U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visits Israel, meets with Netanyahu

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Israel on Sunday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel is pursuing a new U.S.-backed plan to control all aid to Gaza, which the United Nations has rejected.

COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid for Gaza, said 107 trucks of aid entered Sunday. The U.N. has called the rate far from enough. About 600 trucks a day entered during the ceasefire.

Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours killed at least 38 people in Gaza, local health officials said Sunday.

Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed since Israel ended a ceasefire in March, vowing to destroy Hamas and return the 58 hostages it still holds from the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack that triggered the war. Hamas has said it will only release the hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.

Meanwhile, speaking on the anniversary of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem reiterated the Lebanese terrorist group’s stance that it will not discuss giving up its remaining weapons until Israel withdraws from the five border points it occupies in southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes.

The speech came nearly six months after the latest Israel-Hezbollah war ended with a U.S.-brokered ceasefire. Under the deal, Israel and Hezbollah were supposed to withdraw forces from southern Lebanon.

Israeli officials have said they plan to remain at the five points indefinitely to secure their border. Israel has also continued to carry out near-daily airstrikes in southern Lebanon and sometimes in Beirut’s suburbs.

Separately, Israel’s military said it intercepted a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi terrorists on Sunday. It triggered air raid sirens in Jerusalem and other areas. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The United States halted a punishing bombing campaign against the Houthis earlier this month, saying the rebels had pledged to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea. That informal ceasefire did not include attacks on Israel.