JERUSALEM (AP) — World Central Kitchen, the food charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, called a halt to its work in the Gaza Strip after an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers, mostly foreigners.

The group, which said it will make decisions about longer-term plans in the region soon, has been bringing desperately needed food to Gazans facing widespread hunger and pioneered the recently launched effort to deliver aid by sea from Cyprus. Its absence, even if temporary, is likely to deepen the war-torn territory’s misery as the United Nations warns that famine is imminent.

Here’s a look at the charity’s work in Gaza and what its absence could mean:

WHAT IS WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN?

Founded in 2010, World Central Kitchen delivers freshly prepared meals to people in need following natural disasters, like hurricanes or earthquakes, or to those enduring conflict. The group has also provided meals to migrants arriving at the southern U.S. border, as well as to hospital staff who worked relentlessly during the coronavirus pandemic.

The aid group sends in teams who can cook meals that appeal to the local palate on a large scale and fast.

“When you talk about food and water, people don’t want a solution one week from now, one month from now. The solution has to be now,” Andrés is quoted as saying on the group’s website.

World Central Kitchen has worked in dozens of affected areas and currently has teams in Haiti, addressing the needs of Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s invasion, as well as providing meals to people affected by the war in Gaza.

WHAT HAS IT DONE DURING THE WAR IN GAZA?

Teams from the charity have fanned out across the region since Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7 and throughout the war that it sparked. It has fed Israelis displaced by the attack as well as former hostages, according to its website, and people in Lebanon displaced by fighting with Israel. But its work in Gaza has been the most demanding.

In Gaza, the group says it has provided more than 43 million meals to Palestinians.

The group has set up two main kitchens, in the southern city of Rafah and the central town of Deir al-Balah. It lends support to 68 community kitchens throughout the territory, serving more than 170,000 hot meals a day. The group ramped up its work during Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims traditionally fast from sunrise to sundown and then eat a lavish meal, distributing 92,000 food boxes or about 4.7 million meals.

The group has also provided meals through airdrops and has led two shipments by sea carrying hundreds of tons of food for northern Gaza, where the food emergency is most acute.

In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Andrés credited the charity’s sea deliveries with prompting the U.S. to declare that it would build a floating pier for aid delivered to Gaza by sea.

“I think this has been our achievement,” he said.

WHAT WILL THE CHARITY’S ABSENCE MEAN FOR PEOPLE IN GAZA?

With World Central Kitchen immediately suspending its work, tens of thousands of meals a day won’t be handed out.

Following the deadly strike, Cyprus’ foreign ministry spokesperson said aid ships that arrived in Gaza this week will return to the Mediterranean island nation with some 240 tons of undelivered aid. Roughly 100 tons have already been offloaded, the spokesperson said.

Other aid organizations are still on the ground providing assistance to Palestinians, including the U.N. But aid groups say supplies are not coming in quickly enough and once they have entered Gaza, delivery is hobbled by logistical problems as well as the constant fighting. Israel denies there is a food shortage in Gaza and blames the U.N. and other aid groups for failing to scale up deliveries inside the territory.

World Central Kitchen was at the vanguard of the two sea shipments that have arrived in Gaza so far. It was not clear in what capacity the sea corridor would continue without the group, but the president of Cyprus said Tuesday that more aid could be shipped to Gaza from Cyprus “before the end of the month,” as the U.S. completes construction of a floating pier off the Palestinian territory’s coastline.

President Nikos Christodoulides said the Cyprus-Gaza aid shipments “will continue as humanitarian needs are there.”

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Some of Israel’s closest allies, including the United States, on Tuesday condemned the deaths of seven aid workers who were killed by airstrikes in Gaza — a loss that prompted multiple charities to suspend food deliveries to Palestinians on the brink of starvation.

The deaths of the World Central Kitchen workers threatened to set back efforts by the U.S. and other countries to open a maritime corridor for aid from Cyprus to help ease the desperate conditions in northern Gaza.

President Joe Biden issued an unusually blunt criticism of Israel by its closest ally, suggesting that the incident demonstrated that Israel was not doing enough to protect civilians.

“Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians,” he said, adding he was “outraged and heartbroken” by their killings.

“Incidents like yesterday’s simply should not happen,” he added. “The United States has repeatedly urged Israel to deconflict their military operations against Hamas with humanitarian operations, in order to avoid civilian casualties.”

Ships still laden with some 240 tons of aid from the charitable group turned back from Gaza just a day after arriving, according to Cyprus. Other humanitarian aid organizations also suspended operations in Gaza, saying it was too dangerous to offer help. Israel has allowed only a trickle of food and supplies into Gaza’s devastated north, where experts say famine is imminent.

The dead from Monday night’s strikes included three British citizens, Polish and Australia nationals, a Canadian-American dual national and a Palestinian. Those countries have been key backers of Israel’s nearly 6-month-old offensive in Gaza, and several of them denounced the killings.

Israel already faces growing isolation as international criticism of the Gaza assault has mounted. On the same day as the deadly airstrikes, Israel stirred more fears by apparently striking Iran’s consulate in Damascus and killing two Iranian generals. The government also moved to shut down a foreign media outlet — Qatari-owned Al Jazeera television.

Israel’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, announced the results of a preliminary investigation early Wednesday.

“It was a mistake that followed a misidentification – at night during a war in very complex conditions. It shouldn’t have happened,” he said. He gave no further details. He said an independent body would conduct a “thorough investigation” that would be completed in the coming days.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier acknowledged the “unintended strike … on innocent people” and said officials would work to ensure it does not happen again.

World Central Kitchen said it had coordinated with the Israeli military over the movement of its cars. Three vehicles moving at large distances apart were hit in succession. They were left incinerated and mangled, indicating multiple targeted strikes.

At least one of the vehicles had the charity’s logo printed across its roof to make it identifiable from the air, and the ordnance punched a large hole through the roof. Footage showed the bodies at a hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah, several of them wearing protective gear with the charity’s logo.

Israeli TV said the initial military investigation found that the army identified the cars carrying World Central Kitchen’s workers arriving at its warehouse in Deir al-Balah and observed suspected militants nearby. Half an hour later, the vehicles were struck by the air force as they headed south. The reports said it was not clear who ordered the strikes or why.

Throughout the war, Israel has said it seeks to avoid civilian casualties and uses sophisticated intelligence to target Hamas and other militants. Israeli authorities blame them for civilian deaths because they operate in populated areas. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

At the same time, Israel has also insisted that no target is off-limits. Israeli forces have repeatedly struck ambulances and vehicles carrying aid, as well as relief organization offices and U.N. shelters, claiming that armed fighters were in them.

Israeli forces have also shown a readiness to inflict widespread destruction on suspicion of a militant presence or out of tactical need. Homes with Palestinian families sheltering inside are leveled by strikes almost daily with no explanation of the intended target. Videos of strikes released by the military often show them hitting individuals without visible weapons, while identifying them as militants.

More than 32,900 Palestinians have been killed in the war, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

Celebrity chef José Andrés, who founded the World Central Kitchen charity, said he was “heartbroken” by the deaths of the staffers.

“The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The U.S., Britain, Poland, Australia and Canada all called on Israel to give answers on the deaths. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant launched an investigation and ordered the opening of a joint situation room enabling coordination between the military and aid groups.

But anger among its allies could put new pressure on Israel.

The British government summoned Israel’s ambassador for a rebuke and called for an immediate humanitarian pause to allow more aid in and the release of hostages.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Netanyahu that he was “appalled” by the workers’ deaths and described the situation in Gaza as “increasingly intolerable.”

A senior Canadian government official said there will be a joint formal diplomatic rebuke at the foreign ministry in Israel on Wednesday. The official also said a top official with Canada’s Global Affairs department made a formal representation to Israel ambassador’s to Canada on Tuesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The deaths sent a further chill through U.N. agencies and other aid groups that have said for months that sending truck convoys around Gaza — particularly in the north — has been extremely difficult because of the military’s failure to either grant permission or ensure safe passage. Israel has barred UNRWA, the main U.N. agency in Gaza, from making deliveries to the north.

The U.S. and other countries have been working to set up the sea passage from Cyprus to get around the difficulties.

World Central Kitchen was key to the new route. It and the United Arab Emirates sent a pilot shipment last month. Their second delivery of around 400 tons of food and supplies arrived in three ships to Gaza hours before the strikes on the convoy.

Around 100 tons were unloaded before the charity suspended operations, and the rest was being taken back to Cyprus, Cypriot Foreign Ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis said.

Still, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said Tuesday that ship deliveries would continue.

Anera, a Washington-based aid group that has been operating in the Palestinian territories for decades, said that in the wake of the strikes it was taking the “unprecedented” step of pausing its own operations in Gaza, where it had been helping to provide around 150,000 meals daily.

“The escalating risks associated with aid delivery leave us with no choice,” it said in a statement.

Jamie McGoldrick, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, said the strikes were “not an isolated incident.” The U.N. says more than 180 humanitarian workers have been killed in the war.

“This is nearly three times the death toll recorded in any single conflict in a year,” he said.

The war began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. Israel responded with one of the deadliest and most destructive offensives in recent history.

Two other Israeli strikes late Monday killed at least 16 Palestinians, including eight children, in Rafah, where Israel has vowed to expand its ground operation. The city on the Egyptian border is now home to some 1.4 million Palestinians, most of whom have sought refuge from fighting elsewhere.

One strike hit a family home, killing 10 people, including five children, according to hospital records. Another hit a gathering near a mosque, killing at least six people, including three children.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland; Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia; Rob Gillies in Toronto; and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.

NEW DELHI (AP) — The world’s largest democratic election could also be one of its most consequential.

With a population of over 1.4 billion people and close to 970 million voters, India’s general election pits Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an avowed Hindu nationalist, against a broad alliance of opposition parties that are struggling to play catch up.

The 73-year-old Modi first swept to power in 2014 on promises of economic development, presenting himself as an outsider cracking down on corruption. Since then, he has fused religion with politics in a formula that has attracted wide support from the country’s majority Hindu population.

India under Modi is a rising global power, but his rule has also been marked by rising unemployment, attacks by Hindu nationalists against minorities, particularly Muslims, and a shrinking space for dissent and free media.

HOW DOES THE ELECTION WORK?

The 6-week-long general election starts on April 19 and results will be announced on June 4. The voters, who comprise over 10% of the world’s population, will elect 543 members for the lower house of Parliament for a five-year term.

The polls will be held in seven phases and ballots cast at more than a million polling stations. Each phase will last a single day with several constituencies across multiple states voting that day. The staggered polling allows the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent violence and transport election officials and voting machines.

India has a first-past-the-post multiparty electoral system in which the candidate who receives the most votes wins. To secure a majority, a party or coalition must breach the mark of 272 seats.

While voters in the United States and elsewhere use paper ballots, India uses electronic voting machines.

WHO IS RUNNING?

Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and his main challenger, Rahul Gandhi of the Indian National Congress, represent Parliament’s two largest factions. Several other important regional parties are part of an opposition bloc.

Opposition parties, which have been previously fractured, have united under a front called INDIA, or Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, to deny Modi a a third straight election victory.

The alliance has fielded a single primary candidate in most constituencies. But it has been roiled by ideological differences and personality clashes, and has not yet decided on its candidate for prime minister.

Most surveys suggest Modi is likely to win comfortably, especially after he opened a Hindu temple in northern Ayodhya city in January, which fulfilled his party’s long-held Hindu nationalist pledge.

Another victory would cement Modi as one of the country’s most popular and important leaders. It would follow a thumping win in 2019, when the BJP clinched an absolute majority by sweeping 303 parliamentary seats. The Congress party managed only 52 seats.

WHAT ARE THE BIG ISSUES?

For decades, India has clung doggedly to its democratic convictions, largely due to free elections, an independent judiciary, a thriving media, strong opposition and peaceful transition of power. Some of these credentials have seen a slow erosion under Modi’s 10-year rule, with the polls seen as a test for the country’s democratic values.

The polls will also test the limits of Modi, a populist leader whose rise has seen increasing attacks against religious minorities, mostly Muslims. Critics accuse him of using a Hindu-first platform, endangers the country’s secular roots.

Under Modi, the media, once viewed as vibrant and largely independent, have become more pliant and critical voices muzzled.Courts have largely bent to Modi’s will and given favorable verdicts in crucial cases. Centralization of executive power has strained India’s federalism. And federal agencies have bogged down top opposition leaders in corruption cases, which they deny.

Another key issue is India’s large economy, which is among the fastest growing in the world. It has helped India emerge as a global power and a counterweight to China. But even as India’s growth soars by some measures, the Modi government has struggled to generate enough jobs for young Indians, and instead has relied on welfare programs like free food and housing to woo voters.

The U.N.’s latest Asia-Pacific Human Development Report lists India among the top countries with high income and wealth inequality.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Tens of thousands of Israelis thronged central Jerusalem on Sunday in the largest anti-government protest since the country went to war in October. Protesters urged the government to reach a cease-fire deal to free dozens of hostages held in Gaza by Hamas and to hold early elections.

Israeli society was broadly united immediately after Oct. 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 people during a cross-border attack and took 250 others hostage. Nearly six months of conflict have renewed divisions over the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, though the country remains largely in favor of the war. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring all the hostages home, yet those goals have been elusive. While Hamas has suffered heavy losses, it remains intact.

Roughly half the hostages in Gaza were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November. But attempts by international mediators to bring home the remaining hostages have failed. Talks resumed on Sunday with no signs that a breakthrough was imminent.

Hostages’ families believe time is running out, and they are getting more vocal about their displeasure with Netanyahu.

“We believe that no hostages will come back with this government because they’re busy putting sticks in the wheels of negotiations for the hostages,” said Boaz Atzili, whose cousin, Aviv Atzili and his wife, Liat, were kidnapped on Oct. 7. Liat was released but Aviv was killed, and his body is in Gaza. “Netanyahu is only working in his private interests.”

