(NEW YORK) -- As the Israel-Hamas war crosses the seven-month mark, renewed negotiations are underway to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, as Israeli forces continue to prepare for an apparent invasion of the southern Gazan town of Rafah.

Here's how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

May 21, 12:31 PM
UNRWA suspends food distribution in Rafah

Food distributions in Rafah have been suspended due to lack of supplies and insecurity, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

Only seven of the UNRWA's 24 health centers are operational, with the centers not receiving any medical supplies in the last 10 days due to Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossing closures and disruptions.

Due to Israel's ongoing military operation in eastern Rafah, the UNRWA distribution center and World Food Programme warehouse are inaccessible, according to the UNRWA.

"The current Israeli military operation in Rafah is directly impacting the ability of aid agencies to bring critical humanitarian supplies into Gaza. During this reporting period, the border crossing was only open for two days and only 48 trucks entered the Gaza Strip via Kerem Shalom and Rafah land crossings," according to the UNRWA.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

May 21, 12:11 PM
Israel seizes Associated Press equipment, takes down Gaza live shot

Israeli officials seized Associated Press equipment and took down their live shot showing the view of northern Gaza from Israel Tuesday, citing a controversial new media law, according to the AP.

Israel has accused the AP of violating the new law by allowing Al Jazeera to access their live feed, according to the AP. Al Jazeera is one of the AP’s thousands of international clients.

"The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms the actions of the Israeli government to shut down our longstanding live feed showing a view into Gaza and seize AP equipment," said Lauren Easton, vice president of corporate communications at the AP. "The shutdown was not based on the content of the feed but rather an abusive use by the Israeli government of the country’s new foreign broadcaster law. We urge the Israeli authorities to return our equipment and enable us to reinstate our live feed immediately so we can continue to provide this important visual journalism to thousands of media outlets around the world."

The AP refused a verbal order issued earlier to take down the transmission, and said it complies with Israeli military censorship rules.

In 2021, Israel destroyed the AP office inside Gaza, saying Hamas operated from the building, which the AP has denied. The office offered a live position from inside Gaza throughout many of the conflicts there.

-ABC News' Guy Davies

May 21, 10:09 AM
Netanyahu calls ICC arrest warrant 'absurd,' 'outrageous'

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against him "absurd" and "outrageous," saying it is not leaving him concerned about traveling.

Netanyahu also denied allegations of Israel using starvation as a weapon of war. Aid organizations have criticized Israel for months saying it has not allowed enough aid in, leading to a famine in Northern Gaza that is moving its way to the south, according to World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain.

Netanyahu also laid out his plan for Gaza after the war saying his No. 1 goal is to destroy Hamas "otherwise Gazans don't have a future," he said in an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America."

"No. 2, demilitarize Gaza. And the one sustained demilitarization, I think, requires that Israel have the overall responsibility to fight resurgent terrorists," he said

"Three, ensure that Gaza will seek a civilian administration by Gazans who are not affiliated with Hamas and also don't seek the destruction of Israel," Netanyahu said.

"The last thing is we rebuild Gaza in a peaceful way, using the support of moderate Arab states and the international community," he added.

May 20, 6:15 PM
Biden: What's happening in Gaza 'is not genocide'

President Joe Biden said Monday that what Israel has carried out in Gaza during the war is "not genocide," while he denounced the application for arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders.

"Let me be clear, we reject the ICC's application and arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, whatever these warrants may imply, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas," Biden said, in part. "But let me be clear, contrary to allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, what's happening is not genocide. We reject that."

Biden made the comments during an event in the Rose Garden celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month where he fiercely defended Israel in the war against Hamas.

"We'll always stand with Israel and the threats against its security," he said.

The president also highlighted efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza "who are suffering greatly because of the war" and working toward a two-state solution.

May 20, 4:31 PM
Bodies of 4 hostages recovered last week found in tunnel in Jabaliya: IDF

The bodies of four Israeli hostages recovered last week were found in a tunnel in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday.

The bodies of Shani Louk, Amit Buskila, Ron Benjamin and Yitzchak Gelernter -- who were killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and taken into Gaza -- were recovered following a monthslong operation, the IDF said.

Israeli forces also "located intelligence materials and large quantities of weapons" during the night operation, the IDF said.

May 20, 3:01 PM
Rafah exodus surpasses 810,000: UNRWA

More than 810,000 people have fled Rafah in the past two weeks amid Israel's ongoing military operation in the southern Gaza city, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

"Every time families are displaced their lives are at serious risk. People are forced to leave everything behind looking for safety. But, there's no safe zone," UNRWA said on X Monday.

May 20, 2:39 PM
Congress considering sanctioning ICC: House speaker

Congress is considering sanctioning the International Criminal Court regarding the arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, according to House Speaker Mike Johnson.

“In the absence of leadership from the White House, Congress is reviewing all options, including sanctions, to punish the ICC and ensure its leadership faces consequences if they proceed," Johnson said in a statement. "If the ICC is allowed to threaten Israeli leaders, ours could be next."

The ICC has "no authority" over Israel or the U.S., Johnson noted.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

May 20, 1:33 PM
Biden calls ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu outrageous

President Joe Biden called the application for arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders "outrageous."

"And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas," Biden said.

"We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security," Biden's statement said

May 20, 7:22 AM
ICC to seek arrest warrants for Israel’s Netanyahu, Hamas leader

A prosecutor with the International Criminal Court on Monday said he would file applications for arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for "criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity" in Gaza.

-ABC News' Joe Simonetti and Kevin Shalvey

May 19, 5:18 PM
IDF releases footage of young Israeli hostages it says were forced to film Hamas video under duress

Israel Defense Forces released Sunday raw video footage it says its troops recovered in Gaza that shows former Israeli hostages 8-year-old Ela Elyakim and her 15-year-old sister Dafna Elyakim being forced by Hamas terrorists to film repeatedly.

"The video, which is being released today for the first time was intended to be used by Hamas for psychological terror," Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson, said in a statement. "But Ela’s family asked us to share it with the world to expose Hamas's terror, to expose Hamas's cruelty, to expose Hamas's barbarism."

Hagari said the raw footage of the girls recording the video was recovered by IDF troops during Israel's ground operations in Gaza.

The Elyakim sisters were kidnapped on Oct. 7 from their father's house in Nahal Oz, according to the IDF. Their father was killed in the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, according to the IDF.

Ela and Dafana Elyakim were held hostage for 51 days before Hamas released them in a previous hostage deal, the IDF said.

Ela Elyakim told IDF officials that Hamas terrorists forced her to read from a script and made her change clothes multiple times as they refilmed the video over and over, according to Hagari.

"We will continue doing everything in our power to bring our hostages back home," said Hagari.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaule

May 19, 5:18 PM
IDF releases footage of young Israeli hostages it says were forced to film Hamas video under duress

Israel Defense Forces released Sunday raw video footage it says its troops recovered in Gaza that shows former Israeli hostages 8-year-old Ela Elyakim and her 15-year-old sister Dafna Elyakim being forced by Hamas terrorists to film repeatedly.

"The video, which is being released today for the first time was intended to be used by Hamas for psychological terror," Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson, said in a statement. "But Ela’s family asked us to share it with the world to expose Hamas's terror, to expose Hamas's cruelty, to expose Hamas's barbarism."

Hagari said the raw footage of the girls recording the video was recovered by IDF troops during Israel's ground operations in Gaza.

The Elyakim sisters were kidnapped on Oct. 7 from their father's house in Nahal Oz, according to the IDF. Their father was killed in the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas terrorists, according to the IDF.

Ela and Dafana Elyakim were held hostage for 51 days before Hamas released them in a previous hostage deal, the IDF said.

Ela Elyakim told IDF officials that Hamas terrorists forced her to read from a script and made her change clothes multiple times as they refilmed the video over and over, according to Hagari.

"We will continue doing everything in our power to bring our hostages back home," said Hagari.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaule

May 18, 11:34 PM
GOP Rep. Stefanik to visit Knesset, denounce Biden over weapons pause

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York will be giving remarks in the Israeli Knesset on Sunday, according to her office. Stefanik will be the highest-ranking member of the House to visit Israel following the Oct. 7 attack.

Stefanik plans to slam President Joe Biden for recently halting some military aid to Israel, according to excerpts of her speech reviewed by ABC News.

"I have been clear at home, and I will be clear here: There is no excuse for an American president to block aid to Israel," Stefanik will say during the address.

Biden announced the U.S. would withhold certain bomb deliveries to Israel over fear they could be used in Rafah, but the Biden administration informed Congress it's moving forward with more than $1 billion in new arms agreements with Israel.

The congresswoman will address the rise in antisemitism in the U.S., House Republicans' support for Israel and even mention her close ally, former President Donald Trump.

"I have been a leading proponent and partner to President Trump in his historic support for Israeli independence and security," Stefanik will say.

-ABC News' Lauren Peller

May 18, 6:14 PM
3 US medical workers remain in Gaza despite warning from US government

Three U.S. medical professionals remain in Gaza despite warnings from the U.S. State Department that the American government may not be able to get them out later.

Tamer Hassan, a registered nurse, Dr. Jomana Al-Hinti and Dr. Adam Hamawy were the only ones out of a group of 20 American medical professionals who stayed behind to help treat patients.

"They understand that the U.S. embassy may not be able to facilitate their departure in the same manner as we have just effected today," a person with knowledge of the situation told ABC News.

Hamawy released a statement Saturday explaining why he stayed behind.

"We worry that the European Hospital we currently are in will suffer a similar fate of Al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals, where humanitarian workers, patients, and civilians were massacred," he said.

"To my wife, daughters and son, I know it hurts that I am not coming home this weekend, and I am sorry. But I know that you are proud that I am upholding my oath to never leave anyone behind," he added.

The doctors who left Gaza "made their way to safety with assistance from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem," a State Department spokesman said.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty, Nadine Shubailat and Zoe Magee

May 18, 2:36 PM
Gantz gives Netanyahu ultimatum: approve post-war plan or he will resign

Israeli cabinet minister Benny Gantz has given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an ultimatum: approve a post-war plan by June 8, or he will resign, Gantz said at a press conference.

"While the Israeli soldiers show supreme bravery on the front, some of the men who sent them into battle behave with cowardice and irresponsibility," Gantz said.

