(EDGEWOOD, Md.) — After 10 months of searching the country, investigators said they arrested the suspect on Friday who they say allegedly murdered Rachel Morin while she was hiking through a Maryland trail last summer.
Harford County Sherriff Jeffrey Gahler told reporters Saturday that through DNA evidence and tracking, local police and the FBI arrested Victor Antonio Martinez-Hernandez in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in connection with the 2023 killing.
Morin, 37, a mother of five, was found dead on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail on Aug. 6, 2023, a day after her boyfriend reported her missing after she didn’t return home from a hike.
Gahler said that his team, the FBI and the community worked relentlessly to bring justice to Morin and her family.
“Our deputies and partners have worked this case with persistence and passion every day,” he said.
Martinez-Hernandez, 23, will be charged with first-degree murder and first-degree rape when he is extradited to Maryland, Gahler said.
Investigators believe Morin was attacked on the trail and pulled through a wooded area before being killed in a drainage culvert that runs alongside the trail, the sheriff’s office previously said.
DNA evidence was recovered at the crime scene shortly after Morin’s body was found linked to a 2023 home invasion in Los Angeles, where a suspect’s DNA had been found. A 9-year-old girl was assaulted in the LA case, according to the sheriff.
Although they had the DNA evidence and video from that break-in, Gahler said they did not have an identity on the suspect until May.
Martinez-Hernandez, allegedly entered the U.S. illegally last year from El Salvador, where he was wanted for murdering a woman, according to the sheriff and the FBI.
“Now with the new DNA evidence we knew who he is but we didn’t know where he was,” Gahler said.
Two weeks ago, investigators tracked the suspect to Tulsa and an arrest warrant was issued Friday.
Gahler said his office privately informed Morin’s family about the warrant before the arrest was made.
Patricia Morin, the victim’s mother, held back tears as she thanked the investigators and press for helping to find the suspect.
“At one point when things looked really bleak and hopeless, the lead detective told me, ‘Patience will win in the end,'” she said during the news conference. “I’m very thankful and very grateful.”
The investigation into the murder is still ongoing.
Gahler said that investigators still don’t know the motive behind the killing, however, he noted that it appeared the suspect acted alone.
Attorney information for the suspect was not immediately available. An extradition date has not been set.
ABC News’ Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
(MIAMI) — Even though the bulk of the rain has wrapped up across South Florida, a Flood Watch remains in effect for more than 4 million people from Fort Lauderdale to Key Largo, including Miami.
Typically, scattered showers in Florida are no big deal, but with so many locations recently picking up 1 to 2 feet of rain, any showers today could lead to more flooding. Looking ahead, the risk for additional flooding will continue to decrease in the coming days.
Over the last seven days, Miami and Fort Lauderdale have both officially seen more than 14 inches of rainfall.
Sunday is finally looking like a “mostly” dry day for the South Florida region, although there is always a chance for a pop-up thunderstorm for this area.
Today’s severe risk This afternoon and evening, severe thunderstorms are likely in two areas of the northern Plains, including cities like Des Moines, Iowa; Omaha, Nebraska; Bismarck, North Dakota; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Minot, North Dakota.
Damaging wind, large hail, and scattered tornadoes are all possible in this area as the afternoon progresses into the overnight hours.
Dangerous heat expands This weekend, Excessive Heat Warnings are in effect across parts of the southwest as temperatures soar into the 100s in cities like Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; and Las Vegas.
That heat expands eastward in the coming days, leading to a potentially record-breaking stretch of brutal heat for dozens of cities.
On Sunday, the heat reaches the Heartland and Midwest, with cities like St. Louis, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; and Little Rock, Arkansas, all facing record temperatures approaching 100 degrees.
The National Weather Service in Pittsburgh has already issued an Excessive Heat Watch, in effect from Monday morning through Friday night, calling this a “prolonged, potentially historic heat wave.”
On Monday, the Extreme Heat Risk covers Kansas City, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa.
The brutal heat on Tuesday reaches the east. Record highs are likely in dozens of cities from Ohio to Vermont as temperatures soar into the mid/upper 90s.
Not only does the heat continue to expand later in the week, but the numbers keep going up. Highs could be approaching 100 in cities like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Hartford, Connecticut; and Concord, New Hampshire.
In the tropics Despite a very quiet start to the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, there is some potential activity on the horizon. The National Hurricane Center is watching an area around the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico, and it currently has a 50% chance of tropical development over the next seven days.
If this blob lives up to its potential, it could become the first named storm of the year, which would be Alberto.
The conditions in the tropics this summer are worrisome, with both the ocean temperatures and atmospheric conditions primed and ready to produce storms. There is no guarantee that it’ll be a record-breaking year, but it’s still very early in the season and things can ramp up quickly.
Tents sheltering displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip are pictured on June 4, 2024 amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by EYAD BABA/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war continues, negotiations are apparently stalled to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, and Israeli forces continue to launch incursions in the southern Gazan town of Rafah ahead of a possible large-scale invasion.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 15, 4:33 PM 50,000 children require malnutrition treatment in Gaza: UN
After repeated warnings from the World Food Programme, UNICEF and the World Health Organization about an imminent famine in Gaza, over 50,000 children in Gaza now require treatment for malnutrition, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East released said in a statement Saturday.
“With continued restrictions to humanitarian access, people in #Gaza continue to face desperate levels of hunger. Over 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition UNRWA teams work tirelessly to reach families with aid but the situation is catastrophic,” the UNRWA said in a statement on X.
Jun 15, 12:38 PM 8 IDF soldiers killed in southern Gaza ‘incident’
Eight Israeli Defense Forces soldiers were killed in an “incident” in southern Gaza, according to the IDF.
Earlier Saturday, Hamas released a statement saying an operation targeting Israeli military vehicles in Rafah killed several IDF soldiers. The IDF has not commented on the nature of the soldiers’ deaths.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Yael Benaya
Jun 14, 1:45 PM Freed hostage urges Israelis to gather on Saturday
Andrey Kozlov, one of the four Israeli hostages rescued from Gaza on Saturday, is urging Israelis to gather Saturday at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv in support of the hostages and their families.
“I’m already in Israel at home. But a lot of hostages are still there in Gaza,” Kozlov, 27, said in a video message. “I saw a lot of rallies on Saturday, and it gave me a lot of hope.”
Kozlov’s girlfriend told ABC News this week that Kozlov was psychologically tortured while in captivity, and she said that he told her the moment he realized the Israeli soldiers were there to save him, he felt he was reborn.
Jun 14, 1:25 PM At least 50 projectiles launched from Lebanon toward Israel on Friday: IDF
The situation on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon remains tense.