PROTESTERS HAVE MANY GRIEVANCES

Protesters blame Netanyahu for the failures of Oct. 7 and say the deep political divisions over his attempted judicial overhaul last year weakened Israel ahead of the attack. Some accuse him of damaging relations with the United States, Israel’s most important ally.

Netanyahu is also facing a litany of corruption charges which are slowly making their way through the courts, and critics say his decisions appear to be focused on political survival over the national interest. Opinion polls show Netanyahu and his coalition trailing far behind their rivals if elections were held today.

Unless his governing coalition falls apart sooner, Netanyahu won’t face elections until spring of 2026.

Many families of hostages had refrained from publicly denouncing Netanyahu to avoid antagonizing the leadership and making the hostages’ plight a political issue. But as their anger grows, some now want to change course — and they played a major role in Sunday’s anti-government protest.

The crowd on Sunday stretched for blocks around the Knesset, or parliament building, and organizers vowed to continue the demonstration for several days. They urged the government to hold new elections nearly two years ahead of schedule. Thousands also demonstrated Sunday in Tel Aviv, where there was a large protest the night before.

Netanyahu, in a nationally televised speech before undergoing hernia surgery later Sunday, said he understood families’ pain. But he said calling new elections — in what he described as a moment before victory — would paralyze Israel for six to eight months and stall the hostage talks. For now, Netanyahu’s governing coalition appears to remain firmly intact.

Some hostage families agree that now is not the time for elections.

“I don’t think that changing the prime minister now is what will advance and help my son to come home,” Sheli Shem Tov, whose son Omer was kidnapped from a music festival, told Israel’s Channel 12. “To go to elections now will just push to the side the most burning issue, which is to return the hostages home.”

In his Sunday address, Netanyahu also repeated his vow for a military ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than half of territory’s population of 2.3 million now shelters after fleeing fighting elsewhere. “There is no victory without going into Rafah,” he said, adding that U.S. pressure would not deter him. Israel’s military says Hamas battalions remain there.

In another reminder of Israel’s divisions, a group of reservists and retired officers demonstrated in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.

Ultra-Orthodox men for generations have received exemptions from military service, which is compulsory for most Jewish men and women. Resentment over that has deepened during the war. Netanyahu’s government has been ordered to present a new plan for a more equitable draft law by Monday.

Netanyahu, who relies heavily on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties, last week asked for an extension.

The Bank of Israel said in its annual report on Sunday that there could be economic damage if large numbers of ultra-Orthodox men continue not to serve in Israel’s military.

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE HITS TENT CAMP AT HOSPITAL

Also Sunday, an Israeli airstrike hit a tent camp in the courtyard of a crowded hospital in central Gaza, killing two Palestinians and wounding another 15, including journalists working nearby.

An Associated Press reporter filmed the strike and aftermath at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, where thousands of people have sheltered. The Israeli military said it struck a command center of the Islamic Jihad militant group.

Tens of thousands of people have sought shelter in Gaza’s hospitals, viewing them as relatively safe from airstrikes. Israel accuses Hamas and other militants of operating in and around medical facilities, which Gaza’s health officials deny.

Israeli troops have been raiding Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, for nearly two weeks and say they have killed scores of fighters, including senior Hamas operatives. Gaza’s Health Ministry said more than 100 patients remain with no potable water and septic wounds, while doctors use plastic bags for gloves.

Not far from Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, dozens of members of Gaza’s tiny Palestinian Christian community gathered at the Holy Family Church to celebrate Easter, with incense wafting through the rare building that appeared untouched by war.

“We are here with sadness,” attendee Winnie Tarazi said. About 600 people shelter in the compound.

GAZA’S DEATH TOLL NEARS 33,000 AND HUNGER GROWS

The United Nations and partners warn that famine could occur in devastated, largely isolated northern Gaza. Humanitarian officials say deliveries by sea and air are not enough and that Israel must allow far more aid by road. Egypt has said thousands of trucks are waiting.

Israel says it places no limits on deliveries of humanitarian aid. It has blamed the U.N. and other international agencies for the failure to distribute more aid.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that at least 32,782 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war. The ministry’s count does not differentiate between civilians and fighters, but it has said that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.

Amid concerns about a wider conflict in the region, Lebanese state media reported that an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese town of Konin.

A Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that Hezbollah militant Ismail al-Zain was killed, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Israel’s military called al-Zain a “significant commander.” Hezbollah confirmed the death.

Late Sunday, a Palestinian attacker stabbed three people in southern Israel, seriously wounding them, said the Hatzalah rescue service. Police said the attacker was shot, but gave no further details on his condition.

Magdy reported from Cairo and Shurafa from Deir al-Balah. Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report

Find more of AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military withdrew from Gaza’s largest hospital early Monday after a two-week raid that engulfed the facility and surrounding districts in fighting. Footage showed widespread devastation, with the facility’s main buildings reduced to burned-out husks.

The military has described the raid on Shifa Hospital as a major battlefield victory in the nearly six-month war and said its troops killed 200 fighters in the operation, though the claim they were all fighters could not be confirmed.

But the raid came at a time of mounting frustration in Israel, with tens of thousands protesting Sunday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanding that he do more to bring home dozens of hostages held in Gaza. It was the largest anti-government demonstration since the start of the war.

Elsewhere, Syrian state media reported that an Israeli airstrike destroyed the consular section of Iran’s embassy in Damascus, killing or wounding everyone inside.

The Iranian Arabic-language state television Al-Alam and pan-Arab television station Al-Mayadeen, which has reporters in Syria, said the strike killed Iranian military adviser Gen. Ali Reza Zahdi, who led the elite Quds Force in Lebanon and Syria until 2016.

In other developments, Netanyahu said he would shut down satellite broadcaster Al Jazerra immediately. Netanyahu vowed to close the “terror channel” after parliament passed a law Monday clearing the way for the country to halt the Qatari-owned channel from broadcasting from Israel.

Netanyahu accused Al Jazeera of harming Israeli security, participating in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and inciting violence against Israel. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Meanwhile, a second shipment of food aid arrived by sea in the latest test of a new maritime route from the Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus. One of the three boats could be seen off the coast, and Cyprus’ foreign minister said they had received permission to unload. The precise mechanism of delivery was not yet clear.

The fighting around Shifa showed that Hamas can still put up resistance even in one of the hardest-hit areas. Israel said it had largely dismantled Hamas in northern Gaza and withdrew thousands of troops late last year.

The raid also gutted a hospital that had once been the heart of Gaza’s health system but which doctors and staff had struggled to get even partially operating again after a previous Israeli assault in November.

Israel said it launched the latest raid on Shifa because senior Hamas operatives had regrouped there and were planning attacks. It identified six officials from Hamas’ military wing it said were killed inside the hospital during the raid. It also said it seized weapons and valuable intelligence.

The raid triggered days of heavy fighting for blocks around Shifa, with witnesses reporting airstrikes, the shelling of homes and troops going house to house to force residents to leave.

After the troops withdrew, hundreds of Palestinians returned to search for lost loved ones or examine the damage.

Among the dead were Ahmed Maqadma and his mother — both doctors at Shifa — and his cousin, said Dr. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a Palestinian-British doctor who volunteered at Shifa and other hospitals during the first months of the war before returning to Britain.

The fate of the three had been unknown since they talked by phone with family as they tried to leave Shifa nearly a week ago and the line suddenly went dead. On Monday, relatives found their bodies with gunshot wounds about a block from the hospital, said Abu Sitta, who is in touch with the family.

Bassel al-Hilou said the bodies of seven of his relatives were found in the wreckage of a house near Shifa where they had been sheltering when it was demolished by a strike.

“There was a massacre in my uncle’s house,” he told The Associated Press. “The situation was indescribable.”

Mohammed Mahdi, who was among those who returned to the area, described a scene of “total destruction.” He said several buildings had been burned down and that he counted six bodies in the area, including two in the hospital courtyard, though it was not clear when they died.

Video footage circulating online showed the main buildings of Shifa charred and heavily damaged. Several witnesses said army bulldozers had plowed up a mass grave that had been dug in November in Shifa’s courtyard, leaving many bodies exposed.

At least 21 patients died during the raid, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted late Sunday on X, formerly Twitter.

He said over a hundred patients were still inside the compound during the operation, including four children, 28 critical patients and many who suffered from infected wounds and dehydration.

The military denied that its forces harmed any civilians inside the compound. Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals for military purposes and has raided many hospitals across the territory.

Critics accuse the army of recklessly endangering civilians and of decimating a health sector already overwhelmed with wounded.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the top military spokesman, said Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group established their main northern headquarters inside the hospital. He described days of close-quarters fighting and blamed Hamas for the destruction, saying some fighters barricaded themselves inside hospital wards while others launched mortar rounds at the compound.

Hagari said the troops arrested some 900 suspected fighters during the raid, including more than 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters, and seized over $3 million in different currencies, as well as weapons.

He said the army evacuated more than 200 of the estimated 300 to 350 patients and delivered food, water and medical supplies to the rest. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the raid, the military said.

The military previously raided Shifa in November, after saying Hamas maintained an elaborate command and control center inside and beneath the compound. It revealed a tunnel running beneath the hospital that led to a few rooms, as well as weapons it said it had confiscated from inside medical buildings, but nothing on the scale of what it had alleged prior to that raid.

The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

The war has displaced most of the territory’s population and driven a third of its residents to the brink of famine. Northern Gaza, where Shifa is located, has suffered vast destruction and has been largely isolated since October, leading to widespread hunger.

The aid ships that arrived Monday carried some 400 tons of food and supplies in a shipment organized by the United Arab Emirates and the World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés. Last month a ship delivered 200 tons of aid in a pilot run.

Netanyahu has vowed to keep up the offensive until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are freed. He says Israel will soon expand ground operations to the southern city of Rafah, where some 1.4 million people — more than half of Gaza’s population — have sought refuge.

But he faces mounting pressure from Israelis who blame him for the security failures of Oct. 7 and from some families of the hostages who blame him for the failure to reach a deal despite several weeks of talks mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. Allied countries, including main backer the United States, have warned him against an invasion of Rafah.

Hamas and other militants are still believed to be holding some 100 hostages and the remains of 30 others, after freeing most of the rest during a cease-fire last November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel.

Find more of AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hundreds of Christians participated in a customary Good Friday procession through the limestone walls of Jerusalem’s Old City, commemorating one of the faith’s most sacred days with noticeably thinner crowds amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The day’s processions, which normally draw thousands of foreign visitors, were unusually local. Most observers were Palestinian Christians, joined by some foreigners living in Jerusalem and a few undeterred tourists.

The traditional Good Friday procession passes along the Way of the Cross, or Via Dolorosa, the route believed to have been walked by Jesus to his crucifixion. Squads of Israeli police set up barricades along the path, rerouting shoppers in the Old City’s bustling Muslim quarter to make way for hundreds of pilgrims.

A young group of Palestinian Arab scouts led the day’s procession, past the 14 stations along the route, each marking an event that befell Jesus on his final journey. Hundreds of Palestinian Christians walked in their wake. Behind them was a small parade of the Franciscan religious order, composed mainly of foreigners who live in Jerusalem.

“We wait for this every year,” said Munira Kamar, a Palestinian Christian from the Old City, who watched the parade pass, waving hello to cross-bearers, who stopped to give her young daughter a kiss on the cheek. “Of course, this year we are unhappy because of the situation with the ongoing war.”

Thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7 killings and hostage-taking in Israel. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The procession’s final stations are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and laid to rest before his resurrection on Easter. There, the impact of the war was clear: instead of the crowds who normally queue for hours in the church courtyard, entrance to the site was easy.

The city’s streets were noticeably devoid of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank, who normally flock to the Holy City for the Easter festivities. Since Oct. 7, Palestinian worshippers have needed special permission to cross checkpoints into Jerusalem.

Despite the thinned crowds, shopkeepers, whose heavy metal doors are usually closed on Fridays, threw them open in for tourists seeking Catholic memorabilia. But interested shoppers were few and far between.

“Comparing last year’s Easter festivities with this year is like light and day. Nobody’s here. Most of the people are locals,” said Fayaz Dakkak, a Palestinian storeowner whose family first opened the shop in 1942. His shop stood empty. “Usually people are joyful today and kids are excited. But when you compare children here who have water and food and a family to what’s happening in Gaza, how can you be happy?”

An estimated 50,000 Christian Palestinians live in the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to the U.S. State Department’s international religious freedom report for 2022. Approximately 1,300 Christians lived in Gaza, it said. Some Christians are also citizens of Israel. Many Palestinian Christians live in diaspora communities.

A few tourists braved the day. Carmen Ros, a lawyer who lives in Jerusalem, had managed to corral a group of pilgrims from Spain to visit the country for a religious tour. The group rested in the shade outside the church.

The celebrations coincided with the third Friday in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with worshippers once again flocking to the revered Al-Aqsa mosque for prayer. Despite fears the ongoing war would spark clashes at the revered Al-Aqsa mosque, the month has so far passed peacefully under tight Israeli security.

Sister Harriet Kabaije, a pilgrim from Uganda who moved to Jerusalem three weeks ago to live in a monastery, said she was holding the people of Gaza in her prayers. She said she believed that peace could be achieved in the region.

“Many people think that the war here is natural,” she said. “But when Jesus was in Bethlehem, it was peaceful. We know that people are suffering in Gaza so we carry them in our prayers and pray that peace can return to this land,” she said.

The International Court of Justice issued two new so-called provisional measures in a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of acts of genocide in its military campaign launched after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas. Israel denies it is committing genocide. It says its military campaign is self defense and aimed at Hamas, not the Palestinian people.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Thursday’s order came after South Africa sought more provisional measures, including a cease-fire, citing starvation in Gaza. Israel urged the court not to issue new orders.

In its legally binding order, the court told Israel to take measures “without delay” to ensure “the unhindered provision” of basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies.

It also ordered Israel to immediately ensure that its military does not take action that could that could harm Palestinians’ rights under the Genocide Convention, including by preventing the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

The court told Israel to report back in a month on its implementation of the orders.

