(BALTIMORE) — At 15, Tyeeshia Cannady had to leave school when she became a mother.
The 33-year-old Baltimore resident, even though she had help from her parents, had to focus on work to keep her children safe and healthy.
Today, the mother of seven is getting a second chance through a new program.
Cannady attends classes at the Goodwill Excel Center in downtown Baltimore to earn her high school diploma at no cost. She told “Nightline” that this is the first time she has caught a break since she dropped out.
“I’ve been trying to get my GED for a while, but life has happened in between,” she said. “There was no support…I put it on the back burner for so long.”
The Baltimore Excel Center opened in September and is funded by a mix of donations, state and federal funding. It provides adults who once dropped out of high school with classes, career planning and other services to finish their high school degree, like day care to provide that support.
Cannady said she has felt welcomed by the facility’s staff.
“I’m not just a student. My kids are not just a number… I’m not just a number to the school. I am a person here. My children are people here,” she said.
Goodwill has opened over three dozen Excel Centers across the country, and is open to all ages.
Experts say there is an ongoing need for these types of facilities.
Cannady was one of more than 420,000 students who dropped out in the 2006-2007 school year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since then, 7 million or more young people have withdrawn from high school, according to the data.
Sonya Douglass, an associate professor of Education Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University, told “Nightline” that people without high school diplomas face an uphill battle for employment.
The median weekly income for someone who doesn’t complete high school is roughly 25% less than a high school graduate, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It’s very important that learners are able to complete school so that they don’t run into those challenges,” Douglass said.
Ashley Gaines-Seay, a life coach at Excel, told “Nightline” that she has seen a lot of students who come from families where no one earned a high school diploma, and that has held them back.
“We see that it’s kind of a pattern within the families and they really want to break those cycles,” she said.
Shamar Rice, a 22-year-old Excel student, told “Nightline” that he was among that group, revealing that his mother and brother both dropped out of high school.
Rice said he was bullied at school and couldn’t stay motivated to go to classes.
He is pursuing acting, has appeared on television and has recently been accepted to a performing arts school in Los Angeles, but cannot attend until he gets his high school diploma.
“I will be breaking a generational curse in my family,” Rice said of finishing high school.
Cannady also said that her goal of completing high school goes beyond the diploma.
She has over come a lot in the years since she dropped out of school. One of her children was murdered by a boyfriend who abused her, and she has worked hard to take care of her family.
Completing this goal would be a personal accomplishment that showed she persevered, Cannady said.
“I don’t want to leave this Earth and the only thing is like, “Oh, she just had children. She didn’t finish school. She just had children,'” she said. “Now it’s like, ‘She had children, but she also went back to school. She completed school.'”
ABC News’ Kyle Rollins, Stephanie Lorenzo and Jada Clarke also contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — When Ben Greene speaks to transgender support groups across the country, he said he references his wedding ring, his high spirits and his beard. He told ABC News he does this to serve as an example for transgender youth that a bright future lies ahead of them.
“All those examples and stories of trans people that we see are really tragic,” Greene, 24, a transgender advocate and author, said. “It doesn’t occur to them that there are just happy trans adults living their lives out there.”
Support groups have been a lifeline for many in the transgender community who may face isolation and discrimination in other circles.
Transgender people are more likely to experience mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts than their cisgender peers, studies have shown. This is often due to discrimination from both social and political forces, as well as gender dysphoria.
Greene said that anti-transgender rhetoric makes it seem as though transgender people “have a lot of depression because we’re trans — which, to be clear, we have depression because of the way the world treats us for being trans,” said Greene.
But support groups for youth, for adults, or for parents of LGBTQ youth can ease these burdens. Studies have shown that support from the trans community, as well as family and friends, can greatly improve mental health outcomes for transgender people and could be a key factor in one’s resilience.
In these groups there are weekly or monthly regular attendees, as well as new, shy parents of transgender youth and eager and nervous transgender youth looking for answers about the transgender community.
These meetings offer a safe, often confidential space for people to talk about their identity, to ask questions and to ask for advice without judgment, members say.
In states where anti-transgender legislation and stigma is rife, some say it’s a necessity to find that kind of community.
Regional LGBTQ advocacy groups, like Greene’s PFLAG chapter in Missouri and Jennifer Wilcox’s support group called Trans North Alabama, are often a vital resource to host these in-person or online meetings when resources are lacking elsewhere.
Wilcox, an organizer for the support group, told ABC News that even having people to point you in the direction for trans-affirming or safe services such as hair care can ease anxieties.
