(WASHINGTON) — The life of former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 96, will be celebrated next week with memorial events and a funeral service in her home state of Georgia.
The public will be able to pay their respects when the family motorcade carries her remains to Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, her alma mater, on Monday, Nov. 27, The Carter Center shared in a schedule of events. Past and present members of Carter’s Secret Service detail will accompany the motorcade.
Wreaths will be laid at the university before the motorcade continues to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, where the former first lady will lie in repose for several hours.
On Tuesday, Nov. 28, there will be a tribute service for Carter at Glenn Memorial Church at Emory University in Atlanta.
Her funeral service will be held the following day, Wednesday, Nov. 29, at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains. Former President Jimmy Carter taught Sunday school at the church for decades and into his 90s.
“Rosalynn was my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished,” Jimmy Carter said in a statement on Sunday announcing her death. “She gave me wise guidance and encouragement when I needed it. As long as Rosalynn was in the world, I always knew somebody loved and supported me.”
Married to Jimmy Carter for more than 77 years — the longest union of any presidential couple in U.S. history — Rosalynn Carter was a pillar of support through his time in the Navy, the governorship and the White House.
But she built a legacy of her own as a mental health advocate and through her humanitarian work, including with The Carter Center, which she and her husband founded after leaving the White House.
The Carter Center praised her as “a passionate champion of mental health, caregiving, and women’s rights.”
Already, tributes have poured in for the former first lady in an online condolence book set up by The Carter Center for the public.
One individual shared that since becoming a caregiver for their mother they were “moved by the First Lady’s own life supporting caregivers from a very early age, in her own family of origin, and then the families she supported through the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers.”
Another wrote that they, as the son of a mother with mental illness, were “forever grateful” for her work destigmatizing mental illness.
Rosalynn Carter is survived by her husband, their four children, 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden gave the official presidential pardon to turkeys Liberty and Bell on the White House South Lawn on Monday — an event stuffed with jabs at Biden’s age and healthy sides of corny jokes.
Hailing from Willmar, Minnesota, Liberty, weighing 42.5 pounds, and Bell, a svelte 42.1 pounds, escaped the “fowl” fate of ending up on anyone’s Thanksgiving dinner plate this year because of the pardon.
After a morning at D.C.’s Willard InterContinental Hotel, the turkeys received their pardon during a lighthearted ceremony. Biden, who celebrated his 81st birthday on Monday, joked that this year marks the 76th anniversary of the event — but he didn’t attend the first one.
“I was too young to make it up,” he said with a laugh.
Acknowledging his birthday, Biden joked “it’s hard turning 60!”
The president commented that while Liberty and Bell hail from Minnesota, their namesake is the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia.
“They have a new appreciation for the phrase, ‘Let freedom ring,'” Biden said to the crowd.
The ceremony marks the “unofficial start of the holiday season” and is a time to give thanks and gratitude, Biden said. On a more serious note, the president addressed the spirit of the Thanksgiving, and made reference to the recent death of former first lady Rosalynn Carter.
“This week we’ll gather with the people we love and the traditions that each of us have built up on our own families. We’ll also think about the loved ones we lost, including just yesterday when we lost former first lady Rosalynn Carter, but walked her own path in inspiring the nation and the world along the way. And let’s remind ourselves that we’re blessed to live in the greatest nation on this face of the earth,” he said.
To finish the set dressing, one of the turkeys was hoisted on to a table for the official pardon proclamation.
“I hereby pardon Liberty and Bell,” Biden bellowed, adding, “Congratulations, birds!”
Liberty and Bell were hatched as part of the presidential flock in July — and were prepped for their turn in the spotlight with some hype-up music so the noise and festivities didn’t ruffle their feathers, said National Turkey Federation President Steve Lykken at a news conference Sunday.
“I can confirm they are in fact Swifties, and they do enjoy some Prince,” Lykken said.
The two traveled in style from Minnesota, driven in their own personal vehicle to D.C. ahead of Monday’s event.
After their pardon, it’s all gravy for Liberty and Bell. The two will return to the University of Minnesota and the College of Food, Ag and National Resource Sciences to rest their feathers and live out the rest of their post-pardon lives.
Previous pardon recipients under Biden include Chocolate and Chip in 2022 and Peanut Butter and Jelly in 2021.
History of poultry pardons
The origin of the presidential turkey pardons is a bit fuzzy. Unofficially, reports point all the way back to President Abraham Lincoln, who spared a bird from its demise at the urging of his son, Tad. However, the story may be more folklore than fact.
The true start of what has evolved into the current tradition has its roots in politics and dates back to the Truman presidency in 1947.
President Harry Truman ruffled feathers by starting “poultry-less Thursdays” to try and conserve various foods in the aftermath of World War II, but Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years all fell on Thursdays.
After the White House was inundated with live birds sent as part of a “Hens for Harry” counter-initiative, the National Turkey Federation and the Poultry and Egg National Board presented Truman with a bird as a peace offering — although the turkey was not saved from the holiday fest.
President John F. Kennedy began the trend of publicly sparing a turkey given to the White House in November 1963, just days before his assassination. In the years following, the event became a bit more sporadic, with even some first ladies such as Pat Nixon and Rosalynn Carter stepping in to accept the guests of honor on their husband’s behalf.
The tradition of the public sparing returned in earnest under the Reagan administration, but the official tradition of the poultry pardoning at the White House started in 1989, when President George H.W. Bush offered the first official presidential pardon. In the more than three decades since, at least one lucky bird has gotten some extra gobbles each year.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said Monday he believes a deal is near to free some of the more than 200 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Biden was participating in the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon at the White House when he was asked if an agreement was close.
“I believe so, but I’m not prepared to talk to –” Biden said before he was cut off by the reporter, who pressed him: “You believe so?”
“Yes,” Biden replied. The president then crossed his fingers.
Hamas took more than 230 hostages, including Americans, during its Oct. 7 terror attack on Israeli communities, according to Israeli officials. Only a handful of hostages have been released in the weeks since, including a mother and daughter with dual American and Israeli citizenship and two elderly Israeli women.
The administration said that 10 Americans who are unaccounted for are believed to be among the hostages.
More than 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the initial terror attack and thousands more have been killed and injured in retaliatory operations in Gaza since, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reiterated at the White House briefing Monday that the administration believes it’s “closer than we’ve ever been,” but said there are no updates to publicly discuss. He declined to get into detail when asked how many hostages may be released or whether women and children are being prioritized.
“I want to be careful here, I don’t want to negotiate in public, but if you’re going to secure the release of hostages, and we certainly hope we’re going to be able to do that soon, you’ve got to make sure they can get from where they are to safety and do that as safely as possible, which means you’re gonna have to have at least a temporary localized stop in the fighting to allow them to move,” he told reporters.
Kirby said the administration is working “hour by hour” and emphasized nothing is set in stone until it’s “all done.”
On the timeline of a potential hostage deal, a U.S. official said the negotiation process had reached the stage now where an agreement could be reached “at any point” — but warned that it could still implode as well.
Beyond the assessment that Hamas is an unreliable player and talks have collapsed multiple times in recent weeks, the official said there were several other complicating factors that could impede the eventual release of any hostages that still needed to be worked through with all parties involved.
(NEW YORK) — OpenAI was thrown into upheaval in recent days after the sudden departure of CEO Sam Altman, who just three days later landed at Microsoft. The ouster elicited a letter from about 600 employees at OpenAI, all of whom threatened to resign unless Altman returns.
As the worker protest unfolded, OpenAI – maker of the popular conversation bot ChatGPT – appointed a replacement for Altman: Interim CEO Emmett Shear, the former chief executive at video game streaming platform Twitch. Shear revealed the news Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying he’d received a call from the company offering him the position only hours earlier.
“It’s clear that the process and communications around Sam’s removal has been handled very badly, which has seriously damaged our trust,” said Shear.
“I took this job because I believe that OpenAI is one of the most important companies currently in existence,” he added. “When the board shared the situation and asked me to take the role, I did not make the decision lightly. Ultimately I felt that I had a duty to help if I could.”
Here’s what to know about Shear, his attitude toward AI, and his plans for the company.
Who is Open AI interim CEO Emmett Shear?
Shear, who earned an undergraduate degree in computer programming from Yale University, is best known for his role as the founder and CEO of Twitch.
Launched in 2011, Twitch set out to become the preeminent online platform for livestream video content. Within two years, the site boasted 45 million unique visitors in a single month, Forbes reported. Amazon acquired Twitch for nearly $1 billion in 2014.
Shear stepped down as CEO of Twitch last year, comparing the 16-year-old company to a teenager. “Twitch is ready to move out of the house and venture alone,” Shear said.
Before Twitch, Shear co-founded a series of startups. One of the first, in 2005, was an early attempt at an integrated online calendar, called Kiko Calendar.
