Israel-Hamas war latest: Palestinians flee parts of south Gaza as Israel launches a new assault

Palestinians are fleeing large areas around Khan Younis in southern Gaza where the Israeli military began a new assault after ordering another mass evacuation.

Gaza’s second-largest city, Khan Younis, suffered widespread destruction during air and ground operations earlier in the year. The enclave faces a severe humanitarian crisis with Israeli restrictions on aid and ongoing fighting limiting access to food, medical supplies and clean water. The Health Ministry in Gaza says the death toll in the territory is nearing 40,000 in the 10 months since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Regional tensions have soared since Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed July 31 in Iran by a presumed Israeli strike. Retaliation has been expected.

World leaders are pushing for a cease-fire in Gaza. Late Thursday, Israel confirmed it will send negotiators for indirect discussions with Hamas in response to a proposal by the United States, Egypt and Qatar to resume stalled cease-fire talks on Aug. 15.

Here’s the latest:

UNITED NATIONS — Asked whether Iran would delay its highly anticipated retaliation until after the next round of cease-fire talks called for Aug. 15, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said it hoped that Tehran’s response “will be timed and conducted in a manner not to the detriment of the potential cease-fire.”

“Our priority is to establish a lasting cease-fire in Gaza; any agreement accepted by Hamas will also be recognized by us,” the U.N. mission said, stressing that Iran had “the legitimate right to self-defense — a matter totally unrelated to the Gaza ceasefire.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. national security adviser John Kirby told reporters Friday that Senior Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich’s criticism of the latest proposed cease-fire deal is “dead wrong.”

“Smotrich essentially suggests that the war ought to go on indefinitely without pause and with the lives of the hostages of no real concern at all,” Kirby said. Smotrich voiced opposition to the deal and said the terms would amount to an Israeli surrender.

“The views expressed by Mr. Smotrich would in fact sacrifice the lives of Israeli hostages, his own countrymen, and American hostages as well,” Kirby said.

Kirby said U.S. President Joe Biden “won’t allow extremists to blow things off course, including extremists in Israel, making these ridiculous charges against the deal.”

The far-right minister this week suggested that the starvation of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians “might be just and moral” until hostages captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel are returned home.

His comments drew condemnation from Israel’s Western allies.

BEIRUT — The military wing of Hamas has paid allegiance to the group's new leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was chosen earlier this week.

In a statement posted online, spokesman Abu Obaida added that the Qassam Brigades is ready to carry out all of Sinwar's decisions.

He added that choosing Sinwar to replace “our martyred leader Ismail Haniyeh shows that Hamas is coherent and strong."

Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel, was chosen earlier this week to lead Hamas after his predecessor, Haniyeh, was killed in an attack in Iran. The attack has been blamed on Israel.

JERUSALEM — An American pro-Palestinian activist says he was shot by Israeli soldiers Friday while protecting Palestinians at a demonstration in the West Bank.

Activist Amado Sison bore a gunshot wound in his right thigh but was in stable condition Friday following the shooting. He spoke to The Associated Press from his hospital bed in the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

Sison said Israeli forces shot him at a protest in the West Bank village of Beita, which he’d attended to guard Palestinian protesters from Israeli forces and to film any acts of violence.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the shooting.

The soldiers shot live ammunition and teargas at the activists, he said, hitting him in the back of the leg as he tried to flee.

“We ran to the olive groves, through the olive groves, and they shot me in the back of the legs,” Sison said.

Sison is from New Jersey and traveled to the West Bank earlier this week, he said.

“As internationals, we support Palestinians, we take their lead, we are nonviolent,” he said.

When asked about the incident by the AP, a U.S. government spokesperson said they were aware of reports that an American citizen had been injured, but could not provide information due to privacy considerations.

Though violence in the West Bank has flared since Oct. 7, shootings of foreigners by Israeli forces are rare.

Since Oct. 7, 620 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, many in stepped-up Israeli raids on Palestinian towns and cities.

BEIRUT — An Israeli drone strike hit a car in a southern Lebanese city on Friday, killing a Hamas official.

Hamas said in a statement that the strike occurred before sunset on the southern entrance of the port city of Sidon and near one of the roads that lead to the Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp, Lebanon’s largest.