A leader of the National Unity Party and a minister in the war cabinet, Gantz's resignation would not necessarily trigger the collapse of the government on its own, but would be politically significant.

The ultimatum come on the heels of a speech by defense minister Yoav Gallant, who is demanding a plan for the "day after" the war.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Dana Savir

May 18, 1:30 PM
Body of hostage found, returned to Israel

Israel announced that it has identified the body of a fourth hostage this week. Ron Benjamin, 53, was killed during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and taken into Gaza, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The bodies of three other hostages were also recovered in a tunnel in the same operation, according to the IDF.

Benjamin was a family man who loved cycling, the Hostages Families Forum said in a statement.

"He used to go out for a ride every Saturday, just as he did on that fateful Saturday when he was taken hostage from the Kibbutz Be’eri area while on a cycling trip," the statement said.

-ABC News' Victoria Beaule

May 18, 8:53 AM
More than 630,000 fled Rafah since May 6, UN says

More than 630,000 people have fled Rafah since May 6 amid widening operations by Israel’s military, with many seeking refuge in Al-Mawasi and Deir al-Balah -- areas overcrowded with "dire conditions" -- according to the United Nations.

-ABC News' Emma Ogao

May 17, 3:00 PM
Gaza assistance through US maritime corridor not replacement for aid through land: USAID

Humanitarian assistance shipments delivered to Gaza through the U.S.’ maritime corridor should not replace aid coming into the enclave through land crossings where "barely 100 trucks of aid a day" entered over the last two weeks -- about a sixth of the level needed to stave off famine -- USAID Administrator Samantha Power said in a statement Friday.

"Every moment that a crossing is not open, that trucks are not moving, or where aid cannot safely be distributed, increases the terrible human costs of this conflict," Power said.

Supplies coming into Gaza through the temporary pier Friday include contributions from the U.S., United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

But, the statement doesn’t say how much aid is now being moved through the corridor at this point or how much of it is sitting in Cyprus waiting to be shipped -- so it’s still unclear if and when these deliveries might have a substantial impact.

-ABC News' Shannon Crawford and Anne Flaherty

May 17, 2:00 PM
1,400 buildings have been damaged, destroyed in Rafah this month

Almost 1,400 buildings have likely been damaged or destroyed in Rafah, Gaza, since May 4, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by two university researchers.

Data from the radar-enabled Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite operated by the European Space Agency was used to analyze the effects of fighting on the terrain and buildings of Gaza, according to Corey Scher, of the CUNY Graduate Center, and Jamon Van Den Hoek, of Oregon State University.

Between May 4 and May 8, the researchers found evidence that 895 buildings were likely damaged or destroyed in Rafah. From May 8 to May 16 they counted 487.

Since Oct. 5, the researchers have found evidence of likely damage or destruction to 18,176 of the 48,678 buildings in Rafah.

-ABC News' Chris Looft

May 17, 12:01 PM
IDF recovers bodies of 3 hostages in overnight operation

The bodies of three hostages have been recovered, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The bodies of Shani Louk, Yitzhak Gelanter and Amit Buskila were recovered in an operation by the Shin Bet, Israel's security agency.

The hostages had escaped from the Nova Music Festival and were killed in the area of ​​Kibbutz Mefalsim and their bodies were taken to Gaza, according to the IDF.

"Our hearts go out to them, to the families, at this difficult time and we will leave no stone unturned, we will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home," Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the IDF, said. "We will not rest until we do."

May 17, 11:30 AM
75 launches detected from Lebanon into Israel Friday, IDF says

After Israel killed a senior Hezbollah commander on Thursday, 75 launches were detected crossing from southern Lebanon into Israel on Friday, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Dozens of the launches were intercepted and a launcher in the area of Yaroun was struck and dismantled, preventing more launches, according to the IDF.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

May 17, 7:02 AM
US CENTCOM says first trucks carrying aid have moved ashore via temporary pier

The United States Central Command (U.S. CENTCOM) has confirmed that the first trucks carrying humanitarian assistance have now moved ashore via the JLOTS temporary pier on Friday.

"Today at approximately 9 a.m. (Gaza time), trucks carrying humanitarian assistance began moving ashore via a temporary pier in Gaza," according to a U.S. CENTCOM statement on X, formerly known as Twitter. "No U.S. troops went ashore in Gaza. This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature, and will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations."

May 16, 4:05 PM
Thai nationals taken hostage by Hamas declared dead

Two Thai nationals who were taken during the Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel have now been declared dead, according to the Hostages Families Forum Headquarters.

Officials now say Sonthaya Oakkharasri and Sudthisak Rinthalak were killed on the day of the invasion by Hamas and their bodies were taken back to Gaza, where they remain. Both were agricultural workers in the orchards near Kibbutz Be'eri, the Hostage Families Forum said.

"The horrific cruelty of Hamas was directed against anyone in their path without distinction of origin or nationality," Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, said in a statement. "In front of our eyes stands the moral duty to bring them all back –- to bring all 132 hostages home as quickly as possible."

Thirty-nine Thai citizens were killed and 31 Thai citizens were kidnapped to Gaza in the attack on Oct. 7. Large numbers of Thai nationals have traditionally done agricultural work in Israel.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

May 16, 3:09 PM
Floating pier in place off coast of Gaza, aid coming ashore soon

The floating pier system -- the U.S. military's Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore, or JLOTS, capability -- is now in place off the coast of Gaza, the U.S. Central Command announced Thursday morning. Officials said they expect to begin transporting about 500 tons of assistance to shore "in coming days."

They said the expectation remains that between 90 and 150 truckloads a day of aid will flow into Gaza, but the officials called that characterization "an imperfect measure" and stressed it was more important to focus on the amount of tons of aid. There are currently 500 tons of aid waiting to be offloaded.

Security for U.S. forces and nongovernmental organizations participating in the JLOTS system is a top priority, officials said, adding the Israel Defense Forces will provide security at the point where the aid will arrive and be transferred to the U.N. and other NGOs.

But officials said the security for those working on bringing aid ashore could still be improved.

"The deconfliction measures are not where they need to be at, given the complexity of the environment," said Sonali Korde, assistant to the administrator of USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. "So those conversations are ongoing. They need to continue and they need to get to a place where humanitarian aid workers feel safe and secure and able to operate safely and I don't think we're there yet."

-ABC News' Luis Martinez

May 16, 11:22 AM
IDF confirms they sent more troops into Rafah

The Israel Defense Forces' Commando Brigade was deployed to southern Gaza’s Rafah overnight, joining the 162nd Division that has been operating in the eastern part of the city since earlier this month.

The move comes as the Israeli government is expected to approve widening the offensive there.

"Additional troops will join the ground operation in Rafah," Israel Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said Thursday, in remarks after completing an operational situation assessment at the Gaza border in Rafah.

"Several tunnels in the area have been destroyed by our troops and additional tunnels will be destroyed soon. This activity will intensify," he said.

-ABC News' Jordana Miller and Will Gretsky

May 16, 7:14 AM
Floating pier designed to increase aid to Gaza now in place

A floating pier designed to increase the amount of aid getting into Gaza -- known as a Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) system -- was successfully anchored to the central Gazan shore on Thursday morning, according to IDF Spokesperson Nadav Shoshani.

The Israeli Navy will be securing an aid ship to JLOTS and Israeli soldiers from the 99th Division will be on the ground securing the port area, according to the IDF.

The United Nations, led by the World Food Programme, will be responsible for distributing the aid from JLOTS, the IDF said.

May 16, 6:53 AM
Putin and Xi discuss Ukraine, Israel and Hamas war

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held several hours of talks on Thursday in China, with Putin saying both Russia and China want political solutions to the “Ukrainian crisis” and Xi calling for a two-state solution to stop the war between Israel and Hamas.

Xi also took a moment to praise China's “everlasting friendship” with Russia.

President Putin was welcomed with pomp expected on his state visit to China, complete with red carpet, military band and hundreds of Chinese militaries standing at attention to welcome him to the Great Hall of the People.

May 15, 1:14 PM
Israel has amassed enough troops for full-scale incursion of Rafah: US officials

The U.S. has assessed that Israel has amassed enough troops on the edge of Rafah to move forward with a full-scale incursion into the city, but the U.S. is not sure if Israel has made a final decision to actually do so, according to two U.S. officials.

One official added that the U.S. does not have a timeline or estimate on when Israel could potentially move forward with operations.

The official stressed the U.S. continues to have the same concerns for civilian safety in Rafah.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez and Selina Wang

May 15, 1:06 PM
Gallant calls on Netanyahu to publicly reject Israeli civil or military governance of Gaza after Hamas

Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant publicly called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make the "tough" decision to declare what a non-Hamas government over the Gaza Strip will look like.

"I must reiterate, I will not agree to the establishment of Israeli military rule in Gaza. Israel must not establish civilian rule in Gaza," Gallant said.

Failure to do that would undermine the IDF achievements in the war, Gallant warned.

"Since October, I have been raising this issue consistently in the Cabinet, and have received no response. The end of the military campaign must come together with political action," Gallant said.

"The 'day after Hamas,' will only be achieved with Palestinian entities taking control of Gaza, accompanied by international actors, establishing a governing alternative to Hamas’ rule," Gallant said.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky

May 15, 10:03 AM
Blinken calls continued closure of Rafah gate 'urgent problem'

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked how long the U.S. would standby while Israel continues to seal off the Rafah gate, cutting off Gaza from the world. Blinken told reporters it is an "urgent problem" that aid isn't getting into Rafah or Kerem Shalom. He also said the humanitarian situation is at risk of backsliding.

However, there’s no plan for the future, Blinken said.

Israel "cannot and says it does not want responsibility for Gaza. We cannot have Hamas controlling Gaza. We cannot have chaos and anarchy in Gaza. So there needs to be a clear, concrete plan. And we look to Israel to come forward with its ideas," Blinken said.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

May 14, 7:02 PM
US moving forward with $1B in new weapons deals for Israel: Sources

The Biden administration notified Congress on Tuesday that it is moving forward with more than $1 billion in new weapons deals for Israel, according to sources familiar with the matter at the White House and on Capitol Hill.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday that the United States is continuing to send military assistance to Israel. The only shipment paused involves the 2,000-pound bombs, for fear they'd be used in a major invasion in Rafah, according to a U.S. official.

