(WASHINGTON) — The wife of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, Usha Chilukuri Vance, and the couple’s children have become the targets of backlash for their Indian ancestry.
Chilukuri Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants who grew up in San Diego, as well as RNC speaker Harmeet Dhillon — who is Sikh and Indian – are facing anti-Asian hate from far-right figures online.
Posts appear to have spiked this week following Vance’s nomination criticizing Vance for marrying someone who is non-white, expressing concerns about an influx of Indian immigrants as a result and the so-called Great Replacement conspiracy have garnered hundreds of thousands of views according to individual post engagement figures.
Stop AAPI Hate, an advocacy group that tracks anti-Asian hate incidents, condemned the attacks, arguing that the onslaught of hate has reinforced “heightened levels of fear and anxiety Asian Americans and immigrants are currently experiencing across the country leading up to this year’s presidential election.”
The group added: “In the midst of an inflamed political climate, we continue to see the targeting of South Asians across parties, including ongoing questioning of VP Kamala Harris’ electability.”
Stop AAPI Hate has recorded thousands of potential hate-motivated incidents since 2020, when anti-Asian sentiment increased around the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The backlash comes as former President Donald Trump appeared to call for more national unity after the assassination attempt he experienced at a Pennsylvania rally last weekend.
“The discord and division in our society must be healed. We must heal it quickly. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart,” Trump said during his remarks Thursday on the last day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
It’s a stark contrast from Trump’s typical tone that has been criticized as “inflammatory” and “divisive,” often when he is referring to race and immigration.
But the former president quickly fell back into his old talking points. “The greatest invasion in history is taking place right here in our country,” Trump said, referring to undocumented migrants coming across the U.S. border.
However, encounters at the southern border have continued to drop for the fourth month straight, newly released numbers from the CBP shows.
He continued, “They are coming in from every corner of the Earth, not just from South America, but from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East — they’re coming from everywhere, and this administration does nothing to stop them,” Trump added.
However, CBP says recent measures, including President Biden’s June 4 executive order restricting access to asylum in between ports of entry, have contributed to a more than 50% drop in encounters at the border over the past six weeks.
JD Vance previously criticized Trump and his base for the rhetoric on race, a backdrop to the current onslaught of criticism facing Vance’s wife and children.
JD Vance, who previously called himself a “Never Trump guy,” has cited Trump’s “many successes in office” for changing his opinion of the former president and will now join Trump on the Republican ticket for the presidential election in November.
Vance eventually aligned with the former president around 2021, praising his time in office and apologizing for his attacks on him.
(WASHINGTON) — Following the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, unity was expected to be the hallmark of the Republican National Convention for the presidential candidate.
“I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America,” Trump said.
Richard Grenell, a gay man who is Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, told audiences that Trump “doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight, Black, brown or white, or what gender you are.”
But the message of unity rings hollow for some in the LGBTQ community, who say they have repeatedly been the target of Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee, and others on the national stage.
“It can be difficult to stay hopeful when anti-LGBTQ sentiment comes to town,” said the LGBTQ group Fair Wisconsin in a post on X. It continued, “But Fair Wisconsin knows that this sentiment is not who we are. The majority of Wisconsinites support the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and with fair maps for the first time in over a decade, we’re hopeful about the opportunity to shift the tide on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.”
There has been a record number of bills targeting the LGBTQ community in state legislatures across the country — including transgender youth care bans, restrictions on drag shows, and more — topping more than 500 bills nationwide so far in 2024, according to the ACLU.
Federal and local agencies have also expressed concerns about the growing threats and instances of violence against the community amid the increase in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
This comes as LGBTQ people, particularly transgender people, face higher rates of violent victimization, discrimination and bullying, according to the CDC and the Williams Institute.
Still, several RNC speakers, including Trump, openly and continuously took jabs at transgender and nonbinary people throughout the convention.
LGBTQ issues at the RNC The LGBTQ community makes up a small population — less than 8% of people in the U.S., according to a Gallup poll — but had a large presence in the platform of RNC candidates.
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, in referencing his view of the country during the Trump administration, said, “We were richer, inflation was low, and there were two genders.”
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin rallied against transgender women and girls playing on women’s and girls’ sporting teams and claimed Democrats backed the “indoctrination of our children,” prompting a chorus of boos.
Trump also added that he would put an end to transgender participation in sports, claiming that “men” were playing on women’s teams. Trans sports participation has also been a source of contention among states — with supporters arguing that trans women and girls have an advantage in sports, and critics arguing they lack evidence to back up such claims of a physiological advantage.
Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., accused Democrats of “teaching our kids that there are 57 genders” and “can’t even define what a woman is,” a sentiment shared by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and others.
This comes as Republican legislators across the country try to create legal definitions of “women” and “men” often based on their reproductive systems — barring exceptions for intersex people.
Supporters say it promotes safety, privacy, and public data accuracy by defining sex under specific biological terms.
Critics argue that the restrictive definitions will lead governments to no longer legally recognize transgender people, as well as discrimination and inaccurate identification practices.
