Sheriff: 1 officer dead, 1 injured in Louisiana shooting

One police officer was fatally shot and another wounded Friday after a vehicle chase north of New Orleans, authorities said.

Mandeville Police Chief Gerald Sticker confirmed one officer's death and the other's injury from gunfire in his community on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, near U.S. 190 and Louisiana Highway 22. Sticker said at a news conference that the wounded officer, who's being treated at Lakeview Regional Medical Center, is expected to survive.

Sticker said most of the deceased officer's relatives have been notified but they are not yet releasing his name.

Two Mandeville police officers were shot after a vehicle chase, one fatally, near the U.S. 190 and Louisiana Highway 22 exit in Mandeville, La., Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. (David GrunfeldThe Advocate via AP)

"He leaves a wife who is grieving, children who are grieving," Sticker said. "We have an agency that hasn't lost an officer in over 50 years that is grieving. The whole law enforcement community is grieving. We're a tight-knit community. This is a bad day for Mandeville Police Department."

St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith said two suspects are in custody and that a weapon has been recovered.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the deceased officer and the injured officer," Smith said.

A Mandeville police car is covered with a tarp, after two Mandeville police officers were shot after a vehicle chase, one fatally, near the U.S. 190 and Louisiana Highway 22 exit in Mandeville, La., Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. Two suspects are in custody. (David GrunfeldThe Advocate via AP)

The suspects' names and the possible charges they face weren't immediately released.

"At this time we believe, but have yet to confirm, that no others are involved in this," Sticker said. "We're working to confirm that."

Gov. John Bel Edwards said the officers were shot after a routine traffic stop turned into a vehicle pursuit. Sticker said Louisiana State Police are in charge of the investigation and would field questions regarding what led to the shooting.

Mandeville Police Chief Gerald Stricker, addressees the media and public, after one of his officers was killed and the other wounded in a shooting, after attempting a traffic stop in Mandeville, La., Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. (David GrunfeldThe Advocate via AP)

An email to a spokesman for Louisiana State Police Troop L was not immediately returned.

St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister said, "When something happens like this, we are all heartbroken," she said. "But we will come together to support the officers who put their lives on the lines to protect us."

The McDonald's located on Lasalle Street in Mandeville, La., is about 100 yards from the shooting, is closed and guarded by a police officer Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. Two police officers have been shot in Louisiana, one fatally, after a vehicle chase north of New Orleans. The suspects are in custody. (David GrunfeldThe Advocate via AP)

Employees of the McDonald's, located on Lasalle Street near the shooting, sit outside the closed restaurant in Mandeville, La., Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. One police officer was fatally shot and another wounded Friday after a vehicle chase north of New Orleans. (David GrunfeldThe Advocate via AP)

A Mandeville police car is covered with a tarp, after two Mandeville police officers were shot after a vehicle chase, one fatally, near the U.S. 190 and Louisiana Highway 22 exit in Mandeville, La., Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. The suspects are in custody. (David GrunfeldThe Advocate via AP)

A Mandeville police car is covered with a tarp, after two Mandeville police officers were shot after a vehicle chase, one fatally, near the U.S. 190 and Louisiana Highway 22 exit in Mandeville, La., Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. Mandeville Police Chief Gerald Sticker says one officer was killed and the other was wounded Friday but expected to survive the shooting in that community on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. (David GrunfeldThe Advocate via AP)

Two Mandeville police officers were shot after a vehicle chase, one fatally, near the U.S. 190 and Louisiana Highway 22 exit in Mandeville, La., Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. Mandeville Police Chief Gerald Sticker says one officer was killed and the other was wounded Friday but expected to survive the shooting in that community on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. The suspects are in custody. (David GrunfeldThe Advocate via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.

The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the U.S. administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah despite warnings from President Joe Biden and other western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis.

The Biden administration has said there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard civilians.

“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late Friday at the Sedona Forum, an event in Arizona hosted by the McCain Institute.

Some 1.5 million Palestinians have sheltered in the southern Gaza city as the territory has been ravaged by the war that began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.

The United Nations humanitarian aid agency on Friday said that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward with the Rafah assault. The border city is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.

The officials added that the evacuation plan that the Israelis briefed was not finalized and both sides agreed to keep discussing the matter.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday that no “comprehensive” plan for a potential Rafah operation has been revealed by the Israelis to the White House. The operation, however, has been discussed during recent calls between Biden and Netanyahu as well as during recent virtual talks with top Israeli and U.S. national security officials.

“We want to make sure that those conversations continue because it is important to protect those Palestinian lives — those innocent lives,” Jean-Pierre said.

The revelation of Israel's continued push to carry out a Rafah operation came as CIA director William Burns arrived Friday in Egypt, where negotiators are trying to seal a cease-fire accord between Israel and Hamas.

Hamas is considering the latest proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release put forward by U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators, who are looking to avert the Rafah operation.

They have publicly pressed Hamas to accept the terms of the deal that would lead to an extended cease-fire and an exchange of Israeli hostages taken captive on Oct. 7 and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Hamas has said it will send a delegation to Cairo in the coming days for further discussions on the offer, though it has not specified when.

Israel, and its allies, have sought to increase pressure on Hamas on the hostage negotiation. Signaling that Israel continues to move forward with its planning for a Rafah operation could be a tactic to nudge the militants to finalize the deal.

Netanyahu said earlier this week that Israeli forces would enter Rafah, which Israel says is Hamas’ last stronghold, regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck. His comments appeared to be meant to appease his nationalist governing partners, and it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas.

Blinken visited the region, including Israel, this week and called the latest proposal “extraordinarily generous” and said “the time to act is now.”

In Arizona on Friday, Blinken repeated remarks he made earlier this week that "the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a cease-fire is Hamas.”

The Chahine family prepares to bury two adults and five boys and girls under the age of 16 after an overnight Israeli strike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 3, 2024. An Israeli strike on the city of Rafah on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip killed several people, including children, hospital officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

FILE - Palestinians line up for free food during the ongoing Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Jan. 9, 2024. A top U.N. official said Friday, May 3, 2024, that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine" after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)

Palestinians rescue a woman survived after the Israeli bombardment on a residential building of Abu Alenan family in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, May 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Ismael Abu Dayyah)

President Joe Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House as he talks with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from a trip to North Carolina. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)