Israel-Gaza live updates: Hostage negotiations in ‘critical and final stage,’ Qatar says

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(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 21, 9:17 AM EST
Israeli government to vote on hostage deal on Tuesday night, source says

Israel’s government will begin voting to approve a hostage deal with Hamas on Tuesday, an Israeli senior political source told ABC News.

Voting will likely be completed on Wednesday, according to the source.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that, “in light of the developments regarding the release of our abductees,” Netanyahu will convene the war cabinet at 6 p.m. local time, the political-security cabinet at 7 p.m. local time and the full government at 8 p.m. local time.

Both cabinets would have to approve a hostage deal before it could be brought to the full government for a final vote.

Earlier Tuesday, while visiting Israeli troops, Netanyahu told reporters that his government was “making progress” on an agreement with Hamas.

“I don’t think it’s worth saying too much, not even at this moment,” he added, “but I hope there will be good news soon.”

Nov 21, 9:04 AM EST
Hostage negotiations in ‘critical and final stage,’ Qatar says

Negotiations to free some of the people who were taken hostage by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel are closer than they have ever been before, according to Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari.

“Mediation has reached a critical and final stage and has gone past key issues. What remains are limited issues and therefore we are the closest we have come to reaching an agreement since the beginning of this crisis,” Al-Ansari said during a press briefing in Doha on Tuesday, adding that “we hope and seek to make this happen soon.”

Al-Ansari noted that it is very important to “choose the right time to announce the details” of Qatar’s mediation efforts in the latest outbreak of war between Israel and the Gaza Strip’s militant rulers, Hamas.

A Hamas leader in Beirut, Osama Hamdan, told ABC News on Tuesday morning that they are “waiting for the Israeli side to accept the deal.” However, he added a caveat: “Many times in the past, we were close to a deal and Netanyahu undermined the deal. By the end of the day things will clear and we will see what the results of it.”

Hamdan would not expand on details of the deal, including how many hostages would be released, telling ABC News: “No specifics on the numbers but it’s around what the media is talking about, which is around 50. But nothing is final.”

Meanwhile, there will likely be three separate steps of approval for an agreement to go through on the Israeli side. The Israeli government will announce that a deal has been reached that needs to be voted on. Then, Israel’s security cabinet will vote to approve said agreement. Finally, Israeli law requires a 24-hour waiting period during which time the Supreme Court of Israel may need to be involved, to defend the deal from anyone who attempts to contest it.

Sources have told ABC News that a potential deal would involve the release of around 50 hostages, all women and children, in exchange for a five-day cease-fire, the release of dozens of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prison and a large influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including fuel. It may take multiple days for hostages to be released because they are not all being held together and some are held by splinter groups, according to sources.

Nov 21, 7:56 AM EST
Hundreds trapped in Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital amid fierce fighting

Hundreds of patients are trapped inside another major hospital in the Gaza Strip amid fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants, as fears grow that the situation could turn into a repeat of what happened at Al-Shifa Hospital.

The Indonesian Hospital is located in the northern edge of north Gaza, right on the frontline of Israel’s advance. Al Jazeera reported that there are 700 people currently stuck inside the besieged hospital, including medical staff and wounded civilians.

At least 12 people, including patients and their companions, were reportedly killed on Monday when the Indonesian Hospital came under fire, according to the World Health Organization, which said it was “appalled by the attack.” Doctors in the hospital told Al Jazeera that the facility was hit by artillery shells, while others suggested an Israeli tank may have fired at it.

“Health workers and civilians should never have to be exposed to such horror, and especially while inside a hospital,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital, told BBC News that Israeli troops were only about 20 meters (66 feet) away. The Israeli military said its forces targeted “terrorists” who had opened fire at them from within the hospital, according to BBC News.

ABC News has not confirmed that Israeli troops were responsible for strikes on the Indonesian Hospital. The Israel Defense Forces said it was operating in specific areas outside the hospital due to enemy fire and that no shells were launched toward the facility.

Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health said 200 patients were evacuated from the Indonesian Hospital by bus to southern Gaza and that the International Committee of the Red Cross was trying to coordinate the evacuation of the remaining 400 patients, according to BBC News.

Video purportedly taken inside the Indonesian Hospital shows injured people and others sheltering on the floor. Additional footage appears to show damage to the hospital and heavy bombardments landing close to the facility in recent days.

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.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Thanksgiving storm live updates: Severe weather threatens travel

ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A storm is sweeping across the U.S. threatening Americans’ Thanksgiving plans as they hit the roads and head to airports during one of the busiest holiday travel weeks of the year.

After dumping rain and snow on the West Coast over the weekend, the cross-country storm is headed for the East Coast where it’s expected to unleash heavy rain, wind and snow across major travel hubs this week, including Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, D.C. and New York City.

The biggest delays at airports and the worst conditions on the roads are expected on Tuesday.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Nov 21, 9:00 AM EST
TSA administrator’s advice for Thanksgiving travelers

TSA Administrator David Pekoske expects a record number of travelers this Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Pekoske told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Tuesday he’s confident the Transportation Security Administration has enough agents for the holiday rush.

He said his best advice for Thanksgiving travelers is to “give yourself a little extra time.”

“Airports are gonna be busy, aircraft are gonna be full. Give yourself a little extra time. It’ll take the stress off and it’ll allow you to prepare for anything,” he said.

Pekoske also encourages passengers to thank the airport staffers who are working over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Nov 21, 8:46 AM EST
Latest forecast

Both Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina can expect to see rain for much of the day Tuesday along with strong wind gusts at times, making delays at airports almost a certainty.

The rain is expected to reach Washington, D.C., around 10 a.m. Tuesday and New York City around 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The heaviest rain for the Interstate 95 travel corridor — one of the busiest nationwide — is forecast to begin after 8 p.m. Tuesday and continue until about 6 a.m. Wednesday. Flash flooding is possible along I-95, so those driving to reach their Thanksgiving destinations should exercise extreme caution.

A few tornadoes are possible across south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle on Tuesday.

Snow is expected to start in northern New England on Tuesday afternoon and continue through Wednesday night. Six to 12 inches of snowfall is in the forecast for parts of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Trump fraud trial live updates: Former controller scheduled to conclude testimony

ftwitty/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York in a $250 million civil lawsuit that could alter the personal fortune and real estate empire that helped propel Trump to the White House.

Trump, his sons Eric Trump and and Donald Trump Jr., and other top Trump Organization executives are accused by New York Attorney General Letitia James of engaging in a decade-long scheme in which they used “numerous acts of fraud and misrepresentation” to inflate Trump’s net worth in order get more favorable loan terms. The trial comes after the judge in the case ruled in a partial summary judgment that Trump had submitted “fraudulent valuations” for his assets, leaving the trial to determine additional actions and what penalty, if any, the defendants should receive.

The former president has denied all wrongdoing and his attorneys have argued that Trump’s alleged inflated valuations were a product of his business skill.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Nov 21, 8:45 AM EST
Former controller scheduled to conclude testimony

Former Trump Organization controller and co-defendant Jeffrey McConney is set to return to the witness stand to conclude his testimony this morning.

When he returned to the stand as a witness for the defense yesterday, he testified that he relied on the firm’s accountants at Mazars USA to put together the statements of financial condition that are at the center of the case, continuing what appears to be the defense’s strategy of placing responsibility on outside accountants.

“Whatever he asked for, we would do,” McConney said of longtime Mazars accountant Donald Bender.

McConney is the only witness scheduled to testify before the court takes an extended Thanksgiving break. Once his testimony concludes, the court is set to adjourn until it resumes on Monday following the holiday.

Nov 20, 6:04 PM EST
McConney says he corrected inflated value of Ivanka’s apartment

The Trump Organization’s longtime controller testified that he overvalued Ivanka Trump’s apartment in her father’s statement of financial condition before correcting the mistake after it was flagged.

New York Attorney General Letitia James alleges that a penthouse apartment rented by Ivanka Trump was valued in Donald Trump’s financial statement at $45 million in 2014 and 2015, despite the apartment’s rental agreement including an option to purchase the apartment for $14 million.

From 2016 onward, the value of the penthouse in Trump’s statements dropped back down the actual buyout price of $14 million, “per rental agreement.”

Asked about the change during his testimony today, McConney acknowledged the correction, claiming he did not know about the provision in the rental agreement.

McConney said that once outside accountant Donald Bender of Mazars USA flagged the issue, he promptly made the change in Trump’s financial statement.

McConney concluded his testimony for the day and is set to return to the witness stand Tuesday morning.

Nov 20, 4:41 PM EST
Controller testifies he relied on outside accountants

With an overwhelming number of entities to track in addition to numerous other responsibilities, the Trump Organization’s longtime controller Jeffrey McConney said he relied on outside accountants to put together Trump’s statements of financial condition.

While the statement took up a portion of his time between July and October each year, McConney testified that he otherwise spent “very little time” on the financial statements that underpin the attorney general’s case.

The descriptions of each entity in the statements, and the disclaimers, largely remained the same year after year, according to McConney.

“A lot of this was Gerald Rosenblum’s writing,” he said about the section describing Trump Tower, referring to a late Mazars USA accountant.

“Whose words are those?” defense attorney Jesus Suarez said about a disclaimer that said that the value of “Donald J. Trump’s worldwide reputation” was not considered in the statement.

“Mazars,” McConney responded.