Vance’s record The announcement of JD Vance as Trump’s running mate was alarming to some LGBTQ advocates, who say he has a strong anti-LGBTQ record.
At the RNC, Vance said the Republican Party is “committed to free speech and the open exchange of ideas.”
But Vance has stated that he would vote “no” on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, and has spoken out against collecting Census data on gender identity, claiming that it is unscientific to say that people can identify with a gender — defined by the CDC as “the cultural roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes expected of people based on their sex — that does not align with their sex assigned at birth.
He also introduced the Passport Sanity Act, a bill to ban “X” gender markers on U.S. passports, and the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act” banning trans youth care including puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgeries for the purpose of gender-affirmation.
“LGBTQ Americans are taxpayers, family members, colleagues, classmates, neighbors and friends, and our concerns are the same as any Americans: our freedom to be ourselves to live in safety and dignity, the right to make private health care decisions, read books of our choosing, marry who we love, and not be discriminated against for who we are,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.
ABC News has reached out to Vance for comment on the criticism.
(NEW YORK) — The interior of a car is one of the most dangerous places for young children and pets during a heat wave. But everyday items can also be dangerous.
Water bottles, for example, pose unique hazards when temperatures begin to climb, according to experts.
One of the unexpected risks is the ability for water bottles — specifically clear bottles that contain clear liquid — to start a fire, David Richardson, administration major for the Midwest City Fire Department in Oklahoma, told ABC News.
Depending on the presence of sunlight, the reflective qualities of the bottle and liquid can heat up nearby objects to the point of fire ignition if hot enough, Richardson said.
When Richardson first learned of the potential danger of water bottles, he didn’t believe it. So he tested it out in a controlled environment and found that a water bottle was able to burn a hole through a piece of paper, like a magnifying glass.
Richardson emphasized that the “perfect storm” of conditions would need to be present for this phenomenon to occur. Not only would the bottle and liquid need to be clear, but sunlight would have to enter the car just right. Vehicles with tinted windows probably would not pose a similar risk, he said.
“The chances are pretty small, but they’re not impossible,” he explained.
Ingesting liquid that has been baking inside of a plastic water bottle in a hot car for a period of time could also impact human health.
A bottle’s manufacturing process, chemical composition, the outside temperature and how long the bottle has been exposed to heat means liquids could become contaminated with toxins, toxicologist and board-certified emergency medicine physician Dr. Stephanie Widmer told ABC News.
While research and expert opinions differ, the risk is not zero, Widmer said. It’s best to avoid drinking from plastic bottles that have been exposed to high temperatures until more conclusive research is available, she added.
Electronics with lithium batteries, such as a vape, electric scooter or toy, could also become a hazard when left in a hot car, Richardson said.
If the plastic casing surrounding the battery melts and exposes the lithium-ion battery to direct sunlight in addition to the high temperatures, there is a possibility it could explode, Richardson said.
Other everyday items that experts caution against leaving in hot cars due to the potential for them to explode include aerosol cans, canned and bottled soda and lighters. Items commonly left in hot cars like sunscreen, medicine and alcohol all have the potential to spoil, while glasses and sunglasses could melt and warp.
Leaving human beings in hot cars still remains the No.1 danger — often with fatal consequences.
It’s crucial to remember that leaving children or pets in a parked car, even for a short time, is very dangerous and can be fatal, Widmer said.
More than a dozen children have died so far this year after being left in a car during hot temperatures. Nearly 1,100 children have died in hot cars since 1990, according to KidsAndCars.org.
Extreme heat is expected for the rest of the summer in much of the U.S., forecasts show.
(CHICAGO) — A postal worker was fatally shot in front of a residence in Chicago on Friday, officials said.
The gunman approached the victim and fired multiple times before fleeing in a vehicle, police said.
“NALC (National Association of Letter Carriers) is heartbroken by the murder of Octavia Redmond, our sister from Chicago, IL Branch 11,” read a statement from the NALC released on Friday. “Today, Sister Redmond was shot multiple times on her route and was taken to the hospital, where she died. The perpetrator is still at large.”
Redmond had been a letter carrier for five years and was only 48 years old.
The shooting occurred on the city’s South Side in the West Pullman neighborhood around 11:38 a.m. CT, according to police.
The 48-year-old victim sustained “multiple gunshot wounds” and was transported to an area hospital, where she died, police said. Her name has not been released.
No one is in custody in connection with the shooting, police said.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service Chicago Division is offering a reward up to $250,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects.
🚨REWARD🚨Postal Inspectors are offering a reward up to $250,000 for info leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect(s) responsible for the homicide of a #USPS letter carrier today near 12156 S Harvard, #Chicago. Call us at 877-876-2455. #USPISpic.twitter.com/vkCPHjVg4v
“Like me, the members of NALC are outraged by this senseless act of violence that took an innocent woman’s life. For far too long, violent crime against letter carriers has been on the rise. Shockingly, now it is not uncommon for letter carriers to be targeted, assaulted, and even murdered. This is completely unacceptable, and we need immediate change,” read the NALC statement. “Every American deserves to go to work without fear and return home safely to their families. We will not stop fighting until this is a reality for all letter carriers.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden late Friday dissected former President Donald Trump’s speech accepting the Republican nomination the night before with a lengthy 13-post thread on X, coupled with a fundraising plea, in which he calls out his rival for different things he said.
