Conservationists try to protect ecologically rich Alabama delta from development, climate change

MOBILE-TENSAW DELTA, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of American lotuses carpet the water's surface, faces turned toward the morning sun. Bright yellow warblers flit among cypress trees along a creek bank. A paddlefish jumps as a motorboat rounds a bend.

The Mobile-Tensaw Delta — a lush, vibrant and surprisingly intact over 400-square-mile (1,036-square-kilometer) expanse of cypress swamps, oxbow lakes, marshland, hardwood stands and rivers — is teeming with more aquatic species than almost anywhere in North America. It's considered one of the world's most important delta ecosystems, yet its ecological riches are only a part of the even more diverse watershed that includes much of Alabama.

And the delta is the only place 77-year-old Lucy Hollings has called home.

As a kid, she swam daily across the Tensaw River, gathering a mouthful of grass to prove she’d made it to the other side. Hollings — known as “Ms. Pie” — still fishes daily for white perch and largemouth bass. She's sole proprietor of Cloverleaf Landing, a boat launch that offers anglers from far and wide access to the river and delta.

“I know I live in the most beautiful place in the world,” says Hollings, who cools off in the shade of towering sweetgum trees draped with Spanish moss and watches dazzling sunsets from her deck. “It's a piece of heaven to me.”

The delta is a critical conduit between the rest of Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico — “a dynamo" that continually exchanges energy between the river systems and the Gulf, says Bill Finch, director of a forest research center. Two-thirds of the state drains to the delta, which cleans water and warehouses silt that could damage Mobile Bay and its renowned fisheries. It’s a spawning ground for many fish species. It's home to hundreds of bird species, rare flowers and carnivorous plants.

So residents, scientists and environmentalists are working to protect the entire Alabama ecosystem considered crucial to the survival of species and the health of the delta and, ultimately, the Gulf of Mexico.

They’re acquiring property to prevent development and logging that chips away at forests, worsens flooding and threatens species — and as a buffer against climate change. They're working with federal officials to alter dams that cut off fish from historic habitat and in urban areas to protect waterways and slow stormwater runoff.

And they're trying to raise awareness of an important and unique area that many in the U.S. have never heard of and many in Alabama have never experienced.

“We can truly be protecting something that’s here rather than trying to restore something that’s been lost," says Mitchell Reid, director of The Nature Conservancy in Alabama. “So many of North America’s systems are so altered that we’re trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together.”

Glaciers that covered much of North America never reached Alabama, where the relatively warm and humid climate has helped species proliferate.

What's here astonishes biologists: American elms, decimated by disease in other parts of the country, thrive in the delta and its watershed, reflecting “this ancient, ancient heritage” of genetically hardy trees, says Finch, the forest researcher. It’s central to the nation's oak diversity, with about 40 species, compared to about a dozen in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Its fish diversity is unmatched on the continent, with about 350 species, including more than 230 in the 44,000-square-mile (113,959-square-kilometer) Mobile River basin. A single small Alabama river may have more species than all of California. There are over 100 crawfish species, almost three dozen turtle species. More mussel species than all of South America.

Experts say it’s impossible to protect the delta without considering the entire watershed, which reaches to Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. Some water begins in the Appalachian Mountains, moving through tracts of forest, urban areas and the delta until the Mobile River empties into the Gulf of Mexico at Mobile Bay.

"It's really a jewel of an area in terms of conservation and preservation,” says Pat O’Neil, a biologist and former deputy director of Alabama Geological Survey. “There’s no other watershed in the country that rivals the diversity here. ... It’s phenomenal.”

There still is much to discover, says Ben Raines, who has worked to spread awareness of the state’s ecological importance, first as environmental reporter at Mobile’s daily newspaper — where he rediscovered a crayfish thought to be extinct — and now as the environmental fellow at the University of South Alabama, where he’s the writer and filmmaker in residence, and as a boat captain offering nature tours. He dubbed Alabama “America’s Amazon” in a book and documentary.

“We don’t even know what’s here,” says Raines, cutting the motor as his boat glides into a thicket of sedges in the lower delta — the high-rises of Mobile visible in the distance, boat-tailed grackles eating cones from lotuses and alligators occasionally plying the waterway. “We’re losing things that haven’t been discovered and there are things still here that we think are gone.”

The delta and its watershed are by no means pristine or untouched.

Forests of giant cypress and water tupelo were clear cut as recently as the 1980s by loggers who used helicopters to airlift them from swamps. Chemical plants, paper mills and a factory that made the now-banned insecticide DDT have contaminated land and water. Upstream dams altered waterflow into the delta, blocked fish passage and led to extinction of dozens of freshwater species, including fish, snails and mussels, some found only in the watershed.

Advocates say that makes their efforts imperative.