He added that Trump would make any change that Mazars recommended and largely followed the lead of then-Mazars accountant Donald Bender when modifying the statement.

“If [Bender] had items that he needed on the statement to change, we made the change,” McConney said.

Nov 20, 3:45 PM EST
Controller denies keeping documents from outside accountants

Longtime Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney, a defendant in the attorney general’s case, denied withholding any documents from the company’s outside accountants — appearing to contradict testimony from Mazars USA accountant Donald Bender.

“We provided him everything he needed,” McConney said, adding that Bender could request any document he wanted from the Trump Organization.

McConney, testifying for the defense, added that Bender also could directly communicate with individuals in the Trump Organization to directly ask questions during the process of organizing Trump’s financial statements that are at the center of the case.

“Bender would come in and talk to anyone he wanted,” McConney said.

When Bender testified last month during the state’s case, he said that he directly asked McConney if the company had more appraisals, to which McConney responded, “That’s all we have.”

“They were not giving us all the documents that we needed, potentially, to compile the compilation,” Bender testified.

Asked about the allegation on the witness stand, McConney denied he withheld anything from Bender.

“Did you ever hide anything from Donald Bender?” defense attorney Jesus Suarez asked.

“No,” McConney responded.

Nov 20, 2:56 PM EST
Co-defendant Jeffrey McConney returns to stand

Forty-five days after he began his testimony as the third witness in the state’s case, former Trump Organization controller and co-defendant Jeffrey McConney has returned to the witness stand for the defense.

When he testified last month, McConney — who was the primary person responsible for the valuations in Trump’s statement of financial statements between 2011 and 2017 — struggled to recall specific details about the preparation of the financial documents, though he acknowledged he took direction from Eric Trump about the value of a Westchester golf course.

This afternoon, after asking some preliminary questions about McConney’s biography, defense attorney Jesus Suarez began asking McConney pointed questions about Mazars USA accountant Donald Bender, another witness in the state’s case.

“Whatever he asked for, we would do,” McConney said about Bender’s role in the process of compiling Trump’s financial statement.

Nov 20, 12:55 PM EST
Defense expert gave inconsistent testimony, state attorney claims

State attorney Andrew Amer began his cross-examination of defense expert David Miller by highlighting that his testimony appeared to contradict Miller’s own expert report.

During his direct examination, Miller was asked if he has ever seen any insurance underwriters rely on media outlets when reviewing their surety programs.

“Prior to this, no,” Miller responded, referencing how underwriters at Zurich cited articles from Forbes and USA Today in their 2021 annual review of Trump’s policies.

However, Miller’s own report acknowledged that “some underwriters do not require financials and instead use their experience and other means (such as Forbes and USA Today) to satisfy their underwriting needs.”

When Amer suggested that the finding in Miller’s report appeared to directly contradict his testimony, the defense objected.

“It seems completely inconsistent. What am I missing?” Judge Arthur Engoron responded.

Miller clarified that he has seen underwriters cite external sources like media reports; however, the Zurich document was the first time he specifically saw Forbes and USA Today cited as sources.

Nov 20, 11:44 AM EST
Insurer backed Trump to guard relationship with broker, expert says

Defense witness David Miller, an expert in insurance underwriting, testified that the Zurich insurance company worked with the Trump Organization largely to protect its relationship with their broker, AON Risk Solutions.

“The relationship with AON was very important, and keeping business intact was very important,” Miller said about Zurich, which he said made a “business decision” to insure the Trump Organization’s properties.

The testimony appears to be a move to weaken the New York attorney general’s allegation that the Trump Organization used their inflated financial statements to get progressively favorable surety terms.

Judge Arthur Engoron was skeptical to qualify Miller as an expert before he relented to the defense’s request.

“I don’t see why you’re an expert in what was just said,” Engoron said after Miller spent 20 minutes listing his professional experience.

Both Engoron and state attorney Andrew Amer, who called the testimony a “waste of time,” criticized Miller’s ability to testify about the decisions made by Zurich and AON.

Nov 20, 10:46 AM EST
Defense’s case running ahead of schedule

The defense’s case will likely conclude one week ahead of schedule, according to defense attorney Clifford Robert.

Based on the remaining witnesses, the defense team is now planning to rest its case by Dec. 8.

Once the defense rests its case, the New York attorney general has an opportunity to present a rebuttal case, followed by closing arguments from both sides.

Nov 20, 9:59 AM EST
James says Trump’s expert witnesses are ‘friends and golf buddies’

Week 8 of Donald Trump’s fraud trial resumes this morning with the defense’s sixth expert witnesses.

Apart from the testimony of Donald Trump Jr., the defense’s case last week largely relied on multiple experts who supported the claim that asset valuation is more of an art than a science.

Similar to the state’s lone expert witness, who was paid $350,000 for his testimony, Trump’s expert witnesses during the first week of the defense’s case were paid a hefty fee for testifying — while others testified as a professional courtesy to Trump. Expert witness Gary Giulietti acknowledged his personal friendship with the former president, while Steven Witkoff said he had donated over $2 million to Trump’s presidential campaign.

New York Attorney General Letitia James noted those connections in a social media post.

“Several of these experts are longtime friends and golf buddies of Donald Trump. One had donated millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s campaign and his son even got married at Mar-a-Lago,” she said.

Nov 20, 8:56 AM EST
With no gag order, Trump continues to assail judge, clerk

With his limited gag order temporarily lifted on Thursday, Trump is continuing to rail against his civil fraud trial on social media, calling for the prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James, Judge Arthur Engoron, and Engoron’s law clerk.

Describing the case as a “horribly handled persecution of a political opponent,” Trump alleged that Engoron himself committed fraud by undervaluing his assets in his pretrial ruling, and that his clerk and James were complicit in the case.

“The World is watching this illegal Witch Hunt,” Trump wrote.

Describing Engoron’s clerk as a “co-judge” and “highly partisan,” Trump’s posts over the weekend were the second and third time the former president took aim at the clerk since an appeals court temporarily lifted the gag order preventing him from attacking Engoron’s staff. In both posts, Trump explicitly mentioned the clerk by name.

Engoron on Friday denied Trump’s request for a mistrial, which alleged bias on the part of the the judge, writing in his ruling, “As I have made clear over the course of this trial, my rulings are mine, and mine alone. There is absolutely no ‘co-judging’ at play.”

Nov 17, 4:14 PM EST
Judge denies Trump’s request for mistrial

Judge Arthur Engoron denied Donald Trump’s request for a mistrial, describing the defendants’ arguments as “nonsensical,” “disingenuous,” and “utterly without merit.”

Engoron rejected the motion without hearing any arguments from the New York Attorney General, who earlier this week requested that an extended briefing be scheduled.

“I cannot sign a proposed order to show cause that is utterly without merit, and upon which subsequent briefing would therefore be futile,” Engoron wrote in his ruling.

Across a four-page order, Engoron sharply disagreed with the allegations from the defendants that he was engaging in “co-judging” with his law clerk.

“As I have made clear over the course of this trial, my rulings are mine, and mine alone. There is absolutely no ‘co-judging’ at play,” Engoron said.

Addressing his principal law clerk’s political donations, which the judge said she has largely made in order to purchase tickets to functions while pursuing elected judicial office, Engoron called out the defendants for failing to acknowledge the “applicable unambiguous ethical guidelines” that permit such donations. He similarly dismissed the idea that his clerk attending events sponsored by political organizations implies that she supports any position taken by those groups.

“Such arguments are nonsensical; and in any event, they are a red herring, as my Principal Law Clerk does not make rulings or issue orders — I do,” Engoron said in his ruling.

Court was subsequently adjourned for the day.

Nov 17, 2:20 PM EST
Defense expert questions insurance company’s due diligence

The due diligence conducted by the Trump Organization’s insurance company amounted to nothing more than “airballs and witchcraft,” according to the defense’s underwriting expert Gary Giulietti.

Giulietti’s testimony appeared to cast doubt on the extent to which the Zurich Insurance Group scrutinized Trump’s financial documents that are at the center of the case.

In a deposition that was played earlier in court, Zurich insurance underwriter Claudia Mouradian said she relied on assurances that the Trump Organization’s $6 billion in assets were supported by appraisals.

“They should have asked if they wanted it,” Giulietti testified, adding that Zurich’s approach of relying on media reports about Trump’s net worth was “inconsistent” with industry standards.

Giulietti acknowledged that he had an ongoing business relationship with Trump, including making $1.2 million in commissions from the company in 2022. A personal friend of Trump, Giulietti confidently defended his business record on the stand.

“You’re sort of insulting me aren’t you?” he said after state attorney Andrew Amer, on cross-examination, questioned his qualifications as an expert witness. “There’s no one like me in the industry.”

He later said he was sorry for his response.

“I would like to apologize to the counsel. Not my style,” he told Amer.

Nov 17, 12:06 PM EST
Defense expert appears to contradict his own findings

The cross examination of the defense’s real estate expert, which was expected to last at least two hours, ended abruptly after he appeared to contradict his own findings in the expert report he had compiled.

Steven Laposa testified yesterday that he believed the attorney general’s report was “flawed” because it was based on the market value of Trump’s assets, rather than their investment value, which could be much higher.

Minutes into his cross-examination, state attorney Louis Solomon requested that Laposa read the second sentence of the notes section of Donald Trump’s statement of financial condition.

“Assets are stated at their estimated current values,” the note said, referring to the properties’ market value.

