RSS
Israel restores water to southern Gaza, US evacuating citizens from Israel by boat as ground war looms
(JTA) — Israel says it has restored water to southern Gaza, five days after shutting off the flow of water to the whole territory in an effort to pressure Hamas to relinquish the hostages it took when it attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Meanwhile, the United States has informed U.S. citizens who wish to leave Israel that they should prepare to depart by ship early Monday morning from Haifa.
And U.S. senators who are in Israel as part of a show of support had to take cover in a bomb shelter as rocket sirens sounded during their visit to Tel Aviv.
The developments come as Israeli forces continue to prepare for a major military operation in Gaza in response to last week’s Hamas attack that left thousands of Israelis dead, wounded or captive. Israel said on Sunday that it has been in touch with relatives of 155 people who are being held hostage in Gaza, dozens more than it had previously said.
Early Friday, Israel urged more than a million Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza City and move south to avoid military activity in the northern end of the 141-square-mile Gaza Strip, which Hamas controls and where about 2 million people live. Concern is widespread that a humanitarian disaster could unfold there as Israel follows what it called “a complete siege” with a major ground invasion. The Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday that 2,670 people had been killed in Israeli strikes.
People carry children as they flee following an Israeli strike on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 15, 2023. (Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images)
The water restoration in southern Gaza followed intense advocacy by U.S. officials, Israeli officials told Axios. While Israel said it had restored water at “a specific point” within Gaza, people on the ground said they did not quickly regain access, according to local news reports.
In a signal of how seriously the Biden administration is taking the plight of Gaza Palestinians displaced by the fighting, President Joe Biden on Sunday named a special envoy for humanitarian issues in the Middle East, David Satterfield, who is a veteran diplomat with decades of experience in the region.
Satterfield “will lead U.S. diplomacy to urgently address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including work to facilitate the provision of life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable people and promote the safety of civilians,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement welcoming the appointment.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway to safeguard Israeli civilians and citizens of other countries in advance of a possible invasion of Gaza. The Israeli government was working to evacuate the 30,000 residents of Sderot, a city on the border of Gaza that has come under heavy rocket fire over the last week. Israel has 60,000 internal refugees in total.
And the United States was working to evacuate citizens who were traveling in Israel when the attack took place or otherwise wish to leave. Charter flights began departing on Friday. Now, Americans in Israel have been told that they can travel to the northern city of Haifa for passage to Cyprus on Monday morning.
Citizens and their family members who have valid travel documents must arrive at the port by 9 a.m. Sunday and can bring only one bag each for the roughly 12-hour journey, according to an alert distributed by the U.S. Embassy late Saturday. Pets will not be allowed on board, and travelers will need to promise to repay the cost of the trip. They will also need to figure out their next steps once in Cyprus, although there is a chance that the State Department could charter further flights.
A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators has traveled to Israel to show what Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Jewish Democrat from New York, said was “unwavering support” for the country as it battles Hamas. While the group was in Tel Aviv, rocket alarms sounded and the group, which also included Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican, ran to a bomb shelter.
“It shows you what Israelis have to go through,” Schumer tweeted. “We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself.”
While in Tel Aviv today, our delegation was rushed to a shelter to wait out rockets sent by Hamas. It shows you what Israelis have to go through. We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself. pic.twitter.com/wS3kq6xFVJ
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) October 15, 2023
—
The post Israel restores water to southern Gaza, US evacuating citizens from Israel by boat as ground war looms appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld
US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and President Donald Trump, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, March 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
President Donald Trump’s administration will release more than $5 billion in previously approved funding for K-12 school programs that it froze over three weeks ago under a review, which had led to bipartisan condemnation.
“(The White House Office of Management and Budget) has completed its review … and has directed the Department to release all formula funds,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the U.S. Education Department, said in a statement, adding funds will be dispersed to states next week.
Further details on the review and what it found were not shared.
A senior administration official said “guardrails” would be in place for the amount being released, without giving details.
Early in July, the Trump administration said it would not release funding previously appropriated by Congress for schools and that an initial review found signs the money was misused to subsidize what it alleged was “a radical leftwing agenda.”
States say $6.8 billion in total was affected by the freeze. Last week, $1.3 billion was released.
After the freeze, a coalition of mostly Democratic-led states sued to challenge the move, and 10 Republican US senators wrote to the Republican Trump administration to reverse its decision.
The frozen money covered funding for education of migrant farm workers and their children; recruitment and training of teachers; English proficiency learning; academic enrichment and after-school and summer programs.
The Trump administration has threatened schools and colleges with withholding federal funds over issues like climate initiatives, transgender policies, pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel’s war in Gaza and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Republican US lawmakers welcomed the move on Friday, while Democratic lawmakers said there was no need to disrupt funding in the first place.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon separately said she was satisfied with what was found in the review and released the money, adding she did not think there would be future freezes.
The post Trump Administration to Release Over $5 Billion School Funding That It Withheld first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
Israel will resume airdrop aid to Gaza on Saturday night, the Israeli military said, a few days after more than 100 aid agencies warned that mass starvation was spreading across the enclave.
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the military added in a statement.
The post Israel to Resume Airdrop Aid to Gaza on Saturday, Military Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – US President Donald Trump on Friday said the Palestinian jihadists of Hamas did not want to make a deal on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza.
“Now we’re down to the final hostages, and they know what happens after you get the final hostages. And basically because of that, they really didn’t want to make a deal,” Trump said.
The comments followed statements by Middle East peace envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the effect that Israel was now considering “alternative” options to achieve its goals of bringing its hostages home from Gaza and ending the terror rule of Hamas in the coastal enclave.
Trump added he believed Hamas leaders would now be “hunted down.”
On Thursday, Witkoff said the Trump administration had decided to bring its negotiating team home for consultations following Hamas’s latest proposal. Witkoff said overnight that Hamas was to blame for the impasse, with Netanyahu concurring.
Trump also dismissed the significance of French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that Paris would become the first major Western power to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Macron’s comments, “didn’t carry any weight,” the US leader said.
The post Trump Says Hamas ‘Didn’t Want to Make a Deal,’ Now Likely to Get ‘Hunted Down’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.