Israeli hostage Guy Gilboa Dalal returns from Hamas captivity in Gaza. (Photo by Sharon Eilon/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — President Donald Trump implied Hamas has been given approval to act as a Palestinian police force in Gaza “for a period of time” in the wake of implementing phase one of the ceasefire agreement.
While en route to the Middle East early Monday aboard Air Force One, Trump responded to a question from a reporter about reports of Hamas rearming themselves.
“Well, they [Hamas] are standing because they do want to stop the problems, and they’ve been open about it, and we gave them approval for a period of time,” Trump said.
Trump continued that Palestinians are returning to buildings that have been destroyed, after two years of war, and “a lot of bad things can happen.”
“We want it to be safe. I think it’s going to be fine. Who knows? Who knows for sure?” he said. “But I think it’s going to be fine.”
ABC News has asked the White House for further comment and has not yet received a response.
The first phase of the U.S.-brokered peace deal went into effect on Friday, calling for the return of all living and dead hostages in Gaza in exchange for the release of scores of Palestinian prisoners and a partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from the area.
While Trump’s overall 20-point peace plan proposal calls for the disarmament of Hamas and stipulates the militant group cannot play a role in the future governance of Gaza, these points are not covered by the initial phase of the agreement.
The final 20 remaining living hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, were returned to Israel on Monday as part of an exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, officials said.
On Monday, Trump said negotiations on phase two of the peace plan for Gaza had “started,” though he did not specify what that entailed.
“I mean, it started as far as we’re concerned,” Trump said during remarks in Egypt, where he attended a signing ceremony after addressing the Israeli Knesset earlier in the day. “Phase two has started. And, you know, the phases are all a little bit mixed in with each other. You’re gonna start cleaning up. You look at Gaza — it needs a lot of cleanup.”
ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (l, CDU) is taking part in the Gaza summit chaired by Egypt’s President al-Sisi alongside US President Donald Trump. Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images
(SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt) — President Donald Trump joined more than 20 world leaders in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday for talks on Gaza’s future with the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement underway.
Among those gathered for the summit were Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and former prime minister Tony Blair, as well as officials from Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
The group posed for a family picture in front a sign that read “Peace 2025” before a signing ceremony on the agreement.
Trump is also set to deliver formal remarks in which he will tout the breakthrough as a turning point for the region.
“This is the day that people across this region and around the world have been working, striving, hoping, and praying for. With the historic agreement we have just signed, those prayers of millions have finally been answered. Together, we have achieved the impossible,” Trump will say, according to excerpts of his speech released by the White House.
“All the momentum now is toward a great, glorious, and lasting peace,” he is expected to say.
Noticeably absent from talks in Egypt, though, were representatives for Israel and Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office cited the Jewish holiday as the reason for his absence, despite him having been directly invited by President Trump.
Earlier Monday, Trump addressed Israel’s parliament, where he hailed a “new dawn in the Middle East” and declared the war in Gaza to be over despite challenges ahead in ensuring a lasting peace.
Hamas released the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday and Israel freed Palestinian prisoners as part of the ceasefire agreement, with emotional scenes playing out in Tel Aviv and Gaza as families reunited.
But many questions remain about what comes next, including to what extent President Trump will be personally involved in shaping a post-war Gaza.
Trump said the second phase of his proposed peace plan is in progress, though didn’t provide much detail.
“Well, it started. I mean, it started as far as we’re concerned,” Trump said as he sat with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. “Phase two has started. And, you know, the phases are all a little bit mixed in with each other. You’re gonna start cleaning up. You look at Gaza it needs a lot of clean-up.”
The U.S. president also appeared to set his sights next on Iran, urging the country to use this opportunity to work with the administration on a nuclear deal.
“We are ready when you are and it will be the best decision that Iran has ever made, and it’s going to happen,” Trump said during his speech at the Knesset.
Trump reiterated that point as he took reporter questions alongside Egypt’s president.
“I think Iran will come along. They’ve been battered and bruised. You know, they need some help. They have big sanctions, as you know, tremendous sanctions. I’d love to take the sanctions off when they’re ready to talk,” Trump said.
