(NEW YORK) — Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot in the abdomen in an assassination attempt in the town of Handlova on Wednesday, according to a government official.
Fico, 59, was raced to a hospital in Bratislava, the country’s capital, about 2 hours away, officials said.
A suspect was immediately swarmed and arrested at the scene.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war crosses the seven-month mark, renewed negotiations are underway to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, as Israeli forces continue to prepare for an apparent invasion of the southern Gazan town of Rafah.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 15, 10:03 AM
Blinken calls continued closure of Rafah gate ‘urgent problem’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked how long the U.S. would standby while Israel continues to seal off the Rafah gate, cutting off Gaza from the world. Blinken told reporters it is an “urgent problem” that aid isn’t getting into Rafah or Kerem Shalom. He also said the humanitarian situation is at risk of backsliding.
However, there’s no plan for the future, Blinken said.
Israel “cannot and says it does not want responsibility for Gaza. We cannot have Hamas controlling Gaza. We cannot have chaos and anarchy in Gaza. So there needs to be a clear, concrete plan. And we look to Israel to come forward with its ideas,” Blinken said.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
May 14, 7:02 PM
US moving forward with $1B in new weapons deals for Israel: Sources
The Biden administration notified Congress on Tuesday that it is moving forward with more than $1 billion in new weapons deals for Israel, according to sources familiar with the matter at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday that the United States is continuing to send military assistance to Israel. The only shipment paused involves the 2,000-pound bombs, for fear they’d be used in a major invasion in Rafah, according to a U.S. official.
May 14, 12:52 PM
450,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah, UN says
About 450,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Rafah, fleeing to safety, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
“Inland in Rafah is now a ghost town. It’s hard to believe there were over one million people sheltering here just a week ago,” UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge said. “People face constant exhaustion, hunger and fear. Nowhere is safe. An immediate ceasefire is the only hope.”
The development comes as airstrikes continued to hit northern and southern Gaza Tuesday. The Israeli military said it had hit 120 targets in the last 24 hours.
May 14, 12:13 PM
International court to hold hearings over Israel’s Rafah attacks
The International Court of Justice said it will hold hearings over Israel’s attacks on Rafah during the war in Gaza, after South Africa sought new emergency measures as part of its ongoing case accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in its offensive on Gaza.
Hearings will be held on Thursday and Friday in the Hague.
South Africa first brought the case before the ICJ in December alleging Israel violated its obligations in its offensive with regard to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
May 13, 4:16 PM
White House says world should be calling on Hamas to accept hostage proposal
National security adviser Jake Sullivan stressed the U.S. is working “urgently and relentlessly” to get a hostage deal in place, but did not have any major progress to share Monday.
Sullivan noted that he met with the families of American hostages this past Friday, and that “they know how hard the president is working on this.”
On where the hostage negotiations stand currently, Sullivan turned to the architect of the Good Friday agreement in Ireland.
“Sen. [George] Mitchell said quite famously, “‘Negotiations are 1,000 days of failure and one day of success.’ And right now, we’re in the former days rather than the latter day,” he said.
“[T]here could be a cease-fire tomorrow if Hamas simply released women, wounded and elderly hostages, all innocents. Israel put a forward-leaning proposal on the table for a cease-fire and hostage deal. The world should be calling on Hamas to come back to the table and accept a deal,” Sullivan said.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
May 13, 4:06 PM
US aware of American doctors trapped in Gaza
The State Department on Monday said it was aware of reports that U.S. doctors were trapped in Gaza, and that it’s been working with Israel to reopen the Rafah gate so U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals can leave.
“I can say that we’re aware of these reports of U.S. citizen doctors and medical professionals currently unable to leave Gaza,” principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said. “As I said before, we don’t control this border crossing. And this is a incredibly complex situation that has very serious implications for the safety and security of U.S. citizens. But we’re continuing to work around the clock with the government of Israel, with the government of Egypt, to work on this issue.”