Israel declared war in response to a bloody cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 others were taken hostage. Israel responded with a campaign of airstrikes and a ground offensive that have left over 32,000 Palestinians dead, according to local health authorities. The fighting also displaced over 80% of Gaza’s population and caused widespread damage.

The U.N. and international aid agencies say virtually the entire Gaza population is struggling to get enough food, with hundreds of thousands of people on the brink of famine, especially in hard-hit northern Gaza.

South Africa welcomed Thursday’s decision, calling it “significant.”

“The fact that Palestinian deaths are not solely caused by bombardment and ground attacks, but also by disease and starvation, indicates a need to protect the group’s right to exist,” the South African president said in a statement.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry thanked South Africa, calling the case “a vital step in the global effort to hold Israel accountable for perpetrating genocide.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry had no immediate comment.

In a written response earlier this month to South Africa’s request for more measures, Israel said the claims by South Africa were “wholly unfounded,” “morally repugnant” and “an abuse both of the Genocide Convention and of the Court itself.”

After initially sealing Gaza’s borders in the early days of the war, Israel began to permit entry of humanitarian supplies. It says it places no restrictions on the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza and accuses the United Nations of failing to properly organize the deliveries.

The U.N. and international aid groups say deliveries have been impeded by Israeli military restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.

Israel has been working with international partners on a plan to soon begin deliveries of aid by sea.

Israel has repeatedly feuded with the United Nations, particularly UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees and main provider of aid in Gaza. Israel accuses the agency of tolerating and even cooperating with Hamas — a charge UNRWA denies.

The court said in its order that “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine … but that famine is setting in.” It cited a report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs that said at least 31 people, including 27 children, have already died of malnutrition and dehydration.

The world court said earlier orders imposed on Israel after landmark hearings in South Africa’s case “do not fully address the consequences arising from the changes in the situation” in Gaza.

On Tuesday, the army said it inspected 258 aid trucks, but only 116 were distributed within Gaza by the U.N.

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, has also run pilot programs to inspect the humanitarian aid at Israel’s main checkpoints in the south and then use land crossings in central Gaza to try to bring aid to the devastated northern part of the Strip. The agency had no immediate comment on the ICJ ruling.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza (AP) — An international team of doctors visiting a hospital in central Gaza was prepared for the worst. But the gruesome impact Israel’s war against Hamas is having on Palestinian children still left them stunned.

One toddler died from a brain injury caused by an Israeli strike that fractured his skull. His cousin, an infant, is still fighting for her life with part of her face blown off by the same strike.

An unrelated 10-year-old boy screamed out in pain for his parents, not knowing that they were killed in the strike. Beside him was his sister, but he didn’t recognize her because burns covered almost her entire body.

These gut-wrenching casualties were described to The Associated Press by Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive-care doctor from Jordan, following a 10-hour overnight shift at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah.

Haj-Hassan, who has extensive experience in Gaza and regularly speaks out about the war’s devastating effects, was part of a team that recently finished a two-week stint there.

After nearly six months of war, Gaza’s health sector has been decimated. Roughly a dozen of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are only partially functioning. The rest have either shut down or are barely functioning after they ran out of fuel and medicine, were surrounded and raided by Israeli troops, or were damaged in fighting.

That leaves hospitals such as Al-Aqsa Martyrs caring for an overwhelming number of patients with limited supplies and staff. The majority of its intensive care unit beds are occupied by children, including infants wrapped in bandages and wearing oxygen masks.

“I spend most of my time here resuscitating children,” Haj-Hassan said after a recent shift. “What does that tell you about every other hospital in the Gaza Strip?”

A different team of international doctors working at Al-Aqsa Martyrs in January stayed at a nearby guesthouse. But because of a recent surge of Israeli Israel strikes nearby, Haj-Hassan and her co-workers stayed in the hospital itself.

That gave them a painfully vivid look at the strain the hospital has come under as the number of patients keeps rising, said Arvind Das, the team leader in Gaza for the International Rescue Committee. His organization and Medical Aid for Palestinians organized the visit by Haj-Hassan and others.

Mustafa Abu Qassim, a nurse from Jordan who was part of the visiting team, said he was shocked by the overcrowding.

“When we look for patients, there are no rooms,” he said. “They are in the corridors on a bed, a mattress, or on a blanket on the floor.”

Health care workers face the same daily struggle as others in Gaza in finding food for their families and trying to ensure some safety for them. Many bring their children with them to the hospital to keep them close, Abu Qassim said.

“It’s just miserable,” he said.

Thousands of people driven from their homes by the war are also living in the hospital grounds, hoping it will be safe. Hospitals have special protections under international law, though those protections can be removed if combatants use them for military purposes.

Israel has alleged that hospitals serve as command centers, weapons storage facilities and hideouts for Hamas, but has presented little visual evidence. Hamas has denied the allegations. Israel has been carrying out a large-scale operation in Gaza’s largest hospital, Shifa, for the past week. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Israeli troops have not raided or besieged Al-Aqsa Martyrs but have attacked surrounding areas, sometimes striking close to the hospital. In January, many doctors, patients, and displaced Palestinians fled the hospital after a flurry of strikes.

Israel’s bombardment and offensive in Gaza have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 75,000 more in the territory of 2.3 million people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The count does not differentiate between combatants and civilians, but the ministry says about two-thirds of those killed have been women and children.

Roughly half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are 17 or younger, the U.N.’s agency for children estimates.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for non-combatants’ deaths and injuries because the fighters in Gaza operate from within civilian areas. It says over one-third of the dead are Hamas members, though it has not backed up the claim with evidence.

The war was triggered on Oct. 7 by Hamas and other terrorists who attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages. The Israeli government believes around 100 hostages being held in Gaza are still alive.

In the early stages of the war, Israel severely limited the entry of food, fuel and medical supplies into Gaza. While the flow of aid has increased — and Israel says there are no longer any limits — the international community has called on Israel to let in more.

Aid groups say complicated inspection procedures at the border, continued fighting, and a breakdown in public order have caused massive slowdowns in convoys. Israel accuses the U.N. of disorganization.

The result has been catastrophic, with hospital staff struggling to cope with a shortage of spare parts to maintain medical equipment. Al-Aqsa Martyrs has also been short on anesthetics, meaning surgeries and other procedures are frequently performed without painkillers.

Haj-Hassan says there is only one way to end Gaza’s health care crisis.

“They need the war to stop,” she said.

Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

Find more of AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas broke down again, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing the Islamist group of making “extreme demands.”

“Hamas once again rejected any American compromise proposal,” Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday. He cited the organization’s insistence on an immediate end to the war in Gaza, the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory and “remaining in power so that it could repeat the massacre of October 7.”

Israel’s Army Radio said the government has told its negotiators in Qatar — which is acting as a mediator between the two sides — to return home. Netanyahu’s statement did not mention that or say the talks had been halted.

The move comes after weeks of talks in which Israel and Hamas appeared to make little headway. Israel says a cease-fire can only be temporary — in the region of six weeks — and the war must continue until Hamas’s remaining brigades are destroyed.

Israel also says Hamas must agree to release hostages for a cease-fire to start.

The war erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas fighters swarmed into southern Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza has killed more than 32,000 people according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.

Hamas is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. and European Union.

©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

But here’s what you can’t blame him for: Hamas’ invasion itself. Or that Hamas purposefully consigns Palestinians to death by hiding in tunnels underneath their homes, schools and hospitals, making it impossible to stop Hamas without killing innocents. Or that Hamas refuses to release the hostages it holds, or that it has rejected one ceasefire proposal after another. Or that Hamas knows that whatever it does or doesn’t do, the world, including many Americans, will blame Israel for the bloodshed that Hamas has caused.

This is patently obvious. But you’d never know it from listening to some Democratic politicians, whose business it is to stick a finger in the air to ascertain which way the hard left’s wind is blowing, and then to blow in that direction.

The resulting formulaic talking points are increasingly vapid, and utterly predictable. Here goes: “Of course Israel has the right to defend itself. And Hamas can’t control Gaza, and they really should release the hostages. But we cannot support Bibi Netanyahu and his extremist right wing government.”

Huh? Let’s think: If we stipulate that Hamas invaded Israel, committed a mass slaughter, pledges to keep doing it, is intentionally causing the deaths of Palestinian civilians by making it impossible for Israel to stop Hamas without killing them no matter what steps Israel takes, then what, precisely, is Israel supposed to do to keep Hamas from maintaining control of Gaza and repeating October 7th? A rain dance?

The Blame-It-On-Bibi mantra, so feeble, has taken hold among Democrats because it is so convenient. Convenient, yes, but also mindless, for two reasons.

First, all that speeches like that of Senator Chuck Schumer do is bolster Hamas’ strategy of waiting for America to pressure Israel to back down, which would reward Hamas, hand it a victory and enable it to regroup and keep up its slaughter campaign.

Second, it is mindless because Israelis themselves, who dislike Netanyahu, nevertheless agree with Israeli’s prosecution of the war, because they believe they have no other choice. And indeed they don’t.

Israelis aren’t the only ones who see it that way. According to a Pew Research survey released last week, nearly 60% of Americans believe that Israel’s reason for fighting Hamas is valid. That’s nearly four times the number who disagree and 26% of Americans say they’re “not sure.”

And despite the enviable publicity lavished on American Jews who denounce Israel, a meaningful percentage of whom are asked by the New York Times to publish guest opinion columns, fully 89% of American Jews believe that Israel’s fight against Hamas is legitimate – compared with 7% who disagree. Another 62% told Pew they specifically agree with how Israel is conducting the fight.

This is unwelcome news for Jewish Voices for Peace, which wishes to remind us that the fight against Hamas is not in their name, or for commentators like Peter Beinart, whose gig consists of earnestly telling those who ask him to do so that American Jews are abandoning Israel in droves.

The Democrats’ wobble on Israel is a nod to the notion that Representative Rashida Tlaib (D. Mich) has a chokehold on President Biden’s reelection prospects. But the data indicates that in their frantic scramble to placate Team Tlaib, Democrats may be dooming the very President they want to see reelected. American Jews, who staunchly support Israel against Hamas, comprise significant voter blocs in states whose electoral votes the President needs – like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and, yes, Michigan.

Blaming Bibi for this conflict is just a thin veil for blaming Israel. It is one part pander, one part blather. Neither is helpful to the President’s cause.

Jeff Robbins, a former assistant United States attorney and United States delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva is a longtime columnist for the Boston Herald, writing on politics, national security, human rights and the Mideast.

Israel responded by canceling a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation in the strongest public clash between the allies since the war began.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of “retreating” from a “principled position” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on the release of hostages held by Hamas.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the administration was “kind of perplexed” by Netanyahu’s decision. He said the Israelis were “choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that.”

Kirby and the American ambassador to the U.N. said the U.S. abstained because the resolution did not condemn Hamas. U.S. officials chose to abstain rather than veto the proposal “because it does fairly reflect our view that a cease-fire and the release of hostages come together,” Kirby said.

The 15-member council voted 14-0 to approve the resolution, which also demanded the release of all hostages taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack in southern Israel. The chamber broke into loud applause after the vote.

The U.S. vetoed past Security Council cease-fire resolutions in large part because of the failure to tie them directly to the release of hostages, the failure to condemn Hamas’ attacks and the delicacy of ongoing negotiations. American officials have argued that the cease-fire and hostage releases are linked, while Russia, China and many other council members favored unconditional calls for a cease-fire.

The resolution approved Monday demands the release of hostages but does not make it a condition for the cease-fire for the month of Ramadan, which ends in April.

Hamas said it welcomed the U.N.’s move but said the cease-fire needs to be permanent.

“We confirm our readiness to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides,” the group said. For months, the militants have sought a deal that includes a complete end to the conflict.

The U.S. decision to abstain comes at a time of growing tensions between President Joe Biden’s administration and Netanyahu over Israel’s prosecution of the war, the high number of civilian casualties and the limited amounts of humanitarian assistance reaching Gaza. The two countries have also clashed over Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state, Jewish settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the expansion of settlements there.

Because Ramadan ends April 9, the cease-fire demand would last for just two weeks, though the draft says the pause in fighting should lead to “a sustainable cease-fire.”

The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said the resolution “spoke out in support of the ongoing diplomatic efforts,” adding that negotiators were “getting closer” to a deal for a cease-fire with the release of all hostages, “but we’re not there yet.”

But the Princess of Wales didn’t come across as any kind of victim in the video released Friday by Kensington Palace. She didn’t seem oppressed by the unique demands of royal life or the vicious conspiracy theories that have surrounded her since she retreated from public view in December. Instead, she appeared to be a woman very much in command, both of how she wanted to deliver difficult news and present herself to the world at this key moment in her life.

Kate filmed her statement alone, sitting outside on a bench near a bloom of golden daffodils – a symbol of spring and new beginnings if ever there was one. The 42-year-old mother of three wore an “everymum uniform” of striped sweater and jeans, and she didn’t use titles. Though she appeared a bit pale, she calmly disclosed that cancer was discovered after she underwent abdominal surgery in January for a condition that wasn’t believed to be cancerous at the time. In words she reportedly wrote herself, she said she had begun “preventative chemotherapy” but she assured the public, “I am well and getting stronger every day.”

Kate also included comments that seemed designed to quash gossip about her marriage to Prince William and to explain why little information had thus far been released about her condition, according to The Atlantic. She referred to the importance of having “William by my side,” while saying the couple prioritized their children’s well-being before going public with her diagnosis. “It has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be OK,” she said.

Kate ended her video by talking to “everyone facing this disease.” She said, “Please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.” New Yorker writer Anthony Lane said this pledge “could have been spoken by the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was well-versed in stoic fortitude.” London Times fashion editor Harriet Walker similarly wrote that Kate’s final line had “the same quality as the late queen’s lockdown message: ‘We will meet again.’”