This spring, The Nature Conservancy bought 8,000 acres (3,237 hectares) of forested wetland between the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers at the top of the delta. The land, which regularly floods and is an important bird habitat and fish-spawning and feeding area, was in danger of being logged to produce wood pellets for European power plants.

“It would’ve been a horrible loss to the system,” says Reid, who calls the land "a critical piece of the puzzle” as the conservancy works to protect the upper delta.

Environmentalists also won a victory when a coal-fired power plant agreed in January to remove 21 million tons of coal ash stored in an unlined pit near the Mobile River. The state did not require its removal, although a breach could be potentially catastrophic for the delta. The EPA recently denied the state’s request to handle coal ash permits, saying its policies weren’t protective enough.

But other threats are unresolved. A canal built to connect the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers in northern Alabama could allow invasive Asian carp to reach the Mobile River system and the delta, potentially devastating native fish. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says carp have been found and removed downstream of the canal, with biologists relying on early detection while other control measures are considered.

Stronger hurricanes and saltwater surges have caused serious erosion and killed trees, according to biologists and Hollings, the lifelong resident.

Increased rainfall and sea level rise with climate change also will push saltwater farther into the delta — potentially causing forested areas to convert to marshland and shrinking the important area where saltwater and freshwater mix. That also adds urgency to efforts to acquire more land outside the delta for species to move in the future, says Judy Haner, the Alabama Nature Conservancy's coastal programs director.

Species from the delta and its watershed could be transplanted to other states where they've been lost, says Finch the forest researcher, noting that's already happening with some plants and mussels. And Alabama's diverse, heat-tolerant species could be moved to other parts of the country as the climate changes, he adds.

“Our great asset is understanding the biodiversity of this area,” Finch says. “It's about more than ‘Let’s save this place because it's pretty.'”

Jimbo Meador has spent a lifetime here, hunting, fishing, shrimping, crabbing, frogging and trapping. For years, he offered boat tours for people who want to learn about the delta's ecological riches.

After 82 years, he has stories. About flocks of ducks that once blackened the skies. About hunting invasive nutria — rodents brought from Argentina for their fur — that were destroying marshes until an alligator rebound helped control them. About endless days roaming the delta with childhood friends, fishing poles ready.

“I’m blessed to have been born when I was,” says Meador, known for his trademark long-billed cap, easy drawl and years of advocacy. “Each generation is losing some, but they don’t know what they lost. ... Thank goodness we’ve got a bunch of conservation organizations."

People haven't always agreed how to preserve what's left.

A decade ago, Alabama conservationists and famed biologist Edward O. Wilson undertook an effort to make the delta a national park, but it fizzled after some groups balked at federal oversight and others feared losing access.

“There's all of these people (where) generation after generation after generation have had a camp up there or a houseboat up there, and you’re going to run them out? I don’t think so,” says Meador.

O'Neil, the former state geological survey official, says much of the land proposed for a national park was state-owned and already protected but available for hunting and fishing.

"The thing about conservation is it’s not a one-agency or a one-organization thing,” says O'Neil, noting that over 95% of land in Alabama is privately owned.

The key, he says, is cooperation between private landowners, the government and nongovernmental agencies: “When they get that mix just right ... we have conservation that moves forward. We have species that are protected. We’ve been able to restore streams.”

The Nature Conservancy is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to design fish bypasses around two aging dams on the Alabama River to allow species to swim up from the Gulf and delta to historical spawning grounds.

While similar projects out West often focus on one species, Reid says, the Alabama plan could benefit about 20. Biologists hope it will lead to rediscovery of the critically endangered Alabama sturgeon, which hasn't been seen for more than 15 years, and recovery of the threatened Gulf sturgeon in the Mobile River watershed.

The conservancy also is working to restore ecosystems in urban areas as far north as Birmingham, about 200 miles (322 kilometers) from Mobile, to prevent floodwater from sending sediment down rivers that could harm the delta.

Some say the best way to get people to care is to help them experience the state's waterways, forests and delta for themselves.

“You take people up there that’ve never seen it before and you explain to them how important it is and hopefully it helps,” says Meador, who took locals and visitors from other states and countries into the delta before suspending his business to care for his wife.

Conservationists say it's important that the state and communities improve access to waterways and other natural areas, and to convince residents to advocate for preservation.

“We’re talking about this amazing, amazing place of life,” Reid says. “But we also recognize that when you have so much, there’s so much to lose.”