Two women were killed and 20 people were injured in the village of Janata in southern Lebanon after an airstrike on a house late Thursday night, the Lebanese Civil Defense said in a statement.
Since Friday morning, at least 50 projectiles were launched from Lebanon toward Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces said.
“A number of the projectiles were intercepted,” the IDF said.
“As a result of the launches, a fire broke out in the area of Kfar Szold,” the IDF added.
Hezbollah issued statements taking responsibility for nine attacks on Israeli sites Friday.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman, Nasser Atta and Jordana Miller
Jun 13, 6:53 PM IDF counter-terror operation leaves 3 dead, 2 detained, officials say
Israeli forces returned to Jenin, in the West Bank, on Thursday to conduct what they called a “13-hour counter-terror operation” that left three killed, two detained and multiple injured, according to the local Palestinian Red Crescent Society.
The youngest person killed was 19 and the oldest 70, according to the PRCS report.
Bulldozers were filmed in central Jenin, where UNRWA said there was heavy damage, as well as in the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, where the Israeli forces say they conducted a “pressure cooker” procedure on a house where they say two senior terrorists were staying.
Two suspects were killed, according to the IDF statement. The PRCS reports three killed and multiple people injured by shrapnel and beating.
The IDF reported two died in the operation.
-ABC News’ Camilla Alcini
Jun 13, 2:59 PM State Department ‘disappointed’ by Hamas’ ‘continued haggling and delay’
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller on Thursday shed little light on the next steps for negotiations toward a cease-fire deal, but dismissed the idea that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s and other Israeli officials’ lack of public enthusiasm for the proposal soured the chances that Hamas would accept it.
“I personally doubt that comments, or lack of comments, from the Israeli government had anything to do with the Hamas response,” he said. “We were disappointed both that it took so long to get a response and that the response had a number of changes that could drag the negotiations out further.”
Miller was also reticent to discuss remaining sticking points, but on multiple occasions, he dismissed the idea that Hamas should need assurances for a lasting peace, emphasizing that if the proposal were enacted, the cease-fire prescribed under phase one of the deal would last as long as negotiations did.
“At least we would have had a cease-fire. We would have had a halt to the suffering,” Miller said. “Hamas didn’t do that. Instead, they dragged it out for 12 days, and now there will be continued haggling and delay.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jun 13, 2:08 PM Biden says ‘I haven’t lost hope’ on reaching cease-fire deal
President Joe Biden said the G7 leaders discussed the Gaza cease-fire and hostage proposal on Thursday.
When asked if he was confident a deal would be reached soon, Biden said, “No.” He added, “I haven’t lost hope — but it’s going to be tough.”
“Hamas has to move,” Biden said.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Jun 13, 1:39 PM Israel won’t send delegation for further talks on deal: Israeli source
Israel will not send a delegation for further talks on a cease-fire deal, an Israeli source confirms to ABC News.
The U.S., Egypt and Qatar are still trying to pressure Hamas to return to the outline of a cease-fire deal presented by President Joe Biden.
Hamas in a statement Thursday said they have “demonstrated, in all stages of negotiations to stop the aggression, the required positivity to reach a comprehensive and satisfactory agreement, based on the fair demands of our people for a definitive cessation of aggression, a complete withdrawal [of IDF forces] from the Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced, the reconstruction and a serious prisoner exchange deal.”
Jun 13, 1:19 PM WHO, UN warn of ‘famine-like conditions’ amid rising malnutrition in Gaza
A “significant portion” of people living in the Gaza Strip are “now facing catastrophic hunger and famine-like conditions,” the head of the World Health Organization said, as neighboring Israel continues to restrict supplies of food and other basic necessities to the war-torn enclave.
“Despite reports of increased delivery of food, there is currently no evidence that those who need it most are receiving sufficient quantity and quality of food,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing Wednesday.
More than 8,000 children under the age of 5 in Gaza have been diagnosed and treated for acute malnutrition, including 1,600 with severe acute malnutrition. But only two stabilization centers for severely malnourished patients can currently operate in Gaza due to insecurity and lack of access, according to Tedros.
At least 32 deaths in Gaza since the war with Israel began on Oct. 7 have been attributed to malnutrition, including 28 among children under 5 years old, Tedros said.
More than 1 million people in Gaza — half of the territory’s population — are “expected to face death and starvation by the middle of July,” according to the most senior official dedicated to humanitarian affairs at the United Nations.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
Jun 13, 1:12 PM Over 40 projectiles launched from Lebanon toward Israel’s northern border: Israeli military
Over 40 projectiles have been launched from Lebanon across Israel’s northern border toward the Galilee and Golan Heights area since Thursday morning, Israeli military officials told ABC News.
Two people were hit by shrapnel and wounded in the Golan Heights, according to Israeli Emergency Services.
The Israel Defense Forces said military exercises are continuing in the north to increase readiness.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir, Jordana Miller, Tom Soufi Burridge and Hugo Leenhardt
Jun 12, 4:20 PM Inside Hamas’ new demands
Hamas’ new demands in response to the latest cease-fire proposal include an insistence that the timetable be moved up for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from all Gazan territory, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the negotiations.
The official also said that Hamas communicated additional demands for assurances that a lasting cease-fire would be achieved that were not included in the previous version of the agreement.
In the first days of May, Hamas seemingly accepted a hostage deal presented by Qatar and Egypt, only for Israel to say it had not signed off on that draft, sparking mass confusion. Later, Israel did say it would return to the negotiating table, which eventually led to the formation of the proposal on the table.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jun 12, 3:07 PM Northern Israel resident recounts barrage of rockets that shook house
When Hezbollah fired a massive barrage of rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday morning, Meron Bareket said his whole house shook.
“It was kind of a showstopper,” Bareket told ABC News. “You just jumped out of your seat.”
He lives in Kibbutz Amiad, about 10 miles from the Lebanon border.
Bareket said he quickly ran with his two daughters, ages 2 and 5, to their shelter.
He said he’s fearful the situation on Israel’s northern border “will become a real war.”
Bareket said he struggles to explain the situation to his young daughters who have become so accustomed to the sounds and sights of war that they now can differentiate between an F-15 and an F-16 fighter jet when an aircraft flies overhead.
“They point to the sky and ask me if it’s safe to go out, and I don’t know,” he said. “Is it?”
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Dana Savir, Tomer Slutzky and Hugo Leenhardt
Jun 12, 1:44 PM Over 210 rockets fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel: IDF
More than 210 rockets have been fired from Lebanon toward northern Israel since Wednesday morning, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is conducting a security situation assessment Wednesday evening, the prime minister’s office said.
