PONT-SONDÉ, Haiti (AP) — The death toll in a brutal gang attack last week on a small town in central Haiti has risen to 115, a local official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The attack on residents of Pont-Sondé on Oct. 3 was one of the biggest massacres that Haiti has seen in recent history.
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Relatives of people injured during armed gang attacks wait around at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People displaced by armed gang attacks rest at the Antoinette Dessalines National School, a makeshift shelter, in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Doctors treat a man who was shot and wounded during armed gang attacks, at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Exiles Junior, wounded by a bullet during armed gang attacks, sits up on a bed at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People raise their arms while walking past a police station in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, days after a gang attacked the town. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Tcharlit Charles, wounded by a bullet during armed gang attacks, sits on a bed at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People walk across a bridge in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, days after a deadly gang attack in the town. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People ride public transportation known as a tap-tap in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, days after a deadly gang attack on the town. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A local resident points to a bullet hole on a door days after a deadly gang attack on Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Relatives carry the coffin of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, at his funeral in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Germain Rivaldo, wounded by a bullet during armed gang attacks, lies on a bed at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A cemetery worker prepares a grave days after a deadly gang attack on Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Musicians perform during the funeral of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A relative cries during the funeral of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Musicians arrive at the funeral of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Relatives carry the coffin of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, at his funeral in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Myriam Fièvre, mayor of the nearby city of Saint-Marc, said Wednesday that the toll had risen to 115 and would likely keep rising because authorities are still looking for bodies and haven’t been able to access certain areas of the town.
“We are working to make sure that the population is protected,” she said in a phone interview.
The U.N. had previously said that at least 70 people were killed last week when the Gran Grif gang invaded the town in the central Artibonite region.
The victims included babies, young mothers and the elderly, with the gang approaching Pont-Sondé via canoes to catch residents by surprise, according to a local human rights group.
Survivors have questioned why authorities did not do anything to stop the attack since the gang had warned in a video posted on social media that it planned to target Pont-Sondé.
A day after the attack, officials replaced the police commissioner who oversees the Artibonite region, which has seen a surge of gang violence in recent years, with at least 20 criminal groups operating in the area, according to the U.N.
More than 6,200 survivors have fled Pont-Sondé and temporarily settled in the coastal city of Saint-Marc and surrounding areas.
A majority of them are staying with relatives, but more than 750 others have nowhere to go and are sleeping on the floors of a church, a school and a public plaza in Saint-Marc, according to the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration.
As Saint-Marc struggles with the sudden influx of people, Fièvre warned that the Gran Grif gang is infiltrating nearby communities after attacking Pont-Sondé.
Haiti’s National Human Rights Defense Network has said the gang was angry that a local self-defense group was trying to limit gang activity in Pont-Sondé and prevent it from profiting off a makeshift road toll it had recently established nearby.
Gran Grif has about 100 members and has been accused of crimes including murder, rape, robberies and kidnappings. It was formed after former legislator Prophane Victor began arming young men nearly a decade ago to secure his election and control of the area, according to the U.N
Victor and the Gran Grif leader, Luckson Elan, were sanctioned by the U.S. last month. Elan also was sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council, which noted that Gran Grif “is the largest and most powerful” gang in Artibonite, committing nine mass kidnappings from October 2023 to January 2024, including that of 157 people.
