People stand in the mostly empty Security Council chambers at United Nations headquarters on Thursday. The United States, key allies and Arab nations are engaging in high-level diplomacy in hopes of avoiding another U.S. veto of a new U.N. resolution on desperately needed aid to Gaza ahead of a long-delayed vote. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution calling for a pause in fighting and a boost to humanitarian aid in Gaza was delayed once again Thursday. 

The vote has been delayed a handful of time as negotiations are still ongoing in an effort to prevent a veto. 

One key provision is the establishment of a monitoring mechanism to oversee the delivery of much-needed aid going into the Gaza Strip. 

Currently, Israel monitors the limited aid and fuel going into Gaza from the Rafah crossing via Egypt and the Israel-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing. 

“We have worked hard over course of the last week, with Egypt, to come up w a resolution we can support, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the U.N. told reporters Thursday. “We do have a resolution now and ready to vote on it. Humanitarian assistance for those in need; mechanism on the ground that will support it."

“I won’t share on how I will vote, but we are ready to move on humanitarian aid,” she added. The vote is slated to take place Friday. 

An international force created to protect global shipping in the Red Sea amid a series of attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis now has more than 20 nations, the Pentagon said Thursday. 

In a press briefing, Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder called the Houthis “bandits” and said that "they've bitten off more than they can chew when it comes to taking on the entire international community." 

Ryder described the protection force, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian, as a sort of highway patrol in the water.  

The Houthis have targeted multiple commercial shipping vessels in the region with drone and missile attacks.  

The last attack occurred on Monday, the day the coalition was announced.

Israel's President Isaac Herzog speaks during a Dec. 14 interview at his official residence in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Thursday said the United Nations is to blame for the small amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza. 

Herzog said three times as much aid could be delivered to Gaza “if the UN, instead of complaining all day, would do its job.” 

The U.N. closed of two border crossings into Gaza on Thursday after an Israeli airstrike killed four people there. Israel shut down nearly all the crossings into Gaza after Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Oct. 7. 

“This attack has nothing to do with the issues of the dispute between us and the Palestinians,” Herzog said, “This was born out of an extreme fundamentalist view within the Islamic world, a jihadist view that does not believe in any Western and liberal ideas, and does not recognize the existence of the Jewish people here in their country.” 

The Rafah gate from Egypt has stayed open. Israel opened a second crossing following international pressure. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

Palestinians line up Thursday for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip. International aid agencies say Gaza is suffering from shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies as a result of the two and a half month war between Israel and Hamas. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

A United Nations report says more than 500,000 people in the Gaza Strip and “starving” and many more are at risk. 

The report released Thursday by the U.N. and several nongovernmental agencies found that found that the entire population of 2.2 million Gazans are in a food crisis or worse. 

“It is a situation where pretty much everybody in Gaza is hungry. More than 500,000 people, half a million people, are starving. That means that one in every four people is starving in Gaza as we speak,’’ said World Food Program chief economist Arif Husain. 

The report said 478,000 people in Gaza are at crisis levels, 1.17 million are at emergency levels and 576,600 are at catastrophic — starvation — levels. 

“It doesn’t get any worse,’’ Hasain said.  

The U.N. is slated to vote on a resolution that calls for a pause in the fighting between Israel and Hamas and an increase in humanitarian aid. Gaza has been bombarded with airstrikes and now, military operations on the ground, following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israeli communities. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.  

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) speaks at an election eve rally in Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Nick Oxford

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., called for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war just days after meeting with a group pushing for cuts to military aid to the Jewish state. 

Baldwin held a meeting with World Beyond War in the second week of December, where activists reportedly pressed Baldwin to "call for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine now, work to cut military aid to Israel, and call on Israel to lift the siege on Gaza," according to the anti-war group's website. 

When asked about the meeting, Baldwin initially told the Washington Examiner, "We know that Hamas will not agree to a cease-fire. So you’re really asking Israel to unilaterally stop, and we know Hamas won’t, both through words and actions."

Despite stating Hamas will not agree to a cease-fire with Israel, Baldwin is changing her tune, saying Israel's "indiscriminate bombing and military approach has led to unacceptable bloodshed.

"Baldwin called for a cease-fire Thursday, releasing a statement saying Netanyahu's government’s actions do not "appear to be moving us closer to our ultimate goals of removing Hamas from power and achieving a lasting peace in the region through a two-state solution."

Read the full article from Joe Schoffstall and Aubrie Spady.

