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(WASHINGTON) — A senior Israeli official says the United States has begun slow-walking some military aid to Israel — an assertion senior U.S. officials denied was the case, in what’s perhaps more evidence that the relationship between the two allies is growing increasingly strained.

The conflicting account came as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S. — said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way” and should hold an election for a potential replacement.

“I believe that to achieve that lasting peace — which we so long for — Israel must make some significant course corrections,” Schumer said Thursday.

According to a senior Israeli official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the U.S. military aid shipments at the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war “were coming very fast,” but “we are now finding that it’s very slow,” which has put pressure on Israel as it attempts to destroy the terrorist Hamas organization in Gaza.
Schumer calls for new elections in Israel, warns Netanyahu has ‘lost his way’

The official said he was not sure what the cause was, but that Israel was fully aware of the United States’ frustration with the war, and that Israel needed to do more to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza.

When asked about the allegation, several U.S. officials said there was no change in U.S. policy or any deliberate delay in delivering previously promised aid or weapons sales to Israel.

Under a 10-year agreement negotiated by then-President Barack Obama, the U.S. provides about $3.8 billion in military and missile defense systems every year.

U.S. officials say there have been discussions on what kind of leverage the U.S. might have with Israel to pressure Netanyahu to do more to protect civilians, particularly as it considers expanding its military operations by invading Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. But the U.S. officials also noted that no decisions have been made on whether to use any leverage and said it’s possible additional aid — not less — would be offered as an incentive.

When asked about a potential slow walk in weapons aid or sales, White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said the U.S. is continuing to provide Israel with what it needs.

“I’m not gonna get into the timeline for every individual system that’s being provided,” he told ABC News. “We continue to support Israel with their self-defense needs. That’s not going to change, and we have been very, very direct about that.”

Also on Thursday, the U.S. government announced sanctions against three Israeli settlers living in the occupied West Bank and two settlements for violence they allegedly committed against Palestinians, including the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and land.

According to the senior Israeli official, in increasingly short supply are 155 mm artillery shells and 120 mm tank shells. The U.S. had been supplying similar munitions to Ukraine, which also reports specifically running low on 155 mm artillery shells.

The senior Israeli official said some sensitive guidance equipment was also needed, but declined to elaborate. The person said any delays are particularly worrisome because European states are also now reluctant to sell arms to Israel.

The official added that Israel “might lose this war” because in order to win, Israel needs ammunition and legitimacy, and both are starting to run out, he said.

The Israel Defense Forces declined to comment to ABC News.

Regarding Schumer’s comment, Netanyahu’s Likud party said in a statement that “Israel is not a banana republic but an independent and proud democracy” that elected the prime minister.

“Contrary to Schumer’s words, the Israeli public supports a complete victory over Hamas, rejects any international dictate to establish a Palestinian terrorist state, and opposes the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza,” the statement read. The senator “is expected to respect Israel’s elected government and not undermine it,” the party said. “This is always true, and even more so in wartime.”

The dispute over whether the U.S. is pulling support for Israel comes about five months into Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip, where it is attempting to destroy the Hamas network and free Israeli and international hostages.

Palestinian Islamist militants carried out an unprecedented incursion from Gaza into southern Israel by air, land and sea on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities. More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 72,000 others have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Rising international pressure on Israel over some of its tactics in accomplishing its military goals means a hostage or cease-fire deal is less likely in the near future, the senior Israeli official told ABC News. But the official said a positive international perception in general has become more important than ammunition because, he said, Israel can defeat its enemies on the battlefield but would lose the war if it becomes a pariah state.

The United Nations and other organizations have warned that Gaza is on the brink of famine due to the limited amount of food and humanitarian aid entering the coastal enclave, particularly in the north, which has been isolated by the Israeli military and largely cut off from aid for weeks, according to the U.N.

Hunger in Gaza is at a “catastrophic level” and more than 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.2 million people faces acute food insecurity, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said Tuesday.

The U.S. Central Command announced over the weekend that it had begun dropping water and meals into northern Gaza, while also deploying the first of some 1,000 U.S. troops to the coast to build a pier that will be able to facilitate more aid.

Col. Elad Goren, head of Israel’s Civil Department of the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), told ABC News on Thursday that Israeli officials are listening to U.S. criticism that more aid is needed.