AP video journalist Stephen Smith contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

A while egret flies in the upper Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, near McIntosh, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A fishing boat moves on the water in the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Thursday, June 6, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Jimbo Meador, an environmental advocate, poses for a photo on Mobile Bay, Thursday, June 6, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A yellow-crowned night heron stands on its nest in the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The American lotus beds are visible on the lower Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Lubber grasshoppers are visible in the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

An endangered Alabama red-bellied turtle suns on a log on the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

People fish on a tributary of the Tombigbee River near the upper Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, near McIntosh, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A ship pushes barges on the Tombigbee River near the top of the Mobile–Tensaw Delta on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, near McIntosh, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A ship pushes barges behind a boat on the Tombigbee River near the top of the Mobile–Tensaw Delta on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, near McIntosh, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ben Raines, an environmental advocate, maneuvers on a boat along a canal on the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. He dubbed Alabama “America’s Amazon” in a book and documentary. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

A tethered house boat sits on the water in the upper Mobile–Tensaw Delta on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, near McIntosh, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

An alligator moves through the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Pat O'Neil, right, a biologist and former deputy director of Alabama Geological Survey, boats along a tributary of the Tombigbee River at the top of the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, near McIntosh, Ala (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Pat O'Neil, a biologist and former deputy director of Alabama Geological Survey, speaks about the ecological importance of the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, near McIntosh, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Downtown Mobile, Ala., is visible from the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

An American Lotus flower is in bloom in the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Lucy Hollings poses for a photo near her home in the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala., where she still fishes daily for white perch and large-mouth bass. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The Mobile–Tensaw Delta is visible Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

An osprey takes off in the lower Mobile–Tensaw Delta, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, near Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Gaza’s Health Ministry says an Israeli strike on Tuesday on a tent camp in a designated humanitarian zone killed at least 19 people.

The Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, said the strike left craters up to 10 meters (32 feet) deep. The Israeli military said it used precise munitions against a group of militants.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the toll could rise. The ministry is also part of the Hamas-run government. Its figures are widely seen as generally reliable. Its tallies from previous wars have largely coincided with figures from independent researchers, the U.N. and even the Israeli military.

The Health Ministry says over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the Israel-Hamas war began. It does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in their Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war. They abducted another 250 and are still holding around 100. Around a third of them are believed to be dead.

Here's the latest:

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief strongly condemns Israel’s airstrikes in an Israeli-designated safe zone in southern Gaza, calling the use of heavy weapons in a densely populated area “unconscionable,” his spokesman said.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed deep alarm at the continuing loss of life in Gaza and reiterated that no place in the territory is safe, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday.

Gaza’s Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government in the territory, said it has confirmed that at least 19 people were killed in the airstrikes early Tuesday on a tent camp in southern Khan Younis.

Civil Defense first responders earlier said 40 people were killed. The Israeli military disputed that toll, saying it had used precise munitions against a group of militants.

Secretary-General Guterres reiterated calls for a cease-fire in Gaza and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages taken during Hamas’ attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, Dujarric said.

Earlier, the U.N.’s top Mideast envoy, Tor Wennesland, strongly condemned Israel’s deadly airstrike, saying “the killing of civilians must stop, and this horrific war must end.”

While the Israeli military said it struck Hamas militants operating in a command-and-control center inside the humanitarian zone, Wennesland underlined that international humanitarian law requiring the protection of civilians and proportionality in attacks must be upheld at all times.

He also emphasized “that civilians must never be used as human shields.” Israel maintains that Hamas uses civilians to hide and protect their fighters and activities.

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military has released video footage of a Gaza tunnel where it says six hostages were recently killed by Hamas. The video shows a low, narrow passageway deep underground that had no bathroom and poor ventilation.

The discovery of the hostages’ bodies last month sparked a mass outpouring of anger in Israel and the release of the new video could add to the pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas to bring the remaining hostages home.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday the footage of the Gaza tunnel had been shown to the hostages’ families, and that it “was very hard for them to see how their loved ones survived in those conditions.”

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state news agency says an Israeli drone strike in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley killed one person and wounded two others.

Hezbollah later said the dead man as one of its members identifying him as Mohammed Qassem al-Shaer. The Israeli military released video of the strike, adding that al-Shaer was a commander with Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force.

Later in the day, Lebanon’s state media said an Israeli airstrike hit a building in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, wounding six people. The airstrike hit the top floor of a four-story building in the city that was targeted several times in the past months.

Legislator Hani Kobeissy, who represents the city, told reporters during a visit to the area that the building is home to civilians, adding that militants have no presence there.

More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli strikes since Oct. 8, most of them fighters with Hezbollah and other armed groups but also more than 100 civilians. In northern Israel, 23 soldiers and 26 civilians have been killed by strikes from Lebanon.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the tense border since the exchange of fire began a day after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7.

ANKARA, Turkey — The uncle of the Turkish-American activist killed in the West Bank last week says his niece hid the fact that she was traveling to the Palestinian territories to avoid worrying family members.

In an interview with Turkey’s HaberTurk television Tuesday, Yilmaz Eygi also said that based on information from witnesses, he believes his niece was “deliberately” targeted by Israeli soldiers.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from Seattle, was killed Friday following a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, according to Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli protester who witnessed the shooting.

