Communities in Florida still reeling from the impact of Hurricane Helene are now also grappling with the still-unfolding damage from Hurricane Milton. The storm crashed into a community south of Tampa, drenching counties with torrents of rain, downing power lines and bridges and kicking up dangerous storm surges.
Here is some advice from experts about how to help:
— Send cash: The needs of people and organizations are evolving and won't be fully known for days or weeks. Cash offers responders flexibility and can immediately be deployed to help. Only send-in kind assistance like food, clothing or other equipment upon the request of organizations who are already working in impacted communities. Managing these kinds of gifts can divert the resources of receiving organizations, despite the best intentions.
— Give to charities already working in impacted communities: Local branches of the United Way will be directly serving people in the immediate aftermath of the storms. The Red Cross is also providing immediate shelter for tens of thousands of Floridians. They also urged people in areas proximate to the hurricane's trajectory to donate blood if they are able. Grassroots and worker organizations, like those that serve immigrants, have already been providing critical information, translation and support to groups that may struggle to access state or government services. The Florida Philanthropic Network, an alliance of funders, has put together a list of emergency response funds organized by community foundations and other nonprofits, for those who want their gifts benefit more than one organization.
— Consider waiting or signing up for recurring donations: It can often take months to truly scope the needs and challenges after disasters, especially as warming oceans caused by climate change are making hurricanes more intense. Communities face a long journey to recovery. Signing up to give even small donations regularly to local organizations helps those nonprofits plan, which can allow them to act more efficiently and effectively. Community foundations often have deep networks and excellent relationships with local nonprofits and may set up fundraisers to help with long term recovery needs. For example, the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay has collected a list of critical needs from local organizations, who they have vetted and to which you can donate to directly.
— Mutual aid can be powerful: Giving directly on crowdfunding sites or through cash transfer apps can make a profound difference in people's lives. GoFundMe takes steps to verify the identities of the people who start campaigns. If you make direct gifts to individuals, consider also donating to organizations that respond to community-wide needs.
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and non-profits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
A man and child leave a rescue boat after high flood waters entered their apartment in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Clearwater, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A house lies toppled off its stilts after the passage of Hurricane Milton, in Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A car is submerged in flood water at an apartment complex in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Clearwater, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in the Gaza Strip killed at least 27 people, including a child and seven women, Palestinian officials said Thursday, as Israel continues to fire at what it says are militant targets across Gaza.
In southern Lebanon, the U.N. peacekeeping force said an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, who do not say how many were fighters but say women and children make up more than half of the fatalities. The war has destroyed large areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.
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:
BEIRUT — The International Organization for Migration’s regional director said Thursday that the “support provided so far is minimal” for the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the Israeli aerial and ground offensive in Lebanon, where Israel has said that it is targeting Hezbollah.
There is an “urgent need for help to identify safe places that are able to host people, because from our field visits, most of the places are overwhelmed,” Othman Belbeisi said during a visit to the country.
The Lebanese government has said that some 1.2 million people have been displaced by the conflict, of which Belbeisi said the IOM has been able to verify 690,000, a number that is expected to grow.
While hundreds of thousands have fled across the border into neighboring Syria, Belbeisi said that thus far the organization has not tracked a major surge in the number of people attempting to flee to other countries by sea, possibly because such journeys would involve a “very high risk with the current situation.”
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s crisis response unit announced Thursday that 28 people were killed and 113 wounded in the past 24 hours, raising the total toll over the past year of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah to 2,169 killed and 10,212 wounded, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
The report also recorded 61 airstrikes and incidents of shelling in the past day, mostly concentrated in southern Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley.
Some 1,000 centers — including educational complexes, vocational institutes, universities and other institutions — are sheltering 186,400 people displaced by the Israeli offensive in Lebanon, the report said. Half of those displaced are housed in facilities concentrated in Beirut and Mount Lebanon.
Among these shelters, 822 have reached full capacity. Overall, the total number of displaced individuals in Lebanon stands at 1.2 million.
Despite a major border crossing between Lebanon and Syria being out of commission after an Israeli strike hit the road last week, crowds have continued to flow across the border seeking relative safety in Syria. Between Sept. 23 and Wednesday, Lebanese General Security recorded 314,481 Syrian citizens, 111,801 Lebanese citizens crossing into Syria, the report said.
The European Union is set to mobilize a three-flight humanitarian airlift operation to deliver supplies for shelters while the Canadian Department for International Development has pledged an additional funding of nearly $11 million to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of civilians in Lebanon, the report added.
ROME — Italy's defense minister defined the recent Israeli attacks on U.N. peacekeeping bases in southern Lebanon as possible “war crimes” and “very serious violations” of international laws Thursday.
At a press conference in Rome, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto stressed that he has asked for a formal explanation from Israeli authorities on the gunfire attacks against United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon bases, which he said “were not an accident nor a mistake.” Crosetto reiterated that what had happened in southern Lebanon was “unacceptable.”
“We won’t accept the justification that Israeli military forces had previously alerted UNIFIL that some of its bases had to be abandoned," Crosetto said.
“I told the Israeli ambassador to Rome that the UN and Italy cannot accept orders from the Israeli government,” he added.
The Italian minister also reiterated that a final decision on whether to stop the UNIFIL mission in southern Lebanon for security reasons is up to the U.N. and not to the single countries contributing to the mission.