“Yes, of course,” Goren said.

The maritime corridors, airdrops and truck convoys supplying aid are also running into the headwinds of Israeli politics. A significant proportion of the country supports blocking aid to Gaza, the senior Israeli official said.

That position puts those factions in Israel at direct odds with top Biden aides and Schumer, who argue increased humanitarian aid is not in conflict with Israeli security.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog on Thursday called Schumer’s comments calling for a new election in Israel “counterproductive.”

“Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals,” Herzog said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks, Nadine El-Bawab and Mary Kekatos contributed to this story.

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(LONDON) — At least two people have been killed and thousands have been displaced as Tropical Storm Filipo made landfall in Mozambique, the country’s National Institute for Disaster Management said.

The tropical storm made landfall in Mozambique on the March 12 after strengthening off the coast of southeast Africa, bringing strong winds and heavy rain to Mozambique’s Inhambane and Gaza provinces.

At least 2,780 people have been affected by Filipo, which has damaged roads and at least 510 homes, disaster management officials said. At least least 43 families have been displaced, they said.

MIDA estimates over 500,000 people are to be affected by the storm, which arrived a year after Cyclone Freddy, the the devastating storm that killed at least 522 people across Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar.

“The Mozambique Red Cross is on the ground, working alongside local authorities to assess the situation,” said the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), “All our thoughts and solidarity are with the people impacted by this disaster.”

South Africa’s weather service (SAWS) said the tropical storm is expected to mostly affect southern Mozambique, but its effect “will also be felt over the extreme north-eastern parts of South Africa.”

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said over 1,000 people from about 200 families have taken shelter across four active accommodation centers in the southern Mozambique city of Inhambane as of March 13.

“Consecutive disasters have made it almost impossible for affected communities to recover and rebuild their lives,” says Oxfam Southern Africa Programme Director Machinda Marongwe. “Whatever little crops people have tried planting in this growing season have been damaged either due to El Nino-induced six weeks of dry spells or by flash floods.”

The World Bank in 2023 mobilized $150 million to Mozambique to help the southern African nation recover from Cyclone Freddy, the tropical cyclone – one of the strongest ever recorded in the southern hemisphere – battering Mozambique twice in late February and early March of 2023.

Agencies say they are continuing to monitor the storm as it passes through Mozambique.

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(NEW YORK) — Five Palestinians were killed on Wednesday at the U.N. aid distribution center in Rafah, the southern Gaza city bordering Egypt, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said. This distribution center is run by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), the main U.N. agency operating inside of Gaza.

The Gaza Ministry of Health said the U.N. distribution center was hit by shelling. ABC News has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment on the attack.

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the UNWRA, called for an “independent inquiry” into violations against the Israeli military’s targeting of U.N. sites in Gaza.

“Every day, we share the coordinates of all our facilities across the Gaza Strip with parties to the conflict. The Israeli Army received the coordinates including of this facility yesterday,” Lazzarini said in a post on X (formally known as Twitter) after the attack.

“The @UN, its personnel, premises and assets must be protected at all times. Since this war began, attacks against UN facilities, convoys and personnel have become commonplace in blatant disregard to international humanitarian law,” he added. “I am calling once again for an independent inquiry into these violations and the need for accountability.”

Aid agencies estimate there are now 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza’s total population, displaced in this small town that borders Egypt. All are competing for the scant resources available amid the Israel-Hamas war.

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(LONDON) — A mysterious 1,800-year-old Roman statue has been discovered by a construction worker while he was digging up a parking lot.

It was during work on an overflow parking area at Burghley House — a historical Tudor-era manor dating back to the 16th century located 90 miles north of London — when the discovery was made by Greg Crawley who was driving a digger and saw a “pale object amongst the lifted earth” that he had been excavating, according to a statement from Burghley House announcing the discovery.

“I had a real shock as the digger bucket rolled over what I thought was a big stone to reveal a face. When I picked it up, I realised it was a head of a statue,” Crawley said. “I couldn’t believe it when they told me it was a Roman marble statue. It was an amazing feeling to have found something so old and special – definitely my best ever discovery.”

This, however, was not the only artifact that was found.

Just two weeks later when the original discovery was made in April 2023 as the parking lot was nearing completion, a second discovery was made a short distance away from where the head was found — this time it was the bust of the statue that the head had originally been attached to.