-ABC News’ Dana Savir, Bruno Nota and Yael Benaya
Jun 12, 1:09 PM US, Egypt, Qatar will work to ‘bridge final gaps,’ national security adviser says
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. will work with Egypt and Qatar to “bridge final gaps” on cease-fire negotiations that are consistent with President Joe Biden’s May 31 speech and consistent with the U.N. Security Council Resolution.
“Many of the proposed changes are minor and not unanticipated, others differ more substantively from what was outlined in the U.N. Security Council resolution,” Sullivan told reporters.
Sullivan said their goal is “to bring this process to a conclusion.”
“Our view is that the time for haggling is over, it’s time for a cease-fire to begin and for the hostages to come home,” he said.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Jun 12, 9:50 AM Blinken expresses frustration with Hamas response to deal, says negotiations will go on
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday weighed in on Hamas’ official response to the cease-fire proposal, stressing that a deal is the “single, most effective way” to alleviate civilian suffering and avoid escalation in the region.
“Hamas has proposed numerous changes to the proposal that is on the table,” Blinken said at a news conference in Qatar with Qatari officials. “We discussed those changes with Egyptian colleagues, and today with the prime minister [of Qatar]. Some of the changes are workable, some are not.”
“Here, in a nutshell is where we stand,” Blinken said. “Hamas could have answered with a single word: yes. Instead, Hamas waited nearly two weeks and then proposed more changes, a number of which go beyond positions it had previously taken and accepted.”
Blinken said that as a result “the war Hamas started will go on,” but that “in the days ahead, we’re going to continue to push on an urgent basis” to “try to close this deal.”
Blinken noted that almost everyone he’s spoken with during his eight trips to the Middle East since Oct. 7 made clear they wanted to see a negotiated solution to the conflict.
“I cannot speak for Hamas or answer for Hamas and ultimately, it may not be the path Hamas wants to pursue. But Hamas cannot and will not be allowed to decide the future for this region and its people,” he said.
Blinken was pressed on whether the deal was salvageable and whether more pressure needed to be applied to Israel. The secretary declined to characterize Hamas’ response as a rejection, as Israeli officials have, but expressed significant skepticism.
“At some point in a negotiation, and this has gone back and forth for a long time, you get to a point where if one side continues to change its demands, including making demands and insisting on changes for things that it already accepted, you have to question whether they’re proceeding in good faith or not,” he said.
Blinken went on to say he believes the gaps are bridgeable, but “it doesn’t mean they will be bridged” because it depends “on people saying yes.”
“Hamas had this for 12 days. … People were suffering throughout those 12 days. The longer this goes on, the more people will suffer,” he asserted. “It’s time for the haggling to stop.”
Blinken was also adamant that Israel was not the problem.
“Look, Israel accepted the proposal as it was and as it is. Hamas didn’t. So I think it’s pretty clear what needs to happen,” he said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jun 12, 5:36 AM Hezbollah fires more than 160 rockets into Israel, IDF says
Hezbollah militants in Lebanon fired more than 160 rockets toward Israel in about 2 hours on Wednesday, the most intense barrage since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, Israeli officials said.
Many of the projectiles launched into northern Israel were intercepted, the Israel Defense Forces told ABC News. Others fell in open areas, including a number of locations in northern Israel, officials said.
The barrage was in response to an Israeli strike in Lebanon on Tuesday night that killed a top Hezbollah commander, the militants said, adding that it was also “in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”
No injuries or damage were reported, the IDF said.
Jun 11, 6:09 PM Israeli forces kill 6 in West Bank raid: Palestinian health officials
Israeli troops shot and killed six Palestinians during a raid on a small village near the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday amid escalating violence there, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers killed “four armed terrorists” and injured “additional ones” amid “exchanges of fire” while conducting “counterterror activity” in the Kafr Dan area.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta and Dana Savir
Jun 11, 4:51 PM Hamas submits its response to cease-fire proposal
Qatar and Egypt have received a response from Hamas and the Palestinian factions regarding the truce proposal, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad said in a statement, “The response prioritizes the interest of our Palestinian people. The need to completely stop the ongoing aggression against Gaza. The Palestinian delegation expressed its readiness to deal positively to reach an agreement to end this war against our people, based on a sense of national responsibility.”
A U.S. official familiar with negotiations describes Hamas’ response as not an outright yes or no, but a counter with questions about provisions included in the proposal and some additional demands.
Another official said that while the U.S. is still analyzing Hamas’ response, mediators see the potential to bridge remaining gaps at this point and will coordinate with all parties involved on the next steps — which will likely include another round of talks.
Israel received the Hamas response from the mediators Tuesday evening, according to a senior Israeli official. In its response, Hamas rejected the outline of the deal for the release of the abductees presented by President Joe Biden, the official said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Dana Savir
Jun 11, 1:02 PM 4 hostages rescued from Gaza released from hospitals
All four hostages rescued from Gaza this weekend have been discharged from hospitals, local officials told ABC News.
The three male hostages — Almog Meir Jan, 22; Andrei Kozlov,27; and Shlomi Ziv, 41 — were discharged from Sheba Medical Center on Tuesday, according to the medical center.
Noa Argamani, 26, was transferred to Ichilov Medical Center on Saturday to be with her mother, who is in the hospital, officials said. Argamani was discharged on Tuesday morning, a hospital spokeswoman told ABC News.
-ABC News Jordana Miller and Dana Savir
Jun 11, 10:38 AM US announces $404M in aid for Gaza
The U.S. announced $404 million in aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the region, bringing the total amount of aid from the U.S. to over $674 million since the wore broke out, the State Department announced Tuesday.
“This new funding will provide essential support to vulnerable Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the region, including food, safe drinking water, health care, protection, education, shelter, and psychosocial support,” the State Department said. “We urge other donors to contribute to the humanitarian response in Gaza and the region, increase support to those affected by the conflict, and work together to find lasting solutions to the crisis.”
Jun 11, 6:23 AM Israel’s actions during hostage rescue may amount to war crimes, UN agency says
United Nation human rights officials said they were “profoundly shocked” by the Israeli operation that freed four hostages in central Gaza over the weekend, adding that actions by both Israel and Hamas “may amount to war crimes.”
“The manner in which the raid was conducted in such a densely populated area seriously calls into question whether the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution — as set out under the laws of war — were respected by the Israeli forces,” the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, or OHCHR, said in a statement on Tuesday.
The rescue operation in a refugee camp in Nuseirat killed as many as 274 people, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Monday. Hundreds of others were injured, the ministry said. Many of those injured and killed Palestinians were civilians, OHCHR said on Tuesday.
