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WARSAW, Poland — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk traveled Saturday to the country's border with Belarus, which is also the European Union's external border with the autocratic state, and pledged to do more to strengthen security along its entire eastern frontier. Tusk accused Belarus, Russia's ally, of intensifying what he called a “hybrid war” against the West by encouraging migrants to try to cross into the EU. He vowed that Poland would spare no expense on its border security. “I know that there are more and more illegal crossings every day,” Tusk told reporters at the border, where he met with Polish army soldiers, border guard officers and police. He also cited “the growing threat resulting from the Russian-Ukrainian war, Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the uncertain geopolitical situation.” The visit to the border, Tusk's first since he took office in December, comes after a Polish judge defected to Belarus this month. He claimed he was facing persecution in Poland, a democracy. Officials have denounced him as a traitor, and he is being investigated on suspicion of espionage. Tusk replaced a national conservative party at odds with the EU over rule-of-law issues. That party, Law and Justice, took a strong stance against migration in a way that set it at odds with other European allies when it first took power in 2015. Since then, though, the general mood against migration across Europe has toughened. While Tusk does not use some of the harsh anti-migrant rhetoric of his predecessors, he, too, is opposed to unregulated migration. “This is not only Poland’s internal border, but also the border of the European Union. Therefore, I have no doubt that all of Europe will have to — and I know that we will achieve this — invest in its security by investing in Poland’s eastern border and in the security of our border,” Tusk said. He added that he made a declaration to the commanders of the security forces at the border that “there are no limits on resources when it comes to Poland’s security.” The visit comes weeks ahead of next month's elections for the European Parliament, and Tusk seemed intent on sending a message to voters that his political party, Civic Coalition, favors border security and supports the uniformed officers there. “I came today primarily so that both commanders and their subordinates have no doubt that the Polish state and the Polish government are with them in every situation, here at the border," he said. A crisis erupted along the EU's eastern border with Belarus in 2021 when large numbers of migrants from the Middle East and Africa began arriving there. The EU accused Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of encouraging the migration to destabilize the EU after it imposed sanctions on the country for an election widely viewed as fraudulent. Poland's previous government responded to the crisis by constructing a tall steel wall.

MALMO, Sweden — The Netherlands' contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest was dramatically expelled from competition hours before Saturday's final of the pan-continental pop competition, which has been rattled by protests over the participation of Israel. Competition organizer European Broadcasting Union said Swedish police were investigating “a complaint made by a female member of the production crew” against Dutch performer Joost Klein. The organizer said it wouldn't be appropriate for Klein to participate at the event in Malmo while the legal process was underway. Although Eurovision's motto is “united by music,” this year’s event has proven exceptionally divisive. Israel's participation has attracted large pro-Palestinian demonstrations, with protesters saying the country should be excluded because of its conduct in the war in the Gaza Strip. Klein, a 26-year-old Dutch singer and rapper, had been a favorite of bookmakers and fans with his song “Europapa." He failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday, and the EBU had said it was investigating an “incident.” Although rumors had been flying that the incident was connected to Israel’s delegation, organizers said that it “did not involve any other performer or delegation member.” Dutch broadcaster AVROTOS, one of dozens of public broadcasters that collectively fund and broadcast the contest, said that it “finds the disqualification disproportionate and is shocked by the decision.” “We deeply regret this and will come back to this later,” AVROTOS said in a statement. It all makes for a messy climax to an event that draws both adoration and derision with its campy, kitschy ethos and passion for pop. Thousands of people gathered in central Malmo on Saturday to march for the second time this week through Sweden’s third-largest city, which has a large Muslim population, to demand a boycott of Israel and a cease-fire in the seven-month war. In Finland, a group of about 40 protesters stormed the headquarters of public broadcaster YLE on Saturday morning, demanding it withdraw from the song contest because of Israel's participation. Several kilometers from the city center at the Malmo Arena, 25 acts — narrowed from 37 entrants by two semifinal runoffs — are scheduled to perform three-minute songs in front of a live audience of thousands and an estimated 180 million viewers around the world. Tensions and nerves were palpable in the hours before the final. Several artists were absent from the Olympics-style artists’ entrance at the start of the final dress rehearsal, although all but Ireland’s Bambie Thug went on to perform. The Irish performer issued a statement saying the absence was due to a situation “which I felt needed urgent attention from the EBU” and telling fans: “I hope to see you on the stage later.” French singer Slimane cut short his song “Mon Amour” at the dress rehearsal to give a speech urging people to be “united by music, yes — but with love, for peace.”