May 14, 12:52 PM
450,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah, UN says

About 450,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Rafah, fleeing to safety, according to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

"Inland in Rafah is now a ghost town. It’s hard to believe there were over one million people sheltering here just a week ago,” UNRWA spokesperson Louise Wateridge said. "People face constant exhaustion, hunger and fear. Nowhere is safe. An immediate ceasefire is the only hope."

The development comes as airstrikes continued to hit northern and southern Gaza Tuesday. The Israeli military said it had hit 120 targets in the last 24 hours.

May 14, 12:13 PM
International court to hold hearings over Israel's Rafah attacks

The International Court of Justice said it will hold hearings over Israel's attacks on Rafah during the war in Gaza, after South Africa sought new emergency measures as part of its ongoing case accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in its offensive on Gaza.

Hearings will be held on Thursday and Friday in the Hague.

South Africa first brought the case before the ICJ in December alleging Israel violated its obligations in its offensive with regard to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

May 13, 4:16 PM
White House says world should be calling on Hamas to accept hostage proposal

National security adviser Jake Sullivan stressed the U.S. is working "urgently and relentlessly" to get a hostage deal in place, but did not have any major progress to share Monday.

Sullivan noted that he met with the families of American hostages this past Friday, and that "they know how hard the president is working on this."

On where the hostage negotiations stand currently, Sullivan turned to the architect of the Good Friday agreement in Ireland.

"Sen. [George] Mitchell said quite famously, "'Negotiations are 1,000 days of failure and one day of success.' And right now, we're in the former days rather than the latter day," he said.

"[T]here could be a cease-fire tomorrow if Hamas simply released women, wounded and elderly hostages, all innocents. Israel put a forward-leaning proposal on the table for a cease-fire and hostage deal. The world should be calling on Hamas to come back to the table and accept a deal," Sullivan said.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

May 13, 4:06 PM
US aware of American doctors trapped in Gaza

The State Department on Monday said it was aware of reports that U.S. doctors were trapped in Gaza, and that it's been working with Israel to reopen the Rafah gate so U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals can leave.

"I can say that we're aware of these reports of U.S. citizen doctors and medical professionals currently unable to leave Gaza," principal deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said. "As I said before, we don't control this border crossing. And this is a incredibly complex situation that has very serious implications for the safety and security of U.S. citizens. But we're continuing to work around the clock with the government of Israel, with the government of Egypt, to work on this issue."

He added, "Rafah is a conduit for the safe departure of foreign nationals, which is why we continue to want to see it get opened as swiftly as possible."

The State Department said it does not have an estimate of Americans still trapped in Gaza, but that it's helped 1,800 U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents to depart Gaza so far.

"Unfortunately, this is not a border crossing the United States controls but we are continuing to work around the clock with the government of Israel, with the government of Egypt on whatever we can do to make sure that Rafah gets open. … We need to see Rafah open as soon as possible," Patel said.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

May 13, 2:23 PM
UN worker killed after vehicle struck in Gaza

A United Nations worker was killed and another injured after their vehicle was struck in Gaza on Monday, the organization said.

The staff members of the U.N. Department of Safety and Security were traveling to the European Hospital in Rafah when their U.N. vehicle was struck, the U.N. said.

Details on the incident were not immediately available. The U.N. said it is still gathering information.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a full investigation, his spokesperson said.

"Humanitarian workers must be protected," Guterres said on X. "I condemn all attacks on U.N. personnel and reiterate my urgent appeal for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire & the release of all hostages."

More than 190 U.N. staff members have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, according to Guterres.

May 13, 3:44 AM
Almost 360,000 people have fled Rafah, UN agency says

Almost 360,000 people have fled from the southern Gazan city of Rafah since Israel issued an evacuation order last week, the United Nations agency operating in Gaza said on Monday.

"There's nowhere to go," the U.N. Agency for Palestine Refugees said on social media. "There's NO safety without a cease-fire."

The agency had said Sunday that 300,000 people had evacuated the city as Israel weighs a full-scale invasion.

-ABC News' Kevin Shalvey

May 12, 5:39 PM
IDF say its opened new crossing for humanitarian aid into Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces has announced that it has opened a new crossing to bring humanitarian aid into the famine-stricken Gaza.

The military announced in a Sunday press release the opening of the "Western Erez crossing" between Israel and northern Gaza in coordination with the U.S.

According to the military, the new crossing is located west of the Erez crossing, closer to the seashore. The crossing was constructed by the Israeli military "as part of the effort to increase routes for aid to Gaza, particularly to the North of the strip."

Earlier Sunday, IDF said it launched a large-scale operation in the area of Jabaliya in the North, while intensifying its military operations in the Eastern portion of Rafah and the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing. It said that it had called on the civilian population to evacuate from Jabaliya to shelters in the west part of Gaza City.

-ABC News' Dragana Jovanovic

May 12, 2:27 PM
White House National Security Advisor speaks to Israeli counterpart, expresses concern over pending Rafah invasion

In a phone call Sunday with his Israeli counterpart, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan expressed an "ironclad U.S. commitment" to Israel but also voiced the Biden administration's concerns about Israel's major military operations in Gaza, according to the White House.

During the call with Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, Sullivan reiterated President Joe Biden's "longstanding concerns over the potential for a major military ground operation into Rafah, where over one million people have taken shelter," according to a readout of the call that was released by the White House.

"He [Sullivan] discussed alternative courses of action to ensure the defeat of Hamas everywhere in Gaza," the readout said. "Mr. Hanegbi confirmed that Israel is taking U.S. concerns into account."

The White House said Sullivan also expressed condolences on Israel's Memorial Day, the first since Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. The Hamas attack killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israel's Prime Minister's Office.

Sullivan and Hanegbi also reviewed discussions by officials on both sides of the war about alternatives for a Rafah invasion and agreed to plan an in-person meeting soon, according to the White House.

-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart

May 12, 6:16 AM
300,000 have fled Rafah, UN agency says

More than 300,000 people have fled Rafah in the week since Israel issued a partial evacuation order, the United Nations agency operating in Gaza said on Sunday.

The U.N. Agency for Palestine Refugees called the evacuation "forced and inhumane."

"There is nowhere safe to go," the agency said on social media, repeating the phrase three times for emphasis.

The Israeli military late Saturday called again for civilians to evacuate from much of the eastern part of the city, which is in southern Gaza.

Israel Defense Forces entered Rafah last week, in what they called a "precise" operation ahead of potential invasion.

"Prior to our operations we urge civilians to temporarily move towards humanitarian areas and move away from the crossfire that Hamas puts them in," the Israel Defense Forces said on a post on Telegram. "Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza."

-ABC News' Dragana Jovanovic and Kevin Shalvey

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(LONDON) -- He claims to be the pinnacle of masculinity. Andrew Tate -- "Top G."

The former kickboxer in the last four years has flooded social media, taking over newsfeeds, in particular those of young men, preaching views that have brought him the title of the so-called "King of Toxic Masculinity. He revels in controversy, claiming men "own" women in relationships and that women's empowerment is leading to the fall of Western civilization.

"Humanity cannot survive with female empowerment," he has said.

"The only happy relationship that can possibly exist is with a man leading and a man in charge. Any other relationship is always misery," he has also said.

Since the coronavirus pandemic, Tate has built up an enormous following online, despite being banned in 2022 from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok for violating their "hate speech" rules. For millions of men, and especially teenage boys, he has become an idol. In the United States, some far right conservatives -- such as Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens -- have given him a platform to talk about himself as a champion for traditional views on men in the culture war raging over gender.

But Tate is now facing three legal cases in two countries, all based around allegations of abusing women.

In Romania, where Tate has made his home for several years, he and his younger brother, Tristan, are awaiting trial on human trafficking and organized crime charges, accused of exploiting seven women. Andrew is also charged with rape. The Tate brothers are also facing possible criminal charges in the U.K., where police have issued arrest warrants on allegations of human trafficking and sexual assault. Four different British women have also served Andrew Tate with a civil lawsuit in the UK on allegations of sexual assault.

At the heart of the legal battles, the question: Is the so-called "King of Toxic Masculinity" guilty of abusing women.

The Tates have denied all the allegations against them in both countries, arguing he is the victim of opportunistic women and what he dubs the "Matrix," a supposed establishment conspiracy that he claims is targeting him because of his controversial views.

For more than a year, ImpactxNightline has reported on Tate, investigating the allegations against him and exploring the broader so-called "Manosphere" he is part of, hearing accounts from some of the women who accuse him of abuse and speaking with a former employee of his War Room organization, trying to understand his appeal to young men, as well as what it says about the discussion around masculinity.

Allegations against the Tates in Romania

Andrew and Tristan Tate live in a compound on the outskirts of Bucharest, the capital of Romania. The compound, that from outside looks like a warehouse with steel shutters and bristles with cameras, is located on a dusty backroad out by the airport, sitting opposite a rundown apartment block.

In December 2022, heavily armed officers from Romania's organized crime police stormed the compound. The Tates were arrested on charges of human trafficking and forming an organized criminal group. Andrew was charged with rape. For nearly three months, the brothers were held in a Bucharest jail, until a court changed their detention to house arrest at the compound. Last August, a court eased the restrictions again, permitting the Tates to travel within Romania but not to leave the country, while they await trial.

The Tates have denied the Romanian charges and challenged evidence in the case. In late April, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled a trial should proceed, though a date has yet to be set as the Tates are again appealing that decision.

Romanian prosecutors have charged the Tates, along with two female defendants, of sexually exploiting seven women as models for an erotic webcam business. The prosecution alleges the Tates recruited the women under false pretenses by pretending they were in love with them, and then coercing them through a mixture of intimidation and emotional manipulation into working while the Tates and their associates took most of the earnings.

Central to the case are allegations involving three women -- one American, one Moldovan and one British -- whom the Tates are accused of luring to Romania and exploiting them on webcam. Prosecutors also allege the Tates recruited four women inside Romania also by deceiving them into believing they were in a relationship.

The Tates have denied the Romanian charges, insisting the women all chose to work for them willingly and that the prosecutors' allegations are based on lies.

"They've told the whole world I'm a human trafficker. You're expecting to see dungeons, and chains, and girls who are crying," Tristan Tate told ABC News following a court hearing last May. "Like, you'll laugh. I'd cry if I didn't laugh about this, literally."