Many noted that Kate’s statement didn’t answer some key questions, especially what type of cancer she has. But the release of her video made the world pause, creating the sense that this “commoner,” who married into the royal family, delivered what could be the most memorable address by a member of that family in recent memory. In the U.K., many expressed their shock and concern for a well-liked member of the monarchy, the New York Times reported. Get-well messages poured in from world leaders and celebrities. So, too, did self-recriminations from Blake Lively and others who had made jokes at her expense. Late-night host Stephen Colbert, though, has yet to say anything about his comedy bit that pushed the unfounded cheating rumor about William into the mainstream.

Meanwhile, Kate’s video prompted calls for Prince Harry to end his feud with his brother and the rest of the royal family. Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, supposedly were in the dark about Kate’s cancer but issued a statement, wishing “health and healing” to her, and privately reached out to her and William, reports say.

For the royal family, Kate’s video may help put the brakes on a spiraling narrative that prompted even ardent royal supporters to say she had suffered a stunning fall from grace because Kensington Palace mishandled news about her health crisis. Certainly, the palace “comms” team has made itself into a PR case study, especially about the dangers of disseminating digitally manipulated images of very important clients. But Kate’s video may offer “a reset” for the palace, especially as it insisted all along that it was trying to respect her desire for privacy, the BBC reported.

Meanwhile, there are other ways the video offered a rebuke to some of the assumptions made about her in recent weeks. After Kate took personal responsibility for the “amateur” edits to the infamous March 10 Mother’s Day photo of her and her children, many chastised the palace, or William, for “throwing her under the bus,” as she was dealing with a serious health crisis. In a New York Times op-ed, novelist Jennifer Weiner bemoaned the way that “Windsor women” regularly become the scapegoats for situations botched by their husbands or by the institution. But Kate’s quiet steeliness in the video shows that she could have willingly taken responsibility for the Photoshop-fail because she’s not afraid, like so many others in the public eye, to own her mistakes and apologize.

Kate’s presentation also challenged criticism that William did not appear with her in the video. Christopher Bouzy, the tech CEO who has been one of the leading disseminators of vicious #KateGate conspiracy theories, rather paternalistically blasted William on X for not being by her side, “to give her moral support while she shared her cancer diagnosis with the world.”

But many women, including self-described cancer survivors, excoriated Bouzy, by replying, “It’s her story!” Another person said, “Ultimately Kate fights this battle alone — it is her body and life.  Of course, she would make the announcement as she did. Bravely and with grace.” In an interview with the BBC, Stuart Higgins, the former editor of The Sun who also has cancer, likewise praised Kate’s “enormous courage, dignity and composure to face the camera,” instead of letting the palace issue a message on her behalf.

It’s true that Kate is mostly only seen at events, usually on behalf of good causes, smiling and looking great in clothes. She never sits for personal interviews and doesn’t give many speeches, so the public never really knows what’s going on with her. Walker, of the London Times, wrote that her “reserve” inspires fascination. But now comes her speech, her voice “clear and crisp,” while delivering news that makes “souls tremble,” Walker said, adding, “We have never seen her like this.

According to the New Yorker’s Lane, the video points to serious communications skills that were innate or that Kate has acquired in the 13 years she’s been in her royal job. Her statement was designed to “establish an affinity between (her) and any other parent, anywhere, whose prime of life had just been invaded and upended by the bitterest of shocks,” Lane said. “Whether this reaching out is a matter of instinct or design is not the point; some public figures have a talent for kinship, and some don’t. Kate has it.”

LOS ANGELES — When Kate Middleton announced her recent cancer diagnosis, she emphasized the time she and her husband, William, Prince of Wales, took to share the news with their three children.

Talking to pre-adolescent children about serious illnesses is the right course of action for any family because children can sense change, said Kathleen Ingman, a pediatric psychologist at the Cancer and Blood Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

“Keeping information from them, even from young children, can often lead to anxiety because they know something is happening but don’t know what it is,” Ingman said.

In a video announcement, the Princess of Wales said that the undisclosed form of cancer was detected after she underwent a “major abdominal surgery” in London at the beginning of the year. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy.

The 42-year-old said it’s taken time to recover from surgery, undergo treatment, and explain her medical situation to her three children — Princes George, 10, and Louis, 5, and Princess Charlotte, 8 — “in a way that’s appropriate for them and to reassure them that I’m going to be OK.”

Ingman and Lauren Schneider, clinical director of child and adolescent programs for grief support center Our House, spoke to The Times about how to talk to young children about serious illness and its effect on the whole family.

As their first piece of advice, they encourage families to make kids a part of the discussion right away because children are very sensitive to minute changes in their environment, Schneider said.

“It prevents [the information] from growing into a big piece of news that then feels like a scary thing to drop all at once after a delay,” Ingman said.

A lack of information can also lead the child to be fearful, she said, or their imagination might “take them places that might end up being worse than what the actual truth is.”

The first of many conversations about a serious illness

Talking about a serious illness with a child is unique to each family and medical situation.

Experts say the conversation can start around a child’s observation of the situation — for example, if a parent or another adult in their life has been going to see the doctor more than usual, or if the person has been noticeably sick.

Begin the conversation with what they know by asking such things as, “Remember when this happened?” or “Did you notice this person wasn’t feeling well?”

After the child responds with their observation, the adult can then go into explaining what’s happening. (More on how to do that below.)

This is also a good time to reassure the child that what is happening is not their fault, Schneider said.

“Small children are very egocentric, they usually experience emotions that their parents have as having something to do with them,” she said.

Parents should understand that one conversation about the situation won’t suffice.

The child will let you know when they’re ready for more information. Experts say that when children ask questions spontaneously, later in the day or on another day, that means they’re ready to hear more.

Young children tend to ask the same question over and over, which tells the adult they want to learn more about the situation, Ingman said. This is a good framework for giving information incrementally through a series of conversations.

“It just helps reassure them that the adults in their life are trustworthy,” Ingman said, because the adults are informing them.

If a child doesn’t ask questions, the parent or guardian should check in with them or offer another trusted adult who’s available to talk.

During the conversation

It’s OK to be open and honest about what’s happening and how it can affect the entire family.

Part of that honesty includes using actual medical terms like cancer or chemotherapy. Ingman said the terms are scarier to adults than to children because kids don’t have a grasp of their meaning yet.

It’s an opportunity to explain the terms to them so they are prepared for how the illness will affect their loved one. Using a term also demystifies it and gets them comfortable hearing it.

Experts discourage guardians from using euphemisms or vague statements like “Mom is sick,” because it could confuse the child.

For example, if a child’s family member died from complications of a serious but unspecified illness, they might think another person with an unspecified illness could have the same outcome.

“It’s actually scarier for kids to hear ‘sick’ because then they’re going to hear other people are ‘sick’ and they’re going to think that those people are going to die,” Schneider said.

By using the right terms, the parent can talk about how treatment is different for everyone or how an early diagnosis can be different from a late one.

For young children, the first explanation will be short and simple.

Pay attention to how the child is responding to the conversation, Ingman said. They might be emotional if it’s very difficult news, and that’s normal. There’s no formula for how to conduct this conversation and no guarantees about how it will go, so it’s customary to take breaks and to allow time for follow-up questions.

A part of the conversation is how the illness will affect the whole family, which includes telling the child how this might change their routine.

Let the child know if a different family member will pick them up from school, or if a relative will stay with them at night should the adult need to go to the hospital. Telling them about these changes but working to keep as much of their routine going is reassuring to them, Ingman said.

Signs of distress

A child’s reactions to this conversation can run the gamut because each child is unique. It’s normal for a child to not react, just as it’s normal to be very distressed.

It becomes a concern when the child has prolonged signs of distress that don’t go away. These include getting worse grades at school, being withdrawn or not being able to engage in activities the child typically enjoyed.

Other signs, Schneider said, include not wanting to be separated from the adult who’s sick, not sleeping independently or not wanting to go to school.

In this scenario, Schneider advises guardians to ask the child what’s causing them to act this way, what’s worrying them or what’s bothering them, because the adult and child can then talk about it.

“Their behavior is their way of showing their pain, and that’s something that parents need to remember because [children] can’t come right out and say it,” she said.

Get the child involved

Along with being brought into a conversation that’s appropriate for their age, children can also be given a hands-on role.

Ingman said giving the child tasks such as drawing a picture, taking a photo or writing a note for the ill family member gives them some sense of agency in the situation.

What happens if the illness becomes terminal

It’s extremely important that kids have an opportunity to prepare if a parent or sibling is not going to survive, because the family can collectively make choices about how to spend those final days and how to say goodbye, Schneider said.

“If they’re not given the information,” she said, “the fear of the unknown is much worse for them.”

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations Security Council on Monday issued its first demand for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the U.S. angering Israel by abstaining from the vote. Israel responded by canceling a visit to Washington by a high-level delegation in the strongest public clash between the allies since the war began.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the U.S. of “retreating” from a “principled position” by allowing the vote to pass without conditioning the cease-fire on the release of hostages held by Hamas.

The resolution was approved 14-0 by the 15-member council after the U.S. decided not to use its veto power on the measure, which also demanded the release of all hostages taken captive during Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack in southern Israel. The chamber broke into loud applause after the vote. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The U.S. vetoed past Security Council cease-fire resolutions in large part because of the failure to tie them directly to the release of hostages, the failure to condemn Hamas’ attacks and the delicacy of ongoing negotiations. American officials have argued that the cease-fire and hostage releases are linked, while Russia, China and many other council members favored unconditional calls for cease-fires.

The resolution approved Monday demands the release of hostages but does not make it a condition for the cease-fire for the month of Ramadan, which ends in April.

Hamas said it welcomed the U.N.’s move but said the cease-fire needs to be permanent.

“We confirm our readiness to engage in an immediate prisoner exchange process that leads to the release of prisoners on both sides,” the group said. For months, the group has sought a deal that includes a complete end to the conflict.

The U.S. decision to abstain comes at a time of growing tensions between President Joe Biden’s administration and Netanyahu over Israel’s prosecution of the war, the high number of civilian casualties and the limited amounts of humanitarian assistance reaching Gaza. The two countries have also clashed over Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state, Jewish settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the expansion of settlements there.

In addition, the well-known antagonism between Netanyahu and Biden — which dates from Biden’s tenure as vice president — deepened after Biden questioned Israel’s strategy in combating Hamas.

Then Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Biden ally, suggested that Netanyahu was not operating in Israel’s best interests and called for Israel to hold new elections. Biden signaled his approval of Schumer’s remarks, prompting a rebuke from Netanyahu.

During its U.S. visit, the Israeli delegation was to present White House officials with its plans for a possible ground invasion of Rafah, a city on the Egyptian border in southern Gaza where over 1 million Palestinian civilians have sought shelter from the war.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. had been “consistent” in its support for a cease-fire as part of a hostage deal. “The reason we abstained is because this resolution text did not condemn Hamas,” Kirby said.

He said the administration was “very disappointed” at the cancellation of talks on “viable alternatives” to a ground invasion of Rafah.

The vote came after Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution Friday that would have supported “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Israeli-Hamas conflict. That resolution featured a weakened link between a cease-fire and the release of hostage, leaving it open to interpretation, and no time limit.

The United States warned that the resolution approved Monday could hurt negotiations to halt the hostilities, raising the possibility of another veto, this time by the Americans. The talks involve the U.S., Egypt and Qatar.

Because Ramadan ends April 9, the cease-fire demand would last for just two weeks, though the draft says the pause in fighting should lead “to a permanent sustainable cease-fire.”

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the resolution “spoke out in support of the ongoing diplomatic efforts,” adding that negotiators were “getting closer” to a deal for a cease-fire with the release of all hostages, “but we’re not there yet.”

She urged the council and U.N. members across the world to “speak out and demand unequivocally that Hamas accepts the deal on the table.”

Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. abstained because “certain edits” the U.S. requested were ignored, including adding a condemnation of Hamas.

The resolution, put forward by the 10 elected council members, was backed by Russia and China and the 22-nation Arab Group at the United Nations.

Algeria’s U.N. ambassador, the Arab representative on the council, thanked the council for “finally” demanding a cease-fire.

“We look forward to the commitment and the compliance of the Israeli occupying power with this resolution, for them to put an end to the bloodbath without any conditions, to end the suffering of the Palestinian people.” he said.

Shortly before Monday’s vote, the elected members changed the final draft resolution to drop the word “permanent” from its demand that a Ramadan cease-fire should lead to a “sustainable cease-fire,” apparently at the request of the United States.

Since the start of the war, the Security Council has adopted two resolutions on the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, but none has called for a cease-fire.

More than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed during the fighting, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The agency does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

Gaza also faces a dire humanitarian emergency, with a report from an international authority on hunger warning March 18 that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza and that escalation of the war could push half of the territory’s 2.3 million people to the brink of starvation.

The United States has vetoed three resolutions demanding a cease-fire in Gaza, the most recent an Arab-backed measure on Feb. 20. That resolution was supported by 13 council members with one abstention, reflecting the overwhelming support for a cease-fire.

Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution in late October calling for humanitarian pauses in the fighting to deliver aid, the protection of civilians and a halt to arming Hamas. They said it did not reflect global calls for a cease-fire.

They again vetoed a U.S. resolution Friday, calling it ambiguous and saying it was not the direct demand to end the fighting that much of the world seeks.

That vote became another showdown involving world powers that are locked in tense disputes elsewhere, with the United States taking criticism for not being tough enough against its ally Israel, even as tensions between the two countries rise.

Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia and China of using the Gaza conflict “as a political cudgel, to try to divide this council at a time when we need to come together.”

It was Russia’s third big missile attack on Ukraine in the past four days, and the second to target the capital, Kyiv.

The governor of the Lviv region, Maksym Kozytskyi, said on the Telegram platform that critical infrastructure was hit, but he didn’t specify what precisely was struck. No deaths or injuries were reported.

