Israeli father says ‘entire family’ kidnapped by Hamas
An Israeli father says his wife and two young daughters were kidnapped in Gaza.
As President Joe Biden considers traveling to Israel in a show of solidarity, about 2,000 U.S. troops have been told to prepare for deployment – possibly to the Middle East – in anticipation of an Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip aimed at ending the To crush the militant Hamas group that rules the war-torn enclave.
The American soldiers would not be sent to Israel but could be assigned to other countries in the region for support tasks such as medical assistance or providing security at gate crossings, the Associated Press reported Monday, citing U.S. officials.
Also on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah against interfering in his country’s military actions sparked by Hamas’ brutal rampage in Israel nine days ago. Netanyahu spoke at an Israeli parliament session that required a 40-minute recess when rockets fired into Jerusalem forced participants to seek shelter in bomb shelters.
“Don’t test us in the north. “Don’t make the mistake of the past,” Netanyahu said, referring to the 2006 war with Hezbollah. “Today the price you will pay will be much higher.”
Hezbollah later said its fighters attacked five Israeli posts along the Lebanese border on Monday afternoon.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to Israel on Monday – his second visit in less than a week – after a turbulent tour of six Arab states aimed at preventing the war from spreading into the Middle East. Blinken met with Netanyahu and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to providing Israel with everything needed to protect its citizens, Blinken said in a statement. The two also discussed coordinating with the United Nations and “regional partners” to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians, as well as the U.S. commitment to the rapid release of hostages, Blinken said.
“We talked about U.S. support for Israel’s right to defend itself and its citizens against Hamas terrorism,” Blinken said.
No spillover: Blinken says Arab leaders don’t want the war between Israel and Hamas to spill over
Developments:
∎ A senior Biden administration official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said Biden is considering a trip to Israel. Biden abruptly canceled a trip to Colorado but made no announcement about alternative travel plans.
∎ More than a million people in the Gaza Strip have evacuated their homes. Last week, Israel ordered the evacuation of the northern Gaza Strip, an order that fueled chaos in the Israeli-occupied territory of about 2.3 million Palestinians.
∎ The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of people in 28 communities near the Lebanese border amid increasing cross-border fire between Israel and the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
∎ The European Union said it has tripled humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza to nearly $80 million and will send two flights through Egypt this week carrying supplies for the territory’s residents.
∎ Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the current invasion of neighboring Ukraine that has killed tens of thousands of people and led to war crimes charges against him, called on Netanyahu to seek “a peaceful solution through political and diplomatic means,” he said Kremlin.
What is happening in Israel? After the Hamas attack, understanding the conflict in Gaza
Nearly 300 Floridians stranded in Israel due to flight cancellations have arrived in Florida on a flight organized by the state and global rescue organization Project Dynamo. Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination, criticized the Biden administration and said he was “proud of how quickly we were able to activate resources and do what the federal government couldn’t – Floridians and other Americans.” to win.” back home, reunited with their families, for free.”
DeSantis said the state is also sending medical supplies, hygiene products, clothing and children’s toys to Israel to help Israelis affected by the war. And he said Gazans should not be welcome in the USHe said Arab nations should “open their borders and accept Gaza refugees.”
“As president, I will take zero people out of Gaza,” he said.
The death toll on both sides of the war has exceeded 4,000 and thousands more are wounded. Israeli officials said at least 199 people were being held hostage in Gaza.
The U.S. death toll rose to 30 and the State Department said 13 Americans remained missing but could not provide details on the number of U.S. hostages. “State Department employees have been in contact with their families,” a spokesman said.
Thieves using trucks believed to be from the Gaza Ministry of Health stole urgently needed fuel and medical supplies from a UN agency compound in Gaza City, according to the United Nations Disaster Relief Agency. The authority had to vacate the site on Friday and has no access to the site. The surveillance cameras at the entrance and exit to the site were damaged, the authority said.
“@UNRWA Fuel and other types of materials are kept exclusively for humanitarian purposes – any other use is strongly condemned,” the agency said in a statement Social media post.
Palestinians crowded into hospitals and schools on Monday as supplies of food, water and medicine ran low during a strict Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. Some relief was not far away, but still out of reach.
Trucks carrying essential supplies have been waiting for days at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt while negotiations take place over a ceasefire that would allow them to enter Gaza and allow foreigners to leave. Gaza’s only border route with Egypt was closed a few days ago after Israeli airstrikes.