Hundreds of Palestinian refugees waving Palestinian and Canadian flags request asylum at a rally outside the the Canadian Embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon on Sept. 5, 2019. People in the Gaza Strip who have Canadian relatives may apply for temporary visas to Canada, Canada’s immigration minister said Thursday. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Canada on Thursday said residents in the Gaza Strip with Canadian relatives can apply for visas to the country.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said he expects the program to be up and running by Jan. 9, The Associated Press reported. He added that the Canadian government can’t guarantee safe passage out of Gaza amid Israel’s war with Hamas, which controls the Palestinian territory.

The Canadian government will begin accepting applications for people with extended family connections to Canada, including parents, grandparents, siblings and grandchildren.

They will be offered three-year visas if they meet eligibility and admission criteria, Miller said.

He said he expects the number of those who will be able to come to Canada to be in the hundreds.

During MSNBC’s "The ReidOut" on Wednesday, host Joy Reid claimed American support for Israel’s war in Gaza is like if the U.S. "funded" and armed the Rwandan genocide.

In a discussion with former U.S. State Department official Josh Paul, Reid claimed the situation of Palestinians in Gaza dying amid U.S.-backed Israel's war against Hamas would be like if America supported the killing of almost 800,000 Tutsi people in Rwanda at the hand of the Hutu people in 1994.

She also invoked Darfur, claiming the Gaza situation is like if the U.S. funded the genocide of the Darfuri people in western Sudan.

In a discussion with former State Department official Josh Paul, Reid claimed the situation of Palestinians in Gaza dying amid U.S.-backed Israel's war against Hamas would be like if America supported the killing of almost 800,000 Tutsi people in Rwanda at the hand of the Hutu people in 1994.

She also invoked Darfur, claiming the Gaza situation is like if the U.S. funded the genocide of the Darfuri people in western Sudan.

Former Israeli hostage Ofir Engel, 18, center, who was released from Hamas captivity, speaks to the media Kibbutz Be'eri, Israel, on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas reportedly issued a statement Thursday declaring that there will be no more discussions about releasing the hostages it is holding until Israel stops its military campaign in Gaza.

"There is a Palestinian national decision that there should be no talk about prisoners or exchange deals except after a full cessation of aggression," the statement read, according to Ynetnews.

Separately, the deputy chairman of Hamas in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, told Al Jazeera that "We want an end to the aggression, then we will go to reconstruction and construction, and then we will talk about the prisoners," The Jerusalem Post reports.

Both statements have emerged as Fox News’ Trey Yingst reported this morning that Hamas is continuing to reject Israeli officers of a weeklong cease-fire in exchange for hostages.

About 129 hostages are believed to remain in the Gaza Strip.

Read the full article by Fox News' Greg Norman

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III addresses service members assigned Naval Support Activity, after participating in the Virtual Red Sea Security Summit at NAVCENT headquarters in Manama, Bahrain on Monday. Chad McNeeley/Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs/Handout via REUTERS

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his French counterpart Wednesday about the ongoing attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis on commercial vessels in and around the Red Sea, the Pentagon said. 

Austin and Sébastian Lecornu, French minister of the armed forces, discussed how the attacks have become a serious threat to global shipping, the Pentagon said Thursday. 

“Both leaders agree that the Red Sea is vital for global commerce, noting that the scale and increasing frequency of these attacks constitute a significant international problem that must be addressed,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. 

Ryder said the U.S. and France are both making “significant contributions to stability in the region.” 

“Secretary Austin thanked France for its support to the 44-nation joint statement condemning the Houthis' illegal attacks on international shipping," he added.  

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry meets British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Cairo on Thursday. (REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)

Egypt's foreign minister on Thursday said countries on the Red Sea have a responsibility to protect it as Yemen’s Houthis continue to disrupt commercial shipping with small-scale attacks.

"We continue to cooperate with many of our partners to provide suitable conditions for the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea," Sameh Shoukry added in a press conference with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron in Cairo. 

The waterway has become more dangerous as the Houthis continue to initiate drone and missile attacks on commercial ships. 

On Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the United States and several other nations are creating a new force to protect ships transiting the Red Sea. 

Several of attacks have damaged vessels and prompted multiple shipping companies to not enter the Bab el-Mandeb Strait until the security situation can be addressed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Thursday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Biden has been in touch with his national security team regarding a proposed United Nations resolution calling for a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas and a substantial increase in humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip, the White House said Thursday.

