Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli airstrikes kill 16 in Gaza, including 4 children, Palestinians say

Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes killed 16 people Monday in the Gaza Strip, including five women and four children.

Israel says it only targets militants and accuses Hamas and other armed groups of endangering civilians by operating in residential areas. The military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack triggered the Israel-Hamas war nearly a year ago. The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count but says a little over half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced about 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million.

UNITED NATIONS — The United States ambassador to the United Nations criticized Israel’s military for attacking schools, humanitarian workers and civilians in Gaza in a sign of growing frustration with its close ally Monday as the war in Gaza approaches its first anniversary.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield also reiterated to the U.N. Security Council her and President Joe Biden’s outrage at the death of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Eygi, who was shot and killed Sept. 6 during a protest in the West Bank “simply for attending a protest.”

“This horrific tragedy should never have happened,” the U.S. envoy said. “We will continue to demand details and continue to demand access into Israel’s investigation, and press for accountability, regarding the circumstances that led to Aysenur’s death.”

The Israeli military said it likely killed Eygi by mistake, and the government has launched a criminal investigation. Israel has repeatedly said it targets Hamas militants who use civilians as human shields in retaliation for their Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people.

Thomas-Greenfield was unusually outspoken against the Israeli military in her briefing to the council after the top U.N. humanitarian official in Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, told members the territory has been turned into “an abyss.”

Calling the situation in Gaza “catastrophic,” Thomas-Greenfield said many of the numerous attacks in recent weeks, where U.N. personnel and humanitarian workers were injured or killed, were preventable.

WASHINGTON — White House senior adviser Amos Hochstein told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanon border would not help achieve the goal of getting Israelis forced to evacuate back in their homes, according to a U.S. official.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to lack of authorization to discuss the private talks, said Hochstein stressed to Netanyahu during Monday’s talks that the Israeli leader risked sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict if he moved forward with a full-scale war in Lebanon.

Hochstein also underscored to Israeli officials that the Biden administration remained committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the tensions on Israel’s northern border in conjunction with a Gaza deal or on its own, the official said.

Netanyahu told Hochstein that it would “not be possible to return our residents without a fundamental change in the security situation in the north.”

The prime minister said Israel “appreciates and respects” US support but “will do what is necessary to maintain its security and return the residents of the north to their homes safely.”

Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.

UNITED NATIONS — The top United Nations humanitarian official for Gaza says more must be done to protect civilians.

“Time is slipping away as a man-made humanitarian crisis has turned Gaza into the abyss,” Sigrid Kaag, the U.N. senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza, told the U.N. Security Council.

Kaag said humanitarian operations are impeded by lawlessness, Israeli evacuation orders, fighting and operating conditions for aid workers. She cited Israeli denials of access, delays, a lack of safety and security, and “poor logistical infrastructure.”

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon insisted the country’s humanitarian efforts during the war in Gaza “are unparalleled.” He told the council over 1 million tons of aid have been delivered via more than 50,000 trucks.

Kaag told reporters after the briefing that the question isn’t the number of trucks but how many can be retrieved and how much aid can be distributed given the conditions. She pointed to recent attacks on humanitarian convoys and schools and health facilities.

“It’s not about trucks. It’s about what people need … as human beings,” she stressed. “We’re way, way off what people need, not only daily, but also what we would all consider a dignified human life.”

TEL AVIV, Israel — Hundreds of Israeli protesters have reportedly gathered in central Tel Aviv in a show of anger following reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing to fire his popular defense minister.

Israeli media reported Monday that Netanyahu is set to dismiss Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and replace him with opposition lawmaker Gideon Saar.

Gallant, a gruff retired general, has emerged as Netanyahu’s biggest rival in the Cabinet. In recent weeks, the pair have clashed over Gallant’s call for Israel to reach a temporary cease-fire with Hamas and to seek a diplomatic solution to end daily fighting with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Israeli media reports said hundreds of demonstrators gathered near Saar’s home in central Tel Aviv. Protesters held signs that said, “Saar, values before politics,” as they marched through the streets. A grassroots group representing hostage families said dismissing Gallant would hurt efforts to bring their loved-ones home.

Saar is a former Netanyahu ally who became a fierce rival after quitting the ruling Likud Party four years ago. However, he has struggled as leader of a small party in parliament. Saar has held a number of senior Cabinet posts but has little military experience.

Netanyahu’s office said that reports of negotiations with Saar were incorrect. But Israeli media said the pair were close to a deal.