“First time I’ve seen this,” Laposa responded after reading the note, which supported the attorney general’s contention that the valuations were indeed based on market values.

“You wrote a report accusing the attorney general of bias” by using market values, Solomon lectured Laposa, prompting a sustained objection from the defense.

Solomon’s cross-examination of Laposa concluded after the exchange.

Nov 17, 4:14 PM EST
Judge denies Trump’s request for mistrial

Judge Arthur Engoron denied Donald Trump’s request for a mistrial, describing the defendants’ arguments as “nonsensical,” “disingenuous,” and “utterly without merit.”

Engoron rejected the motion without hearing any arguments from the New York Attorney General, who earlier this week requested that an extended briefing be scheduled.

“I cannot sign a proposed order to show cause that is utterly without merit, and upon which subsequent briefing would therefore be futile,” Engoron wrote in his ruling.

Across a four-page order, Engoron sharply disagreed with the allegations from the defendants that he was engaging in “co-judging” with his law clerk.

“As I have made clear over the course of this trial, my rulings are mine, and mine alone. There is absolutely no ‘co-judging’ at play,” Engoron said.

Addressing his principal law clerk’s political donations, which the judge said she has largely made in order to purchase tickets to functions while pursuing elected judicial office, Engoron called out the defendants for failing to acknowledge the “applicable unambiguous ethical guidelines” that permit such donations. He similarly dismissed the idea that his clerk attending events sponsored by political organizations implies that she supports any position taken by those groups.

“Such arguments are nonsensical; and in any event, they are a red herring, as my Principal Law Clerk does not make rulings or issue orders — I do,” Engoron said.

Nov 17, 2:20 PM EST
Defense expert questions insurance company’s due diligence

The due diligence conducted by the Trump Organization’s insurance company amounted to nothing more than “airballs and witchcraft,” according to the defense’s underwriting expert Gary Giulietti.

Giulietti’s testimony appeared to cast doubt on the extent to which the Zurich Insurance Group scrutinized Trump’s financial documents that are at the center of the case.

In a deposition that was played earlier in court, Zurich insurance underwriter Claudia Mouradian said she relied on assurances that the Trump Organization’s $6 billion in assets were supported by appraisals.

“They should have asked if they wanted it,” Giulietti testified, adding that Zurich’s approach of relying on media reports about Trump’s net worth was “inconsistent” with industry standards.

Giulietti acknowledged that he had an ongoing business relationship with Trump, including making $1.2 million in commissions from the company in 2022. A personal friend of Trump, Giulietti confidently defended his business record on the stand.

“You’re sort of insulting me aren’t you?” he said after state attorney Andrew Amer, on cross-examination, questioned his qualifications as an expert witness. “There’s no one like me in the industry.”

He later said he was sorry for his response.

“I would like to apologize to the counsel. Not my style,” he told Amer.

Nov 17, 12:06 PM EST
Defense expert appears to contradict his own findings

The cross examination of the defense’s real estate expert, which was expected to last at least two hours, ended abruptly after he appeared to contradict his own findings in the expert report he had compiled.

Steven Laposa testified yesterday that he believed the attorney general’s report was “flawed” because it was based on the market value of Trump’s assets, rather than their investment value, which could be much higher.

Minutes into his cross-examination, state attorney Louis Solomon requested that Laposa read the second sentence of the notes section of Donald Trump’s statement of financial condition.

“Assets are stated at their estimated current values,” the note said, referring to the properties’ market value.

“First time I’ve seen this,” Laposa responded after reading the note, which supported the attorney general’s contention that the valuations were indeed based on market values.

“You wrote a report accusing the attorney general of bias” by using market values, Solomon lectured Laposa, prompting a sustained objection from the defense.

Solomon’s cross-examination of Laposa concluded after the exchange.

Nov 17, 10:51 AM EST
Judge limits testimony about ‘trophy properties’

The defense’s real estate expert Steven Laposa resumed his testimony this morning by testifying about Donald Trump’s “trophy properties.”

Under questioning from the defense, Laposa explained that certain unique and iconic properties could be classified as trophy properties, which are generally purchased by a smaller pool of real estate investors. Trump’s lawyers have claimed that the former president’s assets include multiple trophy properties that were undervalued in his financial statements.

When Laposa attempted to describe how trophy properties are generally valued differently compared to normal buildings, state attorney Louis Solomon objected to the line of questioning, calling it a “waste of time.”

Judge Arthur Engoron sustained the objection.

Nov 17, 8:58 AM EST
Trump touts defense witnesses’ testimony

Following the fourth full day of testimony from witnesses for the defense Thursday, Donald Trump took to social media overnight to tout his case.

The former president posted that defense witnesses have “conclusively” proven that his financial statements were conservative and adequately disclosed, while claiming that New York Attorney General Letitia James and Judge Arthur Engoron “knowingly, substantially, & outrageously” devalued his assets.

After criticizing Engoron’s law clerk in a post last night, Trump’s latest posts do not reference the clerk, who Trump was previously prohibited from mentioning under the limited gag order that was temporarily lifted yesterday.

Nov 16, 8:51 PM EST
With gag order lifted, Trump blasts judge’s clerk online

Hours after an appeals court temporarily lifted a gag order that prohibited Donald Trump from commenting about court staff in his civil fraud trial, the former president criticized Judge Arthur Engoron’s law clerk on social media.

Describing the gag order as “Ridiculous and Unconstitutional,” Trump applauded the appeals court for its decision and described Engoron’s clerk as “politically biased and out of control.”

Engoron issued the limited gag order after Trump made a false social media post about the clerk last month. This evening’s post marked the first time Trump has explicitly mentioned her since then.

Trump also attacked New York Attorney General Letitia James, calling her a “worldwide disgrace,” and his former attorney Michael Cohen, who testified against him during the trial.

Nov 16, 5:55 PM EST
Engoron ends day without addressing gag order

After attentively watching the testimony of the defense’s real estate expert Steven Laposa, Judge Engoron adjourned court for the day without referencing the stay of his limited gag order issued this afternoon by an appellate court.

The judge’s clerk, Allison Greenfield — who was the subject of Trump’s false social media post that triggered Engoron’s limited gag order last month — remained in her regular seat next to the judge after the ruling came down.

Court will resume with Laposa back on the stand Friday.

Nov 16, 5:38 PM EST
Real estate expert describes NY AG’s approach as ‘flawed’

The New York attorney general’s approach to valuing Donald Trump’s properties was “flawed,” according to testimony from the defense’s real estate expert Steven Laposa.

Laposa said that the attorney general’s complaint relied on a market value analysis of Trump’s properties, rather than the investment value of the assets, which would consider the asset’s value based on an individual’s investment requirements instead of market norms.

“In my opinion, it’s flawed,” Laposa said about the attorney general’s findings.

Judge Arthur Engoron appeared attentive during Laposa’s testimony, overruling an objection from the state that would have limited the scope of his testimony.

“I want to hear what he says about evaluations,” Engoron said.

Nov 16, 4:19 PM EST
Defense teams applauds lifting of gag order

Defense attorney Alina Habba, speaking to reporters outside court, said that an appellate judge’s decision to temporarily stay Judge Engoron’s limited gag order on Donald Trump would allow the defense team to continue raising issues with the conduct of Engoron’s clerk, Allison Greenfield.

Habba also said she saw no reason to advise Trump to refrain from attacking Greenfield now that the gag order has been stayed — despite Judge Engoron’s concerns about his staff facing threats.

“There is not a day that I don’t get a threat. It’s just part of the game,” Habba said. “If I put something out on social media, and I get a threat for it, which has happened to me every single day, I don’t get to cry.”

“Ms. James is continuing to disparage my client,” Habba said, referring to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who filed the lawsuit against Trump. “And they were grasping at straws for a reason to say that the president should be gagged. There was no reason.”

James did not ask for the gag order, which was issued by Judge Engoron last month out of concern for the safety of his staff after Trump posted on social media about Greenfield.

Nov 16, 4:00 PM EST
Responses to gag order stay due by Wednesday

New York Attorney General Letitia James and representatives for Judge Arthur Engoron have until Wednesday to file a response to the appellate judge’s stay of the limited gag order imposed last month on Donald Trump by Engoron, according to the appellate judge’s order.

Trump’s reply is then due on Nov. 27 before the appellate court decides whether to fully lift the gag order. The civil fraud trial is expected to wrap up in mid-December.

Engoron’s “gag orders entered during the non-jury trial in the underlying proceeding are unconstitutional, and sanctions imposed there under are in violation of the Judiciary Law and Rules of this court,” Trump’s attorneys said in arguing for the order to be lifted.

Oral arguments about the gag order were presented at a separate courthouse from the courtroom where Trump’s civil trial is taking place. Engoron, who is hearing testimony from an expert witness, has not commented on the decision.

Nov 16, 3:10 PM EST
Appeals court temporarily lifts Trump gag order

A New York appeals court has temporarily lifted the limited gag order imposed on Donald Trump by Judge Arthur Engoron.

Judge David Friedman of the appellate division’s first department ruled from the bench after a brief oral argument.

The judge stayed the limited gag order, citing constitutional concerns over Trump’s free speech rights.

“Considering the constitutional and statutory rights at issue, an interim stay is granted,” Judge Friedman said in a handwritten order.

The gag order was imposed by the Engoron last month after Trump posted about the judge’s law clerk on social media.

