President Joe Biden has visited Israel on an urgent mission to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spiraling into a broader regional conflict. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that limited humanitarian aid would be allowed into Gaza from Egypt following a request from Biden. The president's visit came after hundreds of people were reported killed in an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital. There were conflicting claims of who was responsible for the hospital blast. Officials in Gaza quickly blamed an Israeli airstrike. Israel denied it was involved and released a flurry of video, audio and other information that it said showed the blast was due to a missile misfire by Islamic Jihad, another militant group operating in Gaza. The Islamic Jihad dismissed that claim. The Associated Press has not independently verified any of the claims or evidence released by the parties. The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Wednesday that 3,478 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,000 injured in the past 11 days. More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, and at least 199 others, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. Currently: 1. Biden says the U.S. will provide $100 million in humanitarian assistance for Palestinians affected by conflict in Gaza and the West Bank. 2. Egypt and other Arab countries typically don’t want to take in Palestinian refugees. 3. Relatives of people taken hostage by Hamas militants tell their stories as they hope for their safe return. 4. The U.S. has vetoed a proposed U.N. resolution to condemn violence against civilians in the Israel-Hamas war. 5. Rage at the Gaza hospital blast carnage spread throughout the Middle East. Here's what's happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war: AIRSTRIKE KILLS 7 SMALL CHILDREN IN GAZA HOME, RESIDENTS AND DOCTORS SAY KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — Residents and doctors in this southern Gaza town said an airstrike slammed into a home, killing seven small children. The news spread quickly on social media, as grisly images of dead and bloodied toddlers lined up side by side on a hospital stretcher stirred outrage in Gaza and the West Bank. Bandaged and caked in dust, the bodies were brought to the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis along with three other dead members of the Bakri family. Photographers swarmed the operation room as women covered their eyes and doctors wept. “This is a massacre,” hospital director Dr. Yousef Al-Akkad said, his voice choking with emotion. “Let the world see, these are just children.” Local medics also confirmed that the children were killed in a strike and said the Bakri family was just one of many such cases Wednesday. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. LIVERPOOL AND EGYPT STAR SALAH URGES LEADERS TO PREVENT MORE BLOODSHED, GET HUMANITARIAN AID TO GAZA CAIRO — Egyptian soccer star Mohamed Salah, arguably the most celebrated Arab footballer, called on world leaders to “come together to prevent further slaughter of all innocent souls” and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza. “There has been too much violence and too much heartbreak and brutality,” the Liverpool striker said in a video that lasted a little under a minute. “The escalations in the recent weeks is unbearable to witness. All lives are sacred and must be protected. The massacres need to stop. Families are being torn apart.” Aid to Gaza “must be allowed immediately,” he added. “The people there are in terrible conditions.” They were Salah's first comments on the Israel-Hamas war, after he was criticized by some Arab fans for his silence. Officials said Wednesday that some aid will begin flowing into Gaza in the coming days. US SENATORS SAY AFTER CLASSIFIED BRIEFING THAT ISRAEL NOT BEHIND HOSPITAL BLAST WASHINGTON — Senators who attended a classified briefing with top defense, intelligence and other administration officials said they were briefed that Israel was not responsible for the hospital blast. “The intelligence community assesses that Israel is not to blame for the explosion of the hospital in Gaza,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said as he left. “They believe it was an errant rocket from terrorists in Gaza.” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said the intelligence is “definitive” that it was not an Israeli operation. In a joint statement earlier, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the panel, said they reviewed intelligence and “feel confident that the explosion was the result of a failed rocket launch by militant terrorists and not the result of an Israeli airstrike.” UN OFFICIALS WARN OVER GAZA HEALTH SYSTEM, RISK OF CONFLICT EXPANDING UNITED NATIONS – U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the deadly destruction of a hospital has heaped further pressure on Gaza’s crumbling health system, depriving the territory of a facility that cared for 45,000 patients every year. Speaking in a video briefing from Qatar, Griffiths also said the Al Ahli hospital was previously struck on Oct. 14. He also said the death toll in the 11 days since Hamas' surprise attack inside Israel has already exceeded what was seen during seven weeks of Israeli-Hamas hostilities in 2014. Meanwhile the U.N. Mideast envoy warned that the risk of the conflict expanding is “very real and extremely dangerous.” Tor Wennesland told the council that recent events “have served to reignite grievances and re-animate alliances across the region.” Earlier in the day at the U.N., the United States vetoed a resolution that would have condemned