Bipin Joshi and Tamir Nimrodi, the two hostages whose fate in Gaza remained unknown, were not included on the list published by Hamas of the 20 living hostages expected to be released during Monday’s exchange of hostages held by Hamas and prisoners held by Israel.
Neither Hamas nor Israel released statements saying the two were deceased.
In addition to some 1,200 Israelis killed on Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas kidnapped 251 men and women during the terror attack. The majority were later released in hostage exchanges in the two years since then.
Of the 48 hostages who were still in Gaza at the time of the new ceasefire deal, 26 were confirmed dead by Israeli officials. Twenty others were believed to be alive at the time, with two people’s fates unknown.
Bipin Joshi, a Nepalese agriculture student who was in Israel to study, was kidnapped from Kibbutz Alumim, according to The Times of Israel.
“We just want him back,” his sister said in August, according to the newspaper. “It’s too much for me and my family.”
Joshi was 22 years old when kidnapped, according to Nepal’s Kathmandu Post.
Joshi’s family released footage of Joshi on Wednesday they said was recovered by the Israel Defense Forces and shared with the family by Israeli intelligence officials. The footage was believed to have been filmed in November 2023.
It is unclear exactly when the IDF recovered the footage and shared it with the family. The family released a clip of the footage via the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters on Wednesday.
“For many months, this footage was under strict censorship. Only recently were we granted permission to release it,” the Joshi family said in a statement with the video. “It is not easy for us to share it publicly, but we are in critical and historic days that will determine the fate of the 48 hostages, whether the living will return to their families and the deceased to a proper burial, or whether we will remain in pain without closure.”
Tamir Nimrodi was 18 years old when he was kidnapped barefoot and without his glasses, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Nimrodi, who had been serving with the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, was taken from a base near the Erez Crossing into the Gaza Strip, according to the Times of Israel
“He always said I was his best friend. … I pray for the chance to have moments with him again,” said his mom, Herut Nimrodi. “The emptiness in my heart is indescribable.”
(NEW YORK) — One of the most potent greenhouse gas emissions has been discovered seeping out of cracks of the Antarctic seafloor, researchers announced.
Methane has been measured escaping from crevices in the seabed at a high rate as the region warms at unprecedented rates, according to a paper published in Nature Communications.
A large reservoir of methane lies beneath sea floors around the world, which can escape through fissures in the sea floor, according to the paper.
The invisible gas can be seen in streams of bubbles originating on the seafloor of Antarctica’s Ross Sea — located on the northern coast of the continent — said the researchers, describing the mechanism as “seemingly widespread” throughout the region, rather than a “rare phenomenon.”
Numerous seafloor seeps of fluid and gas were identified in the shallow coastal environment of the Northern Victoria Land and McMurdo Sound — both located in the Ross Sea — with shipboard water column acoustic surveys and Remotely Operated Vehicle surveys.
One of the most concerning greenhouse gases, methane, has been described as a “super pollutant” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is responsible for about a third of current anthropogenic global warming and is 25 times more potent for global warming than carbon dioxide, according to the agency.
Oceans and coastlines contain the highest uncertainties of methane release, according to researchers.
“There is a continued gap between the measured increase in atmospheric methane and the total emissions predicted from currently known methane sources,” the authors wrote.
The methane leaks appear to occur in areas of the ocean that experience seepage of fluids rich in hydrocarbons, according to the paper.
Past research in the Arctic has identified tens of thousands of methane seeps — many of them linked to climate change impacts and the degradation of cryospheric caps, such as glacial ice, permafrost and gas hydrates, the authors said.
Reducing the weight of ice sheets and glaciers in the Arctic has been found to decrease hydrostatic pressure on subglacial hydrate reservoirs, which can then enhance subglacial flux and methane discharge on the coast, according to the paper.
Greenhouse gases stored in subsea permafrost reservoirs in ice-free regions of the Antarctic are similarly vulnerable to climate change.
However, the role of methane emissions in Antarctica has not yet been fully determined, requiring more study in the future, the researchers said.