Prosecutors accuse the Tates of employing a human trafficking tactic that recruits women through deception, rather than crude violence, and that anti-trafficking experts say is well-known in Romania. The tactic is commonly called the "Lover Boy Method."

"This is a method that is very subversive because it plays with the minds and the hearts of young girls or young women," Madalina Turza, who until last year oversaw Romania's national anti-trafficking strategy, told ABC News in April. She now heads the Romanian office of the anti-slavery charity Justice and Care.

Traffickers will target a woman by pretending to be in love with her, according to Turza. They convince the victim they are in a real relationship, persuading them to move away from family and friends, often abroad. Then the exploitation begins, with the trafficker pressuring the victim into various forms of forced labor, often sex work.

Rares Stan, who until April was the lead prosecutor in the Tates' case, is known in Romania for prosecuting some of the country's most high-profile organized crime cases.

Stan said he had left the Tates' case after handing it on to trial prosecutors, in order to take on a new position at Romania's attorney general's office. Speaking in his first interview with international media on the Tate case, Stan told Impact it was "exactly like any other case of human trafficking."

Romania has one of the highest number of human trafficking victims per capita in Europe, according to the U.S. State Department's 2023 Trafficking in Persons report. Stan says he has prosecuted hundreds of trafficking cases.

"The unusual thing about this case was the major public interest," he said. "Because of the people involved."

The Tates have denied the allegation that they used the "Lover Boy Method."

But prosecutors have pointed to the fact that for years Tate sold a course online that several experts in human trafficking say taught tactics that closely resemble it: Tate's "PhD Program" or "Pimping Hoes Degree," as he's called it.

Posted as video tutorials, the program's stated goal is to teach men how to seduce women and then how to monetize them by moving them into working as webcam models.

Silvia Tabusca, a legal expert in human trafficking and organized crime has studied the "Lover Boy Method" worldwide and has focused recently on the Tates case.

"For me, all the 'Lover Boy' trafficking methods are present in his Ph.D. program,' Tabusca, who is based in Bucharest, told Impact.

Tabusca points to an advertisement for the "PhD" course on Tate's website now taken down, but that she has archived.

"My job was to meet a girl, go on a few dates, sleep with her, test if she's quality, get her to fall in love with me to where she'd do anything I say, and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together," the advertisement reads.

In another video, Tate also refers to the "PhD" course as "my recruitment system" and tells men that it is impossible to have a women work for you without having sex with her.

"You can't get the girl to work for you if you haven't f----- her before," Tate says in the video.

Eugene Vidineac, the Tates' attorney for the Romanian case, told ABC News, he was not aware of all Andrew's comments on social media, and that prosecutors need more than public statements as evidence, arguing Tate was playing a character online.

"I don't know how stupid you can be to commit criminal thefts and to go out in public and to say how you committed the crimes, and not expect yourself to be taken [by] the authorities," said Vidineac, adding it didn't make sense since "Andrew Tate is so smart. And we see that he has the ability of communication and he is charming."

Vidineac also points to two women named in the case, Beatrice and Iasmina, who have said on social media and in an interview with Romanian television that they are not victims.

Prosecutors in the indictment allege the two women are still under the control of the Tates. Several human-trafficking experts also said it is common in "Lover Boy" cases that victims refuse to accept they have been exploited.

"They are so much manipulated by their traffickers that they don't realize that they are trapped into a slavery chain," said Turza.

Romanian prosecutors have also included in the 481-page indictment as evidence hundreds of WhatsApp and other messages they say are between the Tates and some of the women.

Among them are dozens of messages said to be between the Moldovan woman and Andrew Tate, that appear to show him first persuading her to move to Romania, saying he wants a serious relationship. In one set of messages, she explicitly says before moving she doesn't want to do webcam.

"I DON'T WANT TO DO VIDEOCHAT," she wrote on Feb. 9, 2022, according to the indictment.

Andrew Tate replied, "I do NOT want this / and I will never ask you," according to the indictment.

In the messages the Tates can also be seen allegedly telling some of the women never to go out of the house unaccompanied.

"I own you," Tate wrote on March 11, 2022, according to the indictment. "You'll never be around real men again. you'll never go out alone again. Never".

According to the indictment, Andrew Tate is charged with raping the Moldovan woman the same month in a hotel room, where, she alleged to prosecutors, he pressured her into having sexual intercourse with him and two of the other women working for him. Tate is charged with raping the woman a second time later that month.

Another British woman in the case alleges that during sexual intercourse Tate began "choking her until she lost consciousness," according to the indictment. Prosecutors used the alleged incident as an example of how Tate allegedly established psychological control through intimidation.

A spokesperson for the Tates in a statement this month said Andrew "vehemently denies any involvement in criminal activities such as rape or physical abuse. Andrew Tate remains focused on the legal proceedings in Romania and is collaborating closely with his legal team to assert his innocence."

Allegations in the United Kingdom

Born in the United States, Andrew and Tristan Tate were raised after their parents' divorce by their mother in Luton, a small city 30 miles north of London and one of the poorest cities in Britain.

In the years before he would become famous as a controversial male influencer, Andrew Tate's kickboxing career was successful, but the financial rewards were modest. Back in Luton in the early 2010s, as he has described on numerous podcasts, he decided to set up a webcam business there and would use his girlfriends as models.

Four British women are now alleging Andrew Tate sexually assaulted them during this period. The women are now pursuing a civil lawsuit at the U.K.'s High Court against Tate on the allegations, which he denies.

He is now also facing another separate criminal case in the U.K., after local British police recently issued an arrest warrant for the Tates on allegations of human trafficking and sexual assault.

In March, a Romanian court approved the extradition of the Tates to the U.K., pending the conclusion of the Romanian case.

Tate through a spokesperson denied the allegations in both U.K. cases, accusing the women of lying and of seeking to take advantage of the notoriety brought by the Romanian case.

Two of the women, whom ABC News is calling Helen and Sally, have told Impact they worked as models in the early days of Tate's U.K. webcam business in 2014. The women requested ABC News not use their real names out of fear they may face harassment from Tate's fans.

A third woman, who ABC News is calling Amelia, accuses Tate of sexually assaulting her and raping her during a relationship in 2013. Amelia, who also asked not to be named out of fear of retribution from Tate’s fans, filed a complaint with police from Britain’s Hertfordshire County in 2014 after ending the relationship. She said she provided police with voice messages and WhatsApp message she says she received from Tate around the time.

In one of the voice messages, which ABC News has heard, a voice that appears to be Tate can be heard saying: "Are you seriously so offended I strangled you a little bit? You didn't f------ pass out. Chill the f--- out. Jesus Christ. I thought you were cool. What's wrong with you?"

In another WhatsApp message seen by ABC News, Tate allegedly wrote: "I love raping you. And watching u let me while still debating if its a good idea or not. I like the conflict you have. And you do have it. Don't deny it."

The woman replied: "Makes you feel powerful?"

Tate allegedly wrote back: No. I'm already powerful. Its honest. Its real."

A spokeswoman for Tate declined to comment on the messages. The spokesperson did not comment separately on the women's allegations, but said Tate denies all of the allegations.

After Amelia filed her complaint, police initially took little action. Then a year later, Helen and Sally separately went to Hertfordshire police and filed a complaint alleging rape and assault.

Following the new complaints, in July 2015, Hertfordshire police arrested Tate in relation to an allegation of assault and rape, according to the police force. He was arrested again in December on suspicion of rape, and was released shortly after.

Hertfordshire police investigated the allegations against Tate for four years, before finally forwarding the case to Britain's prosecutor's office, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). But in 2019, the CPS closed the case after determining there was no realistic prospect of conviction.

The women allege that decision was wrong and accuse the police of mishandling the case, saying in interviews that the police failed to initially take the allegations sufficiently seriously.

In May, lawyers for Helen, Sally and Amelia served Tate with the civil lawsuit, seeking unspecified damages from him. They also called for police to reopen the case.

"The evidence that was gathered at the time we say was more than sufficient for a criminal prosecution to have taken place," Matthew Jury, the lead attorney representing the women, told Impact. "It is baffling to us as to why the decision was made not to prosecute in 2019."

Asked about the women's case, Hertfordshire police in a statement said "there were some delays to the investigation. This was addressed at the time and apologies were made."

"The case was only closed in late 2019 after a case file had been sent to the CPS and the decision was made not to prosecute," it said.

The CPS in a statement told ABC News: "We understand the devastating impact rape can have on victims. In this case, a specialist prosecutor carefully reviewed all the evidence and concluded there wasn't a realistic prospect of conviction."

The CPS noted that it and the police have "changed the way rape cases are handled as part of our commitment to drive up the numbers taken to court and improve victim experiences." It also noted that the women still have the option to request a review of the decision not to prosecute.

A spokesperson for Tate commenting on the allegations told Impact: "Andrew vehemently denies any involvement in criminal activities such as rape or physical abuse. These accusations are not only baseless but are seen as deliberate attempts to defame his character and provoke unwarranted public outrage through mainstream media channels."

Since the first three women announced their lawsuit, a fourth British woman has come forward and joined the suit with her own allegations of sexual assault. Evie, who has also requested ABC News not use her real name, said she first met Tate in 2014 at a club in Luton.

She said she went home with Tate and had consensual sex. But Evie said they kept in touch via text message and met up again a couple months later, when Tate came over to her place one night after work. The two started having consensual sex but he then allegedly began strangling her during the act, she said.

"We were having sex and he strangled me until I passed out," Evie told Impact. "When I came back around, he was still having sex with me while I'd been passed out."

Evie said she had not given consent to the alleged act. She said Tate also made aggressive comments and threats toward her during and afterward.

"He sort of kept saying things like: 'I own you. You're mine,'" she said. "He was quite aggressive and kept on, like, holding me against the wall by the neck."

Evie said the alleged strangulation caused the blood vessels in one of her eyes to burst, temporarily leaving it bloodshot.

Evie, now 30, said she told others about the alleged incident at the time and again over the years but downplayed it. She said she started to realize how serious it was as she got older and learned more about consent. The people Evie told have since confirmed being told about parts of the incident, with one confirming seeing that her eye was bloodshot afterward.