Samer al-Haj, a Hamas official in charge of security in Ein el-Hilweh, was killed in the strike, Hamas said.

The Israeli military confirmed it targeted al-Haj, saying he was recruiting people to carry out attacks against Israel. The military vowed to target Hamas officials everywhere.

The strike turned the SUV to a ball of fire on a main road and one body was seen being taken away minutes after the drone strike.

Over the past months, several Hamas officials were killed in Lebanon in airstrikes blamed on Israel.

In January, the most senior Hamas official in Lebanon, Saleh Arouri, was killed in a Beirut airstrike that was blamed on Israel.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker government has welcomed the call by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar for Israel and Hamas to return to stalled talks, saying this reflects Beirut’s vision for de-escalation in the region.

The government said in a statement Friday that “it is necessary to put an end to the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

The Lebanese government added that pressure should be put on Israel, saying it's the only side that is escalating the situation and putting obstacles to block the reaching of a deal.

There was no comment from the militant Hezbollah group that has been attacking Israeli military posts since early October. Hezbollah has said that it will only stop firing toward Israel once the war in Gaza comes to and end.

PARIS — France and Germany expressed their support Friday for a call by the United States, Egypt and Qatar for a new round of talks either in Doha or Cairo on reaching a cease-fire in the war in Gaza and a release of hostages.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the war in Gaza must end amid fears of it morphing into a regional conflict following the assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Tehran and in Beirut.

“The war in Gaza must stop,” Macron said in a post in English and French on X. He added: “It’s crucial for the people of Gaza, for the hostages, and for the stability of the region, which is at stake today.”

In Germany, a spokesman said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also strongly supported the call issued Thursday by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar for the stalled cease-fire talks to resume without delay.

BEIRUT — Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force chief Ismail Qaani says in a letter to the new leader of Hamas that Tehran will avenge the killing of his predecessor who was killed in the Iranian capital last week.

The letter, of which a copy was seen by The Associated Press, came days after the leadership of Hamas chose Yahya Sinwar as its new leader replacing the late Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed during a visit to Iran.

Since Haniyeh was killed in an explosion during a visit to Iran, tension has been rising in the region as Tehran blamed Israel for his death and vowed to retaliate.

“We are preparing to avenge his blood, a painful and difficult incident that happened in the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is our duty,” Qaani told Sinwar about Haniyeh. He didn't elaborate on how Teheran will avenge Haniyeh’s death.

Qaani said that Haniyeh’s blood will “make the harsh punishment to the Zionist entity at the hand of the Islamic Republic” harsher that previous ones.

He was apparently referring to the mid-April missile and drone attack that Iran launched against Israel to avenge an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian Consulate in the Syrian capital in which two Iranian generals were killed.

Qaani vowed in the letter to Sinwar that Tehran “will be with you on the road of resistance until we achieve the divine promise which is to clear Jerusalem."

JERUSALEM — A man who was seriously wounded by a Hezbollah drone attack on Israel earlier this week succumbed to his wounds Friday, hospital officials said.

The man was identified as Michail Samara, 27, by the spokesperson for Galilee Medical Center, Gal Zaid.

Samara was brought to the hospital in serious condition after Lebanon’s Hezbollah launched a drone attack Tuesday on northern Israel, wounding at least seven people, in response to the killing of one of its fighters in an Israeli airstrike.

Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged cross-border fire since Oct. 8. On the Israeli side, the fighting has killed more than 20 soldiers and more than 20 civilians. In Lebanon, around 100 civilians and more than 430 militants have been killed.

GENEVA — The U.N. human rights chief is adding his voice to condemnation of comments by Israel’s far-right finance minister, who alluded to allowing Gaza’s population to starve until hostages are released.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a speech Monday that the starvation of Gaza’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians “might be just and moral” until hostages captured in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel are returned home.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk was “shocked and appalled” by the comments that “incite hatred against innocent civilians,” rights office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said Friday.

“The starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime. The collective punishment of the Palestinian population is also a war crime. This direct and public statement risks inciting other atrocity crimes,” Laurence told a briefing in Geneva. Some of Israel’s Western allies have already condemned Smotrich comments.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dozens of countries, academics and rights groups have filed legal arguments either rejecting or supporting the International Criminal Court’s power to issue arrest warrants in its investigation into the war in Gaza and the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel.

