Democrats are at odds over the Israel-Iran war as Trump considers intervening
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Wall Street Journal
21 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Insurance Can Be Disastrous
Regarding 'When Towns Rebuild From Disaster, Prices Go Up' (Page One, June 21): It is clear that the rebuilding process negatively affected low-income residents. But the deeper issue I see is that existing government systems had long set them up for instability with policies that made it easy for 'improvement' to come at the cost of affordability and inclusion. Disproportionate climate resilience levels increase the social and economic burden of natural disasters for vulnerable groups. Home insurance is central to climate resilience, and inequitable public insurance programs such as the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, contribute heavily to skewed government disaster response. The NFIP functions as a housing subsidy for wealthy homeowners in desirable but vulnerable areas such as Panama City, Fla., and Paradise, Calif. Using taxpayer dollars, the program can offer artificially low premiums that aren't fully risk-based and are instead designed so that the government assumes most of the risk. NFIP premiums tend to decrease as property values rise, so wealthy homeowners end up with cheaper, better coverage than their low-income counterparts.
USA Today
21 minutes ago
- USA Today
Hamas responds to Gaza ceasefire proposal, says it's ready to enter into talks
Hamas said it had responded on July 4 in "a positive spirit" to a U.S.-brokered Gaza ceasefire proposal and was prepared to enter into talks on implementing the deal which envisages a release of hostages and negotiations on ending the conflict. President Donald Trump earlier announced a "final proposal" for a 60-day ceasefire in the nearly 21-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, stating he anticipated a reply from the parties in coming hours. Hamas wrote on its official website: "The Hamas movement has completed its internal consultations as well as discussions with Palestinian factions and forces regarding the latest proposal by the mediators to halt the aggression against our people in Gaza. "The movement has delivered its response to the brotherly mediators, which was characterized by a positive spirit. Hamas is fully prepared, with all seriousness, to immediately enter a new round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework," the statement said. Trump had previously said that Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day ceasefire, during which efforts would be made to end the U.S. ally's war in the Palestinian enclave. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to comment on Trump's announcement and in their public statements, the two sides remain far apart. Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss. Netanyahu is due to meet Trump in Washington next week. Trump has said he would be "very firm" with Netanyahu on the need for a speedy Gaza ceasefire, while noting that the Israeli leader wants one as well. "We hope it's going to happen. And we're looking forward to it happening sometime next week," he told reporters earlier this week. "We want to get the hostages out." Attacks overnight Israeli attacks have killed at least 138 Palestinians in Gaza over the past 24 hours, local health officials said. Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an airstrike on a tent encampment west of the city around 2 a.m., killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war. The Israeli military said troops operating in the Khan Younis area had eliminated militants, confiscated weapons and dismantled Hamas outposts in the last 24 hours, while striking 100 targets across Gaza, including military structures, weapons storage facilities and launchers. Later in the day, Palestinians gathered to perform funeral prayers before burying those killed overnight. "There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother," said 13-year-old Mayar Al Farr as she wept. Her brother, Mahmoud, was shot dead in another incident, she said. "He went to get aid, so he can get a bag of flour for us to eat. He got a bullet in his neck," she said. 'Make the deal' In Tel Aviv, families and friends of hostages held in Gaza were among demonstrators who gathered outside a U.S. Embassy building on U.S. Independence Day, calling on Trump to secure a deal for all of the captives. Demonstrators set up a symbolic Sabbath dinner table, placing 50 empty chairs to represent those who are still held in Gaza. Banners hung nearby displaying a post by Trump from his Truth Social platform that read, "MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!" "Only you can make the deal. We want one beautiful deal. One beautiful hostage deal," said Gideon Rosenberg, 48, from Tel Aviv. Rosenberg was wearing a shirt with the image of hostage Avinatan Or, one of his employees who was abducted by Palestinian militants from the Nova musical festival on October 7, 2023. He is among the 20 hostages who are believed to be alive after more than 600 days of captivity. An official familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday that the proposal envisages the return of 10 of the hostages during the 60 days, along with the bodies of 18 others who had been held hostage. Ruby Chen, 55, the father of 19-year-old American-Israeli Itay, who is believed to have been killed after being taken captive, urged Netanyahu to return from meeting with Trump with a deal that brings back all hostages. Itay Chen, also a German national, was serving as an Israeli soldier when Hamas carried out its surprise attack on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage. Israel's retaliatory war against Hamas has devastated Gaza, which the militant group has ruled for almost two decades but now only controls in parts, displacing most of the population of more than 2 million and triggering widespread hunger. More than 57,000 Palestinians have been killed in nearly two years of fighting, most of them civilians, according to local health officials. (Reporting by Alexander Cornwell in Tel Aviv, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo, Hatem Khaled in Gaza and Howard Goller in New York; Editing by Alex Richardson, Philippa Fletcher and Rosalba O'Brien)
