By JULIA FRANKEL and SAMY MAGDY, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops and tanks were pushing deeper into Gaza City on Wednesday, the second day of a ground offensive that was widely condemned internationally, as Palestinians fled the devastated area en masse.

Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City by foot and vehicles, carrying their belongings along the coastal road toward southern Gaza, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Israel’s military said that air force and artillery units had struck the city over 150 times in the last few days, ahead of ground troops moving in. The strikes have toppled high-rise towers in areas densely populated by tent camps where thousands of Palestinians are sheltering. Israel claims the towers are being used by Hamas to surveil troops.

Overnight strikes killed at least 16 people, including women and children, hospital officials reported. The death count in Gaza is nearing 65,000 Palestinians since the war began Oct. 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel, according to health officials in the enclave.

Meanwhile, Palestinians streamed out of the city — some by car, others on foot. Israel opened another corridor south of Gaza City for two days beginning Wednesday to allow more people to evacuate.

Children and parents among the latest fatalities

More than half of the Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes were in famine-stricken Gaza City, including a child and his mother who died in their apartment in the Shati refugee camp, according to officials from Shifa Hospital, which received the casualties.

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In central Gaza, Al-Awda Hospital said an Israeli strike hit a house in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, killing three, including a pregnant woman. Two parents and their child were also killed when a strike hit their tent in the Muwasi area west of the city of Khan Younis, said officials from Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were brought.

The Gaza Health Ministry, meanwhile, said that multiple Israeli strikes hit the Rantisi Hospital for children in Gaza City on Tuesday night. It posted pictures on Facebook showing the damaged roof, water tanks and rubble in a hospital hallway.

The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, said the strikes forced half of some 80 patients to flee the facility. About 40 patients, including four children in intensive care and eight premature babies, remained in the hospital with 30 medical workers, the ministry said.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the strikes, but in the past it has accused Hamas of building military infrastructure inside civilian areas.

The military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Col. Avichay Adraee, wrote on social media that a new route opened for those heading south for two days starting at noon Wednesday.

But many Palestinians in the north were cut off from the outside world. The Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, based in the occupied West Bank, said Israeli strikes on the main network lines in northern Gaza had collapsed internet and telephone services Wednesday morning. The Associated Press tried unsuccessfully to reach many people in Gaza City.

An estimated 1 million Palestinians were living in the Gaza City region before warnings to evacuate began ahead of the offensive, and the Israeli military estimates 350,000 people have left the city. The U.N. estimates that more than 238,000 Palestinians of some 1 million believed living in the city have fled northern Gaza over the past month. Hundreds of thousands more have stayed behind.

Aid groups and Qatar condemn offensive

A coalition of leading aid groups Wednesday urged the international community to take stronger measures to stop Israel’s offensive on Gaza City. It came a day after a commission of U.N. experts found Israel was committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave. Israel denies the allegation.

“What we are witnessing in Gaza is not only an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, but what the U.N. Commission of Inquiry has now concluded is a genocide,” read the statement from the aid groups. “States must use every available political, economic, and legal tool at their disposal to intervene. Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.”

The message was signed by leaders of over 20 aid organizations operating in Gaza, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, Anera and Save the Children.

Also Wednesday, Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement saying they condemned “in the strongest terms” Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza. The ministry wrote on X that the operation marked a “extension of the war of genocide” against the Palestinians.

Qatar is incensed over an Israeli strike last week that killed five Hamas members and a local security official.

Israel’s return to Gaza City

An Israeli military graphic suggested its troops hope to control all of the Gaza Strip except for a large swath along the coast by the end of the current operation.

Israeli forces have carried out multiple large-scale raids into Gaza City over the course of the war, causing mass displacement and heavy destruction, only to see militants regroup later. This time, Israel has pledged to take control of the entire city, which experts say is experiencing famine.

An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines, said Tuesday they believe there are 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas militants left in Gaza City, as well as tunnels used by the group. Hamas’ military capabilities have been vastly diminished. It now mainly carries out guerrilla-style attacks, with small groups of fighters planting explosives or attacking military outposts before melting away.

The war has killed more than 64,900 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. The ministry, which is staffed by medical professionals, says women and children make up around half the dead. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate by the U.N. and many independent experts.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. Forty-eight hostages, fewer than half believed to be alive, remain in Gaza.

