(GAZA) — An animal rescue organization in the Gaza Strip says it’s trying to keep alive not only family members amid the Israel-Hamas war, but also hundreds of dogs, cats and donkeys.
“We have already lost everything, but at least the animals are still with me,” Saeed Al Err, the founder of Sulala Animal Rescue, told ABC News.
Al Err said he and his family, including the animals he’s currently able to care for, have relocated three times since Oct. 7, when the Hamas terrorist group, which governs Gaza, launched an unprecedented surprise attack on neighboring Israel. The Israel Defense Forces retaliated with a bombing campaign and siege of Gaza, where now more than 2 million Palestinians are displaced and suffering from a lack of food, water and medicine, according to the United Nations.
In Gaza, at least 27,947 people have been killed and 67,459 others have been injured since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health. In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others injured since Oct. 7, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office. Meanwhile, at least 564 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Oct. 7, including 227 since the ground operations in Gaza began, according to the IDF.
Humanitarian groups have warned that the possibility of a “full-fledged famine” looms large across Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and the United Nations says almost all residents of the coastal enclave are now reliant on food aid for sustenance. Some people in northern Gaza told ABC News they’re using bird feed in place of flour to stave off starvation. The World Food Programme says roughly two-thirds of Gaza’s population relied on food aid before the start of the war and now an estimated 26% face starvation.
“Hunger and diseases have caused enormous hardship for the population of Gaza, including for some of its most vulnerable residents: thousands of pets,” Annelies Keuleers, who volunteers for Sulala from abroad and communicates with Al Err daily, told ABC News.
More than 30 dogs — 20 of which the organization says are disabled — as well as 120 cats and four donkeys are currently in Al Err’s care, he said. But in an already overcrowded southern Gaza, where more than half the population has relocated following the IDF’s evacuation orders, Al Err said finding space or resources feels impossible.
“There is barely enough space for people,” he told ABC News. “The logistical challenges are huge.”
Israel, supported by Egypt, has imposed an indefinite blockade on Gaza since Hamas came to power in 2007, restricting the movement of goods and people in and out of the strip. Those restrictions have tightened amid the latest outbreak of war, with Israel saying it must limit Hamas’ access to weapons.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) says Israel provides too few authorizations to make deliveries into some areas and that heavy fighting often makes it too dangerous for aid workers to operate. The aid arriving in northern Gaza has been particularly restricted, UNRWA says. Israel disputes the criticisms.
Israeli officials denied accusations they’re not letting enough food and aid into Gaza and blame Hamas for stealing aid. They said they conduct necessary inspections on the trucks, and also blamed the U.N. and other aid agencies for creating logistical bottlenecks.
The U.N. has disputed the Israeli officials’ claims, saying, on average, far less than 200 trucks are entering Gaza most days. U.N. officials have said excessive Israeli inspections, as well as arbitrary rejections of some aid, frequently hold up deliveries.
Al Err said his rescue organization completely ran out of animal food at the beginning of January and that they haven’t received animal food supplies since Oct. 9.
On New Year’s Eve, a truck containing 2 tons, or about 4,400 pounds, of pet food organized for Sulala by Australian animal protection organization Animals Australia made it to the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing, according to Keuleers. Animals Australia posted about its donation on Instagram in mid-January, writing that it sent “an initial two tonnes [sic] of animal food and extensive veterinary supplies to the Rafah border.”
“We received news that a truck carrying 2 tons of animal food and medicine was approved on the Israeli side and we are waiting for it to arrive inside Gaza any day now,” Keuleers told ABC News earlier this month. “It’s enough for maybe a month. We are already searching for other donations.”
As of today, Keuleers said they are still waiting for this truck carrying animal supplies to be allowed inside Gaza.
“So we are still waiting,” she added.
Animals Australia also told ABC News the aid they helped organize for Sulala is stuck at the crossing, saying “increased attacks” in the area is “hindering its entry.”
ABC News reached out to UNRWA about the truck Keuleers says they are waiting on, but the request for comment wasn’t immediately returned.
Inside Gaza, as they wait for some sort of aid, Al Err said he and his family are searching for a new location for their animals, fearing another possible attack from the Israeli forces.
“The army is closing on us once again,” Al Err told ABC News.
Although space and resources are lacking, Al Err said he continues to rescue more pets. Last week, he said he found a German shepherd from an area whose residents were ordered to evacuate three weeks ago. “The poor thing was starving, so it’s good that he’s with Saeed now,” Keuleers told ABC News as she got the news from Al Err.
Al Err said his eight children all support his mission. While the older ones — Celine, Sa’ed, Mubarak and Mohammad — help him with the fieldwork, he said, the younger ones are in charge of the cats. He said his youngest, 6-year-old Diana, used to join him on “feeding tours” for stray animals when the organization still had food.
“They feed them, clean after them and especially, they play with them,” Al Err told ABC News.
Before the war, Sulala sheltered more than 400 dogs in northern Gaza, but their family had to abandon that shelter early in the conflict, Al Err said. Before fleeing, and with a broken heart, Al Err said, he freed the dogs so they could save themselves and look for food. Nine of them found their way back to him 5 miles away weeks later, he said.
“I was so happy. It really made my day to see them,” Al Err said. “Some were very skinny and that made me worry even more about the ones that were still left behind. Others seemed healthy. I felt great relief when they reached me, and I also felt hope. Those times are the only ones during the war I felt happy.”
Sulala continues to receive donations, but the rescue organization says they’re useless if aid cannot get in. “My greatest fear is having to leave behind the animals or having to leave Gaza and having to sit in a tent not knowing what will happen to them,” Al Err said.
“The animals rely on me,” he added. “I have no other choice, this is my duty.”
(WASHINGTON) — Monarch butterfly sightings may be sparser than usual in the U.S. and Canada following a drastic drop in populations wintering in Mexico, researchers told ABC News.
The annual census of the number of monarchs that winter in Central Mexico showed that the population decreased “precipitously,” the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, which conducts the research alongside the World Wildlife Fund-Mexico, announced on Wednesday.
The number of monarchs dropped from 2.2 hectares in the 2022-2023 season to 0.9 hectares in the 2023-2024 season — making this past winter the second-worst year ever recorded, according to the environmental nonprofit.