He added, “Rafah is a conduit for the safe departure of foreign nationals, which is why we continue to want to see it get opened as swiftly as possible.”
The State Department said it does not have an estimate of Americans still trapped in Gaza, but that it’s helped 1,800 U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to depart Gaza so far.
“Unfortunately, this is not a border crossing the United States controls but we are continuing to work around the clock with the government of Israel, with the government of Egypt on whatever we can do to make sure that Rafah gets open. … We need to see Rafah open as soon as possible,” Patel said.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
May 13, 2:23 PM
UN worker killed after vehicle struck in Gaza
A United Nations worker was killed and another injured after their vehicle was struck in Gaza on Monday, the organization said.
The staff members of the U.N. Department of Safety and Security were traveling to the European Hospital in Rafah when their U.N. vehicle was struck, the U.N. said.
Details on the incident were not immediately available. The U.N. said it is still gathering information.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a full investigation, his spokesperson said.
“Humanitarian workers must be protected,” Guterres said on X. “I condemn all attacks on U.N. personnel and reiterate my urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire & the release of all hostages.”
More than 190 U.N. staff members have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to Guterres.
May 13, 3:44 AM
Almost 360,000 people have fled Rafah, UN agency says
Almost 360,000 people have fled from the southern Gazan city of Rafah since Israel issued an evacuation order last week, the United Nations agency operating in Gaza said on Monday.
“There’s nowhere to go,” the U.N. Agency for Palestine Refugees said on social media. “There’s NO safety without a cease-fire.”
The agency had said Sunday that 300,000 people had evacuated the city as Israel weighs a full-scale invasion.
-ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey
May 12, 5:39 PM
IDF say its opened new crossing for humanitarian aid into Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces has announced that it has opened a new crossing to bring humanitarian aid into the famine-stricken Gaza.
The military announced in a Sunday press release the opening of the “Western Erez crossing” between Israel and northern Gaza in coordination with the U.S.
According to the military, the new crossing is located west of the Erez crossing, closer to the seashore. The crossing was constructed by the Israeli military “as part of the effort to increase routes for aid to Gaza, particularly to the North of the strip.”
Earlier Sunday, IDF said it launched a large-scale operation in the area of Jabaliya in the North, while intensifying its military operations in the Eastern portion of Rafah and the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing. It said that it had called on the civilian population to evacuate from Jabaliya to shelters in the west part of Gaza City.
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic
May 12, 2:27 PM
White House National Security Advisor speaks to Israeli counterpart, expresses concern over pending Rafah invasion
In a phone call Sunday with his Israeli counterpart, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed an “ironclad U.S. commitment” to Israel but also voiced the Biden administration’s concerns about Israel’s major military operations in Gaza, according to the White House.
During the call with Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, Sullivan reiterated President Joe Biden’s “longstanding concerns over the potential for a major military ground operation into Rafah, where over one million people have taken shelter,” according to a readout of the call that was released by the White House.
“He [Sullivan] discussed alternative courses of action to ensure the defeat of Hamas everywhere in Gaza,” the readout said. “Mr. Hanegbi confirmed that Israel is taking U.S. concerns into account.”
The White House said Sullivan also expressed condolences on Israel’s Memorial Day, the first since Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office.
Sullivan and Hanegbi also reviewed discussions by officials on both sides of the war about alternatives for a Rafah invasion and agreed to plan an in-person meeting soon, according to the White House.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
May 12, 6:16 AM
300,000 have fled Rafah, UN agency says
More than 300,000 people have fled Rafah in the week since Israel issued a partial evacuation order, the United Nations agency operating in Gaza said on Sunday.
The U.N. Agency for Palestine Refugees called the evacuation “forced and inhumane.”
“There is nowhere safe to go,” the agency said on social media, repeating the phrase three times for emphasis.