"I didn't really have any kind of education on consent and kind of what that looked like," Evie told ABC News. "It was only, like, years later that I looked back and thought, actually that was rape."

When asked to comment on Evie's allegations, a spokesperson for Tate told ABC News, Andrew "vehemently denies these accusations and does not condone violence of any kind towards women. All sexual acts that Andrew has partaken in have been consensual and agreed upon before by both parties."

"He is saddened that a few opportunistic women who he has allegedly spent time with nearly a decade ago have decided to try and take advantage of his current situation."

Evie joined the other women's lawsuit in 2023. She has said she had decided to join now because she wanted "justice."

"For all the, kinda the crimes that he's done against women. And also to just teach young men that it's not okay-- and young women as well-- that it's not okay to, like, have these views and to treat women like this," she said.

Romanian prosecutors in their indictment against the Tates have cited two of the women's police complaints in the U.K. as relevant background to the current case there.

Amid the allegations, in March this year local police from Bedfordshire County in the U.K. issued arrest warrants for both Andrew and Tristian Tate in a new criminal case on allegations of human trafficking and rape. The Tates have said they deny all the new charges. A Bucharest court approved a U.K. extradition request for the Tates, but only once the Romanian case against them concludes.

A trial is likely to take years to begin in court, but could begin as early as this summer.

"Whatever happens in the Romanian prosecution, he is now going to be extradited from Romania to face prosecution also in the U.K.," Jury said. "So, the civil case aside, he's got a long many years ahead of him."

This story includes reporting from ABC News' ImpactxNightline special "Andrew Tate – Into the Manosphere," which is available to stream on Hulu from May 16.

The hour-long special includes interviews with some of the women accusing Tate of sexual assault, as well as with a former employee of Tate's War Room organization.

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(LONDON) --  One person is dead and dozens others injured after a Singapore Airlines flight encountered "severe" turbulence, the airline said in a social media post.

The Boeing 777-300ER departed London's Heathrow Airport on Monday with 221 passengers and 18 crew members on board, according the airline.

The flight, SQ 321, encountered turbulence about 90 minutes from its destination of Singapore and was diverted to Bangkok, the carrier said.

A 73-year-old man from Great Britain was killed, according to Kittipong Kittikachorn, general manager for Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Seven people were critically injured, Kittikachorn added, while dozens suffered minor or moderate injuries.

"Suddenly the aircraft starts tilting up and there was shaking so I started bracing for what was happening, and very suddenly there was a very dramatic drop so everyone seated and not wearing a seatbelt was launched immediately into the ceiling," Dzafran Azmir, a 28-year-old student on the flight, told ABC News. "Some people hit their heads on the baggage cabins overhead and dented it; they hit the places where lights and masks are and broke straight through it."

Singapore Airlines confirmed one person had died and sent condolences to the family.

"Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased," the airline said in a statement on Tuesday. "Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft."

The aircraft appeared to have encountered the turbulence in Thai airspace, somewhere over the Andaman Sea.

The flight, which had been scheduled to arrive at Singapore Changi Airport, instead touched down in Thailand at about 3:45 p.m. local time, the carrier said.

"We are in contact with Singapore Airlines regarding flight SQ321 and stand ready to support them," Boeing said in a statement. "We extend our deepest condolences to the family who lost a loved one, and our thoughts are with the passengers and crew."

ABC News' Joe Simonetti, Will Gretsky and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) -- A plan by an International Criminal Court prosecutor to apply for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders is "absurd," casting a "terrible stain" on the court, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

"We are supplying now nearly half of the water of Gaza. We supplied only 7% before the war. This is completely opposite of what he's saying. He's saying we're starving people?" Netanyahu said on ABC News' Good Morning America on Tuesday. "We have supplied half million tons of food and medicine with 20,000 trucks. This guy is out to demonize Israel. He's doing a hit job."

A prosecutor with the ICC on Monday said he would file applications for arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, alleging that they "bear criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity" in Gaza.

Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said he would seek warrants for both Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. Khan laid out a list of allegations against Netanyahu and Gallant, including starvation of civilians, willfully causing great suffering and other "inhumane acts."

"We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy," Khan said in a statement. "These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day."

Netanyahu said on Monday that his country didn't have a "deliberate starvation policy" and the charges detailed by the ICC prosecutor were "fallacious."

"In fact, we have the opposite policy, to allow maximum humanitarian aid to get people out of harm's way," He said, "while Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm's way at gun point."

World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain recently said that "full-blown famine" is occurring in northern Gaza.

President Joe Biden called the prosecutor's decision to seek arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders "outrageous."

"And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence -- none -- between Israel and Hamas," Biden said Monday.

The prosecutor's statement came as Israel continued weighing a potential full-scale invasion into Rafah, a southern Gazan city where many Palestinians have sought refuge during Israel's war with Hamas.

"The battle in Rafah is critical. It is not only the remaining [Hamas] battalions there but their escape and supply pipelines," Netanyahu said last week while speaking to troops after taking an aerial tour of the Gaza Strip. "This battle, of which you are an integral part, is a battle that will decide many things in this campaign."

Netanyahu early this month met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for more than two hours in the prime minister's office in Jerusalem. Blinken during that meeting "reiterated the United States' clear position on Rafah," Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, said at the time.

U.S. officials have in the weeks since that meeting been in "close communication" with Israeli leaders, letting them know that the U.S. opposes a major military operation in the city, Miller said on Monday.

"We don't think that would be productive to Israel's security either in the short term or the long term," Miller said, "and we think it would have a dramatic impact on the lives of the Palestinian people there and on the ability to get humanitarian assistance in."

More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. About 1,200 people were killed on Oct. 7 in the Hamas cross-border attack on southern Israel, according to Israel.

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Monday asked what would happen when the war was over.

Netanyahu said Hamas would have to be destroyed first, then Israel could "demilitarize" Gaza. After that, there would have to be a civilian administration put in place, he said.

"There is peace and stability and prosperity only through victory," Netanyahu said. "The road to peace goes through victory over Hamas."

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(NEW YORK) -- A Congressional delegation traveled to Turks and Caicos over the fate of five U.S. tourists detained there for ammunition charges that carry a minimum 12-year sentence in prison if convicted.

The bipartisan delegation met with government leaders in Turks and Caicos on Monday, where they called for leniency for the Americans who they said inadvertently had ammunition in their luggage.

Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, one of the members of the delegation, told ABC News' Good Morning America that he left the meetings feeling like they "didn't find a real path forward" and are considering next steps if they can't reach a solution.

"I felt like they were doing their job, which is representing Turks and Caicos. We went there doing our job, representing the United States with real concerns," he said. "I mean, you have currently five Americans being charged ... and among them all they had less than 20 bullets."

In addition to Mullin, the U.S. delegation included Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa.; Rep. Bob Good, R-Va.; Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla.; and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas -- who all have constituents who are among the detained Americans.

Fetterman said he left the meetings feeling "optimistic that we can get this resolved."

"We had the opportunity to meet each of the detained Americans, who were in good spirits but want to go home," Fetterman said in a statement. "These people did not set out to break the law. They are people who made a mistake and now face substantial time in prison because of it. As we articulated to TCI officials, I urge the court to be lenient when addressing this case."

In the most recent case, Sharitta Shinise Grier, of Orlando, Florida, was visiting Turks and Caicos with her daughter for Mother's Day when, during a routine search at the Howard Hamilton International Airport on May 13, officials claim to have found two rounds of ammunition in her bag, police said. She was charged with one count of possession of ammunition and released on $15,000 bail. She has been ordered to remain in the Caribbean territory until the completion of her case, police sources said.

Ryan Watson, of Oklahoma, was arrested on April 24 after hunting ammunition was allegedly found in his carry-on bag before flying home with his wife. He was released on $15,000 bond but remains on the islands as his court case continues. Watson told ABC News he didn't know the ammunition was in the bag.

Tyler Scott Wenrich of Virginia was charged on April 23 when officials found illegal ammunition during a checkpoint on Turks and Caicos while he was traveling on a cruise, investigators said. His plea hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

Bryan Hagerich, of Pennsylvania, is awaiting sentencing on the islands after pleading guilty to possession of 20 rounds of ammunition. Hagerich, who was arrested in February, told ABC News he forgot hunting ammunition was in his bag while he was traveling. His next hearing has been scheduled for Friday.

Michael Lee Evans, of Texas, also pleaded guilty to possession of seven 9mm rounds of ammunition in his luggage and is awaiting sentencing.

Mullin said one family has already spent more than $100,000 in attorney fees, while a father has had to borrow money to be able to stay on the island while his son's case plays out and is "literally living off hot dogs and rice."

"We have to find some type of a solution here," Mullin said, adding that it is "unacceptable" that one American from Indiana has already served a six-month prison sentence on the ammunition charge.

Two years ago, the Turks and Caicos government tightened their gun laws and prohibited civilian firearms or ammunition. If convicted, offenders are sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison.

Mullin said they were pushing for Turks and Caicos officials to have more leniency when it comes to people mistakenly traveling with ammunition.

"We thought we could find some type of common ground to separate the two -- ones with the intent and one with no criminal intent," Mullin said. "We weren't able to get to that conclusion. So their whole point was that, let the system work."

Mullin said the next step might be warning American citizens about traveling and doing business in Turks and Caicos.

"I don't think we're to that point. But if we can't come to a solution, that's the next option for us," he said.

Following the meeting with the Congressional delegation, the Turks and Caicos governor's office said in a statement that the government has "clear laws prohibiting the possession of firearms and/or ammunition and strict penalties are in place to serve and protect all who reside and visit the Turks and Caicos Islands."

The office said the government officials "appreciated that the circumstances for U.S. nationals who find themselves in this position can be difficult but were aware that U.S. officials are providing consular support to each of the individuals."

"Where the court finds there are exceptional circumstances, the sentencing judge does have discretion, under the law, to impose a custodial sentence and a fine that are fair and just in the circumstances of each case," the governor's office added.

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(LONDON) -- France’s postal service is expected to raise quite a bit of dough after releasing a brand new scratch-and-sniff stamp that smells like a baguette with just over two months to go until the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris.

La Poste, the French postal service announced the crumby idea on Friday, honoring the iconic French food by calling the baguette “bread of our daily life, symbol of our gastronomy, jewel of our culture.”

