World
Families of US citizens held by Hamas pin hopes on Netanyahu’s address to Congress
JERUSALEM – With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to address both houses of Congress on Wednesday, families of U.S. citizens held hostage by the Hamas terror group in Gaza for some 292 days expressed hope that he will use the high-profile platform to finally announce a cease-fire deal that will release them.
Ahead of his flight to Washington, D.C., Netanyahu’s office released a statement saying that Israel would return to the negotiating table this week in the hopes of securing a deal with the U.S.-designated terror group to release hostages in exchange for a cease-fire of the nine-month-old war that has killed thousands on both sides.
Eight U.S. citizens have been held by Hamas since Oct. 7, when hundreds of its elite Nukhba terrorists infiltrated southern Israel, brutally attacking army bases, civilian communities and a massive music festival taking place near the border. Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were murdered in the attack, with an estimated 250 individuals taken captive by the Palestinian terror group.
NETANYAHU’S 4 PRINCIPLES ISRAEL AGREES TO FOR HOSTAGE DEAL AS NEGOTIATIONS PICK UP
American hostages being held in Gaza include, from left to right, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Itay Chen, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Edan Alexander, Omer Neutra, Judy Weinstein and her husband, Gad Haggai and Keith Siegel. Judy Weinstein, her husband, Gad Haggai, and 19-year-old Itay Chen – are believed to have been murdered by Hamas, who are still holding onto their bodies. (Photos: Courtesy of the families)
While a weeklong cease-fire last November secured the release of more than 100 of the hostages, around 120 people remain in captivity, including eight U.S. citizens: California-born Hersch Goldberg-Polin, 23, who moved to Israel with his family, was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival. Sagui Dekel Chen, 35, who grew up in New Jersey, and Keith Siegel, 64, from North Carolina, were both taken from their homes in kibbutz communities near the Gaza border. While Eden Alexander, 19, from Tenafly, New Jersey, and Omer Neutra from Long Island, New York – both serving in the Israel Defense Forces – were taken from their military bases.
In April, Hamas released video recordings of both Goldberg-Polin, who is known to have had his arm blown off during the Oct. 7 attack, and from Keith Siegel, giving hope to their families that they are still alive despite the longevity of their captivity.
Three other U.S. citizens – Judy Weinstein and her husband, Gad Haggai, and 19-year-old Itay Chen – are believed to have been murdered in captivity by Hamas, who are still holding onto their bodies. An additional 44 hostages have also been declared dead by the Israeli military.
Last week, Ronen and Orna Neutra, the parents of Omer Neutra, spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, calling on U.S. and Israeli leaders to strike a deal to release all the hostages.
“This was not merely an attack on Israel; this was and remains an attack on Americans,” Ronen Neutra said, highlighting that 45 of the 1,200 people murdered by Hamas on Oct. 7 were Americans.
‘I WILL BE HAUNTED FOREVER’: ISRAEL’S HORRIFIC VIDEO OF HAMAS ATROCITIES LEAVES VIEWERS SHOCKED AND SICKENED
On Monday, not long after he touched down in Washington, Netanyahu agreed to meet with representatives of the eight families, according to a readout. The families told the prime minister that their loved ones cannot wait any longer and that he must close the deal now.
They also called on him to address the plight of the eight American hostages when he speaks to Congress on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with families of Israeli hostages during his visit to Washington D.C. (Israel Government Press Office via Reuters)
“The families told Netanyahu in no uncertain terms that they expect him to announce this week that he has finalized the deal to bring their family members home,” a statement from the meeting read. “Anything less, they said, would constitute an abject failure of his trip to Washington.”
Also on Monday, the families of U.S. hostages met with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, who said there is a solid deal on the table and that it would just take “political determination and cooperation from both sides” to secure it.
Netanyahu – who will also meet with President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump during his trip – also expressed hope that a deal could be achieved during a meeting with 13 additional hostage relatives, who traveled with him from Israel.
A bloodied handprint stains a wall in a Nir Oz house after Hamas terrorists attacked this kibbutz days earlier near the border of Gaza. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
In that meeting, he said that he was “determined to return them all” and that “the conditions for returning them are becoming ripe, for the simple reason that we are putting very strong pressure on Hamas.”
Netanyahu also said that his visit to the U.S. and the chance to address lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and in both houses would afford him “the opportunity to bring before the representatives of the American people, and the American people themselves the importance of their support for our efforts, with them, to bring about the release of all of the hostages, the living and the deceased.”
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A car reportedly drove into a crowd in the northern Italian city of Modena on Saturday, injuring several people.
The vehicle slammed into a store window, and its driver allegedly stabbed a passerby who attempted to intervene, Reuters reported, citing local Italian media.
Mayor Massimo Mezzetti told Italian TV no one was killed but eight people were injured, including four who were in critical condition, according to The Associated Press.
Blood is seen next to a destroyed car on a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
He said a woman pinned against a shop window may require the amputation of both legs.
Financial Police patrol a scene after a car incident in a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
The driver is a 31-year-old man born in Bergamo and raised in Modena with Maghreb origins, Mezzetti said.
The man was detained and was being questioned at police headquarters as authorities worked to determine whether he was under the influence of substances or acted deliberately, the mayor said.
Mezzetti said the vehicle entered one of the city’s main streets and “drove onto the sidewalk, sending several people flying,” before crashing into the shop window.