“When I picked my name, it was like, ‘well, nobody has called me that name before.’ So it was a way to try out a name,” Wilcox said. “And then trying out like different kinds of like gender expression, like I started dressing differently and things like that and the support group was really helpful for that.”
She continued, “There’s a lot of pressure put on trans people where you’re expected to conform to whatever gender you were assigned at birth … having a support group, I think, is really helpful for having like a safe space to kind of express yourself more openly.”
Brit, a support group member from Alabama who is nonbinary and asked to be identified by only their first name for safety reasons, grew up in a very strict and traditional household. They didn’t get to explore their identity until much later in life, and were left with many questions, searching on the internet and relying on the trans people they knew for answers.
Social media helped them connect with support groups like Trans North Alabama, which has led to connections that will last a lifetime — a chosen family.
“I’ve never been part of a more generous community,” they said. “I’ve joked that we pass around the same $20 to help each other out.”
They have since moved out of the state, citing increasingly hostile legislation against transgender identities, such as anti-trans sports bans.
The transgender community is small — with some estimates showing that they make up less than 1% of the population over the age of 13, according to research from the University of California, Los Angeles.
However, the demographic has dominated recent political conversation, which Greene said can make it seem like so many people are against the transgender community.
“Most people are not leading with hate in the way it might feel like they are,” Greene said. “I have seen the number of people in this country who are leading with curiosity or who are leading with love, who have questions and want to learn more, but I don’t find hate in every corner of this country.”
He said that’s why it’s important to be surrounded by people who are safe and supportive, to remind ourselves of the community that’s out there waiting with open arms. Representation is important, he adds.
Greene remembers when he was young — about 18 years old — and he saw a trans actor play a trans character in a plot that included a happy ending, and it brought him to tears.
He thought at the time: “Everything I do from this moment onwards is going to be to the goal of being that for as many people as possible because that interaction changed everything for me.”
Brit reminds readers that transgender people are looking to live safely and happily — just like everyone else, they said.
“We’re just people,” said Brit. “There is no difference between me and the person next door. Except for, you know, maybe I have a hobby that they don’t have.”
(NEW YORK) — The conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has led to scarce access to food, water, sanitation and medical supplies in overcrowded shelters and facilities that are housing hundreds of thousands of displaced people, many women and children, according to multiple humanitarian organizations.
Current conditions put these people at high risk for a number of life-threatening health conditions, including rapidly spreading respiratory and diarrheal illnesses, according to Richard Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization representative in the West Bank and Gaza. He said he anticipates this dire situation only getting worse in the near future.
“The people within Gaza, they not only have to protect themselves and their families from the constant violence that surrounds them and that is above them but also the disease that’s on the ground. All of which they have little to no protection for,” Dr. Darien Sutton, emergency medicine physician and ABC News medical correspondent, told ABC News.
Hamas terrorists launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct 7, which killed at least 1,200 people and injured thousands more, according to Israeli offices. In response to the attack, the Israel Defense Forces launched an operation in Gaza that has so far killed at least 12,000 people according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. WHO estimates 1.5 million people are displaced due to this conflict.
On average in 2021 and 2022, this region saw 2,000 cases of diarrhea per month, but the current conditions have given rise to over 33,551 reported cases of diarrhea since mid-October – over half of these in children less than 5 years old, according to the WHO. Nearly 55,000 cases of upper reparatory illnesses have also been reported – the sixth most common cause of death in the Gaza Strip prior to this conflict, WHO said.
The International Rescue Committee says 95% of residents in Gaza have no access to safe water, and current conditions will “inevitably lead to waterborne illnesses like cholera and typhoid.”
Severely limited border crossings into the region have prevented adequate aid from reaching enough of these stranded civilians, experts said. Gaza has been under siege since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack with limited supply runs since.
“Before the 7th of October, an average of 500 trucks a day were crossing into Gaza with essential supplies. Since the 7th of October, only 217 trucks have entered in total. To sustain the humanitarian response on the scale needed, we need hundreds of trucks to enter Gaza every day,” Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General, said at a recent press conference.
Hospitals in Gaza have also been attacked and cut off from fuel and electricity during the increasing conflict, preventing many from providing basic medical care, officials said. Israel has defended targeting the hospitals because it says Hamas uses them as operating bases.
“Fourteen out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza strip are non-functional. However, functionality is affected by lack of food and clean water, and the lack of fuel to power generators,” the WHO Director-General said.