Each hectare is measured to contain about 21 million butterflies, Chip Taylor who is an emeritus professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas and the founder and former director of conservation nonprofit Monarch Watch, told ABC News.
Monarch populations have declined drastically over the past 40 years, Anurag Agrawal, an evolutionary ecologist and professor of environmental studies at Cornell University, told ABC News.
In 1996, there were about 18 hectares — or about a billion — butterflies, Taylor said. The lowest year was during the 2013-2014 season when only 0.67 hectares were occupied, the researchers said.
Monarch butterflies typically spend the winter in a 50-mile stretch in Mexico at mid-elevations, from about November to February and early March, Taylor said. They feed on nectar, which converts into the fat the butterflies rely on to get through the season.
Once they make their way back north, it takes them 10 to 15 days to get to Texas and Oklahoma and other southern states and spend about six weeks laying their eggs, Taylor said. As the offspring are born in April and May, they migrate north and colonize the rest of the U.S. and southern Canada before the migration south begins during the first week of April.
During the most recent migration, as the monarchs moved south into Oklahoma and Texas, they faced drought, Taylor said. Once they got to Mexico, the drought that struck the region was so bad there was little nectar for the butterflies to feed on, Taylor said.
Insects all over the planet are facing a massive decline, Taylor said, adding that researchers are trying to figure out why.
Monarchs are especially an indicator species that could highlight overall environmental issues, Agrawal said.
“What makes monarchs so special is that they traverse Canada to Mexico, as, I like to say, tasting their way as they move,” he said. “And so, when their numbers are low, it suggests potentially that there are some threats.”
The biggest threats monarchs face are habitat loss and changes in weather patterns, Taylor said.
Warmer temperatures are having a negative effect on how monarch populations develop, Taylor said. In recent years, temperatures that remained “far too high” in September led to fewer monarchs being able to reach overwintering sites because it took too long for them to get there, Taylor said.
“There’s a lot of mortality during the winter, and then they have got an 800-mile trip to get back to the United States,” he said. “And that 800-mile trip, right now looks like it’s gonna be tough, because there’s a lot of drought.”
The warmer temperatures are also pushing monarchs further north, which could have implications on their current overwintering sites in Mexico in the future as well as the timing of the migration pattern, Agrawal said.
Despite the challenges, monarchs have historically displayed the capacity to deal with catastrophic mortality, the experts said. Monarchs have a good reproductive rate, presenting the possibility for them to bounce back, given the right conditions.
“Several bad years in a row means the demise of a species,” Agrawal said.
Monarchs are one of the more “charismatic” butterfly species because their abundance allows them to exist in playgrounds and backyards — places where people recreate, Agrawal said.
“It’s one of the reasons they’re so charismatic and have captured our imaginations as an icon of nature and of conservation,” he said.
Creating more habitat is the biggest priority in monarch conservation, the experts said. Individuals who want to help can plant a pollinator garden with milkweed and nectar plants native to the region to encourage the monarchs to feed along their annual migration route.
“Fewer monarchs hibernating in their traditional forest habitat in Mexico greatly concerns all of us,” said Jorge Rickards, general director of WWF Mexico, in a statement. “It’s critical that all communities, governments, non-governmental organizations, scientists, and others continue to strengthen our conservation and protection efforts to support the monarch’s unique migration.”
While monarch butterflies are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, its eligibility to be added as a protected species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act hangs in the balance.
In December 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the species as “warranted but precluded.” This decision made monarch butterflies a candidate for protection, but its listing will be delayed as the agency prioritizes other candidates.
Moving forward on the listing is necessary to maximize protection and restoration of habitat across the monarch’s range and to protect them from toxic pesticides, said Scott Black, the executive director of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, in a statement.
(RAFAH AND LONDON) — In the sand dunes above Rafah in southern Gaza, a ricochet of children’s laughter rings out, mixing with the unrelenting sound of Israeli reconnaissance drones. This odd combination can be heard most days as children from the tent city populated by the displaced gather to fly their kites, finding some joy amidst the horrors of war.
“We just forget everything, we make kites and fly them, we forget the bombing,” 12-year-old Oday Abu Odeh told ABC News. “When we sit at home, the sound of the reconnaissance planes annoys us all, but when all of us here fly kites, we don’t feel it.”
Oday said they make their kites from whatever scraps they can find and run to the sand banks above the encampment to fly them whenever they can.
Flying his kite brings, “freedom and happiness,” to 15-year-old Nael Muhammad Al-Najjar. “And we forget our worries,” he told ABC News.
For these children, they said flying kites is a welcome distraction from the grim reality of life in Rafah’s tent city.
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. They pitch tents wherever they can.
“We have been suffering for more than five months from place to place, from place to place,” Filastin Jamal Abd el Hamid, who had been displaced from northern Gaza, told ABC News.
“They said a place was safe then they entered it. There is no safe place,” she said.
Many of the people camping here said they have been displaced several times since Hamas’ surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct 7. and the military response by Israel in Gaza. They said they are now living in fear the Israeli military will begin an incursion into Rafah after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to do so.
“It is impossible to achieve the war objective of eliminating Hamas and leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Friday. “On the other hand, it is clear that a massive operation in Rafah requires the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat zones.”
Netanyahu said this is why he directed the Israel Defense Forces and the defense establishment to bring to the cabinet a dual plan for both the evacuation of the population and the disbanding of the battalions.
“We honestly don’t know what will happen to us next,” Feryal Mahmoud Al-Najjar, who has been displaced many times, told ABC News. “We came here, to the end of the world, at the Egyptian border. This is the last place we can reach. After that, we don’t know where to go.”
With much of central and northern Gaza reduced to rubble, questions are being asked about where these people can realistically be evacuated to.
“An expansion of hostilities could turn Rafah into a zone of bloodshed and destruction that people won’t be able to escape. There is nowhere left for people to flee to,” Angelita Caredda, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director, said in a statement to ABC News.
“There are no homes or anything, it is all scrubland and tents and displaced people. Why will they enter and what will they do? Will they beat us?” Abd el Hamid asks.
Netanyahu’s plans to advance on Rafah have led to calls for restraint from the Biden administration and aid agencies alike.
