By WAFAA SHURAFA and SAMY MAGDY

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s defense minister on Wednesday ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City, saying it was their “last opportunity” and that anyone who stayed would be considered a Hamas supporter and face the “full force” of Israel’s latest offensive.

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At least 16 Palestinians were killed across the territory, according to local hospitals, as Hamas weighed a new proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump aimed at ending the war and returning the remaining captives taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered it.

Around 400,000 Palestinians have fled famine-stricken Gaza City since Israel launched a major offensive last month aimed at occupying it, but hundreds of thousands remain, many because they cannot afford to leave or are too weak to make the journey to tent camps in the south.

“This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south and leave Hamas terrorists isolated in Gaza City,” Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X. “Those who remain in Gaza will be (considered) terrorists and terror supporters.”

Strike hits school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City

At least seven people, including first responders, were killed when two Israeli strikes minutes apart hit a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza City, according to Al-Ahli Hospital, where the casualties were taken. Officials there said more than three dozen people were wounded.

Five Palestinians were killed later in a strike on people gathered around a drinking water tank elsewhere in Gaza City, the hospital said. Shifa Hospital said a man was killed in a strike on his apartment. Strikes in central Gaza killed another three people, according to Al-Awda Hospital.

Another strike hit a tent in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah, seriously wounding two people, according to hospital officials.

Earlier on Wednesday at the same hospital, dozens of people attended a funeral service for a Palestinian freelance journalist, Yahya Barzaq. He was killed Tuesday along with five other people in an airstrike while working for Turkish broadcast outlet TRT.

More than 189 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza since the outbreak of the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on Wednesday’s strikes or the strike that killed Barzaq. Israel states it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for their deaths, saying its fighters are embedded in populated areas.

The military said sirens sounded in communities near Gaza on Wednesday afternoon, after “two projectiles” crossed into Israel. No injuries were reported.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and fighters in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half of the dead.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government. U.N. agencies and many independent experts view its figures as the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel nearly two years ago killed some 1,200 people and 251 others were abducted. Most of the hostages have been freed under previous ceasefire deals, but 48 are still held in Gaza — around 20 believed by Israel to be alive.

Trump’s peace proposal

On Wednesday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty said Trump’s proposal requires more negotiations on certain elements, echoing remarks made by Qatar a day earlier. Hamas said it would study the plan, and it was not clear when it would respond.

The comments by Qatar and Egypt, two key mediators, appeared to reflect Arab countries’ discontent over the text of the 20-point plan that the White House put out after Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced they had agreed on it Monday.

The plan, which has received wide international support, requires Hamas to release hostages, leave power in Gaza and disarm in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting. The plan guarantees the flow of humanitarian aid and promises reconstruction in Gaza, placing it and its more than 2 million Palestinians under international governance. However, it sets no path to Palestinian statehood.

The Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, led by rivals of Hamas, has welcomed the plan, as have Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates.

More roadblocks and a flotilla headed to Gaza

The Israeli military said that starting at midday Wednesday, it would only allow Palestinians to flee south from Gaza City and not to head north on the only north-south route still open.

Around 90% of Gaza’s population has been displaced in the war, often multiple times, and finding food is a daily struggle for many. On Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said intensifying warfare in Gaza City forced it to suspend its operations there and relocate staff to southern Gaza.

Meanwhile, a widely watched flotilla of activists carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid is sailing toward Gaza, in what organizers have described as the largest attempt to date to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the strip.

The activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla of about 50 vessels say they expect Israeli authorities to intercept them, as has happened in past flotilla attempts to reach Gaza. On Wednesday, they said two of the vessels were harassed by Israeli warships overnight.

The core vessels set sail from Barcelona, Spain, on Sept. 1, and the flotilla could reach Gaza shores by Thursday, organizers said. Israeli authorities warned the boats would not be allowed to reach Gaza.

Thursday is Yom Kippur — the high Jewish holiday of the Day of Atonement — when stores, businesses, public transportation and broadcasting shut down in Israel, beginning around sundown on Wednesday.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell’Orto in Jerusalem and Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration said Wednesday it was putting a hold on roughly $18 billion to fund a new rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey and the city’s expanded Second Avenue subway project because of the government shutdown.

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The White House budget director, Russ Vought, said on a post on X that the step was taken due to the Republican administration’s belief the money was based on unconstitutional diversity, equity and inclusion principles.

In a statement, the U.S. Transportation Department said that it had been reviewing whether any “unconstitutional practices” were occurring in the two massive infrastructure projects but that the government shutdown had forced it to furlough the staffers conducting the review.

“This is another unfortunate casualty of radical Democrats’ reckless decision to hold the federal government hostage to give illegal immigrants benefits,” the statement reads.