“I’m stuck at home with COVID, so I had the distinct misfortune of watching Donald Trump’s speech to the RNC,” Biden started. “What the hell was he talking about?”
“Let’s start with this. Donald said he ‘did a great job’ with COVID. Folks, this is the same guy who told us to inject bleach while over a million Americans died,” Biden said. (It’s a recitation of the, at best misleading, attack line Biden often lobs at Trump.)
The president went after Trump because “he bragged about getting along with dictators.”
“That’s because Trump wants to be a dictator,” Biden said. “He said so himself.”
Biden also hit the former president on the economy and immigration, ribbing him over Project 2025 thrice.
“He bragged about giving ‘the biggest tax cuts ever’ to his billionaire buddies. But the deal is that his Project 2025 agenda would raise taxes on the middle class,” Biden posted.
“He said he’ll end inflation, but even the Wall Street Journal published an article agreeing: Trump’s Project 2025 would cause even more inflation,” Biden said. “My economic plan is lowering costs and inflation.”
Biden later posted, “He said he wants to throw immigrants into mass detention camps as part of his Project 2025 agenda. It’s despicable. Project 2025 is extreme and dangerous. And it’s not who we are as a nation.”
In addition, Biden slammed his rival over electric vehicles, criticizing United Auto Workers, for talking about Hannibal Lecter, saying, “Donald, Hannibal Lecter is not real” and for his 92-minute-long speech.
“Honestly, I thought the worst lie he told all night was when he said ‘in conclusion’ and then kept going,” Biden quipped. “I’ve heard enough.”
“And if you’re with me, pitch in to our campaign,” he concluded.
Biden said earlier Friday he was looking forward to getting back on the trail and campaigning against Trump.
(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — A funeral was held Friday for Sonya Massey, the Springfield, Illinois, woman who died after authorities say a police deputy shot her after she called 911 to report a possible intruder.
Sean Grayson, the deputy involved in the shooting who has since been fired, was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct, according to a statement from Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser.
Grayson pleaded not guilty and was denied pretrial release.
“Today is about peace, today is about my big sister. It’s not about that man that’s gonna rot in jail, it’s about my big sister,” Massey’s younger sister, Breeanna Toles, said. “As baby sister, I look back at our text messages. She’d say, ‘I love you, baby sister.’ I hold onto those memories. I wish all of my sisters could be in the room today.”
The Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office has not yet released the body camera footage of the incident, but is expected to do so on Monday, July 22.
“I know people wanna see the video, I know people wanna talk about the video; I just ask if you do it, just do it out of respect for us,” Toles said. “It’s not a video you want to see. My dad can’t even sleep.”
Two sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a Springfield, Illinois, residence at about 12:50 a.m. on July 6 to investigate a possible prowler, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office obtained by ABC News.
“At approximately 1:21 a.m., the Deputies reported that shots had been fired, resulting in a female being struck by gunfire,” according to the sheriff’s statement. “Deputies immediately administered first aid until EMS arrived. The woman was transported to St. John’s Hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased. No deputies were injured during the incident.”
The shooting was investigated for use of deadly force by the Illinois State Police (ISP) at the request of the Sangamon County Sheriff’s office. After an investigation and through viewing body-camera footage, Milhiser found that Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force.
According to charging documents filed in Sangamon County Court, Grayson allegedly shot Massey in the face after the deputy “aggressively yelled” at her to put down a pot of boiling water and she threw it on a couch. Grayson then allegedly discouraged his partner from retrieving a medical kit to render aid to Massey because he allegedly thought the injuries were too severe to revive her, according to prosecutors. Court documents describe Massey as “calm, perhaps unwell, not aggressive” at the time that the deputies responded to her call for help.
According to the family’s attorney, Ben Crump, Massey struggled with her mental health.
The other deputy, who has not been named, proceeded to render aid anyway and stayed with Massey until paramedics arrived, the charging documents say. Grayson did not attempt to render aid, according to the documents.
Grayson only activated his body-worn camera after the shooting, according to the charges. The other deputy had activated his camera upon arriving at the scene, the charging documents say.
Grayson has had six different police jobs in the past four years, according to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. The longest job he has held lasted one year. It’s not clear why he changed jobs during that time span.
Massey’s father, James Wilburn, brought up the former deputy’s employment history during the funeral and called on Illinois lawmakers present to reform the hiring process for police officers and sheriff’s deputies. It’s not clear why he changed jobs during that time span.
“There was all these red flags and yet they still made him a deputy in this county,” Wilburn said. “State senator, introduce the bill tomorrow. You can call it the Sonya Massey bill.”
Crump delivered a call for justice at the funeral.
“We come to fight for justice for Sonya Massey,” he said, “We say to Deputy Sean Grayson: until we get justice, we rebuke you in the name of Jesus. We say to the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Department: until we get justice we rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” was one of the last things Massey said before Grayson shot her, according to Crump.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker released a statement saying that Massey deserved the protection that she called law enforcement to provide.