The submissions filed this week come as a panel of judges considers a request by the court’s chief prosecutor for warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and the recently promoted leaders of Hamas.

Israel strongly rejects the court’s request for warrants for its leaders and insists it adheres to international law in the devastating conflict in Gaza that was triggered by the Hamas-led attacks.

BEIRUT — Pro-government Syrians attacked a village held by United States-backed fighters in eastern Syria early Friday, killing at least 11 people, including children, the U.S.-backed force and an opposition war monitor said.

Pro-government media outlets, meanwhile, blamed a separate attack in which nine were injured in the village of Bouleil on members of the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.

The SDF and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said seven people under the age of 18 were part of the 11 total killed in Dahla and Jdaidet Bakkara. The SDF said pro-government Syrian fighters fired rockets from their positions from Bouleil.

Syrian state-run media said the SDF shelled Bouleil with mortar rounds, wounding nine people. It gave no further details.

TOKYO — Nagasaki marked the 79th anniversary of its atomic bombing at the end of World War II at a ceremony Friday that was eclipsed by the absence of the American ambassador and other Western envoys in response to the city’s refusal to invite Israel.

Mayor Shiro Suzuki, in a speech at Nagasaki Peace Park, called for nuclear weapon states and those under their nuclear umbrellas, including Japan, to abolish the weapons.

He warned that the world faces “a critical situation” because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accelerating conflicts in the Middle East.

More than 2,000 people, including representatives from 100 countries, attended Friday’s ceremony. But ambassadors from the United States and five other Group of Seven nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom — and the European Union were absent. Their countries sent lower-ranking envoys in response to Suzuki’s decision not to invite Israel.

The atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killed 70,000 people, three days after it bombed Hiroshima and killed 140,000. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Three suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeted a ship in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, including one that saw private security guards shoot and destroy a bomb-loaded drone boat, authorities said Friday.

The Houthis did not immediately claim the assaults, though they follow a monthslong campaign by the rebels targeting shipping through the Red Sea corridor over the war in Gaza.

After a recent two-week pause, their attacks resumed following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, amid concerns of a wider regional war. Iran backs the Houthis as part of what it calls a regional “Axis of Resistance.”

“The operations are ongoing — our operations toward occupied Palestine to target the Israeli enemy, our operations at sea, the inevitable forthcoming response,” warned Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi in a speech Thursday.

The Houthis have targeted more than 70 vessels with missiles and drones in a campaign that has killed four sailors since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The rebels maintain that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain as part of a campaign they say seeks to force an end to the war. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war, including some bound for Iran.

People gather around a car that that hit by an Israeli strike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. . (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A car which hit by an Israeli strike removed rom the scene by a crane, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Civil Defense workers extinguish a car that hit by an Israeli strike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Lebanese army soldiers stand guard in front of a car that was hit by an Israeli strike as workers covered it on a truck, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

FILE -A view of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong), File)

A Palestinian youth flees the Khan Younis area of the Gaza Strip, following Israeli military evacuation orders, saying its forces will soon operate there, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Civil Defense workers extinguish a car that hit by an Israeli strike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Palestinians flee the Khan Younis area of the Gaza Strip, following Israeli military evacuation orders, saying its forces will soon operate there, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians flee the Khan Younis area of the Gaza Strip, following Israeli military evacuation orders, saying its forces will soon operate there, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian girl and her dog flee the Khan Younis area of the Gaza Strip, following Israeli military evacuation orders, saying its forces will soon operate there, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) — Milton increased to a Category 2 hurricane early Monday as Florida gears up for what could be its biggest evacuation in seven years as the storm heads toward major population centers including Tampa and Orlando.

Hurricane Milton was strengthening over the southern Gulf of Mexico as storm surge and hurricane watches for parts of Florida and a hurricane warning for the Mexican coast were issued, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. The storm-ravaged Gulf Coast in Florida was expected to hit again.

While forecast models vary widely, the most likely path suggests Milton could make landfall Wednesday in the Tampa Bay area and remain a hurricane as it moves across central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. That would largely spare other southeastern states ravaged by Hurricane Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian Mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to at least 230 people.

The Mexican government issued a hurricane warning for the Yucatan Peninsula from Celestun to Rio Lagartos, the center said.