The Israeli military late Saturday called again for civilians to evacuate from much of the eastern part of the city, which is in southern Gaza.
Israel Defense Forces entered Rafah last week, in what they called a “precise” operation ahead of potential invasion.
“Prior to our operations we urge civilians to temporarily move towards humanitarian areas and move away from the crossfire that Hamas puts them in,” the Israel Defense Forces said on a post on Telegram. “Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza.”
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic and Kevin Shalvey
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(NEW YORK) — The United States will provide an additional $2 billion in aid to Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday during a press conference in Kyiv with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
The foreign military financing will be used not only for purchasing weapons from the U.S., but also by Ukraine as it invests in manufacturing its own machinery and weapons, Blinken said. Ukraine will also use some of the funding to purchase weapons from other countries, he said.
“All of this — in particular as we think about the defense industrial base — builds on an incredible spirit of innovation, of ingenuity, of entrepreneurship that we see here in Ukraine,” Blinken said.
The deal for the latest aid comes as Russian forces increase their assaults along the front lines in northern and eastern Ukraine.
Blinken on Wednesday said the United States is “rushing” much of the military aid in the $60 billion package President Joe Biden approved in April.
“The $60 billion supplemental, we know, is coming at a critical time,” he said. “Ukraine is facing this renewed brutal Russian onslaught, and we see again senseless strikes on civilians and residential buildings.”
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(LONDON) — Fighting between the Sudanese Army (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group and allied militias has intensified in El Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s North Darfur state.
In a dramatic escalation of violence, fighting has broken out in the north and east of El Fasher — also commonly known as Al Fashir — with the sound of airstrikes, artillery fire and heavy weapons ringing from mid-morning on Friday into the weekend.
At least 27 people have been killed in the renewed fighting and at least 130 people injured, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
An estimated 850 people across various locations in El Fasher have also been displaced by the most recent clashes, with many people fleeing southward, the U.N. said in an alert.
The violence comes as the U.S. warned of a looming offensive on El Fasher — one of the only remaining cities in the Sudanese Army’s control — by the RSF Paramilitary group and allied militias.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said he is “gravely concerned” by the escalating violence in El Fasher, expressing alarm at the “use of heavy weapons in densely populated areas” that have resulted in dozens of civilian casualties and “significant” displacement and destruction of infrastructure.
Around 800,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in the besieged city — which was a key humanitarian hub and safe refuge to hundreds of thousands already displaced by the conflict. As militants encircle the city, U.N. Relief Chief Martin Griffiths warned the situation is at a “tipping point”: “Countless lives are at stake.”
An airstrike by the SAF over the weekend near the Babiker Nahar Paediatric Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit caused the hospital’s roof to collapse, killing three people, including two children, according to a statement from Médecins Sans Frontières, which is known as Doctors Without Borders or MSF.
The incident came after 160 wounded people recently arrived at the hospital, 25 of whom were in terminal condition upon arrival, and have since died.
“This must not happen again,” said MSF in a statement. “We remind the warring parties with the utmost gravity that hospitals and health facilities must not be targeted or become collateral damage in a conflict.”
Fighting between the SAF, RSF and allied militias plunged Sudan into chaos in April 15, 2023, following weeks of tensions linked to a planned transition to civilian rule. SAF’s Commander General Abdel-Fattah Burhan and Head of RSF General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo — known as Hemedti — engaged in a vicious power struggle.
The conflict has precipitated “one of the worst humanitarian nightmares in recent history,” with a new report finding at least 9.1 million people have been displaced, the most ever recorded in a single country since the IMDC began taking records in 2008.
At least 14,000 people have been killed according to the U.N.
Local groups, however, warned the true toll is likely much higher.
United States Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello this week begun a regional tour, departing Washington for Uganda, Kenya, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Perriello is due to meet with “key regional partners” and Sudanese civilians as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Sudan continue, the State Department has announced.