Both items were subsequently taken to Burghley’s curator before being sent to a professional conservator who was able to carefully clean and consolidate the figure before reassembling both pieces as they had been intended. The find was also reported to the British Museum, which maintains a database of such discoveries, according to Burghley House.

“After being cleaned, experts dated the sculpture from the First or Second Century, with an iron dowel added later, allowing it to be attached to a bust or pedestal,” said Burghley House. “This type of adaptation was often carried out by Italian dealers in antiquities during the late 18th Century to make excavated ancient fragments more attractive to aristocrats travelling in Italy on what was known as the Grand Tour.”

Officials believe that it may have come from one of the ninth Earl’s two tours to Italy in the 1760s, when he purchased many antiquities, one of those being this sculpture that he brought back to Burghley.

“But it remains a complete mystery how the head and bust ended up buried in the park, with explanations ranging from a bungled burglary to someone simply discarding the statue and it later being covered by soil,” said Burghley House.

It is unclear how long the statue has remained hidden underground and experts say they may never know how it got there or why.

For now, however, the statue has a new home on display within the dramatic Hell Staircase at Burghley House.

“And when the House opens again for the 2024 season, on 16 March, the remarkable find will be on display, together with an explanation about its discovery, and alongside other sculptures that were purchased by the ninth Earl,” said Burghley House.

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(LITHUANIA) — Leonid Volkov, a former top aide to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is recovering after he was attacked with a hammer by an assailant on Tuesday night near his home in Lithuania, in an assault he blamed on the Kremlin.

Volkov, who was Navalny’s longtime chief of staff, said he was attacked as he arrived in the yard of his home in Vilnius. In a video message on his Telegram channel, Volkov said the attacker struck him around 15 times with the hammer, and that it left him struggling to walk and with a broken arm. Photos shared by his colleagues showed Volkov with a bloodied leg and a bruised face.

“It’s painful to walk, but they say there’s no break. Though my arm is broken,” Volkov said in the video, wearing a sling on his right arm. “Oh well, I’ll live. The main thing is to work and we will not surrender,” he said.

Volkov accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the attack. “This is obviously a typical, characteristically gangster-ish hello from Putin,” he said. “Hello to you too, Vladimir Vladimirovich,” he added, using Putin’s middle name.

Lithuanian authorities also swiftly blamed Putin’s regime, with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda saying the attack was pre-planned.

“I can only say one thing to Putin — nobody is afraid of you here,” Nausėda said.

Lithuanian police said they were investigating the attack and that the country’s elite anti-terrorism unit was assisting.

Lithuania’s State Security Department counterintelligence agency said the assault was probably carried out to stop the Russian opposition from influencing Russia’s presidential election this weekend, Reuters reported.

The Kremlin views Navalny’s team as “the most dangerous opposition force capable of exerting real influence on Russia’s internal processes”, the Lithuanian security agency said, according to Reuters.

Volkov has lived in Lithuania’s capital for the past few years, in exile from Russia where he would face arrest for political activities. Long one of Navalny’s closest lieutenants, he has vowed to continue his struggle against Putin’s regime since Navalny’s death last month.

Volkov and Navalny’s team have called for Russians to take part in a guerrilla protest around the elections, urging people to gather quietly at polling stations at midday Sunday and to vote for any candidate other than Putin or spoil their ballots.

In an interview with ABC News last week, before the attack, Volkov had said he and the rest of Navalny’s former team were determined to keep going despite the dangers.

“The personal risks for everyone and the leadership of our movement are, of course, very high,” he said in the interview. “We are well aware of these personal risks, but it’s our choice to keep going.”

Navalny died in an Arctic prison colony in February after being held in Russian jails since 2021. Navalny’s team and family have accused the Kremlin of murdering the opposition leader. His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has vowed to step into her husband’s role, pursuing peaceful ways to undermine Putin’s grip on Russia and leading the movement he built. While Navalny was in prison, his colleagues continued to release highly produced videos exposing alleged corruption within Putin’s circle and lobbying for sanctions targeting his associates.

“We have no choice but to continue,” Volkov told ABC News. “[Navalny] was like a never-give-up person. If we would stop now, it would be like a betrayal of his legacy.”