PANAMA CITY — Panama is on the verge of a dramatic change to its immigration policy that could reverberate from the dense Darien jungle to the U.S. border. President-elect Jose Raul Mulino says he will shut down a migration route used by more than 500,000 people last year. Until now, Panama has helped speedily bus the migrants across its territory so they can continue their journey north. Whether Mulino can reduce migration through a sparsely populated region with little government presence is unknown, experts say. “Panama and our Darien are not a transit route. It is our border,” Mulino said after his victory with 34% of the vote in Sunday’s election was formalized Thursday evening. As he had suggested during his campaign, the 64-year-old lawyer and former security minister said he would try to end “the Darien odyssey that does not have a reason to exist.” The migrant route through the narrow isthmus grew exponentially in popularity in recent years with the help of organized crime in Colombia, making it an affordable, if dangerous, land route for hundreds of thousands. It grew as countries such as Mexico, under pressure from the U.S. government, imposed visa restrictions on various nationalities, including Venezuelans and just this week Peruvians, to stop migrants flying into the country just to continue to the U.S. border. But masses of people took the challenge and set out on foot through the jungle-clad Colombian-Panamanian border. A crossing that initially could take a week or more eventually was whittled down to two or three days as the path became more established and entrepreneurial locals established a range of support services. It remains a risky route, however. Reports of sexual assaults have continued to rise; some migrants are killed by bandits in robberies, and others drown trying to cross rushing rivers. Even so, some 147,000 migrants have already entered Panama through Darien this year. Previous attempts to close routes around the world have simply shifted traffic to riskier paths. “People migrate for many reasons and frequently don't have safe, orderly and legal ways to do it,” said Giuseppe Loprete, chief of mission in Panama for the U.N.'s International Organization for Immigration. “When the legal routes are not accessible, migrants run the risk of turning to criminal networks, traffickers and dangerous routes, tricked by disinformation.” Loprete said the U.N. agency's representatives in Panama would meet with Mulino's team once its members are named to learn the specifics of the president's plans. If Mulino could be even partially effective, it could produce a notable, but likely temporary, impact. As with the visa restrictions that unintentionally steered migrants to the overland route through Panama, if the factors pushing migrants to leave their countries remain, they will find other routes. One could be the dangerous sea routes from Colombia to Panama. In a local radio interview Thursday, Mulino said the idea of shutting down the migration flow is more philosophical than a physical obstacle. “Because when we start to deport people here in an immediate deportation plan, the interest for sneaking through Panama will decrease,” he said. By the time the fourth plane loaded with migrants takes off, “I assure you they are going to say that going through Panama is not attractive because they are deporting you.” Julio Alonso, a Panamanian security expert, said what Mulino could realistically achieve is unknown. “This would be a radical change to Panamanian policy in terms of migration to avoid more deaths and organized crime using the route,” he said. Among the challenges will be how it would work operationally along such an open and uncontrolled border. “In Panama, there is no kind of suppression with this situation, just free passage, humanitarian aid that didn't manage to reduce the number of assaults, rapes, homicides and deaths along the Darien route,” Alonso said. Mulino's proposal is “a dissuasive measure, yes, [but] whether it can be completely executed we will see.” It's also unlikely that much could be accomplished without a lot of cooperation and coordination with Colombia and other countries, he said. Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, said that “without considering the risk of returning migrants to dangerous situations, in mathematical terms I don't know how they hope to massively deport" migrants. "A daily plane, which would be extremely expensive, would only repatriate around 10% of the flow (about 1,000 to 1,200 per day). The United States only manages to do about 130 flights monthly in the entire world,” Isacson said.