“The RSF must lift its siege of the city. The SAF must protect critical infrastructure,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Greenfield said. “There will be direct and immediate consequences for those responsible for an offensive on El Fasher.”
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(NEW YORK) — Persistent rains and destructive flooding continue to wreak havoc in Brazil, with officials saying rising river levels signal further damage in the Rio Grande do Sul region.
As of Tuesday, 149 people were confirmed dead in the flood-stricken southern state, with 124 individuals still unaccounted for, according to civil defense officials.
More than 600,000 people have been displaced from their homes, with approximately 155,000 of those homes being destroyed, officials said.
In total, local agencies say 2.1 million people have been directly affected by the ongoing climate crisis in Rio Grande do Sul.
The Guaíba River in Porto Alegre, the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul, could reach unprecedented levels of over 18 feet in the next few days, according to local officials.
On Monday, Brazil’s Minister of Finance Fernando Haddad said the federal government is preparing direct financial assistance for families affected by the floods.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced National Civil Defense resources for humanitarian aid and reconstruction of damaged structures would be available to the region starting Tuesday.
“Starting today, mayors and the state government can register requests for schools, daycare centers, health units, hospitals, and equipment recovery. Just register and it will start happening immediately to serve the people,” President Silva said during a live broadcast.
On Saturday, U.S. President Joe Biden released a statement on the ongoing crisis, saying, “The United States stands with Brazil at this difficult time.”
“My administration is in contact with our Brazilian partners, and the United States is working to provide necessary assistance to the Brazilian people, in coordination with Brazilian authorities as they lead the response,” Biden said.
Over the weekend, large parts of Rio Grande do Sul saw close to 4 inches, according to INMET, the National Meteorology Institute.
The World Meteorological Organization is attributing Brazil’s record rainfall to El Niño, a surface warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean.
El Niño is the same climate pattern that influences weather patterns in the U.S., frequently bringing above-average rainfall to parts of California and dry conditions in the Ohio Valley during the winter months, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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(JERUSALEM) — Multiple people have been arrested in connection with an attack Monday on an aid convoy headed toward Gaza, according to Israeli officials.
Israeli protestors blocked aid trucks that were headed to Gaza from the West Bank. Humanitarian groups say civilians are facing a “full-blown famine” and a humanitarian crisis amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Footage of the incident, captured by bystanders at the scene and shared online, appears to show protesters blocking and raiding the aid vehicles near Hebron that were passing through the West Bank from Jordan, destroying boxes of water, food and other aid bound for Gaza. Aid trucks can also be seen set ablaze and left burning on the road.
The attack on the convoy is the culmination of weeks of demonstrators attempting to block aid trucks from reaching Gaza, with protesters claiming the aid will instead wind up in the hands of the terrorist group Hamas.
The White House condemned the destruction of the aid, calling it “completely and utterly unacceptable behavior.”
“It is a total outrage that there are people who are attacking and looting these convoys coming from Jordan going to Gaza to deliver humanitarian assistance,” said National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in a press briefing on Monday. “We are looking at the tools that we have to respond to this and we are also raising our concerns at the highest level of the Israeli government.
Israeli law enforcement has publicly said only that an investigation into the aid convoy attack is ongoing.
Several aid organizations, including United Nations organizations, have warned that Gaza is experiencing “catastrophic” levels of hunger and need.
Immediately following Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise terrorist attack in Israel, Israel implemented a blockade of Gaza and severely limited the amount of goods that travel into the territory. Since then, some Gaza border crossings have reopened, but relief workers say the aid getting through falls far short of what’s needed.
Amnesty International is among the human rights organizations that have accused Israel of not providing enough authorization to deliver sufficient aid to Gaza, and that ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza make it difficult to deliver what little aid is authorized.
Israel denies the accusations, and counters that the U.N., its partners and other aid agencies have created logistical challenges, resulting in a bottleneck of aid intended for Gaza. Additionally, the Israeli government claimed Hamas steals aid meant for civilians. The U.N. and Hamas dispute the respective claims.