But OHCHR also said it was “deeply distressed” about the way the militant groups continue to hold hostages, “most of them civilians, which is prohibited by international law.”
By holding those hostages in densely populated areas, Hamas militants are putting civilians and the hostages at risk, the agency said.
“All these actions, by both parties, may amount to war crimes,” OHCHR said.
Jun 10, 4:11 PM More than 200 killed during hostage rescue raid: Gaza Ministry of Health
At least 274 people were killed and another 698 were injured during Saturday’s Israeli rescue operation that saved four hostages from Hamas custody in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
Israeli special forces were disguised as Palestinian refugees looking for a place to live when they entered the buildings where hostages were being held in the rescue operation, two Israeli security sources told ABC News.
The hostages were rescued from two locations in Nuseirat, a camp that has become home to thousands of refugees who’ve fled fighting throughout Gaza.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
Jun 10, 4:09 PM UN Security Council adopts US draft resolution supporting Gaza cease-fire deal
The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a U.S. draft resolution urging Hamas to accept the latest cease-fire and hostage release deal.
Nate Evans, spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said in a statement ahead of the vote that the deal would enable a pause in fighting, the freeing of a number of hostages and an immediate surge in humanitarian assistance, among other things.
“Israel has accepted this proposal and the Security Council has an opportunity to speak with one voice and call on Hamas to do the same,” Evans said. “Doing so would help save lives and the suffering of civilians in Gaza as well as the hostages and their families. Council Members should not let this opportunity pass by and must speak with one voice in support of this deal.”
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield made a similar case just before the vote, saying every day the war goes on “needless suffering continues.”
“Colleagues, after eight months of devastation and pain and trauma, what is needed now more than ever is for the fighting to end in a sustainable way,” she said. “The United States and every single country in this chamber wants to see an immediate cease-fire with the release of hostages. We’ve heard those calls time and time again since Oct. 7. Now the opportunity is here. We must seize it.”
Hamas said in a statement they “welcome” what was included in the U.N. Security Council resolution “regarding a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.”
Jun 10, 3:16 PM Israeli special forces dressed as Palestinian refugees to go undercover before hostage rescue operation: Sources
Israeli special forces were disguised as Palestinian refugees looking for a place to live when they entered the buildings where hostages were being held in the Israeli rescue operation this weekend, two Israeli security sources told ABC News.
Special forces were already in position near the buildings where the hostages were being held before they were given the “go” command by Israeli forces, the sources added.
The “go” command was given at 11 a.m. local time, sources said.
The helicopters carrying the hostages and wounded police officers landed at Sheba Medical Center in Israel starting at 12:15 p.m. local time and the last helicopter landed at 12:45 p.m. local time.
The Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security forces, Israeli Defense Forces and Israeli SWAT team members participated in the rescue operation, now called “Operation Arnon” by the Israeli military. The name of the operation was given to honor the one security officer who was killed during the operation.
– ABC News’ Dana Savir
Jun 10, 11:06 AM US calls for Security Council vote on Gaza cease-fire, hostage deal resolution
The U.S. is calling for the United Nations Security Council to vote on a draft resolution urging Hamas to accept the ceasefire-hostage release deal on the table, according to a statement from the spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the UN.
“Israel has accepted this proposal and the Security Council has an opportunity to speak with one voice and call on Hamas to do the same,” the statement read. “Doing so would help save lives and the suffering of civilians in Gaza as well as the hostages and their families. Council Members should not let this opportunity to pass by and must speak with one voice in support of this deal.”
The Security Council vote has been scheduled for 3 p.m. Monday.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jun 10, 9:19 AM Blinken urges Middle East to ‘press Hamas to say yes’ to proposal
On a tarmac in Egypt, Secretary of State Antony Blinken laid out his objectives for his tour through the Middle East this week, calling on countries with connections to Hamas to push them to take the cease-fire deal on the table, while also emphasizing the need to develop a “day after” plan for Gaza, calling it “a critical moment.”
“My message to governments throughout the region, to people throughout the region: If you want a cease-fire, press Hamas to say yes,” Blinken said. “If you want to alleviate the terrible suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, press Hamas to say yes. If you want to get all the hostages home, press Hamas to say yes. If you want to put present Palestinians and Israelis alike on the path to more durable peace and security, if you want to prevent this conflict from spreading, press Hamas to say yes.”
He said a cease-fire would open a path to “more durable security, calm, peace in Gaza.”
“For that, it’s critical that we continue to work on plans for the day after to make sure that when it comes to security in Gaza, when it comes to governance, when it comes to reconstruction, we have the plans in place to come forward,” he said. “That’s going to be a critical part of my conversations here in the region as we go on to Israel and then to Jordan and then to Qatar.”
Blinken didn’t say when he expected Hamas to give its formal response to the proposal but said “there’s a sense of urgency among all concerned.”
“Our Egyptian counterparts were in communication with Hamas as early — as recently as a few hours ago,” he said. “Ultimately, I can’t put myself, none of us can put ourselves, in the minds of a Hamas or its leaders, so we don’t know what the answer will be.”
Blinken was adamant that Israel stood behind the proposal, stressing it was only Hamas preventing it from being implemented.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jun 10, 8:56 AM 4 rescued hostages ‘in less severe condition’ physically than expected
The four hostages rescued from Gaza this weekend are physically “in less severe condition than we kind of prepared for,” said Itai Pessach, head of the medical team at the Sheba Medical Center, where the hostages are being treated.
But the worry is mainly on the long-term psychological impact, as “they underwent continuous, psychological abuse,” Pessach told ABC News.
The rescued hostages — Noa Argamani, 25; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40 — were kidnapped by Hamas from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces. They were all rescued in good condition, the IDF said.
Argamani has been discharged while the three men remain at the hospital. But Argamani will still be receiving medical treatment from the Sheba team for an indefinite period, Pessach said.
“It’s a very, very long process of rehabilitation. And we received captives that came back six months ago, and we’re just now starting to see the initial post-traumatic response coming up,” Pessach said. “They have seen a lot of war-related things that happened and all of that is part of their trauma, and we will need to care for that.”
“When you see the eyes and you see, you know, they get silent for a second and you understand that there’s a trigger, there’s something in their minds, and you see a tear, or they ask to be left alone for a moment or something like that. This is when you really feel, under the surface there’s so much that’s waiting for us,” Pessach said.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Dana Savir, Omer Manor and Hugo Leenhardt
Jun 09, 11:34 PM US calls for Security Council vote on Gaza cease-fire, hostage deal resolution
The U.S. is calling for the United Nations Security Council to vote on a draft resolution urging Hamas to accept the ceasefire-hostage release deal on the table, according to a statement from the spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the UN.