The treatment for diarrhea is supportive care with fluids and electrolytes, including oral rehydration therapy (ORT) or intravenous fluids given in medical settings, that replace what is lost during the illness, Sutton said. While this sounds simple, Sutton said the current conditions and scarce supplies in Gaza prevent this lifesaving care from reaching those who need it – which can quickly become deadly if untreated. Diarrheal illnesses are the second leading killer of children under 5 in the world, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Experts said other diseases are at risk of spreading in Gaza, including cholera, which is a type of highly contagious, life-threatening, diarrheal illness spread through contaminated water. Without treatment, it can lead to death within hours, according to WHO.
Additionally, WHO reports “at least 8944 cases of scabies and lice, 1005 cases of chickenpox, 12635 cases of skin rash have also been reported.” This crisis is only expected to get worse without aid imminently, experts said.
The United Nation’s Security Council passed a resolution on Wednesday asking for urgent humanitarian pauses and corridors in the region that could allow opportunity for resources to reach those in need that have yet to be carried out.
“The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity,” António Guterres, WHO Secretary-General, said at a recent press conference.
Dr. Jade A Cobern, MD, MPH, is a pediatrician specialized in preventive medicine and member of the ABC News Medical
(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 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.
(TEL AVIV, Israel) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues with no end in sight, the lives of millions have been upended and their plans and dreams have been abruptly placed on hold.
At least 1,200 people were killed by Hamas in Israel in the Oct. 7 surprise terrorist attacks, with more than 230 believed to have been taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli officials. In the retaliatory campaign that followed, more than 12,000 in Gaza have been killed, including 5,000 children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health.
ABC News has collected the accounts of two young people from both sides of the conflict, showing how the war has changed their daily lives and the hope that one day it will end.
‘Crushed’ by the war
Tala, a 17-year-old from Khan Younis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, had her final year of school interrupted by the outbreak of war on Oct. 7.
“I’m supposed to graduate this year, but since the war, schools are mostly closed, and we never know when they’re going to open back,” Tala, who did not want to be fully identified, told ABC News. “I was planning on studying interior design abroad and try and help and tell the world about Palestinians. Now it feels like the war crushed it. Like it’s never going to happen.”
Tala said her daily life, as well as her future ambitions, have been completely upended.
“Before the war, after school, we’d usually hang out,” she said. “We would go out to a lot of the beautiful places that are now destroyed. We used to see people, like actually meet them. And now it feels like everyone’s a stranger around you. It feels like there’s like a piece missing. Like it’s not the people you used to be around. Everyone is scared of each other.”
Tala was staying at her grandparents’ house on Oct. 6 for a sleepover with friends when she woke up to the news that changed her world forever.
“Then suddenly, the next day, we woke up and it was war,” she said. “We had to come back home with my family because it’s safer here in the south.”
One day later, she said, her home was destroyed by an IDF strike.
“It held a lot of memories,” she said. “Well, it got bombed.”
‘Life has changed’
Shahar, 30, was called up as a reservist and now serves in Brigade 261 of the Israel Defense Force. He was, like so many, affected personally by the Oct. 7 attacks.
“Life has changed in a way that I don’t think is going to be the same,” Shahar, who also asked not be fully identified, told ABC News. “I have lost a very close friend, Daniel, who was organizing my wedding. He was murdered in the massacre, he was going to dance at a peace festival and never came back.”
Shahar’s loss helps motivate his sense of duty, he said.
“Every time we go in there [to Gaza], I feel like I’m literally protecting my fiance, my family, my friends,” he said. “One of the reasons I fight is to make sure that our wedding list won’t get any shorter.”
Shahar compared the current tragedy to another tragedy his family suffered.
“I’m a grandson of Holocaust survivors, and they kept promising that they’re building Israel to make sure it never again and it never felt so close to being again,” he said. “So now ‘never again’ is now. And this is something that we keep in our heads every time we go in.”
As the war intensifies, he said he hopes that someday life will return to normal.
“I’m heartbroken for every civilian that lost their lives on both ends,” Shahar said. “We don’t want revenge. I want to get back to my life, to my fiance. I want to marry her, to have kids. I want to start my own company someday. I don’t want to be in Gaza.”
(LAGUNA HILLS, Calif.) — A bartender has been charged with the murder of a 27-year-old woman after she was found beaten to death with a fire extinguisher and her body was left on a construction site with a sandbag covering her head, police said.
The suspect, Dino Rojas-Moreno, a 26-year-old bartender from Laguna Hills, California, was arrested after the body of 27-year-old Tatum Goodwin was discovered on Sunday at about 8:20 a.m. by a worker at a construction site in the 100 block of S. Coast Highway in Laguna Beach.
