House reprimands Rashida Tlaib over Israel-Hamas war comments
The House voted late Tuesday to censure Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. She is the only Palestinian American in Congress.
Qatari and U.S. officials are trying to broker a deal between Israel and Hamas that would include the possible release of a dozen or more hostages held in Gaza, including Americans, in exchange for a brief ceasefire, several media outlets reported.
Agence France PresseCiting a source close to Hamas, Hamas reported on Wednesday that six American hostages were involved in the proposed deal.
“The talks revolve around the release of 12 hostages, half of them Americans, in exchange for a three-day humanitarian pause,” the source told AFP, adding that the pause “allows Hamas to release the hostages and Egypt a longer one ( period) to provide humanitarian assistance.
Earlier on Wednesday, AFP said the talks “brokered by the Qataris in coordination with the US” involved 10 to 15 hostages but did not mention nationalities.
On Tuesday, Axios reported that Hamas would release 10 to 15 hostages under a proposal discussed between the United States, Israel and Qatar. A three-day pause would allow time to verify the identities of all hostages and provide a list of names of those held by Hamas. Axios quoted a US official who was not named.
Israeli officials say about 240 hostages are being held by Hamas and other militant groups. Israel has repeatedly rejected requests from the United States and other nations for a humanitarian ceasefire until all hostages are released. The war has been raging since October 7, when Hamas militants stormed the border and killed more than 1,400 Israelis, most of them civilians. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli attack on Gaza.
Israeli forces “in the depths” of Gaza City: Netanyahu is open to “small breaks” for help
Developments:
∎ Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they shot down a U.S. drone flying in Yemeni airspace on Wednesday. A senior U.S. official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet released, confirmed the downing of the drone and said the military was investigating the incident.
∎ An Israeli warplane killed the head of Hamas’ weapons and industrial division, the Israeli military said. Mohsen Abu Zina was “an expert in the development of strategic weapons and missiles.”
∎ Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said his country was sending a hospital ship to be stationed off the coast of Gaza to provide medical treatment to Palestinians. The Vulcano has operating rooms and its staff includes medical and military personnel.
House of Representatives censures Rashida Tlaib: Lawmaker defends comments about Israel
The Israeli military says it is “thwarting Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure” by expanding its ground war in Gaza and destroying tunnel shafts, command centers and weapons caches. According to the military, 130 tunnel shafts have been destroyed since the fighting began. The fight to control and destroy the underground labyrinth, estimated to be more than 300 miles long, will be a key strategy for the Israeli military, military analysts and experts say.
Hamas leaders say Israel has exaggerated the extent of its infiltration. But Israel says special forces are searching the tunnels for rocket assembly lines, supplies of small arms and mortars and even Hamas leaders and the 240 hostages held by Hamas and other militant groups. Israeli troops claim to have cornered Yahya Sinwar, the most senior Hamas leader in Gaza, in his bunker.
“Combat engineers fighting in Gaza are destroying the enemy’s weapons and locating, exposing and blowing up tunnel shafts,” the military said in a statement. “In this way, the IDF is destroying Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure.”
More aid trucks have entered Gaza through the Rafah crossing in the last 24 hours, but the ability of US citizens to leave Gaza has been limited, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday
“There will be some days where we are more successful than others,” Kirby said of the administration’s efforts to help U.S. citizens get out of the war zone. He estimates that there are still 500 to 600 Americans and their family members who want to leave.
Kirby said there are various barriers to exit that have to be worked through “almost over and over again” every day.
− Maureen Groppe
The flow of Palestinians leaving Gaza’s embattled north for the slightly safer south has increased significantly in recent days as the Israeli military has extended daily four-hour evacuation corridors and intensified its air and ground campaigns. According to the United Nations, the number of Palestinians fleeing rose from 2,000 on Sunday to 5,000 the next day and 15,000 on Tuesday.
The agency said the majority of those making the trek south, often on foot, were children, the elderly and people with disabilities. Some reported having to pass through Israeli checkpoints, witnessing arrests or having to walk past Israeli tanks with their hands raised while waving white flags.
Still, ongoing airstrikes and deteriorating living conditions, including power outages and dwindling water and food supplies, made it difficult for many to stay. According to the United Nations, about 1.5 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced.
“There was shelling and bombing overnight,” Abeer Akeila said after leaving her home in Gaza City. “We had no food or drinking water… They attacked the bakeries. There is no life in Gaza.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday rejected Israel’s plan to maintain “general security responsibility” for the Gaza Strip after the war, saying the Palestinian Authority must ultimately take control of the troubled Palestinian enclave. Blinken said after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Japan that neither Israel nor Hamas could lead the post-war Gaza Strip. The “voices and aspirations” of the Palestinian people must be at the center of governance, united with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, he said.
Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested that Israel plans to keep a tight grip on the Gaza Strip and assume “general security responsibilities” as the war comes to an end.
Blinken made clear the US’s opposition to this idea: “No reoccupation of the Gaza Strip after the end of the conflict,” Blinken said. “No attempt to blockade or siege Gaza. No reduction of the territory of Gaza.”
The House voted Tuesday night to censure the only Palestinian American in Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over her comments about the Israel-Hamas war. The motion to censure Tlaib passed with 234 votes–188. All but four House Republicans voted for the measure, which drew support from nearly two dozen House Democrats.
Among Tlaib’s statements that have caused the most controversy in Congress is his use of the phrase “from the river to the sea,” a slogan that implies the creation of a Palestinian state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean on much of what is currently Israeli territory. Israel’s supporters say the phrase is anti-Semitic and a call for the destruction of the state of Israel. Tlaib defended the sentence as “an ambitious call for freedom, human rights and peaceful coexistence, not for death, destruction or hatred.” Read more here.
The White House rejects the use of the controversial term, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “It’s divisive. It’s hurtful. Many find it hurtful. Many find it anti-Semitic,” she said.
− Ken Tran
A MSF laboratory technician was killed along with several family members in Gaza, the agency said on Wednesday. Mohammed Al Ahel was at his home in Al Shati refugee camp when the area was bombed on Tuesday. His building collapsed, reportedly killing dozens of people, the agency said.
“We reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further deaths and enable the access of urgently needed humanitarian supplies,” the agency said in a statement. “The international community must take stronger action to stop the bloodshed in Gaza.”
Contributors: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY; The Associated Press