About 7 million people were urged to evacuate Florida in 2017 as Hurricane Irma bore down on the state. The exodus jammed freeways, led to hourslong lines at gas stations that still had fuel and left evacuees frustrated and, in some cases, vowing never to evacuate again.

Building on lessons learned during Irma and other previous storms, Florida is staging emergency fuel for gas vehicles and charging stations for electric vehicles along evacuation routes, Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said at a Sunday briefing.

“We are looking at every potential, possible location that can potentially house someone, as what we refer to in emergency management, as a refuge of last resort,” Guthrie added.

The storm, which the center said was likely to become a major hurricane Monday, was centered about 195 miles (314 kilometers) west-northwest of Progreso, Mexico, and 750 miles (1,207 kilometers) west-southwest of Tampa with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 kph) while moving east-southeast at 8 mph (12.8 kph), the hurricane center said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday that while it remains to be seen where Milton will strike, it’s clear the state is going to be hit hard.

“I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point," he said.

“You have time to prepare — all day today, all day Monday, probably all day Tuesday to be sure your hurricane preparedness plan is in place,” DeSantis said. “If you’re on that west coast of Florida, barrier islands, just assume you’ll be asked to leave.”

With Milton achieving hurricane status, this is the first time the Atlantic has had three simultaneous hurricanes after September, according to Colorado State University hurricane scientist Phil Klotzbach. There have been four simultaneous hurricanes in August and September.

The St. Petersburg-Tampa Bay area is still cleaning up extensive damage from Helene and its powerful storm surge. Twelve people perished as Helene swamped the coast, with the worst damage along the narrow, 20-mile (32-kilometer) string of barrier islands that stretch from St. Petersburg to Clearwater.

DeSantis expanded his state of emergency declaration Sunday to 51 counties and said Floridians should prepare for more power outages and disruption, making sure they have a week’s worth of food and water and are ready to hit the road.

“We are preparing ... for the largest evacuation that we have seen, most likely since 2017, Hurricane Irma," Guthrie said.

People who live in homes built after Florida strengthened codes in 2004, who don’t depend on constant electricity and who aren’t in evacuation zones should probably avoid the roads, Guthrie said.

All classes and school activities in St. Petersburg’s Pinellas County preemptively closed Monday through Wednesday as Milton approached. Officials in Tampa opened all city garages free of charge to residents hoping to protect their cars from floodwaters, including electric vehicles. The vehicles must be left on the third floor or higher in each garage.

As many as 4,000 National Guard troops are helping state crews to remove debris, DeSantis said, and he directed Florida crews dispatched to North Carolina in Helene’s aftermath to return in preparation for Milton.

“All available state assets ... are being marshaled to help remove debris,” DeSantis said. “We’re going 24-7 ... it’s all hands on deck.”

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell defended her agency’s response to Hurricane’s destruction after Republicans’ false claims, amplified by former President Donald Trump, created a frenzy of misinformation across devastated communities.

“This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people and it’s really a shame we’re putting politics ahead of helping people,” Criswell told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. It has created fear and mistrust among residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground across the southeast, she said.

Despite this, Criswell said the agency is already preparing for Milton, well before it’s clear exactly where the storm will move across the Florida peninsula.

Federal disaster assistance has surpassed $137 million since Helene struck more than a week ago, one of the largest mobilizations of personnel and resources in recent history, FEMA said Sunday.

Some 1,500 active-duty troops, more than 6,100 National Guardsmen and nearly 7,000 federal workers have been deployed, shipping more than 14.9 million meals, 13.9 million liters (3.6 million gallons) of water, 157 generators and 505,000 tarps, along with approving more than $30 million in housing and other types of assistance for over 27,000 households, according to FEMA, the White House and the Department of Defense.

More than 800 people unable to return home are staying in lodging provided through FEMA and 22 shelters are still housing nearly 1,000 people as mobile feeding operations continue to help survivors. The response to Helene won’t let up during Milton and its aftermath, because FEMA has the capacity to address multiple disasters simultaneously, the agency said.

“My Administration is sparing no resource to support families as they begin their road to rebuilding,” President Joe Biden said. “We will continue working hand-in-hand with local and state leaders — regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.”

This satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration taken at 11:36pm ET on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, shows Hurricane Milton. (NOAA via AP)