Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

US National Guard Troops in Washington to Begin Carrying Weapons, Officials Say

4 hours ago

Fresno County Wildfire Burns 3,338 Acres, Evacuation Orders Issued

4 hours ago

Wall Street Slips as Powell-Led Momentum Wanes

4 hours ago

Fresno City Gets Extension in Herndon 4-Story Apartment Case

3 days ago

With Major Heat Risk Forecast, This Is a Good Weekend to Stay Indoors in Fresno

3 days ago

Trump Says Intel Has Agreed to Deal for US to Take 10% Equity Stake

3 days ago

Epstein Associate Maxwell Says She Never Saw Trump Behave Inappropriately

3 days ago

Pew: US Immigrant Population Declines for First Time in Nearly 60 Years

3 days ago

Powell, Citing Jobs Risk, Opens Door to Cuts but Doesn’t Commit

3 days ago

FBI Agents Search Ex-Trump Adviser Bolton’s Home, Source Says

3 days ago
After Weeks of Silence, Netanyahu and Biden Speak by Phone
d8a347b41db1ddee634e2d67d08798c102ef09ac
By The New York Times
Published 11 months ago on
October 9, 2024

People burn American and Israeli flags during a demonstration in support of Hezbollah and Palestinians at Palestine Square in Tehran, on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. (Arash Khamooshi/The New York Times)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel spoke Wednesday for the first time since August, their offices said. The weekslong silence between the two leaders highlighted their souring relationship as Israel intensified its war in the Gaza Strip despite Biden’s calls for de-escalation.

Details of the call were not immediately available. It came after Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, delayed a trip to Washington where he had been expected to discuss Israel’s potential response to Iran’s missile attack last week. Gallant said Wednesday that he had postponed the trip at the request of Netanyahu, who told him he first wanted to speak with Biden.

Netanyahu and Gallant have been at odds for months over Israel’s strategy in Gaza, and U.S. officials have found the Israeli defense minister to be a key interlocutor as their ties with Netanyahu have become strained.

Call Comes After Israel Invades Lebanon

Their call comes a little over a week after Israel invaded southern Lebanon and targeted Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group based in Lebanon.

Hezbollah militants fought ground battles with Israeli forces Wednesday in southern Lebanon and lobbed more rockets at northern Israeli towns, as the United Nations warned that hundreds of thousands of Lebanese civilians had fled their homes because of the escalating hostilities. Israel’s emergency services said two people were killed when a Hezbollah strike hit the northern city of Kiryat Shmona.

A quarter of Lebanon’s territory — mostly the southern areas abutting Israel, but also parts of the Hezbollah-dominated Bekaa Valley and along the Syrian border — is now under Israeli military evacuation warnings, according to the U.N. human rights commissioner. The Israeli military repeated its directive to residents of southern Lebanon on Wednesday to move north, saying that its forces were continuing “to attack Hezbollah sites in and near your village, and for your own safety you are prohibited from returning to your homes until further notice.”

As the fighting continued, Iran’s foreign minister was in Saudi Arabia as part of a diplomatic tour aimed at preventing further military escalation in the region. But a much anticipated meeting Wednesday between Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was postponed amid tensions between the countries’ leaders.

What Else to Know:

— Stabbing attack: Six people were injured, two of them critically, in a stabbing attack in central Israel on Wednesday, according to Israeli medics. Israeli police called it an act of terrorism, a term used almost exclusively to refer to attacks by Palestinian militants. No Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

— Speaking up for UNRWA: Two days after Israel’s parliament advanced legislation that would in effect ban the main U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned that such a move “would be a catastrophe” for the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza and damage prospects for long-term peace.

— Rocket attack: A barrage of about 90 rockets was fired from Lebanon at Israel late Wednesday afternoon, the Israeli military said. Some of the rockets were intercepted, the military added, but a house in Safed, in northern Israel, sustained a direct hit. Israeli police said no casualties had been reported. The attack came as Israel announced that it had carried out airstrikes on more than 1,400 targets in Lebanon since the start of its ground invasion last week.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Aryn Baker, Ben Hubbard and Aaron Boxerman/Arash Khamooshi
c. 2024 The New York Times Company

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Former Mexican Drug Kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Pleads Guilty to US Charges

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Two Convicted Felons After Traffic Stop

DON'T MISS

Trump To Sign Executive Order Directing AG To Prosecute Flag Desecration

DON'T MISS

Trump Signs Orders Aimed At Ending Cashless Bail Policies

DON'T MISS

Alleged Killer of Caleb Quick Returns to Court. What Is the Current Status?

