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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay’s bid for a fourth straight NFC South title and fifth consecutive playoff berth is gaining momentum. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay’s bid for a fourth straight NFC South title and fifth consecutive playoff berth is gaining momentum. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay’s bid for a fourth straight NFC South title and fifth consecutive playoff berth is gaining momentum. Back-to-back wins over a pair of last-place teams, combined with Atlanta’s three-game losing streak, have propelled the Bucs (6-6) to a tie atop the division. Although the Falcons (6-6) hold a tiebreaker after sweeping the season series between the teams, Tampa Bay can control its own destiny by finishing strong against a less than imposing schedule. The Bucs, who are back in the thick of the race after beating the New York Giants and Carolina Panthers, figure to be favored in four of their five remaining games. “Every week, we said it’s a playoff game, we got to take care of us. It’s not going to be easy. As it was (Sunday), it’s going to be a dog fight every week,” coach Todd Bowles said after Sunday’s 26-23 overtime win at Carolina. “We got to clean up some things, we know that, but it’s hard to win in this league,” the coach said of the mistake-filled victory that lifted the Bucs back to .500. “We’ll take a win any way we can get it.” After facing Las Vegas (2-10) this week, the Bucs will finish with road games against the Los Angeles Chargers (8-4) and Dallas Cowboys (5-7), followed by home dates vs. Carolina (3-9) and the New Orleans Saints (4-8). What’s working Kicker Chase McLaughlin has been one of team’s most consistent performers, converting 21 of 23 field goal attempts. He was 4 of 5 against the Panthers, including 51-yarder to force overtime on the final play of regulation. He missed from 55 yards in OT before winning it with a 30-yard field goal on Tampa Bay’s next possession. What needs help Just when it appeared the defense was beginning to trend in the right direction, Carolina’s Bryce Young threw for 298 yards without an interception against the Bucs in one of his better outings of the season. “In the first half, he did it with his feet and the second half he did it with his arm,” Bowles said. Stock up Running back Bucky Irving rushed for a career-best 152 yards and finished with 185 from scrimmage against Carolina, making him the first rookie since Miles Sanders in 2019 to have consecutive games with 150-plus yards from scrimmage. Stock down A week after playing well offensively and defensively in a 23-point rout of the New York Giants, the Bucs were sloppy against the Panthers. In addition to throwing two interceptions, Mayfield was sacked four times. Tampa Bay was penalized seven times for 54 yards, and the defense was only able to sack Young once. Injuries Mayfield (sore leg), linebacker K.J. Britt (sprained ankle) and safety Mike Edwards (hamstring) will be on the injury report this week. Bowles said he’s not sure what Mayfield’s practice status will be when the team reconvenes Wednesday, however he expects the quarterback to play Sunday. Key numbers 37 and 101 — Wide receiver Mike Evans had another big day against Carolina, posting the 37th 100-yard receiving performance of his career — fifth among active players. He also moved ahead of Hall of Famers Steve Largent and Tim Brown for sole possession of ninth place on the all-time list for TD receptions with 101. Next steps The Buccaneers host Las Vegas in Tampa Bay’s first home game in a month and the third consecutive outing against a last-place team. The Raiders (2-10) have lost eight in a row. ___ NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl Advertisement AdvertisementHealth Initiative Reveals Alarming Hypertension Rates Among Mallam Market Traders
Authored by Lura Forcum via RealClearPolitics , In the marketplace, competition empowers consumers. The more options you have for a particular product, the lower prices become. Moreover, having more options means you are more likely to find exactly what you want instead of just settling for something good enough. In politics, competition empowers voters. However, unlike the marketplace, where consumers are accustomed to a variety of options, politics offers only two. Worse still, the two options available are so feckless that a plurality of voters choose neither. When there’s little competition, power ends up in the hands of companies, not consumers. And that’s what we see with the Republican and Democratic parties. The lack of competition allows both parties to continue to be unresponsive to voters’ concerns. According to recurring surveys by Gallup , beginning around 2010, independents have been the electorate’s plurality, with few exceptions. And since Obama’s reelection in 2012, independents have been the plurality without exception . Put differently, voters have reported feeling disempowered for more than a decade. It’s no wonder why. The parties set it up so they don’t have outside competition . A number of rules make it difficult – or impossible – for non-party voices to be heard. For instance, in 