will guide you through the steps to save a life with audio and visual prompts,” Brooks said. “Just do what the AED says and you could save a life.”
The first steps you can take to save a life involve watching this video from the American Heart Association on how to properly administer hands-only CPR, and be on the lookout for the nearest AED in public spaces.
Joey K. Ng, M.D., is an emergency medicine resident at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
Jennifer Miao, M.D., is a fellow physician in cardiology at Yale School of Medicine/Yale New Haven Hospital, and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(NEW YORK) — More than a month after a temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel ended, Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza.
The end of the cease-fire came after Hamas freed over 100 of the more than 200 people its militants took hostage during the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel. In exchange, Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
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.
(NEW YORK) — Officers with the Transportation Security Administration found 6,737 guns — a record high — at airport security checkpoints across the U.S. last year, the agency said Wednesday.
About 93% of the guns found were loaded, the TSA said.
This marks the third year in a row that a record number of guns were confiscated by airport security.
The total of 6,737 guns surpasses the previous record of 6,542 guns that were discovered at TSA checkpoints in 2022. That 2022 record broke the previous record of 5,972 guns recovered in 2021, according to TSA.
Flyers caught trying to bring firearms in their carry-on baggage can face arrest or citations from local law enforcement.
Passengers can also face civil penalties from the TSA up to almost $15,000 and risk losing their TSA PreCheck eligibility for five years.
ABC News’ Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — More than three years into the pandemic, hundreds of Americans are still dying from COVID-19 every week.
For the week ending Dec. 9, the last week of complete data, there were 1,614 deaths from COVID, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The last four weeks of complete data show an average of 1,488 weekly deaths.
By comparison, there were 163 weekly deaths from the flu for the week ending Dec. 9, according to CDC data.
While high, these COVID death figures are still lower than the high of 25,974 deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, as well as weekly deaths seen in previous winters, CDC data shows.
The current “weekly rate of COVID mortality is similar to what we were getting per day at [the worst] parts of the pandemic. So, proportionally, we’re in a completely different place than where we were, thankfully,” Dr. Cameron Wolfe, a professor of infectious diseases at Duke University in North Carolina, told ABC News. “But there’s still a pretty significant mortality; 1,500 patients dying every week is unacceptable, frankly.”
Experts said there are several reasons why people might still be dying from the virus, including not enough people accessing treatments or getting vaccinated as well as waning immunity.
Additionally, if more people get sick, even if in lesser numbers than in previous waves, it will naturally lead to more people becoming hospitalized and, in turn, dying.
“We do have very good vaccines that [researchers] have been able to adjust as the variants have changed and very good treatment options that have been shown to decrease the risk of hospitalization as well as deaths,” Dr. Shivanjali Shankaran, an associate professor of infectious diseases at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told ABC News.
“However, if we’re not accessing those particular tools, then having them doesn’t sort of make any difference,” Shankaran added.
Too few people getting vaccinated
As of Jan. 5, just 19.4% of adults aged 18 and older and 8% of children have received the updated COVID vaccine, CDC data shows. Additionally, just 38% of adults aged 65 and older, who are at higher risk of severe illness, have been vaccinated.
The updated vaccine is targeted against variants that are related to XBB, an offshoot of the omicron variant.
Currently, JN.1, a descendant of BA.2.86 — which is itself descended from XBB — makes up an estimated 61.6% of U.S. COVID cases, CDC data shows.
Although the CDC has suggested JN.1 may be more transmissible or better at evading the immune system than other variants, there is no evidence that available vaccines don’t work.
“The longer someone has gone since their last vaccine, or their most recent infection for that matter, the more likely their COVID breakthrough would occur and the more likely it’s going to be severe enough that they land in hospital” and potentially die, Wolfe said.
Experts said there may a level of vaccine fatigue and complacency in the population with people not getting the updated vaccine because they don’t feel like they need it after getting the original vaccine and then subsequent boosters. This, however, doesn’t account for waning immunity.
“[Vaccines] don’t retain their memory as effectively as we might like, so if you were vaccinated short of more than 12 months ago, your chances of maintaining really good memory again from that vaccine is probably pretty poor at this point,” Wolfe said.
For a high-risk person, this increases their chance of severe illness if they get infected. For lower risk people, this increases the risk of them spreading the virus to more at-risk groups, he added.
Americans not accessing treatments
COVID-19 treatments have evolved since the early days of the pandemic with antiviral pills available, particularly Paxlovid from Pfizer.
Paxlovid is three pills given twice daily for five days for those at high risk of severe illness. Initial clinical trial data showed Pfizer’s pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death for unvaccinated patients at risk of severe illness who began treatment within three days of symptoms by nearly 90%. More recent studies including omicron strains of the virus and vaccinated patients have upheld similar results showing the treatment cut the risk of hospitalization and death in half.
It’s been a relatively underused treatment with some reports suggesting that in some states it’s prescribed in less than 25% of cases — and it may be another reason why deaths have increased.
Experts said there may be several factors at play.
