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STORY: The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would force President Joe Biden to send weapons to Israel on Thursday (May 16). The move is seen as a rebuke to Biden for delaying bomb shipments, as he urges Israel to do more to protect civilians during its war with Hamas. The House approved the Israel Security Assistance Support Act largely along party lines. Some sixteen Democrats joined most Republicans in voting yes. Republicans accused Biden of turning his back on Israel after facing widespread pro-Palestinian protests. While House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said before the vote that the Republican-led action was not "a serious effort at legislation", and that even some of the most pro-Israel Democrats would turn it down. The act is not expected to become law, but its passage underscored the deep U.S. election-year divide over Israel policy. The ongoing conflict had begun after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killed around 1,200 people and seized over 250 hostages. Israel's subsequent campaign in Gaza led to over 35,000 civilian deaths, according to Palestinian authorities. Despite delays from the Biden administration, Israel is still due to get billions of dollars in U.S. weapons: The State Department on Tuesday moved a $1 billion package of weapons aid for Israel for congressional review.

President Biden is set to deliver a commencement address at Morehouse College, and the historically Black college is preparing for possible disruptions as protests over Mr. Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war have continued on college campuses throughout the U.S. Nikole Killion has more.

STORY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was publicly challenged on Wednesday (May 15) by his own defense chief about his post-war plans for Gaza – or the lack thereof. In a televised statement, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stressed the need to lay the groundwork for alternative Palestinian rule at the same time as defeating Hamas. He said he had been pushing the issue since the conflict broke out in October following Hamas' shock attack – but has received no response from the Israeli cabinet. "Unfortunately, this issue was not raised for debate and worse, an alternative was not raised in its replacement. Indecision is in essence a decision. This leads to a dangerous course, which promotes the idea of Israeli military and civilian governance in Gaza. This is a negative and dangerous option for the State of Israel strategically, militarily, and from a security standpoint." His comments mark the most vocal dissent from within Israel's top echelon against Netanyahu in the Gaza war. In a riposte that did not explicitly name Gallant, Netanyahu hinted that the retired admiral was making "excuses" for not yet having destroyed Hamas in a conflict now in its eighth month. But the conservative prime minister soon appeared to be outflanked within his own war cabinet. Centrist ex-general Benny Gantz, the only voting member of the cabinet other than Netanyahu and Gallant, said the defense minister had spoken "the truth". Gallant's criticism over Gaza echoes that of Israel's strongest ally, the United States. Washington has tried to give a role to the internationally-backed Palestinian Authority, which wields limited governance in the occupied West Bank. But Netanyahu has refused this, describing the Palestinian Authority as a hostile entity. On Wednesday, he repeated this position in a video statement within an hour of Gallant's remarks. Saying Hamas must first be eliminated before any move to create an alternative Gaza government, and demanding the goal to be pursued "without excuses". Netanyahu has said Israel would retain overall security control over Gaza after the war for the foreseeable future. Though he has stopped short of describing this as an occupation – a status Washington does not want to see emerge.

ABC News’ Matt Gutman reports on the latest developments on the Israel-Hamas war.

Israel’s war with Hamas is coming under new scrutiny as members of the international community — including the United States — are struggling to reconcile unwavering support of the Israeli people with frustration over the Israeli military’s treatment of Gazan civilians. Yahoo News explains the politics around the war’s competing loyalties and obligations.

ABC News’ Matt Gutman reports on the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war.

STORY: These trucks were carrying humanitarian supplies bound for Gaza, now strewn across the road in the occupied West Bank as the enclave faces a severe hunger crisis. Palestinian hauliers said on Tuesday (May 14) they feared for the security of aid convoys to Gaza, a day after Israeli protesters wrecked the trucks. Videos circulated on social media on Monday showed protesters throwing supplies from the trucks at the Tarqumiya checkpoint. The Head of the Hebron Food Trade Association said Israeli soldiers stood by as the attack took place. Adel Amer is from the West Bank-Based hauliers union. "We went to the checkpoint, and after the checks we were surprised to see settlers on the roundabout of the checkpoint. They damaged the cars, they tore the tires off the trucks, they threw the contents of the truck on the ground, we gathered some of the products, and sent some of those products on to a bulldozer and sent them to sheep farms. Around 15 trucks were damaged, their haul was damaged, windows of trucks were broken, some drivers were beaten, some of the products were thrown away, and the whole loss for Hebron is around $2 million." Amer said some drivers are now refusing to take good to Gaza because they are afraid. A group calling itself Order 9 has claimed Monday's attack and says it acted to stop supplies reaching Hamas, accusing the Israeli government of giving "gifts" to the Islamist group. Palestinians and human rights groups have accused the Israeli military and police of deliberately failing to intervene when settlers attack Palestinians in the West Bank. The violent protest drew condemnation from the U.S., which has urged Israel to step up deliveries of aid into Gaza. Britain's foreign minister also condemned the (quote) "appalling" incident, saying Israel must call the attackers to account. No comment was available from the Israeli military. The Israeli police said a number of people were arrested and the incident was being investigated.

