Israel-Hamas war latest: US Vice President Harris urges Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal soon

United States Vice President Kamala Harris urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas soon so that dozens of hostages held by the militants in Gaza since Oct. 7 could return home.

Before heading to Florida on Friday to meet with former President Donald Trump, Netanyahu was in Washington, where he delivered a scathing speech to Congress in which he vowed to achieve “total victory” against Hamas and denounced American opponents of the war in Gaza as “idiots.”

Hamas slammed the speech and accused Netanyahu of obstructing efforts to end the war and return the hostages.

The Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 39,100 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The United Nations estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

Here’s the latest:

Israel's far-right lawmakers criticize US Vice President Kamala Harris' call for a cease-fire deal

JERUSALEM — Israel’s far-right lawmakers criticized United States Vice President Kamala Harris’ call for a cease-fire deal to end the war in Gaza.

“There will be no end to the war, Mrs candidate,” Israeli National Security Adviser Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote Friday on X. Ben-Gvir is one of the most visible right-wing ministers and a key ultranationalist ally to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Harris, who is backed by enough delegates to become Democratic nominee in the 2024 U.S. presidential election, met Thursday with Netanyahu in Washington, saying that bringing home hostages was imperative and describing widespread suffering among Gaza’s civilian population as fighting continues.

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, claimed Harris had “revealed” that a cease-fire deal amounted to surrendering to Hamas. “It is forbidden to fall into this trap!” he wrote.

Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are opposed to a cease-fire deal in Gaza and say Israel should continue fighting until Hamas is vanquished. Netanyahu is accused by many in Israel of drawing out the war, partially to appease them. Their combined resignations would be enough to topple the Prime Minister’s coalition government and prompt new elections.

Militants in Gaza hold about 115 hostages taken from Israel on Oct. 7. Many of the hostages are believed to be dead.

CANBERRA, Australia — Canada, Australia and New Zealand issued a joint statement Friday on the need for an urgent cease-fire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

“The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue,” the statement from the three prime ministers said.

“Israel must listen to the concerns of the international community. The protection of civilians is paramount and a requirement under international humanitarian law. Palestinian civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas. It must end,” the statement said.

The prime ministers said they were “gravely concerned” about the prospect of further escalation across the region and condemned Iran’s mid-April attack on Israel. They also called on Iran to refrain from further destabilizing actions in the Middle East and demanded that Iran and its affiliated groups, including Hezbollah, cease their attacks.

Hezbollah began firing rockets shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, saying it aimed to ease pressure on Gaza. The exchange of fire and airstrikes, which has been limited to a few kilometers (miles) on each side of the border, has displaced tens of thousands of people in both countries.

RAMALLAH, West Bank — A Hamas leader in the occupied West Bank died in Israeli custody Thursday evening after a deterioration in his health, according to a Palestinian prisoners rights group.

Sheikh Mustafa Abu Arra, 63, was arrested in October and was recently transferred from Ramon Prison to Soroka hospital where he died, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said.

The rights group said Abu Ara was subjected to “torture and starvation” during his detention, and did not receive adequate medical treatment. The group did not elaborate further. Israel’s prison authorities have not commented on the circumstances of Abu Ara’s death, and could not immediately be reached.

Abu Ara was arrested shortly after the start of the latest Israel-Hamas war under a process known as administrative detention, the group said, whereby detainees can be held indefinitely for security reasons without trial and charge. Rights groups and recently released Palestinian detainees say conditions in Israeli-run prisons have deteriorated since the Israel-Hamas war broke out.

Since the early 1990s, Abu Ara was arrested several times and spent roughly 12 years in Israeli-run prisons, the prisoners group and Hamas said.