Israel-Hamas war latest: Leaders of France, Germany and Britain endorse push for cease-fire in Gaza

The leaders of France, Germany and Britain in a joint statement have endorsed the latest push by mediators United States, Qatar and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the 10-month Israel-Hamas war. They also call for the return of scores of hostages held by Hamas and the “unfettered” delivery of humanitarian aid.

Mediators have spent months trying to get the sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in its Oct. 7 attack in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel and Israel would withdraw from Gaza. Talks have been expected to resume Thursday.

The statement was signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It also called on Iran and its allies to refrain from any retaliatory attacks that would further escalate regional tensions after the killing of two senior militants last month in Beirut and Tehran.

Here’s the latest:

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — One of the three major credit rating firms has downgraded Israel amid the monthslong Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, signaling the economic strain the country is under as it awaits a possible retaliatory strike from Iran.

Fitch Ratings in its advisory note downgraded Israel from an “A+” rating to an “A” rating, something that can affect Israel’s borrowing rate and its ability to seek cash from international lenders.

Fitch noted that “public finances have been hit” from the war and that it projects Israel to carry a budget deficit of 7.8% of its gross domestic product this year, with its overall debt to remain over 70% of its GDP.

“In our view, the conflict in Gaza could last well into 2025 and there are risks of it broadening to other fronts,” Fitch warned in its rating note issued late Monday in the United States. “In addition to human losses, it could result in significant additional military spending, destruction of infrastructure and more sustained damage to economic activity and investment, leading to a further deterioration of Israel’s credit metrics.”

Fitch added: “Israel is likely to maintain a stronger presence along its borders than in the past, plans to widen mandatory draft and to increase domestic military production, which would also add to spending.”

Responding to the rating decision in a post on the social platform X, Israel’s hard-line Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described his nation as being in “the midst of an existential war, the longest and most expensive in its history.”

“The downgrade following the war and the geopolitical risks it creates is natural,” he wrote. “Israel’s economy is strong and we will navigate it correctly and responsibly.”

S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service also lowered Israel's ratings in recent months.

Over the past year, the Israeli shekel has been weighed down by the war, while the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange has seen turbulence as well.

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Security Council is set to meet Tuesday to discuss Gaza in the wake of this weekend’s Israeli airstrike on a school that was being used as a shelter, and the world body’s leader is calling the strike “devastating.”

Secretary-General António Guterres made that remark and condemned “the continued loss of life in Gaza” in a post Monday on the social media platform X.

Algeria called for the urgent Security Council meeting after missiles hit the school Saturday. Gaza’s Health Ministry said at least 80 people were killed, without saying whether any were fighters. Israel says 31 were militants.

LONDON — United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday called on Iran not to attack Israel during a 30-minute phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

“The Prime Minister said that he was deeply concerned by the situation in the region and called on all parties to de-escalate and avoid further regional confrontation,” his office said in a statement. “He called on Iran to refrain from attacking Israel, adding that war was not in anyone’s interests.”

Starmer also emphasized his commitment to an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza, adding that the parties should focus on diplomatic negotiations to achieve these goals.

He also called on Iran to give necessary medical care to any foreign detainees.

The two leaders agreed that constructive dialogue between the UK and Iran was in both countries’ interests. Starmer said this could only happen if Iran stopped “destabilizing actions, including threats against individuals in the UK,” and did not provide further aid to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israel’s military said its forces shot dead a Palestinian gunman Monday after he opened fire at an Israeli citizen in the northern West Bank, as violence surges in the Israeli-occupied territory.

The military said an Israeli national and two other Palestinians were injured in the gun attack that took place in the West Bank border town of Qalqilya. After a brief pursuit, the attacker was gunned down by Israeli troops and the Israeli national was evacuated to a hospital, it said.

Later Monday, The Palestinian Health Ministry announced that an 18-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces near the town of Azoun, roughly 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) east of Qalqilya, but did not elaborate on the circumstances of the killing.

No further information was immediately available.

Violence has flared in the West Bank since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last October. Since then, over 620 Palestinians in the territory have been killed by Israeli fire according to the Ramallah-seated Health Ministry, which tracks the deaths.

Israeli nationals are prohibited from entering certain areas of the West Bank that are under the control of the Palestinian Authority, including Qalqilya and other Palestinian cities.

WASHINGTON — The White House said Monday that it shares the Israeli intelligence assessment that Iran could launch a strike on Israel as soon as this week.

National security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that “it is difficult to ascertain at this particular time if there’s an attack by Iran or its proxies what it could look like,” but that the U.S. and its allies were preparing for “a significant set of attacks.”

