Biden to allow Palestinians to stay in the U.S. beyond their set departure dates as humanitarian crisis in Gaza grows
President Joe Biden signed a memorandum today allowing Palestinians who are already in the U.S. to stay an extra 18 months beyond their scheduled departure dates because “humanitarian conditions in Gaza have significantly deteriorated.”
The White House said in a statement that the U.S. is “giving them a temporary safe haven.”
“This grant of deferred enforced departure would provide protections for most Palestinians in the United States, with certain exceptions,” the White House said.
Those convicted of felonies or are otherwise deemed to pose a public safety threat are not eligible for the “deferred enforced departure,” it said.
Anyone who voluntarily returns to the Palestinian territories would lose their “safe haven” protections, the White House said.
Doctor in Rafah says hospital sees ‘hundreds of patients’ after each attack
A doctor in Rafah told NBC News that she works 24/7 taking care of patients injured by the ongoing attacks from Israel and that the toll is “more than catastrophic.”
“The situation is getting worse day after day because of the Israeli attacks,” Dr. Noor Alwhidi at Kuwait Hospital told NBC News.
Alwhidi said that the hospital deals with “hundreds of patients” after every Israeli attack and that most injuries are critical.
“Most of the patients are children, babies, women. They are bombing them and killing them,” she said, adding there are more than 1 million people displaced in the area.
U.S. condemns Israel’s demolishing East Jerusalem community leader’s home
The State Department condemned Israel’s demolition of the home of Fakhri Abu Diab, a community leader in East Jerusalem.
“We believe that demolition not only obviously damages his home and his family and the lives that they have built there, but the entire community who live in fear that their homes may be next,” Matt Miller, a State Department spokesperson, said at a briefing this afternoon.
Miller said the home had been in the family for generations and that part of the structure dated back to before 1967.
“He had been an outspoken community leader, including against demolitions, and now his family has been displaced,” Miller said.
He added that the U.S. condemns the demolitions and that such acts “obstruct efforts to advance a durable and lasting peace, peace and security that would benefit not just Palestinians but Israelis.”
Miller said that the U.S. believes there is a path forward that is an alternative “to the one that Israel has pursued today to provide lasting peace and security for Israel, and it would include the establishment of two states.”
“We will continue to pursue that path,” he said.
Family recounts death of Palestinian American teen they say was at hands of Israeli gunfire
BIDDU, West Bank — Hamad Khdour remembers Saturday as a rare morning when his Palestinian American family all gathered together for breakfast at their apartment in the West Bank town of Biddu.
“We were laughing and enjoying,” says Hamad, 25. “I didn’t even remember when was the last time that we sat together.”
Hamad’s 17-year-old brother, Mohammed, decided to spend the day with his cousin and friends at a picnic in a rural area outside of town. The boys ate cake and joked with one another while making videos.
Around 4:30 p.m. Mohammed started the drive home with his cousin, 16-year-old Malek Mansour, in the passenger seat beside him. Suddenly, Malek says, he heard gunshots. Mohammed was struck twice in the back of the head and slumped over on Malek. With Mohammed’s foot still on the accelerator, the car plunged down the rocky hill and rolled several times. Malek, somehow unharmed, ran for help at nearby houses. By the time they got Mohammed to a hospital in the West Bank capital, Ramallah, he was declared dead.
Four days after the shooting, Malek wears the same Adidas jacket he had on that afternoon. His cousin’s blood stains the shoulder.
“I have to live,” he recalls thinking during the attack, “or no one will know what happened.”
The Khdour family believes that the gunman was an Israeli settler known in the area to harass Palestinians.
“He was back and forth all around, looking for somebody to kill,” says Ahmed Khdour, 63, Mohammed’s father. “People, they recognize him and they know this guy. He looking for somebody to kill.”
When asked about the incident, the Israeli military referred NBC News to Israeli domestic security services, known as Shin Bet. They have not responded.
In a statement, the U.S. State Department confirmed the…
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