An Israeli strike on a Palestinian tent camp kills at least 19

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli strike hit a crowded Palestinian tent camp early Tuesday in Gaza, killing at least 19 people and wounding 60, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted senior Hamas militants with precise munitions.

The overnight strike occurred in Muwasi, a sprawl of crowded tent camps along the Gaza coast that Israel designated as a humanitarian zone for hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians to seek shelter from the nearly year-old Israel-Hamas war.

Associated Press video showed three large craters at the scene. First responders dug through the sand and rubble with garden tools and their bare hands, using mobile phone flashlights until the sun came up. They pulled body parts from the sand, including what appeared to be a human leg.

“We were told to go to Muwasi, to the safe area ... Look around you and see this safe place," said Iyad Hamed Madi, who had been sheltering there.

“This is for my son,” he said, holding up a bag of diapers. “He's 4 months old. Is he a fighter? There's no humanity.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the death toll may rise as more bodies are recovered. The Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government, had earlier said 40 people were killed. The Israeli military disputed that toll.

The ministry is also part of the Hamas-run government. Its figures are widely seen as reliable.

The Hamas government’s media office issued a statement explaining that the death toll discrepancies arose from different methods of counting the dead, saying the Health Ministry counts only bodies taken to hospitals while the Civil Defense also counts bodies that have not yet been retrieved.

An Associated Press cameraman at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis saw 10 bodies in the morgue, including two children and three women. It was one of three medical centers that received casualties, according to the Civil Defense.

“We were sleeping, and suddenly it was like a tornado," Samar Moamer told the AP at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where she was being treated for wounds from the strike. She said one of her daughters was killed and the other was pulled alive from the rubble.

The Israeli military said it struck Hamas militants in a command-and-control center embedded in the area. It identified three of the militants, saying they were senior operatives who were directly involved in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that triggered the war and other recent attacks.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, disputed the initial casualty reports in a post on the social media platform X, saying they “do not line up with the information available to the (Israeli army), the precise weapons used and the accuracy of the strike.”

Hamas released a statement denying that any militants were in the area and calling the Israeli allegations a “blatant lie.” Neither Israel nor Hamas provided evidence to substantiate their claims.

Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths because the militants often operate in residential areas and are known to position tunnels, rocket launchers and other infrastructure near homes, schools and mosques.

In July, Israel carried out a strike in the humanitarian zone that killed at least 90 Palestinians. The military said it targeted and killed Mohammed Deif, the shadowy leader of Hamas' military wing, but Hamas says Deif is still alive.

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.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times. Israeli evacuation orders, which now cover around 90% of the territory, have pushed hundreds of thousands of people into Muwasi, where aid groups have struggled to provide even basic services.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and militants in its count, but says women and children make up just over half of the dead. Israel says it has killed more than 17,000 militants in the war.

Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack. They abducted another 250 people and are still holding around 100 hostages after releasing most of the rest in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel during a weeklong cease-fire last November. Around a third of the remaining hostages are believed to be dead.

The United States and mediators Egypt and Qatar have spent much of this year trying to broker an agreement for a cease-fire and the release of the hostages, but the talks have repeatedly bogged down as Israel and Hamas have accused each other of making new and unacceptable demands.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters Monday that conditions are ripe for at least a six-week pause in the fighting that would include the release of many of the hostages still held in Gaza. However, he would not commit to a permanent end to the fighting — a central Hamas demand.

The war has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, and aid groups have struggled to operate because of ongoing fighting, Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order. Experts say Gaza is at high risk of famine.

The main United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinians said Israeli troops stopped a convoy of staff taking part in a polio vaccination campaign for more than eight hours on Monday, despite the agency's efforts to coordinate with the military.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini wrote on the social media platform X that the convoy was stopped at gunpoint and that “heavy damage was caused by bulldozers" to the U.N. armored vehicles. The staff members were later released, and the vaccination campaign continued as planned.

The Israeli military said it held up the convoy based on intelligence indicating the presence of suspected militants. Israel has long accused UNRWA of having ties to militant groups, allegations the U.N. agency denies.

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.

Magdy reported from Cairo and Jahjouh reported from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem, Josef Federman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Mourners carry 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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

A worker stand near humanitarian aids at the logistic center near Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

An Egyptian driver protects himself from sun at his truck of humanitarian aid as he waits to cross the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

An Egyptian driver protects himself from sun on his truck of humanitarian aids as he waits to cross the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Egypt, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Humanitarian aids are seen at the logistic center near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell checks humanitarian aids at the logistic center near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

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)

Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the union stronghold of Flint, Michigan, on Friday as she battles with Donald Trump for working-class voters who could tip the scales in this year’s election.

Her appearance in the battleground state comes the day after U.S. dockworkers suspended their strike in hopes of reaching a new contract, sparing the country a damaging episode of labor unrest that could have rattled the economy.