10 states, you can’t vote in a party’s primary unless you’re a registered party member. Another nine states allow unaffiliated voters but not opposing party members to vote in party primaries. Only 15 states allow for open party primaries where any voter can participate. If you’re running for office as an independent, you don’t have access to the resources that a major party offers its candidates for statewide or national office. It’s hard enough to win political office even with the support of the duopoly; independents are forced to do the impossible. While the election results suggest that voters found the Trump campaign more responsive to their concerns this time, that doesn’t mean Republicans will become better listeners going forward. And why should they? Without competition, there is no incentive for either party to take voters’ concerns seriously for longer than an election cycle. With the Republican party the party of Trump now, attention has focused on his public and private lives, his various legal cases, and his influence over the Republican Party writ large. These distractions have taken attention away from good policy and effective governance. And while you might expect when one party takes its eye off the ball, it would allow the other party to flourish, but that hasn’t been the case. Democrats are flailing because the shift in the Republican party led them to believe that it was enough to just not be Republicans. Since the rise of Donald Trump, their offering to voters has increasingly been, “At least we’re not those guys.” On a variety of issues, from the environment to health care to national defense, one party’s position is, “We should do this,” and the other’s is, “No, we shouldn’t,” and the result is a gridlocked Congress . The Independent Center does the exact opposite. We are bringing competition back to politics by identifying, activating, and empowering independent voters. These voters insist on effective government. They are the swing voters who went for Trump in 2016, Biden in 2020, and Trump again in 2024 because they value results over political allegiances. They expect the government to be fiscally responsible, but they don’t like the more extreme positions on social policies favored by Republicans. In short, they want government to live within its means, as they do, and respect the decisions of consenting adults. The Independent Center believes that the best way to make government more responsive to voters is to bring more people into the political process, especially the people who don’t identify as Republicans or Democrats. By creating a movement of independent voters, we will have more voices about what people want and need, more ideas about effective policy responses, and more feedback about what the best policy solutions are. By competing with Democrats and Republicans for voters, independents will push those parties to understand voters’ values and preferences better, develop better policy proposals, and actually pass legislation instead of devoting their energies to name-calling and obstructing the other side. Lura Forcum is the incoming president of the Independent Center. A former professor and researcher, she conveys complex ideas and policy insights to engage independent voters who now comprise the plurality of the electorate.
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The swift sinking of former Rep. Matt Gaetz as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general showed Thursday that Republicans are still capable of finding fault with Trump’s choices, and even pushing back . Whether they will flex that muscle often — or again at all — is anyone’s guess. Heading into a second White House term with both chambers of Congress in his party’s control, Trump nonetheless had to acknowledge defeat on Gaetz after Senate Republicans balked at the embattled MAGA firebrand becoming the nation’s top law enforcement official. Both Trump and Gaetz, in separate statements, said Gaetz was withdrawing his name because he didn’t want to be a “distraction” for the Trump transition. Gaetz said there “is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle.” Such a scuffle would probably have been stacked heavily against Gaetz, amid blockbuster leaks from an ethics investigation into allegations that Gaetz engaged in drug-fueled sex parties involving underage girls. Those reports increasingly raised alarm bells not just among Democratic detractors of Gaetz and the president-elect, but among Senate Republicans — who met his withdrawal with what appeared to be an intentionally understated shrug. After Gaetz announced his withdrawal, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the decision was “appropriate.” Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said he respected Gaetz’s decision and looked forward to confirming “qualified” nominees moving forward. Ronna McDaniel, former Republican Party chair, told CNN that Gaetz’s nomination had appeared doomed to fail. “It was hard for some of these senators and others,” she said. “He trolled them. He went after them. He wasn’t going to win a congeniality contest.” Bob Shrum, director of the Center for the Political Future at USC, said “we don’t know the final answer” yet as to whether Republican senators will continue to push back against Trump or other nominees. But clearly with Gaetz, Trump was given a clear — if “back channel” — message that the nomination was “not going to work.” “Even though the Republicans want to be loyal to Trump,” Shrum said, “you can push them too far.” Norman J. Ornstein, a left-leaning emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who has written extensively about the Senate’s dysfunction, said Senate Republicans scuttled Gaetz’s nomination because they anticipated more evidence of sexual misconduct by Gaetz coming out. But such a stand should hardly be viewed as an indicator of more robust pushback against Trump in the future, he said. “This does not mean that the Senate Republicans will now give the appropriate scrutiny and judgment to other ethically challenged or utterly unqualified nominees,” he said — before naming several of Trump’s recent Cabinet picks, including Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran who Trump has nominated for Defense secretary and who is facing fresh questions about a 2017 allegation of sexual assault . “They may reject one, but Trump knew that if he flooded the zone with deplorables, the Republican Senate would end up confirming most of them,” Ornstein said. Democrats, meanwhile, cheered Gaetz’s withdraw. Sen.-elect Adam B. Schiff of California said Gaetz was a “terrible choice for the nation’s top law enforcement agency,” a position that requires someone devoted to the rule of law, “not the person of the president or partisan agenda.” Some also suggested it should not prevent the release of the House ethics report about Gaetz — the same argument they made after Gaetz’s decision to resign from the House following Trump’s nominating him last week. What will happen next — not just for Gaetz but for Trump’s efforts to stand up a government of nontraditional appointees — is unclear. Gaetz, who was previously the subject of a federal sex trafficking investigation, could still get a post in the Trump administration that does not require Senate confirmation, an action presidents of both parties have taken to retain loyalists who are too controversial to win jobs that require approval. Stephen Miller, the author of some of Trump’s harshest immigration enforcement tactics, including family separation during his first term, was chosen last week as his deputy chief of staff. Neera Tanden, who directs President Biden’s domestic policy council, has held a number of jobs in the administration after withdrawing from a job to lead the Office of Management and Budget. Some in Washington on Thursday wondered, too, if Gaetz might try to reclaim his seat in the House, to which he had just won reelection. Florida state Rep. Joel Rudman, a Republican who announced this week that he would run for Gaetz’s House seat, said on X on Thursday that if Gaetz “wants to come back to Congress, I will support him 100%.” More broadly, Gaetz’s withdrawal marks an important moment in defining the limits of Trump’s power in a second term with a more pliant Congress and Supreme Court than during his first term — when his takeover of the Republican Party was still in its early stages. Gaetz was the most objectionable among a group of nominees who would have faced immediate disqualification during an earlier era. The ethics investigation — details of which have been leaking out in a steady drip since his nomination last week — was only the most salacious aspect of his dossier. He also lacked significant management and criminal law experience and had repeated numerous false conspiracy theories. Still, the factor that may have been most harmful were his relationships with fellow Republican lawmakers, who regarded him as an empty showboat willing to hurt the party to gain attention. Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the Bakersfield Republican, has made his ire for Gaetz clear since Gaetz played a central role in McCarthy’s ouster last year. And many members of the Senate in recent days said they wanted to know more about his ethics investigation before casting votes, an objective that ensured a messy confirmation hearing. In a post illustrating the depth of contempt for Gaetz in GOP congressional circles, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) posted a photo of McCarthy lifting a wooden gavel, with the caption, “Justice has been served.” By withdrawing, Gaetz may clear an easier path for whomever Trump nominates next, given that many senators are wary of bucking the president-elect, who has threatened retaliation in his second term while some allies have warned of primary challenges for even the slightest sign of disloyalty. His withdrawal also raises uncomfortable questions for other Trump nominees who face questions in the Senate, including Hegseth. Late Wednesday, officials in Monterey released a police report from 2017 outlining a woman’s claim that Hegseth took her phone, blocked her from leaving his hotel room and sexually assaulted her. Hegseth’s attorneys have acknowledged he paid the woman as part of a settlement. Hegseth has vociferously denied the allegations, saying Thursday that “the matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared,” and some Republicans appeared to be rallying to his side. After meeting with Hegseth, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, described Hegseth Thursday as “a strong nominee.” “Pete pledged that the Pentagon will focus on strength and hard power — not the current administration’s woke political agenda,” Barrasso said in a statement. “National security nominations have a history of quick confirmations in the Senate. I look forward to Pete’s hearing and a vote on the floor in January.” Influential right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, whose nonprofit Turning Point Action largely ran Trump’s ground game in swing states such as Arizona and Wisconsin, had been rallying his millions of social media followers to support Gaetz’s nomination. On Thursday, Kirk seemed to offer those senators who blocked it a warning — saying his group would start a lobbying initiative in support of Trump’s remaining Cabinet nominees, holding rallies in conservative states where senators might need extra “encouragement” to approve them. “We will bring this road show, on the ground by the way, potentially to Rapid City, South Dakota; to Sioux Falls, South Dakota; to Boise, Idaho; to Fayetteville, Arkansas; to Topeka, Kansas; to Tupelo, Mississippi,” Kirk said. “You picking up what I’m throwing down?” Only if senators expressed unwavering public support for Trump’s picks, he said, would he consider standing down. Times staff writers Hailey Branson-Potts and Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.
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Breaking Down Accolade: 8 Analysts Share Their ViewsThe border agency chief said she learned from media that her officers are frustrated about not being able to react when they notice individuals crossing the border illegally near a port of entry due to a jurisdictional issue. “That has never been raised to my attention,” Erin O'Gorman, president of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), said while appearing before the House of Commons public safety committee on Dec. 3. O'Gorman told Conservative MP Raquel Dancho she had learned this information from reading the news. “It seems that there is frustration with our border officers that they literally are seeing someone go just right out of their jurisdiction and they can’t apprehend them,” said Dancho after reading Weber’s quote to O'Gorman. O'Gorman said she would be “happy to undertake the work” to address the legislative constraints on CBSA’s mandate while adding the issue ultimately resides with Parliament. CBSA and the RCMP currently split responsibilities for border security. The border agency is responsible for ports of entry whereas the Mounties cover the border in between ports of entry. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told the committee he’s taken note of the border union president’s comments and he has discussed the issue with RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme. “We haven’t made any decisions in that regard, but are open to considering that as well,” LeBlanc said. Border security concerns have jumped to the top of politicians’ priority list in the last week, following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs. Trump said on Nov. 25 he would impose a 25 percent tariff on goods coming from Canada and Mexico if they don’t address illegal immigration and drug smuggling. LeBlanc said Trudeau also raised the issue of illegal firearms as well as cocaine and methamphetamine from the United States being smuggled into Canada. “I think we wanted to impress upon the Americans that not only did we share their concerns, we had our own as well,” he said. Putting more boots on the ground to bolster security is more complicated due to human resources issues and competing priorities. LeBlanc did not provide the committee with a specific human resources plan for the border regarding CBSA and RCMP effectives. “There will be additional resources, human and equipment, we’ve said that consistently,” he said, adding that the specific announcement will come before Trump takes office on Jan. 20. “We are finalizing that as a government now, based on the advice that we receive” from the RCMP and CBSA, said LeBlanc. The RCMP previously said it has a contingency plan to deal with an increased flow of migrants seeking to leave the United States to avoid Trump’s promised “mass deportation”; however, the strategy to prevent the flow going the other way has not been fleshed out. Even with more resources on the ground near the border, there isn’t much the RCMP can do within the scope of the law to stop people from crossing into the United States. Duheme remarked that an offence is only committed when the individual crosses the border. “It’s more important than ever to have the right technology and the right partnership south of the border,” he said.Israel has agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon that will take effect at 4 a.m. Wednesday. Moments after U.S. President Joe Biden announced the ceasefire deal , which Israel's Cabinet approved late Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike slammed into the