Italy has about 1,000 soldiers deployed in the area and none of them were wounded in the attacks. Crosetto said the Italian government aims at keeping its soldiers in place to safeguard “peace spaces” in the troubled region, but added that a “contingency plan” is ready to protect Italian personnel there in case the situation worsens.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has sharply condemned Israeli strikes on the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon as “an inadmissible act, for which there is no justification.”
“Another line has been dangerously crossed in Lebanon,” he wrote on social media platform X.
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said her government formally protested to Israeli authorities. Meloni said she received updates from the two Italian bases located in outposts that were hit by Israeli gunfire and praised the peacekeepers for their “valuable work.” Italy has about 1,000 soldiers deployed as U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry also denounced the Israeli strikes on the U.N. base as a “dangerous escalation” and “flagrant violation of international law.”
TEL AVIV, Israel - Israel’s police and Shin Bet internal security service said on Thursday they arrested five Palestinians from northern Israel associated with the Islamic State group over an alleged plan to bomb a mall in Tel Aviv.
The Shin Bet said the five men were active in online discussions on how to plant a car bomb that would topple large skyscrapers in central Tel Aviv. The suspects also allegedly watched videos of Islamic State attacks in Syria.
Police said they thwarted the plan “in the early stages of its implementation” and seized weapons from their home. Police did not provide further evidence. Two of the men had expressed interest in going abroad to fight with the Islamic State, according to police.
The arrests came as Israel faced a spate of shooting and stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians from Israel and the occupied West Bank that have killed 9 people and wounded dozens in recent days.
ROME — Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto has urgently summoned the Israeli ambassador to Italy to discuss the strike on a U.N. peacekeeping base in southern Lebanon where Italian personnel operate.
Italy has about 1,000 soldiers deployed in Lebanon, participating in the UN peacekeeping mission.
A UNIFIL spokesperson said Thursday that two peacekeepers were hospitalized after its headquarters in Naqoura was directly hit by Israeli tank fire. Israeli forces have “deliberately” fired at the UN position in recent days, the spokesperson said.
The U.N. peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said last week that U.N. peacekeepers were staying in their positions on Lebanon’s southern border despite Israel’s request to vacate some areas before it launched its ground operation against Hezbollah militants.
UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The U.N. expanded its mission following the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, allowing peacekeepers to deploy along the Israeli border. The force has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from around 50 countries.
BEIRUT — The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said Thursday an Israeli tank fired on its headquarters in the town of Naqoura, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers, who were hospitalized.
UNIFIL said in a statement that its headquarters and nearby positions “have been repeatedly hit.” It said the army also fired on a nearby bunker where peacekeepers were sheltering, damaging vehicles and a communication system. It said an Israeli drone was seen flying to the bunker’s entrance.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — A strike on a school sheltering displaced people in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah killed 27 people, including a child and seven women, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where the bodies were brought. It said several other people were wounded.
An Associated Press reporter saw ambulances streaming into the hospital and counted the bodies, many of which arrived in pieces.
“We appeal to the world. We are dying!” one man screamed.
The Israeli military said it carried out a precise strike targeting a militant command and control center inside the school. Israel has repeatedly attacked schools that were turned into shelters in Gaza, accusing militants of hiding out in them.
Witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons said the strike occurred while school managers were meeting with representatives of an aid group in a room normally used by Hamas-run police who provide security. They said there were no police in the room at the time.
Over 2,000 Turkish citizens and some foreign nationals started boarding a Turkish military ship late Wednesday that brought in aid and will take them out of a country being hit by Israeli airstrikes targeting Hezbollah.
It's part of a six-ship convoy including escorts that set sail from the southern Turkish port of Mersin early Wednesday, transporting 300 tons of humanitarian supplies, including food, hygiene kits, kitchenware, tents, beds and blankets.
Besides the Turkish citizens, people from Bulgaria, Romania and Kazakhstan were among those who applied to evacuate on the ships. Officials did not provide numbers.
Turkey’s government plans to organize more sea evacuations if necessary and is contemplating charter flights to repatriate citizens.
Read more here.
UNITED NATIONS – The top U.N. official in Lebanon repeated her call for an immediate cease-fire, saying the 21-day cease-fire proposal launched by the U.S. and France is still on the table “and very relevant.”
Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said Wednesday that a halt to fighting is the only way to ease “the colossal human suffering that is happening right now,” address Lebanon’s “humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions” and provide a window “for diplomatic efforts to take hold and succeed.”
The U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon expressed hope during a video press conference from Beirut “that Israel will now, or soon, be ready to add its support to the many calls and appeals out there for a cease-fire or a pause.”
“I’m not saying that it’s going to be an easy ride or walk in a park,” she said. “It will be difficult, but I am convinced that it’s doable, and it’s in the interest of Lebanon, in the interest of Israel to find sustainable solutions.”
Hennis-Plasschaert said there must also be a realistic roadmap to implement the 2006 U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the Israeli-Hezbollah war. Its key provisions include disarming all armed groups including Hezbollah and deploying the Lebanese army throughout the country’s south, which borders Israel and is mainly controlled by the militant group.
“At the end of the day, it is the lack or non-implementation of resolution 1701 over the past 18 years that led to today’s harsh reality,” Hennis-Plasschaert said.
Tents are crammed together as displaced Palestinians camp along the beach of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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)
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)
A Palestinian man carries an injured child after an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