Nov 16, 2:51 PM EST
Trump seeks emergency stay of limited gag order

Attorneys for Donald Trump have filed an emergency application for a stay of the limited gag order issued by last month Judge Engoron, asking that an appeals court annul and vacate the gag order and fines imposed against him.

Trump has been fined on two occasions, for a total of $15,000, after making statements referencing the judge’s clerk, and the judge recently extended the gag order to apply to lawyers in the case.

Trump’s lawyers argue that the gag order is an unconstitutional violation of Trump’s freedom of speech, which they say Engoron has used as a “unfettered license to inflict public punishments on a defendant for the defendant’s out-of-court statements.”

“As applied to President Trump, it also prevents a presidential candidate from commenting on the public conduct and possible ethical violations of a critical member of Justice Engoron’s chambers,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.

Engoron has said the gag order is meant to protect his staff from violence, noting that his chambers has received hundreds of threatening phone calls, messages, and packages over the course of the trial. While Trump’s lawyers described Engoron’s desire to protect his staff as “understandable,” they argue the gag order is too broad a “curtailment of plainly protected speech in a trial playing out on a national and international stage.”

An attorney for the New York attorney general responded to the filing by describing the gag order as the least restrictive means available to protect Engoron’s staff.

“The First Amendment does not prohibit courts from restricting speech that threatens the safety of the court’s staff or frustrates the orderly progression of a trial,” the attorney general responded in a letter to the appeals court.

Nov 16, 1:55 PM EST
Trump attorney jokes about football coach

In a moment of levity during a break between witnesses, Judge Arthur Engoron noted that Trump attorney Chris Kise has not yet led the questioning of any witnesses.

“How come you don’t get the pleasure of questioning people?” Engoron asked.

“There’s still time left,” Kise responded, saying that he prefers to coach his team from the sideline like famed New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick or Jimbo Fisher.

Fisher received a record buyout after being fired as coach of Texas A&M this week.

“I’d like to be fired from my job and collecting $77 million,” Kise quipped.

“I’ll see if I can arrange that,” Engoron joked.

Nov 16, 1:22 PM EST
GSA flagged issues with Trump’s financial statements

Steven Collins, an expert in contract procurement, testified that the federal government’s General Services Administration — which reviewed Donald Trump’s proposal to renovate the Old Post Office in Washington, D.C. — identified issues in Donald Trump’s statement of financial condition.

“Financial statements provided by Mr. Trump was qualified by his accountants as not complying with GAAP” or generally accepted accounting principles, a GSA document entered into evidence said about a “notable weakness” of Trump’s proposal.

However, said Collins, Trump’s financial capability as reflected in the statements comprised no more than 15% of the evaluation factors considered by the GSA, which more heavily weighed Trump’s site plan and financial offer in ultimately deciding to award Trump the contract.

Collins testified for roughly an hour for the defense and faced no questions during cross-examination.

Nov 16, 11:45 AM EST
Lawyer suggests Trump trying to throw ‘accountants under the bus’

State attorney Kevin Wallace, in his redirect examination of the defense’s expert witness Jason Flemmons, asked the accounting expert a single question.

“When you were at the Securities and Exchange Commission, did you ever encounter issuers facing allegations of fraud [try] to throw their accountants under the bus?” Wallace asked, in an apparent jab at the defense’s contention that the responsibility for Donald Trump’s financial statements lies with his accountants.

Trump’s lawyers quickly objected to the question. Judge Engoron, visibly smirking, sustained the objection.

Earlier, when asked by Judge Engoron about his compensation for serving as an expert witness, Flemmons said he was unable to estimate the total amount but that his hourly rate was $925 per hour. Michiel McCarty, who testified as an expert witness for the state, testified earlier this month that he charged a similar rate.

Nov 16, 10:56 AM EST
Valuing properties ‘not an exact science,’ says expert

The defense’s accounting expert, Jason Flemmons, testified that the process of determining the estimated value of a property could result in a range of values “no one of which is the right or wrong answer.”

The assertion from Flemmons supports the defense’s long-standing argument that performing valuations such as the ones listed on Donald Trump’s statements of financial condition is more akin to an art than a science.

“Estimated current value is not an exact science. There is not one single correct value that comes of this exercise,” Flemmons said.

Flemmons testified that insofar as Trump used an approved method to determine value, and disclosed that method, the value would be appropriate.

“You are communicating that to the user and allowing that user to be in a position to agree or disagree,” Flemmons said.

State attorney Kevin Wallace has concluded his cross-examination of Flemmons, allowing defense lawyer Jesus Suarez to begin his redirect examination of the accounting expert.

Nov 16, 9:25 AM EST
NY AG requests Dec. 8 deadline to respond to mistrial motion

New York Attorney General Letitia James has requested a Dec. 8 deadline to respond to what she called the “spurious allegations” in Donald Trump’s motion for a mistrial, a day after Trump sought a mistrial claiming bias on the part of Judge Arthur Engoron and his clerk.

If granted, the request would delay any decision on the mistrial motion until later in the trial and likely push any potential appeal until after the trial has concluded.

State attorney Kevin Wallace cited the “considerable daily attention” of the trial and the impending Thanksgiving holiday as reasons for the extended deadline.

“The Office of the Attorney General’s position is that — putting aside the total lack of merit to Defendants’ application for a mistrial — it is preferable to have the Court hear and decide the application on full briefing,” Wallace wrote.

Nov 15, 5:52 PM EST
Expert acknowledges he didn’t review each of Trump’s statements

State attorney Kevin Wallace, cross-examining defense expert Jason Flemmons, attempted to challenge Flemmons’ testimony by pressing the accountant on his experience with personal financial statements and his work reviewing Trump’s statements.

Flemmons testified that he himself had compiled fewer than five statements of financial condition, none of which were done after 2000. He also acknowledged that he did not review each of Trump’s financial statements between 2011 and 2021, which are the subject of the New York attorney general’s complaint.

Flemmons generally underplayed the importance of the financial statements by suggesting that most issues Wallace raised were “easily curable with a phone call.”

Asked if he could provide a specific example where he was involved in such a follow-up inquiry, Flemmons failed to offer an example and instead generally referred to his time working for the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Court was subsequently adjourned for the day, with Wallace scheduled to continue his testimony tomorrow morning.

Nov 15, 3:27 PM EST
Trump adequately disclosed accounting methods, expert says

The defense’s accounting expert could not identify any departures from generally accepted accounting principles — known as GAAP — in Donald Trump’s statements of financial condition that were not disclosed, according to his testimony.

“I don’t believe I have identified any additional discrepancies with GAAP that were not covered by those disclosures,” Jason Flemmons testified toward the end of his direct examination.

Flemmons also testified that the statements appropriately cited their use of appraisals, challenging the state’s assertion that Trump ignored vital appraisal information.

“Was the use of appraisals accurately described in the statements?” defense attorney Jesus Suarez asked.

“I believe so. I don’t believe there was anything that contradicted the use of appraisals but also other bases for evaluating the properties,” Flemmons responded.

Suarez concluded his lengthy direct examination, setting up state attorney Kevin Wallace’s cross-examination of Flemmons.

Nov 15, 2:06 PM EST
Accounting expert says he’s attesting to methodology, not results

After Jason Flemmons, the defense’s expert accounting witness, had testified at length about how Donald Trump’s financial statements included adequate disclaimers to explain his departure from normal accounting standards, Judge Engoron interjected to push back on the testimony.

That prompted Flemmons to confirm he is attesting largely to the general accounting methods used by the Trump Organization — not the specific numbers they provided for each of their assets.

As Flemmons gets further into his second day on the stand, Judge Engoron’s initial enthusiasm regarding his testimony appears to be on the wane, with the judge sustaining more of the state’s objections and asking increasingly skeptical questions.

Nov 15, 12:44 PM EST
Trump warned lenders statements may be unreliable, expert says

Donald Trump disclosed that 95% of the assets listed in his 2014 statement of financial condition departed from generally accepted accounting principles — known in the industry as GAAP — according to the defense’s expert witness Jason Flemmons.

The testimony from the defense’s accounting expert bolsters Trump’s argument that the departures from GAAP in his statements were adequately disclosed to lenders, making the lenders themselves responsible for drawing their own conclusions about the valuations listed in the documents.

It also supports the defense’s position that Trump’s statements fell within the regulations on personal financial statements, thus shielding him from allegations of fraud.

Nov 15, 12:03 PM EST
Judge delays ruling on mistrial after Trump claims bias

Judge Arthur Engoron did not issue a ruling on the defense’s motion for a mistrial in court, opting to give the New York attorney general time to determine if the state wants to respond to the request.

“I would ask if we could have until tomorrow to determine if we want to put in anything,” state attorney Kevin Wallace said after Engoron’s asked if the state plans to file a response.

The testimony of expert witness Jason Flemmons is now resuming.

Nov 15, 11:49 AM EST
Motion accuses judge of ‘predetermining’ trial’s outcome

In their motion for a mistrial, lawyers for Donald Trump and his adult sons argue that Judge Engoron has “predetermined the outcome of this proceeding and is merely going through the motions before it ultimately doles out punishment.”

Writing that the actions of both Engoron and his clerk create an appearance of impropriety that has resulted in “biased rulings,” Trump’s lawyers warn of wide-reaching implications.

“Left unchecked, the introduction of such demonstrable pro-Attorney General and anti-Trump/big real estate bias into a case of worldwide interest involving the front-runner for the Presidency of the United States impugns the integrity of the entire system,” they write.