Magdy reported from Cairo.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A driver rammed a car into a security gate at the FBI building in Pittsburgh early Wednesday, then removed an American flag from the back seat and threw it over the gate before leaving, authorities said.

The car crashed into the gate at about 2:40 a.m., the FBI said, and authorities were searching for the man. Investigators, including a bomb squad, were at the scene.

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“This incident is considered a targeted attack against the FBI,” the agency said in a statement that was posted online. “No FBI personnel were injured.”

Christopher Giordano, assistant special agent in charge at the FBI in Pittsburgh, told reporters that the car appeared to have some sort of message on one of the side windows.

Giordano said the FBI was familiar with the man.

“He did come here to the FBI field office a few weeks ago to make a complaint that didn’t make a whole lot of sense,” Giordano said.

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield is leaving the ice cream brand after 47 years, saying that the independence it once had to speak up on social issues has been stifled by parent company Unilever.

In a letter that co-founder Ben Cohen posted on social media platform X on Greenfield’s behalf, Greenfield said that he felt the independence the brand had to speak on social issues and events was lost to Unilever.

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“For more than 20 years under their ownership, Ben & Jerry’s stood up and spoke out in support of peace, justice and human rights, not as abstract concepts, but in relation to real events happening in our world,” he wrote. “That independence existed in no small part because of the unique merger agreement Ben and I negotiated with Unilever, one that enshrined our social mission and values in the company’s governance structure in perpetuity. It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone.”

Greenfield said that the loss of independence was coming “at a time when our country’s current administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights, the rights of immigrants, women and the LGBTQ community.”

“Standing up for the values of justice, equity, and our shared humanity has never been more important, and yet Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power,” he said. “It’s easy to stand up and speak out when there’s nothing at risk. The real test of values is when times are challenging and you have something to lose.”

Greenfield noted that Ben & Jerry’s, famous for its colorful ice cream containers with names such as Cherry Garcia and Phish Food, “was always about more than just ice cream; it was a way to spread love and invite others into the fight for equity, justice and a better world.”

A spokesperson for The Magnum Ice Cream Company said in a statement on Wednesday that it would be forever grateful to Greenfield for his contributions to Ben & Jerry’s and thanked him for his service, but was not aligned with his viewpoint.

“We disagree with his perspective and have sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world,” the spokesperson said.

Magnum said that it is still committed to Ben & Jerry’s mission and remains “focused on carrying forward the legacy of peace, love, and ice cream of this iconic, much-loved brand.”

Ben & Jerry’s has been at odds with Unilever for a while. In March Ben & Jerry’s said that its CEO was unlawfully removed by Unilever in retaliation for the ice cream maker’s social and political activism.

In a federal court filing, Ben & Jerry’s said that Unilever informed its board on March 3 that it was removing and replacing Ben & Jerry’s CEO David Stever. Ben & Jerry’s said that violated its merger agreement with Unilever, which states that any decisions regarding a CEO’s removal must come after a consultation with an advisory committee from Ben & Jerry’s board.

London-based Unilever said in a statement at the time that it hoped Ben & Jerry’s board would engage in the agreed-upon process.

Unilever acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 for $326 million. At the time, Ben & Jerry’s said the partnership would help the progressive Vermont-based ice cream company expand its social mission.

But lately, the marriage hasn’t been a happy one. In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s announced it would stop serving Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and contested east Jerusalem. The following year, Unilever sold its Israeli business to a local company that said it would sell Ben & Jerry’s under its Hebrew and Arabic name throughout Israel and the West Bank.

In May 2024 Unilever said that it was planning to spin off its ice cream business — including Ben & Jerry’s — by the end of 2025 as part of a larger restructuring. Unilever also owns personal hygiene brands like Dove soap and food brands like Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

But the acrimony continued. In November, Ben & Jerry’s sued Unilever in federal court in New York, accusing it of silencing Ben & Jerry’s statements in support of Palestinians in the Gaza war.

In its complaint, Ben & Jerry’s said Unilever also refused to let the company release a social media post that identified issues it believed would be challenged during President Donald Trump’s second term, including minimum wages, universal health care, abortion and climate change.