More than 180 aid workers from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and associated agencies have been killed while providing aid in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began, according to the U.N. agency.
In Gaza, more than 34,790 people have been killed and more than 78,000 have been injured since the war began, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. More than 1,700 Israelis have been killed and more than 8,700 injured, according to Israeli officials.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos and Marcus Moore contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) — A pod of killer whales attacked and sunk a yacht in the Strait of Gibraltar, between Spain and Morocco, officials confirmed to ABC News.
Two people were on board the vessel when the incident occurred Sunday at 9 a.m. local time, according to Spain’s maritime authority.
The nearly 50-foot yacht, named The Alboran Cognac, was 15 miles from Cabo Espartel in Morocco when an unknown number of orcas began ramming it.
The couple alerted Spanish authorities and a rescue team arrived to extricate them from the vessel an hour after the attack, though officials were unable to salvage the sinking boat.
There have been approximately 700 orca attacks since 2020, according to GT Orca Atlantica, a conservation group, and officials believe there are more than 37 orcas in the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea, separating Europe from Africa.
“During the summer and autumn of 2020, interaction events began to occur between several specimens of this species and vessels, mainly sailboats, both in the Strait of Gibraltar and in the waters of the Galician coast,” according to Spanish government officials. “These interactions have ranged from persistent approaches to ships, to ramming the hull and rudder, causing various types of damage, which continue today.”
It’s unclear why orcas attack boats, though experts hypothesize the marine mammals could be targeting vessels for sport or they feel threatened.
According to a study in Biological Conservation, a peer-reviewed journal, “sophisticated learning abilities” have been found to exist in orcas.
In June 2023, racing yachts in the Strait of Gibraltar had a close encounter with a pod of orcas, race officials said at the time.
Crew members aboard a rival pair of 65-foot yachts were on the final leg of The Ocean Race, a global sailing competition, when they reported being intercepted by killer whales as their boats approached the Strait of Gibraltar.
No fatalities were reported in the incident, according to officials.
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(LONDON) — A record 75.9 million people were displaced by the end of 2023 by conflict, violence and national disasters, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre said in a report released Tuesday.
At least 68.3 million people were living in displacement by the end of 2023 as a result of conflict and violence, the highest-ever figure since data became available, according to the report.
Conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Gaza have fueled the rising figures, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the record total, the report found.
“Millions of families are having their lives torn apart by conflict and violence,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. “We have never, ever recorded so many people forced away from their homes and communities.”
By the end of 2023 at least 9.1 million people were displaced by the conflict in Sudan according to the IMDC, the most ever recorded in a single country since records began in 2008.
The Israel-Hamas war has also caused displacement in the region to spike to what is the highest figure in the region since data became available in 2008.
In Europe, 99% of the region’s conflict displacements were associated with the conflict between Russia and Ukraine: “Conflict displacement figures decreased from 17.1 million in 2022 to 779,000 in 2023 as the front lines in the war between Ukraine and Russia remained relatively unchanged during the year.”
“The images from Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan are only the most recent in a trend towards increasing upheaval and dislocation of civilians across the globe,” said Robert Piper, special adviser on solutions to internal displacement to the United Nations secretary-general.
The report found the onset of the Israel-Hamas war shifted displacement in the region.
“The conflict in Palestine contributed to an eight-fold increase in conflict in the Middle East and North Africa in 2023 after three years of consecutive decreases,” says the IMDC. “An estimated 4.1 million movements were reported, of which 203,000 took place in Israel and 3.4 million in Palestine, the vast majority in the Gaza Strip.”
Natural disasters triggered 26.4 million internal displacements and movements around the world by the end of 2023, the third-highest figure in the last decade, but a decline from 2022, the report said.