“My heart breaks for Sonya’s children, for her family and friends and for all who knew and loved her, and I am enraged that another innocent Black woman had her life taken from her at the hands of a police officer,” Pritzker’s statement says.
Grayson’s attorney, Dan Fultz, declined to comment.
(SPOKANE, Wash.) — A high-speed police pursuit that ended in a multi-vehicle crash in Washington state Friday left seven officers injured and three suspects in custody, according to officials.
The crash took place near the intersection of North Oak Street and West Carlisle Avenue in Spokane, police said.
All individuals involved in the crash, including the suspects, were taken to a nearby hospital for injuries, Spokane Interim Police Chief Justin Lundgren told reporters during a press briefing after the crash.
All of the officers are expected to make full recoveries, according to Lundgren, who notes the conditions of the suspects are not yet known.
Additionally, a canine that was in the pursuing police vehicle was transported to an emergency veterinary clinic, according to Lundgren, who said the dog is expected to make a full recovery.
Detailing how the high-speed pursuit began, Lundgren said Spokane police started tracking the suspected vehicle at approximately 1:00 p.m. local time as authorities were wrapping up an unrelated search warrant.
Lundgren said an officer recognized a suspect vehicle that was allegedly involved in a drive-by shooting that occurred days before.
Officers initiated a pursuit of that suspect vehicle through a residential neighborhood, according to Lundgren, who noted the car was driving at a high speed.
As the suspect vehicle was attempting to drive through an intersection, it collided with an assisting armored police vehicle, resulting in a crash, Lundgren said.
Subsequently, a pursuing police vehicle also crashed into the suspect vehicle, according to Lundgren.
No one was killed in the pursuit, Lundgren said, adding that a civilian vehicle was approaching behind the armored vehicle that fortunately stopped in time.
The intersection will be closed for several hours for the investigation, officials said.
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke over the phone on Friday, the two leaders said.
Zelenskyy reached out to Trump, according to a source close to the Ukrainian leader and Trump, who said the two had a “very good phone call.”
Zelenskyy said in a statement on social media that he spoke with Trump to “congratulate him on the Republican nomination and condemn the shocking assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.”
Zelenskyy, who has been the target of multiple assassination attempts himself, expressed his sympathy and horror at the assassination attempt, the source said.
In a statement on social media regarding the call, Trump said Zelenskyy “remarked about the American people coming together in the spirit of Unity during these times” in the wake of the incident.
Trump indicated that he will support Ukraine in getting a just peace, more than two years into the country’s war with Russia, according to the source. Zelenskky believes Trump is firmly committed to that, the source said.
“I appreciate President Zelenskyy for reaching out because I, as your next President of the United States, will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families,” Trump said in his statement on the call. “Both sides will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence and paves a path forward to prosperity.”
Zelenskyy said in his statement that Ukraine “will always be grateful to the United States” for its support in its battle against Russia, and that he agreed with Trump to “discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting.”
The call lasted 15 to 20 minutes and was warm and respectful, according to the source.
The conversation comes a day after Trump accepted the Republican party’s nomination to be its presidential candidate in his third bid for the White House.
In his keynote speech, Trump claimed that Russia’s attack on Ukraine “would have never happened if I were president.”
During the June debate against President Joe Biden, Trump pivoted toward how much money the U.S. has spent on the Russia-Ukraine war when asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s term.
“They’re not acceptable but look, this is a war that never should have started,” Trump said.
On Monday, Zelenskyy told reporters Kyiv will develop relations with the U.S. regardless of the results of the upcoming presidential election.
“I think that if Mr. Donald Trump becomes president, then we will work. I am not afraid of it,” he said.
Friday’s conversation comes nearly five years after the call between Trump and Zelenskyy that led to the former president’s first impeachment in 2019.
The then-Democratically controlled House voted to impeach Trump on two articles of impeachment, one for abuse of power and one for obstruction of justice, over allegations that Trump held up military aid for Ukraine to pressure Zelenskyy to investigate his political rivals in the July 2019 call.
Following a three-week trial, the then-Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Trump with just one Republican — Mitt Romney of Utah — voting to convict.
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, efforts to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization are ongoing, and Israeli forces have launched an assault in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
Here’s how the news is developing:
July 20, 2024, 1:27 PM EDT Israel strikes Yemen in retaliation after drone attack
Israel has officially taken responsibility for airstrikes that hit Hodeidah, Yemen, Saturday saying it is in retaliation for the “hundreds of attacks carried out against” Israel in the last few months.
A strike reportedly hit the port city of Hodeidah, on the country’s western coast, hitting oil storage tanks near the port, according to Al Masirah TV, a media outlet affiliated with the Houthis, and Yemeni national news agency Saba news.
The airstrike comes after the Houthis took responsibility for a drone that flew into Tel Aviv undetected on Friday, killing one person and injuring 10 others.
-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule
July 19, 2024, 5:06 PM EDT Israeli soldier who refuses to serve in Gaza speaks out
Yuval Green, a 26-year-old reservist who was called up to fight in southern Gaza, told ABC News he decided to leave the Israel Defense Forces when his unit was asked to set fire to a Palestinian house there.