“The increasing climate impacts in the Antarctic, including the widespread reduction in ice mass highlights the importance of understanding the current and future dynamics of fluid and gas release from the significant reservoirs predicted in the region,” the scientists wrote.
Workers describe the housing the Bangladesh government is building for thousands of Rohingya refugees. ABC
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is asserting that it has secured substantial financial commitments for the Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh from partner nations as reports claim that U.S. foreign aid cutbacks have worsened the crisis facing the persecuted group, according to a State Department document obtained exclusively by ABC News.
Per the document, the State Department says it has secured $64.6 million in aid commitments from partner countries in September alone, marking what it calls “a significant development in the Trump administration’s effort to encourage burden sharing with other nations to address humanitarian crises across the globe.”
State Department data indicates that 11 countries, including the U.K., Bangladesh, Japan, Qatar, Australia, Thailand, South Korea, and the Netherlands, have increased their aid to the Rohingya people by more than 10% under the Trump administration in 2025 compared to the last year of the Biden administration, the document states.
The level of influence the Trump administration had over the uptick in aid from these foreign governments is not clear.
The Trump administration also pledged more funding to support Rohingya refugees in September, committing $60 million to the cause in addition to $73 in new assistance announced in March.
In 2024, the final year of the Biden administration, the U.S. contributed just over $300 million to the Rohingya, over 50% of total support for that year, records show.
“The Trump administration has continuously called on nations around the world to join the United States in offering humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations like Rohingya refugees,” a senior State Department official said. “The media narrative that the obligation to provide aid falls solely on the Trump Administration is tired and ignores the reality that many other countries, including regional actors, have repeatedly failed to step up.”
The State Department’s push to ramp up foreign aid for the Rohingya comes as the AP has published a report asserting that Rohingya children have died in a camp located in Myanmar because of the Trump administration’s USAID cuts. (Notably, the report covers impact to Rohingya children in Myanmar; the Trump administration’s fundraising efforts have focused on supporting Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.)
“Let me be absolutely clear: the Associated Press’ claim that children are dying because of recalibrated U.S. foreign assistance levels is completely false and downright irresponsible,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement.
The Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado attends a protest called by the opposition in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 9, 2025, one day before the presidential inauguration.(Photo by Jonathan Lanza/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for her work “promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and her push to move the country from dictatorship to democracy.
Jorgen Watne Frydens, the Nobel Committee chair, spoke broadly about the advance of authoritarian regimes in the world and retreat of democracy in the announcement.
The Nobel Committee called the Venezuelan politician and industrial engineer who is currently the opposition leader in Venezuela “a brave and committed champion of peace.”
“Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela,” the committee said. “But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy — understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government — is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.”
“Maria Corina Machado has led the struggle for democracy in the face of ever-expanding authoritarianism in Venezuela. Ms Machado studied engineering and finance, and had a short career in business,” the Nobel Committee said.
In 1992, Machado established the Atenea Foundation, which works to benefit street children in Caracas and, 10 years later, she was one of the founders of Súmate, a group that works to promote free and fair elections and has conducted training and election monitoring. In 2010, Machado was elected to the National Assembly and won a record number of votes.
“The regime expelled her from office in 2014,” the Nobel Committee said. “Ms Machado leads the Vente Venezuela opposition party and in 2017 helped found the Soy Venezuela alliance, which unites pro-democracy forces in the country across political dividing lines.”
The announcement was made on Friday morning, but the actual award ceremony will take place on Dec. 10, in Oslo, Norway.
Frydens was asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s “campaign” for the prize, but denied it had any impact on the decision making process.
“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what, for them, leads to peace,” Frydens said. “This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. We base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
“Democracy is a precondition for lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to violence,” the Nobel Committee said.
“The Venezuelan regime’s rigid hold on power and its repression of the population are not unique in the world,” it continued. “We see the same trends globally: rule of law abused by those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed towards authoritarian rule and militarisation. In 2024, more elections were held than ever before, but fewer and fewer are free and fair.”
“Maria Corina Machado meets all three criteria stated in Alfred Nobel’s will for the selection of a Peace Prize laureate. She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy,” the committee said.
