Israel-Hamas war latest: Netanyahu addresses Congress and vows to achieve 'total victory'

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress in Washington on Wednesday as he sought to bolster the United States' support for his country's fight against Hamas and other Iran-backed armed groups.

Netanyahu has signaled that a cease-fire deal could be taking shape after nine months of war, but during his fiery speech to Congress, he vowed to press forward with Israel's war until he achieves “total victory.” Meanwhile, thousands of protesters gathered near the U.S. Capitol to denounce the war.

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli military's latest order to leave parts of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis say they are sleeping in the streets. The Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 39,100 Palestinians have been killed in the war.

Officials from Egypt, Israel, the United States and Qatar had been expected to meet in Doha on Thursday with the aim of resuming talks for a proposed three-phase cease-fire to end the war between Israel and Hamas and free the remaining hostages. But an Israeli official said Israel's negotiating team was delayed and would likely be dispatched next week.

Israel recovers the bodies of 5 hostages in Gaza

Jerusalem- The Israeli military said Thursday it has recovered the bodies of five Israeli hostages, in the area of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, who were abducted by Hamas militants on Oct. 7.

It identified the hostages as Maya Goren, and three soldiers it says fell in battle: Sgt. Oren Goldin, Staff Sgt. Tomer Ahimas, Sgt. Maj. Ravid Aryeh Katz and Sgt. Kiril Brodski. It says all five were believed to have been killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas raid that triggered the war.

Kibbutz Nir Oz, one of the hardest-hit communities during Hamas' assault, said earlier in the day that it was informed that the body of Goren, 56, was returned to Israel after a rescue mission, without providing additional details. Israeli authorities had said in late 2023 that she was dead.

Israel has now pronounced dead more than a third of the roughly 110 hostages who remain in Hamas captivity.

Australia sanctions 7 Israelis and a West Bank-based youth group over settler violence

Sydney — Australia is imposing financial sanctions and travel bans against seven Israeli citizens and financial sanctions against a West Bank-based youth group over their alleged involvement in settler violence in the occupied territory.

The sanctions announced Thursday are against Hilltop Youth and its leader Meir Ettinger, 32. Other targeted individuals are Yinon Levi, 31, Zvi Bar Yosef, 31, Neria Ben Pazi, 30, Elisha Yered, 23, David Chai Chasdai, 29, and Einan Tanjil, 22.

Australia accuses them of violent attacks on Palestinians. These include beatings, sexual assault and torture of Palestinians resulting in serious injuries and deaths, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his government imposed the sanctions “because it's the right thing to do.” He added that settlements in the West Bank impeded a two-state solution and were illegal under international law.

The sanctions follow a U.S. decision to sanction entities and individuals connected to acts of violence against civilians in the West Bank.

Wong said Australia called on Israel to hold perpetrators of settler violence to account and it cease ongoing settlement activity.

Families of 8 American hostages profoundly disappointed' by Netanyahu's speech

Washington — The families of the eight American hostages being held in Gaza say they're “profoundly disappointed” that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not guarantee in his speech to Congress that the hostages would be coming home.

In a joint statement, the families said that Netanyahu on Wednesday “failed to present any new solutions or a new path forward” and “failed to commit to the hostage deal that is now on the table even though Israel's senior defense and intelligence officials have called on him to do so.”

They called on him to get the deal done “before it is too late.”

Eight Americans are believed to be held by Hamas, including three who were killed.

United Nations envoy for Lebanon hopes a cease-fire in Gaza will end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah

United Nations — The top U.N. envoy for Lebanon told the Security Council in Wednesday that “both Lebanon and Israel state that they do not seek war,” despite thousands of strikes from both sides of the border since Oct. 8, the U.N. said.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert “expressed hope that a cease-fire in Gaza would lead to an immediate return to the cessation of hostilities” between the Israel military and Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, relaying a few of her comments from her closed-door briefing to the council.

France's U.N. Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere told reporters before the meeting that a “full-fledged war” would be “unbearable and catastrophic,” and he urged Israel and Lebanon to implement a 2006 Security Council resolution calling for the cessation of hostilities along the border.

Dujarric said Hennis-Plasschaert also discussed the ongoing leadership crisis in Lebanon, which has failed to elect a president since Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, completed his term in 2022.

Malta's U.N. Ambassador Vanessa Frazier told reporters after the meeting that Hennis-Plasschaert indicated an “appetite” among Lebanese leaders to resolve the presidential crisis.

Hennis-Plasschaert briefed the Security Council on the ongoing violence a day after the release of U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' report on the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

According to the report, the U.N. humanitarian office in June recorded at least 95 civilian deaths and 95,228 displaced people in Lebanon since Hamas' surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Palestinians killed while sheltering inside 2 schools in Gaza, United Nations says

United Nations – The United Nations says two schools in southern Khan Younis were hit during military action, killing and injuring Palestinians sheltering inside.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday that the U.N. World Health Organization and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were able to evacuate six wounded people to the International Medical Corp field hospital along with the bodies of two people killed in the shelters.

Dujarric said U.N. humanitarian staff report that intense hostilities and large-scale displacement is continuing in Khan Younis following Israel's evacuation order. Most people are moving into a smaller, already overcrowded area labeled by the Israelis as a “humanitarian zone,” he said.

“We and our humanitarian colleagues have been in touch by phone with hundreds of people who are trapped in combat zones of Khan Younis, within the area labeled for evacuation,” Dujarric said.

“This includes more than 300 people sheltering in schools,” he said, pointing out that they include people with reduced mobility and family members staying to help them.

In northern Gaza, fuel and medical supplies were delivered to al-Ahli hospital in Gaza City earlier this week, which had been closed because of insecurity in the area, Dujarric said. It has now partially resumed health services.

Dujarric said Palestinians continue to cross from northern Gaza to the south, where U.N. partner organizations are registering them and providing them with food, water and other supplies.

As for the impact of the nine-month war, the spokesman said the U.N. and its humanitarian partners are continuing to screen children, pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding for malnutrition and to treat them.

“Since mid-January, nearly 170,000 children under the age of 5 and more than 10,000 pregnant women and breastfeeding women have been screened,” Dujarric said. “Over 11,500 of those children have been diagnosed with acute malnutrition and are receiving treatment.”

Protesters in Washington climb flagpoles to replace American flags with Palestinian ones

Washington — Protesters climbed the flagpoles outside Washington's Union Station on Wednesday afternoon and replaced the American flags with Palestinian flags.

Dozens of officers wearing helmets and carrying riot shields walked in a line down a street outside Union Station, which is one of the nation's busiest railroad terminals. Protesters cheered as a fire burned what appeared to be a paper-mache likeness of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

An Associated Press reporter saw at least four people taken into custody by police during the confrontation outside Union Station.

Thousands of demonstrators had gathered in Washington to protest Israel's war in Gaza as Netanyahu spoke in front of Congress earlier Wednesday afternoon.