Their three-pronged motion argues that the extrajudicial conduct of Engoron, the political activity of his clerk, and their rulings — including their gag order and fines — are each irreparable harms that can only be remedied by scrapping the entire trial.

“Only the grant of a mistrial can salvage what is left of the rule of law,” they write.

Nov 15, 10:50 AM EST
Trump is ‘trying to dismiss the truth,’ NY AG spokesperson says

A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James described Donald Trump’s motion for a mistrial as an effort “to dismiss the truth and the facts.”

“Donald Trump is now being held accountable for the years of fraud he committed,” the spokesperson said. “He can keep trying to distract from his fraud, but the truth always comes out.”

Trump’s motion for a mistrial takes aim at Judge Engoron as well as his law clerk, who frequently collaborates with the judge before he rules on objections, the admissibility of evidence, and other legal matters.

The judge imposed a limited gag order prohibiting statements about his staff after Trump posted about the clerk on social media.

Nov 15, 10:31 AM EST
Trump moves for mistrial, claiming bias on part of judge, clerk

Donald Trump and his co-defendants have filed a motion seeking a mistrial on the grounds that the trial has been “tainted” by the appearance of bias on the part of Judge Arthur Engoron and his law.

“This appearance of bias threatens both Defendants’ rights and the integrity of the judiciary as an institution,” Trump’s attorneys say in the filing. “As developed herein, in this case the evidence of apparent and actual bias is tangible and overwhelming.”

“Specifically, the Court’s own conduct, coupled with the Principal Law Clerk, Allison Greenfield’s unprecedented role in the trial and extensive, public partisan activities, would cause even a casual observer to question the Court’s partiality,” they write.

“Such evidence, coupled with an unprecedented departure from standard judicial procedure, has tainted these proceedings and a mistrial is warranted,” the filing says.

Nov 15, 9:23 AM EST
Expert witness to resume testimony for defense

Donald Trump’s lawyers are scheduled to resume their direct examination of expert witness Jason Flemmons this morning, continuing a line of questioning yesterday that largely placed responsibility for Trump’s financial statements on Trump’s external accountants.

Flemmons, who was qualified as an expert on accounting, explicitly criticized the testimony of Donald Bender, Trump’s accountant at Mazars USA who was the New York attorney general’s first witness, disputing Bender’s claim that he would have wanted to see any appraisals that the Trump Organization conducted.

Flemmons also testified that Trump’s financial statements should have sent a “buyer beware” signal to lenders due to the “highly cautionary language” in their disclaimer, which allowed Trump to make claims that significantly departed from generally accepted accounting principles.

To the extent that the statements and the Trump Organization’s representations about the statements were inaccurate, Flemmons placed responsibility on Bender and his colleagues at Mazars, rather than the Trump Organization.

Nov 14, 5:56 PM EST
Expert calls Trump CPA’s testimony ‘not professionally plausible’

Expert witness Jason Flemmons cast doubt on the testimony of the Trump Organization’s former external accountant Donald Bender, who said he would have wanted to review any appraisals that the Trump Organization conducted.

“That’s not something that is required by professional standards,” said Flemmons, testifying for the defense. “His testimony was not professionally plausible.”

That prompted a strong objection from state attorney Kevin Wallace.

“Is he trying to say the witness is lying?” Wallace said.

“Not to put too fine a point on it,” Judge Engoron quipped.

Asked to confirm what he meant by “professional plausible,” Flemmons said it would be “highly unusual” for Bender to request appraisals outside what was mentioned in the statement of financial condition.

“Accountants in the industry do not go seeking records for things that are not in the four corners of the statement of financial condition,” Flemmons said.

Court was subsequently adjourned for the day, with Flemmons scheduled to continue his testimony tomorrow.

Nov 14, 4:07 PM EST
Trump’s disclaimer told bankers to ‘beware,’ expert says

Defense expert Jason Flemmons described the disclaimer included in Donald Trump’s financial statement as the “highest level disclaimer” that could have been provided to bankers reviewing the document.

Flemmons said that the disclaimer, which he said includes “highly cautionary language,” would allow a user to make claims that significantly departed from generally accepted accounting principles, known in the industry as GAAP.

“Was that language present in a substantially similar form in the compilation statements issued by Mazars for Donald Trump?” defense attorney Jesus Suarez asked.

“Yes,” Flemmons said, adding that the disclaimer was “effectively saying ‘user beware.'”

During his testimony and in statements to the media, Trump has claimed that the disclaimer shields him from liability in the case.

Suarez also used Flemmons’ testimony to suggest that Trump’s external accountants were responsible for understanding the methods used in the financial statement and determining their appropriateness.

That appeared to conflict with testimony of former Trump accountant Donald Bender of Mazars USA, who described his role as akin to plugging numbers provided by the Trump Organization into a template.

Nov 14, 2:49 PM EST
Expert says property valuations can be ‘wildly different’

Taking the witness stand as an expert witness for the defense, accountant Jason Flemmons offered testimony in support of Donald Trump’s approach to valuing his Mar-a-Lago property, which has been the subject of debate throughout the seven weeks of the trial.

In his summary judgment decision, Judge Engoron found that Trump overvalued the estate by at least 2,300% because the Palm Beach County Assessor appraised the property’s market value between $18 and $27.6 million after Trump signed a deed that restricted its use to a social club, potentially limiting its resale value as a residence but ensuring a tax cut. Trump, in contrast, listed its value in his financial statement between $426 million and $612 million, and during his appearances in court and online he has repeatedly attacked Engoron’s finding.

Flemmons argued that Trump’s approach to valuing his assets gave him latitude to consider his property’s future revenue streams. That approach, according to Flemmons, could result in “wildly different values” between the numbers listed on a personal financial statement and a tax assessed value.

“Tax assessed values are typically on the lower end of the spectrum,” Flemmons said, while Engoron looked on attentively.

While he never mentioned Mar-a-Lago by name, Flemmons was asked by defense attorney Jesus Suarez about a hypothetical property assessed at $18 million but valued closer to $500 million using a comparable sales approach — the same approach used to value Mar-a-Lago.

“It would not be unusual to have a value in the hundreds of million using projected cash receipts,” Flemmons said.

Engoron then turned his chair toward Flemmons and began asking his own questions.

“I am trying to get to the order of magnitude we are talking about here,” Engoron said. “What is the highest value you have ever seen legitimately placed on such a property?”

Flemmons could not provide a specific example to answer Engoron’s question but reiterated that a massive discrepancy could be appropriate.

Nov 14, 2:04 PM EST
House Republicans call for probe of Cohen after his testimony

House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Michael Turner and House GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik have requested that the Department of Justice investigate Michael Cohen for perjury following his testimony in the trial last month.

During his trial testimony, Cohen said that he lied to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in 2019 when he said that Donald Trump and Allen Weisselberg did not ask him to inflate Trump’s personal statement.

“So, you lied under oath in February of 2019? Is that your testimony?” defense attorney Alina Habba asked in court.

“Yes,” Cohen responded.

Shown his 2019 testimony in court, Cohen subsequently reversed himself and said that his 2019 testimony was truthful, explaining the contradiction by clarifying that Trump speaks like a “mob boss” and that he indirectly asked for his statement to be inflated.

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland sent today, Stefanik and Turner requested that the Department of Justice open an investigation into Cohen potentially committing perjury.

“That Mr. Cohen was willing to openly and brazenly state at trial that he lied to Congress on this specific issue is startling,” they wrote. “His willingness to make such a statement alone should necessitate an investigation.”

Last week, Stefanik sent a separate judicial complaint to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct related to the conduct of the judge overseeing Trump’s trial. In a statement to ABC News, a court representative said in response that the judge’s actions “speak for themselves.”

Nov 14, 1:18 PM EST
Judge stops expert’s testimony following state’s objection

Donald Trump’s lawyers abruptly stopped the testimony of their first expert witness — who was expected to testify for a full day or two — after Judge Engoron limited the topic areas of his testimony.

Steven Witkoff, a real estate investor and longtime friend of Trump’s, was brought into court by the defense team to testify that Trump’s Doral golf club was undervalued in Trump’s financial statements.

But Judge Engoron sustained an objection from the state barring any testimony about the valuation of Doral, significantly limiting Witkoff’s testimony and appearing to hamper the defense strategy proposed by Trump’s attorney Chris Kise.

Kise argued that the inaccuracies in Trump’s statement of financial condition can cut both ways: Even if some properties were overvalued, other properties like Doral were significantly undervalued and balanced out the statement, according to Kise.

“It is highly, extraordinarily relevant if there are assets that are undervalued substantially on those same statements,” Kise said. “They can’t look at this one-sided.”

State attorney Andrew Amer fiercely rebutted that argument, telling Engoron he should not take the defense’s position that the inconsistencies “come out in the wash.”

That argument appeared to convince Engoron, who said that overvaluations would not “insulate” a false valuation. He promised to sustain any objection that related to the value of Doral — an approach Kise described as “lunacy.”

“The reader of the financial statement has the right to know whether each particular number was accurate,” Engoron said. “They are looking for accuracy.”

Nov 14, 10:26 AM EST
Judge doesn’t address post Trump shared calling for his arrest

As court got underway this morning, Judge Engoron — who has said he has received harassing messages regarding his role in the trial — did not address Trump’s sharing of a post on his Truth Social platform calling for his arrest.

