Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on his position that Israeli forces cannot leave the Philadelphi corridor and still achieve Israel's goals of the war in Gaza during a press conference in Jerusalem Wednesday.
"I'm telling you that if we relieve the pressure, if we get out of the Philadelphi corridor, we are not going to get the hostages back," Netanyahu said. Government Press Office - PHOTO: Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks to the press on Sept. 4, 2024.
The Philadelphi corridor -- a narrow strip of land on the Gaza side of the Gaza-Egypt border -- has been one of the main sticking points in reaching a hostage and cease-fire deal.
Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel needs to control the corridor to release the remaining hostages in Gaza. "I'm committed to returning the remaining 101 [hostages]. I'll do everything to get them, but leaving Philadelphi does not advance the release of the hostages, because the deal cannot be advanced," he said. -ABC News' Ellie Kaufman Sep 4, 7:53 AM Israel hits southern Lebanon after dozens of rockets fired, IDF says
Around 65 projectiles were fired into Israel from Lebanon on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said, with air raid sirens sounding and air defense units active in border areas.
"The IDF Aerial Defense Array successfully intercepted some of the projectiles, and some fell in open areas," the force said. Jalaa Marey/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome air defence system over the Upper Galilee region in northern Israel on Sept. 4, 2024.
"A number of fires were ignited by fallen projectiles," it added, noting that emergency services were responding.
The IDF said it was "currently striking Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon." -ABC News' Jordana Miller and David Brennan Sep 4, 6:39 AM Hamas threatens Netanyahu with more hostage deaths
Hamas has issued a new threat tying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's premiership to the fate of the surviving Gaza hostages.
"Aggression stops = prisoners return alive," a Wednesday morning post on the group's official Telegram channel said. "Aggression continues = prisoners' fate unknown." "Every day that Netanyahu continues to rule may mean a new coffin," the post -- which was written in English, Arabic and Hebrew -- continued. "The decision is yours." Hamas and Netanyahu have blamed each other for the failure to reach a cease-fire deal. Hamas said Netanyahu's demands are "aimed at obstructing reaching an agreement to preserve his power." Netanyahu, for his part, said this weekend of the militant group: "Whoever murders hostages -- does not want a deal." There are 101 hostages still inside Gaza, around half of whom are believed to still be alive. -ABC News' Nasser Atta and David Brennan Sep 4, 5:13 AM 187,000 Gaza children receive polio vaccine, WHO says
More than 187,000 children in central Gaza have received polio vaccines since Sunday, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Wednesday that the "first phase of polio vaccination in central Gaza is complete," with more than 187,000 children under the age of 10 vaccinated. That is higher than the target number of 156,500, Ghebreyesus said. Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: A young child is restrained before receiving a vaccination for polio in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip on Sept. 4, 2024, amid the ongoing war in the Palestinian territory between Israel and Hamas. "Four fixed sites will continue to offer polio vaccination for the next three days in central Gaza to ensure no child is missed," the WHO chief added. Preparations are underway to expand the vaccine roll out campaign into southern Gaza, Ghebreyesus said. Vaccinations there are expected to begin on Thursday. Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies hope to vaccinate 640,000 children. Israel agreed to partial pauses in the fighting in Gaza to facilitate the polio vaccination campaign, saying the drive will continue through Sept. 9 and last eight hours a day. "We ask for the humanitarian pauses to continue to be respected," Ghebreyesus wrote. "We continue to call for a cease-fire." -ABC News' Kevin Shalvey and David Brennan Sep 4, 4:43 AM Protesters plan gathering at Netanyahu ally's home
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum will again lead cease-fire and hostage release demonstrations across Israel on Wednesday, according to a schedule posted to social media.
"The public is called to join and come together with the families of the abductees to the houses of the ministers and coalition members and hold demonstrations and protest vigils demanding that they exercise their authority to bring about a deal now," the Forum wrote on X. Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: Demonstrators light flares and wave national flags during an anti-government protest calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages in front of the Israeli Defence Ministry in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, Israel, on Sept. 3, 2024. Among the gatherings will be one outside the Jerusalem home of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer -- a former member of the dissolved war cabinet and long considered a close ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Activists plan to protest at the homes of eight other government ministers and three members of parliament, the Forum said. -ABC News' Jordana Miller and David Brennan Sep 4, 3:52 AM Far-right minister 'working to stop' cease-fire talks
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he is "working to stop the negotiations with Hamas," as talks over a cease-fire and hostage release deal continue under massive public and international pressure.
