Dubai : The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai on Friday, December 27, announced an extension of Dubai Metro’s operating hours from Saturday, December 28 to Monday, December 30, 2024. The Metro will operate for longer hours between Centrepoint and GGICO stations to ensure safe and efficient transport for passengers travelling to and from Dubai International Airport (DXB). بهدف ضمان سهولة تنقل المسافرين عبر مطار دبي الدولي، ستمدد #هيئة_الطرق_و_المواصلات ساعات عمل #مترو_دبي بين محطتي سنتربوينت وجي جي كو من 28 إلى 30 ديسمبر 2024. لا تنسَ تفقّد رصيدبطاقة نول قبل الانطلاق (الحد الأدنى 15 درهمًا للدرجة الفضية، أو 30 درهمًا للدرجة الذهبية لرحلتي الذهاب... pic.twitter.com/8dteFQW1Vp The Dubai Metro will operate continuously for 43 hours from December 31 to January 1, 2025, to accommodate New Year’s Eve celebrations.
HMI Introduces 16V, 20A Advanced Hot-Swap/E-Fuse for Robust Load Protection and Efficient Power ManagementTrump backers battle online over skilled immigrants
U.S. stocks rose to records after data suggested the job market remains solid enough to keep the economy going, but not so strong that it raises immediate worries about inflation. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, just enough top the all-time high set on Wednesday, as it closed a third straight winning week in what looks to be one of its best years since the 2000 dot-com bust. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to set its own record. Treasury yields eased after the jobs report showed stronger hiring than expected but also an uptick in the unemployment rate. On Friday: The S&P 500 rose 15.16 points, or 0.2%, to 6,090.27. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 123.19 points, or 0.3%, to 44,642.52. The Nasdaq composite rose 159.05 points, or 0.8%, to 19,859.77. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 12.83 points, or 0.5%, to 2,408.99. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 57.89 points, or 1%. The Dow is down 268.13 points, or 0.6%. The Nasdaq is up 641.61 points, or 3.3%. The Russell 2000 is down 25.73 points, or 1.1%. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 1,320.44 points, or 27.7%. The Dow is up 6,952.98 points, or 18.4%. The Nasdaq is up 4,848.42 points, or 32.3%. The Russell 2000 is up 381.92 points, or 18.8%.
Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving timeIsraeli troops stormed one of the last hospitals operating in northern Gaza on Friday, igniting fires and forcing many staff and patients outside to strip in winter weather, the territory’s health ministry said. Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in surrounding neighborhoods, according to staff. The ministry said a strike on the hospital a day earlier killed five medical staff. Israel’s military said it was conducting operations against Hamas infrastructure and militants in the area of the hospital, without details. It repeated claims that Hamas fighters operate inside Kamal Adwan but provided no evidence. Hospital officials have denied that. The Health Ministry said troops forced medical personnel and patients to assemble in the yard and remove their clothes. Some were led to an unknown location, while some patients were sent to the nearby Indonesian Hospital, which was knocked out of operation after an Israel raid this week. Israeli troops during raids frequently carry out mass detentions, stripping men to their underwear for questioning in what the military says is a security measure as they search for Hamas fighters. The Associated Press doesn’t have access to Kamal Adwan, but armed plainclothes members of the Hamas-led police forces — tasked with keeping security and officially separate from the group’s armed wing — have been seen in other hospitals. The Health Ministry said Israeli troops also set fires in several parts of Kamal Adwan, including the lab and surgery department. It said 25 patients and 60 health workers remained in the hospital out of 75 patients and 180 staff who had been there. The account could not be independently confirmed, and attempts to reach hospital staff were unsuccessful. “Fire is ablaze everywhere in the hospital,” an unidentified member of the staff said in an audio message posted on the social media accounts of hospital director Hossam Abu Safiya. The staffer said some evacuated patients had been unhooked from oxygen. “There are currently patients who could die at any moment,” she said. A largely isolated north Since October, Israel’s offensive has virtually sealed off the northern Gaza areas of Jabaliya, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya and leveled large parts of them. Tens of thousands of Palestinians were forced out but thousands are believed to remain in the area, where Kamal Adwan and two other hospitals are located. Troops raided Kamal Adwan in October, and on Tuesday troops stormed and evacuated the Indonesian Hospital. The area has been cut off from food and other aid for months , raising fears of famine. The U.N. says Israeli troops allowed just four humanitarian deliveries to the area from Dec. 1 to Dec. 23. The Israeli rights group Physicians for Human Rights-Israel this week petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice seeking a halt to military attacks on Kamal Adwan. It warned that forcibly evacuating the hospital would “abandon thousands of residents in northern Gaza.” Before the latest deaths Thursday, the group documented five other staffers killed by Israeli fire since October. Israel launched its campaign in Gaza vowing to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. Around 100 Israelis remain captive in Gaza, around a third believed to be dead. Israel’s nearly 15-month-old campaign of bombardment and offensives has devastated the territory’s health sector. A year ago, it carried out raids on hospitals in northern Gaza, including Kamal Adwan, Indonesian and al-Awda Hospital, saying they served as bases for Hamas, though it presented little evidence. Israel’s campaign has killed more than 45,400 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the Health Ministry. Its count does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Deaths from the cold in Gaza More than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have been driven from their homes, most of them now sheltering in sprawling, squalid tent camps in south and central Gaza. Children and adults, many barefoot, huddled Friday on the cold sand in tents whose plastic and cloth sheets whipped in the wind. Overnight temperatures can dip into the 40s Fahrenheit (below 10 Celsius), and sea spray from the Mediterranean can dampen tents just steps away. “I swear to God, their mother and I cover ourselves with one blanket and we cover (their five children) with three blankets that we got from neighbors. Sea waters drowned everything that was ours,” said Muhammad al-Sous, displaced from Beit Lahiya in the north. The children collect plastic bottles to make fires, and pile under the blankets when their only set of clothes is washed and dried in the wind. At least three babies in Gaza have died from exposure to cold in recent days, doctors there have said.