The former president yesterday shared a user’s post calling for the “citizens arrest” of Engoron and Attorney General Letitia James “for blatant election interference and harassment.”

When he expanded the case’s limited gag order earlier this month, Engoron said that his chambers had received hundreds of “harassing and threatening phone calls, voicemails, emails, letters, and packages” since the start of the trial.

The gag order does not prohibit attacks against Engoron himself or the New York attorney general.

Nov 14, 9:40 AM EST
Defense to call first expert witness

Donald Trump’s defense team plans to call their first of several expert witnesses to the stand today.

Steven Witkoff, a New York-based real estate investor and developer, is set to testify about his expert opinion that the Trump National Doral golf course in Miami was undervalued in Trump’s financial statement, despite the attorney general’s claim to the contrary.

The expert report Witkoff prepared for the case also criticized the finding from the state’s expert regarding the value of Trump’s 40 Wall Street property.

During a 2018 roundtable on tax reform, Trump called Witkoff a “pal” who he inspired to enter the real estate industry.

“You know, people don’t realize Steve started out as a lawyer — a very good lawyer, a top lawyer in New York. And then he said, ‘I’m going to go into the real estate business because I can do this, too,” Trump said. “He saw me do it, and he said, ‘If Trump can do it, I guess I can do it, right?'”

Nov 14, 9:02 AM EST
James, Trump respond as defense begins its case

In a video statement posted to social media, New York Attorney General Letitia James said that the testimony of Donald Trump Jr. yesterday failed to refute any of her case against Donald Trump and his adult sons.

“After spending a full day walking through a marketing presentation to sell us all on the greatness of the Trump Organization, the defendants did not make a single point to refute the case we brought against them,” James said of Trump Jr., who led off the defense’s case.

Trump’s eldest son, an executive VP with the family firm, functionally served as a summary witness to explain the history and notable assets of the Trump Organization, repeatedly using words like “spectacular” and “incredible” to spell out the details of Trump’s properties.

James, meanwhile, drew the ire of Donald Trump for appearing to smile in court.

“A.G. Letitia James is smirking all day long from her seat in Court, as New York continues to set records in murder and other violent crimes, and businesses flee to other States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social this morning, despite murders in New York City being down nearly 10% this year, according to the NYPD.

Nov 13, 5:55 PM EST
Court adjourns for day after tax lawyer’s testimony

The defense wrapped up the first day of its case with testimony from Donald Trump’s former external tax lawyer, Sheri Dillon, who returned to the witness stand to clarify her actions related to conservation easements at Trump’s properties.

Dillon previously testified during a lengthy and combative portion of the state’s case.

“Welcome back. I feel like I am at a reunion — Trump trial reunion,” Judge Engoron joked when Dillon returned to the courtroom.

Dillon, explaining a potential gap in email communications about specific deals, testified that she often communicated with Eric Trump over the phone.

“If I picked up the phone and talked to him, I would know he knew what he needed to know,” Dillon testified.

She also said she advised Trump’s appraiser, David McArdle, that the company could add 40 additional residential units at Trump National Golf Club in New York’s Westchester County by filing a new offering plan, according to an email shown in court. The clarification challenges the New York attorney general’s allegation that a $101 million increase in the value of undeveloped land was based on an unfounded plan by Eric Trump to add units to the property.

During a short cross-examination, state attorney Louis Solomon attempted to challenge Dillon’s authority to provide such legal information to McArdle.

“Do you know if a sponsor has a right to have an offering plan accepted for filing merely because the development meets the requirements for zoning?” Solomon asked.

“No, I do not,” she responded.

Dillon concluded her testimony, and court then adjourned for the day.

Nov 13, 5:41 PM EST
Trump Jr. acknowledges positive rapport with judge

Speaking outside the courthouse following his testimony for the defense, Donald Trump Jr. told ABC News that he seems to have a positive relationship with Judge Engoron.

“Perhaps there’s a New York personality there, but no I think he understood,” Trump Jr. said when ABC News suggested he and the judge appeared to get along. “I can’t help myself even in this very serious situation. If you take yourself too seriously the world sort of sucks. You got to have a little bit of fun with it, so I did.”

His relationship with the judge appears to stand in contrast to that of his father, who has accused Engoron of bias and insulted him from the witness stand.

“We had some quips in the courtroom the first time I was here,” Trump Jr. said of Engoron. “Sort of gave me a fist bump on the way out. I guess I had a rather snappy response to something that was — I can’t even remember what it was right now. He said, ‘That was really funny.'”

Asked by ABC News whether Trump Jr. shared his father’s views about the judge being biased, the son demurred.

“Listen, I don’t even know how far the gag order applies, so I don’t need to do that and put myself — I’m in enough crosshairs, guys,” he said.

Nov 13, 4:56 PM EST
Trump Jr. says aunt’s death made for a ‘rough day’

Following the completion of his testimony, Donald Trump Jr. made the first family comments acknowledging the death of his aunt, Maryanne Trump Barry, calling it “a rough day.”

“Obviously, a little bit of a rough day, but I’ve still got to deal with this stuff. We’ve got to keep doing it. That’s the nature of all of this. But no, it’s a rough day for myself and my family,” Trump Jr. said of the news that former President Trump’s sister had passed away at 86.

Trump Jr. also slammed New York Attorney General Letitia James for bringing the civil fraud case despite what Trump Jr. said was “no actual person complaining other than the attorney general herself.”

“Hopefully, one day the people of this great city will realize what’s going on. They’ll realize the destructive practices here. They’ll realize just how insane that is. And they’ll be begging for guys like Donald Trump to come back to New York City to reshape the skyline as he’s done for decades,” Trump Jr. said.

He said he does not plan to return to court for the continuation of the defense’s case tomorrow.

Nov 13, 3:43 PM EST
Donald Trump Jr. concludes testimony

Donald Trump Jr. stepped off the witness stand after roughly three hours of testimony.

His own attorney, Clifford Robert, concluded his direct examination by asking Trump Jr. about the fate of the Trump Organization.

“I guess a lot of that depends on what happens next November,” Trump Jr said, speculating that the company might be “sued into oblivion.”

Assistant New York Attorney General Colleen Faherty cross-examined Trump Jr. for less than ten minutes about the deterioration of Trump’s assets, including financial problems at 40 Wall Street and Trump’s licensed hotel in Hawaii. Trump Jr. appeared unfamiliar with the 40 Wall Street issues and said he was happy with the Hilton’s deal to buy out the Trump Organization’s Hawaii hotel licensing deal.

Nov 13, 2:54 PM EST
Trump Jr. says golf course site was ‘old-school New York mob job’

Donald Trump Jr., in testimony for the defense, touted the work of the Trump Organization to convert a landfill in the Bronx, New York, into a “absolutely incredible” golf course.

“It was raw dirt. It had been that way for a long time,” Trump Jr. said of the original site of Trump Links Ferry Point near the Whitestone Bridge.

“People were supposedly trying to build a golf course for years,” Trump Jr. said about previous efforts to build the facility, describing it as an “old-school New York mob job” where people got paid to move dirt around but not build anything.

Trump Jr. said that once his father got involved in the project, the site was successfully transformed in a matter of months.

Nov 13, 1:42 PM EST
Trump Jr. to get new and improved sketch

When he was last in court, Donald Trump Jr. took a particular interest in his courtroom sketch.

“He said, ‘Make me look sexy,'” the sketch artist Jane Rosenberg told ABC News. By some accounts, the result was underwhelming.

Rosenberg has another opportunity to draw Trump Jr. with his return to court, and she thinks the new iteration is coming along well.

“I think they get better every time,” she told ABC News.

Earlier in his testimony, Trump Jr. joked about a photo of his brother Eric Trump.

When the slideshow Trump Jr. was narrating displayed a professional headshot of his brother, Trump Jr. took a job at his younger sibling.

“A lot of Photoshop,” Trump Jr. joked.

Nov 13, 1:12 PM EST
Trump Jr. assails judge’s finding on Mar-a-Lago

In presenting a slideshow chronicling the Trump Organization’s properties, Donald Trump Jr. highlighted many of their luxury features and iconic views — implicitly suggesting their value.

That’s particularly true of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, which Judge Engoron in a pretrial ruling determined was worth only a fraction of the amount claimed by Donald Trump, because Trump signed a deed that restricted its use to a social club, thereby limiting its resale value.

Describing how he took “umbrage” to the judge’s determination that Mar-a-Lago was worth between $18 and $28 million, Trump Jr. highlighted specific features to challenge that finding. Showing an aerial photo of the property, Trump Jr. said that a nearby home whose size was dwarfed by the social club has been on sale for $50 million.

“You couldn’t build that atrium for $18 million today,” Trump Jr. said while presenting a photo of the building’s historic atrium.

Nov 13, 12:53 PM EST
With glossy slides, Trump Jr. recounts firm’s story

Donald Trump’s testimony in the defense’s case has so far centered around a slide show being presented by the defense, entitled “The Trump Story,” that paints a timeline of Donald Trump’s real estate acquisitions. When state attorneys objected to the glossy presentation — which Trump Jr. acknowledged was created by his marketing team — the judge allowed the slides, and thus permitted Trump Jr. to testify unrestrained about the company’s properties.

“He’s an artist with real estate. He sees the things other people don’t,” Trump Jr. said at one point when describing his father.