Sanon reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Relatives of people injured during armed gang attacks wait around at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People displaced by armed gang attacks rest at the Antoinette Dessalines National School, a makeshift shelter, in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Doctors treat a man who was shot and wounded during armed gang attacks, at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Exiles Junior, wounded by a bullet during armed gang attacks, sits up on a bed at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People raise their arms while walking past a police station in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, days after a gang attacked the town. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Tcharlit Charles, wounded by a bullet during armed gang attacks, sits on a bed at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People walk across a bridge in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, days after a deadly gang attack in the town. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
People ride public transportation known as a tap-tap in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, days after a deadly gang attack on the town. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A local resident points to a bullet hole on a door days after a deadly gang attack on Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Relatives carry the coffin of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, at his funeral in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Germain Rivaldo, wounded by a bullet during armed gang attacks, lies on a bed at Saint Nicolas hospital in Saint-Marc, Haiti, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A cemetery worker prepares a grave days after a deadly gang attack on Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Musicians perform during the funeral of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
A relative cries during the funeral of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Musicians arrive at the funeral of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Relatives carry the coffin of Jean Louis Jeune Gracien, who was killed during an attack by armed gangs, at his funeral in Pont-Sonde, Haiti, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)
Israel’s bombardment of central and northern Gaza has killed dozens of people and trapped thousands in their homes, Palestinian officials said Wednesday, as the death toll in the yearlong war passed 42,000.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said it recovered 40 bodies from Jabaliya from Sunday until Tuesday, and another 14 from communities farther north. The toll is likely higher as there are bodies buried under the rubble and in areas that can’t be accessed, it said.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military spokesperson, said that Israeli forces were operating in Jabaliya to prevent Hamas from regrouping and had killed about 100 militants, without providing evidence. Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it fights in residential areas.
A year ago, Hamas-led militants blew holes in Israel’s security fence and stormed into army bases and farming communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. They are still holding about 100 captives inside Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon, which began firing rockets at Israel on Oct. 8, 2023.
Here is the latest:
JERUSALEM — A Palestinian journalist was killed and at least one other injured in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza on Wednesday, Palestinian health authorities said.
Mohammed Tanani, a cameraman working with the Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV station, was killed in a blast at Abu Shrekh roundabout in the Jabaliya area, the Palestinian Red Crescent and Hamas-affiliated outlet said.
Another Palestinian reporter from the TV station was wounded, the network said.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a media freedom organization, say 128 journalists have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last October. They include 123 Palestinian, two Israeli and three Lebanese media workers.
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday as Israel expands its ground incursion into Lebanon and considers how to respond to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack.
The leaders’ call, previewed by three people familiar with the matter, including an official in Netanyahu’s office, will be the first conversation between Biden and Netanyahu since Aug. 21.
The three people were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Israel has been discussing how to respond to the Iranian missile barrage from Oct. 1, which the United States helped to fend off. Biden last week said he would not support a retaliatory Israeli strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program.
Since the leaders’ last call seven weeks ago, Israel has carried out a brazen sabotage and assassination campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, where the militant group has continued to fire missiles, rockets and drones at Israel.
Israel is now undertaking what it has described as limited ground operations across its northern border with Lebanon to dig out Hezbollah. Airstrikes killed the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and decimated its leadership.
— By Aamer Madhani
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli first responders say a man and a woman were killed by a rocket fired from Lebanon.
The Magen David Adom rescue service said the two were killed Wednesday when a rocket struck the northern town of Kiryat Shmona.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in recent days as Israel has ramped up its airstrikes in Lebanon and pushed ahead with a ground incursion.
Most of the rockets have been intercepted or landed in open areas, but the barrages have grown more intense and have reached deeper into Israel, disrupting daily life.
Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack from Gaza into Israel ignited the war. Hezbollah and Hamas are both allied with Iran, and Hezbollah said the attacks were in support of the Palestinians.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict escalated into a full-blown war last month.
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least four people were killed in an Israeli strike on a hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people in southern Lebanon.
Ten others were wounded in the strike that hit the building in Wardaniyeh in Lebanon’s Chouf province.
An Associated Press reporter in a nearby town heard two sonic booms and an explosion from Israeli jets before the strike, followed by plumes of black and white smoke rising from the building.
TEL AVIV, Israel — At least six people were stabbed and wounded in northern Israel in what police say was a militant attack.
Police said the assailant stabbed people in multiple locations in the northern city of Hadera on Wednesday before fleeing on a motorbike. Police said they shot and “neutralized” the attacker, later clarifying that he was arrested. They did not provide the name or nationality of the assailant.
Five of the people who were attacked were in critical or severe condition, while the sixth was moderately wounded, according to the nearby Hillel Yaffe Medical Center.
Palestinians have carried out scores of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks against Israelis in recent years, and tensions have spiked over the war in Gaza.
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered government agencies Wednesday to prepare to evacuate Filipinos “by whatever means” from Lebanon.