Green served as a combat medic in Khan Younis, Gaza, last November and December.
Yuval Green, seen here in an undated picture from his time in Gaza served as a combat medic as a combat medic.
“They gave us an order to burn down a house, and I went to my commander and asked him, ‘Why are we doing that?'” Green said. “And the answers he gave me were just not satisfying enough, were not even close to being satisfying enough. And I said, ‘I’m not willing to participate in that. If we’re doing that, I’m leaving.'”
In June, Green cosigned a letter with 40 other reservists, who remained anonymous, refusing to serve in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The IDF told ABC News that its “actions are based on military necessity and in accordance to international law” and there was “no IDF doctrine that aims at causing maximal damage to civilian infrastructure regardless of military necessity.”
Exceptional incidents were investigated by an independent body, the IDF said.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies and Britt Clennett
July 19, 2024, 5:01 PM EDT Biden and Netanyahu to discuss cease-fire and hostage deal next week
President Joe Biden’s focus next week in his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be on nailing down the specifics of a ceasefire that could bring the hostages home, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday.
“The overriding focus of the meeting between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu is going to be about the cease-fire and hostage deal,” he said at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
Netanyahu will meet with Biden in Washington, D.C., on July 22.
“We are mindful that there remain obstacles in the way, and let’s use next week to try to clear through those obstacles and get to a deal,” Sullivan added.
The details that will be discussed between Biden and Netanyahu include Israel’s military presence in Gaza after a cease-fire, access to humanitarian aid, the “long-term disposition” of Gaza and how to execute the remaining hostage and prisoner swap as part of phase two.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
July 19. 2024, 12:38 PM EDT Top UN court says Israel’s presence in occupied Palestinian territories is ‘unlawful’
The top U.N. court said Friday that Israel’s presence in the Palestinian occupied territories is “unlawful” and should end.
The International Court of Justice said several policies, including the building and expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the use of the area’s natural resources, the annexation and imposition of permanent control over lands and discriminatory policies against Palestinians, violated international law.
The 15-judge panel said Israel’s “abuse of its status as the occupying power” renders its “presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful.” It says its continued presence was “illegal” and should be ended as “rapidly as possible.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the court’s ruling in a statement.
“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital Jerusalem nor in Judea and Samaria, our historical homeland. No absurd opinion in The Hague can deny this historical truth or the legal right of Israelis to live in their own communities in our ancestral home,” he said.
-ABC News’ Morgan Windsor, Bruno Nota and Dana Savir
Jul 18, 2024, 11:21 PM EDT 1 killed, 4 injured by shrapnel in Tel Aviv explosion: Officials
A man in Tel Aviv has died after being injured in an explosion resulting from what authorities believe was an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
“During searches of the scene, an unconscious man was found in one of the buildings, with penetrating injuries,” Zachi Heller, a spokesperson for Israel’s emergency medical service Magen David Adom (MDA), confirmed to ABC News.
The man, who Heller said was 50, did not exhibit signs of life and it was determined he had died.
Information is still developing, but the Israel Defense Forces said early Friday morning that the person who died was hit by a fragment of the UAV.
IDF Chief spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said the military assessed that the drone was an upgraded Iranian-made Samad-3 model.
“Our estimation is that it arrived from Yemen to Tel Aviv,” he told a briefing with journalists.
Four people were treated for shrapnel injuries at the scene and four were treated by EMS for shock/anxiety. All eight were taken to the Wolfson and Ichilov hospitals, Heller said.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jul 18, 2024, 9:33 PM EDT 2 injured, taken to hospital following blast in Tel Aviv: Officials
Two people were injured in a blast in Tel Aviv early Friday morning local time, Israel’s emergency medical service, Magen David Adom (MDA) confirmed.
Emergency services received a report at 3:12 a.m. that an object had exploded in Tel Aviv. After arriving on the scene, medics transported a 37-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman in mild condition to Ichilov Hospital. The victims had “shrapnel injuries to the limbs and shoulder,” MDA spokesman Zachi Heller said. Four additional victims were treated for shock/anxiety.
Following the incident report, five fire crews arrived and extinguished the fire. They are currently conducting searches in the area.
A United States official confirmed to ABC News that the explosion had occurred near the U.S. embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, but the building was not damaged. The official said that the cause of the blast is still being assessed and that the office is advising American citizens in Tel Aviv to shelter in place.
The Israel Defense Forces said it was unaware that an unmanned aerial vehicle infiltrated Israel’s defenses. The IDF is currently reviewing the incident.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Shannon Kingston
Jul 18, 2024, 5:13 PM EDT Poliovirus detected in sewage samples in Gaza, health ministry says
Poliovirus has been detected in sewage samples in the Gaza Strip according to testing conducted in coordination with the United Nations, the Gaza Ministry of Health announced Thursday.
Samples were taken from sewage water that “collects and flows between the tents of the displaced and in the places where residents are located as a result of the destruction of the infrastructure” in war-torn Gaza, according to the ministry.