As he narrates the slide show, Trump Jr.’s testimony resembles a lecture on real estate, sprinkled with details about his family’s properties — such as the individual stones used to construct the Seven Springs estate or the bank safes at 40 Wall Street, which he said once stored gold from the Federal Reserve.

“They’re actually spectacular … it’s truly a mechanical work of art,” Trump Jr. said of the safes.

Referencing broken down historic properties that the company has transformed back to their former glory, Trump Jr. called such properties the “canvas” for his his “father’s art.”

“He understands and has an incredible vision that other people don’t,” Trump Jr. said.

After a particular lengthy response, Trump Jr. referenced his father’s own tendency to speak in prolonged monologues, joking, “I got half the genes.”

Nov 13, 11:06 AM EST
Trump Jr. details history of Trump Organization

Testifying for the defense, former President Trump’s eldest son described his father as a real estate “visionary” who “sees the sexiness in a real estate project,” creating value for the family business that cannot be captured on paper.

Donald Trump Jr. began his testimony with a quip after Judge Engoron welcomed him back to the stand following his testimony earlier in the month.

“I’d say it’s good to be here, but the attorney general would probably sue me for perjury,” Trump Jr. joked.

In his testimony, Trump Jr. described the Trump Organization as “a large family business,” with Trump and his eldest children at the top and other executives handling many of the details.

“If there were numbers and things, I would rely on them to give me that,” Trump Jr. said.

He recounted the history of the Trump Organization, beginning with his great-grandfather who he said built hotels in the Yukon Territories of Canada. His grandfather, Fred Trump, “started working on job sites around Queens, learned the trades” and eventually “created an incredible portfolio, by the time of his passing, of rental apartments in Brooklyn and Queens.”

A state attorney jokingly objected that references to the 1800s were outside the statute of limitations — then more seriously objected to the history lesson’s relevance.

“I think it is relevant to get the historical perspective — I find it interesting,” Judge Engoron said in overruling the objection. “Let him go ahead and say how great the Trump Organization is.”

Trump Jr. obliged.

“My father learned a lot of the business from him, but had some flair and saw New York City and Manhattan as the ultimate frontier,” he said. Speaking of Trump Tower, he said, “I think it would have been one of the first, I think great, ultra-luxury real estate emerging in Manhattan.”

Nov 13, 10:20 AM EST
Donald Trump Jr. takes the stand for the defense

“Would you like to call your first witness, defense?” Judge Arthur Engoron asked to begin court this morning.

“The defense calls Donald Trump Jr. to the stand,” defense attorney Clifford Robert responded.

Like his last time on the witness stand when he was called by state attorneys, Trump Jr. appears comfortable on the stand, punctuating his testimony with lighthearted remarks.

Robert began his direct examination with some questions about Trump Jr. ‘s biography, starting with his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania.

“Was a bartender for about 18 months,” Trump Jr. said about his first job out of college.

“Did you enjoy that?” Robert asked.

“I did,” said Trump Jr., joking that he had a challenging conversation with his father when he began that job.

Nov 13, 9:45 AM EST
Trump Jr., arriving in court, met with chants of ‘crime family’

Donald Trump Jr. and his defense lawyers arrived at the New York State Supreme Courthouse this morning to be met with a small crowd of protestors chanting “crime family.”

Trump Jr. did not make a statement before entering the courthouse, but offered a brief response to a question about his expected testimony.

Asked what he plans on saying today on the stand, he replied, “We’ll see what I’m asked.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James arrived at court shortly after Trump Jr. and took a seat in the courtroom with her staff.

Nov 13, 9:06 AM EST
Donald Trump Jr. attends UFC event ahead of testimony

Donald Trump Jr. took in some ultimate fighting ahead of his scheduled return to the witness stand this morning.

Trump Jr. attended a UFC doubleheader at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night with his father, in addition to Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock, and UFC president Dana White.

“I legitimately can’t think of a better squad to roll with,” Trump Jr. posted on social media.

Earlier that day while speaking at a campaign rally in New Hampshire, Donald Trump appeared to joke about appointing White to a position in a potential future administration.

“He’s a guy I’d like to make my Defense Chief. I wouldn’t call him my defense chief. I’d call him my ‘Offense Chief.’ He’d be my Offense Chief,” Trump said.

Nov 13, 8:32 AM EST
Defense to begin presenting its case

As Trump’s legal team prepares to begin presenting its case this morning, defense attorney Alina Habba says responsibility for the financial statements that the New York attorney general says are fraudulent lies with Trump’s external accounting firm.

Previewing the defense’s case during an appearance on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Habba also said the banks that loaned money to the Trump Organization were responsible for conducting their own due diligence regarding Trump’s financial statements.

The state rested its case last week in the sixth week of the trial. The defense has said they expect their case to wrap up by Dec. 15.

Habba also suggested that Donald Trump plans to file a motion seeking a mistrial.

While Habba declined to comment on alleged misconduct by Judge Arthur Engoron’s clerk — which she is prohibited from doing due to the limited gag order handed down by the judge — she said the issue would be addressed in their mistrial motion “very soon.”

“I actually can’t tell you why, because I am gagged. I can tell you that we will be filing papers to address all of those issues,” Habba said.

However, Habba downplayed the chance the motion would be favorably decided Engoron.

“The problem we have is the judge is the one who is going to make those decisions, and he has proven himself to be quite motivated by the other side,” Habba said.

Nov 11, 1:51 PM EST
Court administrator responds to Stefanik’s complaint

In response to Rep. Elise Stefanik’s letter of complaint against Judge Engoron that she filed Friday with the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, a spokesperson for New York State Office of Court Administration has issued a statement.

“Judge Engoron’s actions and rulings in this matter are all part of the public record and speak for themselves,” said Office of Court Administration communications director Al Baker. “It is inappropriate to comment further.”

Nov 10, 8:17 PM EST
Rep. Stefanik files complaint against Judge Engoron

Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York has filed a judicial complaint against Judge Arthur Engoron.

The letter, addressed to the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, largely concerns the judge’s rulings in the case and his public statements, and is unlikely to impact the proceedings of the trial.

“Judge Engoron’s bizarre and biased behavior is making New York’s judicial system a laughingstock,” Stefanik, a staunch Trump supporter, wrote.

The lengthy letter echoes some of Trump’s attacks on the trial, criticizing Engoron’s limited gag order in the case, the actions of his legal clerk, his summary judgment ruling, and his comments during Trump’s testimony this week.

“Simply put, Judge Engoron has displayed a clear judicial bias against the defendant throughout the case, breaking several rules in the New York Code of Judicial Conduct,” Stefanik wrote.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Severe weather sweeping across US threatens Thanksgiving travel

ABC News

(NEW YORK) — A severe weather system is forecast to sweep across the United States as Americans gather for Thanksgiving during one of the busiest holiday travel weeks of the year.

After dumping rain and snow on the West Coast over the weekend, a cross-country storm is headed for the East Coast where it’s expected to unleash heavy rain, wind and snow across major travel hubs this week, including Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Washington, D.C. and New York City.

The storm was forecast to hit the Chicago area on Monday night, with moderate rain beginning at approximately 10 p.m. ET. Moderate rain was expected to start in Atlanta and Charlotte early Tuesday at around 4 a.m. ET; in Washington, D.C. at 10 a.m. ET; and in New York City at 5 p.m. ET.

The heaviest rain for the Interstate 95 travel corridor — one of the busiest nationwide — is forecast to begin after 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday and continue until about 6 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Flash flooding is possible along I-95, so those driving to reach their Thanksgiving destinations should exercise extreme caution.

Both Atlanta and Charlotte are in the marginal risk for damaging winds on Tuesday. These locations can expect to see rain for much of the day along with strong wind gusts at times, making delays at airports almost a certainty.

The biggest delays at airports and the worst conditions on the roads are expected to occur on Tuesday due to the severe weather.

There were at least five tornadoes reported in Louisiana and Mississippi overnight Monday into early Tuesday.

A few tornadoes are possible across south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle on Tuesday, mainly during the morning into the afternoon. The potential for locally damaging winds and a couple brief tornadoes will shift farther north and east on Tuesday afternoon into early Wednesday across most of Georgia, the Carolinas and far southern Virginia.

Snow is expected to start in falling northern New England on Tuesday afternoon and continue through Wednesday night. Six to 12 inches of snowfall is in the forecast for parts of Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Temperatures on Thanksgiving morning — Thursday — are forecast to feel like the 20s and 30s for the majority of the U.S. Those chilly temperatures are expected to linger through the holiday weekend, marking the first bitter cold of the season.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Four transported to hospital following shooting at Ohio Walmart: Police

Douglas Sacha/Getty Images

(BEAVERCREEK, Ohio) — Four people were injured and transported to a hospital Monday night after a man walked into a Walmart in Beavercreek, Ohio, and began shooting, police said.

Authorities said the incident happened around 8:35 p.m. ET in Beavercreek, which is located in Greene County, Ohio, not far from Dayton.

The shooter died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Beavercreek Police said.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the FBI, as well as other local agencies, were on the scene Monday night, assisting the Beavercreek Police with the investigation.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families impacted by this horrific tragedy,” the police said in a statement.

Police said they had no additional information on the condition of those transported to the hospital.

Walmart also issued a statement to ABC News, saying those at the company were “heartbroken.”

“We’re heartbroken by what’s happened at our Beavercreek, Ohio store,” the company’s statement read. “This remains a developing situation, and we’re working closely with investigators on the scene.”

