“It can no longer function as a fighting unit,” the IDF said.
Last Updated: June 24, 2024, 4:36 PM
As the Israel-Hamas war continues, negotiations have stalled to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, and Israeli forces continue to launch incursions in the southern Gazan town of Rafah ahead of a possible large-scale invasion.
Netanyahu says he’s committed to Israeli deal proposal that Biden presented
While addressing Israel’s parliament on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he remains “committed” to the Israeli hostage/cease-fire proposal that President Joe Biden had presented.
“Will not end the war until we return all the abductees — 120 abductees — both the living and the dead. We are committed to the Israeli proposal that President Biden welcomed. Our position has not changed,” Netanyahu said.
He added, “We will not end the war until we eliminate Hamas and until we return the residents of the south and the north safely to their homes. … [And] we will thwart Iran’s intentions to destroy us.”
Senior Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya told Al Jazeera on Monday evening that “Netanyahu’s statements confirmed our view that he does not want a cease-fire or the return of [Israeli] prisoners. … Netanyahu’s real stance is that he wants to retrieve his prisoners and continue the war.”
“We are ready for genuine negotiations if Netanyahu adheres to the principles outlined by President Biden,” he said. “We are ready for negotiations that achieve a cessation of aggression and a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Number of children missing, separated from families in Gaza may be as high as 21,000: Report
The number of children who are missing or separated from their families in Gaza may be as many as 21,000, according to humanitarian aid group Save the Children.
This organization — which has been providing support for Palestinian children in the region since 1953 — reports that likely 17,000 children are unaccompanied and separated, and another 4,000 children are likely buried under the rubble based on data from the United Nations and the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza.
“Children who are missing but living are vulnerable, face grave protection risks and must be found. They must be protected and reunited with their families,” said Save the Children’s Regional Director for the Middle East Jeremy Stoner. “For the children who have been killed, their deaths must be formally marked, their families informed, burial rites respected, and accountability sought.”
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-ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca
Blinken meets with Israel’s defense minister
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Secretary of State Antony Blinken is emphasizing several points in his ongoing meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday afternoon.
“No. 1, our ongoing commitment to Israel’s security,” Miller said. “No. 2, the importance of Israel developing robust, realistic plans for the day after the conflict, plans that include a path towards governance, towards security, towards reconstruction.”
“He’s going to emphasize the need to avoid further escalation of the conflict, and then he will, as always, emphasize the need to improve humanitarian access [in Gaza], where we have seen somewhat of a slowdown in access in the south,” Miller continued, adding that Blinken hoped to hear “concrete commitments from [Gallant] to work on that problem.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Pentagon: Only the 1 shipment of 2,000-pound bombs has been delayed
Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments alleging a U.S. slowdown in military aid to Israel, the Pentagon continues to say that only the one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs has been suspended.
“Again, just to clarify, we have paused one shipment to Israel,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters on Monday.
“Everything else continues to flow on schedule as normal. It is not diminished,” he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who is in Washington, D.C., for meetings with U.S. officials, will meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon on Tuesday, Ryder said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
IDF ‘approaching the point’ of dismantling Hamas’ Rafah Brigade
The Israeli military said it is winding down the intensity of fighting in the Rafah area of Gaza.
“We are clearly approaching the point where we can say we have dismantled [Hamas’] Rafah Brigade, that it is defeated not in the sense that there are no more terrorists, but in the sense that it can no longer function as a fighting unit,” the IDF chief of the general staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said Sunday night. “It has suffered many casualties, and you will ensure until the completion of the mission here, to eliminate as many terrorists and destroy as much terrorist infrastructure as possible going forward.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