“Kiko Calendar was a story in repeated mistakes and failure,” Shear said at a 2014 event with startup accelerator Y Combinator, with which he has been affiliated on and off for nearly two decades. Kiko Calendar was later sold on eBay for $250,000, Shear said at the event.
What are Shear’s plans for OpenAI?
In his announcement on X accepting the role as interim CEO, Shear laid out his initial plans for the company over the coming weeks.
He vowed to hire an independent investigator to examine Altman’s ouster, to speak with an array of company stakeholders, and to reform the company’s management team as needed.
“Depending on the results everything we learn from these, I will drive changes in the organization – up to and including pushing strongly for significant governance changes if necessary,” Shear said.
Shear is among a large number of prominent tech industry figures who believe that AI poses an existential threat to humanity. In a podcast interview on “The Logan Bartlett Show,” in July, Shear described AI as “pretty inherently dangerous,” and placed the odds of a massive AI-related disaster in a range between 5% and 50% — an estimate that he called the “probability of doom.”
As recently as Wednesday, Shear “unironically” wondered aloud whether AI could largely replace one of corporate America’s most prominent job titles: the CEO.
“Most of the CEO job (and the majority of most executive jobs) are very automatable,” Shear declared on X.
He added, however, that “There are of course the occasional key decisions you can’t replace.”
(JACKSON, Miss.) — The family of Dexter Wade held a funeral on Monday afternoon for the 37-year-old man who was fatally struck by an off-duty police officer in Jackson, Mississippi, on March 5 and was buried in a potter’s field for more than five months before authorities notified his family.
The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy for Wade — a father of two — while family attorney Ben Crump will continue to call on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Jackson Police Department in the wake of Wade’s death.
“I wanted to come for two reasons, Ms. Wade,” Sharpton said, addressing Dexter Wade’s mother, Bettersten Wade Robinson. “I wanted to give words of comfort to the family, but I wanted to give words of discomfort to the state of Mississippi.”
“What happened to Dexter is a disgrace, a national outrage and should be treated as such,” he added. “… His life mattered to his mama, to his daughters and we’re gonna make it matter all over this country.”
The funeral was attended by Wade’s family, including his mother and two daughters, community advocates and Tiffany Carter — the mother of Rasheem Carter, a Black man from Mississippi who went missing in Oct. 2022, and whose partial remains were later found. Carter is also seeking answers about her son’s death.
“I really found [Dexter] for his two girls because they loved him so so much. And I wanted them to know what happened to their dad,” Wade Robinson said. “And right now I thank everybody for just fighting with me. Just keep fighting with me. Because it’s not over yet.”
Wade Robinson accused the county and police of a “cover up” after it took more than five months for her to be informed of her son’s death, despite having reported him missing on March 14 to Jackson police – nine days after she had last heard from him.
Wade Robinson, who told ABC News that she provided her contact information to police and is questioning why they did not inform her of her son’s death and burial until Aug. 24.
“Right now I’m hoping I can get to some kind of answer as to why it happened and what was the reason that it happened. But right now I’m still not satisfied,” Wade Robinson told ABC News Live’s Linsey Davis in an interview that aired Nov. 15 on Prime.
The funeral comes after the family released on Thursday the results of an independent autopsy that contradict city officials’ statements regarding why it took so long for police to notify Wade’s family of his death.
According to Crump, the independent autopsy found that Wade did have a wallet in the front pocket of his jeans when he was killed that contained his state identification card with his home address, his credit card and a health insurance card – a detail he says that directly contradicts a statement made by Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba.
“The fact that Dexter had a state identification card and several other identifying items shows us that there was a concerted effort to keep the truth and manner of his death from his family,” Crump said in a statement on Thursday. “There is no excuse, not even incompetence, for not notifying a next of kin of an identified man’s death.”
Lumumba previously acknowledged during his State of the City address on Oct. 26 that there was a “lack of communication” that led to the monthslong delay in letting Wade’s family know what happened to him and said the delay was, in part, due to Wade having no ID on his person when he was killed.
According to Lumumba, police could not initially identify Wade. He did, however, have a prescription drug bottle that eventually allowed the Hinds County medical examiner’s office to identify him. He also said that when Wade was identified, police had trouble finding the correct contact information for his family.
“The failure was that ultimately, there was a lack of communication with the missing persons division, the coroner’s office and accident investigation,” Lumumba said.
Crump pointed to the missing person’s response that Wade Robinson filed with the Jackson Police Department, where she provided her contact information, and questioned during a press conference on Oct. 30 why police didn’t visit Wade Robinson’s home to inform her of her son’s death.
“If they really wanted to notify her that the police officer had hit and killed her son when he crossed the street, they could have came and knocked on the door. It defies all logic and common sense,” Crump said.
ABC News has reached out to the Hinds County Coroner’s Office to inquire about the results of the county autopsy and the circumstances that led the medical examiner to identify Wade, but requests for comment were not returned.
ABC News has also reached out to the city of Jackson and the mayor’s office following the release of findings of the independent autopsy report.
A spokesperson for the Jackson Police Department previously declined to comment to ABC News when asked about Wade’s death and the circumstances that led to the delay in informing his family.
During the mayor’s State of the City address, Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade — who is no relation to Dexter Wade — offered his condolences to Wade’s family.
“I cannot imagine the pain that they’re feeling,” the police chief said. “I put measures in place to make sure something like this does not happen on my watch. I’ve also put the right people in place to make sure this does not happen on my watch.”
The independent autopsy report also found, according to Crump, that Wade’s body was not embalmed and was in an advanced state of decomposition when he was exhumed last week. It also found that his left leg was severed and he had multiple blunt force injuries to the skull, ribs, and pelvis.
Lumumba said in his address on Oct. 26 that “at no point have we identified, nor did any investigation reveal that there was any police misconduct in this process.”
“The accident was investigated and it was determined that it was, in fact, an accident, and that there was no malicious intent,” he added.
The office of Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens said in a statement on Oct. 27 that his office was working with the Jackson Police Department, Hinds County Coroner’s Office and other relevant agencies to investigate Wade’s death, the failure to notify his next of kin in a timely manner and the “irregularities surrounding the disposition of Mr. Wade’s body.”
“We ask for the public’s patience as this important work is undertaken,” Owens added.
ABC News reached out to Owens’ office to inquire about the status of the investigation, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
(WASHINGTON) — New details of a federal investigation into a “massive” fentanyl ring were released Monday as officials announced 11 additional suspects — out of 23 total in custody — had been arrested in connection with the illegal sale and distribution of the ultra-deadly synthetic opioid, which health officials say is a major factor in the country’s overdose epidemic.
“Fentanyl is the greatest threat to Americans today,” the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Anne Milgram, told reporters at a news conference.
“It is devastating families across our country and killing Americans from all walks of life,” Milgram said. “And it is the leading cause of death today in the United States for Americans between the age of 18 and 45.”
Authorities said their investigation began with the overdose death of 20-year-old mother Diamond Lynch.
Lynch died almost instantly in Washington, D.C., in April 2021 after taking a pill that had been made to look like the prescription pain medication Oxycodone, Milgram said.
Officials described how Lynch’s supplier had caused her to overdose in the past before eventually providing her with the deadly fake pill that killed her.
“Our investigation did not stop there, though,” said Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. “We uncovered leads that pointed to a massive fentanyl distribution network.”
“This was a conspiracy that flooded the District of Columbia with fake pills containing fentanyl dangerously marked, as they so often are, with ‘M-30’ imprints to resemble legally manufactured Oxycodone,” Graves said.
Federal officials along with D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department have been rooting out the narcotics network, which investigators said has a footprint in other parts of the country, including California, Maryland, Tennessee and Virginia.
Authorities now have 23 defendants in custody, have seized more than 40 pounds of fentanyl powder, about a quarter-million pills and 30 firearms, including six machine guns, Graves said. Twenty-six total people have been charged, according to officials.
Charges against the accused include conspiracy to distribute fentanyl. Some of the suspects are further charged with conspiracy to commit international money laundering and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl
Milgram said the defendants had pushed more than a million fentanyl pills into the district.
Wholesale prices ranged from 30 cents to $3 before the sale of the $30 pill that killed Lynch and sparked the federal investigation two years ago, Milgram said.
Some mainstream social media sites have been used by criminals to market fentanyl and connect buyers with suppliers, according to law enforcement. Authorities in this case said they were able to acquire search warrants to uncover the communications that informed the conspiracy charges.
“The criminals are making so much money off of each sale that they don’t care if they kill Americans in the process,” Milgram said. “Especially because when it comes to modern drug conspiracies like this one, most of the people involved never met in person.”
(NEW YORK) — Robyn Roberts, a 63-year-old grandmother of 33 and great-grandmother of 12, solidified the idea of education as a lifelong pursuit this weekend by receiving a diploma from Southern New Hampshire University.
“I have finished something I started that is absolutely amazing, and I feel amazing,” Roberts said in an interview with the university that was shared with “Good Morning America.”