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JOHANNESBURG — A man was rescued from the rubble five days after a deadly building collapse in South Africa in what Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said was "nothing short of a miracle." Officials said in a statement that of 81 people who were on site when the five-story building collapsed on Monday in the city of George, east of Cape Town, 13 were confirmed dead, 29 were alive and 39 were still unaccounted for. In a post on social media platform X, Winde said on Saturday the survivor had been successfully extracted from the debris after 116 hours. After Monday's collapse, rescuers used cranes, drills and their bare hands to try to reach those trapped. Rescue operations were continuing.

Taipei, Taiwan — Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded his high-profile European tour Friday after signing dozens of agreements with France, Hungary and Serbia, while reiterating Beijing’s desire to enhance “mutually beneficial cooperation” between China and Europe. Some analysts say Xi’s trip to Europe is part of Beijing’s attempt to undermine European unity while deepening its foothold in the European Union through elevated economic ties with Hungary, a member of the 27-nation bloc. “Beijing has identified France as a weak link in the EU” that it could potentially influence because of French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to prioritize his country’s “strategic autonomy,” and the Chinese government “thinks they can use Hungary and Serbia to influence Central and Eastern Europe,” said Sari Arho Havren, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in Brussels. Chinese state media outlets are framing Xi’s European tour as a success by highlighting the positive aspects of the trip. The state-run Global Times described the 18 deals that China and France signed this week as “a positive signal for European entrepreneurs and a stabilizer to China-Europe trade ties against [the] decoupling push.” Meanwhile, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said China’s decision to elevate ties with Hungary marks “the most recent stride in China's effort to deepen cooperation with Central and Eastern European nations.” Judging from the substance of his trip, Arho Havren said, Xi did achieve some success in testing unity in Europe. Additionally, Arho Havren said Xi’s recent interactions with Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also expose a fault line between Germany and France — the EU’s top two economies — regarding how to handle relations with China. “Since Scholz prioritized German interests due to fear of Chinese countermeasures during his trip to Beijing, [it’s clear] that Beijing has been successful in influencing the German businesses and through them, the chancellor,” she told VOA in a written response. Unlike Scholz, some experts said Macron tried to show that he supports the EU’s common approach toward China by inviting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to join his initial meeting with Xi in Paris. “I think conveying the sense that [projecting European unity] is the top priority for French diplomacy has been the successful part of Xi’s European tour for Paris,” Mathieu Duchatel, director of international studies at the French policy group Institut Montaigne, told VOA by phone. Overall, Arho Havren said some European countries should understand they can’t influence China’s behavior by engaging with them individually. Rather, such practice runs the risk of creating disunity within the EU, which is what Beijing seeks. “China will continue its efforts to keep the EU disunited by playing the target countries' vulnerabilities and egos against one another,” she told VOA. EU’s economic security agenda Some observers say one of China’s initiatives to challenge the EU’s unity is to slow down the bloc’s efforts to carry out key parts of its economic security agenda. In recent months, the EU has launched anti-subsidy investigations into several Chinese products, including green energy and security devices. During his meeting with Macron and von der Leyen, Xi said there is no such thing as “China’s overcapacity problem,” and he urged the EU to “develop the right perception of China and adopt a positive China policy.” Despite Beijing’s denial, von der Leyen reiterated on Wednesday that Europe needs to stop China from flooding the European market “with massively subsidized electric cars.” “We have to tackle this, [and] we have to protect our industry,” she said during the party convention of the Christian Democrats in Berlin. Duchatel said China has not been “very successful” in slowing down the EU’s economic security agenda. “I don’t think China can turn away that wave because when it comes to using [the economic security] instruments to reestablish some form of balance in our relations with China, there is a broad agreement across Europe,” he told VOA. While there is a consensus across Europe that the EU should strengthen its capacity to defend its interests, Duchatel said there is a lack of unity in the bloc about how to build leverage against China. “We are failing in terms of having a more offensive agenda to force some concessions [from Beijing],” he told VOA. Countries may “get some nuances in the Chinese language regarding Ukraine, or words regarding withholding tariffs on [French] brandy. [They] don’t really get anything tangible [from Beijing],” Duchatel said. Following his meeting with Xi and von der Leyen, Macron said he welcomed China’s pledge not to supply arms to Russia, while Xi said he supports Macron’s proposal for a global truce during the Olympic Games in Paris this summer. No major changes Despite Beijing’s attempt to portray Xi’s visit as productive regarding improving EU-China relations, some analysts say they don’t expect the trip to reshape the dynamics between Beijing and Brussels. Justyna Szczudlik, deputy head of research at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, told VOA that since France is the most important stop for Xi’s trip and Macron showcased his support for the EU’s approach toward China, she doesn’t anticipate “any huge change to EU-China relations” following Xi’s visit. While the economic security agenda will remain the EU’s main approach to handling trade relations with China, Duchatel said many European countries say that China’s investment environment “has become very risky” and that Beijing has failed to persuade European governments that its partnership with Russia “is not something that goes against European security.” “I don’t think Xi’s words in Paris have changed this perception, so his visit [won’t] make up for the trust lost over the last few years,” he told VOA.