Marcos held a virtual meeting with key Cabinet members while attending a summit of Southeast Asia leaders in Laos, underscoring the urgency as Israel intensified attacks against the militant group Hezbollah.
“We are now going to evacuate our people by whatever means — by air, or by sea,” Marcos said, adding that any ship to be used has to be positioned near Beirut so Filipinos could immediately leave.
About 11,000 Filipinos live and work in Lebanon, including many house helpers, but Philippine Foreign Affairs officials say many are hesitant to leave their jobs. Only about 171 Filipinos in Lebanon were ready for immediate repatriation, they said.
BEIRUT — Turkish navy ships docked at a port in Beirut on Wednesday as a part of a mission to bring humanitarian aid to Lebanon and evacuate Turkish citizens.
Two of the ships, which can accommodate up to 2,000 passengers, were carrying up to 300 tons of humanitarian aid consisting of food, tents and blankets, according to a statement from the Turkish Defense Ministry.
Rear Adm. Nihat Baran, commander of the evacuation mission, said the trip was ordered by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “to ensure that our citizens living in Lebanon are transferred to Turkey safely.”
Citizens of Bulgaria, Romania and Kazakhstan also applied for the evacuation, the ministry said.
The two ships are part of a larger six-vessel convoy that departed the southern port of Mersin early Wednesday. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said additional evacuations would be organized if necessary.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says the Palestinian death toll from the war in Gaza has passed 42,000.
The ministry does not differentiate between fighters and civilians in its count, but has said women and children make up more than half of those killed.
It said Wednesday that 42,010 Palestinians have been killed and 97,720 wounded since the start of the war, which was ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel.
BERLIN — German police say they dissolved a pro-Palestinian protest camp in the western city of Dortmund after organizers told them that Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was planning to visit the camp.
Dortmund police said late Tuesday the decision was made, among other reasons, because Thunberg’s appearance would probably have drawn more people to the protest camp than originally permitted.
The dismantling of the camp, which had been in existence for months, was accepted without resistance, police said. Seven protesters were present at the camp on Tuesday, but Thunberg did not appear, German news agency dpa reported.
On Monday, Thunberg participated in a pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian officials say Israeli strikes in central and northern Gaza killed at least 18 people, including five children and two women.
Two strikes hit tents for displaced people in the urban Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza early Wednesday. The bodies of nine people, including three children, were brought to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah. An Associated Press journalist saw the bodies at the morgue.
In northern Gaza, an Israeli strike hit a family home in the Jabaliya refugee camp, killing at least nine people, according to the Civil Defense, a rescue agency operating under the Hamas-run government. The dead were taken to the Al-Ahly Hospital, which said two women and two children were among those killed.
Footage shared by the Civil Defense showed first responders recovering dead bodies and body parts from under the rubble.
Israel launched an air and ground operation earlier this week in Jabaliya, a densely populated urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. Israel has carried out several previous operations in Jabaliya, and its forces have repeatedly returned to other areas of Gaza after militants have regrouped.
Members of the Israeli forces watch the Iron Dome air defense system firing to intercept rockets that were launched from Lebanon, in northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Rescue workers dig as they search for victims on a destroyed hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
A destroyed hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike is seen through a broken window, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Rescue workers search for victims on a hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Turkish citizens carry their belongings, as they arrive at a gathering point to board a Turkish navy vessel to be evacuated to Turkey, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Angelina, who is fleeing the Israeli airstrikes with her family from Dahiyeh, receives a polio vaccine in an empty building complex, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Members of Doctors Without Borders treat a displaced man fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, in an empty building complex, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A Turkish citizen sits next of her belongings, as she waits to board a Turkish navy vessel to be evacuated to Turkey at a gathering point, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A Turkish citizen hugs her cats as she waits at a gathering point to board a Turkish navy vessel before being evacuated to Turkey, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Turkish citizens carry their belongings, as they arrive at a gathering point to board a Turkish navy vessel to be evacuated to Turkey, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke and fire rise from the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Tents set up as temporary shelters by displaced families fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the south and Dahiyeh, are seen along the Ramlet al-Baida public beach in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday Oct. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners pray over the body of a Palestinian child, Hosam Al Khaldi, killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners gather around bodies of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