“There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying, and it’s gotta stop,” President Joe Biden told reporters Thursday, calling the Israeli military’s attack on Gaza “over the top.”
“There’s a lot of displaced people there and the Israeli military has a special obligation as they conduct operations there or anywhere else, to make sure that they’re factoring in protection for innocent civilian life,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Thursday.
Kirby, however, said the U.S. had not seen any indication the Israelis were about to launch a major operation on Rafah, adding, “given the circumstances and the conditions there that we see right now, we think a military operation at this time would be a disaster for those people.”
“An escalation of the fighting in Rafah, which is already straining under the extraordinary number of people who have been displaced from other parts of Gaza, will mark another devastating turn in a war that has reportedly killed over 27,000 people – most of them women and children,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement Friday.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 27,947 people have been killed, and 67,459 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials.
While many in Rafah brace themselves for this incursion the kite runners carry on.
“Now we’ve made this kite we’ve forgotten our worries,” 12-year-old Fawzi Muhammad Fawzi Al-Najjar told ABC News. “Now we pass all our free time flying kites because there are no schools, we don’t read, we don’t practice sports or anything else.”
But they, too, want the war to end.
“We want a solution to come back. We want a cease-fire,” Oday said. “We want to live in peace, to return to our homes alive, we want to return to schools.”
A sentiment his friend Nael Muhammad Al-Najjar shares, “I wish we could go back to our homes, go back to our studies, and our old days.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is open to a prisoner swap for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who’s been detained for over 300 days in the country.
In an interview published on his website on Thursday, former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson pressed Putin if he was willing to release Gershkovich as a sign of decency, to which Putin said he believed “an agreement can be reached.”
“We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them,” Putin said.
Carlson went on to ask Putin about his country imprisoning the reporter.
“The guy is obviously not a spy, he’s a kid … and maybe he was breaking your law in some way, but he’s not a super spy. … He’s being held hostage,” Carlson said to Putin. “Maybe it’s not fair to ask for an exchange.”
In the two-hour interview that took place at the Kremlin, the Russian president said a prisoner swap was being discussed between the United States and Russian special services.
Putin didn’t specify who Russia was seeking in the swap but referred to a person serving a sentence in an allied country of the U.S.
Russia has previously expressed interest in a deal that would secure the release of Russian citizen Vadim Krasikov, a convicted assassin who has been serving a life sentence in Germany since 2019.
“I do not rule out that the person you refer to, Mr. Gershkovich, may return to his motherland,” Putin said. “At the end of the day, it does not make sense to keep him in prison in Russia. We want the U.S. special services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals our special services are pursuing.”
Gershkovich has now been in Russian detention for over 10 months, held on spying charges that The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. and dozens of international media organizations have condemned as false.
Gershkovich lost his third appeal in October 2023 and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
In a statement released Thursday evening, the Wall Street Journal said, “Evan is a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. Any portrayal to the contrary is total fiction. Evan was unjustly arrested and has been wrongfully detained by Russia for nearly a year for doing his job, and we continue to demand his immediate release.”
“We’re encouraged to see Russia’s desire for a deal that brings Evan home, and we hope this will lead to his rapid release and return to his family and our newsroom,” the statement continued.
Gershkovich who grew up in New Jersey to Russian-speaking Jewish emigres, has been a Moscow correspondent since 2017, working first for The Moscow Times and Agence France Presse before joining the Journal in 2022.
ABC News’ Patrick Reeval and William Gretsky contributed to this report.
An aerial view shows lava after volcano eruption northeast of Sylingarfell, near Grindavik, Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland early Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024. (Iceland Civil Defense/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A volcano began erupting in southwestern Iceland early Thursday, sending lava jets as high as 80 meters, the country’s weather office said.
“At 5:30 this morning an intense seismic activity started north-east of mt. Sýlingarfell. Around 30 minutes later, a volcanic eruption started at the site,” the Icelandic Met Office said.
Images taken by an Icelandic Coast Guard’s surveillance flight appeared to show the eruption taking place at a location near the Dec. 18 eruption, official said.
Another eruption nearby on Jan. 14 sent lava flowing into Grindavik, a small town that had been evacuated prior to the eruption.
The latest eruption began at about 6 a.m. local time on Thursday, after a series of earthquakes rumbled the region for a half-hour, Met officials said.
The fissure was about 3 km long, stretching from Mount Sundhnúkur towards the eastern part of Mount Stóra-Skógfell, the office said.
“Lava flows mostly towards west at the moment and the flow seems to be slightly less than at the start of the 18th of December eruption,” the office said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the town of Grindavik, where homes had been destroyed by the most recent eruption, was at risk from Tuesday’s fissure. But it appeared it may be spared, a local politician said.
“This time a bit further North than December eruption and further away from town of Grindavik,” Gisli Olafsson, an MP, said on social media.
The nearby geothermal spa Blue Lagoon had closed on Thursday, according to its website.
Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Hurricane experts are debating adding a Category 6 on the current scale to highlight the increasing possibility of stronger storms as ocean waters continue to warm.
Researchers are introducing an extension of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, the system used by the National Hurricane Center to rank the strength of hurricanes, to include a sixth category, beyond the Category 5 classification that indicates a storm with sustained winds of 157 mph or more, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.
The scale currently rates a tropical system as a Category 1 hurricane once sustained winds reach 70 mph. But the Saffir-Simpson scale is “far from perfect,” especially in terms of adequately warning residents in impacted regions of the potential dangers to come, Michael Wehner, a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and one of the authors of the paper, told ABC News.
“Some Category 3 storms are really deadly, and some Category 5 storms aren’t by the time they make landfall,” Wehner said.
The authors propose a Category 6 hurricane rating is necessary starting at 193 mph of sustained wind, though Wehner admitted the choice of where to set that limit was somewhat arbitrary.
When the scale was first introduced in the 1970s, it accounted for wind and water-driven destruction from storm surge, the paper highlighted. In 2010, the National Hurricane Center altered the scale to only account for wind.
In addition, only 8% of tropical storm deaths are directly related to wind, while 76% of the mortality is related to storm surge and flooding from heavy rain, the authors noted.