“[She] has shown that the tools of democracy are also the tools of peace. She embodies the hope of a different future, one where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected, and their voices are heard. In this future, people will finally be free to live in peace,” Nobel Committee officials said.
Last year, Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese anti-nuclear weapons group, won the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward the abolition of nuclear weapons, with the Norwegian Nobel Committee saying that the testimony of the Hibakusha, who are the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is unique in this larger context and that their perspective helps to “generate and consolidate widespread opposition to nuclear weapons around the world by drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experience, and issuing urgent warnings against the spread and use of nuclear weapons.”
There were 338 candidates nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025, of which 244 were individuals and 94 were organizations. This is a significant increase from last year when there were 286 nominees. The highest number of nominees to date was in 2016 when there were 376 candidates.
The list of nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize is released 50 years after the prize is awarded, in accordance with the statutes of the Nobel Foundation.
(LONDON) — World leaders on Thursday issued a wave of statements commending Israel and Hamas for agreeing to the first phase of a ceasefire deal, with many also praising U.S. President Donald Trump for his administration’s role in brokering the deal.
“I welcome the news that a deal has been reached on the first stage of President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. “This is a moment of profound relief that will be felt all around the world, but particularly for the hostages, their families, and for the civilian population of Gaza, who have endured unimaginable suffering over the last two years.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres issued statements with wording closely matching Starmer’s. Each praised Trump, then also included an appeal to Israel and Hamas to abide by the terms of the agreement.
Those statements and many others like them followed Trump’s announcement on Wednesday evening that the warring parties had “both signed off” on the first phase of a ceasefire plan.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. All Parties will be treated fairly!” Trump said in a statement posted on social media.
The full details of that deal were still coming into focus on Thursday, but the broad outline included a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release by Hamas of the remaining hostages, according to Trump. An as-yet unknown number of Palestinian prisoners are also expected to be released from Israeli jails. Nearly 2,000 prisoners are believed to be under discussion for release.
Israeli officials were preparing on Thursday to ratify the deal. The details of the agreed-to deal had not been released as of Thursday morning.
White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were in Egypt on Wednesday for the final negotiations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Washington, where he interrupted a White House roundtable to notify Trump that an agreement to the deal was near.
The administration’s efforts drew applause from Trump’s allies in Washington, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who in a statement hailed it as “a truly historic achievement,” as well as from leaders and aid organisations farther afield.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement posted on social media he wanted to thank “all those involved in this vital effort.”
“I wish to extend my deepest thanks to POTUS Donald Trump for his incredible leadership toward securing the release of the hostages, bringing an end to the war, and creating hope for a new reality in the Middle East,” Herzog said. “There is no doubt that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for this. Should he visit us in the coming days, he will be received with immense respect, affection, and gratitude by the people of Israel.”
Praise for the deal also came from the Palestinian Authority, which governed the Gaza Strip until a violent 2007 seizure by Hamas, the terror organization that at that time executed or expelled many of the Authority’s civil leaders. The Authority, which currently controls civil operations in parts of the West Bank, said in a statement that President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the deal, calling it a “prelude to reaching a permanent political solution.”
“He also commended President Trump and all mediators for their significant efforts in reaching the agreement, affirming the State of Palestine’s readiness to work with relevant mediators and international partners to ensure its success, in order to achieve stability and a lasting and just peace in accordance with international law,” the Authority’s statement said.
The statement also said Palestinian “sovereignty over the Gaza Strip belongs to the State of Palestine.” The details of the agreed-to deal had not been released as of Thursday morning.
Guterres, of the U.N., said on social media he welcomed the agreement, praising the “diplomatic efforts” of the United States and the others who moved the deal forward, including Qatar, Egypt and Turkey. He called it a “desperately needed breakthrough.”
“The UN will support the full implementation of the agreement & will scale up the delivery of sustained & principled humanitarian relief, and we will advance recovery & reconstruction efforts in Gaza,” Guterres added.
European Council President Antonio Costa said the deal amounted to a “foundation for a lasting peace, grounded in a two-state solution.”