Lebanese capital. Residents of Beirut and its southern suburbs have endured the most intense day of Israeli strikes since the war began nearly 14 months ago, as Israel signaled it aims to keep pummeling Hezbollah before the ceasefire is set to take hold. At least 24 people have killed by Israeli strikes across Lebanon on Tuesday, according to local authorities. Hezbollah also fired rockets into Israel on Tuesday, triggering air raid sirens across the country’s north. An Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire would mark the first major step toward ending the regionwide unrest triggered by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But it does not address the devastating war in Gaza. Hezbollah began attacking Israel a day after Hamas’ attack. The fighting in Lebanon escalated into all-out war in September with massive Israeli airstrikes across the country and an Israeli ground invasion of the south. In Gaza, more than 44,000 people have been killed and more than 104,000 wounded in the nearly 14-month war between Israel and Hamas, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Here's the Latest: WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s senior national security team was briefed by the Biden administration as negotiations unfolded, according to the senior U.S. official. The official, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity in a White House-organized call, added that the incoming Trump administration officials were not directly involved in the talks, but that it was important that the incoming administration knew “what we were negotiating and what the commitments were.” The official said “all fire will stop from all parties” at 4 a.m. local time. The next step would be what the official described as a “phased withdrawal” by the Israeli military. As the Israelis pull back, Lebanese national forces will occupy the territories. The process is slated to finish within 60 days. Lebanese forces is supposed to patrol the area and remove Hezbollah weaponry and infrastructure there. “Hezbollah is incredibly weak at this moment, both militarily and politically,” the official said. “And this is the opportunity for Lebanon to re-establish its sovereignty over its territory.” The official said the ceasefire agreement will strengthen what’s known as the “tripartite mechanism” by including the United States and France. The goal is to address violations of the ceasefire without a return to hostilities. UNITED NATIONS – The top U.N. envoy for Lebanon welcomed the ceasefire announcement and urged Israel and Hezbollah militants to take concrete actions to fully implement the 2006 agreement that ended their last war. U.N. Special Coordinator Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said the agreement “marks the starting point of a critical process” that must see both sides fully implement U.N. Security Council resolution 1701. It called for the deployment of Lebanese armed forces in the south bordering Israel and the disarmament of all armed groups including Hezbollah – neither of which has happened in the past 17 years. “Nothing less than the full and unwavering commitment of both parties is required,” Hennis-Plasschaert said. “Neither side can afford another period of disingenuous implementation under the guise of ostensible calm.” She commended the parties for “seizing the opportunity to close this devastating chapter,” stressing that “Now is the time to deliver, through concrete actions, to consolidate today’s achievement.” UNITED NATIONS — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is calling for urgent international intervention to stop what he described as “an ongoing genocidal war” in Gaza. Abbas heads the Palestinian Authority which has limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, but not Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas. The U.S. and others want a reinvigorated Palestinian Authority to run Gaza when the war ends. In a speech on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Abbas accused Israel of repeating what happened to the Palestinians in 1948 and 1967 – displacing them and seizing their land and resources. Abbas demanded to know how long the world will remain silent and refuse to compel Israel to abide by international law. The speech to U.N. member nations was read by Palestinian U.N. ambassador Riyad Mansour. “The only way to halt the halt the dangerous escalation we are witnessing in the region, and maintain regional and international stability, security and peace, is to resolve the question of Palestine,” Abbas' speech said. This must be done in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions which call for a two-state solution, he said. BEIRUT -- Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal between Israel and Hezbollah, describing it as a crucial step toward stability, the return of displaced people to their homes and regional calm. Mikati made these comments in a statement issued just after U.S. President Joe announced the truce deal. Mikati said he discussed the ceasefire agreement with Biden by phone earlier Tuesday. The prime minister reaffirmed Lebanon’s commitment to implementing U.N. resolution 