The Palestinian president was set to meet Friday with U.S. officials to discuss postwar arrangements for Gaza that could include reactivating Palestinian security forces driven out by Hamas in its 2007 takeover of the territory.
Any role for Palestinian security forces in Gaza is bound to elicit strong opposition from Israel, which seeks to maintain an open-ended security presence there. The Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but is deeply unpopular with Palestinians.
While Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it wipes out Gaza’s Hamas rulers, the international call for a cease-fire has grown in volume. Israel has drawn international outrage and rare criticism from the U.S. — its main ally — over the killing of civilians.
More than 18,700 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel says 116 of its soldiers have died in its ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and taking about 240 hostages.
Currently:
— Israel’s president says now isn’t the time to discuss a two-state solution.
— Israel’s mass arrest campaign sows fear in northern Gaza.
A Palestinian wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrives at a hospital in Rafah on Thursday, Dec.14, 2023. Credit: AP/Fatima Shbair
— A Liberian-flagged cargo ship is hit and set ablaze by a projectile from rebel-controlled Yemen.
— EU leaders increasingly back a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s what’s happening in the war:
Demonstrators gather to shut down the Spring Garden Street Bridge during a Pro-Palestinian rally on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in Philadelphia. More than 200 people gathered to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.…
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