Later, authorities said that rescuers had just put out a fire at a critical infrastructure facility in the Lviv region, which had been attacked with missiles and drones at night and in the morning.

The head of Kyiv’s military administration, Serhiy Popko, said Russia used cruise missiles launched from Tu-95MS strategic bombers. An air alert in the capital lasted for more than two hours as rockets entered Kyiv in groups from the north.

He said the attacks were launched from the Engels district in the Saratov region of Russia.

According to preliminary data, there were no casualties or damage in the capital, he said.

Armed Forces Operational Command of Poland, a member of NATO, said in a statement that there was a violation of Polish airspace at 4:23 a.m. (0323 GMT) by one of the cruise missiles launched by Russia against towns in western Ukraine.

The object entered near Oserdow, a village in an agricultural region near the border with Ukraine, and stayed in Polish airspace for 39 seconds, the statement said. It wasn’t immediately clear if Russia intended for the missile to enter Poland’s airspace. Cruise missiles are able to change their trajectory to evade air defense systems.

Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz later told reporters in a televised news conference that the Russian missile would have been shot down had there been any indication that it was heading towards a target in Poland.

He said that Polish authorities monitored the attack on Ukraine and were in contact with Ukrainian counterparts. Polish and NATO F-16s were activated as part of the strategic response.

He said the missile penetrated Polish airspace about a kilometer or two (a half-mile to around a mile) as Russia was targeting the region around Lviv in western Ukraine.

“As last night’s rocket attack on Ukraine was one of the most intense since the beginning of the Russian aggression, all the strategic procedures were launched on time and the object was monitored until it left the Polish airspace,” he said.

On the diplomatic front, the Polish foreign ministry said that it would “demand explanations from the Russian Federation in connection with another violation of the country’s airspace.”

“Above all, we call on the Russian Federation to stop the terrorist air attacks on the inhabitants and territory of Ukraine, end the war, and address the country’s internal problems,” the statement read.

Andrzej Szejna, a deputy foreign minister, told the TVN24 broadcaster that the foreign ministry intended to summon the Russian ambassador to Poland and hand him a protest note.

Henryk Zdyb, the head of the village of Oserdow, said in an interview with the daily Gazeta Wyborcza that he saw the missile, saying it produced a whistling sound.

“I saw a rapidly moving object in the sky. It was illuminated and flying quite low over the border with Ukraine,” he told the paper.

Since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, there have been a number of intrusions into Polish airspace, triggering worry in the European Union and NATO member state and reminding people of how close the war is.

“We have to come to terms with the fact that the war is taking place right next to us, and we are part of the confrontation between the West and Russia,” commentator Artur Bartkiewicz wrote in the Rzeczpospolita newspaper Sunday.

In 2022, two Poles were killed in a missile blast. Western officials blamed those deaths on a Ukrainian air defense missile that went astray, but also accused Russia of culpability because it started the war, with the Ukrainian missiles launched in self-defense.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday once again left the Middle East empty-handed as Israel’s prime minister rejected American appeals to call off a promised ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is overflowing with displaced civilians.

The tough message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sets the stage for potentially difficult talks next week in Washington between top U.S. officials and a high-level Israeli delegation. Netanyahu said Israel is ready to “do it alone” in Rafah if necessary. Despite their differences, the Biden administration has continued to provide crucial military aid and diplomatic support, even as Israel’s war against Hamas has killed more than 32,000 people in Gaza and led to a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Israel says Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas and says the group’s forces there must be defeated for Israel to meet its war objectives. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas following the group’s Oct. 7 attack, which killed some 1,200 people, took 250 others hostage and triggered the fierce Israeli air and ground offensive in Gaza.

Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, and EU.

Rafah now shelters over 1 million homeless Palestinians who fled fighting elsewhere in Gaza. The U.S., along with most of the international community, fears an Israeli ground invasion will endanger civilians’ lives and impede the flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the territory, most of which comes through Rafah.

Netanyahu said he told Blinken that Israel is working on ways to evacuate civilians from combat zones and to address the humanitarian needs of Gaza, where international aid officials say the entire population is suffering from food insecurity and famine is imminent in the hard-hit north.

“I also said that we have no way to defeat Hamas without entering Rafah,” Netanyahu said. “I told him that I hope we would do this with U.S. support but if necessary – we will do it alone.”

Blinken, wrapping up his sixth visit to the Mideast since the war broke out, told reporters that the U.S. shares Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas.

“But a major ground operation in Rafah is not, in our judgment, the way to achieve it and we were very clear about that,” he said, adding that Israel faces growing isolation if it presses ahead.

The looming Rafah invasion has cast a shadow over ongoing efforts to forge a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. Blinken, who also met with Arab leaders during his trip this week, acknowledged “there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Blinken spoke shortly after a U.S.-sponsored cease-fire resolution in the U.N. Security Council was vetoed by Russia and China. Blinken said it was “unimaginable” that the measure had been rejected.

RAFAH TENSIONS RISING

The U.S. initially sided strongly with Israel after the Oct. 7 attack. But relations have increasingly soured as the war, drags on into its fifth month.

Palestinian health officials in Gaza said Friday that at least 32,070 people have been killed, with at least two thirds of them women and children. Israel claims at least one-third of those killed are members of Hamas, and says the group is responsible for civilian casualties by hiding and operating in residential areas.

The U.S. position on a Rafah operation has shifted in recent days. Initially, U.S. officials called for a plan to get civilians out of harm’s way. Now, they say there is no credible way to do that.

“It risks killing more civilians. It risks wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance. It risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long term security and standing,” Blinken said.

U.S. officials say other options, including specifically targeted operations against known Hamas fighters and commanders, are the only way to avoid a civilian catastrophe.

Roughly three quarters of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled into Rafah, the farthest south they can go before the Egyptian border. Sprawling tent camps now dot the city.

The U.S. will share its ideas for alternatives at next week’s meetings, when a delegation led by Netanyahu’s national security adviser and a member of Israel’s War Cabinet heads to Washington. Israel’s defense minister, another member of the War Cabinet, will also visit.

Blinken said talks would focus on post-war plans, another area of disagreement.

The U.S. wants the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority – which Hamas ousted from Gaza in 2007 – to return to power in the territory, along with a clear path toward an independent Palestinian state beside Israel. Netanyahu rejects Palestinian independence or a role for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, and says Israel must maintain long-term security control over Gaza.

AN ELUSIVE CEASE-FIRE

International mediators, led by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, have been working on a cease-fire to pause or end the war in Gaza.

Israel is seeking the release of the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas, while Hamas wants an end — not a temporary pause — to the war along with the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Hamas wants Israel to release large numbers of Palestinian prisoners.

After his talks with Israeli leaders, Blinken met with families of hostages who hold U.S. citizenship before departing. He later greeted a small group of protesters who gathered in solidarity with the families outside his hotel.

Protesters chanted “Blinken, thank you,” as he walked by the crowd. He said the U.S. was “working to bring them home” as he shook hands.

Blinken told reporters that progress has been made in recent weeks, but the final gaps “tend to be the hardest.”

“There’s still a lot of work to be done, hard work to be done,” he said.

Toward those efforts, he said he also discussed the need to increase humanitarian aid entering Gaza. He said “some positive steps” have been taken in recent days. “But it’s not enough.”

Israel says it places no restrictions on the amounts of humanitarian aid it allows into Gaza. But international aid groups say deliveries have been impeded by Israeli military restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.

So little food has been allowed into Gaza that up to 60% of children under 5 are now malnourished, compared with fewer than 1% before the war began, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday.

U.N. RESOLUTION WAS ‘CYNICALLY VETOED’

At the United Nations, Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored U.N. resolution supporting “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war. The two countries called the measure ambiguous and said it was not the direct demand to end the fighting that much of the world seeks.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 11 members in favor and three against, including Algeria, the Arab representative on the council. Guyana abstained.

A key issue was the unusual language that said the Security Council “determines the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire.” The phrasing was not a straightforward “demand” or “call” to halt hostilities.

It also appeared to loosen, but not drop, previous U.S. demands that Hamas release all hostages as part of a cease-fire.

Blinken said the measure had been “cynically vetoed” and should have been embraced.

“We were trying to show the international community’s sense of urgency about getting a cease-fire tied to the release of hostages,” Blinken said. He also said it had sought to condemn Hamas. “It’s unimaginable why countries wouldn’t be able to do that.”

___

Federman reported from Jerusalem.

The Princess of Wales released a video on social media, revealing her cancer diagnosis.

Middleton underwent “major abdominal surgery” in January, she said.

“At the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous,” said Middleton, who in the video was seen sitting on a bench outside. “The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present.

“My medical team, therefore, advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy, and I’m now in the early stages of that treatment,” she added. “This, of course, came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.”

She and William have been reassuring their three kids that she’s going to be OK.

“As I’ve said to them, I am well,” Middleton said. “And getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal, in my mind, body and spirits. Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance, too, as is the love, support and kindness that is being shown by so many of you. It means so much to us both.”

Social media has been flooded with rumors about Middleton over the last couple of months following her abdominal surgery.

A few weeks ago, a photo of Middleton and their three kids — George, Charlotte, and Louis — took over the internet when online sleuths discovered that the picture had been photoshopped. That photo ended up being pulled from circulation by The Associated Press and several other news organizations because the image appeared to have been manipulated, the AP reported.

Middleton on Friday asked the public for “time, space and privacy while I complete my treatment.”

“My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy, and I look forward to being back when I’m able, but for now I must focus on making a full recovery,” she said.

Middleton thanked the public for their support as she recovers from surgery.

“It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family,” Middleton said. “But I’ve had a fantastic medical team, who’ve taken great care of me, for which I’m so grateful.”

The princess also said she was thinking of those whose lives have been impacted by cancer.

“For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope,” Middleton said. “You are not alone.”

Condolence messages from around the world streamed in following Middleton’s announcement on Friday.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a press conference said the White House was “incredibly sad to hear of the news.”

“Our thoughts are with the Duchess of Cambridge and her family members and friends during this incredibly difficult time,” Jean-Pierre said. “And certainly we wish her a full recovery.”

When Kate and William came to Massachusetts in 2022, the British royals visited Roca — a nonprofit in Chelsea. Molly Baldwin, founder and CEO of Roca, reacted to Middleton’s announcement on Friday.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of Princess Kate’s diagnosis and are thinking of her and her family during this difficult time,” Baldwin said. “When we hosted the Princess at Roca in 2022, it was clear how deeply she cared about our mission and the work we are doing to help high-risk young mothers and women heal from trauma and build better lives for themselves and their children.

“We will always appreciate her warmth, down-to-earth approach, and thoughtful questions, as well as the kindness she showed to the entire Chelsea community that day,” Roca’s leader added. “We wish the Princess great strength during her treatment and a complete and speedy recovery that will allow her to continue to be an effective advocate for vulnerable people—especially high-risk women and children.”

A message from Catherine, The Princess of Wales pic.twitter.com/5LQT1qGarK

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) March 22, 2024

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia and China on Friday vetoed a U.S.-sponsored U.N. resolution supporting “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, calling the measure ambiguous and saying it was not the direct demand to end the fighting that much of the world seeks.

The vote became another showdown involving world powers that are locked in tense disputes elsewhere, with the United States taking criticism for not being tough enough against its ally Israel, whose ongoing military offensive has created a dire humanitarian crisis for the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza.

A key issue in the vote was the unusual language that said the Security Council “determines the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire.” The phrasing was not a straightforward “demand” or “call” to halt hostilities.

The resolution reflected a shift by the United States, which has found itself at odds with much of the world as even allies of Israel push for an unconditional end to fighting.

In previous resolutions, the U.S. has closely intertwined calls for a cease-fire with demands for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. This resolution, using wording that’s open to interpretation, continued to link the two issues, but not as firmly.

Before the vote, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Moscow supports an immediate cease-fire, but he criticized the diluted language, which he called philosophical wording that does not belong in a U.N. resolution.

He accused U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield of “deliberately misleading the international community.”

“This was some kind of an empty rhetorical exercise,” Nebenzia said. “The American product is exceedingly politicized, the sole purpose of which is to help to play to the voters, to throw them a bone in the form of some kind of a mention of a cease-fire in Gaza … and to ensure the impunity of Israel, whose crimes in the draft are not even assessed.”

China’s U.N. ambassador, Zhang Jun, said the U.S. proposal did not promote an immediate and sustained cease-fire, set preconditions and fell far short of expectations of council members and the broader international community.

“If the U.S. was serious about a cease-fire, it wouldn’t have vetoed time and again multiple council resolutions,” he said. “It wouldn’t have taken such a detour and played a game of words while being ambiguous and evasive on critical issues.”

The U.S. has vetoed three resolutions demanding a cease-fire, the most recent an Arab-backed measure supported by 13 council members with one abstention on Feb. 20.

Thomas-Greenfield urged the council to adopt the resolution to press for an immediate cease-fire and the release of the hostages, as well as to address Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and support ongoing diplomacy by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 11 members in favor and three against, including Algeria, the Arab representative on the council. There was one abstention, from Guyana.

After the vote, Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia and China of voting for “deeply cynical reasons,” saying they could not bring themselves to condemn Hamas’ terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, which the resolution would have done for the first time. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

While the most recent resolution would have been officially binding under international law, it would not have ended the fighting or led to the release of hostages. But it would have added to the pressure on Israel as its closest ally falls more in line with global demands for a cease-fire at a time of rising tensions between the U.S. and Israeli governments.

Meanwhile, the 10 elected members of the Security Council have put their own resolution in a final form. It demands an immediate humanitarian cease-fire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan that began March 10 to be “respected by all parties leading to a permanent sustainable cease-fire.” The Palestinian U.N. ambassador, told reporters the vote would take place either late Friday or Saturday morning.

The resolution also demands “the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages ” and emphasizes the urgent need to protect civilians and deliver humanitarian aid throughout the Gaza Strip.