1701, strengthening the Lebanese army’s presence in the south, and cooperating with the U.N. peacekeeping force. He also called on Israel to fully comply with the ceasefire and withdraw from southern Lebanon in accordance the U.N. resolution. JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security Cabinet has approved a ceasefire deal with Hezbollah, clearing the way for the truce to take effect. Netanyahu’s office said the plan was approved by a 10-1 margin. The late-night vote came shortly before President Joe Biden was expected to announced details of the deal in Washington. Earlier, Netanyahu defended the ceasefire, saying Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hezbollah and could now focus its efforts on Hamas militants in Gaza and his top security concern, Iran. Netanyahu vowed to strike Hezbollah hard if it violates the expected deal. WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Waltz, President-elect Donald Trump’s designate to be national security adviser, credited Trump’s victory with helping bring the parties together toward a ceasefire in Lebanon. “Everyone is coming to the table because of President Trump,” he said in a post on X on Tuesday. “His resounding victory sent a clear message to the rest of the world that chaos won’t be tolerated. I’m glad to see concrete steps towards deescalation in the Middle East.” He added: “But let’s be clear: The Iran Regime is the root cause of the chaos & terror that has been unleashed across the region. We will not tolerate the status quo of their support for terrorism.” BEIRUT — Israeli jets targeted a building in a bustling commercial area of Beirut for the first time since the start of the 13-month war between Hezbollah and Israel. The strike on Hamra is around 400 meters (yards) from the country’s central bank. A separate strike hit the Mar Elias neighborhood in the country’s capital Tuesday. There was no immediate word on casualties from either strike, part of the biggest wave of attacks on the capital since the war started. Residents in central Beirut were seen fleeing after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for four targets in the city. Meanwhile, the Israeli army carried out airstrikes on at least 30 targets in Beirut’s southern suburbs Tuesday, including two strikes in the Jnah neighborhood near the Kuwaiti Embassy. Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported that 13 people were injured in the strikes on the southern suburbs. BEIRUT — Hezbollah has said it accepts the ceasefire proposal with Israel, but a senior official with the group said Tuesday that it had not seen the agreement in its final form. “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Al Jazeera news network. “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state.” of Lebanon, he said. “Any violation of sovereignty is refused.” Among the issues that may remain is an Israeli demand to reserve the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations under the emerging deal. The deal seeks to push Hezbollah and Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon. JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would recommend his Cabinet adopt a United States-brokered ceasefire agreement with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, as Israeli warplanes struck across Lebanon, killing at least 23 people. The Israeli military also issued a flurry of evacuation warnings — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah down to the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. For the first time in the conflict, Israeli ground troops reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River, a focal point of the emerging deal. In a televised statement, Netanyahu said he would present the ceasefire to Cabinet ministers later on Tuesday, setting the stage for an end to nearly 14 months of fighting. Netanyahu said the vote was expected later Tuesday. It was not immediately clear when the ceasefire would go into effect, and the exact terms of the deal were not released. The deal does not affect Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which shows no signs of ending. BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state media said Israeli strikes on Tuesday killed at least 10 people in Baalbek province the country’s east. At least three people were killed in the southern city of Tyre when Israel bombed a Palestinian refugee camp, said Mohammed Bikai, a representative of the Fatah group in the area. He said several more people were missing and at least three children were among the wounded. He said the sites struck inside the camp were “completely civilian places” and included a kitchen that was being used to cook food for displaced people. JERUSALEM — Dozens of Israeli protesters took to a major highway in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening to call for the return of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, as the country awaited news of a potential ceasefire in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah. Protesters chanted “We are all hostages,” and “Deal now!” waving signs with faces of some of the roughly 100 hostages believed to be still held in Gaza, at least