Messaging around hurricane risk is a very active topic among researchers, and adding a sixth category is a way to raise awareness about the increased risks of supersized hurricanes due to global warming, James Kossin, distinguished science adviser at environmental nonprofit First Street Foundation and the other author of the study, said in a statement.
“Our results are not meant to propose changes to this scale, but rather to raise awareness that the wind-hazard risk from storms presently designated as Category 5 has increased and will continue to increase under climate change,” Kossin said.
When examining extremes in hurricane wind speeds to determine whether the open-ended Category 5 is sufficient to communicate risk in a warming climate, the researchers found “a new breed of storms” in the last decade, Wehner said.
Within that time frame, there have been multiple storms that may “have exceeded this hypothetical Category 6,” Wehner said.
The study looked at all 197 tropical cyclones around the world that were classified as Category 5 from 1980 to 2021, which comprises the period of highest quality and most consistent data, the authors said. Half of the Category 5 storms occurred in the last 17 years of that period, according to the study.
Five of the storms examined exceeded the authors’ proposed Category 6, and all of them occurred in the last nine years of the record. Of the five storms achieving the proposed Category 6 status, one of them was Hurricane Patricia in 2015, which had weakened to a Category 4 as it made landfall in western Mexico. The other four storms were typhoons in the Western Pacific.
“If you looked at the beginning of the satellite record around 1980, there was essentially no risk of the Category 6 storm in 1980,” Wehner said. “The trend in the speed limit is actually pretty pretty strong.”
However, no hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico has reached the study’s proposed Category 6 level. Typhoons in the Western Pacific do not use the Saffir-Simpson scale for intensity ratings.
Statistical analysis showed the rapidly increasing risk is due to human changes in the atmosphere and not natural variability, Wehner said.
Human-induced climate change and warming waters are fueling tropical cyclones with much windier conditions than the initial Category 5 threshold entailed, at 157 mph, the authors said.
“We expected that the strongest storms will become stronger,” Wehner said of how climate change will affect future tropical systems.
It will be necessary to change the “speed limit” of future hurricanes because as global temperatures rise, conditions like warmer ocean temperatures will increase the risk of seeing these so-called “Category 6” storms, Wehner said.
Warmer waters are also fueling rapid intensification as storms approach the coasts, “which is very dangerous because it doesn’t give people a lot of time to prepare,” Jennifer Collins, a hurricane researcher at the University of South Florida who was not involved in the study, told ABC News.
Other experts have raised concerns that adding a Category 6 to the scale increases the chance of people underestimating the risks from storms that are lower than the highest category. For example, if they chose not to evacuate for a Category 4 or 5 storm because the higher category makes lower-rated hurricanes appear less dangerous.
National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said in a statement that they’re focused on communicating the hazards and they don’t want to overemphasize the wind hazard by placing too much emphasis on the category system.
“At NHC, we’ve tried to steer the focus toward the individual hazards, which include storm surge, wind, rainfall, tornadoes and rip currents, instead of the particular category of the storm, which only provides information about the hazard from wind,” he said in a statement.
In addition, Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale already captures “catastrophic damage” from wind, so it’s not clear that there would be a need for another category even if storms were to get stronger, Brennan said.
In response, Wehner described the hurricane center’s comments assessment as “completely appropriate.”
“We don’t expect that the hurricane center or [World Meteorological Organization] will add this Category 6. It’s certainly not for us to tell them what to do,” Wehner said. “That’s not what we intended.”
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. carried out an airstrike in Baghdad on Wednesday targeting a senior leader of an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq responsible for attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command.
A U.S. official told ABC News that the airstrike was part of the retaliatory actions President Joe Biden authorized last week following the deadly attack on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three American soldiers.
“At 9:30 p.m. February 7, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on U.S. service members, killing a Iran-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region,” said the statement.
“There are no indications of collateral damage or civilian casualties at this time,” the statement said. “The United States will continue to take necessary action to protect our people. We will not hesitate to hold responsible all those who threaten our forces’ safety.”
Earlier, two U.S. officials had confirmed to ABC News that the U.S. had carried out an airstrike in Baghdad targeting a high-value target.
A third U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that Wednesday’s strike in Baghdad was part of the retaliatory actions President Biden authorized last week in response to the strike that killed three American soldiers at a U.S. base in Jordan.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that there would be more U.S. response to the attack on the Tower 22 base in Jordan in which three American service members were killed
Some would be seen and others unseen, he said.
Kataib Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Iraq that the U.S. has blamed for most of the 168 attacks against U.S. bases in Iraq, Syria and Jordan.
It was one of several Shiite militia groups that joined Iraqi government forces in battling the Islamic State and became incorporated into Iraq’s military structure as Popular Mobilization Forces.
On Wednesday that organization confirmed that Abu Baqir Al-Saadi, asenior Kataib Hezbollah leader, had been killed in Baghdad along with two other people who were escorting him.
Iraq’s military said it had sent a team to respond to an incident targeting a civilian vehicle in the Al-Mashal area east of Baghdad at 9:35pm on February 7.
The military said that the explosion had killed all of the persons inside of the vehicle and that an investigation was underway to determine the method and source of the targeting.
Iraqi Security sources told ABC News that in preparation for possible retaliation against U.S. facilities in Iraq that all entrances to the secure area known as the Green Zone were being closed. Located in the center of Baghdad the Green Zone is the are where the U.S. embassy and other important Iraqi government buildings are located.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — More than 100 days since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, the Israeli military continues its bombardment of the neighboring Gaza Strip.
The conflict, now the deadliest between the warring sides since Israel’s founding in 1948, shows no signs of letting up soon and the brief cease-fire that allowed for over 100 hostages to be freed from Gaza remains a distant memory.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 07, 5:00 PM
Blinken: Hamas counteroffer has ‘clear nonstarters,’ but there’s ‘space for agreement’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believes a hostage deal is still within reach, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s earlier comments rejecting Hamas’ counteroffer.
“We had an opportunity to discuss with the Israeli government the response that Hamas sent last night to the proposal that the United States, Qatar and Egypt have put together to bring the remaining hostages and extend the humanitarian pause,” Blinken said at a news conference in Israel Wednesday. “What I can tell you about these discussions is that while there are some clear nonstarters in Hamas’ response, we do think it creates space for agreement to be reached and we will work at that relentlessly until we get there.”