The suspension of funds is likely meant to target Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York, whom the White House is blaming for the shutdown.

In a 2023 interview with The Associated Press, Schumer said he and then-President Joe Biden were both “giddy” over the rail tunnel project, adding that it was all they talked about in the presidential limousine as they rode to the site.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, reacting to the development at a news conference about the federal government shutdown, told reporters, “The bad news just keeps coming,” adding that “they’re trying to make culture wars be the reason why.”

“That’s what a partnership with Washington looks like as we’re standing here. We’ve done our part. We’re ready to build. It’s underway,” she said. “And now we realize that they’ve decided to put their own interpretation of proper culture ahead of our needs, the needs of a nation.”

The Hudson River rail tunnel is a long-delayed project whose path toward construction has been full of political and funding switchbacks. It’s intended to ease the strain on a 110-year-old tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey. Hundreds of Amtrak and commuter trains carry hundreds of thousands of passengers per day through the tunnel, and delays can ripple up and down the East Coast between Boston and Washington

The Second Avenue subway was first envisioned in the 1920s. The subway line along Manhattan’s Second Avenue was an on-again, off-again grail until the first section opened on Jan. 1, 2017. The state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority is working toward starting construction on the second phase of the line, which is to extend into East Harlem.

Associated Press writers Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York, and Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.

The Frost on Wednesday released the schedule for their third PWHL season. Defense of their second straight Walter Cup title begins Nov. 21 at Grand Casino Arena when they play host to Toronto at 6 p.m.

The Nov. 21 opener will feature a championship banner-raising ceremony to begin a 30-game regular-season schedule against seven league opponents that runs through April 25.

The PWHL added franchises in Vancouver, B.C., and Seattle this offseason. The Frost will be Seattle’s first home opponent on Nov. 28 at Climate Pledge Arena. They will play at last year’s runner-up Ottawa on Dec. 2.

Minnesota is scheduled for three neutral site games that will be announced at a future date. For a full schedule, go to the team’s web site https://www.thepwhl.com/en/teams/minnesota-frost .

In spite of the shutdown, tenants in federally subsidized housing programs like Sections 8 will continue to receive those benefits, at least through October, according to legal experts.

HUD offices at the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building in Washington, D.C. (Flickr/U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development)

The federal government shut down Wednesday morning following a stalemate between Republican and Democratic lawmakers over healthcare spending—the first such impasse since 2018.

Democratic Congress members say they won’t pass a new spending bill unless Republicans and the Trump administration agree to reverse earlier cuts to Medicaid, and extend subsidies that help people pay for health services under the Affordable Care Act.

On a practical level, the shutdown could mean missed paychecks for the more than 100,000 federal workers across New York State, who are either furloughed or at risk of being furloughed during the shutdown, Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a press briefing Wednesday.

“Think about that—public servants dedicated their lives to this country, and now they’re being told, no paycheck, no certainty, go figure it out on your own,” the governor said. “That’s the real human toll of this shutdown.”

New Yorkers who rely on federally funded assistance programs, including housing vouchers, however, should see those benefits continue in spite of the shutdown—at least for now, experts say.

“We want to make clear: despite the federal shutdown, New Yorkers will still receive their benefits, and applications for new benefits are still being accepted,” said Adriene Holder, chief attorney of the civil practice at The Legal Aid Society.

The nonprofit published a chart (below) of various subsidies and where they stand for the month of October. New Yorkers receiving Cash Assistance, SNAP, Medicaid and Social Security payments should see no immediate interruptions to those services, the group said.

Information on Benefits and Public Assistance for October 2025
(Chart by The Legal Aid Society)

BenefitWhat you need to knowCash AssistanceYour benefits will continue as usual. SNAP (Food Stamps)October SNAP benefits are safe. MedicaidYour Medicaid coverage will continue. SSI / Social SecurityPayments will continue as usual. FHEPS, CityFHEPSThese housing subsidies are safe. Federal Housing (Section 8, Public Housing, 202’s)Rent subsidies are still being paid. 

The same goes for tenants who get rental assistance through U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs, such as Section 8.

“Most tenants who live in HUD and USDA housing should not experience a disruption in their housing because of the shutdown,” the National Housing Law Project explained on its website. “Continue to pay your portion of the rent.”

A flyer from the National Housing Law Project on how the government shutdown could impact public benefits.

The group warns, however, that the situation could change depending on how long the shutdown lasts, and could eventually lead to public benefits delays.

“If the shutdown lasts past November, your rights might change and you should contact an attorney for updated information,” according to NHLP, which advises tenants who run into issues to seek legal help via LawHelp.org and the Legal Services Corporation.

A more detailed breakdown of how specific housing programs could be impacted by the shutdown can be found on NHLP’s website here.

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