“The conflict in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories is a terrible reminder of how quickly the health of millions of people can be endangered,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement Social media post. “War will bring nothing but destruction and terror.”
The Justice Department opened a federal hate crime investigation into the stabbing death of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian-American boy, in Illinois. His mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, was seriously injured in the attack.
Her landlord, Joseph Czuba of Plainfield Township, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, is charged with murder and hate crimes. Czuba, 71, was denied bail at a court hearing on Monday and will remain behind bars.
Czuba was charged Sunday with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and two counts of a hate crime in what authorities believe was a targeted attack on a Muslim family in response to the Israel-Hamas war, according to the office of the Will County Sheriff’s Office.
The alleged attack has raised fears among Arab Americans of possible retaliation over the war between Israel and Hamas.
“No one in the United States of America should have to live in fear of violence because of their religion or their or their family’s background,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in announcing the hate crimes investigation.
− Bart Jansen, Thao Nguyen and Cybele Mayes-Osterman
Stabbing death of a 6-year-old Muslim boy: Incident in Illinois to be investigated as a hate crime
The national average for a gallon of gasoline fell last week despite a turbulent period in oil prices after Hamas launched the attack on Israel. The price of a gallon of regular unleaded fell about 12 cents to $3.628 on Friday, according to AAA, a nonprofit association of auto clubs that monitors fuel costs. The decline comes even as oil prices rose about $5 last week to about $90 a barrel. The price of crude oil refined into gasoline is more than half the price of a gallon of fuel. AAA says costs at the pump are falling due to lower demand from drivers and cheaper winter gasoline blends coming onto the market.
“Unless this war spreads to additional countries in the region, the impact on the oil market will remain muted,” AAA spokesman Andrew Gross said in a statement. Read more here.
− Medora Lee
Numerous organizations are trying to help distressed civilians on both sides of the confrontation. The Alliance for Peace in the Middle East (ALLMEP) is a coalition of over 170 non-governmental organizations, including tens of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis, who share the goal of building state peace between the two communities. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also aims to protect and provide assistance to victims of conflict. And Doctors Without Borders is a non-governmental organization that provides humanitarian assistance to people affected by conflict, disease outbreaks, and natural and man-made disasters.
More information about links and other options can be found here.
− Sarah Al-Arshani and Thao Nguyen
Monday is the official tax deadline for those who requested an automatic six-month extension to file 2022 income taxes, but the Internal Revenue Service is granting a special extension of nearly another year for “individuals and businesses affected by the terrorist attacks in the state.” are”. Israel.”
The relief applies to individuals whose primary residence is in Israel, the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, as well as to companies or sole proprietors whose principal place of business is in the covered territory. Other circumstances also come into question. More details here.
− Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press
The health situation is “catastrophic”: Groups are providing aid as the Israeli-Palestinian crisis worsens
Hamas has been responsible for numerous suicide bombings and other deadly attacks in Israel since the militant group’s founding in 1987. On October 7, about 1,000 Hamas fighters stormed the Israeli border by land and sea. Hamas says the attack was partly a response to Israeli police activity on the grounds of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. The Jerusalem mosque is located on a site holy to Jews, which it calls the Temple Mount.
But Hamas leaders also blame relentless Israeli crackdowns and a 16-year blockade in Gaza and the West Bank, continued Israeli settlement construction – which the international community considers illegal – and Israel’s tight military control over Gaza.
Additionally, the attack came amid thawing relations between some Arab nations and Israel. Hamas refuses to recognize Israel, and Israel’s attack and harsh response could slow or derail these diplomatic overtures.
Hamas – an acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Resistance Movement – was founded by activists with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood during the first Palestinian uprising against Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. The State Department designated Hamas a terrorist group in 1997, a decade after its founding. Several other nations also consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
In 2006, Hamas won parliamentary elections and in 2007 the group violently seized control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority, which was controlled by the rival Fatah movement, which still rules the West Bank. There have been no elections since then. The group calls for the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian state that would replace the current state of Israel and believes in the use of force to destroy Israel.
Hamas receives financial, material and logistical support from Iran. However, so far the United States and other nations have said there is no evidence that Iran was directly involved in the Hamas attack.
Contribution: The Associated Press