a third of whom are thought to be dead. Most of the other hostages Hamas captured in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack were released during a ceasefire last year. The prospect of a ceasefire deal in Lebanon has raised desperation among the relatives of captives still held in Gaza, who once hoped that the release of hostages from Gaza would be included. Instead of a comprehensive deal, the ceasefire on the table is instead narrowly confined to Lebanon. Dozens of Israelis were also demonstrating against the expected cease-fire, gathering outside Israel’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv. One of the protesters, Yair Ansbacher, says the deal is merely a return to the failed 2006 U.N. resolution that was meant to uproot Hezbollah from the area. “Of course that didn’t happen,” he says. “This agreement is not worth the paper it is written on.” FIUGGI, Italy — Foreign ministers from the world’s industrialized countries said Tuesday they strongly supported an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah and insisted that Israel comply with international law in its ongoing military operations in the region. At the end of their two-day summit, the ministers didn’t refer directly to the International Criminal Court and its recent arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister over crimes against humanity . Italy had put the ICC warrants on the official meeting agenda, even though the G7 was split on the issue. The U.S., Israel’s closest ally, isn’t a signatory to the court and has called the warrants “outrageous.” However, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said all the other G7 countries were signatories and therefore obliged to respect the warrants. In the end, the final statement adopted by the ministers said Israel, in exercising its right to defend itself, “must fully comply with its obligations under international law in all circumstances, including international humanitarian law.” And it said all G7 members — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – “reiterate our commitment to international humanitarian law and will comply with our respective obligations.” It stressed that “there can be no equivalence between the terrorist group Hamas and the State of Israel.” The ICC warrants say there's reason to believe Netanyahu used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny. BEIRUT — An Israeli strike on Tuesday levelled a residential building in the central Beirut district of Basta — the second time in recent days warplanes have hit the crowded area near the city’s downtown. At least seven people were killed and 37 wounded in Beirut, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. It was not immediately clear if anyone in particular was targeted, though Israel says its airstrikes target Hezbollah officials and assets. The Israeli military spokesman issued a flurry of evacuation warnings for many areas, including areas in Beirut that have not been targeted throughout the war, like the capital’s commercial Hamra district, where many people displaced by the war have been staying. The warnings, coupled with fear that Israel was ratcheting up attacks in Lebanon during the final hours before a ceasefire is reached, sparked panic and sent residents fleeing in their cars to safer areas. In areas close to Hamra, families including women and children were seen running away toward the Mediterranean Sea’s beaches carrying their belongings. Traffic was completely gridlocked as people tried to get away, honking their car horns as Israeli drones buzzed loudly overhead. The Israeli military also issued warnings for 20 more buildings in Beirut’s suburbs to evacuate before they too were struck — a sign it was aiming to inflict punishment on Hezbollah in the final moments before any ceasefire takes hold. TEL AVIV, Israel — The independent civilian commission of inquiry into the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel has found Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly responsible for the failures leading up to the attack, alongside former defense ministers, the army chief and the heads of the security services. The civil commission presented its findings today after a four-month probe in which it heard some 120 witnesses. It was set up by relatives of victims of the Hamas attack, in response to the absence of any state probe. The commission determined that the Israeli government, its army and security services “failed in their primary mission of protecting the citizens of Israel.” It said Netanyahu was responsible for ignoring “repeated warnings” ahead of Oct. 7, 2023 for what it described as his appeasing approach over the years toward Hamas, and for “undermining all decision-making centers, including the cabinet and the National Security Council, in a way that prevented any serious discussion” on security issues. The commission further determined that the military and defense leaders bear blame for ignoring warnings from within the army, and for reducing the army’s presence along the Gaza border while relying excessively on technological means. On the day of the Hamas attack, the report says, the army’s response was both slow and