Police said they plan to share an update on Tuesday. No further details were immediately available.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

354 pounds of methamphetamine seized from pick-up truck crossing from Mexico to US

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

(NEW YORK) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection have seized 354 pounds of methamphetamine from a pick-up truck crossing the border into the United States from Mexico.

Customs and Border Protection officers working at the Paso Del Norte international crossing between the U.S. state of New Mexico and Mexico made the seizure at approximately 4 p.m. on Saturday while they were conducting a pre-primary enforcement operation in the area just south of the inspection booths, according to a press release issued by CBP on Monday.

CBP “encountered a Dodge Ram truck being driven by 31-year-old Mexican woman,” according to the statement. “A CBP drug sniffing dog alerted to the bed of the pick-up. CBP officers escorted the vehicle to the secondary exam area.”

Authorities subsequently performed a Z-Portal x-ray scan on the vehicle and began to notice several anomalies with the vehicle.

“A physical exam of the vehicle resulted in the discovery of 161 foil-wrapped bundles hidden beneath the truck bed liner,” CBP said. “The contents of the bundles tested positive for methamphetamine.”

CBP officers immediately took custody of the driver and she was turned over to the Texas Department of Public Safety to face charges associated with the failed smuggling attempt.

“This is an enormous seizure and demonstrates the need for CBP officers to remain vigilant at all times,” said CBP El Paso Director of Field Operation Hector Mancha. “CBP officers utilized a variety of tools to identify and stop this smuggler.”

The investigation is currently ongoing.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Another voting case could head to SCOTUS after lower court limits challenges to election laws

Ryan McGinnis/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — A federal appellate panel narrowly ruled on Monday that a key provision in the Voting Rights Act (VRA) does not allow people outside the federal government to sue over alleged electoral discrimination based on race.

The 2-1 opinion, if it stands, would sharply limit the ability for private citizens to challenge state voting laws under the VRA’s Section 2, which states that any measure that “results in a denial or abridgment of the right of any citizen of the U.S. to vote an account of race or color” is illegal.

“Did Congress give private plaintiffs the ability to sue under [Section] 2 of the Voting Rights Act? Text and structure reveal that the answer is no, so we affirm the district court’s decision to dismiss,” Judge David Stras, of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, wrote in the ruling, which upholds a previous decision in a 2022 redistricting case in Arkansas.

“The who-gets-to-sue question is the centerpiece of today’s case,” Stras, who was named to the bench by former President Donald Trump, wrote. “The Voting Rights Act lists only one plaintiff who can enforce [Section] 2: the Attorney General … We must decide whether naming one excludes others.”

He added: “When those details are missing, it is not our place to fill in the gaps, except when ‘text and structure’ require it.”

The ruling is likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court during a presidential election year.

Chief Judge Lavensky Smith wrote in a dissent that “rights so foundational to self-government and citizenship should not depend solely on the discretion or availability of the government’s agents for protection. Resolution of whether [Section] 2 affords private plaintiffs the ability to challenge state action is best left to the Supreme Court in the first instance.”

For decades, individual voters and civil rights groups have brought successful challenges under Section 2, including last term at the high court, in a case about whether Alabama’s congressional map was drawn to dilute the voting power of Black people. The justices sided with the plaintiffs.

Smith, in his dissent, noted that precedent and that the nation’s highest court has never explicitly cast doubt on the standing of non-government plaintiffs.

Still, heated debate took place when the Supreme Court heard the Alabama case, with several of the conservative-leaning judges showing openness to imposing new limits on the VRA.

The court’s conservative majority has already sharply curtailed the act in a series of recent decisions to bring its enforcement in line with their interpretation of the law.

But, surprising some court observers, the court has also continued to uphold and enforce some parts of the VRA, as with the Alabama decision.

In a statement after the Monday ruling, Sophia Lin Lakin, who directs the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voting Rights Project, called it “a travesty for democracy. “

“For generations, private individuals have brought cases under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to protect their right to vote. No court had denied them the ability to bring their claims in federal court — with the sole exception of the district court, and now the Eighth Circuit,” Lakin said.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Listeria outbreak linked to fruit now being recalled

peolsen/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a warning Monday about a listeria outbreak linked to recalled peaches, nectarines and plums after 10 hospitalizations and one death were reported in seven states.

The agency said the affected fruits, which were distributed nationwide and sold at retail stores, were branded “HMC Farms” or “Signature Farms.” The recall did not include organic fruit.

HMC Group Marketing has voluntarily recalled the fruit, sold between May 1 and Nov. 15, 2022, and the same dates in 2023, that have a sticker reading “USA-E-U.” The stickers have numbers 4044 or 4038 for yellow peach, 4401 for white peach, 4036 or 4378 for yellow nectarine, 3035 for white nectarine, 4042 for red plum and 4040 for black plum. The recall is also for the fruit sold in two-pound bags. The CDC confirmed an investigation is ongoing to determine if any additional fruit or products made with this fruit may be contaminated.

Listeria infection is especially harmful to people who are pregnant, aged 65 or older, or with weakened immune systems due to its likeliness to spread beyond their gut to other parts of their body, according to the CDC.

The symptoms, including fever, muscle aches and tiredness for those who had caught the disease, may begin within two weeks after consuming the contaminated food. They may also occur as early as the same day or as late as 10 weeks after exposure, the CDC notes on its website.

Although the recalled fruits are no longer available in stores, they may still exist in the homes of consumers for later use, the CDC said in its release, adding that consumers should check their freezers and discard or return the fruits that meet the criteria. The agency also urged consumers to clean surfaces and containers that have touched the fruit.

In a statement to ABC News on Monday, Amy Philpott, a spokeswoman for HMC Group Marketing said, “There is nothing more important to us than providing safe, high-quality fruit to consumers.”

“We never want anyone to become ill from eating fresh fruit, and our hearts go out to those affected by the outbreak,” she added. “We are working tirelessly with the FDA to investigate how the contamination happened.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pentagon chief in Kyiv amid questions over future US arms supplies

Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images

(KYIV, Ukraine) — On a surprise trip to the Ukrainian capital, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin tried to rally support for Ukraine and even suggested Ukrainian forces would be “even more aggressive” in their fight against invading Russian forces throughout this winter.

Austin’s buoyant prediction about the next phase of fighting comes after Ukrainian forces failed to achieve any decisive breakthrough during a six-month counteroffensive which came at a heavy cost for Ukrainian troops.

There is also serious concern in Ukraine about the longer-term future of U.S. military aid, with some Republicans wanting to halt support.

Speaking to reporters in Kyiv, Austin appealed to Congress to approve additional funding, calling it “a smart investment” in U.S. security.

“This is about … not living in a world where a dictator can wake up one day and decide to annex the property of his peaceful neighbor,” Austin told reporters in Kyiv.

However, Ukraine’s ability to “take the fight to the enemy,” as Secretary Austin put it, will depend, in large part, on the continuation of U.S. military aid, including ammunition.

The Biden administration is working with Congress to try and thrash out a broader funding deal that would include additional support for Ukraine.

However, weapons supplies are under additional pressure from the war in the Middle East.

Just ahead of Austin’s trip, a Ukrainian official told ABC News that U.S. deliveries of NATO-standard artillery shells to Ukraine have fallen “by more than 30%” since Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza began last month.

155mm artillery shells are arguably the most important munition for Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian forces, and some U.S. stocks, which were designated for Ukrainian forces, have been diverted to Israel.

U.S. officials have claimed, on several occasions in recent weeks, that the supply of munitions to Israel would have no impact on the war in Ukraine.

“They (U.S. officials) were telling us it wouldn’t influence the commitments (from the U.S.), but it did,” a Ukrainian official said.

The official, who spoke to ABC News on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said supplies of these vital artillery shells make up “about 60-70% of Ukraine’s overall supply.”

A senior U.S. defense official, however, said the reduction in munitions has “absolutely nothing to do with what’s happening in Gaza.” Presidential drawdown authority packages “start to get put together weeks in advance, so there is no link between what’s happening in Gaza to what’s happening in Ukraine,” the official said.

During his trip to Ukraine, Austin announced a new $100 million security aid package for Ukraine, which included an unspecified number of those NATO-standard 155mm artillery shells.

The latest U.S. military aid package is being drawn from existing funding which has already been approved by Congress. However, that pot of money is already running relatively low.

At the end of last month, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said he was “confident” the United States could “continue to support both Ukraine and Israel.”

Despite receiving a wide array of weaponry from Western partners, Russia has key battlefield advantages such as more artillery firepower, more explosive attack drones and superior types, and greater numbers of fighter jets and attack helicopters.

In recent weeks, Russian forces have been trying to steal the initiative on the battlefield by launching significant attacks on Ukrainian positions in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s top general, Valery Zaluzhny, in an interview with The Economist, recently described the war as being at “a stalemate.”

Speaking in Kyiv on Monday, Secretary Austin insisted Ukrainian troops would “have the means … to be successful in fighting in the wintertime.”

However, the Ukrainian official who spoke anonymously to ABC News expressed real concern about U.S. weapons supplies in light of the disagreement in Congress.

“We’re in big trouble … basic munitions are not coming,” the official said.

The official warned that Ukraine risked losing its position on the battlefield “at a very high price.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Israel-Gaza live updates: Over 1,200 Americans, relatives trying to leave Gaza

pawel.gaul/Getty Images

(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.

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