This comes after the Pentagon beefed up the U.S. military posture in the Middle East, and after Biden held a call Monday morning with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom to coordinate their response to tensions in the region.

“The president is confident that we have the capability available to us to help defend Israel should it come to that,” Kirby said. “Nobody wants to see it come to that.”

The possibility of such an attack coming this week, “is a US assessment as well as an Israeli assessment,” Kirby said.

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration warned Iran of a “swift and severe” response if it ships ballistic missiles to Russia to aid that country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Briefing reporters on Monday, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said the U.S. and its security allies in Europe were discussing a potential response should Tehran transfer the arms to Russia.

“We are deeply concerned by reports that Iran is planning to deliver hundreds of ballistic missiles to Russia and we continue to communicate with our European partners and allies regarding Potential measures we may take,” Patel said. “We’ve been warning of the deepening security partnership between Russia and Iran since the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. This partnership threatens European security and illustrates how Iran’s destabilizing influence reaches beyond the middle east and around the world.”

The U.S. and its allies have warned for months that Iran could face greater international sanctions if it moves forward with the partnership.

On Monday Patel said the U.S. views the possible transfer of missiles as a “a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

“Together we are prepared to deliver a swift and severe response if Iran were to move forward with the transfer of ballistic missiles,” Patel said.

BERLIN — The German government says Chancellor Olaf Scholz has appealed to Iran’s new president to do everything to prevent a further military escalation in the Middle East.

Scholz spoke by phone Monday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and “expressed his great concern about the danger of a regional conflagration in the Middle East.” The government did not say who initiated the call. It said Scholz made clear that “the spiral of violence in the Middle East must now be broken.”

Scholz also underlined his call for a cease-fire agreement for Gaza to be finalized. His office said that “would be an important contribution to regional de-escalation.”

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says a strike on a school-turned-shelter over the weekend killed 31 Palestinian militants.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said the pre-dawn strike Saturday in Gaza City killed at least 80 people and wounded dozens more, without saying if any were fighters.

Israel previously released the names of 19 people it said were Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants killed in the strike. On Monday, it released the names of another 12. The military also has disputed the Health Ministry’s toll.

Hamas and Palestinian activists have disputed the military’s account, saying at least two of the people it identified as militants were killed in earlier strikes and that others were civilians.

Northern Gaza, including Gaza City, has been surrounded by Israeli forces and largely isolated. It is not possible to independently confirm the accounts from either side.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says Israeli strikes over the past 48 hours have killed 142 people and wounded 150 others.

The fatalities announced on Monday bring the Palestinian death toll in Gaza to 39,897 since the start of the war, according to the ministry. It says over 92,000 people have been wounded.

The ministry does not say how many of the dead and wounded were combatants.

The Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, maintains detailed records and its casualty figures from previous wars have largely matched up with those of independent experts, the United Nations and even Israel’s own figures.

The war began when Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel on Oct. 7. Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 others.

Around 110 hostages are still being held in Gaza after most of the rest were released during a cease-fire in November. Israeli authorities believe around a third of the remaining hostages are dead.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — A hospital in southern Gaza has received the bodies of 13 people, including a child, who were killed in apparent Israeli strikes on Khan Younis.

The strikes came as Israel has ordered mass evacuations from Gaza’s second-largest city in recent days, saying Palestinian militants are firing rockets from the area. Khan Younis suffered heavy destruction earlier this year during a major Israeli air and ground offensive.

An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the nearby Nasser Hospital and saw funeral prayers being held Monday morning.

The dead include a medic who was killed along with two others in a strike on his house, according to the hospital records.

The Israeli military says it tries to avoid harming civilians and accuses Hamas of putting them in danger by fighting in dense, residential areas. The army rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican is calling on Iran to refrain “in every way” from fueling the Middle East conflict.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, appealed instead for Tehran to embrace dialogue, negotiation and peace, during a phone call Monday with Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

Parolin spoke with Pezeshkian to congratulate him on the start of his mandate.

According to a Vatican statement, Parolin “expressed the Holy See’s serious concern about what is happening in the Middle East, reiterating the need to avoid in any way the widening of the very serious conflict underway and preferring instead dialogue, negotiation and peace.”

The Vatican has tried to maintain a balanced position on Israel’s war in Gaza. It has reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself and called for Hamas to release hostages taken Oct. 7 but has also demanded a cease-fire, an end to the conflict and for humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians.