“Its implementation paves the way for the long-awaited release of all Israeli hostages, a ceasefire in Gaza, and an end to the severe humanitarian crisis on the ground,” Costa said on Thursday.
The Catholic Church’s local patriarchate also issued a statement praising the deal, saying it “welcomes the joy” of the announcement.
“It is good news, and we are very happy. It is a first step, the first phase. Of course, there are many others, and surely there will be other obstacles,” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said in a statement.
He added, “But now we have to rejoice about this important step that will bring a little more trust for the future and also bring new hope, especially to the people, both Israeli and Palestinians.”
(LONDON and TEL AVIV) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will convene his cabinet to discuss the proposed Gaza Strip ceasefire deal on Thursday, with the cabinet and the wider government expected to approve the blueprint to end the two-year-old war.
The cabinet will meet after days of intense negotiations in the Egyptian Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh, where Israeli and Hamas representatives hashed out the final details of a plan based on the 20-point proposal presented by U.S. President Donald Trump last month.
Netanyahu is expected to convene his cabinet meeting at 5 p.m. local time — 10 a.m. ET. The cabinet is expected to approve the deal, after which the proposal will be put to the wider government. A government vote to ratify the deal is then expected at around 6 p.m. local time — 11 a.m. ET.
The cessation of all fighting by the IDF and Hamas will go into effect after the Israel government ratifies the deal, according to an Israeli official.
Trump announced on Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of the deal, in which all remaining hostages — alive and dead — will be released from Gaza in exchange for an as-yet undetermined number of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. Nearly 2,000 prisoners are believed to be under discussion for release.
The Israel Defense Forces will also pull back to the so-called “yellow line” in Gaza — a reference to a proposed ceasefire map released by the White House last month showing multiple stages of withdrawal. The full details of the agreed-to deal have not been made public and the exact location of that “line” may have shifted during the negotiations.
A senior Israeli official told ABC News that the 72-hour window for Hamas releasing all hostages will begin after the Israeli government ratifies the deal, which it is expected to do on Thursday.
The 20 hostages thought to still be alive are therefore expected to be released all in one group on Sunday or Monday, the official said.
An Israeli official told ABC News that the IDF will have 24 hours to move to the yellow line once the deal is ratified by the government.
“This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. All Parties will be treated fairly!” Trump said in a post to social media, explaining the first phase of the agreement.
“This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen,” the post continued.
Key Arab and Muslim said in supportive statements that they would back the White House plan, all pressing Hamas to accept the blueprint that could end more than two years of intense fighting in the Gaza Strip, which has been largely destroyed by Israeli offensives since the war began after Hamas’ surprise terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Intense strikes across Gaza continued on Thursday, even as the final elements of the deal were hammered out by negotiators in Egypt.
(LONDON) — A supply of U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine could help “push Russia back,” Margus Tsahkna — the foreign minister of NATO ally Estonia — told ABC News, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had “sort of made a decision” on whether to green-light the long-range weapon for Ukrainian use.
Tsahkna said in an interview Tuesday that Trump approving the supply of the cruise missile to Kyiv would send “a very strong message” to Moscow.
“Whatever we can give — without any restrictions — to Ukraine, it is helping to win the war and push Russia back,” Tsahkna said. “So, if President Trump and the U.S. is deciding to take down restrictions from military support, as well Tomahawks, it’s just helping Ukraine to win and push Russia back.”
“It’s up to the U.S. to decide that,” Tsahkna said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has confirmed that Kyiv is seeking access to the American-made long-range missile, different variants of which have ranges of up to 1,550 miles, according to the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Russia’s most populous and politically important cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, and a host of important air, naval, oil refining and drone production facilities would be within range if the longest-range version of the Tomahawk is supplied to Ukraine.
There remain major obstacles to any Ukrainian use of Tomahawks. For one, the main launch platforms for the cruise missile are naval vessels — most commonly submarines — and bomber aircraft, neither of which Ukraine possesses.
Only in recent years has the U.S. developed a small and very limited capability of firing Tomahawks from large launch vehicles, known as the Typhon missile system. Germany and the Philippines have reportedly expressed an interest in obtaining the Typhon, but to date, only the U.S. operates the platform. The small numbers of such launch vehicles in the U.S. military’s inventory makes it likely that they would not be on the battlefield anytime soon if approved by President Trump.
