World
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former President Donald Trump on Monday 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.
Trump, in an interview, had been asked about Democrats' growing criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his handling of the war in Gaza as the civilian death toll continues to mount.
“I actually think they hate Israel,” Trump responded to his former aide, Sebastian Gorka. “I think they hate Israel. And the Democrat party hates Israel.”
Trump, who last week became the Republican Party's presumptive nominee, went on to charge: “Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion. They hate everything about Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed.”
The comments sparked immediate backlash from the White House, President Joe Biden's campaign and Jewish leaders. The vast majority of Jewish Americans identify as Democrats, but Trump has often accused them of disloyalty, perpetuating what critics say is an antisemitic trope.
At the White House, spokesperson Andrew Bates cast the comments as “vile and unhinged Antisemitic rhetoric" without mentioning Trump by name.
“As Antisemitic crimes and acts of hate have increased across the world — among them the deadliest attack committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust — leaders have an obligation to call hate what it is and bring Americans together against it,” he said. “There is no justification for spreading toxic, false stereotypes that threaten fellow citizens. None.”
Biden’s campaign said, “The only person who should be ashamed here is Donald Trump.”
“Trump is going to lose again this November because Americans are sick of his hateful resentment, personal attacks, and extreme agenda," said spokesman James Singer.
Jonathan Greenblatt, who heads the Anti-Defamation League, said, “Accusing Jews of hating their religion because they might vote for a particular party is defamatory & patently false."
“Serious leaders who care about the historic US-Israel alliance should focus on strengthening, rather than unraveling, bipartisan support for the State of Israel,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Trump's comments come as Biden has been facing mounting pressure from the progressive wing of his party over his administration’s support for Israel in its retaliatory offensive in Gaza. More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.
While Biden continues to back Israel’s right to defend itself, he has increasingly criticized Netanyahu. After his State of the Union speech, he said he needed to have a “come to Jesus” conversation with the
Israeli leader. He has also accused Netanyahu of “hurting Israel more than helping Israel," saying, “he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost as a consequence of the actions taken.”
Trump took particular issue with recent comments from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the country's highest-ranking Jewish official. In a speech last week, Schumer sharply criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza, warning that the civilian toll was damaging Israel’s standing around the world. He also called for Israel to hold new elections.
While the White House formally distanced itself from Schumer’s comments, the Democratic leader and key ally was voicing an opinion increasingly held across Biden’s administration.
Schumer — whom Trump accused of being “very anti-Israel now” — responded by accusing Trump of “making highly partisan and hateful rants.”
“To make Israel a partisan issue only hurts Israel and the US-Israeli relationship,” he wrote on X.
The Pew Research Center reported in 2021 that Jews are “among the most consistently liberal and Democratic groups in the U.S.,” with 7 in 10 Jewish adults identifying with or leaning toward the Democratic Party. In 2020, it found that nearly three-quarters of American Jews disapproved of Trump’s performance as president, with just 27% rating him positively.
Americans have also increasingly soured on Israel’s military operation in Gaza, according to surveys from The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In January, 50% of U.S. adults said the military response from Israel in the Gaza Strip had gone too far, up from 40% in November.
That number was higher among Democrats, 6 in 10 of whom said the same thing in both surveys.
US and Japan seek UN resolution calling on all nations to ban nuclear weapons in outer space
The United States and Japan are sponsoring a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on all nations not to deploy or develop nuclear weapons in space, the U.S. ambassador announced Monday.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a U.N. Security Council meeting that “any placement of nuclear weapons into orbit around the Earth would be unprecedented, dangerous, and unacceptable.”
The announcement that the U.S. and Japan had circulated a resolution follows White House confirmation last month that Russia has obtained a “troubling” anti-satellite weapon capability, although such a weapon is not operational yet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared later that Moscow has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space, claiming that the country has only developed space capabilities similar to those of the U.S.
The Outer Space Treaty ratified by about 114 countries including the United States and Russia prohibits the deployment of “nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction” in orbit or the stationing of “weapons in outer space in any other manner.”
Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, who chaired the council meeting, said that even during “the confrontational environment” of the Cold War, the rivals agreed to ensure that outer space remained peaceful. That prohibition on putting any weapons of mass destruction into orbit must be upheld today, she said.
Thomas-Greenfield said all parties to the treaty must commit to the ban on nuclear and other destructive weapons, “and we must urge all member states who are not yet party to it to accede to it without delay.”
She said the United States looks forward to engaging with the other members of the 15-nation Security Council “to forge consensus around this text.”
Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said Moscow's initial impression is that the proposed resolution is “yet another propaganda stunt by Washington,” “very politicized” and “divorced from reality.”
He criticized the text, saying the wording wasn’t worked out by experts nor discussed at specialized international platforms such as the U.N. Conference on Disarmament or the U.N. Committee on Outer Space.
Outside the Security Council, Thomas-Greenfield said the U.S. is interested in engaging with parties to the treaty “to explore ways to increase confidence in compliance” with the ban on nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in outer space.
“The United States has already begun considering approaches to help ensure that countries cannot deploy nuclear weapons in orbit undetected, and we intend to engage with other states parties as our ideas evolve,” she said.
Thomas-Greenfield also reiterated to the council the United States is willing to engage Russia and China right now, without preconditions, on bilateral arms control issues.
But Russia’s Polyansky accused the West of “trying to inflict strategic defeat on my country.”
“Any interaction will only be possible if the United States and NATO review their anti- Russian course, and when they show that they are ready to participate in comprehensive dialogue, taking into account all of those strategic stability factors and removing all of the concerns that we have about our security,” he said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres briefed the council, saying “geopolitical tensions and mistrust have escalated the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades.”
He said the movie “Oppenheimer” about Robert Oppenheimer, who directed the U.S. project during World War II that developed the atomic bomb, “brought the harsh reality of nuclear doomsday to vivid life for millions around the world.”
“Humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer,” the U.N. chief said.
Gangs unleash new attacks on upscale areas in Haiti's capital, with at least a dozen killed nearby
Gangs attacked two upscale neighborhoods in Haiti’s capital early Monday in a rampage that left at least a dozen people dead in surrounding areas.
Gunmen looted homes in the communities of Laboule and Thomassin before sunrise, forcing residents to flee as some called radio stations pleading for police. The neighborhoods had remained largely peaceful despite a surge in violent gang attacks across Port-au-Prince that began on Feb. 29.
An Associated Press photographer saw the bodies of at least 12 men strewn on the streets of Pétionville, located just below the mountainous communities of Laboule and Thomassin.
Crowds began gathering around the victims. One was lying face up on the street surrounded by a scattered deck of cards and another found face down inside a pick-up truck known as a “tap-tap” that operates as a taxi. A woman at one of the scenes collapsed and had to be held by others after learning that a relative of hers was killed.
“Abuse! This is abuse!” cried out one Haitian man who did not want to be identified as he raised his arms and stood near one of the victims. “People of Haiti! Wake up!” An ambulance arrived shortly afterward and made its way through Pétionville, collecting the victims.
“We woke up this morning to find bodies in the street in our community of Pétionville,” said Douce Titi, who works at the mayor's office. “Ours is not that kind of community. We will start working to remove those bodies before the children start walking by to go to school and the vendors start to arrive.”
It was too late for some, though. A relative of one of the victims hugged a young boy close to his chest, with his head turned away from the scene.
The most recent attacks raised concerns that gang violence would not cease despite Prime Minister Ariel Henry announcing nearly a week ago that he would resign once a transitional presidential council is created, a move that gangs had been demanding.
Gangs have long opposed Henry, saying he was never elected by the people as they blame him for deepening poverty, but critics of gangs accuse them of trying to seize power for themselves or for unidentified Haitian politicians.
Also on Monday, Haiti’s power company announced that four substations in the capital and elsewhere “were destroyed and rendered completely dysfunctional.” As a result, swaths of Port-au-Prince were without power, including the Cite Soleil slum, the Croix-des-Bouquets community and a hospital.