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Jaland Lowe scored 19 of his career-high 22 points in the second half and collected eight rebounds and six assists in leading Pittsburgh to a 74-63 win over LSU at the Greenbrier Tip-Off on Friday. Pitt (6-0) will play the Wisconsin-UCF winner on Sunday for the tournament title. The Tigers (4-1) will take on the loser. This is Pitt's best start since 2018-19. Lowe made four 3-pointers while Ishmael Leggett added 21 points, six rebounds and five steals. Cameron Corhen scored 14 points and Zack Austin 10. The Panthers shot 64% in the second half after a 31% showing in the first. Jalen Reed had 14 points and seven rebounds, Vyctorius Miller came off the bench to score 14 points and Cam Carter added 11 for the Tigers, who shot 37%. LSU, which had trailed by as many as 12 in the second half, got within four on a four-point play by Miller with six minutes left but Lowe scored eight points, found Corhen for a pair of dunks and Leggett added seven points to help the Panthers pull away. Pitt stumbled at the end of the first half in surrendering the lead but came out in the second hot, hitting its first five shots and scoring the first 13 points. The Tigers missed their first 12 shots before finally getting a bucket and their first points from Carter nearly seven minutes into the second half. LSU had its only lead after Lowe was called for a technical foul with 4.9 seconds remaining in the first half and Carter hit a free throw to finish an 8-2 run to send the Tigers into the break ahead 28-27. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
A White House official has added a ninth U.S. telecommunications company to the list of telecoms breached in a Chinese hacking campaign that impacted dozens of countries. The Salt Typhoon Chinese cyber-espionage group who orchestrated these attacks (also tracked as Earth Estries, FamousSparrow, Ghost Emperor, and UNC2286) is known for breaching government entities and telecom companies throughout Southeast Asia and has been active since at least 2019. The White House's deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, Anne Neuberger, told reporters today that this new victim was discovered after the Biden administration released guidance to help defenders spot Chinese hackers' activity in their networks. "The reality is that China is targeting critical infrastructure in the United States. Those are private sector companies, and we still see companies not doing the basics," Neuberger said, according to Bloomberg . "That's why we're looking forward and saying 'Let's lock down this infrastructure.' And frankly, let's hold the Chinese accountable for this." Neuberger first told reporters during an early December press briefing that the Chinese hacking group had breached eight U.S. telecoms and carriers in dozens of other countries. The White House official added that "at this time, we don't believe any classified communications have been compromised," while a senior CISA official stated that they couldn't "say with certainty that the adversary has been evicted." Since this wave of telecom breaches affecting dozens of countries has been disclosed, CISA has urged senior government officials to switch to end-to-end encrypted messaging apps like Signal to communication interception risks and released guidance to help telecom admins and engineers harden their systems against Salt Typhoon attacks. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that the Biden administration will ban China Telecom's last active U.S. operations in response to Chinese state hackers breaching multiple U.S. telecom carriers . The U.S. government is also considering banning TP-Link routers starting next year if ongoing investigations find that their use in cyberattacks poses a national security risk. In addition, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon announced a new bill to secure the networks of American telecoms , and FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the agency would act "urgently" to ensure that U.S. carriers are required to secure their infrastructure.NoneTharimmune Announces $2.02 Million Private Placement to Advance Development ProgramsWALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 6, 2024-- Vicarious Surgical Inc. (“Vicarious Surgical” or the “Company”) (NYSE: RBOT, RBOT WS), a next-generation robotics technology company seeking to improve lives by transforming robotic surgery, today announced the pending departure of William Kelly, its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), to pursue other career opportunities, after nearly four years of dedicated service with the Company. Mr. Kelly has served as Vicarious Surgical’s CFO since January 2021. He will assist the Company to ensure minimal disruption and a successful transition of responsibilities prior to his departure, which is slated for January 2, 2025. “On behalf of the Company and Board, I want to extend my sincerest gratitude to Bill for his significant contribution over the last few years,” said Adam Sachs, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “Bill has been an incredible asset to Vicarious Surgical, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.” Mr. Kelly added “My tenure at Vicarious Surgical has been a period of significant progress and accomplishment, both for the Company and for me personally. I am deeply grateful for the opportunities I have been afforded and the collaborative spirit of the entire team. I depart with immense pride in our collective achievements and unwavering confidence in the Company's continued success under its strong leadership.” The Company has initiated a CFO succession process and will provide updates as appropriate. About Vicarious Surgical Founded in 2014, Vicarious Surgical is a next generation robotics company, developing a unique disruptive technology with the multiple goals of substantially increasing the efficiency of surgical procedures, improving patient outcomes, and reducing healthcare costs. The Company’s novel surgical approach uses proprietary human-like surgical robots to virtually transport surgeons inside the patient to perform minimally invasive surgery. The Company is led by an experienced team of technologists, medical device professionals and physicians, and is backed by technology luminaries including Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla’s Khosla Ventures, Innovation Endeavors, Jerry Yang’s AME Cloud Ventures, Sun Hung Kai & Co. Ltd and Philip Liang’s E15 VC. The Company is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Learn more at www.vicarioussurgical.com . Forward-Looking Statements This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company’s actual results may differ from its expectations, estimates, and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained herein, are forward-looking statements that reflect the current beliefs and expectations of management. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Most of these factors are outside Vicarious Surgical’s control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: the ability to maintain the listing of Vicarious Surgical’s Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange; the approval, commercialization and adoption of Vicarious Surgical’s initial product candidates and the success of its single-port surgical robot, called the Vicarious Surgical System, and any of its future product candidates and service offerings; changes in applicable laws or regulations; the ability of Vicarious Surgical to raise financing in the future; the success, cost and timing of Vicarious Surgical’s product and service development activities; the potential attributes and benefits of Vicarious Surgical’s product candidates and services; Vicarious Surgical’s ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for the Vicarious Surgical System, and any related restrictions and limitations of any approved product; the size and duration of human clinical trials for the Vicarious Surgical System; Vicarious Surgical’s ability to identify, in-license or acquire additional technology; Vicarious Surgical’s ability to maintain its existing license, manufacture, supply and distribution agreements; Vicarious Surgical’s ability to compete with other companies currently marketing or engaged in the development of products and services that Vicarious Surgical is currently marketing or developing; the size and growth potential of the markets for Vicarious Surgical’s product candidates and services, and its ability to serve those markets, either alone or in partnership with others; the pricing of Vicarious Surgical’s product candidates and services and reimbursement for medical procedures conducted using its product candidates and services; the company’s estimates regarding expenses, revenue, capital requirements and needs for additional financing; Vicarious Surgical’s financial performance; economic downturns, political and market conditions and their potential to adversely affect Vicarious Surgical’s business, financial condition and results of operations; Vicarious Surgical’s intellectual property rights and its ability to protect or enforce those rights, and the impact on its business, results and financial condition if it is unsuccessful in doing so; and other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in Vicarious Surgical’s filings with the SEC. Vicarious Surgical cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. The company cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Vicarious Surgical does not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241206242926/en/ CONTACT: Investors Kaitlyn Brosco Vicarious Surgical Kbrosco@vicarioussurgical.com Media Inquiries media@vicarioussurgical.com KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: MEDICAL SUPPLIES TECHNOLOGY OTHER HEALTH HEALTH ROBOTICS HEALTH TECHNOLOGY OTHER TECHNOLOGY MEDICAL DEVICES HOSPITALS SURGERY HARDWARE SOURCE: Vicarious Surgical Inc. Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/06/2024 04:05 PM/DISC: 12/06/2024 04:05 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241206242926/en
Powerful spotlights Wednesday night dance to the music on top of Jason Mills’ home at 74 Warren Road in Monmouth. The lights have prompted questions and speculation from residents miles away. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal MONMOUTH — It’s not unusual, some evenings, for people to pull to the side of the road, get out of their cars and just start dancing in the street in front of Jason Mills’ house on Warren Road. “We’ve had people out there singing at the top of their lungs, too,” says Mills, “and it’s just fun and funny. We really enjoy seeing people out there.” These spontaneous displays of singing and dancing aren’t the work of lunatics. They are among the many who stop in front of Mills’ house in the early evenings to enjoy the elaborate Christmas light show going on there. And when we say “elaborate,” we really mean it. We’re talking 18,000 LED lights flickering, flashing and kind of dancing along in exotic ways in sync with the music. We’re talking computer controlled projectors beaming images onto the windows, where exotic swirls of light move in every imaginable way. Every once in while, you’ll see the ghostly image of a guitarist jamming along to the music of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Mills’ front door. The lights spin and throb and pulsate in such a wild variety of ways, it’s mesmerizing. The experience is almost psychedelic. It is, without question, hypnotic. Sheets of LED bulbs change with the music at Jason Mills’ home in Monmouth. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal And there are four moving spotlights atop Mills’ roof, as well. They shoot out beams of light and move every which way based on the music. The light dances playfully on whatever sky cover there happens to be that night, and people have reported seeing this phenomena as far away as Turner and Greene, Lewiston, Auburn and Poland, in some cases attributing it to UFOs or the northern lights. When it comes to his Christmas light show, Mills, an assistance chief with the Monmouth Fire Department, does not mess around. His show is carefully curated through computer software that allows him to adjust the timing of every bulb and get every flash and flicker in line with the beat of the holiday season songs on his playlist. This is not traditional Christmas decorating. The display is all encompassing. From the great spotlights on the roof to the animated Christmas trees and candy canes on the front lawn, Mills has used the latest in lighting technology to present one of the grandest displays one will find in the region. It’s a lot of work and none of it is cheap: The spotlights alone run about $1,000 apiece and the LED lights were at one time selling for about a buck a bulb. Yet, Mills has been doing this for years and his officially named Monmouth Lights show gets wilder with each new Christmas season. Jason Mills stands Wednesday night in front of his home at 74 Warren Road in Monmouth., where his ever-evolving light display is attracting people from across the region. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal “Inspiration for my light show came from a few places,” says Mills, in a way that is both modest and alive with childlike enthusiasm. “When I was a kid, my grandmother had an amazing Christmas light display every year and I see this as my way of carrying on that piece of her legacy. I am also a big fan of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and started going to their concerts around 20 years ago. The lighting at those concerts is a show of its own and, as a bit of a tech geek, it garnered my interest immediately. So in 2012 I started Monmouth Lights with a few strings of traditional Christmas lights and some controllers that I put together. I had a couple different songs each year and we would see a handful of cars each night stop by. We did that for three or four years before work got in the way.” Things went along at that tempo for a few years. Then Mills stepped things up a notch or three. “In 2019, we moved to our current house and I started looking into smart lighting options,” Mills says. “I built a few small controllers and played around with some LED strips before stumbling across some information about connecting them into a Christmas light show. That’s all it took to throw me back into the hobby and I started putting together a small show. We didn’t expect a lot of visitors, but that was 2020 and a lot of normal Christmas events and traditions weren’t happening that year, so we had more than we anticipated and we ended up causing a few traffic problems.” Mills lives on a pretty quiet stretch of Warren Road. In order for someone to cause traffic problems there, people would have to be coming from miles around to see the show. That’s exactly what happened, and the show draws even more interest these days now that it’s bigger and brighter and more intense than ever. Viewers watching the light show from their cars can tune their radios to 91.7 FM to hear the music while the lights dance. The closer Christmas gets, the more Christmas music is being added to the playlist. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal The popularity of Mills’ light show got a boost recently thanks to a bunch of threads on social media where people — including Sun Journal photographer Russ Dillingham — reported seeing lights in the sky in far-flung places like the wilds of Turner. Some folks thought it was Elon Musk’s Starlink they were seeing up there in the heavens. Others thought UFOs were making regular stops to the area. When it was finally sorted out, many made the drive out to lonely Warren Road to have an up-close look at Mills’ fancy display. By then, Mills already had a pretty good following. There is rarely a time between 4:30 and 9 p.m. that at least one vehicle isn’t stopped in front of his house to enjoy the show — which takes an amazing 22 minutes to cycle from start to finish before beginning all over again. Mills gets help from his wife and two daughters, both with the setup and the computer controls. “My oldest daughter is just in high school,” Mills says. “Now she’s kind of getting into computer programming and stuff, so she’s starting to learn how to program the songs so she can pick some of her favorites and make some light shows from them.” The light show at the Monmouth home of Jason Mills includes thousands of LED lights, projects, spotlights and even a collection box for families to drop off their letters to Santa. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Mills adds new songs to the mix every week. Right now, there’s a little bit of everything in there, but as it gets closer to the holiday, Mills will switch over to Christmas music exclusively. He also gets a little help from Maine Equipment Rental, which partners with Mills and made it possible for him to work safely and with a little bit of a break on his own costs. Mills said he’s never considered asking for help from the public to pay for his setup. He does this for them and all he wants is for families viewing the show to have a good time. Families can drop off letters to Santa and watch the light show choreographed by computer to an ever-changing playlist of music. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal “We do this show for the community,” Mills says, “and there is never a charge to come and see it. We do have a Santa’s mailbox where families can drop their letters to Santa and we will get them to the North Pole. If they include a return address, we do our best to make sure they get a personal replay.” Some folks will leave donations in a box at the roadside, but Mills gives 100% of anything collected to local youth STEM and arts programs, including Monmouth VEX Robotics and the Monmouth Community Players’ kids program. The show runs nightly and Mills plans to keep the display going until the new year. Those who stop to take in the grand show can tune their radios to 91.7 FM to hear the music or they can download the PulseMesh app on their phones. In spite of the breathtaking magnitude of his light show, Mills doesn’t consider himself any kind of local king of Christmas displays. In fact, he says that some spectacular light shows at nearby homes — on Small Road and on Hallowell Road in Litchfield — make it so that the drive to the area is three times as special for those out to enjoy Christmas decorations in the area. You can find more information about Mills’ work at the Facebook group Monmouth Lights , but take it from us. This is the kind of Christmas decoration that has to be seen to be believed. We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use . More information is found on our FAQs . You can modify your screen name here . Comments are managed by our staff during regular business hours Monday through Friday as well as limited hours on Saturday and Sunday. Comments held for moderation outside of those hours may take longer to approve. Please sign into your Sun Journal account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe . Questions? Please see our FAQs . Your commenting screen name has been updated. Send questions/comments to the editors. « Previous Next »TEXAS, USA — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday overturned a lower court ruling that would have made state Attorney General Ken Paxton testify in a whistleblower lawsuit at the heart of impeachment charges brought against him in 2023 . The court on Friday said Paxton’s office does not dispute any issue in the lawsuit by four former Paxton employees and agreed to any judgment in the case. “In a major win for the State of Texas, the state Supreme Court has sided with Attorney General Paxton against former OAG employees whose effort to prolong costly, politically-motivated litigation against the agency has wasted public resources for years," a statement from Paxton's office said. An attorney for one of the plaintiffs declined immediate comment, and a second attorney did not immediately return a phone call for comment. The former employees allege they were improperly fired or forced out for bringing to the FBI allegations that Paxton was misusing his office to protect a friend and campaign donor, who in turn, they said, was helping the attorney general to conceal an extramarital affair. The Supreme Court ruling noted that the Texas governor and Legislature have expressed a desire to hear testimony from the witnesses prior to agreeing to appropriate funds to settle the lawsuit. The court said forcing Paxton, First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster, Chief of Staff Lesley French Henneke and senior advisor Michelle Smith to testify earlier could improperly be used for legislative purposes in deciding any appropriation. Under the preliminary deal , Paxton agreed to apologize to the former employees for calling them “rogue” employees, settle the case for $3.3 million and ask the state to pay for it, prompting the state House to reject the request and begin its own investigation, leading to the vote to impeach him. Paxton was ultimately acquitted after a Senate trial. The Supreme Court termed its ruling conditional upon the lower trial court complying with the decision, while saying it is “confident the trial court will comply” with the order.Commentary: Manmohan Singh, India’s quiet reformer who taught a generation to dream
