Weather Alert
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH449 IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM EDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWINGAREASIN PENNSYLVANIA THIS WATCH INCLUDES 33 COUNTIESIN CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIAADAMS BEDFORD BLAIRCAMBRIA CAMERON CENTRECLEARFIELD CLINTON COLUMBIACUMBERLAND DAUPHIN ELKFRANKLIN FULTON HUNTINGDONJUNIATA LANCASTER LEBANONLYCOMING MCKEAN MIFFLINMONTOUR NORTHUMBERLAND PERRYPOTTER SCHUYLKILL SNYDERSOMERSET SULLIVAN TIOGAUNION WARREN YORKTHIS INCLUDES THE CITIES OF ALTOONA, BEDFORD, BERWICK,BLOOMSBURG, BRADFORD, CARLISLE, CHAMBERSBURG, CLEARFIELD,COUDERSPORT, DANVILLE, DUBOIS, EMPORIUM, GETTYSBURG, HARRISBURG,HERSHEY, HUNTINGDON, JOHNSTOWN, LANCASTER, LAPORTE, LEBANON,LEWISBURG, LEWISTOWN, LOCK HAVEN, MANSFIELD, MCCONNELLSBURG,MIFFLINTOWN, MOUNT UNION, NEWPORT, POTTSVILLE, RENOVO, RIDGWAY,SELINSGROVE, SHAMOKIN, SOMERSET, ST. MARYS, STATE COLLEGE,SUNBURY, WARREN, WAYNESBORO, WELLSBORO, WILLIAMSPORT, AND YORK.
Weather Alert
...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING...* WHAT...Heat index values between 95 and 100.* WHERE...A portion of central Pennsylvania.* WHEN...This afternoon.* IMPACTS...High heat and humidity may cause heat illnesses.PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...Check up on relatives and neighbors, and provide pets with adequatewater and shelter from the sun.If you work or spend time outside, reschedule strenuous activitiesto early morning or evening.Anyone overcome by heat should be moved to a cool and shadedlocation.Review heat safety and preparedness information atweather.gov/safety/heat.&&
FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks from a plane in Tel Aviv, Oct. 16, 2023, from Jordan. Blinken is returning to the Middle East Monday, June 10, 2024, as a proposed Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal hangs in the balance following the dramatic rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in a major military raid. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo first before traveling on to Israel, Jordan and Qatar.
- Jacquelyn Martin - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken walks to board his airplane in Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 29, 2023. Blinken is returning to the Middle East Monday, June 10, 2024, as a proposed Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal hangs in the balance following the dramatic rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in a major military raid. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo first before traveling on to Israel, Jordan and Qatar.
- Saul Loeb - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Wednesday May 29, 2024.
- Tingshu Wang - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference at the Sheba Tel HaShomer Hospital in Ramat Gan, Israel on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Israel on Saturday carried out its largest hostage rescue operation since the war with Hamas began, taking four to safety out of central Gaza as heavy fighting continued there.
- JACK GUEZ - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
People protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 8, 2024. Israel said Saturday it rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, the largest such recovery operation since the war began in Gaza.
- Ohad Zwigenberg - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - Palestinians help a wounded man after Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, on June 8, 2024. The U.N. human rights office is citing possible war crimes by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in connection with a deadly raid by Israeli forces that freed four hostages over the weekend. Office spokesman Jeremy Laurence expressed concerns about possible violations of rules of proportionality, distinction and precaution by the Israeli forces in Saturday’s raid at the urban Nuseirat refugee camp.
- Jehad Alshrafi - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinians look at the aftermath of the Israeli bombing in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 8, 2024.
- Jehad Alshrafi - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Andrey Kozlov, 27, kidnapped from Israel in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, arrives by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, June 8, 2024. Israel says it has rescued four hostages in Gaza who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7.
- Tomer Appelbaum - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
People wave Israeli flags as they celebrate after hostages who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7. were rescued from Gaza Strip, at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, June 8, 2024. Israel says it has rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7. It is the largest such hostage recovery operation since the war with Hamas began in Gaza.