Goodwin’s body was under a chain link fence on a construction site and a sandbag had been placed on her head at the time of the discovery, according to a statement released on Friday by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
“Rojas-Moreno is accused of approaching Goodwin in a nearby parking lot around 1 a.m. that morning and assaulting her near her parked car,” the district attorney’s statement read. “Rojas-Moreno then forcefully dragged her to the rear of the parking lot, down a short alley, and to a secluded area behind a movie theatre that was under construction. Rojas-Moreno is then accused of beating Goodwin to death with a fire extinguisher. Goodwin was found several hours later.”
It is currently unclear whether Goodwin had any prior relationship with Rojas-Moreno but the suspect failed to show up to work the day of the murder after claiming he had been jumped by several men in Santa Ana, authorities said.
“The loss of an innocent life is a travesty for the entire community,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “It is heartbreaking that a young woman with her entire future ahead of her had her life ended in such a brutal way and then discarded like her life never matter. She mattered, and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office is committed to ensuring justice is served.”
Rojas-Moreno has since been charged with one felony count of murder, one felony enhancement of special circumstances of committing the murder in the commission of a kidnapping and one felony enhancement for the personal use of a weapon, a fire extinguisher, according to the district attorney’s office.
Rojas-Moreno is currently being held in custody without bail and he is scheduled to be arraigned at on Monday at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
The investigation into the murder is still ongoing but, if convicted, Rojas-Moreno is eligible for the death penalty.
(ATLANTA) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, in a court filing Friday, is requesting a start date of Aug. 5, 2024, for the trial of former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case.
Willis had originally sought to have all 19 defendants in the case stand trial together last month, but Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee severed the case, calling the move “a procedural and logistical inevitability.”
In Friday’s filing, the DA said the August date “balances potential delays from Defendant Trump’s other criminal trials,” as well as the other defendants’ constitutional speedy-trial rights.
Willis recently said in an interview that she expected the trial to last “many months” — meaning a trial with an August start date could still be underway at the time of the 2024 presidential election.
The DA also requested that the judge set a final plea date of June 21, 2024, as the final date that prosecutors would make negotiated plea deals. After that date, the filing says, defendants would only be able to take non-negotiated deals, in which the state would recommend the maximum sentence.
Willis also asked the judge not to sever the case again until that final plea date, and asked that all defendants remain together for one trial.
“The State clearly retains the logistical and prosecutorial capabilities to try all of the remaining Defendants together,” the DA wrote.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty in August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jena Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
In Friday’s filing, the DA noted that “more Defendants could choose to enter guilty pleas in the future.”
(CONCORD, N.H.) — The suspect is dead and the situation has been “contained” following a shooting at New Hampshire State Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire, according to the state’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office.
State police said earlier that there were “multiple victims.”
“The scene remains active,” the Homeland Security and Emergency Management office said.
The shooting occurred in the lobby of the hospital, according to New Hampshire State Police Director Col. Mark Hall. All patients are safe, he said.
“The scene remains active as one suspicious vehicle has been located,” Hall told reporters during a briefing Friday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(CONCORD, N.H.) — Multiple victims have been reported in a shooting at New Hampshire State Hospital in Concord, New Hampshire, state police said Friday afternoon.
The number of victims was not immediately clear.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — When Francis Galicia, a student in Rockland County, N.Y., arrives at their high school for class each morning, they cannot help but notice that something vital is missing.
“We don’t have access to running water,” Francis said, referring to the lack of drinkable water from fountains.
Francis’ high school is part of the East Ramapo Central School District, which shut off many drinking water fountains in 2016 after lead was detected. The problem was traced to the school’s water fixtures. Francis was in fourth grade at the time, but seven years later the water fountains in question remain inoperable.
The district says the issue is being addressed and that they are working to replace water fountains. In the interim, the students are being provided with bottled water on a daily basis.
But Francis says the water coolers sometimes run out as the temperature rises.
“They don’t acknowledge the fact that we’re struggling,” Francis told ABC News. “But now I’m here telling you that we are struggling.”
East Ramapo is not the only school system that has experienced issues with lead in its water. For years, concerns have surfaced over lead in water pipes and fixtures in public schools across the country.
“Lead in water is everywhere,” said Paul Schwartz, a community organizer with the group Campaign for Lead Free Water. “Unless the state or local school districts are on top of it and prioritizing it, most folks don’t know what’s going on out of any of the taps of their schools.”
