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)

Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content. All times EDT. Find the AP’s top photos of the day in Today’s Photo Collection. For up-to-the-minute information on AP’s coverage, visit Coverage Plan in AP Newsroom.

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WEEKEND COVERAGE

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For weekend stories, please click here for the Weekend Lookahead digest.

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TOP STORIES

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IRAN-PROTESTS — On the streets of Iranian cities, it’s becoming more common to see a woman passing by without a mandatory headscarf, or hijab, as the second anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini and the mass protests it sparked approaches. Across social media, videos of people filming neighborhood streets or just talking about a normal day in their life, women and girls can be seen walking past with their long hair out over their shoulders, particularly after sunset. This defiance comes despite what United Nations investigators describe as “expanded repressive measures and policies” by Iran’s theocracy to punish them. By Jon Gambrell. SENT: 880 words, photos.

ELECTION 2024-SENATE-DEMOCRATS — Democratic Sens. Jon Tester of Montana and Sherrod Brown of Ohio are trying to capitalize on the momentum Kamala Harris’ emergence as the party’s nominee for president has injected into key voting blocs. But in states that Donald Trump is expected to win, they must do so without alienating moderate voters. By Matthew Brown and Julie Carr Smyth. SENT: 1,200 words, photos. WITH: ELECTION-2024-HARRIS — Harris says one difference between her and President Joe Biden is that she offers a “new generation of leadership.” SENT: 590 words, photos.

PANDEMIC AID-GOVERNMENTS — Time is running out for local governments to use billions of dollars of federal pandemic relief funds. The American Rescue Plan passed by Congress in 2021 provided $350 billion to states, counties, cities and other governments. They must obligate the money for specific purposes by the end of this year or return the rest. U.S. Treasury Department data shows 80% of the funds nationally were allocated as of this spring. An Associated Press analysis found about 3,500 local governments reported obligating less than 25% of their funds. By David A. Lieb. SENT: 1,150 words, photo.

GOOGLE-ANTITRUST — An ongoing trial in Virginia may determine whether Google holds an illegal monopoly on the technology used to buy and sell certain types of web advertising. The auctions over ad impressions occur in milliseconds and are designed to match an advertiser’s product or service with interested consumers. The Justice Department contends Google rigged the bidding to favor its own products. Google says it no longer auctions space in the ways alleged. By Matthew Barakat. SENT: 980 words, photos.

HAWAII WILDFIRE REPORT-VICTIMS — A new report shows that more than 60% of the 102 people who died in last year’s Lahaina wildfire tried to flee the flames. The Fire Safety Research Institute report for the Hawaii attorney general’s office released Friday includes details of victims’ attempts to survive and highlights how Lahaina’s already-deteriorating infrastructure complicated evacuation efforts. By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher and Claudia Lauer. SENT: 780 words, photos.

BRITAIN-PRINCE-HARRY-TURNING-40 — Prince Harry was always something different. From the moment he first appeared in public, snuggled in Princess Diana’s arms outside the hospital where he was born in 1984, Harry was the ginger-haired scamp who stuck his tongue out at photographers. He was the boisterous adolescent who was roundly criticized for wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party. And, later, he was a young man who gave up the trappings of royal life and moved to Southern California with his American wife. By Danica Kirka. SENT: 1,060, photos.

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SPOTLIGHTING VOICES

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BELARUS-LOSING IDENTITY — Belarusians are experiencing a new wave of Russification as Moscow expands its economic, political and cultural dominance to overtake the identity of its neighbor. Perhaps the biggest sign is the decline of the Belarusian language, which is close to, but distinct from, Russian. Belarusian cultural figures are being persecuted and hundreds of institutions are being closed. Experts say Moscow is seeking to implement in Belarus what the Kremlin intended to do in neighboring Ukraine. By Yuras Karmanau. SENT: 1,200 words, photos.

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RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

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RUSSIA-UK — Russia accused six British diplomats of spying and said it decided to expel them. The U.K. said the “completely baseless” move came weeks ago and was linked to its action in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at the Russian Embassy and limit Moscow’s diplomatic activities in London. SENT: 770 words, photos, video. WITH: RUSSIA-UK-EXPULSIONS-TIMELINE — The six are a small number in the history of Moscow-London acts of expulsion over the past decades. SENT: 410 words, photo.

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MORE NEWS

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KENYA-CULT-DEATHS — In one of the deadliest cult-related massacres ever, more than 430 bodies have been recovered since police raided Good News International Church in a forest in Kenya. Seventeen months later, many in the area are still shaken by what happened despite repeated warnings about the church’s leader. SENT: 1,330 words, photos. WITH: KENYA-CULT-DEATHS-TAKEAWAYS — Takeaways from AP’s report updating the cult massacre that claimed hundreds of lives in Kenya. SENT: 680 words, photo.

MEXICO-CHALCO-FLOODS — Sewage-infused floodwaters have invaded streets, homes and businesses in Chalco, a low-income suburb southeast of Mexico City, for over a month. According to the Government of Chalco, more than 2,000 homes and over 7,000 residents have been affected and the water was as deep as 5 feet in some areas. SENT: 1,040 words, photos, video.

GEORGIA HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING-FUNERALS — A teenage student and a math teacher will be remembered at funerals set to take place Saturday, 10 days after they were killed in a mass shooting at a Georgia high school. SENT: 730 words, photos.

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WASHINGTON/POLITICS

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GRAY WOLVES-ENDANGERED — The Biden administration on Friday asked an appeals court to revive a Trump-era rule that lifted remaining Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the U.S. SENT: 750 words, photo.