violence against civilians in the Israel-Hamas war and pushed for humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said President Joe Biden was in the region engaging in diplomacy and “We need to let that diplomacy play out.” BRITISH PM RISHI SUNAK HEADS TO MIDDLE EAST IN BID TO CONTAIN CONFLICT LONDON — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is flying to Israel and nearby countries as part of diplomatic efforts to stop the crisis triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack from worsening. Sunak’s office says he will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog on Thursday. He will condemn Hamas’ “horrific act of terror” and express condolences for the “terrible loss of life” in both Israel and Gaza. He’ll also visit “a number of other regional capitals,” Downing Street said, without providing details. The British leader’s trip follows a visit to Israel on Wednesday by U.S. President Joe Biden. Sunak said in a statement that Tuesday's explosion at the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza “should be a watershed moment for leaders in the region and across the world to come together to avoid further dangerous escalation of conflict.” U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly is also on a regional visit beginning with talks in Egypt on Thursday. He will also visit Qatar and Turkey. BIDEN SAYS EGYPT AGREES TO OPEN RAFAH CROSSING FOR GAZA AID President Joe Biden on Wednesday said Egypt’s president has agreed to open a border crossing into Gaza to allow in 20 trucks with humanitarian aid. Biden said he spoke with Egypt President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi after his visit to Israel, where leaders there agreed to allow the aid in. Biden was speaking to reporters on Air Force One during a refueling stop in Germany on his way back to the U.S. from Tel Aviv. Israel sealed off the Gaza Strip, stopping all entry of food, water, medicine and fuel to its 2.3 million people following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. White House officials said the aid would flow in the coming days. Biden said if Hamas confiscates the aid, “it will end.” Earlier in the day, the United States promised $100 million in humanitarian assistance to help Palestinian people who have been displaced or otherwise affected by conflict in Gaza and the West Bank. SECURITY FORCES ARREST DOZENS, FIRE LIVE ROUNDS TO DISPERSE PROTESTS IN THE OCCUPIED WEST BANK JERUSALEM — Rights groups in the occupied West Bank say Palestinian security forces arrested dozens of Palestinians protesting the deadly explosion at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. The protests late Tuesday devolved into skirmishes with Palestinian security forces, who fired tear gas, stun grenades and live fire to disperse stone-throwing demonstrators, wounding several. Lawyers for Justice, a legal aid group, said Wednesday that some 50 protesters were arrested overnight by Palestinian security forces in Ramallah. The Palestinian Red Crescent meanwhile reported that Israeli soldiers using live rounds and rubber bullets shot and wounded 10 Palestinian protesters in the southern city of Hebron and 21 people in the northern city of Nablus. A 24-year-old Palestinian man was killed, according to the organization. PROTESTS AROUND THE WORLD Thousands demonstrated outside the consulates of Israel and the United States in Istanbul late Wednesday. Many waved Palestinian flags, shouted anti-Israeli slogans and called for revenge against Israel a day after the deadly explosion at a hospital in Gaza. Betul Balcik, a 22-year-old student, told The Associated Press that “humanity is dying” in Gaza and she and friends were there to denounce “war crimes commited by Israel”. Large protests also erupted in Tunisia and Morocco, with demonstrators outraged by the blast at the hospital in Gaza. Protesters gathered outside the Parliament in Rabat chanting “Down with America” and demanding that Morocco reverse its 2020 decision to normalize relations and deepen security ties with Israel. In Tunis, protesters gathered outside the U.S. and French Embassies to condemn those nations’ support of Israel and demand that their ambassadors be removed from Tunisia. The demonstrations were among the largest since the Arab Spring more than a decade ago, observers said. There was also a march by an estimated 10,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Athens, Greece, that was quelled by riot police who fired tear gas. Earlier in the day about 100 people took part in a pro-Israeli gathering. Demonstrators in Amman, Jordan; the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in south Lebanon; and Tokyo directed some of their criticism at the U.S. and Biden for their support of Israel. NEW YORK GOVERNOR VISITS ISRAEL TO SHOW SOLIDARITY TEL AVIV, Israel — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul arrived in Israel to show support for the country. The Democrat was met at Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv by Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Michael Herzog. After a security briefing, Hochul met with families and was scheduled to head to a food pantry to help pack and drop off boxes for people displaced by the conflict. Hochul was expected to stay in Jerusalem overnight. She said her trip is meant as a gesture of solidarity and support. New York is home to the largest Jewish population of any U.S. city, according to the American Jewish Population Project at Brandeis University. “There is a deep, direct connection between New York state and Israel that has always been there, a bond steeled over decades,” Hochul said. HAMAS REJECTS CLAIMS THAT ISRAEL