“The presence of the virus that causes polio … represents a new health disaster,” the ministry said in a statement. “There is severe overcrowding, a scarcity of available water and its contamination with sewage water, the accumulation of tons of garbage and the occupation’s prevention of the entry of hygiene materials, which creates a suitable environment for the spread of various epidemics.”
The ministry called for “an immediate halt to the Israeli aggression, the provision of usable water, the repair of sewage lines and an end to the overcrowding at displacement camps.”
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus, which attacks the nervous system and can lead to irreversible paralysis, according to the World Health Organization.
Polio mainly affects children under 5, though the virus can strike at any age. It’s incurable but completely vaccine-preventable. The virus is highly contagious and can live for weeks in an infected person’s feces, which can contaminate food and water in unsanitary conditions and spread to other people. Polio remains endemic in two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to the WHO.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
Jul 18, 2024, 1:47 PM EDT At least 2 people killed in Israeli strike on 9th school in 10 days
At least two people were killed and five others were injured after Israel carried out a strike on Al-Falah School in Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, the ninth school the IDF has targeted in the last 10 days, according to the Gaza Civil Defense.
Jul 18, 2024, 1:07 PM EDT Netanyahu shuts down plan to build field hospital for Gazan children
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has scrapped Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s plans to establish a field hospital for Gazans along the border with Gaza.
Netanyahu “announced in writing that he does not approve the establishment of a hospital for Gazans on Israeli territory — therefore it will not be built,” his office said in a statement Thursday.
Gallant had announced Wednesday that he had ordered the establishment of a temporary field hospital in southern Israel along the border with Gaza to treat sick Palestinian children who are unable to leave the war-torn enclave for medical care abroad, amid the extended closure of Gaza’s Rafah crossing into Egypt. Gallant said he had told his American counterpart, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, about the plan for the field hospital during a call earlier this week, according to a readout.
The World Health Organization’s representative for Gaza and the West Bank, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, told reporters Wednesday that some 10,000 patients in Gaza still require urgent evacuation for medical treatment.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Jul 18, 2024, 11:17 AM EDT Palestinians held in Israeli secret detention describe torture, beatings, starvation
Human rights group Amnesty International has accused Israel of mass incommunicado detention and torture of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, citing the documented cases of 27 Palestinians who were detained for periods of up to four-and-a-half months without access to their lawyers or contact with their families.
Those detained included doctors taken into custody at hospitals for refusing to abandon their patients, mothers separated from their infants while trying to cross the so-called “safe corridor” from northern Gaza to the south, human rights defenders, U.N. workers, journalists and other civilians.
The Israeli Prison Service told the Israeli NGO HaMoked that — as of July 1 — 1,402 Palestinians were detained under a law that grants its military sweeping powers to detain anyone from Gaza they suspect of engaging in hostilities against Israel or of posing a threat to state security for indefinitely-renewable periods without having to produce evidence. This count excludes those held for an initial 45-day period without a formal order.
“The Israeli authorities must immediately repeal this law and release those arbitrarily detained under it. Torture and other ill-treatment including sexual violence are war crimes – these allegations must be independently investigated by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor’s office,” Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard.
“The Israeli authorities must also grant immediate and unrestricted access to all places of detention to independent monitors – access that has been denied since 7 October,” Callamard said.
Israel said it holds detainees lawfully and denies allegations of torture and says prisoners are granted their basic rights, according to the Associated Press.
Jul 17, 2024, 4:29 PM EDT Gaza aid pier shut down, aid to flow in through Ashdod
The JLOTS temporary pier system has been shut down, with humanitarian aid from Cyprus to Gaza will now taking place through the civilian port of Ashdod, CENTCOM told reporters.
The pier had successfully delivered close to 20 million pounds of humanitarian aid to Gaza, which USAID estimates provided food for 500,000 people for a month. The pier’s overall cost will come in “well underneath” the $230 million costs currently estimated though he couldn’t say by how much, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the deputy commanding general of CENTCOM, told reporters.
Cooper said that 1 million pounds of aid has already entered Gaza as a “proof of concept” and that there are about 5 million pounds of aid to still deliver from Cyprus.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jul 17, 2024, 3:29 PM EDT Netanyahu ally urges him to accept cease-fire deal
The leader of Israel’s Shas party, Areyeh Deri, is urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a cease-fire deal, publicly adding its voice to the choir of those calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, according to a letter from the Shas party.
“We believe that the conditions created now following the welcomed military pressure and the targeted assassinations create an appropriate time to reach a deal that preserves Israel’s vital security interests and returns the abductees home,” the letter said.
This comes amid reports in Israeli media that Mossad chief David Barnea and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant have pushed Netanyahu to accept the deal. Without Shas, the Netanyahu-coalition would crumble.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jul 17, 2024, 3:08 PM EDT Group calls on Netanyahu to release journalists, allow access to Gaza ahead of US visit
The Committee to Protect Journalists released a statement calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to release journalists held without charge and allow free, unimpeded access to Gaza ahead of his planned trip to the U.S.