“Bearer of culture and customs, the baguette is deeply rooted in the daily practices of the French,” La Poste said in their press release announcing the new stamp. “She embodies a ritual, that of going to her bakery, a local business anchored in the regions, attracting twelve million consumers every day. The making of six billion baguettes each year confirms its iconic status in French food heritage. The baguette transcends borders to become an international icon.”

The stamp features a drawing by French artists Stephanie Humbert-Bassett of a baguette wrapped in a tricolor ribbon of the French flag and will only be on sale in France at a price of €1.96 ($2.13) but can be used in international shipments, according to La Poste. One stamp can ship a letter weighing up to 20 grams while two stamps will allow you to send up to 100 grams.

“The baguette transcends borders to become an international icon,” La Poste said. “The inclusion of these artisanal skills and its culture in UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage testifies to its influence and establishes it as an ambassador of the bakery craft."

But don’t loaf around if you want to get your hands on some. With France expected to receive an influx of visitors this summer for the 33rd Olympiad in Paris beginning on July 26, there will only be 594,000 printed in the initial run of stamps.

The baguette consists of just four ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast.

“This apparent simplicity reveals a complexity of manufacturing: dosing and weighing of ingredients, kneading, fermentation, division, relaxation, shaping, priming, cooking scarification,” La Poste said in their announcement. “So many meticulous steps mastered by the artisan baker whose unique know-how is passed down from generation to generation.”

The scratch-and-sniff stamps, released last Friday, are available for purchase now.

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(NEW YORK) -- A U.S. national has been mistakenly accused of involvement in last weekend's attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Cole Patrick Ducey, an engineer living in Eswatini, told ABC News Monday that he was not involved, despite reports online and in the media. DRC government officials also confirmed to ABC News that Ducey was not involved in the coup attempt over the weekend.

Ducey told ABC News he has been the subject of a "huge case of mistaken identity," with his name appearing in social media posts and news articles that erroneously suggest he was arrested Sunday in the DRC.

"I learned of what happened yesterday on the news just as you did," he said.

Authorities in the DRC told ABC News that the coup attempt was led by Christian Malanga, a DRC businessman and politician with U.S. ties. Malanga was killed in the coup attempt, the officials said.

The officials also told ABC News that a U.S. national, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the coup attempt. ABC News wasn’t immediately able to locate a legal representative for Zalman-Polun.

Ducey verified his identity by sending ABC News a video in which he displayed an identifying document. ABC News further verified Ducey’s identity by reviewing public records.

Ducey told ABC News that he attended the University of Colorado with Zalman-Polun in 2006 and 2007. The two lost contact for many years, Ducey said, until Zalman-Polun contacted Ducey in 2020 about a business opportunity in the mining sector. At that time, Ducey said Zalman-Polun introduced him to Malanga in a phone call.

In 2022, Ducey said, the trio met in Mozambique to review mining concessions. Ducey said they started a limited liability corporation but failed to find a viable spot to mine and did not continue working together.

Zalman-Polun, Malanga and Ducey are listed as partners in that LLC, according to records from the government of Mozambique's official bulletin.

Those records, which are publicly available, appear to have led to the case of mistaken identity.

However, Ducey claims, and DRC government officials affirm, he was not a part of the attempted coup over the weekend in any capacity.

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(NEW YORK) -- Haiti’s Port-au-Prince airport has been reopened after being closed for nearly three months after unprecedented gang violence forced it to close, effectively sealing the capital city off from the rest of the world.

So far, only Sunrise Airways, a small regional carrier, has resumed flights, but other international flights, including those operated by JetBlue and American Airlines, could start operating again in the next few weeks.

The only way to safely reopen the airport was to bulldoze hundreds of homes in its immediate vicinity, according to two Haitian officials briefed on the plans.

It was from the roofs of these homes that gang members were able to shoot into the airport during early March attacks, at one point even hitting planes parked on the runway.

Residents of the homes who were forced to flee the area are due to be compensated for the moves, according to those officials.

American military flights have landed nearly two dozen times in recent weeks as they shuttle in aid and supplies, much of which is designed to support the upcoming international security mission.

Kenyan Police Heading to Haiti Soon

Dozens of Kenyan police officers who have signed up to be a part of the UN-backed international security force will arrive in Haiti “soon,” according to a senior Kenyan government official. It could be as soon as this week.

The force will eventually grow to roughly 1,000 officers and hundreds of officers from several other countries, many of whom will arrive later in the summer.

The deployment comes just as Kenyan President Ruto is set to have a state visit to Washington, D.C.

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(NEW YORK) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other officials died in a helicopter crash Sunday near Iran's northern border with Azerbaijan, Iranian state media said Monday morning.

The helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters returning from an event inaugurating a joint dam project when it crashed in heavy fog in a remote area on Sunday. The fog and rugged terrain hindered search operations. All eight bodies on board were found on Monday.

Raisi's death comes during heightened international tensions and increased speculation over who will eventually replace Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Raisi was widely considered a potential successor.

ABC contributor Col. Steve Ganyard, a former fighter pilot and a former State Department official, analyzed the crash – and the political repercussions inside Iran and elsewhere – Monday morning with "Start Here."

START HERE: What do we know about this incident so far?

GANYARD: It seems to be a fairly classic mishap that occurs when helicopter pilots try to skirt underneath weather in very mountainous terrain. So we know that there was a lot of fog in the area. We know that they had dignitaries, very important people, which oftentimes puts an extra, at least mental burden on the pilots to make sure that they get to get to the destination. And when you're flying in the mountains and you have very low visibility, there's a natural tendency for helicopter pilots to begin to sort of descend and try to get lower and try to get underneath either the fog or the cloud layer. And they know that they can set the aircraft down if they need to. But oftentimes it leads to tragedy. If you remember, earlier this year, back in February, a marine Corps helicopter was trying to do this very thing, trying to get back to San Diego and in the mountains above San Diego, just to the to the east of San Diego, crashed. And unfortunately, all the Marines on board lost their lives.

START HERE: So we're looking at an area with dense forest, a lot of rain and fog. The Iranian government saying that they dispatched rescue teams. But we're not getting a lot of information from them. Is that typical with the Iranian state government?

GANYARD: It is when you have when you have a mishap that involves very senior people. Obviously, this is the president of the country. He's not the most important guy – Ayatollah Khamenei remains the most important person in terms of the leadership there in Iran. But this is still a very important, very public figure. He is in many ways the elected face of Iran to the rest of the world. And you had the foreign minister. So, interestingly, you had two of the people who are most responsible for the trouble that Iran has been causing in the region. They are, as we know, key supporters of the Houthis, key supporters of Hamas and key supporters of Hezbollah. And so, all of the region's woes and all of the instability are at least directed in some way, influenced by two of the people that were on that helicopter.

START HERE: Well, and you were kind of alluding to this, the politics there, could this crash change the dynamic and how the U.S. views Tehran, or would you expect that Raisi's hardline government is going to continue no matter what happens?

GANYARD: Well, Raisi is the most senior elected official in Iran, and his foreign ministers are very public foreign ministers. He is the face of the relations with the rest of the of the world, in particular the rest of the region. But it doesn't really affect the politics within Iran. The ayatollahs still control all of the power within Iran. But none of the true power rests with the president. It still rests with the mullahs. It still rests with the Ayatollah Khamenei.

START HERE: Well, and I realize, Steve, there are a lot of unknown about what actually caused this crash. Weather obviously is looking to be the primary culprit. But there will be people wondering if Israel could have had a hand in this in any way. Is that something that's even possible?

GANYARD: It's possible. You never know. The Israelis have done some amazing operations inside Iran. But we also know that weather was a key problem here, and the fact that there were two other helicopters with the president's helicopter who were able to land, but they lost sight of the president's helicopter – it would suggest that it was probably weather related. But at this point, we'll just have to wait and see. Obviously, the Iranians are never going to admit it if the Israelis did have a hand, and the Israelis probably in this case would not claim responsibility.

START HERE: And Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer saying that U.S. intelligence right now, pointing to that Israel was not behind this. So I want to make that clear. Steve, thanks so much for joining us.

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(LONDON) -- The U.K.’s High Court on Monday said Julian Assange can continue appealing his extradition to the United States, putting up the latest roadblock in America's years long effort to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder on charges of espionage.

Assange is accused by the United States of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, who, as an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, leaked to Assange hundreds of thousands of classified documents, including about 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables. WikiLeaks began publishing those documents in 2010.

The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed in 2019 an 18-count indictment accusing Assange of violating the Espionage Act by allegedly obtaining, receiving and disclosing classified information. A superseding indictment issued in 2020 added allegations that Assange had conspired with the Anonymous hacking group.

The U.K. court in March of this year said an extradition could go ahead if the U.S. was able to provide sufficient assurances that Assange's case would be considered under the full protections of the First Amendment and that he would not be subjected to the death penalty.

The U.S. Embassy in London reportedly sent assurances -- including that Assange would not face the death penalty -- to the United Kingdom in April.

Assange has been held for the last five years in Belmarsh Prison, a high-security facility in southeastern London. Stella Assange, a longtime partner, married Assange in 2022.

"Whatever the High Court decides today, please keep fighting for Julian until he is free," Stella Assange said on Monday.

Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, Assange's home country, has also called for the U.S. to drop its extradition request. "Enough is enough," he said last month.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called last week for the U.S. government to drop the extradition request. Sending Assange across the Atlantic "would allow for the prosecution of journalists who are simply doing their jobs and covering matters of public interest," the organization said in an open letter dated May 17.

Officials with the White House and the State Department have both declined to discuss the potential extradition. Reporters asked U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller about the possible extradition during at least two separate press briefings in April.

Miller said each time that he'd defer to the Department of Justice on specifics of the possible extradition, but also said during one of the briefings that the U.S. considers the allegations against Assange to be outside the realm of "legitimate journalistic practice." Assange is accused of "helping [Manning] actually break into government systems to retrieve classified information," Miller said.

A group of European Parliament members on Friday published an open letter asking U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly to put an end to the extradition.

“As elected representatives who have followed this case closely it is our view that there is no legitimate reason to the continued persecution of Mr. Assange and that he should be allowed to be united with his family,” the 31 members wrote in their letter.