Roberts said the idea to pursue a college degree was spurred by a challenge from her grandson, who told her in high school, “I’ll do it if you do it,” according to Roberts. The competition then escalated to a GPA contest, a match Roberts said she won.
Roberts, who graduated with a degree in business administration, turns 64 next month and plans to attend law school, after which she hopes to provide support to survivors of abuse, according to the university.
“64 is the year of new beginnings,” she said. “If all goes well, by the time I turn 67, I’ll be a lawyer.”
Roberts and her husband own a trucking business that transports hazardous materials and government equipment, according to the university.
Roberts expressed appreciation for SNHU for allowing her to complete her degree in a manner consistent with running a business.
“I did 90% of my studies from inside my semi-truck,” said Roberts, who worked on assignments in rest areas while on the road.
The multitasking will not stop with graduation. Roberts stopped to deliver a load in Dover, Delaware, on her way to the event, and will make stops in New York and Arkansas this week before arriving back in her home city of Las Vegas in order to cook a Thanksgiving dinner for 38 people.
Roberts also noted she has the same name, though spelled differently, as “Good Morning America” co-host Robin Roberts, and expressed congratulations to Roberts on her recent wedding.
“It is so good to share such a great name with such a great lady,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — Thousands of people have died and thousands more have been injured since the militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and Israel retaliated with a bombing campaign and total siege of the neighboring Gaza Strip, leaving the region on the verge of all-out war.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 20, 3:45 PM EST
Over 1,200 Americans and relatives trying to leave Gaza: State Department
A little more than 1,200 Americans and their eligible family members are waiting to leave Gaza, according to State Department spokesperson Matt Miller.
About 800 Americans and eligible family members have already left Gaza, Miller said.
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, another six Americans have died: one was an Israeli national police border officer and five were members of the Israel Defense Forces, Miller said. At least 33 Americans were killed in Israel on Oct. 7 during Hamas’ attack, according to American officials.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Nov 20, 2:43 PM EST
Biden says he believes hostage deal is near
President Joe Biden said Monday he thinks negotiators are close to reaching a deal to release hostages from Gaza.
When asked at the White House turkey pardon if a deal is near, Biden responded, “I believe so, but I’m not prepared to talk to …”
“You believe so?” reporters followed up, cutting off Biden’s initial comment. Biden replied, “Yes,” before holding up crossed fingers.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday, “We believe we’re closer than we’ve ever been, so we’re hopeful. But there’s still work to be done, and nothing is done until it’s all done, so we’re gonna keep working on this.”
Kirby wouldn’t say if the deal was focused on securing the release of women and children and wouldn’t discuss a potential timeframe the administration was looking at for a deal to be announced.
“I think the less said the better as we get into … what we hope is the end game here on negotiations. It’s probably safer if I don’t go into much speculating,” Kirby said.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Nov 20, 11:44 AM EST
Israeli forces will be operating in southern Gaza soon: Source
While southern Gaza is deemed safer than northern Gaza, Israel will be operating in southern Gaza soon, according to an Israeli official.
The official said operations in southern Gaza will be more “targeted.”
The official said the actual “safe” zone would be in the sparsely populated Muwassi area in southwest Gaza.
But the official said Israeli forces would still strike there if need be.
Nov 20, 11:36 AM EST
Al-Qaida calls for attacks against US, Israeli targets
Al-Qaida, citing Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, 9/11 and Benghazi, released a new statement calling for its followers to attack U.S. and Israeli targets, especially embassies, and to attack where they are without warning.
Nov 20, 11:11 AM EST
More aid passes through Rafah crossing
About 40 trucks carrying equipment for a Jordanian field hospital crossed from Egypt into Gaza via the Rafah border crossing on Monday, a border official told ABC News.
The convoy included 180 medics and nurses.
Health officials said the hospital will be set up in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
Nov 20, 6:17 AM EST
28 premature babies to be transported from Gaza to Egypt
Dozens of premature babies are expected to be transported from the war-torn Gaza Strip into neighboring Egypt on Monday to receive emergency medical treatment.
The babies arrived on Gaza’s side of the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing on Monday afternoon. Egyptian television footage showed Egyptian doctors moving the babies from Palestinian ambulances into mobile incubators. The infants will then be taken via Egyptian ambulances to nearby hospitals in the North Sinai province of northeastern Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society confirmed that its ambulance teams had transferred 28 premature babies to Egyptian medics at the Rafah border crossing on Monday afternoon. The process was done in coordination with the World Health Organization and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
At least 12 of the babies who are said to be in deteriorating condition will be airlifted to Egypt’s capital, Cairo, according to Egyptian media.
Earlier Monday, Egyptian TV footage showed medics with incubators at the Rafah border crossing as they prepared to receive the tiny patients. Egypt’s heath minister was also seen on site inspecting the preparations.
The babies were evacuated on Sunday from Gaza’s largest medical complex, Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and brought to Emirati Hospital in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza close to the border with Egypt.
Like many hospitals in Gaza, Al-Shifa has been struggling to function with a lack of electricity as well as limited fuel and medical supplies amid Israel’s continued bombardment of the territory. In recent days, Israeli ground troops have been carrying out a raid at Al-Shifa Hospital, searching for evidence that Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas, were using the complex as a command center. The WHO described Al-Shifa Hospital as a “death zone” and urged a full evacuation after leading an assessment mission there on Sunday.
-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy, Guy Davies and Morgan Winsor
Nov 20, 5:27 AM EST
Israel claims to have killed 3 more Hamas commanders
The Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Securities Authority announced in a joint statement Monday that their troops have killed three more Hamas commanders while continuing ground operations in the Gaza Strip.
“IDF fighter jets, directed by IDF and ISA intelligence, killed three additional Hamas company commanders,” the statement read in part. “In addition, IDF troops identified a terrorist cell as they entered a nearby building. As a result of the strike carried out by an IDF aircraft, the terrorists were killed and a weapons depot in which they hid was struck.”
There was no immediate confirmation or comment from Hamas.
-ABC News’ Dorit Long and Morgan Winsor
Nov 19, 2:37 PM EST
IDF says it exposed tunnel under Shifa Hospital
Israel Defense Forces troops exposed a 180-foot tunnel 32 feet deep underneath the Shifa Hospital, the IDF and Israel Securities Authority (ISA) said in a joint statement Sunday.
“A deep staircase leads to the entrance of the tunnel shaft, which consists of various defense means including a blast-proof door and a firing hole,” the statement continues. “This type of door is used by the Hamas terrorist organization to block Israeli forces from entering the command centers and the underground assets belonging to Hamas. The tunnel shaft was uncovered in the area of the hospital underneath a shed alongside a vehicle containing numerous weapons including RPGs, explosives and Kalashnikov rifles.
“IDF and ISA forces are continuing to uncover the route of the tunnel,” the statement adds.
The IDF said it expects to find more tunnels and underground facilities, and that the operation is ongoing and will take some time. About 300 people remain in the hospital, according to the IDF.
-ABC News’ Yael Benaya
Nov 19, 12:13 PM EST
31 premature babies evacuated from Al-Shifa Hospital: WHO
The World Health Organization confirmed earlier claims by the Palestinian Health Ministry that 31 “very sick” babies were safely transported from Al-Shifa Hospital to another hospital in southern Gaza on Sunday.
The premature infants were evacuated to the Emirates Hospital in Rafah, WHO officials said.
The babies were “clinging to life,” the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement, and their “condition was rapidly deteriorating.”
The babies are expected to be transferred to another hospital in Egypt, said Dr. Ashraf al Qwadwa, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Health Ministry. He said nine premature babies have died since the start of a fuel crisis in Gaza prompted by the ongoing conflict.
Six health workers at the Al Shifa Hospital and 10 family members of staff there were also evacuated on Sunday along with the babies, according to the WHO statement, adding that further missions are planned to “urgently transport” the remaining patients and health staff out of the hospital.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta
Nov 18, 10:18 AM EST
IDF denies it ordered evacuation of Al-Shifa hospital amid exodus of patients
The IDF denied Saturday that it ordered an evacuation of Al-Shifa’s patients, claiming the hospital’s director requested to allow people in the hospital to leave and that the IDF agreed and offered to assist.
The director of the Gaza Health Ministry — who said he is leading the exodus of patients — said in an interview with Al Jazeera that Israel issued the order and that Israel refused to allow ambulances to assist in the evacuation.
The IDF said Saturday it “acceded to the request of the director of the Shifa Hospital to enable additional Gazans who were in the hospital, and would like to evacuate, to do so via the secure route. At no point, did the IDF order the evacuation of patients or medical teams and in fact proposed that any request for medical evacuation will be facilitated by the IDF. Medical personnel will remain in the hospital to support patients who are unable to evacuate.”
However, another spokesman, Lt. Col Elad Goren, in his evening briefing Friday night said the IDF was urging anyone left in Al-Shifa to leave and that it hoped it would take place in the “next few hours.”