Blinken later added, “These things are always negotiations. It’s not flipping a light switch.”
Blinken said he plans to meet with the families of hostages on Thursday.
As for Israel’s growing offensive in Gaza, Blinken stressed that “any military operation that Israel undertakes needs to put civilians first and foremost in mind.”
Blinken said he had outlined specific measures the U.S. expected to see during his “extensive” talks with Netanyahu and Israeli national security leaders.
He said Israel should open a border crossing between Israel and northern Gaza to help improve the flow of humanitarian aid.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Feb 07, 3:23 PM
Freed hostages react to Netanyahu rejecting deal
Freed Israeli hostages and families of those still being held hostage by Hamas are speaking out, pleading for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a hostage deal, after the prime minister on Wednesday rejected the current proposed deal.
Netanyahu called the deal “delusional,” and described it as a “surrender” that would lead to another massacre.
Adina Moshe, who was released after being held hostage for 49 days, said Wednesday, “We love our country. … But I want my country back and its morality that is gone.”
“I fear for the lives and fates of the hostages,” Moshe said. “I’m afraid we’ll have nothing to pass on to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Please, prime minister: If you continue on this path, there will be no more hostages to release. Restore our trust — release them now.”
Sahar Calderon, a 16-year-old who was released after being held hostage for 54 days, said, “Every hour there was hell. . … A terrorist glared at me for 24 hours with murder in his eyes, and every minute I feared being raped.”
Calderon’s father is still being held hostage.
“I am grateful to the government for bringing me back, but what about my father, who is abandoned anew every day, uncertain if he will live or die?” she said. “Bring him back — do not make me lose faith in our country a second time.”
Feb 07, 1:45 PM
Israeli prime minister rejects hostage deal proposal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected the current proposed hostage and cease-fire deal, calling it “delusional,” and describing it as a “surrender” that would lead to another massacre. But Netanyahu did not say negotiations were closed.
To the families of the hostages, Netanyahu said in Hebrew, “Your loved ones are always standing before my eyes. … We do not stop working for the release of our abductees — even now.”
“The continuation of military pressure is a necessary condition for the release of the abductees,” he said. “Surrendering to the delusional demands of Hamas … not only will not lead to the release of the abductees, it will only invite another massacre.”
Netanyahu also said it would be “a matter of months” to reach Israel’s objectives and achieve “total victory” of completely dismantling Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu said he told Secretary of State Antony Blinken in their meeting Wednesday, “We are within touching distance of a complete victory, which will also be the victory of the entire free world — not only of Israel.”
Netanyahu also said the Israeli military operation will expand to the city of Rafah, where thousands of Gaza residents have fled and are living in makeshift shelters.
-ABC News’ Anna Burd and Jordana Miller
Feb 07, 12:20 PM
New round of hostage negotiations to take place in Cairo: Egyptian state TV
Egypt and Qatar will co-host a new round of negotiations on the proposed hostage and cease-fire deal on Thursday in Cairo, Egyptian state TV reported.
Feb 07, 10:41 AM
Blinken meets with Netanyahu on latest trip to Israel
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
First, Netanyahu and Blinken “held a long and in-depth meeting in private” before having “an extended meeting” with other Israeli and U.S. officials, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
During the meeting, Blinken reaffirmed Israel’s right to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas and the need to protect civilians in Gaza, according to the State Department. Blinken also stressed the importance of a two-state solution — a prospect Netanyahu has vocally opposed.
It’s Blinken’s fifth trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7 when war erupted between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules the neighboring Gaza Strip. The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, has been involved in negotiations between the warring sides.
ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Shannon Crawford and Morgan Winsor
Feb 07, 7:22 AM
Blinken meets with Netanyahu on latest trip to Israel
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
First, Netanyahu and Blinken “held a long and in-depth meeting in private” before having “an extended meeting” with other Israeli and U.S. officials, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
It’s Blinken’s fifth trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7 when war erupted between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules the neighboring Gaza Strip. The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, has been involved in negotiations between the warring sides.
Feb 06, 7:33 PM
US House fails to pass Israel aid bill
The U.S. House failed to pass a $17.6 billion standalone bill to provide aid to Israel.
The bill failed 250-180 during a vote Tuesday evening.
The GOP measure was being considered under suspension, which required a two-thirds majority to pass.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who unveiled the standalone bill over the weekend, blamed President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for its failure.
“The decision by President Biden and Leader Schumer to torpedo this bill to aid the Israeli people in their fight against Hamas is a disappointing rebuke to our closest ally in the Middle East at their time of great need,” Johnson said in a statement following the vote.
The Biden administration had issued a veto threat to the bill on Monday, saying it “strongly opposes” the measure after a bipartisan group of senators came to an agreement on a national security supplemental that includes Israel aid.
Schumer said he was against the bill and wanted Israel aid coupled with aid for Ukraine, Taiwan and the border.
Feb 06, 4:50 PM
Qatari prime minister: Hamas has responded to hostage deal framework
Hamas has formally responded to the proposed framework for a deal exchanging hostages remaining in Gaza for an extended cease-fire, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said Tuesday during a press conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The reply includes some comments, but in general it is positive,” he said via a translator. “However, given the sensitivity of the circumstances we will not tackle details. We are optimistic and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party.”
Hamas in a statement did not say they had agreed to the deal but said they “dealt with” the proposed hostage deal “with a positive spirit.”
However, after receiving the response from Hamas, Israeli officials indicated a deal is still “far off,” according to Israeli political sources.
While Blinken didn’t express the same level of optimism as the Qatari prime minister, he maintained that a hostage deal was within reach, saying now that they had a response from Hamas, negotiators would be “intensely focused on that.”
“We’re reviewing that response now, and I’ll be discussing it with the government of Israel tomorrow,” Blinken said. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and indeed, essential, and we will continue to work relentlessly to achieve it.”
When asked about the amount of time it took for Hamas to deliver an answer, the Qatari prime minister said “communication was presenting some challenges” and that “it took some time to get them to a place where we get that response,” adding, “we are hoping to see it yielding very soon.”