The Israeli military said Tuesday that Eygi, a volunteer with the activist group International Solidarity Movement, was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces who were aiming at someone else.

Yilmaz Eygi said: “From what we watched on the news and according to eye-witnesses it was a murder committed deliberately.”

“She was there as an observer and was away from the main protesters. She was standing afar as an observer for the aid organization. It is not possible for her to harm the soldiers,” the uncle said. His comments were not in response to the Israeli military’s findings.

The uncle spoke to HaberTurk from the the Aegean coastal town of Didim, in western Turkey, where Eygi’s grandfather lives and where her burial is expected to take place.

Yilmaz Eygi said that his niece, who was in Didim 15 days ago, told family members she was traveling to Jordan.

“As her family, as her elders, we didn’t want her to come to any harm. We were opposed to her going to Jordan even. She hid the fact that she was going to Palestine. She blocked us from her social media posts so that we would not see them,” Yilmaz Eygi said.

CAIRO — Turkey’s foreign minister is calling on Arab and Muslim states to band together to try to end the war in Gaza. It's the first time a Turkish official has addressed the Arab League in more than a decade.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is the first to attend the gathering of Arab states since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended in 2011. Turkey later fell out with many member countries.

“We cannot accept that Palestinian lives, Arab lives and Muslim lives matter less than others,” Fidan said Tuesday. “Our ranks must be watertight.”

Fidan also expressed concern at increasing violence in the West Bank. Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old activist from the U.S. who also had Turkish citizenship, was shot dead Friday following a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli military says she was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces aiming at someone else.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israeli security forces “need to make some fundamental changes in the way they operate in the West Bank," including changes to rules of engagement. He spoke in London days after a U.S. citizen was shot and killed in the occupied West Bank while protesting Israeli settlements there.

Blinken called the shooting “not acceptable. It has to change, and we’ll be making that clear to the seniormost members of the Israeli government.” He said it’s clear there are “serious issues that need to be dealt with, and we will insist that they be dealt with.”

The Israeli military said Tuesday that 26-year-old Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces aiming at someone else.

The White House earlier said it was “deeply disturbed” by the killing of Eygi, who also held Turkish citizenship, and called on Israel to investigate. Her family seeks an independent investigation.

JERUSALEM — An Israeli strike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted “significant” Hamas militants and disputed the death toll.

It was among the deadliest strikes yet in Muwasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of civilians to seek shelter from the Israel-Hamas war.

Gaza’s Civil Defense said its first responders recovered 40 bodies from the strike and were still looking for people. It said entire families were killed in their tents.

An Associated Press camera operator saw three large craters at the scene, where first responders and displaced people were sifting through the sand and rubble with garden tools and their bare hands by the light of mobile phones.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants who were operating in a command-and-control center. It said its forces used precise munitions, aerial surveillance and other means to avoid civilian casualties. Hamas released a statement denying any militants were in the area. Neither Israel nor Hamas provided evidence to substantiate their claims.

International law allows for strikes on military targets in areas where civilians are present, provided the force used is proportionate to the military objective — something that is often disputed and would need to be settled in a court, which almost never happens.

JERUSALEM — The United Nations agency in charge of aid for displaced Palestinians said the Israeli military stopped a convoy for more than eight hours on Monday, despite it coordinating with the troops.

The agency’s head Philippe Lazzarini said the staffers who were held had been trying to work on a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City.

“The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff,” he wrote on the social platform X. “Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armoured vehicles.”

He said the staff and the convoy later returned to a U.N. base but it was unclear if a polio vaccination campaign would take place Tuesday in northern Gaza.

“UN Staff must be allowed to undertake their duties in safety + be protected at all times in accordance with international humanitarian law," he wrote. “Gaza is no different.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The vaccination drive, launched after doctors discovered the first polio case in the Palestinian enclave in 25 years, aims to vaccinate 640,000 children during a war that has destroyed the health care system.

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners pray over the covered bodies of Palestinians who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in the Muwasi, outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

ADDS WITNESS SAYS: Mourners carry the body of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who a witness says was fatally shot by Israeli soldiers while participating in an anti-settlement protest in the West Bank, during her funeral procession in the West Bank city of Nablus, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

A truck of humanitarian aids waits to cross the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Israeli soldiers stand guard near the site of a deadly shooting attack where Israeli officials say three people were shot and killed at the Allenby Bridge Crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

ADDS WITNESS SAYS: Mourners pray over the body of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who a witness says was fatally shot by Israeli soldiers while participating in an anti-settlement protest in the West Bank, during her funeral procession in the West Bank city of Nablus, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Trucks of humanitarian aids wait to cross the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, in Rafah, Egypt, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Palestinians take shelter from the Israeli bombardment at a school in Khan Younis, in the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)