ABC News' Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) -- With the news of Iranian President Raisi's death in a helicopter crash confirmed, Iran's first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, will take over with the supreme leader's approval, based on Article 131 of the Islamic Republic's constitution.

The article also clarifies that a council consisting of the head of the legislation, the head of the judiciary and the vice president must coordinate choosing a new president within 50 days.

In a statement issued Monday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei applied the article and assented Mokhber as acting president.

"Mr Mokhbar is in the position of managing the executive branch, and he is obliged to arrange with the heads of the legislative and judicial branches to elect a new president within a maximum of fifty days," the statement said.

The Guardian Council of the country, the body responsible for holding the elections, said that the next president will run the country for four years, not just for the remaining terms of Raisi's term.

"The elected president in the next election is the president who will begin a 4-year term," said Hadi Tahan Nazif, spokesperson of the council, according to the official Fars News Agency.

Ibrahim Raisi was elected as the eighth president of the Islamic Republic in the 2021 election.

The vote was marred by a low turnout -- which the regime considers a key factor in justifying its legitimacy -- with a turnout of 48.8%, the lowest turnout of all presidential elections since the 1979 revolution.

With sensitivities about the succession of 85-year-old Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, who has the ultimate power in the theocratic regime, experts said Raisi's death may precipitate a crisis for the country's leadership.

"In Iran's conspiratorial political culture few will believe Raisi’s death was accidental," Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment think tank, said on Sunday.

One of the first decisions that Mokhber made as the acting president was appointing Ali Bagheri Kani as acting foreign minister.

Bagheri Kani is a relative of the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. He was working as deputy foreign minister to the late foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian who was killed in the chopper crash with President Raisi.

Bagheri Kani's most prominent role was being a member of the negotiating team during the failed talks that were aimed to revive the Iranian nuclear deal with the world powers, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Bagheri Kani is a critic of the former negotiating team which signed the original JCPOA with the world powers, saying that deal had ignored many of the Iranian red lines. His views are very close to those of the supreme leader.

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(NEW YORK) -- Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi is dead following a helicopter crash, Iranian state media said Monday morning.

The Iranian minister of foreign affairs and the others onboard were also killed in the crash. Raisi's administration began an emergency meeting on Monday following the news of his death.

The helicopter carrying the officials crashed Sunday as it traveled through rainy and foggy conditions in the rural mountainous area near ​​Kalibar and Warzghan in northern Iran, near the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The Red Crescent confirmed earlier Monday it had located the missing helicopter carrying Raisi, which had initially been said to have made a "hard landing." The head of Iran's Red Crescent, Hossein Kolivand, had told state media there was "no sign of life."

"The president's helicopter has been found," the head of Iran's Red Crescent said to state TV. "We can see the helicopter and we are moving towards the place. We have no details. Let us get on top of the helicopter to announce the details. We are about two kilometers away from the helicopter."

"Things are not good here," he said after being asked if they could see signs of a crash or burn.

Search and rescue operations were launched not long after the incident happened, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

In a phone interview on Monday with the state TV news program, former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the U.S. sanctions on Iranian aviation were one of the main reasons for the crash.

"On the cruel American sanctions, the United States is one of the main guilty ones in the catastrophe of yesterday's crash because, despite the decision of the International Court of Justice, it has sanctioned selling airplanes and aviation spare parts and doesn't allow Iranian people have access to good air transportation," Zarif said. "These will be recorded in the list of the U.S. crimes against Iranian people that how they treated Iranian people."

Two hot spots were identified in the village of Tawal by a Turkish drone sent to help with rescue efforts, IRNA, Iran's state news agency, reported early Monday local time.

Red Crescent rescue teams began "moving towards the possible landing place of the helicopter," IRNA reported earlier.

"Currently, there are 73 rescue teams in the search area for the helicopter in the Tawal village, of which 23 Red Crescent teams (detector dogs) have been sent from Tehran and neighboring provinces to the accident area along with advanced and specialized equipment," IRNA reported Sunday.

The weather in the area was bad on Sunday and overnight, the emergency teams reported.

"The weather conditions in the area are foggy and rainy, and the search operation is conducted despite the difficult conditions and reduced visibility in the area," the Red Crescent National Emergency Management Headquarters said.

President Joe Biden was briefed on the Iranian president's helicopter incident, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Sunday.

The State Department was closely following reports of the incident, a spokesperson said Sunday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday he was sending 50 rescuers, two planes and one helicopter to Iran to help in the search, TASS, a Russian news service, reported.

According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, the country sent an Akinci UAV and a Cougar-type helicopter with night vision capability to help with search and rescue operations.

Earlier, one of the president's relatives told the Fars News Agency that the helicopter was forced to land due to foggy weather.

In an appearance on state TV, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi confirmed that the president's helicopter made a "rough landing."

Later Sunday, a spokesperson for the Iranian government described the helicopter incident as an "accident."

"We are experiencing difficult and complicated conditions. It is the right of the people and the media to be aware of the latest news about the president's helicopter accident, but according to the coordinates of the accident site and the weather conditions, there is 'no' new news until now. In these moments, patience, prayer and trust in relief groups are the way forward," the government spokesperson said.

The first reports of trouble with Raisi's helicopter, one of three in a convoy carrying the Iranian officials, began to circulate on state-affiliated media on Sunday at around 3:45 p.m. local time, or 8:15 a.m. ET.

Initially, 40 search-and-rescue teams had been sent to the area, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent announced to state media. Though search-and-rescue aircraft were also sent to the area, weather conditions prevented them from flying, according to the Red Crescent.

Vahidi said Raisi was in the area to help open the Khoda Afarin and the Qiz Qalasi dams near Azerbaijan and was returning home from the journey when the incident occurred.

"One of the helicopters was forced to make a rough landing due to bad weather conditions and fog in the area," Vahidi said.

Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan who was at the dedication of the dams Sunday with Raisi, offered assistance from his country in locating the helicopter.

"Today, after bidding a friendly farewell to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, we were profoundly troubled by the news of a helicopter carrying the top delegation crash-landing in Iran," Aliyev said in a post on the social media site X. "Our prayers to Allah Almighty are with President Ebrahim Raisi and the accompanying delegation. As a neighbor, friend and brotherly country, the Republic of Azerbaijan stands ready to offer any assistance needed."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran, also issued a statement Sunday asking people to pray that Raisi and the others are found safe.

"We hope that Almighty God will return the respected and honorable president and his companions to the arms of the nation," Khamenei said. "Everyone should pray for the health of this group of servants."

ABC News' Hami Hamedi contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) -- All of the remaining U.S. troops based in Niger will leave the country no later than mid-September, according to U.S. officials and a joint statement from the two countries.

Both sides mutually agreed to a withdrawal deadline of September 15 after several days of meetings between May 15-19, according to a joint statement from the Pentagon and Niger's national defense department released Sunday. Fewer than a thousand troops remain in Niger.

The move finalizes a setback to U.S. efforts to combat terrorism in the Sahel, a region of sub-Saharan Africa where groups affiliated with ISIS and al-Qaeda operate. Russian troops are also currently based in Niger at the invitation of Niger's military junta.

A senior U.S. defense official who briefed reporters on a Pentagon call Sunday afternoon said they were unaware of Russia's current posture in the country and on Air Base 101 but said they do not anticipate Russia stepping in to fill the counterterrorism void left by the departure of U.S. troops.

"I don't think that this is a situation like we've seen in other countries in which the counterterrorism responsibilities will be turned over to a Wagner or a Russian-type entity. First off, I think the Nigerian military is too capable for that," the senior defense official said.

The U.S. plans to remove as much American equipment as is practical, according to a senior military official who also briefed reporters on the call.

"The goal is to take as much as we can to protect the investment of the U.S. taxpayers, but there's significant infrastructure, including the airbase," the official said.

Despite the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. forces, Nigerian officials have left the door open to future cooperation, according to the official, who noted that the American diplomatic presence will remain. The official suggested it is a good idea for the U.S. to leave that military infrastructure to the Nigerians.

"We are committed to a longer-term relationship with Niger. And so while ... our departure is certainly going to result in the reset of that, it's not in our interest to necessarily deny them the use of the equipment," the official said.

But all equipment that is feasible to remove will leave with the U.S. troops.

"Obviously, sensitive equipment, lethal equipment, hazardous equipment -- these kinds of things will be removed. A lot of what we expect will be left behind is either things that are immobile or are going to cost a lot more for the United States to take out than they're actually worth," the official said.

The U.S. is in discussions with nearby countries to try to keep some of the departing U.S. military capability in the region, though nothing concrete has come of that so far, according to the official.

"The expectation is that much of this equipment will return to ... our stocks if need be," the official said.

The troops and equipment are expected to leave Niger "well before" the Sept. 15 deadline, according to the official.

The Nigerian military first began efforts to have U.S. forces leave after a coup toppled the democratically elected president in July. It also asked French forces to leave the country.

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(GAZA) -- A "catastrophic" mental health crisis has unfolded in Gaza, affecting both civilians and humanitarian workers, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, according to international aid organizations.

Since Hamas launched a surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel responded by declaring war, more than 35,173 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 79,061 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. More than 1,700 Israelis have been killed and more than 8,700 have been injured, according to Israeli officials.

The physical toll of the war has been documented in photographs and videos with Gazans suffering from severe injuries, including the loss of limbs, and malnutrition due to the shortage of food and clean water, as well as a "full-blown famine" that has struck northern Gaza.

But the war has taken a mental and emotional toll too, with fear and anxiety gripping adults and children alike and hidden scars that will likely last for decades, aid workers told ABC News.

They added that if Israel launches a full-blown ground offensive in Rafah, the city on the Gaza-Egypt border, the humanitarian effort, including the mental health response, will likely collapse.

The mental health crisis is "already catastrophic … and it keeps getting worse and worse," Dr. Audrey McMahon, a psychiatrist with Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), who was the mental health activities manager based in Jerusalem until March, told ABC News. "Gaza has become an unlivable place. It's just unfathomable. The foundation of mental health is security, is safety, something that you can predict; they don't have that."

Studies show mental health effects of war
There is not much data documenting the mental health crisis among Gazans during the war, but studies of past conflicts have shown the effects of living in war-torn areas.

At least 10% of those who experience traumatic events in armed conflict will have serious mental health problems and another 10% "will develop behavior that will hinder their ability to function effectively," according to the World Health Organization in a review of research findings.