Meanwhile, Trump is heading to Georgia to appear with Gov. Brian Kemp, the latest sign that he’s patched up his rocky relationship with the top Republican in a key battleground state.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

President Joe Biden said Friday that he was confident the upcoming election would be free and fair - but he’s not sure it will be peaceful.

Biden made a surprise appearance in the White House press briefing room to discuss the strong jobs report that he called “incredible news,” and he took some questions. He was asked about how he was feeling about the upcoming election.

“I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful,” he said. “The things that Trump has said - and the the things that he said last time, when he didn’t like the outcome of the election -- were very dangerous.”

Trump still falsely claims the 2020 election was stolen.

Biden was also asked, as he left the room, whether he was going to reconsider running for president.

“I’m back in” he joked, and the reporters all laughed.

Election experts during a virtual panel held by the National Task Force on Election Crises on Friday acknowledged that western North Carolina officials are still in the early phases of assessing how hurricane damage will affect voting.

The process has been delayed with bridges and roads compromised and emergency crews still actively working to rescue stranded residents and provide people with basic supplies, said Robert Orr, a retired North Carolina Supreme Court Justice who co-leads the North Carolina Network for Fair, Safe and Secure Elections.

Paying for last-minute election changes could pose a challenge, Orr said. Most North Carolina election funding happens locally, and most county election budgets are already diminished because they had to reprint ballots to remove Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name, he said.

Most North Carolina residents are still focused on basic survival and recovery over voting, said Anne Tindall, special counsel of the nonprofit Protect Democracy.

Four people intentionally voted twice in Michigan’s summer primary election, the state attorney general said Friday as she announced felony charges against the suburban Detroit residents as well as public employees accused of enabling it to happen.

Attorney General Dana Nessel announced charges against the St. Clair Shores residents as well as three assistant clerks who are accused of enabling it to happen. Nessel called it “shocking and simply unheard of.” Nessel said four people who had already cast absentee ballots for the Aug. 6 primary showed up to vote in St. Clair Shores on the day of the election.

It’s possible to cancel an absentee ballot but not on Election Day.

The extra votes did not affect race results, she said.

Casey and Biden are allies and friends. Biden hasn’t done much campaigning since he left the 2024 race over the summer and Vice President Kamala Harris replaced him at the top of the ticket.

The president will also travel to Wisconsin where he’ll talk about efforts by his administration to replace lead pipes. That’s something Biden has continued to do — talk publicly about his administration’s successes and his record in office. He has told his team to “run through the tape.”

Elon Musk will join Donald Trump at his rally Saturday in Butler, the Pennsylvania city where the Republican presidential nominee survived an assassination attempt earlier this year.

“I will be there to support!” Musk wrote on his social platform X on Thursday in a retweet of Trump’s own promotion of the rally. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO will be among special guests in attendance, Trump’s campaign confirmed Friday.

The event will mark the first time the billionaire businessman appears publicly at a campaign event for the former president since endorsing him. Musk has supercharged his support for Trump in recent months and has become personally more invested in politics — even agreeing to lead a government efficiency commission if Trump wins reelection.

Saturday’s rally will take place at the same property where a gunman’s bullets grazed Trump’s right ear and killed his supporter, Corey Comperatore. The shooting left multiple others injured.

The Democratic presidential nominee has already been to Georgia, where she helped distribute meals and spoke with families in Augusta. More than 200 people died in the powerful storm that spread out across the Southeast, causing devastation. President Joe Biden, too, has traveled to areas hard-hit by the storm.

From Georgia, Harris said she and Biden have been paying attention “from the beginning to what we need to do to make sure the federal resources hit the ground as quickly as possible, and that includes what was necessary to make sure that we provided direct federal assistance. And that work has been happening.”

Their travel comes as Republican Donald Trump is falsely claiming the federal government wasn't doing enough to help affected people in Republican areas. Biden was angered by the suggestion, calling it a lie. He said partisan politics should not be part of this conversation.

Former President Barack Obama is planning to hit key swing states to boost Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for the White House, starting on Thursday in Pittsburgh.

The Harris campaign says Obama will travel around the country over the final 27 days ahead of the election. It noted that the former president and Harris have a friendship that goes back 20 years, from when they first met while he was running for Senate.

Harris was also an early supporter of Obama’s 2008 presidential bid and knocked on doors for him in Iowa ahead of its caucus that led off voting in the Democratic primary.

In his speech at the Democratic convention in August, Obama said Harris “wasn’t born into privilege. She had to work for what she’s got.”

“And she actually cares about what other people are going through,” the former president added then.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump dances at a campaign event at the Ryder Center at Saginaw Valley State University, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in University Center, Mich. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she arrives on Air Force Two at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Mich., Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)