Nebenzia urged council members to support it, but Thomas-Greenfield said the text’s current form “fails to support sensitive diplomacy in the region. Worse, it could actually give Hamas an excuse to walk away from the deal on the table.”

The Security Council had already adopted two resolutions on the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, but none has called for a cease-fire.

Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored resolution in late October calling for pauses in the fighting to deliver aid, protection of civilians and a halt to arming Hamas. They said it did not reflect global calls for a cease-fire.

The vote took place as Blinken, America’s top diplomat, is on his sixth urgent mission to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war, discussing a deal for a cease-fire and hostage release, as well as post-war scenarios.

Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people in the surprise Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel that triggered the war, and abducted another 250 people. Hamas is still believed to be holding some 100 people hostage, as well as the remains of 30 others.

In Gaza, the Health Ministry raised the death toll in the territory Thursday to nearly 32,000 Palestinians. The agency does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

The international community’s authority on determining the severity of hunger crises warned this week that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of people are experiencing catastrophic hunger. The report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative, or IPC, warned that escalation of the war could push half of Gaza’s total population to the brink of starvation.

The U.S. draft expressed “deep concern about the threat of conflict-induced famine and epidemics presently facing the civilian population in Gaza as well as the number of undernourished people, and also that hunger in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels.”

It emphasized “the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to civilians in the entire Gaza Strip” and lift all barriers to getting aid to civilians “at scale.”

Israel faces mounting pressure to streamline the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, to open more land crossings and to come to a cease-fire agreement. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to move the military offensive to the southern city of Rafah, where some 1.3 million displaced Palestinians have sought safety. Netanyahu says it’s a Hamas stronghold.

The final U.S. draft eliminated language in the initial draft that said Israel’s offensive in Rafah “should not proceed under current circumstances.” Instead, in an introductory paragraph, the council emphasized its concern that a ground offensive into Rafah “would result in further harm to civilians and their further displacement, potentially into neighboring countries, and would have serious implications for regional peace and security.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel can’t achieve its goal of “total victory” against Hamas without tackling Rafah.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Israel has approved military plans for its offensive. But with 1.4 million Palestinians jammed into the town, Israel’s allies, including the U.S., have demanded greater care for civilians in its anticipated incursion.

Most of those Palestinians have been displaced by fighting in other parts of Gaza and are living in densely packed tent camps or crammed into apartments.

Netanyahu is sending a delegation to Washington to present the administration with its plans.

WHY RAFAH IS SO CRITICAL

Since Israel declared war in response to Hamas’ deadly cross-border attack on Oct. 7, Netanyahu has said a central goal is to destroy the Islamic group’s military capabilities.

Israel says Rafah is Hamas’ last major stronghold in the Gaza Strip, after operations elsewhere dismantled 18 out of the group’s 24 battalions, according to the military.

Israel says Hamas has four battalions in Rafah and that it must send ground forces to topple them. Some senior combatants could also be hiding in the town.

WHY THERE IS SO MUCH OPPOSITION TO ISRAEL’S PLAN

The U.S. has urged Israel not to carry out the operation without a “credible” plan to evacuate civilians. Egypt, a strategic partner of Israel’s, has said that any move to push Palestinians into Egypt would threaten its four-decade-old peace agreement with Israel.

In a phone call with Netanyahu this week, President Joe Biden told the Israeli leader not to carry out a Rafah operation, said the White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. He said the U.S. was seeking “an alternative approach” that did not involve a ground invasion.

ISRAEL DOESN’T APPEAR CLOSE TO SENDING IN TROOPS

Netanyahu said he was sending a delegation to Washington “out of respect” for Biden. But in a statement Wednesday, he said he had told Biden that Israel “cannot complete the victory” without entering Rafah.

Despite the tough talk, Israel doesn’t appear close to sending troops into Rafah. This may be connected to ongoing attempts to broker a temporary cease-fire. Qatari mediators say those talks would be set back by a Rafah invasion.

There are also logistical concerns.

Israel’s military says it plans to direct the civilians to “humanitarian islands” in central Gaza ahead of the planned offensive. Netanyahu said Wednesday evacuation plans had not yet been approved.

Purim is widely depicted as the most thoroughly joyful of Jewish holidays — highlighted by celebrations that include costumes, skits, noisemakers and varying degrees of rowdiness.

It celebrates the biblical story of how a plot to exterminate Jews in Persia was thwarted, and thus is embraced as an affirmation of Jewish survival throughout history. For many Jews, it will have extra significance this year during a war in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel in which Hamas killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

WHEN IS PURIM?

Purim is celebrated on the 14th day of the Hebrew month of Adar. This year, that means Purim begins on Saturday night and continues through Sunday. In most of Jerusalem, the holiday is celebrated one day later, from Sunday evening until Monday.

WHAT’S THE STORY THAT INSPIRED PURIM?

Here’s an account from the Union for Reform Judaism:

“The main communal celebration involves a public reading — usually in the synagogue — of the Book of Esther, which tells the holiday’s story: Under the rule of King Ahashverosh, Haman, the king’s adviser, plots to exterminate all the Jews of Persia. His plan is foiled by Queen Esther and her cousin Mordechai, who ultimately save the Jews of Persia from destruction. The reading typically is a rowdy affair, punctuated by booing and noisemaking when Haman’s name is read aloud. …

Over the centuries, Haman has come to symbolize every anti-Semite in every land where Jews were oppressed. The significance of Purim lies not so much in how it began, but in what it has become: a thankful and joyous affirmation of Jewish survival.”

WHAT’S UP WITH COSTUMES THIS YEAR?

Citing the war against Hamas, Israel’s Education Ministry has warned students not to come to school in costumes “that may cause fear, panic or injury.”

This includes costumes depicting Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza.

Ahead of the holiday, Israel police have also seized thousands of lifelike toy guns and grenades as part of “Operation Dangerous Toys.”

The ministry said the directive was issued “in the shadow of the war and in accordance with the security reality and the characteristics of the current period.”

Many cities in Israel have canceled traditional Purim parades, citing the war in Gaza.

SOMETIMES A DARK SIDE TO THE HOLIDAY

As with other holidays of other faiths, Purim has sometimes been used as a date to wreak high-profile acts of violence.

On Purim in 1994, Baruch Goldstein, an American Israeli settler, killed 29 Palestinian Muslims kneeling in prayer at the Cave of the Patriarchs in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Two years later, in the nine days leading up to Purim, about 60 people died in a series of bombings blamed on Palestinian militants. In the deadliest of those attacks, on the eve of Purim, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb outside a Tel Aviv shopping mall. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including five children in Purim costumes.

WHAT HAVE RABBIS BEEN SAYING AHEAD OF PURIM?

There have been sharply different tones sounded by rabbis this year in remarks related to Purim.

For example, Israel’s chief Sephardic rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, evoked a goal of crushing Hamas as he recently issued a ruling on how Israeli soldiers stationed in Gaza should celebrate Purim.

“May it be God’s will that he will uproot them (Hamas) and destroy them and make them perish soon in our days,” the ruling said.

“This year, let us put down the noise makers, lower our voices, or find other ways to conclude this story with sobriety,” wrote Rabbis Amichai Lau-Lavie and Rachel Timoner. “Let it serve as a moment of reflection on our impulse for revenge, on the grave responsibility that comes with holding power and on the moral consequences of failing to honor human life in the name of self-defense.”

Among the ways Purim could be observed this year, the rabbis wrote, would be through charitable donations to organizations trying to meet the humanitarian needs of both Israelis and Gazans.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Associated Press journalists reported seeing at least five bodies in and around the suburbs, and gangs blocked the entrances to some areas.

People in the communities under fire called radio stations pleading for help from Haiti’s national police force, which remains understaffed and outmatched by the gangs. Among the communities targeted in the pre-dawn hours were Pétion-Ville, Meyotte, Diègue and Métivier.

As the attacks continued, the U.S. State Department announced Wednesday that it had completed its first evacuation of American citizens from Port-au-Prince. More than 15 Americans were airlifted to neighboring Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

More than 30 U.S. citizens will be able to leave Port-au-Prince daily aboard the U.S. government-organized helicopter flights, the agency said.

“We will continue to monitor demand from U.S. citizens for assistance in departing Haiti on a real-time basis,” the department said.

On Sunday, the agency evacuated more than 30 U.S. citizens from the coastal city of Cap-Haitien in northern Haiti to Miami International Airport.

“We hope that conditions will allow a return of commercial means for people to travel from Haiti soon. We and the international community and the Haitian authorities are working for that to become a reality,” the State Department said.

Wednesday’s attacks in parts of Port-au-Prince came two days after gangs went on a rampage through the upscale neighborhoods of Laboule and Thomassin in Pétion-Ville, with at least a dozen people killed.

The violence forced the closure of banks, schools and businesses across Pétion-Ville, which until now had been largely spared from the attacks that gangs launched on Feb. 29.

Gunmen have set fire to police stations, forced the closure of Haiti’s main international airport and stormed the country’s two biggest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.

Scores of people have been killed and some 17,000 others have been left homeless amid the violence.

Meanwhile, Haitians await the possibility of new leadership as Caribbean officials rush to help form a transitional presidential council that will be responsible for appointing an interim prime minister and a council of ministers.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry, who was locked out of Haiti when the airports closed, has said he will resign once the council is formed.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s former White House adviser and his son-in-law, praised the “very valuable” potential of Gaza’s “waterfront property,” suggesting that Israel should remove civilians while it “cleans up” the area.

“Gaza’s waterfront property, it could be very valuable, if people would focus on building up livelihoods,” Kushner said in an interview dated Feb. 15, posted earlier this month on the YouTube channel of the Middle East Initiative, a program of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and reported first on Tuesday by The Guardian. “If you think about all the money that’s gone into this tunnel network and into all the munitions, if that would have gone into education or innovation, what could have been done?”

“It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but I think from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,” Kushner added. “But I don’t think that Israel has stated that they don’t want the people to move back there afterwards.”

Responding Tuesday on X to “those dishonestly using selected parts” of his remarks, Kushner posted a video of the entire interaction, saying he stood by his comments “and believe the Palestinian people’s lives will improve ONLY when the international community and their citizenry start demanding accountability from their leadership.”

About 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas following the group’s deadly Oct. 7 attack. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 70,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip since Israel’s war on Hamas began. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss a prospective Rafah operation with Biden administration officials.

The agreement to hold such talks came as President Joe Biden and Netanyahu spoke Monday, their first interaction in more than a month, as the divide has grown between allies over the food crisis in Gaza and Israel’s conduct during the war, according to the White House. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the talks will happen in the coming days and are expected to involve military, intelligence and humanitarian experts.

Additionally, Kushner suggested that he “would just bulldoze something in the Negev, I would try to move people in there,” adding: “I know that won’t be the popular thing to do, but I think that’s a better option to do, so you can go in and finish the job.”

“I think Israel’s gone way more out of their way than a lot of other countries would, to try to protect civilians from casualties,” Kushner added.

The debate over the Israel-Hamas war has developed into a major theme of this year’s U.S. presidential election, drawing dividing lines between Biden and Trump, as well as within their own parties.

Asked in an interview Monday about Democrats’ growing criticism of Netanyahu over his handling of the war in Gaza, Trump charged that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate Israel” and hate “their religion,” igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.

He doubled down on those remarks Tuesday, telling reporters in Florida that “the Democrats have been very, very opposed to Jewish people.” Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., meanwhile, gave a speech from the Senate floor calling Trump’s comments “utterly disgusting and a textbook example of the kind of antisemitism facing Jews.”

Kushner worked on a wide range of issues and policies in the Trump administration, including Middle East peace efforts. Noting that he is not interested in rejoining the White House if Trump — who last week became the presumptive GOP nominee — wins the 2024 presidential election, Kushner said last month that he was focused on his investment business and his living with his family in Florida out of the public eye.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Warnings about deepfakes and disinformation fueled by artificial intelligence. Concerns about campaigns and candidates using social media to spread lies about elections. Fears that tech companies will fail to address these issues as their platforms are used to undermine democracy ahead of pivotal elections.

Those are the worries facing elections in the U.S., where most voters speak English. But for languages like Spanish, or in dozens of nations where English isn’t the dominant language, there are even fewer safeguards in place to protect voters and democracy against the corrosive effects of election misinformation. It’s a problem getting renewed attention in an election year in which more people than ever will go to the polls.

Tech companies have faced intense political pressure in countries like the U.S. and places like the European Union to show they’re serious about tackling the baseless claims, hate speech and authoritarian propaganda that pollutes their sites. But critics say they’ve been less responsive to similar concerns from smaller countries or from voters who speak other languages, reflecting a longtime bias toward English, the U.S. and other western democracies.

Recent changes at tech firms — content moderator layoffs and decisions to rollback some misinformation policies — have only compounded the situation, even as new technologies like artificial intelligence make it easier than ever to craft lifelike audio and video that can fool voters.

These gaps have opened up opportunities for candidates, political parties or foreign adversaries looking to create electoral chaos by targeting non-English speakers — whether they are Latinos in the U.S., or one of the millions of voters in India, for instance, who speak a non-English language.

“If there’s a significant population that speaks another language, you can bet there’s going to be disinformation targeting them,” said Randy Abreu, an attorney at the U.S.-based National Hispanic Media Council, which created the Spanish Language Disinformation Coalition to track and identify disinformation targeting Latino voters in the U.S. “The power of artificial intelligence is now making this an even more frightening reality.”

Many of the big tech companies regularly tout their efforts to safeguard elections, and not just in the U.S. and E.U. This month Meta is launching a service on WhatsApp that will allow users to flag possible AI deepfakes for action by fact-checkers. The service will work in four languages — English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Meta says it has teams monitoring for misinformation in dozens of languages, and the company has announced other election-year policies for AI that will apply globally, including required labels for deepfakes as well as labels for political ads created using AI. But those rules have not taken effect and the company hasn’t said when they will begin enforcement.