The most common conditions experienced are anxiety, depression and psychosomatic problems including insomnia and back and stomach aches, the WHO said.

In a study that looked at the psychological consequences of war trauma on women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, researchers found those exposed to serious war and traumatic events experienced more post-traumatic symptoms.

Another joint U.K.-Croatia study from 2017 looking at severe war-related trauma found that those exposed to such trauma were at risk of "interpersonal dysfunction 15 years after people were exposed to an armed conflict."

Most recently, a study published in The Lancet found in the first month of the Russian-Ukrainian war in March 2022, the first survey of Ukrainians' mental health showed 53% of Ukrainian adults were experiencing severe mental distress, 54% were experiencing anxiety, and 47% were experiencing depression. Six months into the war, 26% of parents still in Ukraine had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and 15% had developed complex PTSD.

In one of the only estimates available, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says it believes almost all children in Gaza are in need of mental health and psychosocial support. Children under age 15 make up half of Gaza's population of 2.2 million people, according to the Population Reference Bureau.

Aid workers say Gaza is different than other regions of armed conflict because there are no safe zones and, unlike other war-torn areas, few people have been allowed to leave.

"Children have experienced not just one traumatic event, but what we call compound trauma, so traumatic event after traumatic event," Tess Ingram, a UNICEF spokesperson who was in Gaza three weeks ago, told ABC News. "And that's something we rarely, if ever, see because if you think about another conflict, a child might experience a traumatic event and then be able to flee to safety. But in the case of Gaza, children are trapped, and there's nowhere for them to go that is safe."

'A breach of childhood'
Because children make up such a large portion of Gaza's population, they have been disproportionately affected by the war and, in turn, the mental health crisis, experts said.

Davide Musardo, a psychologist and mental health activity manager for MSF currently in Rafah, said during one of his first days at the Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital, he came across a 10-year-old girl who had experienced burns due to the heavy fighting and screaming that she couldn't breathe.

"She was clearly in a panic attack," he said. "We start[ed] to recognize that every time that she has to do medical care, she was experiencing the pain of what she lived."

Musardo said he's seen many children in Gaza have acute stress reactions, suffering from panic attacks or screaming even if they are sedated. Other children may be so traumatized by what they have experienced, such as the loss of a parent, that they will shut down and not express any type of emotion, he said.

Ingram said during her most recent trip to Gaza in April, parents told her their children were becoming withdrawn: speaking less, playing less and sleeping less.

"That is describing a higher level of anxiety among their children, who had -- in many cases -- been displaced several times and understood that where they were currently wasn't safe," she said.

She said she met one boy, about age 9 or 10, at a hospital in Rafah who, during a previous military operation, had been badly injured and lost his father. Since that incident, he has not spoken much. The boy had been diagnosed with depression and PTSD, and his sister, a young woman in her early 20s, was the one explaining the boy's condition to Ingram.

For adults experiencing mental health issues, the main intervention is talk therapy, but, for children, Musardo said the main goal is to make their lives feel as normal as possible. He said his team at MSF mainly organizes play-based activities for children such as parties, listening to music and watching movies.

For the child who was screaming that she couldn't breathe, Musardo said he started to work and play with her, giving her a nurse's uniform and a doctor's pen, calling her "doctor" as a way to try and control her panic attacks. He said that as the days passed, she was able to calm herself down and experience fewer panic attacks.

McMahon said one team at MSF also wrote a storybook on grief and how to deal with grief when losing so many family members and friends.

"When we're able to offer a space, like ... a safe space to play, we do that a lot with younger patients," she said. "It's not always possible to play. Some children are not able to play anymore, and that's a very worrying sign for their development, for their mental health, and they haven't been to school in six months. It's just the breach of childhood, really."

Aid workers' mental health also worsens
Gaza's health care workers have also seen their mental health suffer over the past seven months. Many have been risking their lives to provide medical care, often with limited supplies.

McMahon said many MSF medical staff in Gaza are working under intense psychological strain. Some have been trapped in hospitals during Israeli raids and have to decide whether to leave patients behind or save their own lives, leading to feelings of distress and guilt.

"They are in an impossible situation," said McMahon. "Depending on who you talk to, they both feel like they are somehow heroes in the sense of doing the impossible and yet still offering care, but, at the same time, they are put in situations where they need to make choices that are extremely difficult."

She continued, "Like, do you choose between someone coming with an open wound bleeding that you need to do surgery quickly, or a child that is acutely malnourished and struggling to stay alive? And, like, both are in a dire situation. Who do you choose? And they are faced with that all the time."

Musardo said he has seen medical staff affected while treating patients during the war and part of his role is to provide support, both in giving them materials on how to self-care and letting them know he's there if they want to talk. He said staff members often come see him during the night shifts in the hospital, when it is calmer.

Many medical workers in the area are Gazans themselves and, therefore, are suffering from the same problems as many civilians.

McMahon said one staff member reported they couldn't go to work one day because they hadn't been able to find food or water for their children for the past three days and needed to prioritize searching. "That's the situation of medical staff," she added.

Looming threat of Rafah invasion
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets and sent text messages in Arabic on May 6, calling for about 100,000 people to evacuate the eastern part of Rafah and to head north to the Al-Mawasi humanitarian corridor as airstrikes began. Since then, nearly 600,000 people have evacuated Rafah, the U.N. said Wednesday.

The U.S. has assessed Israel has amassed enough troops on the edge of Rafah to move forward with a full-scale incursion into the city, but the U.S. is not sure if Israel has made a final decision to actually do so, two U.S. officials told ABC News on Wednesday.

If Israel does launch a full-scale incursion in Rafah, it will be "catastrophic for mental health," Ingram, from UNICEF, said.

"Over the past seven months, there's already been an enormous impact on children's mental health and every day that this continues to go on, it gets worse and our ability to treat children's mental health, when they're continuing to be in a situation that is unsafe, is nearly impossible," she said.

"While the fighting continues, not only does the trauma compound, but our ability to come in and try and help respond to that trauma is incredibly limited," she continued. "So, an offensive in Rafah would have an enormous impact from both of those angles, in terms of escalating the problem while continuing to limit the response."

Experts said their organizations and several others have been calling for a cease-fire for the fighting to end, the hostages being held in Gaza to be released and more aid to enter the strip.

Additionally, they say a cease-fire is the only way for Gazans to begin to address the emotional and mental scars they carry from the war.

"The scars, they will be long lasting and for life," McMahon said. "What has been and is still going on is utterly horrific, utterly abnormal. .... A war is potentially traumatizing for everyone. But again, the kind of systematic attacks on civilians, on children, this really impacts your view of the world, your sense of humanity, and this is extremely [difficult] to change or heal afterwards."

ABC News' Luis Martinez and Selina Wang contributed to this report.

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(BRAZIL) -- "It is absolutely, absurdly, extraordinarily serious what is happening in Rio Grande do Sul right now -- and unfortunately, it will get worse," Brazilian state governor Eduardo Leite said during a press conference at the onset of what has become the most severe climate catastrophe to impact the region.

Persistent rains and destructive flooding in the southern Brazilian state have left 150 people dead, 2.1 million affected, 620,000 residents displaced and 807 people injured, according to civil defense officials.

Harrowing images from the region show a once-vibrant city and abundant farmlands completely underwater.

The Guaíba River in Porto Alegre, the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul, could reach unprecedented levels of over 18 feet in the coming days, according to local officials.

Officials estimate recovering the southern state could mean building entirely new cities, begging the question, when an extreme weather event leaves your home uninhabitable, where do you go?

"We have a series of challenges and we cannot rule out having to remove entire cities from where they are, that is, rebuild cities in other locations," Rio Grande do Sul vice-governor Gabriel Souza said told local media on Thursday.

On Thursday, Jairo Jorge, the mayor of Canoas, a city in Rio Grande, told local media that currently 19,000 residents are in 79 shelters and 80,000 people have evacuated to the homes of relatives and friends in higher land.

"Most climate-driven migration and displacement will be internal," Alex Randall, head of programs at Climate Outreach and specialist in climate-driven migration, told ABC News, adding, "As climate-driven disasters become more regular and more extreme, inevitably more people will be displaced by those events."

What is climate migration?
Climate migration, or climate-related mobility, refers to the sudden or gradual displacement of individuals due to changes in the environment affecting their living conditions, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration.

According to the Migration Data Portal, at least 7.7 million people in 82 countries and territories are living in internal displacement as a result of climate disasters.

In the years ahead, up to 216 million people could become internal climate migrants by 2050, according to estimates from the World Bank organization, which works to fight poverty with 189 member countries.

"This is one of many warning signs," Lawrence Huang, policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, told ABC News of the ongoing flooding in Brazil. "There's such a wide range of things we call climate migration, some of it is voluntary, some of it is forced. And in some cases, that's when entire communities become unlivable or uninhabitable and are forced to relocate."

Instances of mass climate migration were seen in the aftermath of the 2022 monsoon floods in Pakistan, where over 1.5 million people remained displaced in the country through the end of 2023, according to the U.N.

Socioeconomic stress in Pakistan combined with the environmental disaster led to an increase in residents seeking asylum in Europe, though most climate migration remains internal, Huang said.

From severe drought in East Africa to raging wildfires in Canada, the force of climate migration comes in many forms -- but it's often the most vulnerable communities who suffer the most, according to Huang.

"We know that when disasters happen, the wealthy are able to evacuate, and they're able to rebuild elsewhere, so it's often the low and moderate-income people who don't have the capacity," Huang said. "And we saw this in the U.S. with Hurricane Katrina."

In August 2005, the category 3 hurricane made landfall in southeast Louisiana, killing 1,833 people, displacing 1 million residents and leading to 3 million individuals registering for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance.

"In the U.S., race and poverty are deeply connected," Randall said. "So it is far more likely that racialized communities will experience more extreme displacement situations in the face of climate-driven disasters."

Marking one of the most staggering natural disasters in American history, the warnings of Hurricane Katrina are just as pivotal in the present day as ever.

In terms of public opinion toward climate migration, Huang believes, "We need to do a lot more work to communicate with people and explain to them that this is the way migration works."

"We are going to see increased instability and increased mobility, internally within the U.S. and across the rest of the world, as the impacts of climate change worsen," Huang said.

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