Officials and doctors at Al-Shifa hospital say almost all patients and civilians there have been forced to leave the hospital this morning, after Israeli forces gave them one hour to get out.
Dr. Munir Al Barsh, director general from the Gaza Health Ministry, told Al Jazeera, he and hundreds of patients, many seriously injured, were now on the road on foot, making their way south.
He said around 450 patients and wounded had left following the Israeli order. He painted a harrowing picture, saying many patients have open wounds, are missing limbs, some are still in beds and wheelchairs.
According to Al Barsh, around 120 patients who are unable to move are still in the hospital, including the nearly three dozen premature babies. Five medical staff have remained to care for them.
He said the column of hundreds of patients are now trying to make their way to the first hospital they can find on route.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Nov 17, 4:32 PM EST
Telecom services partially restored in Gaza
Telecommunications services have been partially restored in Gaza thanks to fuel reaching the region, the Palestinian Authority Communications Ministry said.
About 17,000 liters of diesel entered Gaza on Friday via the Egypt-Gaza Rafah border crossing, according to border crossing spokesman Wael Abu Omar.
Two fuel trucks are expected to enter Gaza daily beginning on Saturday, according to Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.
Nov 17, 1:45 PM EST
What we know about the conflict
The war, which has now moved into its second stage, according to Israel, has passed the one-month mark.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured since Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials. In the neighboring Gaza Strip, at least 12,000 people have been killed and over 30,000 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Aid workers and officials fear that Israel’s call for an evacuation of the northern part of Gaza is precipitating a humanitarian disaster as electricity and other supplies have been cut off in preparation for what appears to be an imminent ground offensive.
Humanitarian groups have urged Israel to call off the evacuation and agree to a cease-fire, even as the country has asserted a right to defend itself — a right the United States endorses.
Nov 17, 1:13 PM EST
Fuel ‘used as a weapon of war,’ UN Gaza relief agency says
The Israeli government said Friday that it will allow two fuel trucks per day to enter Gaza. But no fuel was delivered Friday due to the latest communications blackout, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East said.
Juliette Touma, spokeswoman for UNRWA, told ABC News that fuel has been “used as a weapon of war” since the Israel-Hamas conflict began.
“Seventy percent of people do not have clean drinking water because there is no fuel. … Sewage is starting to overflow in some parts of Gaza. It’s a disaster,” she said. “[We] should not be forced to beg for fuel just to be able to do our work. It’s unacceptable.”
UNRWA’s shelters are currently housing 800,000 people, which Touma said is “way over the capacity.”
“We planned for less than one quarter of what we have,” she said. “And with the restrictions that we have on fuel and the little aid that has been coming in that we are not able to even collect or pick up, the situation is becoming tragic by the hour.”
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Nov 17, 8:44 AM EST
UNRWA says no fuel delivered to Gaza on Friday due to blackout
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) confirmed that no fuel was delivered to the Gaza Strip on Friday due to the latest communications blackout.
The agency said it was forced to suspend its operations there after telecommunications companies ran out of generator fuel, plunging the war-torn territory into another blackout on Thursday afternoon.
“We are unable to operate due to the lack of communications,” an UNRWA spokesperson told ABC News in a statement on Friday afternoon. “We have no communications with Gaza. Transport of aid trucks, water desalination and pumping and sewage treatment activities have been halted.”
-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy and Zoe Magee
Nov 17, 8:26 AM EST
Israel says it will allow 2 fuel trucks per day to enter Gaza
The Israeli government announced Friday that it will allow two fuel trucks per day to enter the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The Israeli War Cabinet said in a statement that it has “unanimously approved a joint recommendation” of the Israel Defense Force and Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency “to comply with the U.S. request and allow the entry of two diesel tankers a day for the needs of the U.N. to support water and sewer infrastructure.”
The trucks will pass through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing with the help of the United Nations, delivering the fuel to civilians in southern Gaza, “provided that it does not reach Hamas,” according to the Israeli War Cabinet.
“This action allows Israel the continued international maneuvering space necessary to eliminate Hamas,” the cabinet said. “This action is intended, among other things, to minimally support water, sewage and sanitation systems, in order to prevent the outbreak of epidemics that could spread throughout the entire area, harm both the residents of the Strip and our forces, and spread even into Israel.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Nov 17, 8:44 AM EST
UNRWA says no fuel delivered to Gaza on Friday due to blackout
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) confirmed that no fuel was delivered to the Gaza Strip on Friday due to the latest communications blackout.
The agency said it was forced to suspend its operations there after telecommunications companies ran out of generator fuel, plunging the war-torn territory into another blackout on Thursday afternoon.
“We are unable to operate due to the lack of communications,” an UNRWA spokesperson told ABC News in a statement on Friday afternoon. “We have no communications with Gaza. Transport of aid trucks, water desalination and pumping and sewage treatment activities have been halted.”
-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy and Zoe Magee
Nov 17, 8:26 AM EST
Israel says it will allow 2 fuel trucks per day to enter Gaza
The Israeli government announced Friday that it will allow two fuel trucks per day to enter the war-torn Gaza Strip.
The Israeli War Cabinet said in a statement that it has “unanimously approved a joint recommendation” of the Israel Defense Force and Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency “to comply with the U.S. request and allow the entry of two diesel tankers a day for the needs of the U.N. to support water and sewer infrastructure.”
The trucks will pass through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing with the help of the United Nations, delivering the fuel to civilians in southern Gaza, “provided that it does not reach Hamas,” according to the Israeli War Cabinet.
“This action allows Israel the continued international maneuvering space necessary to eliminate Hamas,” the cabinet said. “This action is intended, among other things, to minimally support water, sewage and sanitation systems, in order to prevent the outbreak of epidemics that could spread throughout the entire area, harm both the residents of the Strip and our forces, and spread even into Israel.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Nov 17, 7:33 AM EST
Hostage negotiations are ongoing and fluid, sources say
Negotiations for a hostage deal with Hamas are still ongoing, Israeli and U.S. sources told ABC News on Friday.
The potential agreement would involve Hamas releasing a certain number of hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting of some length of time in the Gaza Strip. But many of the details are still up in the air, according to U.S. sources.
The discussions are intense and remain fluid, according to an Israeli source. A disagreement has unfolded inside Israel’s defense cabinet with some ministers wanting to accept a deal to free about 50 women and children, while other ministers want all of the women and children as well as their family members released — about 80 hostages in total, ABC News has learned.
Hamas, the militant group that rules Gaza, took more than 200 people hostage — including Americans — while carrying out an unprecedented attack on neighboring Israel on Oct. 7, according to Israeli and U.S. authorities.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Matt Gutman
Nov 17, 5:46 AM EST
150,000 liters of fuel for hospitals reportedly entering Gaza
An additional 150,000 liters (40,000 gallons) of fuel will be delivered to the Gaza Strip on Friday, according to Egyptian media.
The fuel, which is earmarked for Gaza’s hospitals, will enter the war-torn enclave from neighboring Egypt through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing, according to Egyptian state-allied television channel Al-Qahers News.
Al-Qahers News reported that “Egyptian pressure on all parties have succeeded in increasing the volume of aid” and “restoring the flow of fuel” to Gaza.
World Health Organization spokesperson Tarik Jašarević had said last month that 150,000 liters of fuel are required to offer basic services in Gaza’s five main hospitals.
-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy
Nov 16, 7:58 PM EST
Discussions over release of hostages remain fluid, source says
Many details remain up in the air regarding a deal to release the Hamas-held hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting in Gaza, according to U.S. officials.
One of the biggest sticking points is the number of hostages that will be released, according to an Israeli source.
Israel wants all the children, their mothers and all of their family members released, the source said. If you count just women and young children, that’s about 50 hostages; if you add the family members, you get up to about 80 hostages, according to the source.
The discussions remain fluid, the source said.
It’s too soon to tell if a deal will come together, but people participating in negotiations have yet to throw in the towel, the U.S. officials said.
Asked about the deal by “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is focused “intensely” on bringing hostages home.
“But having said that, honestly the less that I say the better at this moment because we don’t want to jeopardize anything that we’re doing to try to bring people home,” he said. “I’m hopeful that we can bring people home.”
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford and Matt Gutman
Nov 16, 6:32 PM EST
Discussions over release of hostages remain fluid, source says
Many details remain up in the air regarding a deal to release the Hamas-held hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting in Gaza, according to U.S. officials.
One of the biggest sticking points is the number of hostages that will be released, according to an Israeli source.
Israel wants all the children, their mothers and all of their family members released, the source said. If you count just women and young children, that’s about 50 hostages; if you add the family members, you get up to about 80 hostages, according to the source.
The discussions remain fluid, the source said.