“Israel has accepted this proposal and the Security Council has an opportunity to speak with one voice and call on Hamas to do the same,” the statement read. “Doing so would help save lives and the suffering of civilians in Gaza as well as the hostages and their families. Council Members should not let this opportunity to pass by and must speak with one voice in support of this deal.”
The State Department said it was consulting with Israel on the draft resolution last week, even though Israel is not a member of the Security Council. A specific vote time has not yet been set, but State Department officials anticipate it will happen in the coming days.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Jun 09, 6:23 PM United States doubling down on efforts for Israel to reach a cease-fire
The United States is doubling down efforts to reach a cease-fire deal as pressure mounts on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Qatar this week to discuss a cease-fire agreement that secures the release of all hostages, according to the State Department’s announcement Friday.
While Blinken traveling to the region should not be seen as a marker of further progress in reaching a deal, he will be putting pressure on the respective countries’ officials when he’s there.
A U.S. official told ABC News the intelligence that the U.S. provided to Israel in the latest hostage rescue operation was related to “support with locating individuals.”
Currently, there are five American hostages the U.S. believes are still living and three that the U.S. has confirmed are deceased.
The White House is not commenting on the resignation of Centrist Israeli minister Benny Gantz on Sunday, as they don’t comment on domestic Israeli politics.
-ABC News’ Selina Weng
Jun 09, 3:39 PM Gantz resigns from emergency government in blow to Netanyahu
Centrist Israeli minister Benny Gantz announced Sunday that he was resigning from the emergency government because of what he has described as a lack of a plan from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the “day after” in Gaza.
During a televised news conference, Gantz announced he was resigning from the coalition government, taking with him his State Party and the seats it held in the Knesset. Netanyahu’s coalition government will still retain a majority, but the move by Gantz is considered a major blow to the prime minister.
“Netanyahu is preventing us from progressing towards a true victory,” Gantz said. “For this reason, we are leaving the emergency government today, with a heavy heart, yet wholeheartedly.”
He also called on Netanyahu to set a date for elections.
Gantz was set to make the announcement on Saturday but called it off amid the news of an Israel Defense Forces operation in Gaza that led to the rescue of four Israeli hostages.
Gantz is a member of Israel’s three-member war Cabinet, which includes Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
On Saturday, Netanyahu appealed to Gantz on X, saying, “This is the time for unity and not for division. We must remain united within ourselves in the face of the great tasks before us. I call on Benny Gantz — do not leave the emergency government. Don’t give up on unity.”
Following Gantz’s resignation, Netanyahu released a statement on X, saying, “Israel is in an existential war on several fronts.”
“Benny, this is not the time to abandon the campaign — this is the time to join forces,” Netanyahu said. “Citizens of Israel, we will continue until victory and the achievement of all the goals of the war, primarily the release of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas.”
Netanyahu added, “My door will remain open to any Zionist party that is ready to get under the stretcher and assist in bringing victory over our enemies and ensuring the safety of our citizens.”
In May, Gantz issued an ultimatum to Netanyahu, saying he would resign if the prime minister did not approve a post-war plan by June 8, saying at the time, “While the Israeli soldiers show supreme bravery on the front, some of the men who sent them into battle behave with cowardice and irresponsibility.”
(SWITZERLAND) — Vice President Kamala Harris and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke warmly about the recent Ukrainian-American security agreement before a bilateral meeting at the Summit on Peace in Ukraine on Saturday in Switzerland.
Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian “teams have started to implement” the U.S.-Ukraine bilateral security agreement that was recently signed in Italy.
“Putin is trying to expand the war and make it more bloody,” Zelenskyy said. “But together with America, and other partners, we protect the lives of people and open up new opportunities for diplomacy.”
He added that the goal of the summit is diplomacy, which Ukraine has always believed in, adding that the war is not their choice.
G7 leaders agree to lend Ukraine $50 billion using frozen Russian assets Harris noted Russia’s increased aggression, “including opening a new front outside of Kharkiv relentlessly attacking Ukraine’s energy system.”
“It is in our interest to uphold international rules and norms such as sovereignty and territorial integrity, and your national system we helped create following World War II, which bolsters America’s security and prosperity,” Harris said.
Harris also pointed to the recent U.S. efforts to help Ukraine, including the $60 billion in funding and the delivery of more weapons to help soldiers on the front lines.
The vice president also announced another $1.5 billion from USAID that will help repair Ukrainian infrastructure and humanitarian needs.
Zelenskyy said that the presence of the nations attending the summit proves that the world is standing by the UN Charter and declares that “no one has the right to wage a war of aggression against a neighbor.”
“No one had the right to threaten the world with nuclear weapons. No one had the right to undermine food, energy or any other security of the war and its regions no one had the right to kidnap the children of another nation,” he said.
Zelenskyy laid out the three points that are of global focus that will be key to the peace formula: radiation and nuclear safety, food security and the release of prisoners and deportees.
“The peace formula encourages all the powers of the world to think about ending the war and to propose how to end it,” Zelenskyy said. “Putin should switch from the language of ultimatums to the language of the world majority, which wants a just peace.”
Ursula van der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, also talked about how the effects of the war have spread across the globe.
“We’re here today to help bring an end to a brutal and unjust war. A conflict that has shattered lives and displaced millions. The echoes of Russia’s war of aggression reverberate across the globe. Energy prices have soared, food prices have exploded,” von der Leyen said. “And it is a cautionary tale for the entire world.”
(POTOMAC, Md.) — Police were searching for a suspect who fled the scene after opening fire at a Maryland high school football Saturday morning, which left a man in the bleachers dead and a child wounded.
The incident took place outside Potomac High School in Oxon Hill around 11:20 a.m., Prince George’s County Police said in a statement posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Officers found the unidentified adult man “suffering from a gunshot wound(s)” and rushed him to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead, according to the PGCPD.
“A second victim, a child, was also located suffering from a gunshot wound. The child was driven to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries,” the PGCPD said in a statement.
Investigators asked anyone with information about the incident to call 1-866-411-TIPS.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LARGO, Md.) — Strolling through a retirement home in Largo, Maryland, Emma Patterson takes a seat to show photos from her cell phone.
One by one, she scrolls through photos showing different children throughout the years whom she has fostered.
Patterson says she’s fostered over 40 children since she opened her home in Montgomery County, Maryland, to foster youth in the 1980s.
The need for foster parents in the U.S. remains crucial. There were over 400,000 youth in the foster care system waiting for placement in a permanent home as of 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.