Severe weather in China and high-magnitude earthquakes in China and Turkey accounted for a third of displacement, the Turkey-Syria quake displacing 4.7 million people, the highest figure for earthquakes since 2008.
Two-thirds of other disaster displacements were recorded in Canada and Greece, the nations reporting some of their highest-ever figures.
And while weather changes from La Niña to El Niño led to fewer displacements across most of Asia, storms and floods — particularly in the Horn of Africa — have triggered record numbers with 2.9 million displaced, the report said.
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(NEW YORK) — Ukraine said it is battling 30,000 Russian soldiers at the border near Kharkiv, as thousands of civilians have been evacuated due to heavy fighting in the region.
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine told ABC News on Monday that Russia is using 30,000 of its 50,000 soldiers amassed at the border to attack, as the Kremlin continues its new northeast offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during an address Monday that he has sent reinforcements to the region as they continue to counter Russian attacks. The troops are being provided “with all of the necessary firepower and forces,” and their “results are improving,” he said.
“We are destroying the enemy’s infantry and armored vehicles,” Zelenskyy said. “At the same time, we can clearly see how the enemy acts and their intent to stretch our forces thin.”
The address came amid days of shelling in the region, including the border town of Vovchansk. Officials in Vovchansk said Monday that the town is being destroyed by mortars and cluster bombs, while gun-fighting is happening on the northern outskirts of the city.
Some 5,900 civilians have been evacuated from their homes in the region in recent days and fled toward the city of Kharkiv due to the fighting, the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration said Monday. Some 200 people still remain in Vovchansk, officials said.
During his address, Zelenskyy thanked local authorities who have aided in the evacuations “under constant Russian strikes.”
Russia’s military said in an update Monday that it has “improved the tactical situation and delivered strikes” on Ukrainian troops and military hardware in the Kharkiv region, including near Vovchansk.
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(NEW YORK) — As the Israel-Hamas war crosses the seven-month mark, renewed negotiations are underway to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, as Israeli forces continue to prepare for an apparent invasion of the southern Gazan town of Rafah.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 13, 4:16 PM
White House says world should be calling on Hamas to accept hostage proposal
National security adviser Jake Sullivan stressed the U.S. is working “urgently and relentlessly” to get a hostage deal in place, but did not have any major progress to share Monday.
Sullivan noted that he met with the families of American hostages this past Friday, and that “they know how hard the president is working on this.”
On where the hostage negotiations stand currently, Sullivan turned to the architect of the Good Friday agreement in Ireland.
“Sen. [George] Mitchell said quite famously, “‘Negotiations are 1,000 days of failure and one day of success.’ And right now, we’re in the former days rather than the latter day,” he said.
“[T]here could be a cease-fire tomorrow if Hamas simply released women, wounded and elderly hostages, all innocents. Israel put a forward-leaning proposal on the table for a cease-fire and hostage deal. The world should be calling on Hamas to come back to the table and accept a deal,” Sullivan said.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
May 13, 4:06 PM
US aware of American doctors trapped in Gaza
The State Department on Monday said it was aware of reports that U.S. doctors were trapped in Gaza, and that it’s been working with Israel to reopen the Rafah gate so U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals can leave.
“I can say that we’re aware of these reports of U.S. citizen doctors and medical professionals currently unable to leave Gaza,” principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said. “As I said before, we don’t control this border crossing. And this is a incredibly complex situation that has very serious implications for the safety and security of U.S. citizens. But we’re continuing to work around the clock with the government of Israel, with the government of Egypt, to work on this issue.”
He added, “Rafah is a conduit for the safe departure of foreign nationals, which is why we continue to want to see it get opened as swiftly as possible.”
The State Department said it does not have an estimate of Americans still trapped in Gaza, but that it’s helped 1,800 U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to depart Gaza so far.
“Unfortunately, this is not a border crossing the United States controls but we are continuing to work around the clock with the government of Israel, with the government of Egypt on whatever we can do to make sure that Rafah gets open. … We need to see Rafah open as soon as possible,” Patel said.