And despite increased awareness of this issue, some advocates and medical professionals say more needs to be done to actually solve the problem since children are often considered to be particularly vulnerable to lead’s toxic effects.
“If a child is exposed to lead over a longer period of time, it can cause brain damage. It can cause these irreversible long-term changes that can affect things such as behavior, attention [and] learning,” said ABC News medical contributor Dr. Alok Patel. “The list goes on and it’s devastating.”
Just how prevalent the issue of lead in school drinking water is across the country today is not known for certain since there is no national database that keeps track of every school’s lead levels.
“Unfortunately, school regulation is mostly voluntary,” said Schwartz. “Unless the states or local districts are prioritizing it, mostly folks don’t know what’s going on.”
There is no federal law requiring schools to test for lead if, as is the case for the majority of U.S. schools, their water comes from a public water system.
Schools that operate on their own water systems, a much smaller number, do have some requirements to test and disclose their lead data. An ABC analysis of 7,758 school water systems (those that are regulated by EPA) that were reported as “active,” or operating, during the third quarter of 2023, revealed that 77% of test samples taken had some level of lead contamination, 16% were in the double digits and 6% exceeded the EPA’s recommended maximum threshold. While the data represents reports as of the third quarter 2023, the findings come from tests that were done over the past 30 years.
“In thinking about the fact that there is no safe level of lead for consumption and that we should be avoiding it at all costs to protect those developing brains, it’s really important that the public is paying attention to potential sources of lead,” Patel said.
With so little information available for parents and students regarding lead exposure at many schools nationwide, as part of “The American Classroom” initiative, ABC News Investigates, ABC Owned Television Stations and several ABC affiliates requested lead information from districts that serve a total of nearly 2.7 million students.
Of the more than 130 districts that were contacted, 75 did not respond to the requests, seven declined to answer questions altogether and 41 would only answer questions by phone or email.
“The real problem is that water authorities and schools don’t want the political heat. They don’t want the transparency or the accountability,” Schwartz said.
Fifteen districts agreed to interviews about this issue. Several acknowledged the need to keep students and employees safely hydrated through actions like testing their water.
Some districts, including Jersey City Public Schools in New Jersey, pointed to the high cost of addressing aging water infrastructure. JCPS Superintendent Dr. Norma Fernandez said her district received a federal grant worth nearly $5 million for water remediation.
“It’s about another $5 million to finish this project,” Fernandez told WABC-TV, noting that this additional cost is being covered by the American Rescue Plan and will cover improvements in 14 buildings. “It’s very expensive.”
Advocates like Schwartz say that in the long run, a solution schools can use is called Filter First, a strategy that has been adopted by schools in Flint, Michigan, in the time since the city’s infamous water crisis. Lead and Legionella bacteria leached into the tap water of nearly 100,000 Flint residents between 2014 and 2015. The Legionella bacteria, a type of pneumonia-causing bacteria, killed 12 people, according to data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The strategy involves lead-removing filters being installed at all designated drinking and cooking water outlets, with ongoing sampling and testing.
Filter First will soon be found in even more districts, with a new law requiring it to be implemented in schools throughout Michigan.
In New York’s East Ramapo Central School District, officials say many water fountains that are currently out of service due to lead concerns will be replaced by the time the next school year begins.
“East Ramapo educates students in schools built decades ago,” Superintendent Dr. Clarence Ellis told ABC News by email. “They have been and continue to be upgraded and renovated.”
The problems in East Ramapo and the delayed response in fixing the water fountains have prompted the New York Civil Liberties Union to liken the situation to “environmental racism,” because the majority of students in the school district are students of color. The NYCLU has called for the state to intervene and take over.
“This is 21st century Jim Crow, 40 miles from New York City,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman told ABC News, comparing East Ramapo to Flint, a predominantly Black community.
“What went on in Flint was that people were put at risk,” Lieberman said. “What’s going on in East Ramapo is that children are being put at risk because they’re going to school. And that’s comparable. It is not exactly the same, but it is comparable.”
The East Ramapo Central School District, its school board and the state did not respond to questions from ABC News about these allegations of environmental racism.
The New York State Education Department said it is working with the district, noting in a statement that “the majority of these fixtures will be replaced within a years’ time as part of the district’s NYSED-approved plan to use $91 million in Federal COVID-response funds to address critical capital needs.”
For Francis, the completion of this work cannot come soon enough.
“I try my best to get the education that I need so I can succeed,” Francis said. “I want the water contamination to go away.”
ABC News’ Charlotte Greer, Alexandra Myers, Mark Nichols and Evan Simon contributed to this report.