“From the start of the war, Israel has continuously denied independent access to the media as Palestinian journalists struggle to survive. The loss of local journalists, an almost total ban on media from outside Gaza leaves a vacuum for propaganda, mis and disinformation. Claims and counterclaims remain extraordinarily difficult to verify independently. Facts are easily evaded and truth withers. No credible democracy engages in what is, in effect, a growing censorship regime,” Jodie Ginsburg, the CEO of CPJ, said in a statement Wednesday.
More than 100 journalists have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7 and others have been arrested, often without charge, according to the CPJ.
“Journalists, like the thousands of civilians in Gaza killed, arrested or displaced continue to pay an astonishing toll,” Ginsburg said.
“An unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested, often without charge. They have been mistreated and tortured. The number of journalists reporting in Gaza is dwindling, and those who remain are doing so in treacherous conditions, but they cannot do so alone,” Ginsburg said.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies
Jul 17, 2024, 12:20 PM EDT Over 1,000 attacks on health care facilities in Gaza, West Bank since Oct. 7: WHO
The World Health Organization has registered more than 1,000 attacks on health care facilities in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, the agency’s top official in the region said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
There are currently no functional hospitals in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, following Israel’s recent offensive there, according to Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza.
Peeperkorn highlighted the urgency of allowing critically ill patients to leave the war-torn enclave, stating that around 10,000 patients in Gaza still require urgent evacuation –- half of whom are suffering from severe trauma, including spinal injuries and amputations.
-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini
Jul 16, 2024, 2:54 PM EDT IDF says it carried out 37,000 airstrikes on Gaza since October
The Israel Defense Forces has carried out 37,000 airstrikes on Gaza and targetted more than 25,000 terrorist infrastructures and launch sites since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the IDF said Tuesday.
The IDF also acknowledged carrying out strikes on hospitals, schools and humanitarian shelters throughout the Gaza Strip, claiming to target “terrorists who are located and based in sensitive sites,” the IDF said in a statement.
Jul 16, 2024, 2:03 PM EDT Dozens killed in Israeli strikes on UNRWA facility, safe zone
At least 23 people were killed and 73 others were injured after Israel struck a UNRWA school in a designated safe zone where displaced people are sheltering. Five UNRWA schools have been hit in the last 10 days, according to the UNRWA.
“UN facilities must be protected at all times. They must never be used for military or fighting purposes. No one is safe in Gaza, wherever they are. The people of #Gaza are children, women & men who have the right to live,” the UNRWA said Tuesday.
In another strike on a safe zone in Mawasi Khan Yunis, at least 17 people were killed and 26 others were injured.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that it struck the school, alleging it struck terrorists who were operating in a UNRWA school.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jul 16, 2024, 11:52 AM EDT Israel strikes Nuseirat refugee camp for second day in a row
Israel has carried out a strike on Nuseirat refugee camp, where internally displaced Palestinians have been told to shelter, for the second day in a row, according to Gaza Civil Defense.
This is the sixth school — a designated safe zone — to be targeted by Israeli Defense Forces’ airstrikes in one week.
Israel has not confirmed whether Saturday’s strike that killed 90 Palestinians killed two Hamas officials, including military chief Mohammed Deif, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a press conference.
“There is still no absolute certainty that the two have been eliminated, but I want to assure you that one way or another we will reach the entire top of Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said he was briefed about the type of weapons that would be used and the expected “collateral damage,” as well as confirming Israel did not believe any hostages were held in the area, before giving the go ahead for the strike.
“Why should we risk something leaking out? Suppose something leaked, Deif and his deputy would go underground in a second. We update our American friends when necessary,” Netanyahu said.
Asked about not telling the U.S. about the strike beforehand, Netanyahu said it was to avoid an information leak.
-ABC News’ Anna Burd
Jul 13, 2024, 4:14 PM EDT UN Human Rights Office condemns IDF’s strikes in Gaza humanitarian zones
The United Nations Human Rights Office has condemned the Israel Defense Forces’ use of weapons in populated areas of Gaza, including humanitarian zones, hours after an attack killed 90 Palestinians.
“The latest attack and casualty followed right after another massive attack on the north, which lasted for a week, resulting in further destruction and casualties,” the UN Human Rights Office said in a statement.
The U.N. said the IDF’s use of weapons in densely populated areas “despite the overwhelming evidence that these means and methods have led to disproportionate harm to civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure, suggests a pattern of willful violation of the disregard of [International Humanitarian Law] principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution.”
“The use of such weapons in an area to which IDF is ordering people to evacuate demonstrates a rampant disregard for the safety of civilians. Even if Palestinian armed group members were using the presence of civilians in these areas in an attempt to shield themselves from attack, which would violate IHL, this would not remove IDF’s obligations to comply with these fundamental IHL principles of proportionality, distinction and precaution,” the U.N. said.
Jul 13, 2024, 3:14 PM EDT Death toll from Israeli attack on Khan Younis rises to 90
The death toll from Israel’s deadly attack on Al Mawasi, west of the southern city of Khan Younis, has now risen to 90 people killed and 300 injured, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Israel had admitted earlier that the strike was in the expanded humanitarian zone.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said on Friday that he would be returning to the campaign trail next week to continue to take on rival Donald Trump, as he contends with the fallout from his COVID-19 diagnosis and growing calls from Democrats for him to bow out, including from Ohio Sen, Sherrod Brown on Friday evening, the fourth senator to do so.