Plus, the State Department said they were aware of reports of U.S. doctors trapped in Gaza. It is working with Israel to reopen the Rafah gate to facilitate the departure of U.S. citizens.

A group of displaced Palestinians have moved into a school run by a U.N. agency that was heavily damaged during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and fixed some of the classrooms where they now live. The school in the southern city of Khan Younis used to be run by the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA was damaged by Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip. (AP video shot by Mohammad Jahjouh and production by Wafaa Shurafa)

STORY: Civilian casualties continue to tick up as Israel stepped up its assault in the northern and southern parts of Gaza on Monday. Rescue crews brought in badly-wounded civilians, some of them children, to a hospital in northern Beit Lahiya. Some of the most intense fighting for weeks is raging in both the north and south. Israeli forces had gone back into Jabalia, where they’ve said they have dismantled Hamas months ago, to prevent militants regrouping there. A medical worker, Fares Afana, says they’ve tried to reach the Jabalia camp. Bodies were recovered there after overnight strikes. But he claims Israeli forces had been targeting ambulance crews, blocking them from saving wounded and trapped civilians. In southern Gaza’s Rafah, streets were near empty as Palestinians fled the fighting. Israel on Monday cut across a main highway into Rafah, closing a main crossing point for aid. The U.N. says a foreign security staff member was killed on Monday when a U.N.-marked vehicle travelling to a hospital in Rafah was struck. This marks the first international U.N. fatality in the Gaza war. Hamas' armed wing says due to Israeli bombardments it lost contact with militants guarding four Israeli hostages, including U.S.-Israeli citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who appeared in a Hamas video in April. Supplies are also wearing thin for many displaced Palestinians, who’ve fled the north and south to Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza strip. “There is not enough water for all displaced people, there is not enough food, not enough markets for everyone." "This water tank that you see, this was barely enough for those who were already here, it was already not enough but we were living with it, so what about those who joined us? There are people from two camps, in addition to our camp.” The U.N. says around 360,000 people have fled Rafah since Israel’s evacuation order a week ago. Many uprooted families are moving to empty tracts of land along the coast, but the U.N. warns of poor sanitary conditions there. Starving Palestinians on one side of the border – and on the other… Israeli protesters blocking aid trucks to Gaza on Monday. Some Israelis were seen spilling contents of the trucks onto a road at a West Bank checkpoint – the second such incident in less than a week. This comes even as Israel has pledged to allow uninterrupted humanitarian supplies into the besieged enclave. Washington, which has paused some deliveries of weapons to Israel, as it disagrees with an assault on Rafah, has denounced "looting" these convoys. Gaza health officials say the Palestinian death toll in the war has now surpassed 35,000. The conflict began after militant group Hamas burst into Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages.

Speaking to the press on Monday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Palestinian civilians who are caught up in the war between Israel and Hamas are "in hell." Sullivan also said that while the White House believes that Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians, "We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide."

STORY: :: Israeli protesters block an aid convoy heading to Gaza :: Tarqumiya checkpoint, West Bank :: May 13, 2024 :: Four protesters, including a minor, were arrested, according to lawyers representing them Videos circulated on social media showed protesters throwing supplies from the trucks on to the ground, with the contents of opened cartons lying spilled across the road. The video was verified by buildings, signs and hills seen in the footage which match file imagery of the checkpoint. Separate visuals from the same location also show the same truck being unloaded, which corroborates the video. Last week, four people were arrested in southern Israel after a similar protest by Israelis who object to delivering humanitarian supplies into an area controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, according to their lawyers. The protests came as Israel has faced heavy international pressure to step up the flow of aid into Gaza, where international organizations have warned of a severe humanitarian crisis threatening a population of more than 2 million people.

Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip has offered refuge for Palestinians escaping the war between Israel and Hamas in the besieged territory. Thousands of displaced from nearby Gaza City and the northern part of the Strip have set up sprawling tented settlements in the town, including along the Mediterranean Sea shore. (AP video by Abd Al Kareem Hana / Production by Wafaa Shurafa)

Israel’s leaders have said the military needs to move into Rafah to dismantle the remaining battalions of Hamas. Photo: Hatem Khaled/Reuters