Volkov said the thousands of people who attended Navalny’s funeral, chanting slogans against Putin and the war in Ukraine, gave him hope. The funeral was the largest display of public dissent in Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, amid a crackdown that has seen virtually all leading opposition figures jailed or forced into exile, almost all protest outlawed and independent media shut down.

The election this weekend is expected to grant Putin a fifth term, keeping him in power for another six years. No serious challengers are on the ballot, and anti-war candidates have been barred from running.

Volkov said that given the dangers of public protest in Russia now, the opposition’s strategy needs to be to create opportunities for those who oppose Putin and the war to see each other. The protest called for on election day was part of that strategy, he said.

“We don’t expect that those votes will be counted. They will not. But people will come together, they’ll see each other. And they’ll have this feeling that they actually exist. They’re actually not the marginal minority as the propaganda pretends they are,” he said.

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(LONDON) — England’s National Health Service has banned the use of puberty blockers for the treatment of gender dysphoria or gender incongruence in transgender minors.

The NHS has not stated it will restrict puberty blockers for non-transgender children and young people.

An NHS spokesperson told ABC News the agency hopes to have a study into the use of puberty blockers in place by December of this year, with eligibility criteria yet to be decided.

The agency said it made the move after considering an evidence review conducted by England’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

“We have concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty suppressing hormones to make the treatment routinely available at this time,” an NHS spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.

Less than 100 young people in England are currently prescribed puberty blockers by the NHS and will be able to continue their treatments, according to the BBC.

Clinicians will also be able to apply for the treatment for their patients under NHS England’s Individual Funding Request process, the agency said.

When children experiencing gender dysphoria or gender incongruence reach puberty, physicians told ABC News that families and their care providers sometimes consider the use of puberty blockers to delay the development of gendered characteristics, including the growth of breasts and facial hair, as well as changes in a person’s voice.

Physicians and researchers told ABC News in a past interview that puberty blockers are a decades-old practice that has been widely used on children who experience puberty earlier than what is typical.

The Endocrine Society, an international organization of more than 18,000 endocrinologists, calls the medication “fully reversible.” Once blockers are stopped, puberty continues with little to no proven side effects, according to health professionals.

“Puberty blockers allow more time to explore gender identity” and allow families to determine their plans for the future regarding gender and gender-affirming care, Endocrine Society guidelines say.

The Endocrine Society says the risks of using puberty blockers include low bone mineral density, headaches, hot flashes, fatigue and mood alterations.

Professionals who spoke with ABC News said they haven’t seen fertility issues in people who temporarily use puberty blockers. However, it’s stated as a risk by the Endocrine Society based on when puberty blockers are used.

All medications, surgeries or vaccines come with some kind of risk, and gender-affirming care is no different, according to physicians. However, knowing the risks and benefits of treatment — and of not treating a condition — can help families make an informed decision, physicians say.

The gender-affirming care guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the Endocrine Society state physicians should thoroughly warn patients about the potential for reduced fertility before administering hormone blockers and hormone therapy.

Major medical associations in the United States, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and others agree that gender-affirming care is safe, effective, beneficial and medically necessary.

Studies show transgender youth are more likely to experience anxiety, depressed moods, and suicidal ideation and attempts, often due to gender-related discrimination and gender dysphoria.

Some studies, including research from the Pediatrics and LGBT Health journals, have shown that gender dysphoria and social motivation improved significantly with puberty blockers, and self-harm and suicidality decreased.

In the U.S., at least 23 states have restricted gender-affirming care, according to the Human Rights Campaign: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.

However, several states have had their policies blocked by legal challenges.

Critics of these U.S. laws say they are concerned about the impact such bans can have on the mental and physical well-being of transgender youth, a small and already marginalized population.

Supporters of these laws say trans youth should wait until they’re older to make decisions about their health.

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(LONDON) — At least seven Russian territories were targeted by dozens of uncrewed drones on Tuesday, marking a second day of apparent Ukrainian strikes within Russia.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said at least 58 drones were shot down by air defences overnight and into Wednesday morning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the two days of attacks on Russian regions were an effort by Ukrainian forces and pro-Ukrainian Russians to prevent the holding of presidential elections. Voting in those elections is scheduled for the coming weekend.