It’s too soon to tell if a deal will come together, but people participating in negotiations have yet to throw in the towel, the U.S. officials said.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford and Matt Gutman
Nov 16, 4:29 PM EST
State Department: ‘Impossible’ to safely evacuate patients from Al-Shifa Hospital
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller, who said earlier that the U.S. supported evacuating patients from Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital and was liaising with partners who could potentially carry that out, said Thursday the conditions in Gaza wouldn’t allow for it.
“There are third parties that have expressed an interest to do so,” he said, however, “it’s been impossible to ensure that they could move safely to conduct these evacuations.”
He later specified that “the problem has been Hamas.”
Miller again expressed confidence in U.S. intelligence supporting the assertion that Hamas was using Al-Shifa Hospital as cover for a command-and-control center.
Miller disagreed with the assertion that the evidence supplied by the Israel Defense Forces — like weapons recovered from the hospital — was not compelling.
“I saw a host of assault rifles,” Miller said. “I’m not aware that there’s a sort of acceptable threshold level for assault rifles held in hospitals — that’s not general humanitarian practice.”
Miller later added, “It is an ongoing operation. I think people should wait until the operation is finished to draw their own conclusions.”
About 300 American citizens as well as approximately 600 legal, permanent U.S. residents and their eligible family members remain in Gaza, Miller said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Nov 16, 2:07 PM EST
Body of 65-year-old hostage found near Al-Shifa Hospital, IDF says
The body of Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old woman who was abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7, was found at a “structure adjacent” to Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, the Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement Thursday.
Her body was “extracted” and “transferred to Israeli territory,” the IDF said.
“In the structure in which Yehudit was located, military equipment including Kalashnikov rifles and [rocket-propelled grenades] were also found,” the IDF said.
“For us, it is too late,” Weiss’ daughter-in-law told The Times of Israel. “But it is important for us to support all the families of the hostages, and to tell the world — bring them home now.”
Nov 16, 1:19 PM EST
IDF says it found Hamas intelligence material, information on hostages at Al-Shifa Hospital
The Israel Defense Forces said it’s still operating at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, searching the hospital floor-by-floor as doctors and patients remain sheltered inside.
The IDF said during its searches at the hospital forces have found Hamas intelligence material, weapons and information about the hostages.
Nov 16, 12:21 PM EST
Kirby says US ‘still convinced of the soundness’ of intelligence on Al-Shifa Hospital
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby reiterated that the U.S. is “still convinced of the soundness” of its intelligence that Hamas is using Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital as a command center.
“We have our own intelligence that convinces us that Hamas was using Al-Shifa as a command-and-control node, and most likely as well as a storage facility,” Kirby said. “And they were sheltering themselves in a hospital, using the hospital as a shield against military action and placing the patients and medical staff at a greater risk. We are still convinced of the soundness of that intelligence.”
ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Nov 16, 12:11 PM EST
70% of people in southern Gaza have no clean water
Seventy percent of the population in southern Gaza had no access to clean water as of Wednesday, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, told Al Jazeera.
He said raw sewage is “starting to flow in the streets,” and if fuel isn’t brought into Gaza soon, he warned, “We run the risk to have to suspend the entire humanitarian operation.”
Nov 16, 11:54 AM EST
What we know about the conflict
The war, which has now moved into its second stage, according to Israel, has passed the one-month mark.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured since Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials. In the neighboring Gaza Strip, at least 11,320 people have been killed and another 29,200 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Aid workers and officials fear that Israel’s call for an evacuation of the northern part of Gaza is precipitating a humanitarian disaster as electricity and other supplies have been cut off in preparation for what appears to be an imminent ground offensive.
Humanitarian groups have urged Israel to call off the evacuation and agree to a cease-fire, even as the country has asserted a right to defend itself — a right the United States endorses.
Nov 16, 10:53 AM EST
Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital ‘a disaster,’ doctor says
Dr. Sara Al Saqqa, a surgeon at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, fled the hospital complex several days ago “because everything was pretty horrific and terrifying,” she told ABC News.
She said most of her colleagues and patients evacuated the hospital, where Israeli troops are carrying out a dayslong raid, but she said nearly 100 doctors remain there, along with more than 700 patients and thousands of people seeking refuge.
“The situation now is a disaster at Al-Shifa,” she said. “Israeli occupational forces have invaded Shifa Hospital with their tanks and destroyed most of the medical equipment there. … They shot a lot of people and they arrested more.”
The Israeli army alleges that Hamas has placed its command centers under Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians — claims that the militant group denies.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. has intelligence that Hamas has used Gaza’s hospitals, including Al-Shifa, to support its military operations and hold hostages.
Progress being made on deal to free at least 50 Hamas hostages: officials
The IDF’s operations at the hospital are ongoing Thursday.
The Israelis said that they found explosives inside the medical complex, but Al Saqqa said the Israelis “didn’t find the things that they are looking for because there is no military activity inside the hospital. And this is something that’s obvious to all of us, the ones working there for several years.”
Nov 16, 9:41 AM EST
Clashes intensify along Israel-Lebanon border amid fears of wider war
The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that its “soldiers struck a terrorist cell in Lebanon that attempted to launch anti-tank missiles toward Israeli territory.”
“In addition, terrorists attempted to carry out a number of launches toward the area of Misgav Am in northern Israel, as well as IDF posts in the areas of Metula and Yiftah,” the IDF said in a statement. “No injuries were reported.”
“In response, IDF soldiers are striking with artillery fire toward the sources of the launches,” the IDF added.
In recent weeks, there have been continued exchanges between Israeli forces and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border. Although the clashes remain within the notional 10-kilometer corridor along the shared border, they are now a daily occurrence and have intensified in recent days, which raises the potential for escalation as each side responds to the other’s strikes.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has been walking a delicate line with regard to the group’s response to the latest outbreak of war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. In remarks made a couple weeks ago, Nasrallah effectively distanced himself from Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, saying it was wholly a Palestinian conceived, planned and undertaken operation. At the same time, he has pledged support to the Palestinians in their struggle amid Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. He also said that Hezbollah had joined the fight against Israeli forces from Oct. 8 with strikes across the border, but ruled out a full-scale war at this time.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has been scrupulously issuing regular statements taking responsibility for strikes on northern Israel and providing precise details.
The types of ordinance used in these cross-border strikes are also ramping up. The Lebanese Armed Forces recently posted on their official Facebook page “general guidelines for avoiding the dangers of phosphorus munitions.” Lebanon has repeatedly accused Israel of using incendiary and phosphorus munitions in their attacks.
But Hezbollah’s leader made clear in his speech last Saturday that the group does not want a war with Israel right now. Acting Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has indicated the same and has praised the patriotism and restraint of Hezbollah.
For now, there appears to be a slow-burn battle between Israel and Hezbollah but within the 10-kilometer corridor of the border and therefore contained. It’s unclear how long that will last.
Nov 16, 8:52 AM EST
US ‘hopeful’ in securing release of remaining hostages, Kirby says
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told ABC News on Thursday that “there’s still working going on, literally by the hour,” to secure the release of the remaining hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“We’ve got folks on the ground. We’ve been talking to them, our negotiators are talking to their negotiators and we’re working on this really, really hard,” Kirby said during an interview on ABC News’ Good Morning America.
“I don’t have an announcement to make today,” he added. “But, as the president said yesterday, we’re hopeful that we can actually get a good result here.”
Nov 16, 8:48 AM EST
US maintains Hamas is using Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital
During an interview Thursday on ABC News’ Good Morning America, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was asked whether Israel’s raid on the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip was justified.
“Well, the raid, they’re going in on the ground here. They’re not bombing it,” Kirby said. “They’re going after the Hamas leadership that is there. This presents a real dilemma for them.”
“Hamas is using that hospital as a command and control mode and as a way to store weapons, and even house their fighters. Israel has to do something about that threat,” he continued. “But they also have an added burden of protecting the civilians, the medical staff, the doctors and the patients that are at that hospital. And they are trying hard to strike that balance.”
The IDF alleges that Hamas has placed its command centers under Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians — claims that the militant group denies.
Kirby told a press gaggle on Tuesday that the U.S. has intelligence that Hamas has used Gaza’s hospitals, including Al-Shifa, to support its military operations and hold hostages.
Nov 16, 6:39 AM EST
IDF raid on Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital continues for second day
Israeli ground troops continued to carry out a raid on the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip for a second day.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces told ABC News that, as of 1 p.m. local time on Thursday, soldiers were still inside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, some 34 hours after launching the raid.
The IDF spokesperson also confirmed that they found explosives inside the medical complex.
The IDF alleges that Hamas has placed its command centers under Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians — claims that the militant group denies.
Nov 15, 5:46 PM EST
Negotiations progressing in hostage release deal, officials say
Negotiations are progressing towards a U.S. and Qatari-brokered hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas, according to multiple officials in the U.S. and Israel.
The potential deal could see Hamas free dozens of Israeli hostages taken on Oct. 7 in exchange for Israel’s release of jailed Palestinians and occur during a multi-day cease-fire in Gaza, the officials said.