“I look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week to continue exposing the threat of Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda while making the case for my own record and the vision that I have for America: one where we save our democracy, protect our rights and freedoms, and create opportunity for everyone,” Biden said in a statement.
“The stakes are high, and the choice is clear,” Biden added. “Together, we will win.”
The president also criticized Trump’s Thursday night keynote speech at the Republican National Convention, saying the former president “focused on his own grievances, with no plan to unite us and no plan to make life better for working people.”
“Last night the American people saw the same Donald Trump they rejected four years ago,” Biden wrote.
Biden has been sidelined since Wednesday when he was diagnosed with COVID-19 moments before delivering remarks in Las Vegas at the UnidosUS conference, the largest Latino civil rights group in the country. He abruptly cut his trip short and flew to his beach home in Rehoboth Beach, Del.
Boarding Air Force One Wednesday, Biden struggled to walk up the shorter stairs that pull out from under the plane. And after arriving in Dover, he again struggled deplaning, and Secret Service appeared to physically help him into the waiting SUV.
But Biden’s determination to return to the campaign trail appears to be because his team is reenergized by Trump’s speech.
“He’s playing the greatest hits from 2016 – Trump has not changed, he has not moderated, he has gotten worse,” a Biden adviser said Thursday night. “And he is making no appeal to moderates.”
The president said Trump laid out a “dark vision” for America’s future and that “Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat him at the ballot box.”
But his party is not together. Democrats remain split on whether Biden can beat Trump in November and on Friday at least 10 Democrats joined the chorus calling on Biden to resign, including Texas Rep. Marc Veasey, the first member from the influential Congressional Black Caucus to do so.
“Mr. President, with great admiration for you personally, sincere respect for your decades of public service and patriotic leadership, and deep appreciation for everything we have accomplished together during your presidency, it is now time for you to pass the torch to a new generation of Democratic leaders,” Veasey co-wrote in a letter with Reps. Jared Huffman, Chuy Garcia, and Mark Pocan.
“We must defeat Donald Trump to save our democracy… At this point, however, we must face the reality that widespread public concerns about your age and fitness are jeopardizing what should be a winning campaign,” the four congressmen added.
Brown, in a close reelection fight, said in a statement that many Ohioans had contacted him.
“Over the last few weeks, I’ve heard from Ohioans on important issues, such as how to continue to grow jobs in our state, give law enforcement the resources to crack down on fentanyl, protect Social Security and Medicare from cuts, and prevent the ongoing efforts to impose a national abortion ban. These are the issues Ohioans care about and it is my job to keep fighting for them,” he said.
“I agree with the many Ohioans who have reached out to me. At this critical time, our full attention must return to these important issues. I think the President should end his campaign,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Democratic Rep. Greg Landsman, who represents a battleground Ohio district, both also pointed to Trump and the risk to “democracy” for reasons Biden should exit.
“There is too much on the line, and we have to be able to make that case to the American people about the change we need and the country we all deserve,” Landsman wrote in his statement. “After weeks of consideration and hundreds of conversations with constituents, I have come to the conclusion that Joe Biden is no longer the best person to make that case.”
Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, a close ally of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a letter addressed to the president on Thursday, but was first reported on Friday, made a similar argument doubting Biden can effectively run a winning campaign.
“I want to be clear that should you formally become the Democratic nominee for President I will do everything I can to promote your candidacy and to work for your success,” Lofgren wrote in the letter obtained by ABC News. “Unfortunately, I greatly doubt that the outcome will be positive, and our country will pay a dreadful price for that.”
“I’m not here to say that this hasn’t been a tough several weeks for the campaign,” O’Malley Dillon said. “There’s no doubt that it has been, and we’ve definitely seen some slippage in support, but it has been a small movement, and you know this, the reason is because so much of this race is hardened already.”
In what was a bruising day for the president, with the calls from congressional Democrats urging him to drop out swelling to 34 by ABC News’s count, Biden did get critical support from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
The group’s political arm, BOLD PAC, on Friday endorsed the president, a week after his call with the group, saying he and Vice President Kamala Harris “have delivered for the Latino community.”
Amid news of more congressional Democrats on Friday joining calls for Biden to step aside, his campaign said it recognizes that the “urgency” of beating Donald Trump has led some Democrats to publicly abandon their support of the president leading the ticket — though they remain confident the party will unite by November.
“While the majority of the caucus and the diverse base of the party continues to stand with the President and his historic record of delivering for their communities, we’re clear-eyed that the urgency and stakes of beating Donald Trump means others feel differently,” Biden campaign spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement to ABC News.
“We all share the same goal: an America where everyone gets a fair shot and freedom and democracy are protected,” Ehrenberg added. “Unlike Republicans, we’re a party that accepts – and even celebrates – differing opinions, but in the end, we will absolutely come together to beat Donald Trump this November.”