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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
A tragedy unfolded in the night between Friday and Saturday on the island of Lampedusa, where a newborn migrant baby girl just a few weeks old died of hypothermia immediately after disembarking and while being rushed to the island’s outpatient clinic.
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At 4.30 a.m., after being rescued by the V1307 patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza, 55 people from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone landed at Favarolo pier. Among them were seven women and six minors. The baby girl, whose condition immediately appeared critical, was taken together with her mother to the medical facility, where doctors could do nothing but declare her dead.
Investigation opened into the baby girl’s death
The Agrigento prosecutor’s office has opened an inquiry into the tragic case and ordered a post-mortem examination of the child’s body, a necessary step to confirm hypothermia as the actual cause of death.
The body is being transferred to the mortuary at the Cala Pisana cemetery, while in the coming hours the mother will be questioned by investigators to reconstruct the details of the crossing and establish exactly how and when the baby fell ill.
According to accounts from other migrants on board, the group had set off from Sfax-El Amra in Tunisia at around two o’clock yesterday morning, making the journey in a seven-metre metal boat that cost between 400 and 600 euros per person.
The baby girl’s mother, originally from Côte d’Ivoire, was later taken to the hotspot in the Imbriacola district together with her other daughter, aged around two. According to reports, the woman is currently in a severe state of shock over the loss of her child and is receiving continuous support from staff of the Italian Red Cross, which manages the island’s reception centre.
The centre’s director, Imad Dalil, confirmed to Italian media that psychosocial support measures had been activated. “The mother and the sister are here in the hotspot and are in good physical condition; for them and for the other people psychological support was activated immediately and in the coming hours the medical and psychosocial teams will continue their work,” he said.
NGOs’ reaction
The German NGO Sea-Watch voiced its outrage in a strongly worded post on X. “While the state attacks those who save lives at sea, investigating the captain of Sea-Watch, a one-month-old baby has arrived in LAMPEDUSA, dead in her mother’s arms, after a three-day crossing. Who will be held responsible for this injustice?” The outburst refers to the news, received by the NGO after arriving in Brindisi with 166 rescued people, that a criminal investigation has been opened against the captain of the Sea-Watch 5 on suspicion of aiding illegal entry.
The UN agency specialising in the protection and assistance of people forced to flee war, violence and persecution (UNHCR) also intervened to express deep condolences and grave concern over yet another victim claimed along the Mediterranean routes.
“A mother has lost her newborn daughter, who arrived dead this morning together with 54 other people in Lampedusa. Deep sorrow and concern for the many children and adults who should not be dying in the Mediterranean,” reads a post published on social media by UNHCR, which explains that the agency is on the ground providing assistance to the mother and all the other survivors of the landing.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Virginia’s bid to restore a congressional map that would have given Democrats a chance to pick up four seats in the closely divided House of Representatives.
The court’s order, issued without any noted dissent, is the latest twist in the nation’s mid-decade redistricting competition. It was kicked off last year by President Donald Trump urging Republican-controlled states to redraw their lines and was supercharged by a recent Supreme Court ruling severely weakening the Voting Rights Act that opened up even more winnable seats for the GOP.
In recent days, the justices have sided with Republicans in Alabama and Louisiana who hope to redo their congressional maps to produce more GOP-leaning seats following the court’s voting rights decision.
But the Virginia situation was different, stemming from a 4-3 ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court that struck down a constitutional amendment that voters narrowly passed just last month.
The state court found that the Democratic-controlled legislature improperly began the process of placing the amendment on the ballot after early voting had begun in Virginia’s general election last fall.
The Supreme Court typically doesn’t intervene in state court proceedings unless they present an issue of federal law. Virginia Democrats had hoped to persuade the justices that the Virginia court misread federal law and Supreme Court precedent that hold that, even if early voting is underway, an election does not happen until Election Day itself.
Virginia’s amendment had been intended as a response to Republican gains in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, and to blunt a new map in Florida that just became law. Once the Virginia amendment passed, it briefly turned the nationwide redistricting scramble into a draw between the two parties.
That was unraveled by the Virginia Supreme Court’s decision.
The state’s attorney general, Democrat Jay Jones, slammed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, saying it was another example of what he described as a national attack on voting rights and the rule of law.
“Let’s be clear about what is happening. Donald Trump, Republican state legislatures, and conservative courts are systematically and unabashedly tilting power away from the people for Trump’s political gain,” Jones said in a statement issued late Friday night.
The state’s top Democrats had disagreed about whether it was even too late for help from the Supreme Court. “Time grows short, but it is not yet too late,” lawyers for the Democratic leaders of the legislature as well as the state told the justices in a brief filed Friday.
A day earlier, the office of Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger already had confirmed that the state will hold this year’s elections under the current districts established in 2021. Last month, Virginia Commissioner of Elections Steve Koski said a court order was needed by this past Tuesday to set the district lines for primary elections on Aug. 4.
Spanberger reacted to Friday’s decision by saying both courts had nullified the votes of the more than 3 million Virginians who cast ballots in the April 21 special election.
“These Virginians made their voices heard — casting their ballots in good faith to push back against a President who said he’s ‘entitled’ to more seats in Congress before voters go to the polls,” she posted on her X account.
The leader of the state Republican Party said the justices made the right call.
“Wisely, the Supreme Court of the United States has confirmed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia,” state party chairman Jeff Ryer said. “This should once and for all put to rest the Democrats’ effort to disenfranchise half of Virginia.
___
Associated Press writer Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
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