“He has been in touch with the national security team, including our team at U.N. headquarters, about how they're how they're doing this, how we're approaching this,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said during a news briefing.

He noted that there is a debate over who will conduct inspections of the aid delivered.

“I am not going to negotiate this language here from this podium. We're still actively working with our U.N. partners about the resolution and the language itself,” he said. “Israel has had, and understandably so, has had a role in the inspection regime, a key role, a pivotal role. And we understand and respect that.” 

Israel and Hezbollah traded fire Thursday in new exchanges on the Israeli-Lebanon border, officials said. 

Several attacks were launched from Lebanon toward Israel, the Israel Defense Forces said.  The IDF responded with artillery and tank fire and fighter jets. 

In addition to battling Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel has fought a somewhat low-intensity conflict with the Lebanon-based Hezbollah since Oct. 7. 

The clashes have sparked fears that the fighting could escalated into a regional war.

The IDF on Thursday said it destroyed a series of tunnels used by Hamas senior leaders in Gaza City. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israel Defense Forces announced Thursday that it had destroyed a complex network of tunnels connecting apartments, offices and other locations of senior Hamas leaders. 

The mission was carried out by the Yahalom combat engineering unit and the 401st brigade, the IDF said.  

The tunnel for Hamas’ “Senior Quarter” was discovered Wednesday night in Gaza City, authorities said.

A Boston nativity scene was vandalized overnight and spray-painted with “Jesus was Palestinian” police said.

Video footage captured by Boston 25 shows the message in white paint on a platform that supports the three-dimensional depiction of the Nativity of Jesus.

Boston police officers responded to the scene just before 8 a.m. Thursday and the incident is being investigated. The Boston Parks Department has installed the Nativity scene on Boston Common for nearly 100 years.

This year’s display was assembled on Nov. 27, the news network reported.

The incident came after the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. was vandalized.

The message “Free Gaza” was spray-painted on the monument this week.

Both incidents come as Israel and Hamas continue to battle one another in the Gaza Strip.

Billionaire Harvard donor pulls back donations over President's antisemitism remarks

Billionaire Len Blavatnik has paused donations to Harvard University over its handling of President Claudine Gay's recent appearance before Congress.

Blavatnik and his family foundation have donated over $270 million to Harvard in the past, Bloomberg News reported Thursday. He is only the latest donor to pull back in protest after Gay refused to state that calling for the genocide of Jews would infringe on Harvard's rules against bullying and harassment.

"The problem Harvard has is that all their sources of revenue are strained," David Bergeron, a retired deputy assistant secretary in the US Education Department, told Bloomberg. "Their ability to raise money is clearly strained and their ability to leverage federal programs is potentially at risk."

Gay is facing pressure to resign amid antisemitism and mounting plagiarism accusations.

Ikea warns of product delays due to Houthi rebel attacks on ships in Red Sea

Ikea is the latest major company whose operations have been impacted by the series of attacks on trade vessels in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. 

Inter Ikea Group told FOX Business in a statement that the situation in the Suez Canal – which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea – will result in "delays and may cause availability constraints for certain Ikea products."

The Suez Canal is the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. It is estimated that about 15% of world shipping traffic transits via the waterway. 

The furniture giant is now being forced to evaluate "other supply options to secure the availability of our products" while it monitors the situation closely. 

In the meantime, the company said it has been in "close dialogue with our transportation partners to ensure the safety of people working in the IKEA value chain and to take all the necessary precautions to keep them safe."

Read the full article by Fox News' Danielle Genovese

Fox News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot reported on Israel’s continued campaign against Hamas on Thursday, detailing IDF claims to have taken over a key Hamas leadership compound.

Palkot says the compound was located in Gaza City, the largest population center in the region and the target of much of Israel's eargy aggression.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump visit site of Oct. 7 massacre in Israel

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump visited the site of an Israeli community ravaged by Hamas' Oct. 7 massacre on Thursday.

The surprise visit comes as Israel and the U.S. are pushing Hamas to accept a cease-fire agreement. Kushner and Trump listened to the stories of survivors from the Kfar Aza kibbutz, according to the Jerusalem Post.

“Thank you for sharing your stories with us. I just have to say it’s very humbling for me to be with you, with the heroic acts that you did,” Kushner told the residents. “What you did had made a massive difference."