“The main goal, I have no doubt about it, is to, if not disrupt the presidential elections in Russia, then at least somehow interfere with the normal process of expressing the will of citizens,” Putin said on Wednesday.

The drones shot down on Wednesday had targeted locations in Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk, Ryazan and the Leningrad region, Russian military officials said.

The ministry on Tuesday had said that it had destroyed dozens of other Ukrainian drones in several regions within Russia.

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(NEW YORK) — A team of U.S. Marines has been sent to provide additional security at the U.S. embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti, according to a statement from U.S. Southern Command.

This new group of Marines is in addition to the tactical teams of Diplomatic Security personnel from the State Department that had already been sent to Haiti.

“At the request of the Department of State, the U.S. Southern Command deployed a U.S. Marine Fleet-Anti-terrorism Security Team (FAST) to maintain strong security capabilities at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and conduct relief in place for our current Marines, a common and routine practice worldwide,” U.S. Southern Command said. “The U.S. Embassy remains open, and limited operations continue, focused on assistance to US citizens and supporting Haitian led efforts to secure a peaceful transition of power.”

Separately, a spokesperson for U.S. Southern Command says “U.S. Southern Command is prepared with a wide range of contingency plans to ensure the safety and security of U.S. Citizens in Haiti.”

The Marines being sent to Haiti are what is known as a Marine FAST team — Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team — that have specific training in providing additional security at U.S. diplomatic posts anywhere in the world on short notice.

The deployment of Marines to the U.S. embassy is the second time this week that U.S. military forces have been called to assist U.S. embassy personnel in Haiti.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, U.S. military helicopters assisted in the evacuation of American non-essential personnel from the U.S. embassy according to a U.S. official.

A U.S. State Department official had earlier told ABC News that multiple specialized tactical teams from its Diplomatic Security Service had been securing the embassy and protecting the remaining staffers.

The official added that although some embassy employees were airlifted from Haiti this weekend, “a substantial complement of diplomats” are still at the embassy.

“This week, the Department of Defense doubled our funding for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, and we are working with Haitian, Kenyan, and other partners to expedite its deployment to support the Haitian National Police and to restore security in Haiti,” U.S. Southern Command continued. “The Department of Defense is postured to provide enabling support for the MSS, including planning assistance, information sharing, airlift, and medical support.”

Haiti has been engulfed in civil unrest over the past several weeks which led to Acting Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announcing he would resign on Monday, saying he will cede power to a presidential council following weeks of soaring anti-government violence led by an alliance of gangs.

“My government will leave immediately after the installation of this council,” Henry said in his announcement.

Henry’s resignation comes as gangs have launched an armed rebellion in Port-au-Prince this month, attacking a series of government targets over the last two weeks. Gang leadership had called for Henry to resign, leading to rampant speculation over how he would respond.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday the U.S. “welcomes” the outcome of the meeting that created a transitional Presidential Council for Haiti, and commended Henry for “putting his country and Haitians first, agreeing to step down once this council is established.”

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(GAZA and LONDON) — The holy month of Ramadan is being marked across the Muslim world, but for people in Gaza, it’s a far more somber and muted time than in previous years, as the Israel-Hamas war approaches the six-month mark.

Much of the enclave’s population of 2.2 million people is now homeless, the United Nations has said, with many living in makeshift refugee camps. Food, water, medical supplies and other resources are scarce.

Many Gazans have been involuntarily fasting long before the holy month, which started on Monday, as they simply cannot find food. Part of the religious observance of Ramadan involves fasting from dawn to sunset.

“I see people walking in search of food, but their eyes are empty and their souls are dead,” Loujain Anan, a 25-year-old from Gaza City, told ABC News. Anan is one of the 1 million displaced people who have taken shelter in Rafah, the small town in southern Gaza that borders Egypt.  

“A day is a struggle between me and memories. Our days have become about survival, not life. Remember that Gaza is not fine and this Ramadan is not happy,” Anan said.

Enough food ‘to feed entire population’ sitting outside Gaza as malnutrition death toll reaches at least 20: WFP
Anan said she’s haunted by her memories of previous Ramadans, telling ABC News: “A scene appears before me, of me, my family and friends, sitting in front of the television with a long meal of delicious and varied food in front of us.”