TEL AVIV, Israel — A key White House Mideast envoy is meeting with Israeli leaders in hopes of lowering tensions between Israel and Lebanon.

The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah began striking Israel shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war. Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging blows daily while avoiding an all-out war. The fighting has displaced tens of thousands of civilians on both sides of the border.

During his meeting with U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, Israel Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that time is running out for a political settlement and that Israel is moving toward taking tougher action against Hezbollah.

Gallant warned “the only way left to ensure the return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes will be via military action,” his office said.

Hochstein in 2022 brokered a maritime border deal between Lebanon and Israel. The two countries have formally been at war since Israel’s independent in 1948.

SANAA, Yemen — The leader of Hamas Yahya Sinwar has told Yemen’s Houthi rebels that their recent missile attack has sent a message to Israel.

Yahya Sinwar’s letter to Abdul-Malek al-Houthi was published by the Houthis’ al-Masirah news channel Monday, a day after a missile fired by the Iran-backed rebels landed in an open area in central Israel and triggered air raid sirens at its international airport.

“I congratulate you for succeeding in making your missile reach the depth of the enemy’s entity after surpassing all defense systems,” Sinwar’s letter read, according to al-Masirah.

Sinwar added that the Yemeni missile attack sent a message that that attempts to “contain” Hamas have failed and that the back-up fronts by Iran-backed groups are becoming more effective.

Sinwar said that Hamas carried out the Oct. 7, attack on southern Israel and has since been fighting “a defensive war that has exhausted the enemy.” He added that Hamas had prepared for “a long war of attrition that will break” Israel’s political will.

Shortly after the Israel-Hamas war started, Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq have claimed responsibility for scores of attacks against Israel saying they are backing their allies in Hamas.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians say Israeli settlers wielding sticks stormed a Palestinian school in the occupied West Bank, beating staff members and tying up the principal.

The Israeli military said Palestinians had attacked an Israeli nearby, inflicting a head injury, before fleeing to the school on Monday. It said a group of Israelis followed the attackers and a confrontation ensued in which a number of Palestinians were hurt.

Hassan Malihat, a Palestinian lawyer who at the time was visiting the school near the city of Jericho, said the settlers entered at around 8 a.m. He says the Israeli army arrived about two hours later and arrested three staff members, including the principal.

The military said soldiers and police were dispatched to the school, ended the confrontation and arrested a number of suspects.

The Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service says seven Palestinians were wounded in the confrontation.

Settler violence has surged across the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza. In some cases, Israeli settlers have stormed Palestinian villages setting cars and properties ablaze.

There has also been a rise in car-ramming, stabbing and shooting attacks carried out against Israelis by Palestinian militant groups and lone attackers.

Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war — lands the Palestinians want for a future state.

The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in some areas. Over 500,000 settlers with Israeli citizenship live in well over 100 settlements considered illegal by most of the international community.

ANKARA, Turkey — Initial findings from an autopsy by Turkish authorities indicate that Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi who was killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank died from a gunshot wound to the head.

The eight-page report, signed by four forensic doctors and a forensic technician, was made available to The Associated Press on Monday. It described details such as skull fractures caused by the gunshot and brain tissue damage, noting that a toxicology report and tissue sample analysis are still pending.

The 26-year-old activist from Seattle, who held dual U.S. and Turkish citizenship, was killed on Sept. 6 during a demonstration against Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Her funeral and burial took place in the Turkish Aegean coastal town of Didim on Saturday.

The Israeli military stated last week that Eygi was likely shot “indirectly and unintentionally” by Israeli forces. Turkey is conducting its own investigation into her death.

JERUSALEM — The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says the first round of a polio vaccination campaign in Gaza ended successfully by reaching 90% of the children it targeted.

UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on the social media platform X, that Israel and Palestinian militants had largely observed humanitarian pauses to allow the campaign to proceed.

The vaccination drive showed that “when there is a political will, assistance can be provided without disruption,” Lazzarini wrote on Monday.

UNRWA is the main provider of humanitarian assistance in the coastal enclave. Health workers plan to administer a second dose of the vaccine at the end of this month.

The campaign was launched after the detection of Gaza’s first polio case in 25 years and sought to reach some 640,000 children under the age of 10. Health workers faced a host of challenges, including damaged roads, gutted health facilities and ongoing fighting nearly a year into the Israel-Hamas war.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s defense minister has told his United States counterpart that time is running out for an agreement with Hezbollah to halt the fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Yoav Gallant told Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin that “the possibility for an agreed framework in the northern arena is running out as Hezbollah continues to ‘tie itself’ to Hamas.”