ARIZONA-ABORTION BAN REPEAL-EXPLAINER — A repeal of Arizona’s Civil War-era ban on nearly all abortions, approved by state lawmakers and signed by the Democratic governor, takes effect on Saturday. SENT: 730 words, photos.

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NATIONAL

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TROPICAL-WEATHER — Residents of the Carrollton neighborhood in New Orleans are among the thousands in the city who remain without power after Hurricane Francine passed through. The city’s utility provider, Entergy, sent out notifications Friday informing some people their power had been “restored” even though they still had no electricity. SENT: 920 words, photos, video, audio.

WILDFIRES — Firefighters battling three major wildfires in the mountains east of Los Angeles were gaining ground Friday against the blazes. SENT: 810 words, photos, video, audio.

US-OREGON-NON-CITIZENS-VOTER-REGISTRATION — Oregon officials acknowledged the state mistakenly registered more than 300 non-citizens as voters since 2021. A spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Transportation described it as a “data entry issue” when people applied for driver’s licenses. Of those, two voted in elections since 2021. SENT: 310 words, photo.

SUPREME-COURT-YOUTH-CLIMATE-LAWSUIT — Young climate activists in Oregon have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to revive their long-running lawsuit against the federal government in which they argued they have a constitutional right to a climate that sustains life. SENT: 300 words, photo.

COLORADO-SUPERMARKET-SHOOTING — A psychologist who evaluated a mentally ill man who killed 10 people at a Colorado supermarket says the gunman heard “killing voices” right before opening fire. SENT: 390 words, photo.

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INTERNATIONAL

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TROPICAL-WEATHER-MEXICO — Tropical Storm Ileana forced residents and tourists in Mexico’s resort-studded Los Cabos to stay inside as rain pounded the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula. Ileana moved Saturday northward over the southern Gulf of California. SENT: 470 words.

CHINA-ECONOMY — China’s economy softened in August, extending a slowdown in industrial activity and real estate prices as Beijing faces pressure to ramp up spending to stimulate demand. SENT: 300 words, photo.

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BUSINESS

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WALGREENS-LAWSUITS SETTLED — Walgreens agreed to pay $106 million to settle lawsuits that alleged it submitted false payment claims with government health care programs for prescriptions that were never dispensed. SENT: 230 words, photo.

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HEALTH & SCIENCE

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BE WELL-PETS-DOG WALKING INJURIES — Researchers have found dog walking-related injuries have been on the rise among adults and children in the U.S. Fractures, sprains and head trauma are among the most common. Staying safe when walking a leashed dog takes diligence, focus and precautions. SENT: 900 words, photos.

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ENTERTAINMENT

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MUSIC-LIL-WAYNE-SUPER-BOWL-SNUB — Lil Wayne opened up for the first time about his devastation after not being selected as the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show headline performer in his hometown of New Orleans. SENT: 290 words, photo.

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SPORTS

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AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ELITE-PREVIEW — The first edition of the AFC Champions League Elite begins Monday with stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Riyad Mahrez striving to lead their Saudi Arabian clubs to continental success. Saudi Pro League clubs have spent over $1 billion on transfers to bring top-level players from the big European leagues. SENT: 480 words, photos.

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HOW TO REACH US

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Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, centre, celebrates with Bruno Fernandes after the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Portugal and Scotland at the Luz stadium in Lisbon, Portugal, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

FILE - Lil Wayne performs during "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" 25th anniversary tour, Nov. 5, 2023, at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - A woman walks a dog across the street in Denver on Oct. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

FILE - People look at their phones while waiting to cross an intersection in the rain at the Taikoo Li Sanlitun shopping center in Beijing, July, 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

Bridges stand in Berwick Bay in Morgan City, La., Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, after Hurricane Francine. (Hilary Scheinuk/The Advocate via AP, Pool)

FILE - This remote camera image provided by the U.S. Forest Service shows a female gray wolf and two of the three pups born in 2017 in the wilds of Lassen National Forest in northern California on June 29, 2017. (U.S. Forest Service via AP, File)

Claudia Alvarado points to damage from sewage-infused floodwaters at her home in Valle de Chalco, State of Mexico, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

FILE - Extremist evangelical leader Paul Mackenzie, who was arrested on suspicion of telling his followers to fast to death in order to meet Jesus, appears at a court accompanied by some of his followers in Malindi, Kenya on Monday, April 17, 2023. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - Schoolchildren march during the traditional opening of the school year, known as the Day of Knowledge, in Minsk, Belarus, on Sept. 1, 2018. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Britain's Prince Harry dances with a girl during a visit to the non-governmental organization RISE - Reaching Individuals through Skills and Education, in Kingston, Jamaica, Tuesday March 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Collin Reid, File)

FILE - A visitor walks by photos of victims of the August 2023 wildfire at a memorial near the Lahaina Bypass highway on Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Lahaina, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

Eric Mahr, left, a lawyer representing Google in the Department of Justice's antitrust case against the tech giant, returns to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia after a lunch break in the trial, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

The lot of the future victims' advocacy center is shown, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024 in Gilbert, Ariz. The town has obligated only one-quarter of funds received through the American Rescue Plan for projects, according to the most recent data from the federal government. Construction on the dirt lot near its fire department for the advocacy center remain unrealized. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., leads a cheer at a rally with Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Alexis McGill Johnson, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Bozeman, Mont. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown)

FILE - An Iranian woman without a mandatory headscarf, or hijab, flashes a victory sign as she walks at the old main bazaar of Tehran, Iran, June 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)