“It’s a combination of misunderstanding about who’s eligible for Paxlovid, a misunderstanding about whether Paxlovid works and then sometimes trouble getting prescriptions,” Dr. Megan Rainey, dean of the Yale School of Public Health, told ABC News. “Because we know, for example, that Paxlovid use is much lower in rural areas, as well as among those who have lower educational levels, so I suspect for Paxlovid that there is this kind of element of access as well.”
Physicians may also feel hesitant to prescribe Paxlovid due to concerns about how the medication interacts with other prescription drugs or even due to instance of people experiencing a Paxlovid rebound, which is a recurrence of COVID symptoms.
“The data on rebound is still being figured out, but what’s clear is that whether or not you get a rebound with Paxlovid, it absolutely decreases risk of hospitalization and death,” Rainey said.
More infections mean more severe illnesses
Another reason for the increase is the sheer fact that more people getting sick naturally means more hospitalizations and more deaths, according to experts.
“It’s nothing obviously like the omicron wave where we had just millions and millions of people getting sick, and because of that many more people going to the hospital and dying, but yeah, as the total number of people who are infected increases, then you are going to have a similar increase in the number of people who need hospitalization,” Shankaran said.
For those who may be elderly or immunocompromised, even a case of mild COVID-19 can result in severe illness and even death.
Experts said the messaging to the public is the same as in earlier phases of the pandemic and advise that Americans remain diligent.
“The message is to be aware of your own risk factors, be aware of your own symptoms, recognize that vaccines provide protection, not only against getting sick but severity of sickness,” Wolfe said. “That’s the same message that we try and send for flu and RSV each year, it’s no different.”
(NEW YORK) — Hunter Biden made a surprise appearance Wednesday on Capitol Hill, defiantly walking into a House committee hearing centered on whether to hold him in contempt.
The move sparked outrage from Republicans, who’ve issued a congressional subpoena for him to sit for a closed-door deposition in their ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. The president’s son has said he would testify only in a public forum, and has previously castigated the probe as “illegitimate.”
“You’re the epitome of white privilege, coming into the Oversight Committee, spitting in our face, ignoring a congressional subpoena to be deposed. What are you afraid of?” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace said just after he entered the room. She went on to say the younger Biden should be arrested and go “straight to jail.”
Mace was interrupted by another lawmaker, Democrat Jared Moskowitz, who said they could “hear from Hunter Biden right now” and called for a vote to have him speak.
Hunter Biden made his way into the hearing amid opening statements and took a seat in the front row. He was accompanied by his lawyer Abbe Lowell.
Hunter Biden left a short time after, when the chairman called on Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to speak.
“Excuse me, Hunter, apparently you’re afraid of my words,” Greene said.
Lowell then spoke to the press outside the hearing room, though Hunter Biden ignored shouted questions.
“Hunter Biden was and is a private citizen. Despite this, Republicans have sought to use him as a surrogate to attack his father,” Lowell said.
Lowell accused Republicans of caring “little about the truth” and trying to “hold someone in contempt, who has offered to publicly answer all their proper questions.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, the Oversight Committee released a 19-page report recommending he be held in contempt of Congress, as well as the text of the proposed resolution.
“Mr. Biden’s flagrant defiance of the Committees’ deposition subpoenas — while choosing to appear nearby on the Capitol grounds to read a prepared statement on the same matters — is contemptuous, and he must be held accountable for his unlawful actions,” the report stated.
Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told Fox News he has the votes to get the resolution out of committee.
A full vote on the House floor would be held at a later date. Comer said it could happen early next week.
Hunter Biden was subpoenaed to sit for the closed-door interview on Dec. 13 but instead held a defiant news conference just outside the U.S. Capitol.
“I am here to testify at a public hearing, today, to answer any of the committees’ legitimate questions,” he said. “Republicans do not want an open process where Americans can see their tactics, expose their baseless inquiry, or hear what I have to say. What are they afraid of? I am here.”
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the committee’s top Democrat, also criticized Comer for “denying Hunter Biden the opportunity to answer all the Committee’s questions in front of the American people and the world.”
“Chairman Comer does not want Hunter Biden to testify in public, just as he has refused to publicly release over a dozen interview transcripts, because he wants to keep up the carefully curated distortions, blatant lies, and laughable conspiracy theories that have marked this investigation,” Raskin said in a statement.
Committee Republicans have countered that they are open to public testimony at an unspecified “future date” but “need not and will not accede to Mr. Biden’s demand for special treatment with respect to how he provides testimony.”
The Biden impeachment inquiry, launched unilaterally by ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then formalized months later by the House in a party-line vote, has yet to yield any concrete evidence to support GOP claims that Biden participated in and profited from his son and family’s foreign business dealings.
The House Oversight Committee report recommending a contempt charge stated Hunter Biden’s testimony is “necessary” to determine whether there are “sufficient grounds” for impeachment.
The committee has also subpoenaed President Biden’s brother, James Biden, and former Hunter Biden business associate Rob Walker. It also requested transcribed interviews with other members of the Biden family and Tony Bobulinski, a former business associate of Hunter Biden.
ABC News’ Selina Wang and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