lacking. The civil commission called for the immediate establishment of a state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attack. Netanyahu has opposed launching a state commission of inquiry, arguing that such an investigation should begin only once the war is over. JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military says its ground troops have reached parts of Lebanon’s Litani River — a focal point of the emerging ceasefire. In a statement Tuesday, the army said it had reached the Wadi Slouqi area in southern Lebanon and clashed with Hezbollah forces. Under a proposed ceasefire, Hezbollah would be required to move its forces north of the Litani, which in some places is some 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the Israeli border. The military says the clashes with Hezbollah took place on the eastern end of the Litani, just a few kilometers (miles) from the border. It is one of the deepest places Israeli forces have reached in a nearly two-month ground operation. The military says soldiers destroyed rocket launchers and missiles and engaged in “close-quarters combat” with Hezbollah forces. The announcement came hours before Israel’s security Cabinet is expected to approve a ceasefire that would end nearly 14 months of fighting. BEIRUT — Israeli jets Tuesday struck at least six buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs Tuesday, including one that slammed near the country’s only airport. Large plumes of smoke could be seen around the airport near the Mediterranean coast, which has continued to function despite its location beside the densely populated suburbs where many of Hezbollah’s operations are based. The strikes come hours before Israel’s cabinet was scheduled to meet to discuss a proposal to end the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. The proposal calls for an initial two-month ceasefire during which Israeli forces would withdraw from Lebanon and Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the southern border south of the Litani River. There were no immediate reports of casualties from Tuesday’s airstrikes. FIUGGI, Italy — EU top diplomat Josep Borrell, whose term ends Dec. 1, said he proposed to the G7 and Arab ministers who joined in talks on Monday that the U.N. Security Council take up a resolution specifically demanding humanitarian assistance reach Palestinians in Gaza, saying deliveries have been completely impeded. “The two-state solution will come later. Everything will come later. But we are talking about weeks or days,” for desperate Palestinians, he said. “Hunger has been used as an arm against people who are completely abandoned.” It was a reference to the main accusation levelled by the International Criminal Court in its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister. Borrell said the signatories to the court, including six of the seven G7 members, are obliged under international law to respect and implement the court’s decisions. Host Italy put the ICC warrants on the G7 agenda at the last minute, but there was no consensus on the wording of how the G7 would respond given the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, has called the warrants “outrageous.” Italy, too, has said it respects the court but expressed concern that the warrants were politically motivated and ill-advised given Netanyahu is necessary for any deal to end the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. “Like it or not, the International Criminal Court is a court as powerful as any national court,” Borrell said. “And if the Europeans don’t support International Criminal Court then there would not be any hope for justice,” he said. Borrell, whose term ends Dec. 1, said he proposed to the G7 and Arab ministers who joined in talks on Monday that the U.N. Security Council take up a resolution specifically demanding humanitarian assistance reach Palestinians in Gaza, saying deliveries have been completely impeded. “The two-state solution will come later. Everything will come later. But we are talking about weeks or days,” for desperate Palestinians, he said. “Hunger has been used as an arm against people who are completely abandoned.” It was a reference to the main accusation levelled by the International Criminal Court in its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister. Borrell said the signatories to the court, including six of the seven G7 members, are obliged under international law to respect and implement the court’s decisions. Host Italy put the ICC warrants on the G7 agenda at the last minute, but there was no consensus on the wording of how the G7 would respond given the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, has called the warrants “outrageous.” Italy, too, has said it respects the court but expressed concern that the warrants were politically motivated and ill-advised given Netanyahu is necessary for any deal to end the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. “Like it or not, the International Criminal Court is a court as powerful as any national court,” Borrell said. “And if the Europeans don’t support International Criminal Court then there would not be any hope for justice,” he said. (edited)