Feb 06, 4:02 PM
31 hostages are dead and remain in captivity in Gaza, Israeli sources say
The bodies of 31 hostages remain in Gaza, according to Israeli sources. The 31 hostages either died while being held captive by Hamas or were killed on Oct. 7, the sources said.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Feb 06, 1:31 PM
Qatari prime minister: Hamas has responded to hostage deal framework
Hamas has formally responded to the proposed framework for a deal exchanging hostages remaining in Gaza for an extended cease-fire, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said Tuesday during a press conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The reply includes some comments, but in general it is positive,” he said via a translator. “However, given the sensitivity of the circumstances we will not tackle details. We are optimistic and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party.”
Hamas in a statement did not say they had agreed to the deal but said they “dealt with” the proposed hostage deal “with a positive spirit.”
While Blinken didn’t express the same level of optimism as the Qatari prime minister, he maintained that a hostage deal was within reach, saying now that they had a response from Hamas, negotiators would be “intensely focused on that.”
“We’re reviewing that response now, and I’ll be discussing it with the government of Israel tomorrow,” Blinken said. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and indeed, essential, and we will continue to work relentlessly to achieve it.”
When asked about the amount of time it took for Hamas to deliver an answer, the Qatari prime minister said “communication was presenting some challenges” and that “it took some time to get them to a place where we get that response,” adding, “we are hoping to see it yielding very soon.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Feb 06, 9:48 AM
Blinken meets with Egypt’s president amid push for new truce
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss Israel’s ongoing war in the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Their “meeting focused on developments in unyielding efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, exchanging detainees and providing access of needed relief aid to end the severe humanitarian catastrophe in the sector,” according to a readout from Egypt’s presidency.
It’s Blinken’s fifth trip to the Middle East since war erupted between Israel and Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been involved in negotiations between the warring sides.
Feb 05, 11:54 AM
UN secretary-general opens independent review into UNRWA
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced Monday that he has appointed an independent review group to determine whether the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is “doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made.”
The probe comes amid Israel’s allegations that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attack.
“These accusations come at a time when UNRWA, the largest U.N. organization in the region, is working under extremely challenging conditions to deliver life-saving assistance to the 2 million people in the Gaza Strip who depend on it for their survival amidst one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises in the world,” Guterres said in a statement.
The independent review group will begin its work on Feb. 14 and will provide an interim report by late March. A final report is due April 2024, according to Guterres.
The probe is separate from an investigation the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight is conducting into the allegations.
UNRWA has said it is investigating the allegations and took swift action against those accused of participating in the attack. However, the United States and other top donors have suspended their funding to the agency, which is the biggest humanitarian aid provider in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Morgan Winsor
Feb 05, 8:43 AM
Food convoy hit by Israeli naval gunfire in Gaza, UNRWA says
A food aid convoy waiting to move into the north of the Gaza Strip was struck by Israeli naval gunfire on Monday morning, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“Thankfully no one was injured,” Tom White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
Feb 03, 4:52 PM
House plans vote on standalone Israel aid bill next week
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Saturday the House will vote on a standalone $17.6 billion Israel aid package next week.
“Next week, we will take up and pass a clean, standalone Israel supplemental package. During debate in the House and in numerous subsequent statements, Democrats made clear that their primary objection to the original House bill was with its offsets. The Senate will no longer have excuses, however misguided, against swift passage of this critical support for our ally,” Johnson said in a letter to colleagues obtained by ABC News.
This news is a major reversal after House Republicans previously approved a $14.3 billion Israel funding package that included cuts to IRS funding. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not bring this legislation to the floor for vote because of Democrats’ opposition to IRS funding cuts.
Johnson again emphasized the Senate negotiated supplemental will face an uphill battle in the House and attacked Senators for excluding him and the House from the bipartisan talks.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
Feb 03, 3:21 PM
IDF deploys 3 divisions to northern border amid Hezbollah attacks
The Israeli military has deployed three divisions to the northern border amid Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference Saturday.
He said the IDF is working to “reshape the security reality” on the northern border, so that some 80,000 Israelis displaced by Hezbollah’s attacks can return to their homes.
“We do not choose war as our first option but are certainly ready, and preparing for it all the time, if need be,” Hagari said.
The IDF has struck more than 150 cells, killing some 200 terror operatives, mostly members of Hezbollah, and targeted more than 3,400 Hezbollah sites since the beginning of the war in Gaza, according to Hagari.
(MOSCOW) — Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News anchor and right-wing media personality, has recorded an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the Kremlin and Carlson.
The interview, which has yet to air, would be the first interview Putin has granted to a Western journalist since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Carlson’s presentation of the interview has drawn intense criticism from independent Russian journalists who have called it a propaganda victory for the Kremlin and accused Carlson of whitewashing Putin’s crackdown on media and freedom of speech in Russia since the invasion.
In a video teasing the interview posted on X Tuesday night, Carlson said he was interviewing Putin to hear his perspective on the war, claiming that the Russian leader has been ignored by major Western media organizations. Carlson falsely claimed Western media organizations had “not bothered” to interview Putin since the start of the invasion.
“Since the day the war in Ukraine began, American media outlets have spoken to scores of people from Ukraine and they have done scores of interviews with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. But not a single Western journalist has bothered to interview the president of the other country involved in this conflict, Vladimir Putin,” Carlson said.
In reality, many major international outlets regularly make requests to interview Putin, but the Kremlin has declined to accept them since the invasion. Putin for many years has also refused to give interviews to independent Russian journalists apart from those working for state and pro-Kremlin media.
The Kremlin itself on Wednesday contradicted Carlson, saying Putin receives many interview requests from Western media but has no desire to speak with them.
“Mr. Carlson is not correct. In fact, there’s no way he could know this. We receive numerous requests for interviews with the president,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. But, he said, “there’s no desire to communicate with this kind of media” because of what he said was its failure to be “impartial.”
Peskov said the Kremlin had chosen to speak with Carlson because his position “stands in sharp contrast” to the rest of Western media.
Carlson has long expressed positions that often align with the Kremlin’s, saying before the invasion that he was “rooting for Moscow.”
“By any actual reality-based measure, Vladimir Putin is not losing the war in Ukraine. He is winning the war in Ukraine and Joe Biden looks at that and says we won’t stop until you proffer an unconditional surrender,” Carlson claimed in August 2022, shortly before a Ukrainian counteroffensive liberated much of the north east Kharkiv region.