Patterson is one of the foster parents in the county who has housed the most children long-term and one of the longest-serving foster parents, a Montgomery County spokesperson confirmed to ABC News. Now after decades of caretaking youth in need, Patterson, 88, is retiring.
“This wasn’t something that I ever thought anybody paid attention to. You know, I didn’t do it for the purpose of anybody, give me any recognition,” Patterson told ABC News. “It was always a situation where it was just a boy or girl that didn’t have anybody to care anything about them. And they needed a place to sleep or something to eat.”
Patterson says she started to get involved in the foster care system when her two birth children started bringing other kids home who needed help.
Whether they needed winter coats, food, or a place to stay, her birth kids brought others home knowing their mom would help them, she said.
“With my kids, you know, every time I looked, they were bringing a boy or girl home,” Patterson said. “But I said okay, you know, these are children. They need help. And so I just started doing what I could to help them. So that’s kind of how I got started. I guess you’d call it foster care because some of them came and didn’t leave.”
Patterson says she had just split with her ex-husband when she began to open her home. She worked two jobs — one at the University of the District of Columbia, the other in retail — and she would often use her discount to get the kids what they needed.
Eventually, Patterson’s house in White Oak, Maryland, became an official foster home for Montgomery County. She started to foster even younger children, picking up newborns from hospitals and nurseries who needed a place to go home to. She’s legally adopted two of them.
In May, Montgomery County presented Patterson with an award to recognize her years of service to the youth of the county.
“This is something I’m actually connected to; I have 2 foster children and I understand what foster parents do and the important role they play in a child’s life,” said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, who presented Patterson with the award in May. “I am happy to honor Ms. Patterson for her dedication to our community over all these years. I’m glad she’s getting the kind of recognition she has long deserved. I hope her story inspires others to help vulnerable children and families as well. Montgomery County is not alone in having an urgent need for new foster families.”
Patterson credits her own mother and both of her grandmothers for her maternal instincts. Patterson told ABC News she grew up in a loving home with caring parents and three siblings, and she wanted to give that experience to all the kids that came into her home.
For Patterson, the best part of her entire fostering experience is seeing the people her foster kids have grown into.
“I’m very proud of all of the children because, you know, they all have just turned out to be just wonderful human beings, “I’m just so proud of them, you know, that little bit of something I was able to give them or do for them that if it was in any way, you know, helpful for them to have such wonderful achievements in life. You know, I’m just delighted for them, you know, they just turned out to be great human beings.”
(NEW YORK) — Esteemed economist Peter Goodman’s book, “How the World Ran Out of Everything,” offers a comprehensive analysis of how the pandemic disrupted the global supply chain and its profound impact on daily life.
Goodman starkly points out that shipping prices are skyrocketing, reaching levels comparable to the pandemic era when container shortages were rampant.
In his book, Goodman uncovers a disturbing pattern. He asserts that for an extended period, major corporations have manipulated their markets by restricting product supply, resulting in inflated prices and societal disparities.
He mentioned that meatpackers at slaughterhouses are now exporting more meat than ever. According to Goodman, we are essentially sacrificing the lives of slaughterhouse workers for the profit margins of monopoly companies.
ABC News sat down with Goodman to discuss more about his book and inflation in the U.S.
ABC NEWS LIVE : The global economics correspondent for The New York Times, renowned for his in-depth reporting in his new book, “How the World Ran Out of Everything,” Peter Goodman is taking a deeper look at how the global supply chain was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it could still be impacting your daily life. Peter Goodman, thank you so much for joining us.
GOODMAN: Thanks for having me.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Talk a little bit about what inspired you to write this book. We all remember those days where people didn’t even know what the supply chain was. And then very quickly, we learned about the supply chain during COVID.
GOODMAN: Yeah, I mean, it was cosmically bewildering, right? We’re already dealing with quarantine kids, cooped up with distance learning. And suddenly, I mean, in my own case, I’m living in London with a newborn born in April 2020, and we’re dealing with the fact that we can’t find hand sanitizer. We can’t find the ingredients to make hand sanitizer. We’re hearing frontline medical workers are treating COVID patients without any protective gear. And you just wondered, like, what’s going on here?
ABC NEWS LIVE: It’s just it was a scary time for a lot of folks to realize how dependent we are on the supply chain.
GOODMAN: I mean, we are dependent upon this kind of rickety, improvised series of networks heavily focused on China. One thing is missing, and suddenly there’s serious shortages. And we’re still there for many products. And we’re back in a shipping crisis, because the Hutus are opening fire on container ships heading toward the Red Sea. So we’re again seeing shipping prices going up. And this is at the center of our inflation problems as well.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Well, in your book, you allege that for decades, some of the largest businesses had amassed chokeholds on their markets while limiting the supply of their products as a way to charge higher prices. Talk about that allegation a little bit.
GOODMAN: So monopoly power is at the center of this, right? We all like to think about supply and demand. If demand is constrained, well then we understand that the price is supposed to drop. If there are shortages, then eventually production kicks in and makes more stuff and prices kind of equalize.
But we have so many markets. like I focus on the beef industry, where the robber barons would blush, you know, four companies control 85% of the capacity for meatpacking in the United States. So even while ranchers were going out of business because they can’t find people to buy their cattle in the midst of the pandemic, and we’ve got slaughterhouse workers, I profile a woman who actually lost her life at a slaughterhouse in Greeley, Colorado.
When we decide, you know, we got to keep these plants going and the public is told, if not, you know, we’re going to run out of meat. Well, these meatpackers are actually exporting more meat than ever in this time. So we essentially are sacrificing the lives of slaughterhouse workers for profit margins for monopoly companies. When things are scarce, price goes up. We know that. And there’s a lot of engineered scarcity in this economy.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Is that still the case as much today as it was two or three years ago during the pandemic? We’ve heard a lot more about this issue of the robber baron and this corporate greed and companies having this market power, but has anything been done to change that?
GOODMAN: I mean, the unfunny punchline in my book is every chapter, whether we’re looking at rail, trucking, shipping, which is essentially this large, unregulated international cartel where, you know, during the worst of the pandemic, we saw shortages of containers.
We saw the cost of moving factory goods from Asia to the West Coast of the United States, which is the gateway for most of our imports go up tenfold. Well, we’re there right now. We’re seeing shipping prices soar back close to those levels. This is not a history book. This is a book about the present and the future.
ABC NEWS LIVE: That’s concerning when we do have this already persistent inflation, those higher costs that people are still struggling with even as it’s gotten better.
GOODMAN: Well that’s right. I mean, the inflation rate has cooled quite a bit, but the prices haven’t come down for all sorts of things. That’s not news for anybody who’s gone to the store to buy milk, eggs for their family, put gas in their car.