The contours of that deal are still being worked out, including how many Israeli hostages would be released and how long a cease-fire would last.
Multiple officials in the U.S. and Israel told ABC News that the current figure is at least 50 Israeli hostages — women, children and the elderly — would be released, though the exact number is not yet final. This would likely take place in batches, with hostages released in exchange for a yet unspecified number of Palestinian women and minors held in Israeli jails, the officials said.
The cease-fire could last between three and seven days though the length is being negotiated and remains a sticking point, the officials said.
There would be other Israeli concessions as well, potentially including the delivery of fuel into Gaza, according to the officials.
Two U.S. officials told ABC News that an agreement seems to be within reach, but that multiple similar proposals have fallen apart just before reaching the finish line in recent weeks.
-ABC News’ Matt Gutman, Jordana Miller and Shannon K. Crawford
Nov 15, 5:03 PM EST
1st fuel truck enters Gaza
A fuel truck crossed the Rafah border crossing from Egypt into Gaza on Wednesday, marking the first time fuel entered Gaza since Oct. 7, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority said, according to The Associated Press.
Fuel has been drying up in Gaza as the war continued.
Smoke from shelling rises above the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Nov. 15, 2023.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine said their trucks — which deliver aid from Egypt to Gaza — ran out of fuel Tuesday.
In hospitals, a lack of fuel has prevented doctors for running incubators for babies.
And without fuel, many residents of Gaza have been trapped, unable to drive south toward the Egyptian border.
Nov 15, 3:39 PM EST
43 patients died in Al-Shifa Hospital as ICU oxygen ran out, doctor says
At Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, 43 out of the 63 intensive care patients have died as oxygen in the intensive care unit runs out, according to Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati, head of the hospital’s plastic surgery department.
Mokhallalati told ABC News the mission of burying bodies is ongoing as more people die inside and outside the hospital.
Mokhallalati said he could still hear the Israeli tanks at the hospital gates Wednesday night.
Nov 15, 2:42 PM EST
Over half of Gaza’s hospitals are non-functional: WHO
Twenty-two of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are now “non-functional,” the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
The “14 hospitals remaining open have barely enough supplies to sustain critical and lifesaving surgeries and provide inpatient care,” the WHO warned.
The organization in a statement reiterated its calls for a cease-fire, protection of civilians and “respect for international humanitarian law.”
Nov 15, 2:01 PM EST
Operation at Al-Shifa hospital complex ongoing, IDF says
The Israel Defense Forces said its operation at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital complex is ongoing.
The IDF said its forces “engaged with” and killed “a number of terrorists” when entering the hospital complex.
Following searches in the hospital, the IDF said its troops “located a room with technological assets, along with military and combat equipment used by the Hamas terrorist organization.”
Palestinian journalist Khadr al Zanoon, who is at the hospital, told ABC News no fighting has taken place inside, but he can hear tanks outside.
He said Hamas fighters are not in the hospital but are in the area around it and are fighting with Israeli forces.
He said Israeli forces have detained some Palestinians who were inside the hospital.
The raid on Al-Shifa Hospital began early Wednesday around 3 a.m. local time, after Israeli forces had moved closer to the medical complex for several days.
Thousands of civilians, along with hundreds of patients — most of whom are seriously ill — have been sheltering at Al-Shifa, according to hospital staff and Gaza health officials.
The IDF alleges that Hamas has placed its command centers under Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians — claims that the militant group denies.
Nov 15, 12:46 PM EST
Kirby says US did not give ‘OK’ on Israel’s hospital operation
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby on Wednesday denied that the U.S. gave any “OK” for the Israeli operation at Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital.
“These are Israeli military operations that they plan and they execute on, you know, in accordance with their own established procedures, that the United States is not, was not, involved in,” Kirby said.
He also denied that the U.S. confirming intelligence that Hamas uses the hospital as a control center had anything to do with the timing of the Israeli military operation at the hospital, which began only hours after Kirby’s announcement.
Kirby also said Israel’s hospital operation was “not a focus” of President Joe Biden’s Tuesday night conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and would not say if the U.S. got a heads up about the operation.
“Again, we don’t expect the Israelis to advise us or inform us when they are going to conduct operations,” Kirby said. “We talked to them routinely every day, and certainly we talked to them about our continued concerns over civilian casualties and sharing our perspectives on the best way to minimize, but these are their operations.”
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Nov 15, 12:12 PM EST
Israeli forces have left Al-Shifa hospital complex, hospital director says
The director of Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital said Israeli forces have now left the hospital complex following an hourslong raid, but said “tanks and forces are completely stationed in its surroundings.”
The raid on Al-Shifa Hospital began early Wednesday around 3 a.m. local time, after Israeli forces had moved closer to the medical complex for several days.
Thousands of civilians, along with hundreds of patients — most of whom are seriously ill — have been sheltering at Al-Shifa, according to hospital staff and Gaza health officials.
The IDF alleges that Hamas has placed its command centers under Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians — claims that the militant group denies.
Nov 15, 10:01 AM EST
Al-Shifa Hospital doctor describes Israeli raid: ‘They told us no one should look through the windows’
As Israeli ground forces continue to carry out an hour-long raid on the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, staff there told ABC News that none of the patients have been moved out.
There are about 600 patients admitted to Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, many of whom are seriously ill or wounded. Thousands of other people have been sheltering in the vast medical complex amid Israel’s bombardment of the area.
Speaking to ABC News via telephone from inside the hospital, Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati described the moment Israeli troops arrived at the complex before dawn on Wednesday.
“They told us no one should look through the windows,” said Mokhallalati, who is the head of the hospital’s plastic surgery department.
“The whole situation is really horrible,” he added. “They are just scaring everyone here.”
ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic
Nov 15, 8:06 AM EST
IDF suggests it has not yet encountered Hamas fighters inside Al-Shifa Hospital
A senior Israeli defense official said Wednesday that so far Israeli troops have not engaged in combat inside Al-Shifa Hospital itself and suggested they have not yet encountered Hamas fighters within the vast medical complex, the largest in the Gaza Strip.
However, the Israel Defense Forces’ ground operation at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City is ongoing and they have allegedly found evidence — specifically weapons — that Hamas, the militant group that rules the strip, is operating inside there, according to the official. More details will be revealed later Wednesday, the official said.
Hamas has since released a statement calling Israel’s claim that it found weapons inside Al-Shifa Hospital “a blatant lie.”
The senior Israeli defense official told reporters that Israeli soldiers went into Al-Shifa Hospital to destroy Hamas infrastructure, not to go after Hamas leaders.
The official noted that four Hamas fighters were killed near the medical complex as Israeli troops approached, but said they are still investigating if they came from inside the hospital.
The official said Israeli forces are currently operating only in “one area” of the hospital but warned that they will enter other areas as needed. The IDF has “no intention” of sending its soldiers to fight “among the patients or the active personnel of the hospital,” according to the official.
The official told reporters that the hospital’s youngest patients — dozens of premature babies — are in a building of the complex not where Israeli troops are currently operating. Israeli soldiers delivered incubators and baby food at the front gate of the hospital in hopes that the staff there would take them, according to the official.
The official declined to say where exactly Israeli forces were operating within the complex, citing operational security.
Al-Shifa Hospital was designed by Israeli architects decades ago and the IDF knows its layout well.
Nov 15, 5:50 AM EST
UN official ‘appalled’ by Israeli raid on Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital
The head of the United Nations’ humanitarian relief operations condemned on Wednesday the Israeli military’s ongoing raid on the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital, saying he is “appalled” by the reports of the operations.
“I’m appalled by reports of military raids in Al Shifa hospital in #Gaza. The protection of newborns, patients, medical staff and all civilians must override all other concerns. Hospitals are not battlegrounds,” U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Nov 15, 5:23 AM EST
IDF continues hourslong raid on Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday morning that its ground troops are continuing to carry out “a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area” of the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip.
“The activity in this specified area is based on operational necessities, as well as intelligence information that indicates Hamas terrorist activity is being directed from the area,” the IDF said in a statement. “Prior to their entry, the IDF troops encountered explosive devices and terrorist cells, and an engagement began in which terrorists were killed.”
The raid on Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City began after midnight local time, after Israeli forces had moved closer to the medical complex for several days. Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health said gunfire was heard on the hospital grounds and Israeli troops entered through the main building and the emergency department.
Thousands of civilians, along with hundreds of patients — most of whom are seriously ill — have been sheltering at Al-Shifa, according to hospital staff and Gaza health officials.
The IDF alleges that Hamas has placed its command centers under Al-Shifa and other hospitals in Gaza and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians — claims which the militant group denies.
The IDF said Wednesday that its troops “are conducting searches for Hamas terror infrastructure and weapons” at Al-Shifa Hospital. They also “delivered humanitarian aid to the entrance of the hospital,” according to the IDF.