- Tomer Appelbaum - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks to reporters after his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, at Cairo airport, Egypt, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Amr Nabil - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second right, greets an Israeli official upon his arrival at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, in Israel, on Monday, June 10, 2024. Blinken arrived in Israel as part of a regional tour to push for a much awaited Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
- Jack Guez - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, June 10, 2024. At left, US ambassador to Cairo Herro Mustafa Garg.
- Amr Nabil - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, listens to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Amr Nabil - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gestures upon his arrival at Cairo airport, Egypt, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Amr Nabil - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Israeli soldiers wave to the camera as they move on the back of a truck near the Israeli-Gaza border as seen from southern Israel, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Leo Correa - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of relatives killed in an Israeli airstrike, outside the morgue in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, the Gaza Strip, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Jehad Alshrafi - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
AP
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged top Israeli officials to accept a plan for postwar Gaza as he pushed for more international pressure on Hamas to agree to a cease-fire proposal newly endorsed by the U.N. Security Council
FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks from a plane in Tel Aviv, Oct. 16, 2023, from Jordan. Blinken is returning to the Middle East Monday, June 10, 2024, as a proposed Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal hangs in the balance following the dramatic rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in a major military raid. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo first before traveling on to Israel, Jordan and Qatar.
- Jacquelyn Martin - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - Secretary of State Antony Blinken walks to board his airplane in Brussels, Belgium, Nov. 29, 2023. Blinken is returning to the Middle East Monday, June 10, 2024, as a proposed Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal hangs in the balance following the dramatic rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in a major military raid. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo first before traveling on to Israel, Jordan and Qatar.
- Saul Loeb - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Wednesday May 29, 2024.
- Tingshu Wang - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference at the Sheba Tel HaShomer Hospital in Ramat Gan, Israel on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Israel on Saturday carried out its largest hostage rescue operation since the war with Hamas began, taking four to safety out of central Gaza as heavy fighting continued there.
- JACK GUEZ - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
People protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, June 8, 2024. Israel said Saturday it rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, the largest such recovery operation since the war began in Gaza.
- Ohad Zwigenberg - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - Palestinians help a wounded man after Israeli strikes in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, on June 8, 2024. The U.N. human rights office is citing possible war crimes by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups in connection with a deadly raid by Israeli forces that freed four hostages over the weekend. Office spokesman Jeremy Laurence expressed concerns about possible violations of rules of proportionality, distinction and precaution by the Israeli forces in Saturday’s raid at the urban Nuseirat refugee camp.
- Jehad Alshrafi - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinians look at the aftermath of the Israeli bombing in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 8, 2024.
- Jehad Alshrafi - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Andrey Kozlov, 27, kidnapped from Israel in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, arrives by helicopter to the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, June 8, 2024. Israel says it has rescued four hostages in Gaza who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7.
- Tomer Appelbaum - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
People wave Israeli flags as they celebrate after hostages who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7. were rescued from Gaza Strip, at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, Saturday, June 8, 2024. Israel says it has rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in a Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7. It is the largest such hostage recovery operation since the war with Hamas began in Gaza.
- Tomer Appelbaum - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaks to reporters after his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, at Cairo airport, Egypt, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Amr Nabil - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, second right, greets an Israeli official upon his arrival at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, in Israel, on Monday, June 10, 2024. Blinken arrived in Israel as part of a regional tour to push for a much awaited Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
- Jack Guez - pool, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, right, meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, June 10, 2024. At left, US ambassador to Cairo Herro Mustafa Garg.
- Amr Nabil - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, listens to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Amr Nabil - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gestures upon his arrival at Cairo airport, Egypt, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Amr Nabil - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Israeli soldiers wave to the camera as they move on the back of a truck near the Israeli-Gaza border as seen from southern Israel, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Leo Correa - staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinians mourn over the bodies of relatives killed in an Israeli airstrike, outside the morgue in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, the Gaza Strip, Monday, June 10, 2024.