TORONTO — An evacuation alert has been issued for Fort McMurray, Alberta, as an out-of-control fire rages southwest of the Canadian oil town, making it among the first actions ahead of the wildfire season. In a notice late Friday night, the Alberta government said the wildfire danger is "extreme" in the Fort McMurray Forest Area. It said strong winds are expected Saturday, as a cold front continues to pass over the region. Residents in Saprea Creek Estates were also placed on alert from the municipality of Wood Buffalo. In 2016, a wildfire in Fort McMurray forced the evacuation of 90,000 residents and closed down more than 1 million barrels daily of oil output. The federal government has warned that Canada risks another "catastrophic" wildfire season as it forecasted higher-than-normal spring and summer temperatures across much of the country, boosted by El Nino weather conditions. Last year, Canada endured its worst fire season, with more than 6,600 blazes burning 15 million hectares (37 million acres), an area roughly seven times the annual average. Eight firefighters died, and 230,000 people were evacuated from their homes.

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GENEVA — As Brazil’s heavily flooded southern state of Rio Grande do Sul braces for a weekend of intense rain, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, is calling for greater support to help tens of thousands of refugees, who are among the most vulnerable people affected by the disaster. “Those affected include some 41,000 refugees and others in need of international protection, including many Venezuelans and Haitians who live in the affected areas — some of [whom] can only be reached by boat,” William Spindler, UNHCR spokesperson, told journalists Friday in Geneva. According to local authorities, at least 126 people have died in the floods, 141 are missing, about 2 million people are adversely affected, and more than 400,000 are homeless. Spindler said the UNHCR, in coordination with local authorities, is distributing relief items such as blankets and mattresses, noting that additional relief items such as emergency shelters, kitchen sets, solar lamps and hygiene kits are being sent to Brazil. “In the coming days, UNHCR will be supporting the issuance of documentation, where it has been lost or damaged, to guarantee refugees and asylum-seekers continue to access social benefits and public services,” he said. Spindler noted that refugees do not live in camps separated from the population, but that they live with the host communities, under the same conditions in which the local inhabitants live. “So, it is the host communities that is the focus of our support. … We need to strengthen their capacity, so they can continue to host refugees. That means strengthening social services, access to education, to health, and so on for the local people, as well as the refugees,” he said. The UNHCR estimates $3.21 million is needed to support the most urgent needs, including direct financial assistance to flood-affected people and the provision of essential relief items. Brazil is a country prone to natural disasters. It has been subject to more frequent and devastating extreme weather events in recent years, including droughts in the Amazon region and severe rains in Bahia and Acre states. A report issued this week by the World Meteorological Organization on the state of the climate in Latin America and the Caribbean highlights the vulnerability of the entire region to extreme weather and climate change impacts in 2023. The authors of the report say it is difficult to know whether conditions this year will be worse. But WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis observes that for those affected by the disastrous floods in Brazil, “2024 is an absolutely record-breaking bad year.” She emphasized that the flooded area is huge. “It is massive, and it really will undermine the socio-economic development in that entire area for a long time to come.” She said El Nino, a weather phenomenon that warms ocean surface temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean, is playing a major role in the floods in Brazil, as it also is in the floods in Eastern Africa. “On top of that, you have got climate change. … It is a double whammy of El Nino and climate change. And that is what we are seeing in Brazil right now. Even when El Nino fades, which it will do, the long-term effects of climate change are with us,” she said. “Our weather is on steroids,” Nullis said, adding that every fraction of a degree of global warming means “our weather will become more extreme.” The UNHCR’s Spindler noted severe climate events disproportionately affect refugees and other people requesting international protection. Therefore, he said it is important to work on prevention and to focus on populations that are most at risk. “The impact of climate change affects everybody, but some individuals and communities are in a more vulnerable situation,” he said, noting that refugees and migrants are most imperiled because they are not from the country in which they are living. “They come from other countries, and that means they do not have the same social networks, family and so on that nationals have. “Often, they are living in areas that are more exposed to risks. So, they are impacted in a more disproportionate way by these events,” he said, underscoring that not enough funding is available to address the impact of climate change nor “to address the needs of those forcibly displaced, nor the communities hosting them.” “Without help to prepare for, withstand and recover from climate-related shocks, they face an increased risk of further displacement,” he warned.