Ben-Gvir -- one of the most vocally hawkish members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government -- wrote on X that Israel should end negotiations and cut fuel and electricity to Gaza in response to Hamas' recent killing of six hostages in the southern strip. "Continuing the negotiations only spurs them to produce more and more terror," including in the West Bank, Ben-Gvir said. Ricardo Moraes/Reuters - PHOTO: Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir talks to emergency responders at the scene of a suspected stabbing attack in Holon, Israel, Aug. 4, 2024. Ben-Gvir is a longstanding proponent of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. He has called on the government to "encourage" Israelis to settle in Gaza while suggesting "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians from the territory. Ben-Gvir was convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terror organization in 2008, related to an anti-Arab placard he displayed at a protest following a Palestinian terrorist attack in Jerusalem. Signs referring to the far-right Kach movement -- a Jewish group banned as a terror organization -- were also found in his car. -ABC News' Guy Davies and David Brennan Sep 4, 12:20 AM Emhoff says parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin told him, Harris they don't want son's death to 'be in vain'
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff said Tuesday night that the parents of Oct. 7 hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who the Israeli military found had been killed last week, do not want their son's "death to be in vain."
Emhoff opened up about the recent conversation he and his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris, had with the couple after learning of the death of their son. Speaking at a vigil hosted at the Adas Israel Congregation synagogue in Washington, D.C., which was organized to honor the memory of the six Israeli hostages found killed by Hamas in Gaza, Emhoff said Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin remained committed to seeing the remaining hostages released. "And yet, with this unspeakable tragedy that they were going through … they were comforting us, but also asking about the latest in the negotiations," Emhoff told those gathered at the vigil about the call with the grieving couple, which occurred last week. "They were asking how we can use this terrible moment to make progress on the deal. And they told the vice president, in no uncertain terms, they do not want Hersh's death to be in vain. And they spoke with such grace, such compassion, such strength. And even though part of Rachel and Jon's world had just ended, they were somehow still looking forward and looking out for others." -ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim Sep 3, 4:57 PM DOJ charges senior Hamas leaders over involvement in Americans' deaths in Oct. 7 attack
The Justice Department unsealed charges Tuesday targeting multiple senior members of Hamas' leadership for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murdering of Americans during the Oct. 7 attack.
The criminal complaint, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, names six members of Hamas' leadership structure and details extensively their terrorist activities on behalf of the group. Click here to read more. -ABC News’ Alexander Mallin Sep 3, 3:46 PM White House says Israel originally agreed to remove IDF from areas of Philadelphi corridor
The White House is pushing back on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance of keeping Israeli troops along the Philadelphi corridor -- a narrow strip of land on the Gaza side of the Gaza-Egypt border -- saying the prime minister originally agreed to removing troops in the Israel-approved framework that was announced in May.
“I'm not going to get into a debate with the prime minister and what he said over the weekend about the Philadelphi corridor," White House national security communications adviser John Kirby said. "The deal itself, the proposal, including the bridging proposal that we started working with … included the removal of Israeli Defense Forces from all densely populated areas, and that includes those areas along that corridor. That's the proposal that Israel had agreed to." Kirby acknowledged Israel’s belief that they need "some security" along the corridor, but Kirby did not give the U.S. position on whether the administration supports the IDF remaining in less dense areas along the border. "The proposal says that they have to remove themselves to the east from densely populated areas -- and that core essential element of the proposal has not changed," Kirby said. "But the Israelis have said publicly that they believe that … they would need some security along that corridor." -ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez Sep 3, 3:46 PM Gantz: Netanyahu is holding up a deal
National Unity party leader Benny Gantz slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, claiming he is holding up a cease-fire and hostage deal.
Gantz said that on Monday, Netanyahu in his speech "did not look directly at the public and told the truth: That he will not bring the kidnapped alive, that he will not truly protect the southern bracket, that he will not return the residents of the north to their homes, that he will not deny Iran nuclear weapons." "This did not surprise me, because during the period that we sat in the War Cabinet, Netanyahu delayed the ability to move forward with the abducted deals serially, including in the first outline," Gantz said. "This does not surprise me because already at the beginning of the war, when we asked to extend the military pressure to Khan Yunis and then to Rafah, Netanyahu hesitated and stopped." "The time has come to say yes and move forward: we need to bring a deal - either in stages or in one stage," Gantz said. Ariel Schalit/AP - PHOTO: People attend a rally demanding a cease-fire deal and the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sept. 3, 2024.
Netanyahu in response laid out the Israeli military's recent successes.
"Since Gantz and his party resigned from the government, Israel has eliminated the Hamas Chief of Staff and the Hezbollah Chief of Staff, attacked the Houthis, captured the Philadelphia axis - Hamas's armament pipeline - and carried out a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah that thwarted its malicious plan and destroyed thousands of rockets aimed at the Galilee," Netanyahu said. "Whoever does not contribute to the victory and the return of our hostages, it is better not to interfere." -ABC News’ Will Gretsky Click here to read the rest of the blog.
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