ISN'T BEHIND HOSPITAL BLAST BEIRUT — Hamas is denying Israel's claims that another militant group was responsible for the massive explosion at a Gaza City hospital that killed hundreds of people. In a statement Wednesday, Hamas said that in the days before Tuesday's blast at al-Ahli Hospital, Israeli authorities sent threats to several Gaza Strip hospitals and told each to evacuate or they would “be responsible for what happens.” Hamas said Israeli forces have targeted several emergency departments and ambulances since the violence began, adding that Israeli military officials contacted 21 hospitals including Al-Ahli, demanding that they evacuate “immediately because they are located in area of operations for the Israeli” army. Read More Rishi Sunak calls for ‘calm and cool’ response to Gaza hospital blast US announces $3.5B for projects nationwide to strengthen electric grid, bolster resilience Sunak starts two-day Middle East trip in Israel as he calls for calm Biden to address nation on Israel-Hamas war and Ukraine Woman becomes Israeli folk hero for plying Hamas militants with snacks until rescue mission arrives Israel-Hamas war: Biden says Egypt agreed to open Rafah crossing for Gaza aid

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2023--

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Liam Payne is on the road to recovery, as he revealed that he was recently hospitalised due to a kidney infection. The singer, 29, took to Instagram on 25 August to share the news, while he announced that his upcoming tour - which was supposed to start next month - is going to be postponed. He expressed that his doctors advised him to focus on his health, after he’d been hospitalised due to a kidney infection. “It’s with a heavy heart I have to tell you that we have no other choice but to postpone my upcoming tour of South America,” he wrote in the caption, alongside a video of himself. “Over the past week I’ve been in hospital with a serious kidney infection. It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and doctors orders are that I now need to rest and recover.” While Payne expressed that he was “beyond excited to play” music, he acknowledged that fans will soon be refunded for their tickets. However, the former One Direction member also added that the new dates haven’t been decided yet. “To all of you who have bought tickets, I’m so sorry. We’re working to reschedule the tour as soon as we possibly can, but for now we will be refunding the tickets. So, please look out for updates from your point of purchase,” he wrote. “Thanks as always for the love and support, and look forward to seeing you soon.” In his video, the “Bedroom Floor” singer went on to describe how he’d been a “bit unwell” recently, following the “bad kidney infection”. “We started rehearsals, and I’ve just been advised that now is not the right time for me to be out on the road, trying to recover from this,” Payne said. “I have the best people around me at home trying to help me recover as we speak.” He also added that he hopes that when the time comes, he could “put on an even bigger show” for his fans. According to the National Health Service, hospitalisation as a result of kidney infection can occur for a variety of reasons - such as when a patient is severely dehydrated, unable to swallow or keep down any fluids or medicines, or has a weakened immune system. Fans rushed to the comments section of Payne’s video, where they sent him sweet messages and hoped for him to make a healthy recovery. “Always got your back, champ,” one wrote, while another added: “Get well soon! Love you and here for you forever and always.” A third wrote: “Sending one massive BIG hug your way.” The tour was initially set to kick off on 1 September in Lima, Peru, with his final show in Mexico City, Mexico, on 12 September. In July, Payne made his official return to his YouTube channel, where he discussed how excited he was to go back on tour. He also spoke candidly about his health, after finishing a 100-day rehabilitation stay and was nearly six months sober. Payne went on to admit that prior to sharing the YouTube video, he removed himself from the public eye for his mental well-being. “I just needed to take a little bit of time out for myself actually, because I kind of became somebody who I didn’t really recognise anymore,” he explained. “And I’m sure you guys didn’t either. I was in bad shape up until that point and I was really happy to kind of put a stopper to life and work.” In the YouTube video, the “Strip That Down” singer also discussed his appearance on Logan Paul’s podcast, Impaulsive. Payne expressed regret for some of the things he said about Zayn Malik, after professing that there were “many reasons why he disliked” his former One Direction bandmate. “I think for me, a lot of what I said just came from the wrong place,” Payne recalled. “I was so angry at what was going on around me that instead of taking a look inwards I decided to take it outwards.” Payne said he thought his anger stemmed from frustrations with his career and, rather than reflecting privately, he took his feelings out on others. He added that he “wanted to apologise” for his behaviour. Read More Liam Payne apologises for Zayn Malik comments as he completes 100 days in rehab Zayn Malik discloses ‘underlying issues’ that led to him quitting One Direction: ‘We got sick of each other’ Liam Payne says he’s over 100 days sober: ‘I feel amazing’ ‘Boy moms’ receive backlash for teaching sons how to cook - but for the wrong reason This is how stress affects different parts of the body Chris Pratt’s daughters give him a glittery makeover

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