DON'T MISS

Former CSU Chancellor, Fresno State President Joseph Castro, 58, Passes of Cancer

DON'T MISS

Joe Castro: A Life Cut Far Too Short, but His Legacy Marches On

DON'T MISS

Deportations Reach New High After Summer Surge in Immigration Arrests

DON'T MISS

From Visalia to the Big Leagues: Dave Flemming’s Journey to Giants’ Broadcast Booth

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Desiree Alayna Cruder

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Arrest Two Convicted Felons After Traffic Stop

UP NEXT

Trump To Sign Executive Order Directing AG To Prosecute Flag Desecration

UP NEXT

Trump Signs Orders Aimed At Ending Cashless Bail Policies

UP NEXT

Alleged Killer of Caleb Quick Returns to Court. What Is the Current Status?

UP NEXT

Former CSU Chancellor, Fresno State President Joseph Castro, 58, Passes of Cancer

UP NEXT

Joe Castro: A Life Cut Far Too Short, but His Legacy Marches On

UP NEXT

Deportations Reach New High After Summer Surge in Immigration Arrests

UP NEXT

From Visalia to the Big Leagues: Dave Flemming’s Journey to Giants’ Broadcast Booth

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Desiree Alayna Cruder

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Arrest 16 Drivers in DUI Operation

Trump Signs Orders Aimed At Ending Cashless Bail Policies

45 minutes ago

Alleged Killer of Caleb Quick Returns to Court. What Is the Current Status?

1 hour ago

Former CSU Chancellor, Fresno State President Joseph Castro, 58, Passes of Cancer

2 hours ago

Joe Castro: A Life Cut Far Too Short, but His Legacy Marches On

2 hours ago

Deportations Reach New High After Summer Surge in Immigration Arrests

2 hours ago

From Visalia to the Big Leagues: Dave Flemming’s Journey to Giants’ Broadcast Booth

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Desiree Alayna Cruder

3 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest 16 Drivers in DUI Operation

3 hours ago

Fresno County DUI Crash Sends Car Into Embankment Near Highway 99

3 hours ago

Wrongly Deported Migrant Abrego Again Detained by US Immigration Officials

3 hours ago

Former Mexican Drug Kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Pleads Guilty to US Charges

NEW YORK — Former Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada pleaded guilty on Monday to U.S. charges related to his decades-...

20 minutes ago

Federal law enforcement officers stand outside the Brooklyn Federal courthouse, ahead of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, the alleged Sinaloa cartel co-founder plea hearing on U.S. drug trafficking charges, in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., August 25, 2025. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
20 minutes ago

Former Mexican Drug Kingpin Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada Pleads Guilty to US Charges

Fresno police arrested two convicted felons after a traffic stop led to the discovery of firearms, ammunition, drugs and outstanding warrants. (Fresno PD)
34 minutes ago

Fresno Police Arrest Two Convicted Felons After Traffic Stop

President Donald Trump signs an executive order at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on August 25, 2025.
41 minutes ago

Trump To Sign Executive Order Directing AG To Prosecute Flag Desecration

45 minutes ago

Trump Signs Orders Aimed At Ending Cashless Bail Policies

1 hour ago

Alleged Killer of Caleb Quick Returns to Court. What Is the Current Status?

Joseph Castro
2 hours ago

Former CSU Chancellor, Fresno State President Joseph Castro, 58, Passes of Cancer

Joseph Joe Castro Fresno State Commencement
2 hours ago

Joe Castro: A Life Cut Far Too Short, but His Legacy Marches On

Image of man being detained in Denver by ICE agents
2 hours ago

Deportations Reach New High After Summer Surge in Immigration Arrests

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend