Israeli defense minister says troops will remain in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s defense minister said on Wednesday that troops will remain in so-called security zones in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria indefinitely, remarks that could further complicate talks with Hamas over a ceasefire and hostage release.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes across Gaza killed another 22 people, according to local health officials, including a girl who was not yet a year old. The girl’s mother, who was wounded, embraced her daughter, still wearing a bloodied blue dress, before she was taken for burial.

Israeli forces have taken over more than half of Gaza in a renewed campaign to pressure Hamas militants to release hostages after Israel ended their ceasefire last month. Israel has also refused to withdraw from some areas in Lebanon following a ceasefire with the Hezbollah militant group last year, and it seized a buffer zone in southern Syria after rebels overthrew Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.

“Unlike in the past, the (Israeli military) is not evacuating areas that have been cleared and seized,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. The military “will remain in the security zones as a buffer between the enemy and (Israeli) communities in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza — as in Lebanon and Syria.”

The Palestinians and both neighboring countries view the presence of Israeli troops as military occupation in violation of international law.

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun said that Israel’s continued presence in some areas in Lebanon was “hindering" the Lebanese army’s full deployment as required by the ceasefire negotiated with Israel.

Two Israeli drones strikes on Wednesday in southern Lebanon killed two people, the health ministry said. The U.N. said Israeli strikes in Lebanon have killed more than 70 civilians since the ceasefire took effect in November.

Hamas has said it will not release dozens of remaining hostages without a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a lasting ceasefire.

“They promised that the hostages come first. In practice, Israel is choosing to seize territory before the hostages," the main organization representing families of the hostages said in a statement. “There is one solution that is desirable and feasible, and that is the release of all the hostages at once as part of an agreement, even at the cost of ending the war."

Israel says it must maintain control of what it refers to as security zones to prevent a repeat of Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack in which thousands of militants stormed into southern Israel from Gaza, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 51,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and children make up more than half of the dead. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

Ahlam Seiam’s family had planned to celebrate her first birthday later this month. Then the Israeli strike hit the building where they had pitched a tent on the roof.

Her grandfather, Nashat, said the family was awakened by a blast overnight. When he raced to the roof, he found his son, Mohammed, sobbing.

“I found her like this,” he said as he held the girl's body.

Associated Press footage showed the mother, wrapped in bandages, cradling her daughter one last time in the hospital bed.

Israel says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas. The grandfather said there were no militants in the area of the strike. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The family had fled to Khan Younis from the southern city of Rafah after Israel renewed its offensive last month. “Wherever you go, death will catch up with you. There is no escape,” the grandfather said.

Nermin Zughrub, Ahlam’s aunt, scrolled through photos of the girl on her phone.

“If the world doesn’t wake up today, when will it?” she said. “Every day, massacres. Every day, children.”

Israel's bombardment and ground operations have left vast areas of the territory uninhabitable and have displaced around 90% of the population of roughly 2 million Palestinians. Many have been displaced multiple times.

Hundreds of thousands are crammed into squalid tent camps with dwindling food as an aid blockade in Gaza imposed by Israel entered its seventh week. The U.N. humanitarian office, or OCHA, said Wednesday that humanitarian workers on the ground are reporting a rise in acute malnutrition across the Gaza Strip.

Water has become increasingly scarce, with Palestinians desperately lining up in front of water trucks clutching containers and jerrycans. Omar Shatat, deputy director of Gaza's Coastal Water Utility, told The Associated Press that each person gets six to seven liters of potable water each day, calling it a “water catastrophe.”

”Water, it’s the simplest thing," said Nevin Al-Dahloul, a displaced woman from Beit Lahiya. “We’re not asking for luxury, it’s our most basic right.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to annihilate Hamas and return the 59 hostages still in Gaza — 24 of whom are believed to still be alive.

On Wednesday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group released a video of hostage Rom Braslavski. It was the first sign of life of him, though recently released hostages had said they had seen him in captivity. In the video, which was filmed under duress, Braslavski says he was held in terrible conditions and pleads with Netanyahu to stop the war and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

Netanyahu also has said that Israel will implement U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal for the resettlement of much of Gaza's population in other countries through what Netanyahu refers to as “voluntary emigration.”

Palestinians and Arab countries have universally rejected Trump’s proposal, which human rights experts say would likely violate international law. Palestinians in Gaza say they don’t want to leave, and fear another mass expulsion like the one that occurred during the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.

The Trump administration, which took credit for helping to broker the ceasefire, has expressed full support for Israel's decision to end the truce and to cut off aid. Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, has been trying to broker a new ceasefire, more favorable to Israel, but those efforts appear to have made little progress.

Netanyahu leads the most nationalist and religious government in Israel's history, and his coalition partners have called for the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Nashat Seiam, second from right, joins relatives and friends in prayer over the body of his granddaughter Ahlam, who was just days away from her first birthday, during her funeral after she was killed by an overnight Israeli airstrike on her home in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025,.(AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)

Hosam Seiam carries the body of his niece Ahlam Seiam, who was just days away from her first birthday, into Nasser Hospital, after their home was hit by an overnight Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.(AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)

Nashat Seiam carries the body of his granddaughter Ahlam Seiam, who was just days away from her first birthday, into Nasser Hospital, after their home was hit by an overnight Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.(AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)

Nashat Seiam, third from right, joins relatives and friends in prayer over the body of his granddaughter Ahlam, who was just days away from her first birthday, during her funeral after she was killed by an overnight Israeli airstrike on her home in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday, April 16, 2025,.(AP Photo/Mariam Dagga)

Palestinians accompany the bodies of their relatives killed in an Israeli airstrike, loaded onto a carte in preparation for burial, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Palestinians accompany the bodies of their relatives killed in an Israeli airstrike, loaded onto a truck in preparation for burial, at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Mourners pray over the bodies of Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike during their funeral at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

A Palestinian woman reacts as others carry the body of their relative, killed in an Israeli airstrike, in preparation for burial at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

CAXIUANA NATIONAL FOREST, Brazil (AP) — Deep in silence, as if under a spell, children watch intently as Bacuri, a young Amazonian manatee, glides around a small plastic pool. When he surfaces for air, some of them exchange wide smiles. The soft rustle of rainforest leaves punctuated by bird song adds to the magic of the moment.

The children from riverside communities traveled for hours by boat just to meet Bacuri at the field station of the Emilio Goeldi Museum, Brazil’s oldest research institute in the Amazon. Despite their endangered status, manatees are still hunted and their meat illegally sold, and they are increasingly threatened by climate change. Environmentalists hope that by engaging local communities, Bacuri and others like him will be spared.

The Amazonian manatee is the region’s largest mammal but is rarely seen, much less up close. The reasons for this are twofold: The manatee has acute hearing and will vanish into the murky water at the slightest sound; and its population has dwindled after being overhunted for hundreds of years, mostly for its tough hides that were exported to Europe and Central America.

To help the manatee population recover, several institutions are rescuing orphaned manatee calves, rehabilitating them and reintroducing them to the wild.

Bacuri weighed just 22 pounds (10 kilograms) — a fraction of the more than 900 pounds (400 kilograms) of an adult manatee — when he was rescued and taken to the museum's research center in the federally protected Caxiuana National Forest. He was named after the local community that found him. Two years and several thousand milk bottles later, Bacuri has grown to about 130 pounds (60 kilos).

Three institutions are responsible for his care. The Goeldi Museum provides facilities and educates nearby communities. The federal Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation assigns two staffers for 15-day shifts to feed Bacuri three bottles of milk a day as well as chopped beets and carrots, and clean the pool every 48 hours. The nonprofit Instituto Bicho d'Agua— meaning institute of water animals in Portuguese — oversees veterinary care, dietary planning and caregiver training.

During their visit, the children learn that female manatees are pregnant for about a year then nurse their young for two more, feeding them from nipples behind their front flippers — the manatee equivalent of armpits. This long reproductive cycle is one reason the manatee population has not recovered from the commercial hunting that persisted until the mid-20th century.

They also learn the species is endangered and that they are the ones who must protect it.

“You are the main guardians,” biologist Tatyanna Mariúcha, head of the scientific base, tells the children, who spend the rest of the day drawing and making Play-Doh models of Bacuri.

With its auditorium, dormitories, observation towers, cafeteria and laboratories, the research station — two hours by speedboat from Portel, the nearest city — stands in stark contrast to nearby communities comprising clusters of wooden houses on stilts where families rely on cassava farming, fishing and harvesting açaí berries. School field trips and community outreach aim to narrow the gap.

“Caxiuana is their home,” Mariúcha told The Associated Press. “We can’t just come here and do things without their consent.”

Local knowledge will play a key role when Bacuri is finally released. He is the only manatee calf under care at Caxiuana. Once he has fully transitioned to a plant-based diet, he’ll spend time in a river enclosure before his release. That site will be selected based on where residents say wild manatees feed and pass through.

If all goes as planned, Bacuri will be the first released in the Caxiuana area. Two other calves rescued in poor health died in captivity, a sadly common outcome.

While subsistence hunting isn’t a major threat to the species, some fishermen still sell manatee meat illegally in nearby towns. Brazil banned hunting of all wild animals in 1967, with two exceptions: Indigenous peoples are allowed to hunt, and others can kill a wild animal to satisfy the hunger of the hunter or his family.

The threat of hunters has become harder to manage due to climate change, said Miriam Marmontel, a senior researcher at the Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development, hundreds of miles (kilometers) upstream along the Amazon River.

Dozens of dolphins died near Mamiraua in 2023, likely due to soaring water temperatures during a historic drought. Manatees avoided mass mortality then because they typically inhabit deep pools during the dry season, but recent droughts have dramatically reduced the water level, making manatees more vulnerable to poachers.

“As climate change accelerates, manatees may begin to suffer from heat stress too,” Marmontel said. “They also have a thermal limit, and eventually it may be crossed.”

That’s why reintroduction efforts are so important.

Around 60 rescued manatees are being cared for across the state of Para, where Caxiuana is located. Bicho d’Agua is caring for four in partnership with the Federal University of Para and Brazil's environmental agency. One of the four, named Coral, was found near Óbidos and airlifted 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) to the institute's facility in Castanhal. She arrived dehydrated and with severe skin burns, likely from sun exposure.

“The population has declined so much that every hunted animal impacts the species,” Renata Emin, president of Bicho d’Agua, told AP. “That’s why any effort matters, not just because one individual may return to the wild and help rebuild the population but because of the community and government engagement it inspires.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Maria, a rescued manatee, swims in a pool at the Bicho d'Agua project facilities in Castanhal, Brazil, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Coral, a rescued manatee, is fed while in a pool at the Bicho d'Agua project facilities in Castanhal, Brazil on Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Coral, a rescued manatee, swims in a pool at the Bicho d'Agua project facilities in Castanhal, Brazil, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Coral, a rescued manatee, sleeps belly up in a pool at Bicho d'Agua project facilities in Castanhal, Brazil, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Coral, a rescued manatee, receives healing cream from an assistant at a pool at Bicho d'Agua project facilities in Castanhal, Brazil, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Workers clean a pool near Bacuri, a rescued manatee, at the Emilio Goeldi Museum's scientific station in Para state, Brazil, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Children make manatee models out of Play-Doh during a trip to Emilio Goeldi Museum's scientific station in Para state, Brazil, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Bacuri, a rescued manatee, swims as children observe in the Emilio Goeldi Museum's scientific base at Caxiuana National Forest in Para state, Brazil, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

A girl embraces biologist Tatyanna Mariúcha, head of the Emilio Goeldi Museum's scientific base, as children arrive at the station in the Caxiuana National Forest in Para state, Brazil, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

The Curua River crosses the Caxiuana National Forest with Emilio Goeldi Museum's scientific station at bottom in Para state, Brazil, Saturday, March 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Children arrive at the Emilio Goeldi Museum's scientific station in the Caxiuana National Forest in Para state, Brazil, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)

Bacuri, a rescued manatee, breathes while swimming in a pool at the Emilio Goeldi Museum's scientific station in the Caxiuana National Forest in Para state, Brazil, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jorge Saenz)