The company said criminals also seized important documents, cables, inverters, batteries and other items.
As gang violence continues unabated, Caribbean leaders have been helping with the creation of a transitional council. It was originally supposed to have seven members with voting powers. But one political party in Haiti rejected the seat they were offered, and another is still squabbling over who should be nominated.
Meanwhile, the deployment of a U.N.-backed Kenyan police force to fight gangs in Haiti has been delayed, with the East African country saying it would wait until the transitional council is established.
In a bid to curb the relentless violence, Haiti's government announced Sunday that it was extending a nighttime curfew through March 20.
Famine is said to be 'imminent' in northern Gaza as Israel raids the main hospital again
Famine is "imminent” in northern Gaza, where 70% of people are experiencing catastrophic hunger, according to a report Monday that warned escalation of the war could push half of Gaza's total population to the brink of starvation.
The report, by the international community’s authority on determining the severity of hunger crises, came as Israel faces mounting pressure from even its closest allies to streamline the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip and to open more land crossings. Aid groups complain that deliveries by air and sea by the U.S. and other countries are too slow and too small.
The European Union’s top diplomat said the impending famine was “entirely manmade” 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 militants had regrouped there and fired on them from inside the Shifa Hospital compound.
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 killed 20 people it identified as Hamas militants, and one of its own soldiers was killed, though the identification of the dead as militants 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. Gaza officials said the commander 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 latest findings on hunger in Gaza came from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, an initiative first set up in 2004 during the famine in Somalia that now includes more than a dozen U.N. agencies, aid groups, governments and other bodies to determine the severity of food insecurity.
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. That means they face extreme lack of food and critical levels of acute malnutrition. The figure 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.
The report warned that if Israel broadens its offensive to the packed southern city of Rafah, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to do, the fighting could drive over 1 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.
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.
Northern Gaza, including Gaza City, was the first target of the invasion, and entire neighborhoods have been obliterated. It is now the epicenter of Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe, with many residents reduced to eating animal feed. At least 27 people, mostly children, have died from malnutrition and dehydration in the north, according to the Health Ministry.
A spokesman for the Israeli military body that deals with Palestinian issues, Shimon Freeman, said Israel "places no limit on the amount of aid that can enter the Gaza Strip” and encourages countries to send aid. Israel has accused U.N. bodies of failing to distribute aid 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 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 militants 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 militant 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 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 it says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.
Palestinian militants 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.
IFAD and WFP work together to combat hunger in fragile contexts
The UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have today launched an action plan to work together in fragile contexts — countries simultaneously affected by economic shocks, and extreme weather, in combination with little or no institutional and government capacity to help people cope. The UN agencies seek to leverage the strengths and expertise of each organization to enhance resilience in fragile environments and improve food security for those who need it most.
Fragility is a significant barrier to eradicating hunger and poverty. Moreover, frequent and severe extreme weather events are compounding these often-protracted crises worldwide.
“We have decades of experience working in fragile contexts, because that is where so many of the rural poor live. But today, the rural environment is changing. It is becoming less predictable. Rapid changes in climate and demographics are making it harder than ever for rural populations to thrive on the land,” said Alvaro Lario, President of IFAD. “This new Action Plan is very exciting because together, we can be more than the sum of our parts,” added Lario.
Fragile situations are on the rise and could impact as much as 60 percent of the world's extreme poor by 2030. Nearly 1 billion people are currently living in such contexts worldwide, according to the International Monetary Fund estimates.
“WFP and IFAD teams work in many of the most fragile and challenging regions of the world, where millions of families who live on the frontlines of conflict, climate change and economic turmoil face a daily battle against hunger,” said WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain.
“But it doesn’t have to be this way. Combining our expertise, resources and extensive global network, WFP and IFAD will step up our collaboration in key areas, such as food systems and climate resilience, to support sustainable development, peace and progress in the most vulnerable communities.”
IFAD and WFP will carry out joint assessments on fragility, integrate smallholder farmers into food assistance programmes, invest in rural communities’ climate resilience, and share logistical capacity, data, analysis and expertise, as well as provide technical and operational support.