The laws governing social media platforms vary by nation, and critics of tech companies say they have been faster to address concerns about misinformation in the U.S. and the E.U., which has recently enacted new lawsdesigned to address the problem. Other nations all-too often get a “cookie cutter” response from tech companies that falls short, according to an analysis published this month by the Mozilla Foundation.

Odanga Madung, a Nairobi, Kenya-based researcher who conducted Mozilla’s study, said it became clear that the platforms’ focus on the U.S. and E.U. comes at the expense of the rest of the world.

“It’s a glaring travesty that platforms blatantly favor the U.S. and Europe with excessive policy coddling and protections, while systematically neglecting” other regions, Madung said.

This lack of focus on other regions and languages will increase the risk that election misinformation could mislead voters and impact the results of elections. Around the globe, the claims are already circulating.

Within the U.S., voters whose primary language is something other than English are already facing a wave of misleading and baseless claims, Abreu said. Claims targeting Spanish speakers, for instance, include posts that overstate the extent of voter fraud or contain false information about casting a ballot or registering to vote.

Disinformation about elections has surged in Africa ahead of recent elections, according to a study this month from the Africa Center for Strategic Studies which identified dozens of recent disinformation campaigns — a four-fold increase from 2022. The false claims included baseless allegations about candidates, false information about voting and narratives that seem designed to undermine support for the United States and United Nations.

The center determined that some of the campaigns were mounted by groups allied with the Kremlin, while others were spearheaded by domestic political groups.

India, the world’s largest democracy, boasts more than a dozen languages each with more than 10 million native speakers. It also has more than 300 million Facebook users and nearly half a billion WhatsApp users, the most of any nation.

Fact-checking organizations have emerged as the front line of defense against viral misinformation about elections. The country will hold elections later this spring and already voters going online to find out about the candidates and issues are awash in false and misleading claims.

Among the latest: video of a politician’s speech that was carefully edited to remove key lines; years-old photos of political rallies passed off as new; and a fake election calendar that provided the wrong dates for voting.

A lack of significant steps by tech companies has forced groups that advocate for voters and free elections to band together, said Ritu Kapur, co-founder and managing director of The Quint, an online publication that recently joined with several other outlets and Google to create a new fact-checking effort known as Shakti.

“Mis- and disinformation is proliferating at an alarming pace, aided by technology and fueled and funded by those who stand to gain by it,” Kapur said. “The only way to combat the malaise is to join forces.”

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Explosions and shootings shook the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital and surrounding neighborhoods as Israeli forces stormed through the facility for a second day Tuesday. The military said it had killed 50 Hamas militants in the hospital, but it could not be independently confirmed that the dead were combatants.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The raid was a new blow to the Shifa medical complex, which had only partially resumed operations after a destructive Israeli raid in November. Thousands of Palestinian patients, medical staff and displaced people were trapped inside the sprawling complex Tuesday as heavy fighting between troops and Hamas fighters raged in nearby districts.

“It’s very hard right now. There’s heavy bombardment in the area of Shifa, and buildings are being hit. The sound of tank and artillery fire is continuous,” Emy Shaheen, who lives near the hospital, said in a voice message with repeated booms of shelling audible in the background. She said a large fire had been raging for hours near the hospital.

The Israeli military said it raided Shifa early Monday because Hamas fighters had grouped in the hospital and were directing attacks from inside.

The claim could not be confirmed, and the Hamas media office said all those killed in the assault were civilians. But the surge in fighting in Gaza City underscored Hamas’ continued presence in northern Gaza months after Israeli ground troops claimed they largely had control over the area.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza vowing to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. More than 31,800 Palestinians have been killed in the bombardment and offensive since. Much of northern Gaza has been leveled, and an international authority on hunger crises warned on Monday that 70% of the people there were experiencing catastrophic hunger and that famine was imminent.

The mayhem in the north came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his determination to invade Gaza’s southernmost town, Rafah – one of the last major towns not targeted by a ground assault.

A day earlier, in their first phone call in a month, U.S. President Joe Biden urged Netanyahu not to carry out a Rafah operation, urging “an alternative approach” to more precisely target Hamas fighters there.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has expressed concern over attacking Rafah because some 1.4 million people from across Gaza have crowded into the area. U.N. officials have warned of a massive death toll and the potential collapse of the humanitarian aid effort if troops moved into Rafah.

Netanyahu agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss Rafah with Biden administration officials.

But on Tuesday, he told a parliamentary committee that while he would listen to U.S. proposals “out of respect” to Biden, “we are determined to complete the elimination of these (Hamas) battalions in Rafah, and there is no way to do this without a ground incursion.”

Airstrikes in Rafah overnight destroyed an apartment and several houses, killing at least 15 people, including six women and children, hospital officials said.

NEW SHIFA SIEGE

The army last raided Shifa Hospital in November after claiming that Hamas maintained an elaborate command center within and beneath the facility. The military revealed a tunnel leading to some underground rooms, as well as weapons it said were found inside the hospital. However, the evidence fell short of the earlier claims, and critics accused the army of recklessly endangering the lives of civilians.

The hospital, which is the heart of Gaza’s health system, was severely damaged in the assault and has only been able to resume limited operations since. Gaza officials say some 30,000 displaced people were taking refuge in the compound when the new Israeli assault began.

The raid came before dawn Monday when tanks surrounded the facility and troops stormed into multiple buildings.

The military on Tuesday said two of its soldiers had been killed in the operation. It said Tuesday that 300 suspects were detained, including dozens it accused of being fighters from Hamas and the smaller Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad. Some patients were evacuated to nearby Ahli Hospital, said Mahmoud Bassal, civil defense spokesperson.

Abdel-Hady Sayed, who has been sheltering in the Shifa hospital, said troops had rounded up dozens in the hospital’s yard, blindfolding, handcuffing, and ordering them to strip their clothes before some were taken away.

He said those inside, especially men, were afraid to follow Israeli calls to evacuate the hospital. “They tell you to get out, it’s a safe corridor and once they see you they arrest you,” he said. “All are afraid here. The world should do something to stop them.”

The military has identified one person killed in the raid — Faiq Mabhouh, a senior officer in Gaza’s police force, which is under the Hamas-led government but distinct from the group’s armed fighting wing. The military said he was hiding in Shifa with weapons, but the Gaza government said he was in charge of protecting aid distribution in the north.

The raid prompted heavy fighting for blocks around Shifa. Hamas’ military wing said it struck two Israeli armored vehicles and a group of soldiers with rockets in the vicinity of the hospital.

Emergency services received multiple calls for help from people whose buildings had been bombed in the streets around Shifa, but rescue teams could not go to the scene because of the fighting, Bassal said.

Kareem al-Shawwa, a Palestinian living about a kilometer (less than a mile) from the hospital, said the past 24 hours had been “terrifying,” with explosions and heavy exchanges of fire. He said Israeli troops had told residents to evacuate the area, but he and his family were too afraid of getting arrested or caught in the fighting to leave their home.

Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian facilities to shield its fighters, and the Israeli military has raided several hospitals since the start of the war.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that at least 31,726 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but it says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel that triggered the war and took another 250 people hostage. Hamas is still believed to be holding about 100 captives, as well as the remains of 30 others, after most of the rest were freed during a cease-fire last year.

Magdy reported from Cairo.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — To no one’s surprise, President Vladimir Putin secured another six years in power in a preordained election landslide that comes amid the harshest crackdown on the opposition and free speech since Soviet times.

The three days of balloting, in which Putin faced three token contenders but none offering voters any real choice, went ahead with barely any independent monitoring and were marked by a level of pressure unseen in previous Russian elections. That left little room for protests, but some Russians still tried to defy authorities.

Some key takeaways from the election:

PUTIN WAS IN FULL CONTROL OF THE ELECTION

The Central Election Commission said Putin received 87.28% of the vote, the highest number for any president in post-Soviet Russia. It said turnout was 77.44% of the electorate, also the biggest. Others on the ballot all finished in single digits, and anti-war candidates were not allowed to run.

The state news agency RIA Novosti said the vote “as expected … took place in an atmosphere of unprecedented national unity.”

There was no video from CCTV cameras at polling stations depicting voter fraud or ballot-box stuffing -– access to the footage was more heavily restricted than in previous elections -– and hardly any independent monitors were on hand to document irregularities.

There still was voter intimidation, however, according to Golos, Russia’s prominent independent election watchdog, noting it received reports of citizens being pressured to vote in over 60 Russian regions. On Sunday, voters were searched at polling stations, and some reported police checking their ballots before they were cast or peering over their shoulder while they filled them out, Golos said.

“Nothing like that has happened on such a scale at elections in Russia before,” Golos said in a statement Monday. A total of 89 people were detained Sunday in 22 cities, said OVD-Info, a rights group that monitors political arrests.

The 71-year-old Russia leader “chose to show his adversaries his power,” said political analyst Abbas Gallyamov, a former Putin’s speechwriter.

Vandalism also was reported at polling stations, with arson attempts or some pouring ink into ballot boxes. On Sunday, a woman who set off a firecracker in a polling station bathroom was injured. At least 34 people were detained on vandalism charges over the weekend, according to Russian independent news outlet Verstka.

A STYMIED OPPOSITION STILL MUSTERED SOME PROTESTS

The Kremlin has severely crippled the Russian opposition in recent years. Top figures are either in jail or in exile abroad, and the death last month of Alexei Navalny, who was Putin’s most vocal opponent, raised even more questions about what lies ahead for them.

On Sunday, some Russians turned up at polling stations at home and abroad at noon local time and formed long lines in a strategy endorsed by the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny and other Putin adversaries.

Analysts had said the “Noon Against Putin” tactic would test how well exiled opposition figures could rally supporters amid the crackdown that has largely scared people off from staging mass demonstrations.

Its success was hard to gauge. Navalny’s team shared photos of lines at polling stations in Russia and embassies abroad as proof that many heeded their call. Journalists from The Associated Press and other independent media spoke to voters in multiple locations who confirmed they showed up to take part in the protest.

But Russian officials and state media interpreted the lines in their favor, saying they indicated an increased interest in the election.

This protest couldn’t have had any direct implications for the Kremlin and the election’s outcome, but it did show that such “silent resistance” — both inside the country and abroad — will continue, said Andrei Kolesnikov, senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.

“The message to political manipulators has been sent: ‘We are here, this is what we are like, we’re not giving up, we’re prepared to be creative in using unexpected windows (of opportunity to protest),’” Kolesnikov said.

UNPOPULAR MOVES PROBABLY ARE AHEAD

In a post-election news conference, Putin looked relaxed, Gallyamov noted, probably realizing that “he has secured his future for at least six years ahead.”

Demonstrating his confidence, Putin even referenced Navalny by name -– something he had made a point of not doing in public in years -– and revealed that days before his foe’s death, he supported the idea of releasing him from prison in a prisoner exchange.

There likely will be a period where officials will take some time off to celebrate the victory, Gallyamov said, but after that, unpopular moves could be in store.

After his reelection in 2018, Putin famously raised the age for which workers could receive their pensions, a decision that proved truly unpopular and prompted protests.

Decisions were made before this year’s election “to keep the lid on public discontent,” such as preventing price increases and not announcing another mobilization of troops for Ukraine, but all that could change now, he said.

The crackdown on dissent also is expected to persist.

Some analysts suggest Putin might further test NATO’s resolve during his fifth term.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss with Biden administration officials a prospective Rafah operation, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

“We’ve arrived at a point where each side has been making clear to the other its perspective,” Sullivan said.

The White House has been skeptical of Netanyahu’s plan to carry out an operation in the southern city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, as Israel looks to eliminate Hamas following Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The agreement to hold talks about Rafah came as Biden and Netanyahu spoke on Monday, their first interaction in more than a month, as the divide has grown between allies over the food crisis in Gaza and Israel’s conduct during the war, according to the White House.

Sullivan added that Biden questioned the Israeli leader over a lack of a “coherent and sustainable strategy’ to defeat Hamas.

The call comes after Republicans in Washington and Israeli officials were quick to express outrage after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and called for Israel to hold new elections. They accused the Democratic leader of breaking the unwritten rule against interfering in a close ally’s electoral politics.

Biden hasn’t endorsed Schumer’s call for election but said he thought he gave a “good speech” that reflected the concerns of many Americans. Netanyahu raised concerns about the calls by Schumer for new elections, Sullivan said.

Biden administration officials have warned that they would not support an operation in Rafah without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of innocent Palestinian civilians.

Israel has yet to present such a plan, according to White House officials.

Netanyahu in a statement after the call made no direct mention of the tension.

“We discussed the latest developments in the war, including Israel’s commitment to achieving all of the war’s goals: Eliminating Hamas, freeing all of our hostages and ensuring that Gaza never (again) constitutes a threat to Israel — while providing the necessary humanitarian aid that will assist in achieving these goals,” Netanyahu said.

The Biden-Netanyahu call also comes as the United Nations food agency on Monday issued more dire warnings about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

The World Food Program warned that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger, and that a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s population to the brink of starvation.

Sullivan called the report “alarming.”

Netanyahu lashed out against the American criticism on Sunday, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”

Netanyahu told Fox News Channel that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and he denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.

“We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”

Biden after his State of the Union address earlier this month was caught on a hot mic telling a Democratic ally that he has told Netanyahu they would have a “come to Jesus” meeting over the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. His frustration with Netanyahu’s prosecution of the war was also on display in a recent MSNBC interview, in which he asserted Netanyahu was “hurting Israel.”

“He has a right to defend Israel, a right to continue to pursue Hamas,” Biden said of Netanyahu in the MSNBC interview. “But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken. He’s hurting … in my view, he’s hurting Israel more than helping Israel.”

The president announced during his State of the Union address that the U.S. military would help establish a temporary pier aimed at boosting the amount of aid getting into the territory. The U.S. military has also been air-dropping aid into Gaza.

The Biden administration resorted to the unusual workarounds after months of appealing to Israel, a top recipient of military aid, to step up access and protection for trucks bearing humanitarian goods for Gaza.