-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty
May 13, 2:23 PM
UN worker killed after vehicle struck in Gaza
A United Nations worker was killed and another injured after their vehicle was struck in Gaza on Monday, the organization said.
The staff members of the U.N. Department of Safety and Security were traveling to the European Hospital in Rafah when their U.N. vehicle was struck, the U.N. said.
Details on the incident were not immediately available. The U.N. said it is still gathering information.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a full investigation, his spokesperson said.
“Humanitarian workers must be protected,” Guterres said on X. “I condemn all attacks on U.N. personnel and reiterate my urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire & the release of all hostages.”
More than 190 U.N. staff members have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to Guterres.
May 13, 3:44 AM
Almost 360,000 people have fled Rafah, UN agency says
Almost 360,000 people have fled from the southern Gazan city of Rafah since Israel issued an evacuation order last week, the United Nations agency operating in Gaza said on Monday.
“There’s nowhere to go,” the U.N. Agency for Palestine Refugees said on social media. “There’s NO safety without a cease-fire.”
The agency had said Sunday that 300,000 people had evacuated the city as Israel weighs a full-scale invasion.
-ABC News’ Kevin Shalvey
May 12, 5:39 PM
IDF say its opened new crossing for humanitarian aid into Gaza
The Israel Defense Forces has announced that it has opened a new crossing to bring humanitarian aid into the famine-stricken Gaza.
The military announced in a Sunday press release the opening of the “Western Erez crossing” between Israel and northern Gaza in coordination with the U.S.
According to the military, the new crossing is located west of the Erez crossing, closer to the seashore. The crossing was constructed by the Israeli military “as part of the effort to increase routes for aid to Gaza, particularly to the North of the strip.”
Earlier Sunday, IDF said it launched a large-scale operation in the area of Jabaliya in the North, while intensifying its military operations in the Eastern portion of Rafah and the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing. It said that it had called on the civilian population to evacuate from Jabaliya to shelters in the west part of Gaza City.
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic
May 12, 2:27 PM
White House National Security Advisor speaks to Israeli counterpart, expresses concern over pending Rafah invasion
In a phone call Sunday with his Israeli counterpart, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed an “ironclad U.S. commitment” to Israel but also voiced the Biden administration’s concerns about Israel’s major military operations in Gaza, according to the White House.
During the call with Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, Sullivan reiterated President Joe Biden’s “longstanding concerns over the potential for a major military ground operation into Rafah, where over one million people have taken shelter,” according to a readout of the call that was released by the White House.
“He [Sullivan] discussed alternative courses of action to ensure the defeat of Hamas everywhere in Gaza,” the readout said. “Mr. Hanegbi confirmed that Israel is taking U.S. concerns into account.”
The White House said Sullivan also expressed condolences on Israel’s Memorial Day, the first since Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office.
Sullivan and Hanegbi also reviewed discussions by officials on both sides of the war about alternatives for a Rafah invasion and agreed to plan an in-person meeting soon, according to the White House.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart
May 12, 6:16 AM
300,000 have fled Rafah, UN agency says
More than 300,000 people have fled Rafah in the week since Israel issued a partial evacuation order, the United Nations agency operating in Gaza said on Sunday.
The U.N. Agency for Palestine Refugees called the evacuation “forced and inhumane.”
“There is nowhere safe to go,” the agency said on social media, repeating the phrase three times for emphasis.
The Israeli military late Saturday called again for civilians to evacuate from much of the eastern part of the city, which is in southern Gaza.
Israel Defense Forces entered Rafah last week, in what they called a “precise” operation ahead of potential invasion.
“Prior to our operations we urge civilians to temporarily move towards humanitarian areas and move away from the crossfire that Hamas puts them in,” the Israel Defense Forces said on a post on Telegram. “Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza.”
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic and Kevin Shalvey
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