- Jehad Alshrafi - stringer, ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEL AVIV (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged top Israeli officials on Monday to accept and implement a plan for postwar Gaza as he pushed for more international pressure on Hamas to agree to a cease-fire proposal newly endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.
On his latest urgent mission to the Middle East — his eighth since the Israel-Hamas war began in October — Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to push the proposal, which faces new uncertainty following Israel’s hostage rescue operation that killed many Palestinians and turmoil in Netanyahu’s government.
Blinken told Netanyahu that “the United States and other world leaders will stand behind the comprehensive proposal outlined by President Biden that would lead to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and a significant and sustained increase in humanitarian assistance for distribution throughout Gaza,” the State Department said.
After the U.N. Security Council passed a U.S.-sponsored resolution endorsing the cease-fire proposal, Hamas said it welcomed the move and was ready to work with mediators in indirect negotiations with Israel to implement it. The statement was among the strongest from Hamas to date but stressed the group would continue “our struggle” to end the Israeli occupation and work on setting up a “fully sovereign” Palestinian state.
However, the militant group still has not formally responded to the proposal it received 10 days ago. Blinken again urged Hamas to accept it, saying it has wide international support and Israel has accepted it, though Netanyahu has expressed skepticism.
“I know that there are those who are pessimistic about the prospects,” Blinken told reporters before leaving Cairo for Israel on the trip that also will take him to Jordan and Qatar. “That’s understandable. Hamas continues to show extraordinary cynicism in its actions, a disinterest not only in the well-being and security of Israelis but also Palestinians.”
While Biden, Blinken and other U.S. officials have praised the rescue of four Israeli hostages on Saturday, the operation resulted in the deaths of 274 Palestinian civilians and may complicate the cease-fire push by emboldening Israel and hardening Hamas' resolve to carry on fighting in the war that started with its Oct. 7 attack in Israel.
In his talks with el-Sissi, Blinken also discussed plans for post-conflict governance and reconstruction in Gaza.
Netanyahu and his government have resisted calls for any “day after” plan that would bar Israel from having some form of security presence in the territory. Blinken said he would urge Israel to come up with alternatives that would be acceptable.
“It would be very good if Israel put forward its own ideas on this, and I’ll be talking to the government about that,” Blinken said. “But one way or another, we’ve got to have these plans, we’ve got to have them in place, we’ve got to be ready to go if we want to take advantage of a cease-fire.”
The three-phase plan calls for the release of more hostages and a temporary pause in hostilities that will last as long as it takes to negotiate the second phase, which aims to bring the release of all hostages, a “full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza" and “a permanent end to hostilities,” according to the American-drafted resolution put before the U.N. Security Council. The third phase calls for reconstruction in Gaza.
Although the deal has been described as an Israeli initiative and thousands of Israelis have demonstrated to support it, Netanyahu has been skeptical, saying what has been presented publicly is not accurate and that Israel is still committed to destroying Hamas.
Netanyahu's far-right allies have threatened to collapse his government if he implements the plan. Benny Gantz, a popular centrist, resigned on Sunday from the three-member War Cabinet after saying he would do so if the prime minister did not formulate a new plan for postwar Gaza.
Blinken has met with Netanyahu, Gallant, Gantz and Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on nearly all his previous trips to Israel. Officials said Blinken is expected to meet on Tuesday with Gantz, whom Netanyahu had urged not to step down in the aftermath of the hostage rescue.
Despite Blinken’s roughly once-a-month visits to the region since the war began, the conflict has ground on with more than 37,120 Palestinians killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its counts. Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack, mostly civilians, and took around 250 people hostage.
The war has severely hindered the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza, who are facing widespread hunger. U.N. agencies say more than 1 million people in the territory could experience the highest level of starvation by mid-July.
In Jordan, Blinken will take part in an emergency international conference on improving the flow of aid to Gaza.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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