The five-month war was triggered after Hamas-led fighters stormed into southern Israel in a surprise attack, rampaging through communities, killing some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking around 250 hostages.

Israel responded with one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history. The war has killed over 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled their homes, and a quarter of the population faces starvation.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The U.N. food agency said Monday that “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of the remaining population is experiencing catastrophic hunger, and that a further escalation of the war could push around half of Gaza’s total population to the brink of starvation.

The alarming report came as Israel faces mounting pressure from even its closest allies to streamline the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and open more land crossings. Deliveries by air and sea that the U.S. and other countries have turned to in recent weeks are too slow and too small, aid groups say.

The European Union’s top diplomat said the impending famine was “entirely man-made” as “starvation is used as a weapon of war.”

Israeli forces meanwhile launched another raid on the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital early Monday, saying Hamas fighters had regrouped there and had fired on them from inside the Shifa Hospital compound. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Clashes continued all day in and around the hospital, where Palestinian officials say tens of thousands of people have been sheltering. The Israeli military said troops had killed 20 people it identified as Hamas fighters and one of its own solders was killed, though its identification of the dead as fighters could not be confirmed. Among those killed was a senior commander in Gaza’s Hamas-led police forces who Israel said was hiding in the hospital but who Gaza officials said was coordinating protection of aid convoys.

The army last raided Shifa Hospital in November after claiming that Hamas maintained an elaborate command center within and beneath the facility. The military revealed a tunnel leading to some underground rooms, as well as weapons it said were found inside the hospital. But the evidence fell short of the earlier claims, and critics accused the army of recklessly endangering the lives of civilians.

RAFAH OFFENSIVE COULD PUSH HALF OF GAZA TO STARVATION

The World Food Program on Monday released the latest findings of its Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, an international process for estimating the scale of hunger crises.

It says virtually everyone in Gaza is struggling to get enough food, and that around 677,000 people — nearly a third of the population of 2.3 million — are experiencing the highest level of catastrophic hunger, meaning they face extreme lack of food and critical levels of acute malnutrition. That includes around 210,000 people in the north.

Outright famine is projected to occur in the north anytime between now and May, it said. An area is considered to be in famine when 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition and at least two adults or four children per every 10,000 people die daily.

The report said the first condition has been fulfilled and it is “highly likely” the second has as well. The death rate is expected to accelerate and reach famine levels soon, it said.

It warned that if Israel broadens its offensive to the packed southern city of Rafah, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed, the fighting could drive over a million people — half of Gaza’s population — into catastrophic hunger and potentially cause famine in the south.

“This is the largest number of people facing imminent famine in the world today, and it has only taken five months to occur,” said Matthew Hollingworth, the acting World Food Program country director for the Palestinian territories.

“It’s still possible to turn this around but there has to be a cease-fire and there has to be massive amounts of food aid to flow consistently, and people need to have access to clean water and health care,” he said.

Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, called for “all roads” to be opened for aid, including into northern and central Gaza. The WFP report said aid from airdrops is “negligible” compared to what is brought on trucks.

Israeli authorities say they place no limits on entry of aid and say U.N. bodies fail to distribute it in a timely manner. Aid groups say distribution is impossible in much of Gaza because of hostilities, the difficulty of coordinating with the military and the breakdown of law and order.

Alex de Waal, the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and an expert on global famines, said Israel has had “ample warning” that if it continued to launch massive operations that destroy key infrastructure, displace large numbers of people and obstruct aid operations, the results would be catastrophic.

“In failing to change course, it is culpable for these deaths,” he said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it was up to Israel to facilitate more aid.

“Israel has to do it. It is not a question of logistics. It is not because the United Nations has not provided enough support,” he said. “Trucks are stopped. People are dying, while the land crossings are artificially closed.”

‘WE’RE TRAPPED INSIDE’

The raid on Shifa Hospital began before dawn, when Israeli forces backed by tanks and artillery surrounded the complex and troops stormed into a number of buildings.

“We’re trapped inside,” said Abdel-Hady Sayed, who has been sheltering in the facility for months. “They fire at anything moving.” In the evening, he said tanks were still in the hospital yard and he could see three bodies outside the gates. “We can’t retrieve the dead,” he said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said around 30,000 people are sheltering at the hospital, including patients, medical staff and people who have fled their homes seeking safety. The war has displaced around 80% of Gaza’s population.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief Israeli military spokesperson, said senior Hamas fighters had regrouped in the hospital and were directing attacks from inside.

Among those killed in the raid was Faiq Mabhouh, a senior officer in the Gaza police, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-led government but distinct from the group’s armed fighting wing. The Israeli military said he was armed and hiding in Shifa, and that weapons were found in an adjacent room.

The Gaza government said Mabhouh was in charge of protecting aid distribution in the north and coordinating between aid groups and local tribes. Aid groups say Israeli strikes on police are one reason public order has collapsed, leading to desperate Palestinians overwhelming aid trucks on the road.

Hagari said the patients and medical staff could remain in the medical complex and that a safe passage was available for civilians who wanted to leave.

Israel accuses Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian facilities to shield its fighters, and the Israeli military has raided several hospitals since the start of the war.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that at least 31,726 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

Palestinian terrorists killed some 1,200 people in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel that triggered the war, and took another 250 people hostage. Hamas is still believed to be holding about 100 captives, as well as the remains of 30 others, after most of the rest were freed during a cease-fire last year.

Magdy reported from Cairo and Goldenberg from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

WADI GAZA, Gaza Strip (AP) — A ship delivered 200 tons of humanitarian supplies, food and water to Gaza on Friday, the Israeli military said, inaugurating a sea route from Cyprus for aid to help ease the humanitarian crisis brought by Israel’s 5-month-old offensive in the enclave.

Israel has been under increasing pressure to allow more aid into Gaza, especially in the Palestinian territory’s isolated north where hunger is at its worst, with many people reduced to eating animal feed and weeds. The United States has joined other countries in airdropping supplies into northern Gaza and has announced separate plans to construct a pier to get aid in.

Aid groups said the airdrops and sea shipments are far less efficient than trucks in delivering the massive amounts of aid needed. Instead, the groups have called on Israel to guarantee safe corridors for truck convoys after land deliveries became nearly impossible because of military restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of order after the Hamas-run police force largely vanished from the streets.

The ship, operated by the Spanish aid group Open Arms, left Cyprus on Tuesday towing a barge laden with food, including rice, flour, lentils, beans, tuna and canned meat. The food was sent by World Central Kitchen, the charity founded by celebrity chef José Andrés, which operates kitchens providing free meals in Gaza.

Throughout the day Friday, the ship could be seen off Gaza’s coast. In the evening, the military said its cargo had been unloaded onto 12 trucks. Grainy footage released by the military showed a truck on a pier approaching the barge.

The food is to be distributed in the north, the largely devastated target of Israel’s initial offensive in Gaza, where up to 300,000 Palestinians are believed to remain, mostly cut off by Israeli forces since October.

The delivery is intended to pave the way for larger shipments. A second vessel will head to Gaza once the supplies on the first ship are distributed, Cyprus’ Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said. Its timing depends in part on whether the Open Arms delivery goes smoothly, he said.

The Israel-Hamas war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and resulted in another 250 being taken into Gaza as hostages. Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 31,000 Palestinians and driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, according to the United Nations.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza accused Israeli forces late Thursday of attacking Palestinians waiting for an aid convoy at a distribution point in northern Gaza, killing at least 20 people and wounding 155. At Shifa Hospital, doctors said the casualties were mostly hit by live fire, with some showing signs of being crushed.

The Israeli military denied its forces fired at civilians or the convoy. In a statement, it said Palestinian gunmen opened fire among the crowd and that some were run over by the trucks. Aerial footage released by the military appeared to show only one man pushing and shoving people.

Bloodshed surrounding an aid convoy on Feb. 29 killed 118 Palestinians in northern Gaza, when the Israeli military said its forces fired at people in the crowd who were advancing toward them and that tanks fired warning shots to disperse them. Witnesses and hospital officials said many of the casualties were from bullet wounds.

Military officials initially blamed many of the deaths on a stampede; a later military command review said only that the stampede caused “significant harm” without addressing the cause of the deaths.

After that, plans for the sea route took shape, and the United States and other countries joined Jordan in dropping aid into the north by plane.

But people in northern Gaza say the airdrops cannot meet the vast need. Many can’t access the aid because people are fighting over it, said Suwar Baroud, 24, who was displaced by the fighting and is now in Gaza City. Some people hoard it and sell it in the market, she said.

A recent airdrop that malfunctioned plummeted from the sky and killed five people.

Another landed in a sewage and garbage dump, said Riham Abu al-Bid. Men ran in but were unable to retrieve anything, she said.

“I wish these airdrops never happened and that our dignity and freedom would be taken into consideration, so we can get our sustenance in a dignified way and not in a manner that is so humiliating,” she said.

On average, around 115 supply trucks a day have entered Gaza over the entire course of the war, according to figures released by the Israeli prime minister’s office — far below the average of 500 a day before Oct. 7 — though on some days the number spikes to above 200.

This week, Israel began allowing trucks to enter directly into the north, a step aid groups have long called for. The military has also been arranging private commercial convoys and says more than 300 trucks — mainly private — have entered the north since the beginning of February.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that at least 31,490 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

International mediators have been working to broker a cease-fire, though hopes were thwarted for one before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started this week.

Hamas put forward a new cease-fire proposal calling for a three-stage process, according to a report by Al Jazeera television that was confirmed to The Associated Press by a Palestinian official.

The first six-week stage would bring a partial Israeli pullback in Gaza and the release of all female hostages held by the militants in exchange for the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. In the second stage, a permanent cease-fire would be declared, and Hamas would release all Israeli soldiers being held. In the third stage, reconstruction of Gaza would begin, and the Israeli blockade of Gaza would be lifted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the proposal “unrealistic,” but said Israel would send negotiators to Qatar for more talks.

Netanyahu’s office also said Friday that Israel has approved military plans to attack Rafah, the southernmost town in Gaza where some 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

It said the operation will involve the evacuation of the civilian population but did not give details or a timetable. The military said Wednesday it planned to direct civilians to “humanitarian islands” in central Gaza.

At Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third-holiest site in Islam, the first Friday prayers of Ramadan were held without a major outbreak of protest or violence.

The mosque has been a frequent flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence in the past. Israel limited West Bank Palestinians’ access to Friday’s prayers to men over 55, women over 50 and children under 10.

The compound has long been a deeply contested religious space, as it stands on the Temple Mount, which Jews consider their most sacred site.

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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has appointed his longtime economic adviser to be the next prime minister in the face of U.S. pressure to reform the Palestinian Authority as part of Washington’s postwar vision for Gaza.

Mohammad Mustafa, a U.S.-educated economist and political independent, will head a technocratic government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that could potentially administer Gaza ahead of eventual statehood. But those plans face major obstacles, including strong opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israel-Hamas war that is still grinding on with no end in sight.

It’s unclear whether the appointment of a new Cabinet led by a close Abbas ally would be sufficient to meet U.S. demands for reform, as the 88-year-old president would remain in overall control.

“The change that the United States of America and the countries of the region want is not necessarily the change that the Palestinian citizen wants,” said Hani al-Masri, a Palestinian political analyst. “People want a real change in politics, not a change in names … They want elections.”

He said Mustafa is “a respected and educated man” but will struggle to meet public demands to improve conditions in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli restrictions imposed since the start of the war have caused an economic crisis.

In a statement announcing the appointment, Abbas asked Mustafa to put together plans to re-unify adminstration in the West Bank and Gaza, lead reforms in the government, security services and economy and fight corruption.

Mustafa was born in the West Bank town of Tulkarem in 1954 and earned a doctorate in business administration and economics from George Washington University. He has held senior positions at the World Bank and previously served as deputy prime minister and economy minister. He is currently the chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund.

The previous prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, resigned along with his government last month, saying different arrangements were needed because of the “new reality in the Gaza Strip.”

The Palestinian Authority was established in the 1990s through interim peace agreements and was envisioned as a stepping-stone to eventual statehood.

But the peace talks repeatedly collapsed, most recently with Netanayahu’s return to power in 2009. Hamas seized power in Gaza from forces loyal to Abbas in 2007, confining his limited authority to major population centers that account for around 40% of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Abbas is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, many of whom view the PA as little more than a subcontractor of the occupation because it cooperates with Israel on security matters. His mandate ended in 2009 but he has refused to hold elections, blaming Israeli restrictions. Hamas won a landslide victory in the last parliamentary elections, in 2006. Although it is considered a terrorist group by Israel and Western countries, Hamas would likely perform well in any free and fair vote.

Abbas, unlike his Hamas rivals, recognizes Israel, has renounced armed struggle and is committed to a negotiated solution that would create an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. That goal is shared by the international community.

Israel has long criticized the PA over payments it makes to the families of Palestinians who have been killed or imprisoned by Israel, including top leaders who killed Israelis. The PA defends such payments as a form of social welfare for families harmed by the decades-old conflict.

The dispute has led Israel to suspend some of the taxes and customs duties it collects on behalf of the PA, contributing to years of budget shortfalls. The PA pays the salaries of tens of thousands of teachers, health workers and other civil servants.

The United States has called for a reformed PA to expand its writ to postwar Gaza ahead of the eventual creation of a Palestinian state in both territories. Netanyahu has ruled out any role for the PA in Gaza, and his government is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories to form their future state.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally and considers the entire city — including major holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims — to be its undivided capital. Israel has built scores of settlements across the West Bank, where over 500,000 Jewish settlers live in close proximity to some 3 million Palestinians.

Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005, but along with Egypt imposed a blockade on the territory when Hamas seized power two years later.

Netanyahu has vowed to dismantle Hamas and maintain open-ended security control over Gaza in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which terrorists stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials.

The Palestinian Authority has said it will not return to Gaza on the back of an Israeli tank, and that it would only assume control of the territory as part of a comprehensive solution to the conflict that includes statehood.

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