SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Roope Hintz scored his team-leading 15th goal to help the Dallas Stars beat Utah 3-2 on Monday night.
Hintz snapped a 1-1 tie 12:39 into the second period. Jamie Benn and Colin Blackwell also scored for Dallas, and Casey DeSmith made 24 stops.
The Stars had lost two in a row.
Kevin Stenlund and Barrett Hayton scored for Utah, and Karel Vejmelka had 27 saves. Utah has won just one home game in December.
Dallas jumped in front in the first when Blackwell scored following a Utah turnover. Stenlund responded with his sixth of the season at 12:41.
Benn lifted the Stars to a 3-1 lead when he got his seventh with 2:10 left in the second.
Utah pulled one back on Hayton’s goal with 8:21 left in the third but couldn't find the tying goal.
Stars: Aggressive defense and relentless attacking helped Dallas create several quality shots during a dominant second period.
Utah: Home ice struggles continued for Utah, which fell to 1-4-3 in its last seven home games.
The second-period goals for Hintz and Benn gave the Stars enough of a cushion to pull out a second road win against Utah in December.
The Stars had an 18-6 advantage in shots on goal in the second.
Dallas hosts Minnesota on Friday, and Utah hosts Colorado on Friday.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Utah Hockey Club defenseman Ian Cole (28) shoots a deflected puck into the goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Dallas Stars, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Dallas Stars center Colin Blackwell (15) celebrates after a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Utah Hockey Club, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn warms up before the start of an NHL hockey game against the Utah Hockey Club, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
Dallas Stars goaltender Casey DeSmith (1) makes a save with his leg during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Utah Hockey Club, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Tyler Tate)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli soldiers raided a hospital in isolated northern Gaza after forcing all the patients and most of the doctors to leave, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday. The Israeli military confirmed its troops had entered the Indonesian Hospital in the town of Jabaliya as part of an operation searching for Hamas fighters.
Winter is hitting the Gaza Strip and many of the nearly 2 million Palestinians displaced by the devastating 15-month war with Israel are struggling to protect themselves from the wind, cold and rain.
In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian city of Bethlehem was marking a somber Christmas Eve under the shadow of war in Gaza, with most festivities cancelled and crowds of tourists absent.
Israel's bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s attack on southern Israel in October 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage by Palestinian militants. Around 100 hostages are still being held in Gaza, although only two thirds are believed to still be alive.
Here’s the latest:
JERUSALEM — The Israeli negotiating team working on a ceasefire returned from Qatar to Israel on Tuesday, the prime minister’s office said, after what it called “a significant week” of talks.
After months of deadlock, the U.S., Qatar and Egypt resumed their mediation efforts in recent weeks and reported greater willingness by the warring sides to reach a deal.
According to Egyptian and Hamas officials, the proposed agreement would take place in phases and include a halt in fighting, an exchange of captive Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and a surge in aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israel says Hamas is holding 100 hostages, over one-third of whom are believed to be dead.
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was “some progress” in efforts to reach a deal, but added he did not know how long it would take.
CAIRO — Israeli soldiers took control of a hospital in isolated northern Gaza after forcing all the patients and most of the doctors to leave, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday.
Some of the patients had to walk to another hospital while others were driven by paramedics, according to Health Ministry spokesperson Zaher al-Wahidi. He did not specify how many patients had evacuated.
The Israeli military confirmed its troops had entered the Indonesian Hospital in the town of Jabaliya as part of an operation searching for Hamas fighters. The army later said its soldiers had left the hospital.
The military said it had assisted with evacuating the patients and had not ordered the hospital closed. However, al-Wahidi said only one doctor and maintenance person were left behind.
The Indonesian Hospital is one of three hospitals left largely inaccessible in the northernmost part of Gaza because Israel has imposed a tight siege there since launching an offensive in early October.
The Israeli army said Tuesday’s operation at the Indonesian Hospital came after militants carried out attacks from the hospital for the past month, including launching anti-tank missiles and planting explosive devices in the surrounding area. The Health Ministry accused Israel of “besieging and directly targeting” the three hospitals in northern Gaza.
Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, said Israeli drones detonated explosives near the hospital and that 20 people were wounded, including five medical staff. The Israeli military declined to comment on the operation around the hospital.
DAMASCUS — Scores of Syrian Christians protested in the capital Damascus on Tuesday, demanding greater protections for their religious minority after a Christmas tree was set on fire in the city of Hama a day earlier.
Many of the insurgents who now rule Syria are jihadis, although Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of the main rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has renounced longtime ties to al-Qaida and spent years depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance.
It remains unclear who set the Christmas tree on fire Monday, which was condemned by a representative of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham who visited the town and addressed the community.
“This act was committed by people who are not Syrian, and they will be punished beyond your expectations," the HTS representative said in a video widely shared on social media. "The Christmas tree will be fully restored by this evening.”
On Tuesday, protesters marched through the streets of Bab Touma in Damascus, shouting slogans against foreign fighters and carrying large wooden crosses.