For instance, IFAD’s investments in sustainable agricultural practices, such as the use of climate-resilient crops and climate insurance, will be combined with WFP’s climate-resilient local infrastructure and services.
Ethiopia, Haiti, Mozambique, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen and Zambia are the initial countries for collaboration to address fragility and food insecurity in addition to geographic areas across the Sahel and Pacific islands.
The action plan aims at maximising impact, being responsive to dynamic challenges, and focuses on tackling some of the main drivers of fragility. The partnership also builds upon the broader collaboration of the three Rome-based UN food and agriculture agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which was reinforced with a new five-year partnership agreement signed last August during a joint visit to South Sudan.
Being able to work in fragile contexts is a priority for IFAD’s next three-year cycle (2025-2027), as the UN Fund plans to reach 100 million rural people.
Japan’s nuclear power plant finishes first-year ocean discharge of wastewater amid backlash
Despite opposition and concern from at home and abroad, Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant has finished its initial year of discharging nuclear-contaminated wastewater into the ocean, according to the plant's operator.
The plant completed the fourth and final round of discharge for the current fiscal year ending in March, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Sunday.
As per the initial plan, approximately 31,200 tons of wastewater, containing radioactive tritium, was released into the ocean since the discharge started in August 2023, with each round of discharge carried out for about two weeks.
Earlier this week, International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi emphasized continued efforts in monitoring Japan's ocean discharge of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled plant, following his first visit to Fukushima prefecture since the discharge started.
Many countries are bouncing back from the pandemic but the poorest are not, UN says
Stressing that the discharge marks merely the initial phase of a long process, Grossi said that "much effort will be required in the lengthy process ahead," and reiterated the organization's stance on maintaining vigilance throughout the process.
While the Japanese government and TEPCO have asserted the safety and necessity of the discharge, concerns have been raised by neighboring countries and local stakeholders regarding environmental impacts.
"All fishermen are against ocean dumping. The contaminated water has flowed into what we fishermen call 'the sea of treasure', and the process will last for at least 30 years," said Haruo Ono, a fisherman in the town of Shinchi in Fukushima.
"There is no good reason to dump radioactive materials into the ocean. There is no reason to just dilute them and flush them away," said the man in his 70s.
"Is it really necessary, in the first place, to dump what has been stored in tanks into the sea? How can we say it's 'safe' when the discharged water clearly consists of harmful radioactive substances? I think the government and TEPCO must provide a solid answer," said Chiyo Oda, a resident of Fukushima's Iwaki city.
4 million people face 'acute food insecurity' in troubled Haiti, says UN food agency official
Concerns were fueled among the Japanese public over the recent leakage of contaminated water from pipes at the Fukushima plant.
Netanyahu snaps back against growing US criticism after being accused of losing his way on Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed Sunday against growing criticism from top ally the United States against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”
In recent days, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country and a strong Israel supporter, called on Israel to hold a new election, saying Netanyahu had “lost his way.” President Joe Biden expressed support for Schumer’s “good speech," and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurting Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza.
Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, and 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.”
Israel strikes several sites in Syria, wounding a soldier, Syrian military says
When asked by CNN whether he would commit to a new election after the war ends, Netanyahu said: “I think that’s something for the Israeli public to decide.”
The U.S., which has provided key military and diplomatic support to Israel, also has expressed concerns about a planned Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, told Fox the U.S. still hasn't seen an Israeli plan for Rafah.
The U.S. supports a new round of talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in exchange for the return of Israeli hostages taken in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
The Israeli delegation to those talks was expected to leave for Qatar after Sunday evening meetings of the Security Cabinet and War Cabinet, which will give directions for negotiations.
Despite the talks, Netanyahu made it clear he would not back down from the fighting that has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. More than five months have passed since Hamas attacked southern Israel, killed 1,200 people and took another 250 hostage.
Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu said calls for an election now — which polls show he would lose badly — would force Israel to stop fighting and paralyze the country for six months.