BERLIN — Airlines are extending their suspension of flights to and from the Middle East as the region braces for possible Iranian and Hezbollah retaliation for the targeted killing of two top militants that were blamed on Israel.

The Lufthansa Group, which also includes Austrian Airlines and Swiss, said Monday that its flights to Tel Aviv, Tehran, Beirut, Amman and Irbil will remain suspended until Aug. 21 inclusive. Its airlines also won’t use Iranian and Iraqi airspace during that time.

The company said passengers who aren’t affected by the current suspensions but have flights to or from those five destinations booked through Aug. 31 can cancel without cost.

Air France said it has extended the suspension of its flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Beirut — as well as flights to and from Lebanon operated by its subsidiary, Transavia France – until Wednesday Aug. 14 due to the security situation in Lebanon.

Air France suspended flights to Beirut on July 29 after a rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights killed 12 children and teens.

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair said it was canceling all flights to and from Ben Gurion International Airport outside of Tel Aviv from Tuesday until Aug. 26 “due to operational restrictions which are beyond our control.” The airline did not elaborate.

JERUSALEM — The European Union’s top diplomat says it should consider sanctions in response to calls by Israel’s far-right national security minister to cut off aid to Gaza.

Writing on the X platform late Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the recent remarks by Itamar Ben-Gvir constitute “incitement to war crimes,” adding that “sanctions must be on our EU agenda.”

In his own post on X and in media interviews, Ben-Gvir said that instead of agreeing to a potential cease-fire deal, Israel should block the entry of humanitarian aid and fuel to Gaza until Hamas releases all of the hostages, saying that doing so would bring the militant group to its knees.

Ben-Gvir has also repeatedly called for Israel to permanently reoccupy Gaza, rebuild Jewish settlements there and encourage the “voluntary” migration of Palestinians from the territory.

Ben-Gvir, a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, has threatened to bring the government down if it makes too many concessions in the cease-fire talks.

Borrell called on Israel’s government to “unequivocally distance itself from these incitements to commit war crimes,” and to engage “in good faith” with cease-fire negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

The United States and Israel’s other Western allies have repeatedly voiced concern about the killing of Palestinian civilians and Israeli restrictions on aid operations in the 10-month-old war. But they continue to provide vital military and diplomatic support for its offensive.

Relatives and friends of Yonatan Deutsch, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, mourn during his funeral at a cemetery in Jerusalem, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Relatives and friends of Yonatan Deutsch, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, carry his body during his funeral at a cemetery in Jerusalem, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A Palestinian displaced woman by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flees from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are gearing up to take the stage for Tuesday night’s debate in Philadelphia, where they’ll fight to sway 2024 election voters on the biggest stage in U.S. politics.

The event, at 9 p.m. Eastern, will offer Americans their most detailed look at a campaign that’s dramatically changed since the last debate in June. In rapid fashion, President Joe Biden bowed out of the race after his disastrous performance, Trump survived an assassination attempt and bothsides chose their running mates.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

Four years ago, Kamala Harris and Mike Pence met in the 2020 vice presidential debate in what was mostly a civil, substantive debate. But a tiny insect ended up stealing more of its fair share of the spotlight.

Marc Short, who led Pence’s debate prep, still shakes his head thinking about the fly that landed on Pence’s head during the debate, a stark image of the dark insect set against Pence’s white hair.

“On the actual substance you we were very pleased with Pence’s answers back and forth in that debate,” Short said. Unfortunately, he added, “a lot of the after coverage was focused on the fly.”

Indeed, it became an immediate social media sensation, made its way into the ubiquitous takeaway analysis pieces that every major news outlet produces and was part of NBC’s Saturday Night Live “Cold Open” skit days later.

The lesson, Short said, is that candidates, no matter how much they prepare, cannot always control the conversation coming out of a debate.

“She just needs to be herself, and she will be fine,” South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn told reporters at a White House celebration for the South Carolina Gamecocks, the 2024 NCAA women’s basketball champs.

Jaime Harrison, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said he was confident Harris will show herself to be more presidential than former President Donald Trump.

“Listen, I think if the vice president is herself, she’s going to be fantastic,” said Harrison, another South Carolinian who attended the White House ceremony. “She’s going to be presidential, and we know Donald Trump is going to do what Donald Trump does.”

If he wins in November, Trump, who’s 78, will be the oldest person ever elected to the presidency. And a new Pew Research Center poll finds that about half of voters think his age will hurt his candidacy. Only 3% of voters think his age will help him, and the rest say it won’t make a difference.

The results are the opposite for Harris, who at 59 is nearly two decades younger than her opponent. About half say her age will help her, while only 3% say it will hurt her.