The First Amendment is in a sorry state, especially on college campuses. A survey of students released last Tuesday from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression shows a steady decline in support for free speech – with a new high of 34% saying that using violence to stop a campus speech is acceptable in some cases.

These findings would be disturbing at any time in American history, but they are especially chilling coming the same week that conservative activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down while speaking at a Utah university. The suspect is a 22-year-old who allegedly believed Kirk was “spreading hate.”

The reasons for Gen Z’s growing intolerance of opposing opinions are many, including the dominance of social media and increasing government efforts to control speech. But it’s not too late. America can and must rekindle an appreciation for a good debate among young people, and remind them why freedom of expression is a fundamental right. Our national and local leaders could start by modeling the behavior we’d like younger people to emulate.

For the past six years, FIRE has surveyed 65,510 students at 257 colleges and universities and asked if they would support or oppose allowing controversial speakers on campus. The group asks students whether it’s acceptable to disrupt a campus speech by shouting down a speaker, blocking entry to the event, or using violence. The percentage of students who approve of disruptive behavior to cancel a speech is now at a record high. It’s a bipartisan trend that cuts across gender and racial lines.

The impulse to stifle unpopular speech has been growing on college campuses for a while, but FIRE says the pattern is changing. Over the past decade, students and scholars were the primary advocates for censoring speakers they deemed hostile; back then, administrators usually pushed back and defended free speech, said Sean Stevens, FIRE researcher and a social psychologist. Now, fewer people push back at all, with administrators, politicians and off-campus activists increasingly advocating for canceling speech they don’t like.

It’s a phenomenon that is fed by both politics and culture, Stevens told me. In this era of social media, students come to campus less supportive of free speech than prior generations. This generation is accustomed to curating their digital feed with views that validate and reinforce their beliefs. When they come to college, it might be difficult for them to empathize with people who voice dramatically different viewpoints.

But while censorship attempts from the left have declined since 2020, hostility to free and open debate on campus has grown “primarily due to a drop in tolerance among conservative students,” Stevens said.

The Trump administration has likely played a role, as have officials in red states who want to control academic speech. Governments have applied unprecedented pressure to higher education institutions, targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and restricting funds based on the institution’s handling of protests over Israel and Gaza. Republican-led states like Florida and Texas have passed laws that echo President Donald Trump’s executive orders and empower GOP-aligned trustees and university boards to limit academic freedom. And the federal Department of Education has launched investigations into dozens of schools, withholding federal funds from “ideologically hostile” universities. Just last week, Texas A&M fired a professor and demoted two administrators for “illegal” instruction after a student complained.

At the same time, “students who feel increasingly threatened by the proliferation of hate speech on campuses have come to increasingly reject the idea that everybody flourishes best when all speech is allowed,” said Caroline Mala Corbin, professor of First Amendment Law at the University of Miami. “It depends on what kind of speech students are willing to have censored.”

And Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, kept a “Professor Watchlist” on its website. The site says the list is intended to “expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” Professors on the list say they’ve been harassed.

It’s not too late to find a new direction. Although the watchlist was misguided, Kirk himself showed up on campuses across the country under a tent reading “Prove Me Wrong.” That willingness to engage in dialogue on often-hostile college campuses was laudable.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox used his news conference on Friday to urge America to learn from it.

“Young people loved Charlie, and young people hated Charlie, and Charlie went into those places anyway,” said Cox, a Republican. “Charlie said, when people stop talking, that’s when you get violence.”

Cox also exhorted young people to draw a sharp line between actions and speech, even when that speech is heated: “Words are not violence, violence is violence; there is one person responsible for what happened here and that person is now in custody.”

It was a sharp contrast to Trump’s messaging last week. “The radicals on the left are the problem,” the president said, during Friday’s hour-long appearance on Fox News. “And they’re vicious and they’re horrible and they’re politically savvy.”

Cox demonstrated the leadership Trump couldn’t muster. He directed his comments to “my young friends out there” who are “inheriting a country where politics feels like rage.” He urged them to use the moment to “build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now — not by pretending differences don’t matter, by embracing our differences and having those hard conversations.”

If we want young people to learn those skills, the adults in the room need to start showing more of them ourselves.

Mary Ellen Klas is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former capital bureau chief for the Miami Herald, she has covered politics and government for more than three decades.

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