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ISLAMABAD — The United Nations and Taliban authorities said Saturday that the death toll from flash floods following heavy seasonal rains in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province had risen to a least 300. The U.N. World Food Program said the flooding destroyed more than 1,000 houses. It said that “this has been one of many floods over the last few weeks due to unusually heavy rainfall.” A senior Taliban official said in a social media video message that Friday’s calamity had left at least 150 people dead in a single Baghlan district called Nahreen. Ghulam Rasool Qani said the death toll might rise and noted that military helicopters had arrived in the area to assist in local rescue efforts. Authorities said that rescue workers are bringing aid to hardest-hit Baghlan districts. The WFP said it was distributing fortified biscuits to the survivors. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government spokesperson, stated on social media platform X that the flooding had caused devastation in several other northern and western provinces, including Badakhshan, Ghor and Herat. “Regrettably, hundreds of our fellow citizens have succumbed to these calamitous floods, while a substantial number have sustained injuries,” Mujahid wrote. “Moreover, the deluge has wrought extensive devastation upon residential properties, resulting in significant financial losses.” Mujahid said the government had directed the Ministry of Disaster Management and other relevant authorities “to mobilize all available resources expeditiously” to rescue victims and bring them to safer areas, evacuate bodies, and provide timely medical treatment to those injured. “We also urge our fellow citizens to assist the affected victims of this natural disaster to the best of their abilities and collaborate with the flood-stricken individuals,” Mujahid said. Poverty-stricken Afghanistan also experienced heavy rains and flash floods across 32 of its 34 provinces in mid-April, resulting in the deaths of more than 100 people. According to international aid groups, the flooding destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and about 24,000 hectares (59,800 acres) of agricultural land, along with critical infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, and electricity supplies, which could hinder the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Richard Bennett, the U.N. special rapporteur on the Afghan human rights situation, expressed his condolences to the victims’ families. "Recent floods in Afghanistan, including Baghlan, which claimed many lives, are a stark reminder of Afghanistan’s vulnerability to the climate crisis & both immediate aid and long-term planning by the Taliban & internal actors are needed,” Bennett wrote Saturday on X. An estimated 80% of the more than 40 million people in Afghanistan depend on agriculture to survive. The war-ravaged South Asian nation is ranked sixth among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, which experts say is responsible for the unusually heavy seasonal rains. Aid workers had warned before Friday’s devastation that any additional flooding would be detrimental for large swathes of the Afghan population, already reeling from an economic collapse, high levels of malnutrition and conflict. “Three years of successive drought and the harshest winter in 15 years have exacerbated Afghanistan’s hunger crisis at a time when international support is falling,” the U.S.-based International Rescue Committee, or IRC, said in its latest assessment, published last week. The report said that an estimated 15.3 million Afghans, or 35% of the population, continue to suffer from crisis or worse levels of food insecurity. “Nearly half of the population lives in poverty and will continue to experience economic hardship,” the IRC said. Afghanistan’s economy crashed after the Taliban militarily seized power in 2021 as the then-internationally supported government collapsed and U.S.-led international forces withdrew after 20 years of involvement in the Afghan war. The Taliban takeover led to the termination of foreign development funding for Afghanistan, and its banking system largely remains isolated over terrorism-related concerns, as well as sanctions on Taliban leaders.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Rafah, Gaza Strip — Israeli strikes hit Gaza on Saturday after renewed U.S. criticism over its conduct of the war and a U.N. warning of "epic" disaster if an outright invasion of crowded Rafah city occurs. AFP journalists reported the strikes in various sectors of the coastal territory, where the U.N. says aid is blocked after Israeli troops defied international opposition and entered eastern Rafah this week, effectively shutting two crossings. A long-awaited U.S. State Department report on Friday said Israel likely violated norms on international law in its use of weapons from the United States -- its main military supplier -- but it did not find enough evidence to block shipments. The State Department submitted its report two days after President Joe Biden publicly threatened to withhold certain bombs and artillery shells if Israel goes ahead with an all-out assault on Rafah, where the United Nations said 1.4 million had been sheltering. After rising criticism from Washington over the civilian impact of Israel's war against Hamas Palestinian militants, the threat was the first time Biden raised the ultimate U.S. leverage over Israel -- its military aid which totals $3 billion annually. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that Gaza risked an "epic humanitarian disaster" if Israel launched a full-scale ground operation in Rafah. Israeli troops on Tuesday seized and closed the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza -- through which all fuel passes into the territory -- after ordering residents of eastern Rafah to evacuate. 'Heavily militarized' Israel said its southern crossing with the Palestinian territory -- Kerem Shalom -- was reopened Wednesday. But a U.N. report late Friday said both crossings remain "heavily militarized" and cited Martin Griffiths, the U.N.'s aid chief, as saying closure of the crossings "means no aid." The war began with Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,943 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. Israel's military said it went into eastern Rafah to pursue militants. Fighting continued on the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, the military reported Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel cannot defeat Hamas and eliminate any possibility of the militant group repeating its October 7 attack without sending ground troops into Rafah in search of remaining Hamas fighters. The State Department report said it was "reasonable to assess" that Israel has used American weapons in ways inconsistent with standards on humanitarian rights but that the United States could not reach "conclusive findings." The report does not affect Biden's threat to withhold certain bombs and artillery shells. The White House on Friday said it did not yet see a major operation in Rafah. "We're obviously watching it with concern, of course, but I wouldn't go so far as to say what we've seen here in the last 24 hours connotes or indicates a broad, large (or) major ground operation," said National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby. Biden's administration had already paused delivery of 3,500 bombs as Israel appeared ready to attack Rafah. Displaced again Israel's military operations around Rafah have already had a severe impact on Gaza civilians, U.N. agencies said. More than 100,000 people have fled Rafah since Israel's military on Monday issued an evacuation order affecting the city's east, the United Nations said. Many have returned to the city of Khan Younis, where intense fighting raged earlier this year, or are crowded into shelters along the coast in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Displaced civilian Malek al-Zaza said he had found "no food" and "no water" in central Gaza's Nuseirat refugee camp. "No one is asking about us, no one is looking for us ... We only have God looking out for us," he said. The Rafah crossing is the only one normally used for deliveries of fuel, and the United Nations said the resulting exhaustion of stocks inside Gaza had effectively halted aid agency operations. Israel said it had delivered 200,000 liters of fuel to Gaza on Friday through Kerem Shalom -- the amount the United Nations says is needed every day to keep aid trucks moving and hospital generators working. The Israeli army said four soldiers were killed on Friday when an "explosive device" went off near a school in Gaza City, in the territory's north. The deaths took to 271 the number of Israeli troops killed in the Gaza campaign since the start of its ground offensive on October 27. The army said rocket fire from Gaza wounded an Israeli civilian in the southern city of Beersheba. It was the first time since December that the city had come under Palestinian rocket attack. Back to 'square one' Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams left Cairo on Thursday after what Egypt called a "two-day round" of indirect negotiations on the terms of a Gaza truce. Hamas said Israel's rejection of a truce plan submitted by mediators at the talks had sent the negotiations back to "square one." In New York, the U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Friday to grant the Palestinians additional rights in the global body and backed their drive for full membership, which is blocked by the United States. Palestinian ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour said the vote was historic, while Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said it sent the message to Hamas that "violence pays off." Richard Gowan, an analyst with Brussels-based think-tank the International Crisis Group, said the resolution sent "a very clear signal to Israel and the U.S. that it is time to take Palestinian statehood seriously." 

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TEL AVIV, Israel — The head of the United Nations World Food Program says northern Gaza has entered "full-blown famine" after nearly seven months of war between Israel and Hamas. But a formal, and highly sensitive, famine declaration faces the complications of politics and of confirming how many people have died. Cindy McCain in an NBC interview broadcast Sunday said severe Israeli restrictions on humanitarian deliveries to the territory that has long relied on outside food assistance have pushed civilians in the most isolated, devastated part of Gaza over the brink. Famine was now moving south in Gaza, she said. A WFP spokesperson later told The Associated Press that one of the three benchmarks for a formal famine declaration has already been met in northern Gaza and another is nearly met — important details on how far the effort to document deadly hunger has progressed. Israel faces mounting pressure from top ally the United States and others to let more aid into Gaza, notably by opening more land crossings for the most efficient delivery by truck. Aid groups say deliveries by air and sea by the United States and other countries cannot meet the needs of Gaza's 2.3 million people, a growing number of them reaching the stage of malnutrition where a child's growth is stunted and deaths occur. Famine had been projected in parts of Gaza this month in a March report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global initiative that includes WFP as a partner. It said nearly a third of Gaza's population was experiencing the highest level of catastrophic hunger, and that could rise to nearly half by July. The next IPC report is expected in July. Israel strongly rejects any claims of famine in Gaza, and its humanitarian agency called McCain's assertion incorrect. A formal declaration could be used as evidence at the International Criminal Court as well as at the International Court of Justice, where Israel faces allegations of genocide in a case brought by South Africa. Here's what we know about famine and the hunger crisis in Gaza. What a famine means According to the IPC, an area is considered to be in famine when three things occur: 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, or essentially starving; at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they're too thin for their height; and two adults or four children per every 10,000 people are dying daily of hunger and its complications. In northern Gaza, the first condition of extreme lack of food has been met, senior WFP spokesperson Steve Taravella told The Associated Press. The second condition of child acute malnutrition is nearly met, he said. But the death rate could not be verified. Doing so is difficult. Aid groups note that Israeli airstrikes and raids have devastated medical facilities in northern Gaza and displaced much of the population. Along with restrictions on access, they complicate the ability to formally collect data on deaths. A document explaining famine published in March by the IPC noted, however, that an area can be classified as "famine with reasonable evidence" if two of the three thresholds have been reached and analysts believe from available evidence that the third likely has been reached. "The bottom line is that people are practically dying from a lack of food, water and medicines. If we are waiting for the moment when all the facts are in hand to verify the final conditions to scientifically declare a famine, it would be after thousands of people have perished," Taravella said. The causes of catastrophic hunger Shortly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, Israel sealed its borders with Gaza and for weeks prevented aid from entering. Aid groups have said assistance since then has been restricted to a trickle far below the 500 trucks of aid that entered before the war. Since March, as Israel has pointed to progress, an average of 171 trucks per day have entered Gaza, according to the U.S.-established Famine Early Warning Systems Network. Once inside Gaza, food and other aid doesn't always reach the most vulnerable. Aid groups say access is limited, particularly in the north, due to ongoing fighting and a chaotic security situation. Northern Gaza, including Gaza City, was the first target of Israel's invasion and became the epicenter of the hunger crisis, with many residents reduced to eating animal feed and foraging for weeds. The IPC report in March said around 210,000 people in the north were in catastrophic levels of hunger. The very young, the very old and those with health problems are the most affected. On Sunday, a 6-year-old from northern Gaza with cystic fibrosis was taken to the United States on a humanitarian flight after his mother made a video pleading for help. Fadi Al-Zant's jutting ribs and thin arms showed advanced malnutrition. How to avert a famine Humanitarian groups say it will be difficult to deliver life-saving aid without a cease-fire. Even with a pause in fighting, some experts say the situation in northern Gaza will have life-lasting consequences, especially for newborns and pregnant women. While Israel has allowed more aid in recent weeks under international pressure, a humanitarian official for the U.S. Agency for International Development told the AP that since March, northern Gaza has not received anything like the aid needed to stave off famine. USAID made the official available on condition of the official's anonymity, citing security concerns over his work in conflict. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has welcomed Israel's recent steps to increase deliveries but stressed such moves must be sustained. That's not easy. Israel on Sunday closed its main crossing point for delivering aid after a Hamas attack killed soldiers. Voices from Gaza Some Palestinians say the increase in aid has eased things slightly, especially by lowering the cost of food. Gaza City resident Said Siam said prices have dropped in recent weeks. Still, the 18-year-old said he and family members have each lost at least 10 kilograms since the start of the war, mostly eating one meal of pumpkin soup each day. Fruits, vegetables and fresh meat are still scarce.