Carlson has also been a critic of the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine, arguing that Putin is not a threat to the United States and suggesting the U.S. has stoked the conflict. Carlson has disparaged Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who he has called a “dictator,” “rat-like” and “sweaty.”
On Tuesday, Carlson said his team had also requested an interview with Zelenskyy.
Carlson’s positions have long attracted positive attention in Russia, with his clips aired on state media, which portrays him as a truth-teller. After he was abruptly fired from Fox last year, the state channel Russia 24 even aired a trailer for an imagined Russian show anchored by Carlson.
His arrival in Moscow has been met with breathless coverage in pro-Kremlin and state media, which has closely tracked his visit. A photo captured of Carlson at the Bolshoi ballet theater has circulated widely on Russian social media, and some news agencies even carried photos and reports of him visiting a supermarket.
One talk show compared Carlson’s visit to Jane Fonda’s anti-war trip to Vietnam in 1972. On Tuesday, the Evening Moscow newspaper carried a photo of Carlson on its front page with the headline: “Carlson, who lives in America, but speaks the truth.”
In his teaser video, Carson said his interview was a defiant demonstration of “freedom of speech,” alleging there was an effort to silence him and accusing Western media outlets of being “corrupt” and creating propaganda to promote Zelenskyy.
“Most Americans have no idea why Putin invaded Ukraine or what his goals are now. They’ve never heard his voice. That’s wrong,” Carlson said.
Many prominent independent Russian journalists, however, accused Carlson of acting as a propaganda mouthpiece for the Kremlin and expressed outrage at his free speech claims, given the intense crackdown by Putin’s government on independent media and dissent during the war.
“Unbelievable! I am like hundreds of Russian journalists who have had to go into exile to keep reporting about the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine. The alternative was to go to jail,” Yevgenia Albats, a well-known liberal journalist and editor of The New Times, wrote on X responding to Carlson’s video. “And now [Carlson] is teaching us about good journalism,” she wrote, using an expletive about the former Fox anchor.
Since early 2022, the Kremlin has introduced draconian laws criminalizing criticism of the war. Virtually all independent media organizations have been closed or driven abroad, along with hundreds of journalists. Reporters, activists and ordinary citizens who have spoken against the war have been arrested and some given lengthy prison sentences.
Two American reporters — Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal and Alsu Kurmasheva of Radio Free Liberty — are currently detained by Russia on charges widely condemned as politically motivated.
Albats and others said Putin’s willingness to speak with Carlson — but not other international news organizations or independent Russian journalists — showed the Kremlin saw it as an opportunity to use him as a sympathetic mouthpiece to broadcast its message to millions of Americans.
The Russian media’s excitement around Carlson’s visit has also irritated some pro-war Russian nationalists, who see it as an embarrassing veneration of Americans.
“I am watching an amazing thing with interest: How people who ridicule Ukrainians for their subservient prostration before European politicians and public figures are meticulously recording Tucker Carlson’s every move and sneeze in Moscow,” Andrei Medvedev, a Moscow City Duma deputy and former state TV presenter, wrote on his Telegram account.
“He flew in, he ate, he drank tea. How wonderful, an American has come to visit us! How happy we are. Comrades, do you feel bipolar?” Medvedev added.
(NEW YORK) — More than 100 days since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, the Israeli military continues its bombardment of the neighboring Gaza Strip.
The conflict, now the deadliest between the warring sides since Israel’s founding in 1948, shows no signs of letting up soon and the brief cease-fire that allowed for over 100 hostages to be freed from Gaza remains a distant memory.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 07, 1:24 PM
Israeli prime minister rejects hostage deal proposal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected the current proposed hostage and cease-fire deal, calling it “delusional,” and describing it as a “surrender” that would lead to another massacre. But Netanyahu did not say negotiations were closed.
Netanyahu also said it would be “a matter of months” to reach Israel’s objectives and achieve “total victory” of completely dismantling Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu also said the Israeli military operation will expand to the city of Rafah, where thousands of Gaza residents have fled and are living in makeshift shelters.
ABC News’ Anna Burd and Jordana Miller
Feb 07, 12:20 PM
New round of hostage negotiations to take place in Cairo: Egyptian state TV
Egypt and Qatar will co-host a new round of negotiations on the proposed hostage and cease-fire deal on Thursday in Cairo, Egyptian state TV reported.
Feb 07, 10:41 AM
Blinken meets with Netanyahu on latest trip to Israel
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
First, Netanyahu and Blinken “held a long and in-depth meeting in private” before having “an extended meeting” with other Israeli and U.S. officials, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
During the meeting, Blinken reaffirmed Israel’s right to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas and the need to protect civilians in Gaza, according to the State Department. Blinken also stressed the importance of a two-state solution — a prospect Netanyahu has vocally opposed.
It’s Blinken’s fifth trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7 when war erupted between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules the neighboring Gaza Strip. The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, has been involved in negotiations between the warring sides.
ABC News’ Jordana Miller, Shannon Crawford and Morgan Winsor
Feb 07, 7:22 AM
Blinken meets with Netanyahu on latest trip to Israel
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
First, Netanyahu and Blinken “held a long and in-depth meeting in private” before having “an extended meeting” with other Israeli and U.S. officials, according to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
It’s Blinken’s fifth trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7 when war erupted between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that rules the neighboring Gaza Strip. The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, has been involved in negotiations between the warring sides.
Feb 06, 7:33 PM
US House fails to pass Israel aid bill
The U.S. House failed to pass a $17.6 billion standalone bill to provide aid to Israel.
The bill failed 250-180 during a vote Tuesday evening.
The GOP measure was being considered under suspension, which required a two-thirds majority to pass.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who unveiled the standalone bill over the weekend, blamed President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for its failure.
“The decision by President Biden and Leader Schumer to torpedo this bill to aid the Israeli people in their fight against Hamas is a disappointing rebuke to our closest ally in the Middle East at their time of great need,” Johnson said in a statement following the vote.
The Biden administration had issued a veto threat to the bill on Monday, saying it “strongly opposes” the measure after a bipartisan group of senators came to an agreement on a national security supplemental that includes Israel aid.