Netanyahu also reiterated his determination to attack Hamas in Rafah and said that his government approved military plans for such an operation.
“We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen,” he said. The operation is supposed to include the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians, but it is not clear how Israel will do that.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi reiterated his warning that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would have “grave repercussions on the whole region." Egypt says pushing Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula would jeopardize its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of regional stability.
Cease-fire talks with Israel and Hamas are expected to resume Sunday in Qatar
“We are also very concerned about the risks a full-scale offensive in Rafah would have on the vulnerable civilian population. This needs to be avoided at all costs,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after meeting with el-Sissi.
And German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, warned that "the more desperate the situation of people in Gaza becomes, the more this begs the question: No matter how important the goal, can it justify such terribly high costs, or are there other ways to achieve your goal?”
Germany is one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe and, given memories of the Holocaust, often treads carefully when criticizing Israel.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, in Washington for St. Patrick’s Day, said during a White House reception that the Irish people were “deeply troubled” by what’s unfolding in Gaza. He said there was much to learn from Ireland's peace process and the critical U.S. involvement in it.
Varadkar said he’s often asked why the Irish are so empathetic to the Palestinians.
“We see our history in their eyes. A story of displacement, dispossession, and national identity questioned and denied forced emigration, discrimination and now hunger,” he said.
Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul-general in New York and an outspoken critic of Netanyahu, said that the prime minister's comments fit with his efforts to find someone else to blame if Israel doesn't achieve its goal of destroying Hamas.
“He’s looking on purpose for a conflict with the U.S. so that he can blame Biden,” Pinkas said.
Both sides have something to gain politically from the dispute. The Biden administration is under increasing pressure from progressive Democrats and some Arab-American supporters to restrain Israel's war against Hamas. Netanyahu, meanwhile, wants to show his nationalist base that he can withstand global pressure, even from Israel's closest ally.
But pressure also comes from home, with thousands protesting again in Tel Aviv on Saturday night against Netanyahu's government and calling for a new election and a deal for the release of hostages. Large parts of the Israeli public want a deal, fearing that hostages are held in poor conditions and time is running out to bring them home alive.
Israel’s offensive has driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, according to the U.N.
Airdrops by the U.S. and other nations continue, while deliveries on a new sea route have begun, but aid groups say more ground routes and fewer Israeli restrictions on them are needed to meet humanitarian needs in any significant way.
“Of course we should be bringing humanitarian aid by road. Of course by now we should be having at least two, three other entry points into Gaza,” chef José Andrés with World Central Kitchen, which organized the tons of food delivered by sea, told NBC.
The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 31,645 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.
Israel says Hamas is responsible for civilian deaths because it operates in dense residential areas.
The Health Ministry on Sunday said that the bodies of 92 people killed in Israel’s bombardment had been brought to hospitals in Gaza in the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 130 wounded, it said.
At least 11 people from the Thabet family, including five children and one woman, were killed in an airstrike in Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and an Associated Press journalist. The body of an infant lay among the dead.
Traffic accident in southern Afghanistan leaves 21 dead and 38 injured
A traffic accident in southern Afghanistan left at least 21 people dead and 38 others injured, according to a provincial traffic department.
The accident occurred on Sunday morning in Gerashk district of Helmand province on the main highway between southern Kandahar and western Herat provinces, a statement from the department in Helmand said.
A motorbike crashed into a passenger bus, which then hit a fuel tanker on the opposite side of the road, said Qadratullah, a traffic official in Helmand. An investigation into the accident was underway, he added.
Eleven of the 38 injured people were transferred to hospitals with serious injuries, said Hzatullah Haqqani, a spokesman for the Helmand police chief.
Traffic accidents are common in Afghanistan, mainly due to poor road conditions and driver carelessness.
Putin poised to rule Russia for 6 more years after an election with no other real choices
Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to extend nearly a quarter century of rule for six more years on Sunday after wrapping up an election that gave voters no real alternatives to an autocrat who has ruthlessly cracked down on dissent.
The three-day election that began Friday has taken place in a tightly controlled environment where no public criticism of Putin or his war in Ukraine is allowed. Putin’s fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile.