“The trajectory is clear,” Gallant added, according to a statement released from his office on Monday.

Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones into northern Israel after the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Both armed groups are allied with Iran, and Hezbollah says it is acting in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel has responded to the attacks with airstrikes and the targeted killing of Hezbollah commanders. It has threatened a wider operation, raising fears of another all-out war.

Hezbollah has said it will halt its attacks if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, but months of talks brokered by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have repeatedly stalled.

Hamas has demanded a lasting cease-fire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza as part of any agreement to release the scores of hostages it still holds from the Oct. 7 attack.

Gallant told Austin that “in any possible scenario, Israel’s defense establishment will continue to operate with the aim of dismantling Hamas and ensuring the return of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza — by any means.”

This image taken from video and released by Ansar Allah Media Office, the media arm of Yemen's Houthi rebels, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, claims to show the launch of the ballistic missile that landed in an open area in central Israel Sunday, Sept. 15. (Ansar Allah Media Office via AP)

An Israeli soldier stands at the entrance of a tunnel where the military says six Israeli hostages were recently killed by Hamas militants in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A police officer inspects the area around a fire after the military said it fired interceptors at a missile launched from Yemen that landed in central Israel on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers move next to destroyed buildings following Israeli strikes during a ground operation in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israeli soldiers take up position next to buildings destroyed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli airstrikes kill 16 in Gaza, including 4 children, Palestinians say

Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli airstrikes kill 16 in Gaza, including 4 children, Palestinians say

FILE -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attend a press conference in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are holding near their records Wednesday ahead of an announcement in the afternoon that’s expected to kick off a series of cuts to interest rates meant to prevent a recession.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in early trading and sitting 0.6% below its all-time high set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was edging down 48 points, or 0.1%, but still flirting with another record after setting its latest on Monday. The Nasdaq composite was basically flat, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time.

Intuitive Machines soared 57% after NASA awarded it with a contract worth up to $4.82 billion for communication and navigation services the space agency will use to establish a long-term presence on the moon.

General Mills slipped 0.2% even though the maker of Cheerios and Annie’s mac and cheese reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that was above expectations. Analysts at Citi said investors may have been looking for an even better performance following seemingly encouraging commentary by the company at an earlier investor conference.

The main event for financial markets, though, is still to come. When the Federal Reserve closes its latest policy meeting Wednesday afternoon, the widespread expectation is that it will announce the first cut to its main interest rate in more than four years.

It would be a momentous event, closing the door on a run where the Fed jacked its federal funds rate to a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the economy enough to stifle the worst inflation in generations. Now that inflation has eased back significantly from its peak two summers ago, the Fed has said it can turn more of its attention toward protecting the job market and overall economy, which have already begun slowing under the weight of higher rates.

The only question is how much the Fed will cut rates by to do so, which can prove to be a tricky balance. Lowering rates would ease the brakes off the economy by making it easier for U.S. businesses and households to borrow. But it could also offer more fuel for inflation.

Making things more complicated, some critics say the Federal Reserve is moving too late to protect the economy and may have missed the window to prevent a recession. Others, meanwhile, are saying it will need to be careful about cutting rates too much because of the possibility that inflation remains stubbornly higher than it has in recent decades.

For now, the bet on Wall Street is that the Federal Reserve will deliver a larger-than-usual cut to interest rates Wednesday afternoon. Traders are pricing in a roughly 60% probability that it will bypass the traditional-sized move of a quarter of a percentage point and jump directly to a half point, according to data from CME Group.

Treasury yields have been sinking since the spring on excitement about coming cuts to interest rates, but they firmed a bit Wednesday amid the debate about how big the afternoon’s move will be.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 3.67% from 3.65% late Tuesday. The two-year yield, which more closely follows expectations for Fed action, rose to 3.62% from 3.60%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe after finishing higher in much of Asia.

The Bank of Japan and the Bank of England are also holding monetary policy meetings later this week. Neither central bank is expected to move on rates, though the language of what the officials say could be an indicator of later moves and still influence markets.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

A bus passes the Wall St. subway station on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

The New York Stock Exchange, with a banner for American Eagle Outfitters, is shown on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

A person stands near an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People stand near an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People stand in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person rides a bicycle in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)