NATO allies have said little on the potential for Ukrainian Tomahawk use, or allied support for their supply.
“I think I want to find out what they’re doing with them,” Trump said of Ukraine’s Tomahawk request on Monday. “I would ask some questions. I’m not looking to escalate that war.”
The Kremlin has warned that a Tomahawk supply to Ukraine would do just that.
“This will lead to the destruction of our relations, or at least the positive trends that have emerged in these relations,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a video clip released on Sunday by Russian state television.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow is “carefully analyzing” related developments.
“The question, as before, is as follows: Who can launch these missiles, even if they are on the territory of the Kyiv regime — can only Ukrainians launch them, or should the U.S. military do so?” he asked.
“Who sets the targets for these missiles — the American side or the Ukrainians themselves?” Peskov added. “Therefore, a very thorough analysis is needed here. We have certainly heard the statements, they are very serious, and we are studying them.”
“Even if this happens, there is no panacea that can now change the situation on the front lines for the Kyiv regime, there is no magic weapon, be it Tomahawks or missiles — they will not be able to change the dynamics,” Peskov said.
Officials in Kyiv said they disagree.
The Tomahawk “is extremely important as a deterrent weapon, because the presence of this weapon for Russia will be a clear signal that we have something to respond with if they continue this terror,” Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser to the head of Zelenskyy’s office, said in a television appearance.
Andriy Kovalenko — the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council — said in posts to Telegram that the Tomahawk would represent “not tactical deterrence, but a strategic turning point.”
“As soon as Moscow and St. Petersburg fully and consistently feel the war, it will mean either a search for a replacement for Putin by the elites and an exit from the war, at least temporarily, or Putin himself will do everything to stop the war,” Kovalenko suggested.
But significant practical challenges remain.
Ivan Stupak, a former officer in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), suggested in an interview with ABC News that the Tomahawk is the latest headline-grabbing “wonder weapon” that would have a limited battlefield effect, even if the White House decided to approve its transfer to Ukrainian arsenals.
It is not clear how many Tomahawks the U.S. military could spare for Ukrainian use. The rate of Tomahawk production has ranged from 55 to 90 annually in recent years, according to Reuters. The Pentagon has already said it plans to purchase just 57 missiles in 2026.
The intensity of the war in Ukraine dwarfs those numbers. Recent months have seen Russia launch between 100 and 200 missiles of all types into Ukraine each month, per Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News. On a nightly basis, Ukraine launches dozens of long-range drones into Russia, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow.
Stupak, who has advised Ukrainian parliamentarians on security matters during Russia’s full-scale invasion, said he was skeptical that the U.S. would deliver enough Tomahawks to turn the tide of the war.
U.S. control over target selection may limit their effectiveness further, Stupak said, as may American concerns about sensitive technical data falling into Russian hands if any Tomahawks were captured.
Along with the issue of launch platforms, there would be a need for training. Unless American military personnel are on the ground to assist in their usage — and Trump has already publicly ruled out deployed U.S. troops to Ukraine — Ukrainian operators will also need significant training to be able to use the weapon.
Ukraine is already using shorter-range Western-supplied cruise missiles — the Storm Shadow/SCALP British-French cruise missile, which have a maximum range far shorter than the Tomahawk at around 155 miles.
The extent of allied involvement in their use is unclear, but Germany’s then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz was widely criticized for hinting in 2024 that British and French personnel were involved in “target control.”
Yuriy Boyechko, the CEO of the Hope For Ukraine humanitarian organization, told ABC News he was skeptical of any Tomahawk proposal.
“Ukraine currently does not possess the specialized launch equipment or the trained personnel needed to field the Tomahawk missile system,” he said. “Right now, Ukraine is under daily mass attacks and needs quick, practical solutions to protect civilians and to conduct offensive operations deep into Russian territory.”
The “only solution” for Kyiv, Stupak suggested, is for Ukraine to continue its own cruise missile and ballistic missile production drive.
