(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.
Newly arrive refugees stand outside their makeshift shelter as a sand storm approaches on April 21, 2024 in Adre, Chad. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
(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.
(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.
Palestinians who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ride with their belongings in the back of a truck, as they arrive to take shelter in Deir el-Balah in the central part of the Palestinian territory on May 12, 2024. – Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
(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.
Today a @UN vehicle was struck in Gaza, killing one of our colleagues & injuring another. More than 190 UN staff have been killed in Gaza. Humanitarian workers must be protected. I condemn all attacks on UN personnel and reiterate my urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian…
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) May 13, 2024
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.”
(LONDON) — A lawyer appointed for Gordon Black, a U.S. Army soldier arrested in Russia, has appealed his detention, according to the state-owned TASS news service.
Black was detained in Vladivostok, Russia, earlier this month on charges of criminal misconduct, according to the U.S. Army.
Two U.S. officials told ABC News last week that Black, a staff sergeant, had been stationed in South Korea before going on temporary leave. He was not granted permission to travel to Russia, the officials said.
Black had traveled to Russia to visit his girlfriend, the 35-year-old’s mother, Melody Jones, told ABC News’ Good Morning America last week.
Vladivostok is a port city in Russia’s far-east Primorsky Territory, which sits near the country’s border with North Korea.
TASS said it released the news of Black’s appeal in cooperation with the joint press service of the Primorsky Territory’s judicial system.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Leah Sarnoff, Mark Guarino and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
Palestinians who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ride with their belongings in the back of a truck, as they arrive to take shelter in Deir el-Balah in the central part of the Palestinian territory on May 12, 2024. – Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images
(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, 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.”
(MALMO, Sweden) — The Dutch contestant in Europe’s popular Eurovision Song Contest has been disqualified after an “incident” occurred with a female member of the production crew, the European Broadcast Union announced Saturday.
The competition’s Grand Final, scheduled for Saturday in Malmo, Sweden, will now proceed with 25 participating songs.
Swedish police are investigating a complaint made by a female member of the production crew against the Dutch contestant, 26-year-old Joost Klein, according to the EBU.
“While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the Contest,” the EBU said.
The EBU noted that the alleged incident did not involve any other performer or delegation member.
“We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour at our event and are committed to providing a safe and secure working environment for all staff at the Contest. In light of this, Joost Klein’s behaviour towards a team member is deemed in breach of Contest rules,” the EBU said.
The disqualification comes amid ongoing controversy over the participation of Israel in the contest, with many demanding 20-year-old Eden Golan be excluded from the competition over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Golan is set to perform Saturday. Thousands had protested her participation in the contest earlier this month.
(WASHINGTON) — An upcoming report from the Biden administration examining Israel’s use of American-supplied arms does not conclude that the country violated international or U.S. law in Gaza, according to two sources familiar with the assessment, which has not yet been released.
Despite these findings, a U.S. official added that the report is still highly critical of some of the actions Israel has taken through the course of its military campaign against Hamas.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip carry their belongings as they leave following an evacuation order by the Israeli army on May 6, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)
(RAFAH, Gaza Strip) — As the latest Israeli military incursion into Rafah continues amid the war with Hamas, humanitarian workers and doctors are warning that the emergency situation in the southern Gaza border city is worsening and having a “horrific” impact on civilians.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets in Rafah on Monday and sent text messages in Arabic calling for about 100,000 people to evacuate the eastern part of the city and to head north to the Al-Mawasi humanitarian corridor ahead of a long-promised major ground invasion into Rafah.
No trucks with food, water, fuel, medicine or other supplies entered Gaza between Monday and Wednesday, according to the latest information from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Additionally, just two hospitals are functional in Rafah, as are two in nearby Khan Younis, to the north, the office said.
Additionally, during a media briefing Wednesday by the nonprofit relief coordination organization Crisis Action, aid workers and medical staff – including some who are currently in or have recently evacuated from Rafah – said there’s a lack of food and water and very little health care available for the more than one million people sheltering in Rafah.