Schumer said he was against the bill and wanted Israel aid coupled with aid for Ukraine, Taiwan and the border.
Feb 06, 4:50 PM
Qatari prime minister: Hamas has responded to hostage deal framework
Hamas has formally responded to the proposed framework for a deal exchanging hostages remaining in Gaza for an extended cease-fire, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said Tuesday during a press conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The reply includes some comments, but in general it is positive,” he said via a translator. “However, given the sensitivity of the circumstances we will not tackle details. We are optimistic and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party.”
Hamas in a statement did not say they had agreed to the deal but said they “dealt with” the proposed hostage deal “with a positive spirit.”
However, after receiving the response from Hamas, Israeli officials indicated a deal is still “far off,” according to Israeli political sources.
While Blinken didn’t express the same level of optimism as the Qatari prime minister, he maintained that a hostage deal was within reach, saying now that they had a response from Hamas, negotiators would be “intensely focused on that.”
“We’re reviewing that response now, and I’ll be discussing it with the government of Israel tomorrow,” Blinken said. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and indeed, essential, and we will continue to work relentlessly to achieve it.”
When asked about the amount of time it took for Hamas to deliver an answer, the Qatari prime minister said “communication was presenting some challenges” and that “it took some time to get them to a place where we get that response,” adding, “we are hoping to see it yielding very soon.”
Feb 06, 4:02 PM
31 hostages are dead and remain in captivity in Gaza, Israeli sources say
The bodies of 31 hostages remain in Gaza, according to Israeli sources. The 31 hostages either died while being held captive by Hamas or were killed on Oct. 7, the sources said.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Feb 06, 1:31 PM
Qatari prime minister: Hamas has responded to hostage deal framework
Hamas has formally responded to the proposed framework for a deal exchanging hostages remaining in Gaza for an extended cease-fire, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said Tuesday during a press conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“The reply includes some comments, but in general it is positive,” he said via a translator. “However, given the sensitivity of the circumstances we will not tackle details. We are optimistic and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party.”
Hamas in a statement did not say they had agreed to the deal but said they “dealt with” the proposed hostage deal “with a positive spirit.”
While Blinken didn’t express the same level of optimism as the Qatari prime minister, he maintained that a hostage deal was within reach, saying now that they had a response from Hamas, negotiators would be “intensely focused on that.”
“We’re reviewing that response now, and I’ll be discussing it with the government of Israel tomorrow,” Blinken said. “There is still a lot of work to be done, but we continue to believe that an agreement is possible and indeed, essential, and we will continue to work relentlessly to achieve it.”
When asked about the amount of time it took for Hamas to deliver an answer, the Qatari prime minister said “communication was presenting some challenges” and that “it took some time to get them to a place where we get that response,” adding, “we are hoping to see it yielding very soon.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Feb 06, 9:48 AM
Blinken meets with Egypt’s president amid push for new truce
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss Israel’s ongoing war in the neighboring Gaza Strip.
Their “meeting focused on developments in unyielding efforts aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, exchanging detainees and providing access of needed relief aid to end the severe humanitarian catastrophe in the sector,” according to a readout from Egypt’s presidency.
It’s Blinken’s fifth trip to the Middle East since war erupted between Israel and Gaza’s militant rulers, Hamas. Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been involved in negotiations between the warring sides.
Feb 05, 11:54 AM
UN secretary-general opens independent review into UNRWA
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced Monday that he has appointed an independent review group to determine whether the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is “doing everything within its power to ensure neutrality and to respond to allegations of serious breaches when they are made.”
The probe comes amid Israel’s allegations that a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 terror attack.
“These accusations come at a time when UNRWA, the largest U.N. organization in the region, is working under extremely challenging conditions to deliver life-saving assistance to the 2 million people in the Gaza Strip who depend on it for their survival amidst one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises in the world,” Guterres said in a statement.
The independent review group will begin its work on Feb. 14 and will provide an interim report by late March. A final report is due April 2024, according to Guterres.
The probe is separate from an investigation the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight is conducting into the allegations.
UNRWA has said it is investigating the allegations and took swift action against those accused of participating in the attack. However, the United States and other top donors have suspended their funding to the agency, which is the biggest humanitarian aid provider in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Morgan Winsor
Feb 05, 8:43 AM
Food convoy hit by Israeli naval gunfire in Gaza, UNRWA says
A food aid convoy waiting to move into the north of the Gaza Strip was struck by Israeli naval gunfire on Monday morning, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“Thankfully no one was injured,” Tom White, director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, wrote in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
There was no immediate comment from the Israel Defense Forces.
-ABC News’ Morgan Winsor
Feb 03, 4:52 PM
House plans vote on standalone Israel aid bill next week
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Saturday the House will vote on a standalone $17.6 billion Israel aid package next week.
“Next week, we will take up and pass a clean, standalone Israel supplemental package. During debate in the House and in numerous subsequent statements, Democrats made clear that their primary objection to the original House bill was with its offsets. The Senate will no longer have excuses, however misguided, against swift passage of this critical support for our ally,” Johnson said in a letter to colleagues obtained by ABC News.
This news is a major reversal after House Republicans previously approved a $14.3 billion Israel funding package that included cuts to IRS funding. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer did not bring this legislation to the floor for vote because of Democrats’ opposition to IRS funding cuts.
Johnson again emphasized the Senate negotiated supplemental will face an uphill battle in the House and attacked Senators for excluding him and the House from the bipartisan talks.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
Feb 03, 3:21 PM
IDF deploys 3 divisions to northern border amid Hezbollah attacks
The Israeli military has deployed three divisions to the northern border amid Hezbollah’s attacks on northern Israel, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said at a press conference Saturday.
He said the IDF is working to “reshape the security reality” on the northern border, so that some 80,000 Israelis displaced by Hezbollah’s attacks can return to their homes.
“We do not choose war as our first option but are certainly ready, and preparing for it all the time, if need be,” Hagari said.
The IDF has struck more than 150 cells, killing some 200 terror operatives, mostly members of Hezbollah, and targeted more than 3,400 Hezbollah sites since the beginning of the war in Gaza, according to Hagari.