(LONDON) — As Israel’s military prepared last month to launch its ground offensive into Gaza City, the Israel Defense Forces published a warning about al-Kawthar Tower, a residential high-rise in the city.
Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arab-language spokesperson, shared on social media a satellite photo with the building highlighted in red. Leave now, he said at about 10 a.m. local time, adding, “The defense army will attack the building soon due to the presence of Hamas terrorist infrastructure inside it or adjacent to it.”
By the time the afternoon began, an Israeli airstrike had reduced that building and another one-time residential high-rise like it to piles of rebar and concrete.
Those systematic warnings and strikes — which came weeks ahead of the second anniversary of the brutal conflict between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist group that launched a surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,200 — were just two of many as Israel continued its campaign to “crush” Hamas, in the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel, in the second year of the war, continued hunting militants throughout the Gaza Strip, proceeding at times in block-by-block sweeps of neighborhoods and buildings. Like the al-Kawthar Tower, many buildings and much infrastructure have been destroyed in the process. Hospitals, schools-turned-shelters and sprawling “tent cities” of displaced people have all been routinely attacked. The United Nations in March described the damage as “unprecedented,” saying at that time that some 51 million tons of rubble covered the enclave.
Many have died, including thousands of noncombatants, according to officials at government agencies run by Hamas. By Sunday, two days prior to the war’s second anniversary, the death toll in the strip had risen to 67,139, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said.
An average of 27 children have been killed each day over the past two years, the strip’s media office said on Monday.
A broadening conflict and Trump’s helping hand
A ceasefire deal came into effect a day before President Donald Trump took office in January. As the president’s second term began, he said he would seek to be a “peacemaker and unifier.” He said he wanted to measure success by the wars the U.S. ended and “perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
Trump has in months since pushed for a resolution to the war between Israel and Hamas. He hosted Netanyahu at the White House and dispatched Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Tel Aviv and Qatar to assist in negotiations.
But still, the sinews of the conflict have stretched wider in the last year. Although the military said its focus has remained on destroying Hamas in Gaza, the IDF also launched significant air, ground and sea campaigns into Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iran. As of the war’s second anniversary, Israeli troops are still occupying recently seized territory in Lebanon and Syria — plus conducting air and artillery strikes in both.
“Together, we pushed back our enemies’ plans of destruction,” Netanyahu said on social media on Saturday. “From Gaza to Rafah, from Beirut to Damascus, from Yemen to Tehran, together we have achieved great things.”
He added, “From victory to victory — we are changing the face of the Middle East together. Together we will continue to act to ensure the eternity of Israel.”
Israeli forces have used U.S.-provided weapons and intelligence throughout its recent regional conflicts. Trump in June ordered U.S. fighter and bomber aircraft to launch an attack on several key nuclear facilities in Iran — assisting Israel in an intense and broad airstrike and covert operations campaign it had already launched against Tehran. Trump in a speech after the strikes said, “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”
Trump also told ABC News he thought the attacks had been “excellent” and suggested there was “more to come.”
Accusations of ‘genocide’ against Israel, UN commission says Israel has, since the first months of the conflict, been accused of systematically killing noncombatants, including claims that its actions in Gaza amount to a genocide, according to an independent U.N. commission and the Palestinian Authority president.
Those claims continued to dog Israel in the second year of its conflict, as civilian casualties in Gaza climbed, mass hunger spread and the IDF repeatedly forced large numbers of Palestinians to relocate. As Israel opened aid routes in July, the IDF said in a statement that that there is “no starvation in Gaza.”
The International Association of Genocide Scholars, for example, passed a resolution in September saying Israel’s “policies and actions” in Gaza “meet the legal definition of genocide,” established by the U.N. in 1948, the organization said in a release.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement late last month, “Israel’s actions in Gaza should have long ago triggered the ‘duty to prevent’ under the Genocide Convention, but states have failed to act decisively.”
Israel has vociferously rejected all allegations of genocide, framing its critics as anti-Semitic or — in Netanyahu’s words — “useful idiots” in the service of both Hamas and Iran.
Those accusations continued into the summer and fall of this year, as another group, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global initiative monitoring hunger with the backing of governments, the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, warned that the “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in Gaza.
“Mounting evidence shows that widespread starvation, malnutrition, and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,” the IPC warning said. “Latest data thresholds have been reached for food consumption in the Gaza Strip, and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.”
Netanyahu’s office called that determination “an outright lie” and “a modern blood libel.”
International outrage built as the killing of civilians at or close to aid sites — including those organized by the U.S. and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — by Israeli forces happened on multiple occasions. The U.N. and other aid groups refused to collaborate with the GHF. U.N. experts said the group was an “utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law.”
The experts alleged an “entanglement of Israeli intelligence, U.S. contractors and ambiguous non-governmental entities” with the GHF.
The organization’s executive chairman told ABC News in June that he “fundamentally” disagrees “with the premise that our operation is somehow disproportionately imperiling people.”
The IDF repeatedly rejected claims that it had intentionally fired on hungry civilians. Israeli military and political officials, plus the GHF, blamed Hamas or other Palestinian actors for the violent and desperate scenes near the aid sites.
A peace deal takes shape under Trump Since returning to office in January, Trump has twinned his push for a peace deal with apocalyptic threats against Hamas. The president has framed a possible ceasefire agreement as one part of a wider Middle East accord, and “something special” for the whole region.
The president has secured buy-in from key Arab and Muslim states, his efforts energized by his criticism of Israel’s audacious and unsuccessful effort to assassinate top Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya in an airstrike in the Qatari capital of Doha.
The 20-point peace plan presented by Trump and Netanyahu at the White House on Sept. 29 appears a far cry from his February “Gaza Riviera” redevelopment scheme, which he said would see the U.S. “take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip, overseeing its reconstruction with Palestinians relocated outside of the strip.
The new proposal foresees a transfer of power to a technocratic Palestinian government backed by a temporary “International Stabilization Force,” manned by Arab and other international partners to oversee the security of Gaza. The new government would also be overseen by the “Board of Peace” transitional body, chaired by Trump with other members including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The IDF, though, would remain along the Gaza perimeter and in the southern Philadelphi frontier crossing, while retaining freedom of military action throughout the strip. Hamas leaders would be allowed to leave the strip, but the organization would have to fully disarm.
Hamas on Friday gave a positive initial response, signifying its readiness to free all hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners if “the field conditions for the exchange are met.”
But the group said more negotiations will be needed before it can agree to a full peace deal. This week, Hamas, Israeli and U.S. representatives will gather in Egypt’s Red Sea city of Sharm el-Sheikh for further ceasefire talks.
In any settlement, those responsible for post-war Gaza face a daunting reconstruction task.
Entire towns have disappeared from Gaza over the past two years. The U.N. reported in September that 78% of Gaza Strip buildings had been partially or fully destroyed. An ABC News visual analysis of satellite imagery and more than 200 verified social media videos showed that 88% of Gaza’s schools are destroyed or damaged.
In Gaza City, where the al-Kawthar Tower and others were brought down last month, more than 50 such “terror towers” were destroyed before the ground invasion began, Israel said. Netanyahu in a statement, said those towers coming down was “just a start.”
“We brought down 50 terror towers in two days, and this is just the opening for the independent operation of the ground maneuver in Gaza City,” Netanyahu said as the Gaza City invasion began.
The U.N. warned in a statement that the operation to seize Gaza City would be “catastrophic” for civilians.
When Netanyahu spoke of the potential deal on Saturday, he again lauded the strong military action in the city, saying, “As a result of the intense military pressure we applied and the diplomatic pressure, Hamas was pressured into agreeing to the plan we presented.”
And U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has several times discussed the difficulties that lie ahead, even if a deal is made to pause or end the fighting.
He said last month that “when all is said and done, there is still a group called Hamas, which is an evil group that still has weapons and is terrorizing.” He added, “there is still the hard work ahead of, once this ends, of rebuilding Gaza in a way that provides people a quality of life that they all want.”
“Who’s going to do that?” Rubio added. “Who’s going to pay for it? And who’s going to be in charge of it?”