Dr. Mohamed Hamooda, a nutritionist and head kitchen chef in Rafah for the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Rebuilding Alliance, had been providing hot meals to thousands of displaced people there since February. However, he was recently forced to evacuate amid orders from the IDF and went to Khan Younis.
“This site, we don’t have electricity, clean water,” Hamooda said of the move to Khan Younis. “We don’t have clean food for my children and my team. Some of [the displaced people], I don’t know where [they] will go.”
Recently, World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain said that “full-blown famine” is occurring in northern Gaza. Additionally, if Israel’s promised ground invasion in Rafah happens, a projected 1.1 million people across Gaza are projected to experience “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity, according to a report from the U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative.
Israeli forces took control of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt early Tuesday and closed it, cutting off one of the most vital entry points for aid into Gaza. Humanitarian workers said there are hundreds of trucks at the border waiting to enter to provide assistance to people inside Gaza who are without sufficient food or water.
However, Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a post on the social platform X on Thursday that the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south and Erez crossing in the north are open, with border guards “inspecting trucks of aid for the Gaza strip.”
“Our staff are here, ready and available to facilitate aid into Gaza,” the post also said, adding that “All trucks sent to the crossings are immediately inspected and transferred to Gaza.”
Even if true, some humanitarian workers say it’s not enough.
“For formula, you need clean water, and clean water is not available right now,” said Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian advocacy and policy for the nonprofit Save the Children International, during the Crisis Action media briefing Wednesday. “So, the situation for infants is horrific. We were told by doctors at the hospital, basically when they discharge [a] mother and [a] child, they go back to the shelter and, many times, the infant will die because they’re not getting the sufficient nutrients and mothers are not getting the sufficient nutrients to breastfeed. So, the situation for infants is catastrophic.”
Dr. John Kahler, a pediatrician and co-founder of the NGO MedGlobal, was set to enter Rafah Monday for his third medical mission there since January, but he says his convoy had to turn back to Cairo due to safety concerns over the promised imminent Israeli attacks.
Kahler told ABC News that it’s “absolutely undeniable” that the closed border has only worsened the aid crisis in Rafah, and in Gaza as a whole. He said a huge segment of the population is suffering from malnourishment and starvation, and while aid can supply people with the calories they need, it’s no guarantee of survival.
“I can bring a bag of flour so people can get the amount of calories they need but they’re not getting the nutrients they need,” he said. “Nutrition transcends calories and people often confuse the two. The real ethical problem is all this food exists within a stone’s throw,” the latter referring to the waiting aid trucks sitting outside of Rafah.
During the briefing, Jeremy Konyndyk, president of the humanitarian organization Refugees International, added that part of the reason northern Gaza is experiencing famine but southern Gaza hasn’t yet reached that point is because most of the aid operations have been based out of Rafah. However, he warned that aid workers currently in Rafah have very little fuel remaining.
“The whole aid operation runs on fuel, so if the fuel is cut off, the aid collapses and it collapses quickly,” he said. “That means water can’t be pumped, lights can’t be kept on in hospitals, vehicles cannot distribute aid. So what we’re seeing with this total closure in the last few days … really risks the near-term collapse of the aid operation.”
Konyndyk further warned that if there’s a major offensive in Rafah, it will “fully collapse” the aid operation not only there, but likely throughout Gaza.
“It would also force the NGOs to relocate and the humanitarian groups that would relocate out of Rafah to God knows where – there is really nowhere else for them to viably go,” Konyndyk said. “The offices, the residences, the warehouses, the logistical hubs, that’s all based in the south. And so, if that it goes away because of an offensive, the impact is not just on the people in Rafah. The impact is throughout Gaza, because it collapses, what remains of the, even as it is woefully insufficient, aid operation.”
Humanitarian workers also emphasized that the health care system overall has collapsed in Gaza. Helena Ranchal, a nurse for more than 20 years and director of international operations for the humanitarian organization Médecins du Monde, or Doctors of the World, said she’s never seen as severe a situation in conflict zones as she has seen in Gaza.
“The severity of the people in the hospital,” she said during the briefing. “Many, many of them, they are children. We are seeing war injuries in children. And it’s not just the fact that the health staff are more than tired. It’s that we don’t have all the materials, or we don’t have all the drugs, we don’t have all the capacity to move from one place to another.”