That’s in stark contrast to what she faces now, she said. “I feel my heart beating hard and very cold air hitting my bones, and I wake up on a cold mattress on an empty floor in a room that is not my room and a house that is not my home,” Anan said. “I see my mother and her friend placing a few lanterns on the table and decorations on the wall. I look at her but I feel nothing but the pain of memories.”

Anan is not the only Gazan struggling to embrace Ramadan this year.

“I cannot believe that we are living during the month of Ramadan under war and bombing,” Nabila Rabie, 62, told ABC News.

Rabie has been displaced from her home in Khan Younis and is now living in a tent in Al Mawasi in southern Gaza.

“I am tired of sleeping in the tent, life here is very difficult and impossible. I feel that my heart will stop due to the intensity of sadness over this tragic situation,” she said.

President Joe Biden had warned of a “very dangerous” situation if a cease-fire wasn’t reached by the start of Ramadan. An Israeli political official with knowledge of the negotiations recently told ABC News that progress toward reaching another cease-fire and hostage deal is slow.

Israel-Hamas truce talks stall as war in Gaza grinds on
Historically, Ramadan is a tense month in Israel, with Palestinians and Israeli police regularly clashing over access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, one of the holiest sites in Islam, which is in the same compound as Temple Mount — one of the holiest sites in Judaism.

Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization, called Ramadan “the month of victory, the month of jihad,” and in a video statement released Friday on Telegram, called for “our people to march on Jerusalem … to pray in the mosque … and to stop the occupation achieving its aims of controlling and dividing. Al-Aqsa Mosque belongs to us.”

The comments have alarmed Israeli authorities, who are granting access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque on a limited basis, allowing only Palestinian men over 55, women over 50 and children under 10 who have the correct travel permits to visit, according to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. The office said it would allow a similar number of worshipers into the mosque this year as it did in 2023, when it was estimated between 200,000 and 250,000 people worshiped there every Friday during Ramadan.

Further restrictions could reportedly be introduced for Friday prayers.

The tension is particularly heightened this year as Israel continues its aerial bombardment and ground operations in Gaza, following Hamas’ attack. Palestinian Islamist militants carried out an unprecedented incursion from Gaza into southern Israel by air, land and sea on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage, according to Israeli authorities.

The Israeli government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has said it’s determined to destroy Hamas and plans to invade Rafah, where it says Hamas leaders are hiding and where Israeli officials believe some of the hostages are being kept in tunnels.

More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 72,000 others have been injured in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Hundreds of truckloads of aid for Gaza stuck as more lives lost to malnutrition, some aid organizations say
For many in Gaza, the holy month of Ramadan is an unwelcome reminder of what they have lost.

“Now we miss everything. Our hearts are sad because this is a great loss. We lost our entire life and we are waiting to be relieved from this pain before our hearts explode from this tragedy,” 42-year-old Suhail Al-Akhras, who was displaced from Gaza City and has been living in Rafah’s tent city, told ABC News.

“I will miss everything during the month of Ramadan. I will miss sitting with my family. I will miss the iftar [breaking of the daily fast] table on which we put all the various types of food,” he said. His children will not be fasting this year, he explained, as there isn’t enough nutritious food for their evening iftar meal to properly replenish them.

Those in Gaza who feel weak due to undernourishment may forgo fasting, and those for whom fasting would pose a serious health risk must forgo fasting, Abbas Shouman, secretary-general of Al-Azhar’s Council of Senior Scholars in Cairo, said, The Associated Press reported.

More than 500,000 people in Gaza face ‘catastrophic hunger’: UNRWA
Hunger in Gaza is at a “catastrophic level” and more than 90% of the population faces acute food insecurity, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said Tuesday.

Thousands in northern Gaza are malnourished and at risk of starvation, according to the U.N., and so would be unable to fast.

The World Food Programme, an arm of the U.N. that has been trying to get much-needed aid to the area, has called the situation “a humanitarian catastrophe.” More than half the population in Gaza faces “catastrophic hunger,” multiple U.N. organizations warned in January.

“Recently, children from Gaza City and its north came to our hospital suffering from malnutrition and severe dehydration,” Dr. Ahmed Al-Kahlot, head of the care and nursery department at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, told ABC News.

“Some of them died,” he added.