I mean, we’ve got scarcity. A lot of it’s engineered, some of it’s disruption from the supply chain. But if we don’t figure out how to make this system work, not just for the investor class, but for society as a whole and also for working people, you know, we’re dependent upon this army of working people who most of us don’t give a thought to.
ABC NEWS LIVE: A sobering reminder as we forget when it’s not quite in front of us as it was a couple years ago, but still a problem there, as you point out. Peter, thanks so much for being here.
GOODMAN: Thanks so much for having me.
ABC NEWS LIVE: ‘How the World Ran Out of Everything’ is now available wherever books are sold.
(GAZA) — In Deir Al-Balah, a city in the Gaza Strip, Marwa Al-Hasanat has found a way to bring some joy to her community amid the destruction and hardship of war in the form of a roadside bookstore.
Al-Hasanat, 22, a lifelong lover of books inspired by her grandfather who authored three of his own on the Arabic language, started an online bookstore in June 2022 called Marwa.Book. But since the war began on Oct. 7, Al-Hasanat has not been able to purchase books to sell online from Gaza City, where she used to get her supply. The intermittent internet connection throughout the current war has also left her online bookstore inoperable.
Al-Hasanat told ABC News she has experienced her own tragedies in the current conflict.
After a bombing in November hit the house adjacent to hers, her father was killed, she said. Al-Hasanat was trapped under rubble for 15 minutes, she said. Ultimately she was able to escape and survived; she said in an interview with ABC News.
“During the war, what does not kill us makes us stronger. Since I emerged from under the rubble for about 15 minutes, I was saying that I am still alive, but no one hears me or knows about me. After they took me out [of the rubble], I felt that I had a mission and a purpose in this world. I was not killed because of the bombing. So I have a goal,” Al-Hasanat said.
Al-Hasanat said she had a newfound determination. Despite losing her father, she wanted to continue to pursue and share her love and passion for books. If she could not sell her books online, she decided she would start selling them in the street.
Enlisting the help of her cousin Abdul Hakim, she set up a modest stand amidst the street noise filled with displaced people, aiming to support her family after her father’s death and to continue spreading the culture she deeply cherished.
Al-Hasanat has seen a positive reaction from her community to the roadside bookstore, she said.
“The community is very interactive with the library because they want to read and learn. We spread culture, and they change their mood by reading. They feel that they are on a journey and challenge motives and war. We are an educated society. It is truly interactive,” Al-Hasanat told ABC News.
The community’s response to Al-Hasanat’s street bookstore was overwhelmingly positive, she said.
Hiba Al-Za’anin, who was displaced from Beit Hanoun to Deir Al-Balah, said that she was grateful for the presence of the bookstore, and Al-Hasanat’s idea in the street, especially after she bought the novel “Anne of Green Gables.”
A displaced person from Gaza City lost his wife in a bombing there, he told ABC News. His wife loved reading, he said, so he is grateful that he’s been able to continue his wife’s reading journey by buying books and novels from Al-Hasanat.
“Reading books motivates people … provides food for the soul, and also motivates them for the future,” Hakim told ABC News.
Even though there are challenges to running her roadside bookstore – there is a constant fear of danger, and bombings could start at any minute – she believes the books are “sending a message.”
“I am sending a message to everyone in society to read, look for a new life in books, instead of the life we live, we are looking for a semblance of life. If you read, you will find a lot of life in books,” Al-Hasanat said.
(LVIV, Ukraine) — Col. Oleh Avtomeenko was wounded while performing a combat mission in Donetsk region, on the first days of the Russian full-scale invasion in late February 2022, and lost his eyesight.
And now, after 20 years in Ukrainian Army, he has to say goodbye to it and learn how to move on in complete darkness. But he refused to surrender.
“When you are a military, you understand why that happened to you — because you connected your work, your profession with a certain risk for your life and health — it was your conscious choice of yours,” said Avtomeenko, 46.
The former deputy commander of a mechanized brigade said he feels sorry for civilians who have nothing to do with army, but who have also lost their eyesight during the Russian war against Ukraine.
“First six months I was completely devastated, it couldn’t be any worse, thinking that life is over, my military career is over, all my plans for the future are ruined and I have lost everything,” Avtomeenko said.
The next six months were a period of acceptance for him, as he realized what happened to him and there was nothing that could be done to change it.
No wonder that Avtomeenko became one of the five first students of “Touch Point,” a project initiated by Ukrainian Ministry of Education, the NGO Public Health Alliance and the Lviv Educational and Rehabilitation Center “Levenya.”
During two weeks of its first phase this March, four veterans and one civilian woman learned how to navigate in space without eyesight, including cooking and working with computers and smartphones. Avtomeenko traveled to Lviv to participate.
“The state did not manage to build a solid, flexible and organized system in order to help people who have sacrificed their health during this war,” explained Vira Remazhevska, the co-organizer of the courses and the founder of the first in Ukraine educational and rehabilitation center, “Levenya.”
The president of the nongovernmental group Association of Special and Inclusive Education Workers insists that from the very beginning of the war, when Russian forces entered Crimea in 2014, this problem has unfortunately become a matter of concern mostly for NGOs.
“One of our goals was not only to help particular people but also to try to shape and formulate such kind of social service in the country,” said Remazhevska.
Long before the project started, Remazhevska and her team were helping the veterans, consulting with them at first via the phone, providing them with psychological support. They taught them how to deal with basic needs, for instance, how to brush their teeth by putting the toothpaste not on the toothbrush but directly on the teeth.
This March, on the premises of the local professional college of hotel, tourist and restaurant service in Lviv, the participants of the project learned not only how to use laptop, cellphone and other digital gadgets, but also how to cook and how to walk using the white cane.
“It is supposed to become the extension of their hand and actual substitute of their vision – indoors and outdoors,” Remazhevska said.
In her opinion, “A spatial orientation instructor who teaches a person to walk is responsible for his life, because he must teach him first of all safety.”
After the first stage of the project, Remazhevska noticed that people who have lost their eyesight as a result of injury often suffer from severe concussions.
According to her, the rehabilitators are also dealing with massive psychological problems not only of the veterans but also of their families’ members: “This is a tragedy of a whole family, a tragedy of relationships, when a person who was the support, the backbone of the family, suddenly becomes a helpless person.”
“I am a living proof that one can live despite blindness — I think that is the best example we can provide in order to push people for further development,” says Volodymyr Pyrig, 35, a journalist and blind trainer at the program.
Pyrig, who has been blind since birth, has for years has been serving as a translator of many programs for the blind into Ukrainian, in particular – a program that allows blind people to work freely with a computer.