Doctors at Al-Shifa Hospital have been warning of its imminent collapse due to a lack of electricity as well as limited fuel and medical supplies.
Nov 14, 7:19 PM EST
IDF says it’s carrying out ‘targeted operation’ in Al-Shifa Hospital
The Israel Defense Forces said they are carrying out a “precise and targeted operation against Hamas” in an area in the Al-Shifa Hospital.
“The IDF forces include medical teams and Arabic speakers, who have undergone specified training to prepare for this complex and sensitive environment, with the intent that no harm is caused to the civilians being used by Hamas as human shields,” IDF said in a statement.
IDF called upon Hamas militants in the hospital to surrender.
The operation comes after IDF called for military activities in the hospital to “cease within 12 hours,” IDF said, adding: “Unfortunately, it did not.”
Nov 14, 6:35 PM EST
IDF says it will storm Al-Shifa Hospital soon, Gaza Health Ministry says
The Israel Defense Forces have informed the Gaza Health Ministry that they will storm the Al-Shifa Hospital in several minutes, Dr. Ashraf al Qadra, spokesman of the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, said on Al-Jazeera TV.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta
Nov 14, 5:53 PM EST
State Department grappling with dissent over US handling of conflict: Sources
State Department employees have sent multiple internal communications in recent days expressing concerns over the administration’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war, including at least one dissent cable, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The dissent channel is a system that allows diplomats to confidentially register their opposition to specific policies with department leadership, but employees can also formally express their disagreement to high-level officials through other avenues.
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller confirmed Tuesday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent a department-wide email on Monday where he noted the tensions and different views among employees.
“He did address in that email…all the issues underlying our policy and made clear people understood what our policy is, just as he has done in meetings he’s had with a number of employees in the department,” Miller told reporters.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Nov 14, 4:29 PM EST
Nearly 1,000 Americans and family members still possibly waiting to leave Gaza: State Department
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday that just under 1,000 Americans and their family members may be waiting to leave Gaza, as hundreds have left so far through the Rafah border crossing.
“There are now over 600 American citizens and lawful permanent residents and their family members who have departed Gaza through Rafah gate,” Miller said during a briefing. “There are a little under 1,000 that we know of that are left now whose departure we hope to facilitate over the coming days should they wish to depart.”
The number of eligible individuals who may be looking to leave the enclave is higher than previously anticipated, based on previous State Department figures. Before the Rafah gate opened to outbound traffic, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said some 400 Americans and roughly 600 of their eligible family members were in contact with the department about leaving Gaza.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford
Nov 14, 4:11 PM EST
Israel claims Hamas has ‘lost control of Northern Gaza’
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a briefing Tuesday that “Hamas has lost control of Northern Gaza.”
“We control Northern Gaza, especially Gaza City,” Gallant said.
Gallant said the Israel Defense Forces have uncovered 500 tunnels, including in schools, mosques and hospitals, as it seeks to remove Hamas’ leadership and military from Gaza.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Nov 14, 2:56 PM EST
Breakthrough in hostage deal could come in next 48-72 hours: Israeli source
A senior Israeli political source said Tuesday that progress has been made on a hostage deal and a breakthrough could come in the next 48-72 hours.
The Israeli War Cabinet is meeting Tuesday night to discuss the deal, the source said.
Israeli officials have said as many as 239 Israelis are being held captive by Hamas in Gaza.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Nov 14, 2:55 PM EST
US intelligence shows Hamas using hospitals to support military operations, hold hostages: Kirby
The U.S. has intelligence that shows Hamas has used hospitals in Gaza to support its military operations and hold hostages, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed Tuesday.
“I can confirm for you that we have information that Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, used some hospitals in the Gaza Strip — including Al-Shifa — and tunnels underneath them to conceal and to support their military operations and to hold hostages,” Kirby said during a gaggle on Air Force One.
Kirby said Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad operate a command and control node from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City where “they have stored weapons there, and they’re prepared to respond to an Israeli military operation against that facility.”
Kirby said the information comes from a “variety” of intelligence sourcing.
He cautioned again that these actions by Hamas “do not lessen Israel’s responsibilities to protect civilians in Gaza.”
“This is something that we obviously are going to continue to have an active conversation with our counterparts about,” he said.
During a Pentagon briefing Tuesday, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh described the information as an independent U.S. intelligence assessment and “newly downgraded information that we felt was important to get out today because there have been a lot of questions about the hospital and how Hamas operates.”
Singh did not go into specifics on the intel but said “we feel very confident in our sourcing and what the intelligence community has gathered on this topic.”
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Luis Martinez
Nov 14, 2:42 PM EST
Fuel shortage stalls aid deliveries from Egypt into Gaza Strip, official says
A fuel shortage has stalled aid deliveries from Egypt into the Gaza Strip, a Rafah border crossing official told ABC News on Tuesday.
“No aid got in today because [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees] trucks have no fuel,” Wael Abu Omar, the Palestinian spokesman for the Rafah border crossing, said.
The UNRWA, which is responsible for receiving and distributing humanitarian aid coming from Egypt in Gaza, said Monday its trucks ran out of fuel and it would not be able to to receive aid coming through Rafah on Tuesday.
Tuesday marks the first day no aid trucks crossed into Gaza through Egypt since Oct. 21 amid the war.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said it received the last convoy of trucks from Egypt on Monday, including 155 trucks, following the UNRWA’s announcement.
-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy
Nov 14, 12:28 PM EST
Mass grave dug inside Al-Shifa Hospital, official says
A mass grave has been dug inside Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza to bury dozens of corpses after Israeli forces banned the Red Cross from collecting the bodies, according to Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, the director general of the Palestinian Health Ministry.
“There are approximately 100 corpses lying on the hospital courtyard that have rotted and decomposed,” Al-Bursh told Al-Hadath TV on Tuesday, speaking from inside the hospital, the largest in Gaza. “We are walking on worms and we fear there will be an epidemic.”
Medical staff and people sheltering inside the medical complex have dug a “large hole” to bury the dead bodies, he said. Dozens of other bodies stored in refrigerators at the facility will also be buried in the mass grave, he said.
“Israel tanks are at the gates of the hospital and we are burying bodies under gunfire and with tanks around,” Al-Bursh said.
The hospital ceased to function on Saturday after it ran out of fuel, and staff and health ministry officials inside say the facility has been under siege by Israeli forces for five days, with drones and snipers firing into it.
“We are trying to dig a mass grave to bury the martyrs inside Al-Shifa Hospital. Our efforts to remove the bodies of the martyrs from Al-Shifa complex have failed,” said Dr. Youssef Abu Al-Rish, undersecretary of the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
Israeli officials have said Hamas is operating a command center from under the hospital, something denied by Hamas.
-ABC News’ Ayat Al-Tawy and Morgan Winsor
Nov 14, 11:31 AM EST
Humanitarian corridor in Gaza is less than 1.5 miles long, Israeli officer says
One of two humanitarian corridors that the Israeli military has temporarily opened in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday is less than 1.5 miles long, according to an executive officer of an Israeli battalion in charge of the route.
The officer told ABC News that the corridor is a 2-kilometer stretch of Salah al-Din, the main highway connecting the north and south of Gaza. He said his troops have come under sniper fire and that “there were casualties.”
The Israeli military has distributed leaflets directing civilians in the north to routes that take them to the corridors, offering safe passage to evacuate to the south of the war-torn enclave within a designated window of time on Tuesday.
ABC News’ Matt Gutman, Becky Perlow and Juan Rentaria
Nov 14, 7:53 AM EST
IDF says it’s offered to transfer incubators to Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces announced Tuesday morning that it “is in the process of coordinating the transfer of incubators from a hospital in Israel to Gaza.”
“We are doing everything we can to minimize harm to civilians, assist in evacuation, and facilitate the transfer of medical supplies and food,” the IDF wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Our war is not with the people of Gaza.”
It was unknown whether the process to transfer incubators was underway and there was no confirmation of Israel’s offer from health officials or medical staff in the Gaza Strip. It was also unclear how the incubators would be powered at Gaza’s hospitals with little to no electricity and fuel.
The announcement came amid worldwide calls to save dozens of premature newborn babies at Gaza’s second-largest hospital.
Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City had been struggling to run with limited fuel for days as doctors warn of its imminent collapse. On Friday, fighting in the area intensified and a strike hit the courtyard outside the hospital.
Three of the 39 babies that were being cared for in Al-Shifa’s neonatal unit have died since their incubators stopped working on Saturday, according to the hospital’s head of plastic surgery, Dr. Ahmed Mokhallalati. The hospital staff has been trying their best to look after them, swaddling them and using what power is left to heat the room they are in.
In recent days, several hospitals across Gaza said they have been under attack as heavy fighting occurs between Israeli troops and the militant group that rules the enclave, Hamas. The IDF alleges that Hamas has placed its command centers in tunnels under hospitals in Gaza and is deliberately sheltering behind Palestinian civilians — claims which the group denies.