BARCELONA, Spain — Carles Puigdemont, Catalonia's fugitive former leader, stares confidently out the backseat window of a car, the sun illuminating his gaze in a campaign poster for Sunday's critical elections in the northeastern Spanish region. The image plays on another one imagined from six years prior when Puigdemont hid in the trunk of a car as he was smuggled across the French border, fleeing Spain's crackdown on a failed illegal 2017 secession attempt that he had led as Catalan regional president. Sunday's elections will be a test to see if Catalonia wants him back as leader or if the wealthy region has moved on from secession and has more pressing worries. Puigdemont is still technically a fugitive. But ironically, recent maneuvers by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez have revitalized his political career. Sánchez promised amnesty to Puigdemont and other separatists facing charges in return for the support of separatist lawmakers in the national parliament to form a new government in Madrid. But that could now backfire and cause problems for the national government if Puigdemont, public enemy No. 1 for many Spaniards, is reelected. Sánchez's stake Either from conviction or necessity, Sánchez has spent huge amounts of political capital taking decisions embraced in Catalonia but largely lambasted in the rest of the country that were aimed at wooing back voters from the separatist camp. So far it seems to be working. The Socialists' candidate, Salvador Illa, is currently leading all the polls ahead of both Puigdemont and current Catalan regional president Pere Aragonès, another secessionist from a different Catalan party. Illa won the most votes in the 2021 Catalan elections but could not stop Aragonès from keeping the separatists in power. If the Socialists win Sunday, Sánchez, who has campaigned alongside Illa, can boast that his risky bets on Catalonia have paid off. "Carles Puigdemont is the past, we represent the future," Illa said at a debate this week, as he focuses on social issues and casts the debate about secession as stale. "If the Socialists have a strong showing, that will give Sánchez a boost, especially before European elections (in June)," Oriol Bartomeus, a professor of political science at the Autonomous University of Barcelona told The Associated Press. But Illa's chances of becoming regional president will, according to all election polling, still hinge on winning the support of other parties, including most likely Aragonès' Republican Left of Catalonia. Puigdemont's pledge Puigdemont is running on the pledge that he will finally return home — in theory under the protection provided by the amnesty — when the newly elected lawmakers convene to form a new regional government. That investiture vote would come in the weeks after the post-election negotiations between parties. Puigdemont has moved, at least temporarily, from Waterloo, Belgium, where he has lived as a self-styled "political exile," to a French village just north of Spain where he has campaigned with rallies by followers who have crossed the border. He has said that if he is not restored to power he will retire from politics. Voter priorities The question Puigdemont, Illa, Aragonès and the other candidates now face is how much Catalonia has changed. A record drought, not independence, is the number one concern among Catalans, according to the most recent survey by Catalonia's public opinion office. Some 70% of would-be voters now say that the management of public services, the economy and climate change would drive their choice at the polls, while 30% say the question of independence was still their priority. The opinion office said 50% of Catalans are against independence while 42% are for it, meaning support for it has dipped to 2012 levels. When Puigdemont left in 2017, 49% favored independence and 43% were against. Pablo Simón, political science professor at Carlos III University in Madrid, said that the secessionist movement was in a period of uncertain transition. "I would not dare say that the secessionist movement is dead, but I can say that we are in a period where we don't know what will come next," he said.