A goal three minutes from time for Ademola Lookman has lifted Atalanta to the top of Serie A. Lookman scored in the dying stages to beat AC Milan 2-1 on Friday, a victory that secured Atalanta's ninth win in a row. It was a fitting gift to coach Gian Piero Gasperini, who was awarded the coach-of-the-month award earlier in the day for guiding his team to a perfect record in November. Charles De Ketelaere put the home side ahead with a towering header after 11 minutes, only for Milan to level 11 minutes later when Theo Hernández released Rafael Leão on the right wing and his inviting cross was converted by Álvaro Morata. Milan, who lost Christian Pulišić to a knock before half-time, looked set to end Atalanta's impressive run but Lookman nipped in at the back post to nod home a corner in the dying moments. Atalanta have 34 points, two more than Napoli, who have a game in hand against Lazio on Sunday. Milan are in seventh place. At the San Siro, Serie A champions Inter defeated Parma 3-1 to extend the Milan club's unbeaten run to 13 games. Federico Dimarco put the hosts ahead five minutes before half-time when he worked a neat one-two with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and fired a low shot past Zion Suzuki. Nicolò Barella made it two eight minutes into the second half when he finished a fast counterattack with aplomb. Marcos Thuram's 10th goal of the season made it 3-0 in the 66th. A Matteo Darmian own goal brought some late consolation for Parma.How major US stock indexes fared Friday, 12/6/2024An Israeli airstrike flattened a multistory building in central Gaza, killing at least 25 people and wounding dozens more, according to Palestinian medical officials, after strikes Thursday across the Gaza Strip killed at least 28 others. The latest deadly strike hit the urban Nuseirat refugee camp just hours after U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem that the recent ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for a potential deal to end the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the deadly strike in Nuseirat. Israel says it is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine in some of the hardest-hit parts of the territory. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and around 250 others were taken hostage. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Here's the latest: UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations chief has a message for Israel: Stop the attacks on Syria. Secretary-General António Guterres is particularly concerned about several hundred Israeli airstrikes on several Syrian locations and stresses “the urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Thursday. The Israeli military said Tuesday it carried out more than 350 strikes in Syria over the previous 48 hours, hitting “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country to stop them from falling into the hands of extremists. Israel also acknowledged pushing into a buffer zone inside Syria following last week’s overthrow of President Bashar Assad. The buffer zone was established after Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1973 war. Dujarric said Guterres condemns all actions violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement between the two countries that remains in force. And the U.N. chief calls on the parties to uphold the agreement and end “all unauthorized presence in the area of separation” and refrain from any action undermining the ceasefire and stability in the Golan Heights, the spokesman said. DAMASCUS, Syria — Mohammad Salim Alkhateb, an official with the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces — an internationally backed group of the opposition in exile — said his group wants to see a transitional government formed via a United Nations-backed process in the wake of Bashar Assad ouster. It is not yet clear if Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel group now in control of Syria, will pursue such a process. The insurgents have said an interim government headed by Mohammad al-Bashir, who is also the head of the “salvation government” of HTS in its former stronghold in northern Syria, will oversee the country until March but have not made clear how the transition to a new, fully empowered government would take place. “The transitional governing body should be formed in Geneva to have international legitimacy,” said Alkhateb, who is now in Damascus. “The transitional governing body, whatever its form, whether it is the ‘salvation government’ or any other, what matters is that it has international recognition.” Alkhateb said that the unexpectedly rapid fall of Damascus and departure of Assad after opposition forces launched their offensive had created confusion and a governance vacuum. A day before the insurgents pushed into Damascus, diplomats from countries including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Iran and Russia met in Qatar to discuss the situation in Syria. Alkhateb said that they had discussed a scenario in which the rebels would halt their advance, keeping the territory they had captured so far in the north — including Syria’s largest city, Aleppo — and the opposition and Assad’s government would go to Geneva for talks on a political settlement to the conflict. However, he noted, “there were no Syrians in that meeting.” Assad fled to Russia before the rebel forces arrived in Damascus but has not officially announced his resignation, which is “why we are living in a vacuum rather than a political transition,” Alkhateb said. He added that creating a professional army should be a priority of the transitional government. “We do not want a civilian who was trained during the revolution to carry military weapons to become the military,” he said. Israel bombed hundreds of military sites in Syria this week in a wave of airstrikes that destroyed “most of the strategic weapons stockpiles” in the country. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the wave of airstrikes in neighboring Syria was necessary to keep the weapons from being used against Israel following the Syrian government’s stunning collapse . WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says Austin Tice, an American journalist missing in Syria for 12 years, “is a top priority for this president.” During a briefing with reporters on Thursday, Jean-Pierre said of Tice, “There is no indication that he is not alive. There’s also no indication about his location or condition.” “What our goal is, is to bring him home. And so, we hope certainly that he is alive and, as we have stated many times before, we are talking through this with the Turks and we want to do everything we can to bring him home,” she said. BEIRUT — Amnesty International said Thursday that four Israeli airstrikes between September and October that killed at least 49 civilians in Lebanon “must be investigated as war crimes.” The rights organization said in a new report that the four strikes targeted homes in the Bekaa Valley, northern and eastern Lebanon, and municipal offices in the south. “These four attacks are emblematic of Israel’s shocking disregard for civilian lives in Lebanon and their willingness to flout international law,” said Amnesty International’s Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns. The rights group said this report was part of its ongoing investigation into violations of the laws of war in Lebanon. Amnesty International investigated four Israeli airstrikes, including one on Sept. 29 in al-Ain that killed all nine members of the same family. On Oct. 21, a strike in Baalbek city in eastern Lebanon killed six members of the same family. Another on Oct. 14 in the village of Aitou in northern Lebanon killed 23 displaced people, including a 5-month-old baby. A fragment from the attack site in Aitou was identified by an Amnesty weapons expert as likely part of a Mk-80 series aerial bomb, weighing at least 500 pounds. These munitions are primarily supplied to Israel by the United States, Amnesty said. The fourth strike Amnesty investigated was the strike that hit the municipal headquarters in Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, on Oct. 16, killing 11 civilians including the mayor. “The air strike took place without warning, just as the municipality’s crisis unit was meeting to coordinate deliveries of aid, including food, water and medicine, to residents and internally displaced people who had fled bombardment in other parts of southern Lebanon,” Amnesty said. The rights group said it interviewed survivors and witnesses, examined evidence, and found no military targets near the sites of the four strikes. The Israeli military gave no warnings and did not respond to Amnesty’s inquiries, the group said. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli airstrike hit the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least 25 Palestinians and wounding dozens more, Palestinian medics said, just hours after President Joe Biden’s national security adviser raised hopes about a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza. Photos from the scene of the blast that circulated on social media showed a completely collapsed building with people walking through its mangled and charred remains, smoke rising from piles of belongings strewn over the rubble. Officials at two hospitals in the Gaza Strip, al-Awda Hospital in the north and al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza, reported they received a combined total of 25 bodies from an Israeli strike on a multistory residential building in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp. Palestinian medics also reported that over 40 people, most of them children, were receiving treatment at the two hospitals. The al-Aqsa Hospital said that the Israeli attack also damaged several nearby houses in Nuseirat. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the deadly strike. Israel is trying to eliminate Hamas, which led the attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza . The Israeli military says Hamas militants hide among Gaza’s civilian population. Israel’s war against Hamas has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. The U.N. says Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order after Israel repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, make it extremely difficult to operate in the territory. UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. food agency is trying to deal with massive needs in Syria not only from escalating war-related food insecurity and an upsurge in displaced people fleeing Lebanon but also the dramatically new environment following the ouster of Bashar Assad, a senior U.N. official says. “It’s a triple crisis and the needs are going to be massive,” said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program, in an interview with The Associated Press late Wednesday. The WFP estimated that 3 million people in Syria were “acutely food insecure” and very hungry. However, that estimate was made before the Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon pushed many Syrian refugees back to their home country, plus the instability caused by the overthrow of Assad. Due to funding cuts, the WFP had been targeting only 2 million of those people, he said. Because WFP has been working in Syria during the 13-year civil war, he said, it has pre-positioned food in the country. It has 500 staff in seven offices nationwide and has operated across conflict lines, across borders, and with all different parties, he said. Skau said Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the main rebel group now in control of Syria, has promised to provide security for WFP warehouses. Humanitarian aid supplies had been looted at U.N. warehouses in the disorder after Assad fell. “We’re not really up and running in Damascus because of the continued kind of uncertainty there,” he said. WFP initially thought of relocating non-essential staff but the situation in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has been “quite calm and orderly," he said. In the short term, Skau said, “what we’re seeing is that markets are disrupted, the value of the currency dropped dramatically, food prices are going up, transport lines don’t work,” and it’s unclear who will stamp required papers for imports and exports. This means that a bigger humanitarian response is needed initially, he said, but in the next phase, the U,N. will be looking at contributing to Syria’s recovery, and ultimately the country will need reconstruction. Skau said he expects a new funding appeal for Syria and urged donors to be generous. JERUSALEM — President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters in Jerusalem on Thursday that Israel’s ceasefire in Lebanon has helped clear the way for another deal to end the war in Gaza. He plans to travel next to Qatar and Egypt — key mediators in the ceasefire talks — as the Biden administration makes a final push on negotiations before Donald Trump is inaugurated. Sullivan said “Hamas’ posture at the negotiating table did adapt” after Israel decimated the leadership of its ally Hezbollah in Lebanon and reached a ceasefire there. “We believe it puts us in a position to close this negotiation,” he said. Sullivan dismissed speculation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was waiting for Trump to take office to finalize a deal. He the U.S. believes there are three American hostages still alive in Gaza, but it’s hard to know for sure. He also said “the balance of power in the Middle East has changed significantly” since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, especially with the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, a key ally of Hezbollah and Iran. “We are now faced with a dramatically reshaped Middle East in which Israel is stronger, Iran is weaker, its proxies decimated, and a ceasefire that is new and will be lasting in Lebanon that ensures Israel’s security over the long term,” he said. KHIAM, Lebanon — An Israeli strike killed at least one person Thursday in the Lebanese border town of Khiam, the Health Ministry said, less than a day after Israeli troops handed the hilltop village back to the Lebanese army in coordination with U.N. peacekeepers, Khiam is the first Lebanese town Israel has pull out of since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah militants began two weeks ago, and marks an important test of the fragile truce . Lebanon's Health Ministry and state news agency did not provide details on who was killed, and did not report airstrikes elsewhere on Thursday. The Israeli military said the airstrike in Khiam targeted Hezbollah fighters. Lebanese troops deployed in the northern section of the town on Thursday morning and were coordinating with U.N. peacekeepers to finalize Israel’s withdrawal before fully entering into other neighborhoods. An Associated Press reporter who visited Khiam on Thursday observed widespread destruction, with most houses reduced to rubble. Entire neighborhoods were flattened, with collapsed walls and debris scattered across the streets. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, sharply criticized Israel for striking the town less than 24 hours after the Lebanese army returned, saying it was “a violation of the pledges made by the parties that sponsored the ceasefire agreement, who must act to curb Israeli aggression.” The truce was brokered by the U.S. and France. Israel has previously said the ceasefire deal allows it to use military force against perceived violations. Near-daily attacks by Israel during the ceasefire, mostly in southern Lebanon, have killed at least 29 people and wounded 27 others. Khiam, which sits on a ridge less than 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the border with Israel, saw some of the most intense fighting during the war. The Lebanese army was clearing debris and reopening roads in the northern section of the town. Civilian access to other areas remained challenging as the army clears roads and works alongside the U.N. peacekeepers to ensure the area is free of unexploded ordnance. AQABA, Jordan -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging the many players in Syria to avoid taking any steps that could lead to further violence. Blinken spoke to reporters in Jordan on Thursday shortly after meeting King Abdullah II as he opened a trip in the region to discuss Syria's future after former President Bashar Assad's ouster. Blinken will next visit Turkey, a NATO ally and a main backer of Syrian rebel groups. Blinken called this “a time of both real promise but also peril for Syria and for its neighbors.” He said he was focused on coordinating efforts in the region “to support the Syrian people as they transition away from Assad’s brutal dictatorship” and establish a government that isn’t dominated by one religion or ethnic group or outside power. Blinken was asked about Israel’s incursion into a buffer zone that had been demilitarized for the past half century. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the move is temporary and defensive, but also indicated Israel will remain in the area for a long time. Blinken declined to say whether the U.S. supports the move, but said the U.S. would be speaking to Israel and other partners in the region. “I think, across the board, when it comes to any actors who have real interests in Syria, it’s also really important at this time that, we all try to make sure that we’re not sparking any additional conflicts,” he said. ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, arrived in Damascus on Thursday, according to Turkish media reports. Kalin was seen arriving at the Umayyad Mosque to pray, surrounded by a large crowd, according to video shown on Turkish television. The visit is highly symbolic. Turkish officials, who supported the opposition against Syria’s government, had predicted at the start of the civil war in 2011 that President Bashar Assad’s government would fall, allowing them to pray at the Umayyad Mosque. AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is renewing calls for Syria’s new leadership to respect women and minority rights, prevent extremists from gaining new footholds in the country and keeping suspected chemical weapons stocks secure as he makes his first visit to the Mideast since the weekend ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad . Making his 12th trip to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war erupted lasted year but amid fresh concerns about security following the upheaval in Syria, Blinken emphasized Thursday to Jordan’s King Abdullah II U.S. “support for an inclusive transition that can lead to an accountable and representative Syrian government chosen by the Syrian people,” the State Department said. Blinken also repeated the importance the outgoing Biden administration puts on respect for human rights and international law, the protection of civilians and stopping terrorist groups from reconstituting. Blinken met with the monarch and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi in Aqaba before traveling to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials on the situation in Syria and the urgency of securing a long-elusive deal to release hostages and end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory since October 2023. Abdullah told Blinken that “the first step to reach comprehensive regional calm is to end the Israeli war on Gaza." GENEVA — The U.N. envoy for Syria is calling on authorities to save evidence from detention centers that were a hub of “unimaginable barbarity” that Syrians have faced for many years and cooperate with international investigators looking into such crimes. Geir Pederson referred to new images from the notorious Saydnaya military prison north of the capital, Damascus, after President Bashar Assad fled Syria as armed groups stormed in to overthrow his government over the weekend. “The images from Saydnaya and other detention facilities starkly underscore the unimaginable barbarity Syrians have endured and reported for years,” Pedersen said in a statement. Documentation and testimonies “only scratch the surface of the carceral system’s horrors,” he added. Pedersen urged authorities to cooperate with U.N. bodies like an independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which was created in 2011, and an independent group known as the IIIM that was set up five years later to also compile evidence of crimes. ROME — Leaders of the Group of 7 industrialized nations offered their full support for an inclusive political transition in Syria and invited all parties to preserve the country’s territorial integrity. In a message released by Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office, the leaders said they were ready to support a transition that “leads to a credible government, inclusive and not sectarian, that guarantees respect for the state of law, universal human rights, including rights for women, (and) the protection of all Syrians, including religious and ethnic minorities.” The leaders also underlined the importance that ousted President Bashar Assad’s government is held responsible for crimes, citing “decades of atrocities.” They said they would also cooperate with groups working to prohibit chemical weapons “to secure, declare and destroy” remaining chemical arms in Syria. Italy currently holds the rotating presidency of the G-7, which also includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States. JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says it struck Hamas militants in two locations in the southern Gaza Strip who planned to hijack aid convoys. Palestinian Health officials had earlier said that the two strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid deliveries. The committees have been organized in cooperation with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza. It was not possible to independently confirm either account of the strikes, which occurred overnight into Thursday. Israel has long accused Hamas of hijacking humanitarian aid deliveries, while U.N. officials have said there is no systemic diversion of aid . U.N. agencies and aid groups say deliveries are held up by Israeli restrictions on the entry of aid and movement within Gaza, as well as the breakdown of law and order more than 14 months into the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel has repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, which maintained internal security before the war. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, the main aid provider in Gaza, said a U.N. convoy of 70 trucks carrying humanitarian aid in southern Gaza “was involved in a serious incident,” resulting in just one of the trucks reaching its destination. It did not provide further details on the incident but said the same route had been used successfully two days earlier. Israel’s offensive, launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack, has caused vast destruction and displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, leaving the territory heavily reliant on international food aid. DAMASCUS, Syria — An American who turned up in Syria on Thursday says he was detained after crossing into the country by foot on a Christian pilgrimage seven months ago. Travis Timmerman appears to have been among thousands of people released from the country’s notorious prisons after rebels reached Damascus over the weekend, overthrowing President Bashar Assad and ending his family’s 54-year rule. As video emerged online of Timmerman on Thursday, he was initially mistaken by some for Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria 12 years ago. In the video, Timmerman could be seen lying on a mattress under a blanket in what appeared to be a private house. A group of men in the video said he was being treated well and would be safely returned home. The Biden administration is working to bring Timmerman home, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Aqaba, Jordan, without offering details, citing privacy. Timmerman later gave an interview with the Al-Arabiya TV network, saying he had illegally crossed into Syria on foot from the eastern Lebanese town of Zahle seven months ago, before being detained. He said he was treated well in detention but could hear other men being tortured. AQABA, Jordan — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Jordan on his 12th visit to the Mideast since the Israel-Hamas war erupted last year and his first since the weekend ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad that has sparked new fears of instability in a region wracked by three conflicts despite a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon. Blinken was meeting in Aqaba with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday before traveling to Turkey for talks with Turkish officials on Friday. The meetings will focus largely on Syria but also touch on long-elusive hopes for a deal to end the fighting in Gaza that has devastated the Palestinian territory since October 2023. Blinken is the latest senior U.S. official to visit the Middle East in the five days since Assad was deposed as the Biden administration navigates more volatility in the region in its last few weeks in office and as President-elect Donald Trump has said the U.S. should stay out of the Syrian conflict. Other include national security adviser Jake Sullivan and a top military commander who traveled there as the U.S. and Israel have launched airstrikes to prevent the Islamic State militant group from reconstituting and prevent materiel and suspected chemical weapons stocks from falling into militant hands. Blinken “will discuss the need for the transition process and new government in Syria to respect the rights of minorities, facilitate the flow of humanitarian assistance, prevent Syria from being used as a base of terrorism or posing a threat to its neighbors, and ensure that chemical weapons stockpiles are secured and safely destroyed,” the State Department said. The U.S. would be willing to recognize and fully support a new Syrian government that met those criteria. U.S. officials say they are not actively reviewing the foreign terrorist organization designation of the main Syrian rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, which was once an al-Qaida affiliate, but stressed they are not barred from speaking to its members. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces will remain in a Syrian buffer zone until a new force on the other side of the border can guarantee security. After the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Israeli forces pushed into a buffer zone that had been established after the 1973 Mideast war. The military says it has seized additional strategic points nearby. Israeli officials have said the move is temporary, but Netanyahu’s conditions could take months or even years to fulfill as Syria charts its post-Assad future, raising the prospect of an open-ended Israeli presence in the country. Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Thursday that Assad’s overthrow by jihadi rebels created a vacuum on the border. “Israel will not permit jihadi groups to fill that vacuum and threaten Israeli communities on the Golan Heights with October 7th style attacks,” it said, referring to Hamas’ 2023 attack out of Gaza, which ignited the war there. “That is why Israeli forces entered the buffer zone and took control of strategic sites near Israel’s border.” The statement added that “this deployment is temporary until a force that is committed to the 1974 agreement can be established and security on our border can be guaranteed.” The buffer zone is adjacent to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed. The international community, except for the United States, views the Golan as occupied Syrian territory. JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Thursday that the attacker who fatally shot a 12-year-old Israeli boy in the occupied West Bank overnight turned himself in to authorities. The attacker opened fire on a bus near the Israeli settlement of Beitar Illit, critically wounding the boy, who hospital authorities pronounced dead in the early morning. Three others were wounded in the attack, paramedics said. The shooting took place just outside Jerusalem in an area near major Israeli settlements. JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian government has evacuated 37 citizens from Syria following the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government, officials said Thursday. The evacuees were taken by land from Damascus to Beirut, where they boarded three commercial flights to Jakarta, said Judha Nugraha, director of citizen protection at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Indonesian Embassy in Damascus said all 1,162 Indonesian citizens in Syria were safe. Indonesian Ambassador to Syria Wajid Fauzi said the situation in Syria has gradually returned to normal. “I can say that 98% of people’s lives are back to normal, shops are open, public transportation has started running,” Fauzi said, adding that most Indonesian nationals living in Syria had chosen to stay. DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian medical officials say Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 28 people in the Gaza Strip, including seven children and a woman. One of the strikes overnight and into Thursday flattened a house in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby city of Deir al-Balah, where the casualties were taken. An Associated Press reporter saw the bodies at the hospital’s morgue. Two other strikes killed 15 men who were part of local committees established to secure aid convoys . The committees were set up by displaced Palestinians in coordination with the Hamas-run Interior Ministry. The Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received the bodies and an AP reporter counted them. The hospital said eight were killed in a strike near the southern border town of Rafah and seven others in a strike 30 minutes later near Khan Younis. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 people. Some 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead. Israel’s offensive has killed over 44,800 Palestinians in Gaza, more than half of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were combatants. The Israeli military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence. The fighting has plunged Gaza into a severe humanitarian crisis, with experts warning of famine. Israel says it allows enough aid to enter and blames U.N. agencies for not distributing it. The U.N. says Israeli restrictions, and the breakdown of law and order after Israel repeatedly targeted the Hamas-run police force, make it extremely difficult to operate in the territory.