With Harris as the Democratic candidate, Trump may have lost an advantage over President Joe Biden – the perception that he’s more mentally prepared for the job. About 6 in 10 voters say the phrase “mentally sharp” describes Harris very or fairly well, while about half say that about Trump. Back in July, when Biden was still his opponent, about 6 in 10 voters said Trump was “mentally sharp,” while only about one-quarter said the same of Biden.

Harris’s candidacy is historic – if elected, she’d be the first woman president, as well as the first Asian American and first Black woman president. Voters are more likely to think those identities will help her than hurt her at the ballot box this fall, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center.

About 4 in 10 voters think Harris’s Asian and Black identity will help her in November, and a similar share think the same about her identity as a woman. They’re more likely to see her gender as a liability than her race: About 3 in 10 say the fact that Harris is a woman will hurt her in November, while about 3 in 10 say that about the fact that she is Asian and Black.

The voters who are most concerned that Harris’s race and gender will be a liability are her own supporters. About 4 in 10 Harris supporters, for instance, say the fact that Harris is a woman will hurt her with voters, compared to 16% of Trump supporters.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet face-to-face for the first time in a highly-anticipated debate Tuesday night. The two presidential candidates describe the state of the country in starkly different terms. Trump often paints a dark picture centered around issues such as immigration and high inflation, while Harris focuses on optimism for the future, promising that “we’re not going back.”

The first debate of the 2024 election in June — at which President Joe Biden’s disastrous performance ultimately forced him from the race — featured multiple false and misleading claims from both candidates and it’s likely that Tuesday’s match-up will include much of the same.

▶ Read more about claims made by the candidates

And both of them plan to say why the Democrat would be better than Republican Donald Trump.

Anthony Scaramucci was briefly the Trump White House’s communications director, while Olivia Troye was a homeland security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence and was involved in Trump’s coronavirus task force. The Harris campaign said both will speak out against Trump before the debate starts.

In a form of political judo, the Harris campaign has been trying to use Trump’s former aides against him, trying to show that those who know him best see him as unfit to return to the White House.

This year’s presidential race is a genuine contest of ideas between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump — with clear differences on taxes, abortion, immigration, global alliances, climate change and democracy itself.

Since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee, Harris has pledged to chart a new way forward even as she’s embraced many of his ideas. She wants middle class tax cuts, tax hikes on the wealthy and corporations, a restoration of abortion rights and a government that aggressively addresses climate change, among other stances.

Seeking a return to the White House, Trump wants to accomplish much of what he couldn’t do during a term that was sidetracked by the global pandemic. The Republican wants the extension and expansion of his 2017 tax cuts, a massive increase in tariffs, more support for fossil fuels and a greater concentration of government power in the White House.

The two candidates have spelled out their ideas in speeches, advertisements and other venues. Many of their proposals lack specifics, making it difficult to judge exactly how they would translate their intentions into law or pay for them.

▶ Read more about where the candidates stand on issues

With early voting fast approaching, the rhetoric by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has turned more ominous with a pledge to prosecute anyone who “cheats” in the election in the same way he believes they did in 2020, when he falsely claimed he won and attacked those who stood by their accurate vote tallies.

He also told a gathering of police officers last Friday that they should “watch for the voter fraud,” an apparent attempt to enlist law enforcement that would be legally dubious.

Trump has contended, without providing evidence, that he lost the 2020 election only because of cheating by Democrats, election officials and other, unspecified forces.

On Saturday, Trump promised that this year those who cheat “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” should he win in November. He said he was referencing everyone from election officials to attorneys, political staffers and donors.

▶ Read more about Trump’s rhetoric on the election

The debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump won’t have an audience, live microphones when candidates aren’t speaking, or written notes, according to rules ABC News, the host network, shared with both campaigns last month.

The parameters in place for the Tuesday night debate are essentially the same as they were for the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden, a disastrous performance for the incumbent Democrat that fueled his exit from the campaign.

It's the only debate that’s been firmly scheduled and could be the only time voters see Harris and Trump go head to head before the November general election.

▶ Read more about the rules for the Trump-Harris debate

In this combination photo, Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during a debate, Oct. 7, 2020, in Salt Lake City, left, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a debate, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo)

The motorcade of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris passes a billboard in support of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, ahead of the presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris arrives on Air Force Two at Atlantic Aviation Philadelphia, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, near Philadelphia International Airport, ahead of the presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Signage at the media filing center ahead of tomorrow's presidential debate between Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)