ABC News filmed inside the Kamal Adwan Hospital and captured distressing images of a 12-year-old boy who was severely malnourished and dehydrated. Muhammad Rajab was brought to the hospital two weeks ago and is still in critical condition, hospital staff said, telling ABC News they don’t have the right resources to treat him.  

The neonatal unit at the hospital is operating far beyond capacity, with many newborns fighting for life, Al-Kahlot said. “Most of the cases you see are at risk of death at any moment,” Al-Kahlot added.

One mother who spoke to ABC News said her newborn was dehydrated. “Malnutrition negatively affects breastfeeding,” she said. “The baby does not get enough from breastfeeding so he became dehydrated.”

Her baby now has kidney issues, she said, and she’s very concerned. “What has this 1-month-old baby done to deserve this?” she said.

Overcrowded hospitals, few supplies causing ‘complete collapse’ of Gaza health system
While the situation doesn’t currently appear as extreme in Rafah as it is in northern Gaza, there’s little enthusiasm for the reflection and communality that traditionally comes with Ramadan.

“There is no joy, there is no food for breakfast and suhoor [the meal consumed early in the morning before fasting], there are no family gatherings, all my children were displaced in different areas in the Al-Mawasi area in tents,” Rabie told ABC News.

“We have had enough of destruction, death and hunger,” she added.

There are some people, however, who are trying to bring some Ramadan joy to the people of Rafah. Tents in the displacement camps have been decorated with lights, people are still trying to gather for evening prayer and iftar — the evening meal that breaks the fast.

To mark the start of Ramadan, Hala Abu Al-Lail, a young graduate of public relations and advertising, said she organized some games for the children in the camps.

“I loved to get them out of the atmosphere of war, support them psychologically, and provide entertainment,” she said, adding: “I am so happy because I saw them happy. They have not been happy for a long time, they are even sad about the joy.”

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(PADUA, Italy.) — While makeup trends have evolved over the last 4,000 years, a recent study apparently proves that the age-old saying is true: the beauty of a red lip is timeless.

Researchers have identified what is believed to be the world’s oldest known lipstick, or lip paint – a small, ornate stone vial containing a deep red paste, which was discovered in southeastern Iran.

“We hypothesize a lip paint, rather than a solid lipstick because we have no certain idea about the original consistency or fluidity of the cosmetic substance,” Massimo Vidale, one of the study’s lead researchers and a professor of archaeology at the University of Padua in Italy, told ABC News in a statement.

The Bronze Age artifact is carbon dated to between 1936 B.C. and 1687 B.C. and was originally discovered in 2001, when a flood unearthed ancient graveyards, according to a study published in February in the journal Scientific Reports.

The 2001 flooding of the Halil River Valley, 25 miles south of Jiroft, Iran, exhumed ancient ruins from what is believed to be the Bronze Age Marḫaši civilization, a “powerful” people who are believed to have thrived alongside Mesopotamia, according to the study.

Researchers said the ancient lipstick vial, as well as jewelry, weapons, and finely crafted ceramics were among the artifacts looted from the ruins and sold to antique markets before being recovered by Iranian officials.

“A small chlorite vial, discovered among numerous artifacts looted and recovered in the Jiroft region of Kerman province contains a deep red cosmetic preparation that is likely a lip-coloring paint or paste,” researchers said in the study.

The vial was included in a collection at the Jiroft Archaeological Museum in Iran before it was analyzed by researchers from the Italian University of Padua, Iranian University of Tehran, and the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies in Rome.

The hand-carved stone vial is approximately two inches tall by three-quarters of an inch wide, which is slightly smaller than modern-day lipsticks, according to the study.

One of the most notable findings in the study is that the mineral components of the lipstick artifact “[bear] a striking resemblance to the recipes of contemporary lipsticks,” researchers said.

The ingredients identified by a scanning electron microscope include hematite, darkened with manganite and braunite, and traces of galena and anglesite, mixed with vegetal waxes and other organic substances, according to Vidale, who further noted, “combined it is exactly what one would expect in a modern lipstick.”

For Vidale, the discovery draws a close connection between women of an ancient civilization to those of today.

“I’ve always felt closely connected to the people and civilizations of ancient Iran,” Vidale said. “And having a grown-up daughter, I’ve always been deeply intrigued when I came across material evidence that could be linked to women and children of that age and those cultures.”

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