The 71-year-old Russian leader faces three token rivals from Kremlin-friendly parties who have refrained from any criticism of his 24-year rule or his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Putin has boasted of Russian battlefield successes in the run-up to the vote, but a massive Ukrainian drone attack across Russia early Sunday sent a reminder of challenges faced by Moscow.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing 35 Ukrainian drones overnight, including four near the Russian capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no casualties or damage.
Russia’s wartime economy has proven resilient, expanding despite bruising Western sanctions. The Russian defense industry has served as a key growth engine, working around the clock to churn out missiles, tanks and ammunition.
Russia’s scattered opposition has urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to express their protest by coming to the polls at noon on Sunday. The strategy was endorsed by Navalny not long before his death.
Voting is taking place at polling stations across the vast country’s 11 time zones, in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine, and online. Despite tight controls, at least a half-dozen cases of vandalism at polling stations were reported Friday and Saturday.
A 50-year-old university professor was imprisoned Saturday for 15 days after she tried to throw green liquid into a ballot box in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg, local news site Ura.ru reported. In Podolsk, a town close to Moscow, a woman was fined 30,000 rubles ($342) and charged with “discrediting the Russian army” after spoiling her ballot with an unspecified message, according to OVD-Info, a police monitoring group.
Ahead of the election, Putin cast his war in Ukraine, now in its third year, as a life-or-death battle against the West seeking to break up Russia.
Putin has boasted about recent gains in Ukraine, where Russian troops have made slow advances relying on their edge in firepower. Ukraine has fought back by intensifying cross-border shelling and raids, and by launching drone strikes deep inside Russia.
Air raid sirens sounded multiple times Saturday in the Russian border city of Belgorod, where two people were killed by Ukrainian shelling, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had thwarted attempts to enter the country by “Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups,” following claims by Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin last week that they had made an armed incursion into the Belgorod and Kursk regions.
Western leaders have derided the election as a travesty of democracy.
Beyond the lack of options for voters, the possibilities for independent monitoring are very limited. No significant international observers were present. Only registered, Kremlin-approved candidates, or state-backed advisory bodies, can assign observers to polling stations, decreasing the likelihood of independent watchdogs.
Ukraine launches far-ranging drone attacks on final day of Russia's presidential vote
Ukraine launched a new massive wave of drone attacks Sunday as Russians cast ballots on the final day of a presidential vote set to extend President Vladimir Putin's rule for another six years.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing 35 Ukrainian drones overnight, including four in the Moscow region.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no casualties or damage.
According to the Defense Ministry, another two drones were shot over the Kaluga region just south of the Russian capital and the Yaroslavl region northeast of Moscow.
The attacks on the Yaroslavl region, which is located about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the Ukrainian border, were some of the farthest launched by Ukraine so far.
More Ukrainian drones were downed over the Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions that border Ukraine and the southern Krasnodar region, the Defense Ministry said.
The attacks followed a series of other Ukrainian drone raids and other attacks over the past few days that Putin described as an attempt by Ukraine to frighten residents and derail Russia's presidential election.
“Those enemy strikes haven’t been and won’t be left unpunished,” he vowed during Friday's meeting of his Security Council. “I’m sure that our people, the people of Russia, will respond to that with even greater cohesion."
As the war dragged into a third year, Russian forces have made some slow and incremental gains along the front line, relying on their edge in firepower, while Ukraine has fought back with more drone attacks deep inside Russia and cross-border raids.
On Saturday, two people were killed and three others were wounded in the Ukrainian shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod which has faced regular attacks.
The Russian military also claimed it thwarted another attempted cross-border incursion by Ukrainian “sabotage and reconnaissance groups” on Saturday.
The Russian Volunteer Corps — which includes Russians fighting alongside Ukrainian forces — released a video on social media Saturday alleging to have captured 25 Russian soldiers. The claim couldn't be independently verified.
Cross-border attacks in the area have taken place sporadically since the war began and have been the subject of claims and counterclaims, as well as disinformation and propaganda.