During the 10 days Pyrig worked with three veterans.
“At first, the guys just needed more communication with other blind people – they asked me a lot of questions not related directly to the training,” Pyrig said.
“On the one hand, they already knew how to clean the apartment and do other stuff at home, but, on the other hand, they were not ready to go shopping or to cook. I shared with them some basic knowledge to let them use and multiply it.”
According to Pyrig, Avtomeenko managed to be very quick in terms of orientation, learning how to work independently and now he works on the computer with relative confidence –from time-to-time reaching out to Pyrig with some additional questions.
Another veteran, Anton Bohach, a volunteer and former truck driver from Kropyvnytskyi, learned how to use a smartphone but said he was not ready to deal with the computer, explaining that he doesn’t feel a proper push to start working in this direction.
“Maybe, it is a matter of some psychological implications, as he has lost his vision only in September last year — roughly speaking, not enough time passed since then at the moment,” Pyrig said. Due to his observations, Those who lost their sight earlier in life often behaved more confidently, were more relaxed, more open, he said.
The third veteran, Denys Abdulin, also a volunteer and former boxer from Bila Tserkva, already knows what he wants to do. as He said he plans to become a professional masseur.
In Pyrig’s opinion, the Ukrainian society is reacting better to the needs of the blind people but there is still some discrimination left — especially in terms of labor.
“In the majority of cases there is a prejudice that if you are blind, it automatically means that you are not going to make it, you are incapable of doing some job,” he said. “There is even no chance to try through the internship – in order take your chance to prove that you actually can.”
The training made a difference for Avtomeenko, who said, “It was great – after the first two or three days I understood that with this (blindness) you can live and live coolly setting no limits for yourself.”
The common day for Avtomeenko starts with workout, shower, shaving, coffee and feeding the cats. And then he normally spends the rest of his time on his laptop working with his channel on Telegram.
“At first, I planned to work on the blog about the life with blindness, common questions and problems to resolve, how to live in the city and use some social establishments for physically impaired people,” Avtomeenko said.
Then he added some military analytics and other news from Ukraine, but after complete mastering the laptop he plans to dedicate his work to other blind people: “To tell them more about technologies, gadgets and applications that can simplify or comfort their lives.”
He is sharing his videos through his video blog, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube — letting people know what the life of a blind person looks like: “I work mostly on the laptop, listen to some content on YouTube, and learn English or Polish languages through the audio lessons as I need to develop myself – there is no point in being stuck in the moment.”
Avtomeenko says his own motto is his personal message to other veterans who have lost their eyesight or limbs: “Do not stop. I know, that this is hard. I have been there myself. Nothing is impossible – if someone else made it, you can make it as well and if no one made it – you can be the first one to do that.”
By the end of these two weeks of rehabilitation, Avtomeenko said, he became more self-sufficient, more autonomous, learned how to walk, how to do many other things.
He remembers, that some of the veterans were saying that it would be better if they had lost the leg instead of their eyes being damaged: “It makes no sense to compare someone’s else story with your own or try to understand how it is to be in other’s shoes – everybody is living their unique story, you just have to overcome it and accept it as it is.”
Remazhevska said that not all young men who have lost their eyesight are willing to participate as there are several factors — previously gained negative experience of rehabilitation in medical facilities, loss of self-confidence and loss of trust to the state.
“Some are just doing nothing, staying at their homes making no efforts, and some are just too tired to search the truth,” she said.
But Remazhevska insisted that even two weeks can make a difference for some severely wounded veterans and civilians as they may gain a lot. She cited Lyudmyla, a woman from Vyshgorod and the only civilian participant of the course, saying, “I have spent 18 months in darkness, in the dark pit, and these two weeks became the brightest period in my life.”
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. military is once again suspending operations of its pier off Gaza, temporarily moving the floating structure to an Israeli port to ride out high seas and rough waves expected to hit the region in coming days, officials said Friday.
It’s the latest setback for the ambitious $230 million humanitarian project involving 1,000 US troops and the third time in a month that military officials have had to halt aid deliveries via the pier due to weather.
U.S. Central Command, which oversees forces in the region, said relocating the pier was necessary to prevent damage to the structure.
“The decision to temporarily relocate the pier is not made lightly but is necessary to ensure the temporary pier can continue to deliver aid in the future,” CENTCOM tweeted late Friday. “After the period of expected high seas, the pier will be rapidly re-anchored to the coast of Gaza and resume delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Complicating the matter is that humanitarian aid that has been transported ashore via the pier is being held at a nearby facility after the United Nations suspended deliveries last week due to security concerns. The U.N. said Friday it does not have a timeline for when distribution might resume.
The difficulties come as time is running out for the U.S. to make use of the temporary pier, which was initially slated as a 90-day project that would likely lose its ability to transit aid at the end of August, when heightened sea levels and more frequent storms would force military officials to take it down.
Announced by President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address in March, the project was supposed to bring some two million meals a day into hunger-stricken Gaza while Israeli officials held up aid trucks at ground crossings, citing security concerns that some of the aid could reach Hamas.
CENTCOM on Friday said that more than 3,500 metric tons of humanitarian aid have been delivered via the pier so far, with about 1,000 tons of that delivered in the past two days.
U.S. officials have acknowledged that much of that aid hasn’t made it to its distribution points. Still, they say the pier has been key in moving ashore much-needed aid that wouldn’t otherwise arrive and is intended to augment, not replace, aid moving via ground crossings.
While it’s the third time the U.S. military has paused shipments coming across the pier, it’s the second time the system – called Joint Logistics over the Shore, or JLOTS – has been relocated. The first time the pier was relocated, it had broken apart in rough weather and needed repairs. This time, the pier is being disassembled and moved as a precautionary measure to prevent damage.
The sputtering start has riled Republican critics who have called the pier an impractical political endeavor, rather than a serious foreign aid program.
“So far, the only accomplishment has been an increase in cost and risk for the 1,000 U.S. deployed troops,” tweeted Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
GOP Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, this week called the project an “irresponsible pier experiment” that needs to be “immediately terminated before catastrophe occurs.”
Citing the three service members who were injured while working on the pier, along with damaged Army vessels that ran aground, Rogers called it a waste of money and “an embarrassment for the administration.”
“This operation has failed and was never based in reality,” he said in a statement.
The Pentagon has defended the program as necessary to address a dire humanitarian situation.
“It’s pretty important for the people that are suffering right now … to get whatever aid they can by whatever means,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters in May when the pier was temporarily inoperable. “If you want to characterize it as a failure, I leave it to you. What I can tell you is that we don’t control the weather.”