Nov 14, 5:11 AM EST
IDF announces two evacuation corridors open in Gaza on Tuesday
The Israel Defense Forces announced Tuesday the temporary opening of evacuation corridors in the war-torn Gaza Strip to allow more people in the north of the Hamas-run enclave to move south.
A “safe passage” will be open “for humanitarian purposes” via the Salah al-Din highway toward the area south of Wadi Gaza on Tuesday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. local time, according to the IDF.
The IDF said it will also temporarily suspend military activities “for humanitarian purposes” in the neighborhoods of Al-Daraj and Al-Tuffah on Tuesday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time.
“Please, for your safety, join the hundreds of thousands of residents who have moved south in recent days,” the IDF said in a statement. “We encourage you to seize the time and move south!”
The IDF also urged Gaza residents to “not surrender to Hamas,” alleging that the militant group “has lost control over the northern Gaza Strip area and is trying to do everything it can to prevent you from moving south and protect yourselves.”
Nov 13, 8:36 PM EST
Israel claims to have evidence of Hamas headquarters at hospital
Israeli military officials brought several journalists, including ABC’s Matt Gutman, into the Al-Rantisi Hospital inside Gaza, which had been hit with artillery.
The hospital, Gaza’s sole children’s hospital, was allegedly a Hamas command center, Israel’s chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari, who led the tour, claimed.
The hospital was surrounded by Israeli tanks from Thursday into Friday, the director of Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital said on Friday.
Inside the basement of the hospital, which officials said has been evacuated, were abandoned AK-47s, grenades and what Hagari said were suicide vests. In another room of the basement was a chair where Hagari claims a hostage was kept.
The spokesperson said the Israeli military was set to detonate the grenades and vests they claim they found inside and a forensic team was going to probe the hospital for more evidence.
The tour came after the hospital’s resources deteriorated due to nearby attacks, according to UNICEF.
The hospital’s operations almost ceased between Thursday and Friday, according to UNICEF.
By Friday, Al-Rantisi Hospital had only a small generator powering the intensive care and neonatal intensive care units, UNICEF said.
(NEW YORK) — Less than a year out from the next presidential election, former President Donald Trump and some Republican allies continue to falsely deny the results of the previous one.
Three in 10 adults believe that President Joe Biden only won the 2020 contest because of election fraud, a Monmouth poll in June found. More than two-thirds of Republicans espouse the debunked claim, the survey showed.
Despite the persistence of such falsehoods, political advertisements featuring incorrect assertions about widespread voter fraud in the 2020 contest will be permitted on Instagram and Facebook, a Meta content policy shows.
Meta, the parent company that controls the platforms, made a policy change allowing political advertisers to say past elections were fraudulently conducted but prohibiting ads that question the validity of future or ongoing elections, the policy says. The Wall Street Journal first reported the policy change.
The move raises concerns about the spread of false election-denial ads on Instagram and Facebook that could erode the public’s trust in U.S. democracy, some researchers who examine misinformation and disinformation told ABC News, noting that election-denial ads could also help fuel violent extremism like that on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I’m really worried that this is one crucial trigger that will make our election even more divisive, causing more conspiracy and disinformation activity,” Hazel Kwon, a professor at Arizona State University who leads its Media, Information, Data and Society Lab, told ABC News.
“The big concern is that this directly affects trust in democratic institutions,” Kwon added.
The researchers cautioned, however, that studies indicate limited influence of online political advertisements on voter sentiment, suggesting that the policy change could impact the electorate less than the immense user base of the platforms may lead some to think.
Some of the experts noted that the circulation of election-denial ads on social media could help shape the wider public conversation even if they do not change the minds of a large share of individual voters.
“I’m confident that there will be malefactors attempting to game the election,” Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law who studies tech platforms, told ABC News. “It’s less clear how well this misinformation will work.”
The policy at Meta focuses on upcoming or ongoing elections that can still be impacted by political ads, rather than previous elections that have already become a matter of historical record, the company said in a statement.
In response to ABC News’ request for comment, the company pointed to a blog post in August 2022 detailing the Meta’s approach to that year’s midterm elections.
“We will reject ads encouraging people not to vote or calling into question the legitimacy of the upcoming election,” wrote Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta.
The reported move by Meta coincides with the loosening of election-related content restrictions at other major tech platforms. Google-owned YouTube announced in June that it would halt the removal of content claiming widespread voter fraud in 2020 and other past elections.
A civic integrity policy updated in August by X, formerly known as Twitter, does not address claims of voter fraud.
A potential rise in election-denial content on social media during a hotly contested 2024 election cycle could increase the likelihood of extremist violence, Edward Perez, Twitter’s former product director for civic integrity, which includes its election policies, told ABC News. Perez is now a board member at the OSET Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to election security and integrity.
“There’s a very troubling area where we have people who take extremist behavior because they’ve been radicalized by what they’ve read on social media,” Perez said, pointing to the Jan. 6 insurrectionists as well as David DePape, a far-right conspiracy theorist who was convicted on Thursday for attempted kidnapping and assault of the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The change in policy toward election-denial ads could also contribute to a political environment in which a wider swathe of people adopt the debunked claim of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, some experts said.
Some research has linked news consumption on tech platforms and belief in misinformation. A study by researchers at Northwestern University, released in September 2020, found that individuals who received their news from social media were more likely to believe in misinformation about coronavirus conspiracies and risk factors.
Still, some experts downplayed the influence of political advertising online, pointing to studies that show little effect on voter sentiment or election outcomes.
“Political ads don’t have large observable effects, just in general,” Zeve Sanderson, the executive director at New York University’s Center for Social Media and Politics, told ABC News. Direct posts from prominent people are more likely to sway users than ads, Sanderson added.
A study led by a researcher at Yale University, published last year, found that a nearly $9 million, eight-month ad campaign on social media across five swing states ahead of the 2020 election found “no evidence” that the program increased or decreased average voter turnout.
A separate study examining results from dozens of different political advertisements tested across nearly 60 groups of voters during the 2016 presidential election found small average effects on candidate favorability and voter choices.
While social media ads may hold little direct effect on voters, Kwon said, the election-denial messages could still elevate the false claims within the wider national conversation ahead of the 2024 election.
“If we just consider political ads on Facebook, it may not have a significant effect,” Kwon said. “However, the problem is that once it’s shared, the message can be picked up and propagated by others.”
“It gives more reason for extreme thinkers to talk about and share their opinions,” she added. “It’s a disturbing idea that this could influence public trust in the election process.”
(NEW YORK) — Sam Altman, a prominent executive behind the rise of artificial intelligence, was hired by Microsoft days after being ousted as CEO of OpenAI, eliciting a letter signed by nearly 600 employees at OpenAI calling for the resignation of the company’s board and the return of Altman.
The employees threatened to quit and join Microsoft if their demands were not met, according to a copy of the letter obtained by ABC News. Included among the signees was company board member Ilya Sutskever as well as Mira Murati, who briefly served as interim CEO after the departure of Altman.
The letter, addressed to OpenAI board members, says: “Your conduct has made it clear you did not have the competence to oversee OpenAI.”
“We, the undersigned, may choose to resign from OpenAI and join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman,” the OpenAI employee letter said. “Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join. We will take this step imminently, unless all current board members resign, and the board appoints two new lead independent directors.”
Greg Brockman, the former president of OpenAI who resigned from the company soon after the departure of Altman, will also join the newly created AI team at Microsoft.
“We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success,” Nadella said on X in an announcement of the hiring of Brockman and Altman.
In a repost of the announcement from Nadella, Altman said on X: “The mission continues.”
In a separate post, Brockman announced the leadership of the new AI department at Microsoft, which appeared to include several recent employees at OpenAI. “We are going to build something new & it will be incredible,” Brockman said.
Meanwhile, OpenAI hired former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as its interim CEO, replacing executive Mira Murati days after internally appointing her to the role, Shear said Monday on X.
The departure of Altman from OpenAI followed a review process undertaken by the company’s board of directors, according to OpenAI, the maker of the popular conversation bot ChatGPT. The review concluded that Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board,” OpenAI said in a statement on Friday.
One of the board members involved in the exit of Altman, however, has since expressed remorse about the move.
“I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions,” Sutskever, a longtime AI researcher and co-founder of OpenAI, posted on X on Monday. “I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.”
In January, Microsoft announced it was investing $10 billion in OpenAI. The move deepened a longstanding relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI, which began with a $1 billion investment four years ago. Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, offers users access to ChatGPT.
OpenAI has risen to prominence since ChatGPT was made available to the public a year ago. The chatbot now boasts more than 100 million weekly users, Altman announced earlier this month.
Speaking with ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis in March, Altman said AI holds the capacity to profoundly improve people’s lives but also poses serious risks.
“We’ve got to be careful here,” Altman said. “I think people should be happy that we are a little bit scared of this.”
ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