Ranchal said staff are often also treating people under non-hygienic conditions and frequently have had to triage patients by evaluating the extent of their injuries and treating only those who have the greatest likelihood of survival.
These dire reports come amid negotiations over a possible cease-fire in Gaza. On Monday, Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari proposal regarding a cease-fire agreement. Senior Israeli officials said that plan is different than a proposal that had been discussed over the weekend, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued with plans for an attack on Rafah.
Ghada Alhaddad, a media and communications officer with the global poverty relief NGO Oxfam, who is currently in Rafah, said for the last week, Gazans have been living in a “cycle of hope and hopelessness.”
“When we heard about the progress and development in the cease-fire talks, everybody was optimistic in the street,” Alhaddad said during Wednesday’s Crisis Action media briefing. “We thought that that we would have some peacetime, eventually. However, all of a sudden, we have received fresh evacuation orders for people who live in eastern parts of Rafah. … And you know, all hopes of a cease-fire was dashed and was destroyed.”
Since Oct. 7, when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, and Israel retaliated with ongoing military operations in Gaza, at least 34,735 people in Gaza have been killed and 78,108 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. At least 1,700 Israelis have been killed and 8,700 others injured, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“I mean, I’m afraid that more destruction and more lives will be lost if an invasion happens to this city and in this place,” Alhaddad said.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex meet with NATO Joint Force Command and families from Italy and Netherlands during day five of the Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023, Sept. 14, 2023, in Duesseldorf, Germany. — Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are no longer working royals — having stepped away from the role four years ago — but for the next several days, the Sussexes will be on a trip that looks similar to their royal tours of the past.
Harry and Meghan, who now live in California, on Friday will begin a three-day visit to Nigeria, a country in West Africa that they are both visiting for the first time.
Harry and Meghan’s visit has no affiliation with Britain’s royal family, and is instead at the invitation of the country’s Chief of Defense Staff, its highest-ranking military official.
Their three-day visit though will have them interacting with not only military officials but also locals, including women leaders and servicemen and women.
On Friday, Harry and Meghan plan to meet with the Chief of Defense Staff, as well as visit a school together. Harry will also meet with injured servicemembers at a local military hospital, a spokesperson for the Sussexes confirmed to ABC News.
On Saturday, the couple plans to attend a training session for Nigeria: Unconquered, a nonprofit organization that is affiliated with the Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style competition for wounded service members that Harry founded in 2014.
Meghan is also scheduled to co-host an event on women in leadership with the director general of the World Trade Organization.
On Sunday, their final day in Nigeria, Harry and Meghan will attend a basketball clinic and a “cultural reception,” according to their spokesperson.
Just as they did during their days as working royals, Harry and Meghan will be accompanied on the trip by a pool reporter and photographer, according to their spokesperson.
On previous official visits as working royals, Harry and Meghan were known to draw large crowds and bring global attention to the countries they visited.
In late 2019, Harry and Meghan traveled to South Africa for what would be their last major overseas royal tour. There, they shone in public events interacting with locals, but also spoke candidly about the struggles they faced as newlyweds and new parents under the glare of the public spotlight.
Prince Harry steps out solo in London while King Charles III attends Buckingham Palace garden party
“It’s hard,” Meghan told ITV anchor Tom Bradby for the documentary, “Harry & Meghan: An African Journey.” “I don’t think anybody could understand that.”
Just months later, in January 2020, Harry and Meghan announced to the world that they planned to “step back” from their duties as senior members of Britain’s royal family.
Shortly after that announcement, Buckingham Palace confirmed the Sussexes would no longer be “working members” of the royal family.
Since then, the couple has settled in California with their two young children, Archie and Lilibet, and become financially independent, taking on new roles in the entertainment and philanthropy worlds.
Harry and Meghan have returned together to the United Kingdom since their departure less than a handful of times, most recently attending the funeral for the late Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
Harry returned to London solo on May 8, to attend a 10th anniversary service for the Invictus Games held at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
The duke did not see his father, King Charles III, nor his brother, Prince William, during his visit.