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hamas says it delivered 'positive response' on Gaza ceasefire plan
Hamas says it has delivered a "positive response" to mediators on the latest proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal put forward by the US. It added in a statement that it was "seriously ready to enter immediately into a round of negotiations". It has not confirmed if it will accept the proposals yet. Earlier on Friday Donald Trump said he expected a Hamas response within a day. He said earlier this week that Israel had accepted the conditions necessary for a 60-day ceasefire, during which the parties would work to end the 20-month war. The proposal is believed to include the staggered release of 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 other hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. Fifty hostages are still being held in Gaza, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive. One of Hamas's key demands is the resumption of unrestricted food and medical aid into Gaza, and the proposal reportedly says sufficient quantities would enter the territory immediately with the involvement of the United Nations and Red Cross. It is said the plan would also include a phased Israeli military withdrawal from parts of Gaza. Above all, Hamas wants a guarantee that Israeli air and ground operations will not resume after the end of the 60-day ceasefire. The proposal is believed to say that negotiations on an end to the war and the release of the remaining hostages would begin on day one. A positive Hamas response would then lead to the resumption of formal, indirect, talks ahead of a planned visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington next week. Meanwhile, the Israeli military is continuing to bomb targets across the Gaza Strip. On Friday officials from the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said Israeli attacks had killed at least 138 Palestinians over the previous 24 hours. Overnight, at least 15 Palestinians were killed in strikes on two tents housing displaced people in the southern Khan Younis area, the local Nasser hospital said. Thirteen-year-old Mayar al-Farr's brother, Mahmoud, was among those killed. "The ceasefire will come, and I have lost my brother? There should have been a ceasefire long ago before I lost my brother," she told Reuters news agency at his funeral. Adlar Mouamar, whose nephew Ashraf was also killed, said: "Our hearts are broken... We want them to end the bloodshed. We want them to stop this war." The Israeli military has not yet commented on the strikes, but did say its forces were "operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities". Later on Friday the Red Cross said a staff member at the organisation's field hospital in Rafah, in southern Gaza, had been hit by a stray bullet. His condition was stable after the "unacceptable" incident, the Red Cross said. Meanwhile medical charity MSF said a former colleague had been killed the previous day when, it said, Israeli forces fired on people waiting for aid trucks in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza. At least 16 people were killed in the incident, MSF quoted teams at Nasser hospital in the city as saying. The IDF has not yet commented. "The systemic and deliberate starvation of Palestinians for over 100 days is pushing people in Gaza to breaking point," said Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF's emergency coordinator in Gaza. "This carnage must stop now." Gaza aid contractor tells BBC he saw colleagues fire on hungry Palestinians Dozens killed in Gaza as Israel intensifies bombardment, rescuers say In the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, only 60km (40 miles) from Gaza, the families of the remaining hostages and their supporters held a rally outside the US embassy branch office, urging Trump to "make the deal" that would see them all released. On the nearby beachfront, they laid out a giant banner featuring the US flag and the words "liberty for all". Among those who addressed the event was Ruby Chen, the father of Israeli-American Itay Chen. The 19-year-old soldier was killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 which triggered the war, and his body was taken back to Gaza as a hostage. "I urge you Prime Minister Netanyahu to go to the US next week and bring back a deal that brings all the hostages home," Mr Chen said. "There has to be a final, detailed agreement between Israel and Hamas." Keith Siegel, an Israeli American who was released in February during the last ceasefire after 484 days in captivity, also spoke. "Many of my friends from Kibbutz Kfar Aza remain in captivity," he said. "Only a comprehensive deal can bring them all home and create a better future for the Middle East." The primary concern for most Israelis is the fate of the remaining hostages and what might happen to them if the ceasefire does not happen and Netanyahu orders the Israeli military to step up its air strikes on Gaza. There are plenty of reasons to hope, for these families, that the two sides can agree to a deal and achieve a lasting peace. But there is also anxiety, after the failure of previous efforts, that it might not happen. On Thursday, Netanyahu promised to secure the release of all the remaining hostages during a visit to Kibbutz Nir Oz, a community near the Israel-Gaza border where a total of 76 residents were abducted on 7 October 2023. "I feel a deep commitment, first of all, to ensure the return of all of our hostages, all of them," he said. "We will bring them all back." He did not, however, commit to ending the war. He has insisted that will not happen until the hostages are freed and Hamas's military and governing capabilities are destroyed. The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the 7 October 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 57,130 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