“We demand that Syria be for all Syrians. We want a voice in the future of our country,” said Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II of the Syriac Orthodox Church as he addressed the crowd in a church courtyard, assuring them of Christians’ rights in Syria.
Since HTS led a swift offensive that overthrew President Bashar Assad earlier this month, Syria’s minority communities have been on edge, uncertain of how they will be treated under the emerging rebel-led government.
“We are here to demand a democratic and free government for one people and one nation,” another protester said. “We stand united — Muslims and Christians. No to sectarianism.”
DOHA — Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said that ceasefire negotiations to end the war in Gaza were ongoing in Doha in cooperation with Egyptian, Qatari, and American mediators.
“We will not leave any door unopened in pursuit of reaching an agreement,” said Majid al-Ansari, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday.
Al Ansari added that rumors the ceasefire would be reached before Christmas are “speculation.”
The ceasefire negotiations come at a time when winter is hitting the Gaza Strip and many of the nearly 2 million Palestinians displaced by the devastating 15-month war with Israel are struggling to protect themselves from the wind, cold and rain. Families of the approximately 100 hostages who have been held for 445 days in Gaza are also worried their loved ones will not survive another winter.
In a press conference, al-Ansari also called on the international community to lift sanctions on Syria as quickly as possible on Tuesday.
“The reason was the crimes of the previous regime, and that regime, with all of its authority, is no longer in place, therefor the causes for these sanctions no longer exist today,” he said.
DAMASCUS, Syria — American journalist Austin Tice is believed to be still alive, according to the head of an international aid group.
Nizar Zakka, who runs the Hostage Aid Worldwide organization, said there has never been any proof that Tice, who has been missing since 2012, is dead.
Zakka told reporters in Damascus on Tuesday that Tice was alive in January and being held by the authorities of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad. He added that U.S. President Joe Biden said in August that Tice was alive.
Zakka said he believes Tice was transferred between security agencies over the past 12 years, including in an area where Iranian-backed fighters were operating.
Asked if it was possible Tice had been taken out of the country, Zakka said Assad most likely kept him in Syria as a potential bargaining chip.
Biden said Dec. 8 that his administration believed Tice was alive and was committed to bringing him home, although he also acknowledged that “we have no direct evidence” of his status.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Hannah Katzir, an Israeli woman who was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, and freed in a brief ceasefire last year, has died. She was 78.
The Hostages Families Forum, a group representing the families of people taken captive, confirmed the death Tuesday but did not disclose the cause.
Her daughter, Carmit Palty Katzir, said in a statement that her mother’s “heart could not withstand the terrible suffering since Oct. 7.”
Katzir’s husband, Rami, was killed during the attack by militants who raided their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Her son Elad was also kidnapped and his body was recovered in April by the Israeli military, who said he had been killed in captivity.
She spent 49 days in captivity and was freed in late November 2023. Shortly after Katzir was freed, her daughter told Israeli media that she had been hospitalized with heart issues attributed to “difficult conditions and starvation” while she was held captive.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel's military said the projectile was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory, but it set off air raid sirens overnight in the country's populous central area, sending residents looking for cover.
Israel’s rescue service Magen David Adom said a 60-year-old woman was seriously wounded after being hurt on her way to a protected space.
There was no immediate comment from Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
It was the third time in a week that fire from Yemen set off sirens in Israel. On Saturday, a missile slammed into a playground in Tel Aviv, injuring 16, after Israel’s air defense system failed to intercept it.
Earlier last week, Israeli jets struck Yemen’s rebel-held capital and a port city, killing nine. Israel said the strikes were in response to previous Houthi attacks.
Relatives and friends of 1st Sgt. Hillel Diener, who was killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, mourn during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Murals cover Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
An explosive devise planted by Palestinian militants explodes after being detonated by Israeli soldiers during a military raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Nuns walk along the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Eve, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Worshippers pray at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Eve, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Israeli soldiers and relatives carry the flag-draped casket of 1st Sgt. Hillel Diener, who was killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A Syrian Muslim woman poses for a picture in front of a Christmas tree in Bab Touma neighbourhood, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Syrian Christians hold up crosses and shout slogans in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024 as they march during a protest after a Christmas tree was set on fire in Hamah city on Sunday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A dead man is taken into the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after a car was hit by an Israeli airstrike killing four people in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Monday Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana).
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of five policemen killed Monday by an Israeli strike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Tuesday Dec. 24, 2024. According to witnesses at the scene, the policemen fired shots to prevent a group of bandits blocking the road from stealing aid from a truck. The Israeli army immediately struck the policemen after that.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A worshipper walks through the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus, on Christmas Eve, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Palestinian scouts carry posters, one reads "Peace for Gaza and its people," while they march during Christmas Eve celebrations at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally recognized by Christians to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
FILE - A poster calling for the release of Hannah (Chana) Katzir is taped to the door of her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz, on Nov. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)