Former State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus explained the significance of the Biden administration's push for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Ortagus argued that the White House should be supporting Israel more directly by calling for Hamas to surrender outright.

House widens Claudine Gay probe after new plagiarism accusations hit Harvard president

House Republicans are widening their investigation into Harvard President Claudine Gay as accusations of plagiarism in her scholarly work continue to pile up.

The Committee on Education and the Workforce, led by Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., wrote to Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker on Wednesday demanding more information on the charges against Gay.

"An allegation of plagiarism by a top school official at any university would be reason for concern, but Harvard is not just any university. It styles itself as one of the top educational institutions in the country," Foxx wrote. 

She pointed out that Harvard’s federal funding relies on its adherence to certain academic standards, which in part mandate that an institution "works to prevent cheating and plagiarism as well as to deal forthrightly with any instances in which they occur."

Read the full article by Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind

America First Policy Institute's Ret. Lt Gen. Keith Kellogg broke down the Houthi rebels' latest attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Biden administration’s approach to national security.

The Iran-backed Houthis have wreacked havoc on trade vessels traveling through the Red Sea in recent weeks, leading the U.S. to assemble a coaltion of navies to protect the vital trade route.

The Israeli military is continuing its effort to hunt down Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding somewhere in Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza.

Former Acting Hostage Affairs Envoy Hugh Dugan joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss the search for Sinwar and Israel's quest to get Hamas hostages released safely.

The leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels is now warning that "any American targeting of our country will be targeted by us" as the U.S. is leading a multinational effort to protect commercial ships from being attacked by the Houthis in the Red Sea. 

The fiery rhetoric from Abdel-Malek al-Houthi comes as Greece said on Thursday it will send a naval frigate to the region to participate in Operation Prosperity Guardian, according to Reuters. 

"We will not stand idly by if the Americans are tempted to escalate further and commit foolishness by targeting our country or waging war against it," Reuters quoted al-Houthi as saying Wednesday in a televised speech. 

"Any American targeting of our country will be targeted by us, and we will make American battleships, interests, and navigation a target for our missiles, drones, and military operations," he reportedly added.

Read the full article by Fox News' Greg Norman

The family of an Israeli hostage taken by Hamas is suing the International Red Cross for ignoring their requests to transfer medical supplies during captivity.

Raz Ben Ami, 57, a German-Israeli, was kidnapped on Oct. 7 along with her husband, Ohad. She suffers from brain tumors, and her family contacted the Red Cross multiple times during her captivity in an effort to transfer critical medical supplies to her, but to no avail. Raz was released after 54 days in captivity on November 29, but her husband remains in Hamas custody, according to I24 News.

The Ben Ami family contacted the Red Cross in Israel, Germany and the U.S. but received no response beyond well wishes. The family's lawsuit accuses the Red Cross of mistreating Hamas captives by not providing proper medical supplies that they had on hand.

Harvard admitted it has found more instances of "duplicative language" in President Claudine Gay’s academic work on Wednesday, as the House also expanded its probe into the Ivy League school, demanding to know whether students and the university’s leader were held to the same standards on plagiarism. 

Gay was first thrust into the light due to her refusal to state that calling for the genocide of Jews would conflict with Harvard's policies against bullying and harassment. The Harvard Corporation, the university’s highest governing body, released a summary of a review Wednesday evening saying Gay will request three corrections from Harvard’s Office of the Provost regarding her 1997 Ph.D. dissertation, The Harvard Crimson reported. 

Through additional review, Harvard said it found two additional instances of "duplicative language without appropriate attribution."

This comes more than a week after the Harvard Corporation said that while "an independent review by distinguished political scientists" of Gay’s work found "no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct," the university president would be "proactively requesting four corrections in two articles to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications." Last week, Gay submitted corrections to the two articles published in 2001 and 2017, but Wednesday’s additional findings regarding her 1997 dissertation deliver an embarrassing blow to the prestigious university.  

Read the full article by Fox News' Danielle Wallace

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has released images of the church compound that Christian leaders allege was bombed by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa published a letter last week alleging two Christian women were shot, and a convent was bombed by the IDF on Saturday at Holy Family Parish in Gaza.

IDF spokespersons have rebuffed the assertions, saying the claims "do match the conclusion of an initial review that found the IDF troopers were targeting Hamas spotters in enemy lookouts."

The patriarchate wrote in a social media post on Monday, "Based on our report of December 16, 2023, concerning the deaths and injuries of a number of citizens in the Latin convent of Gaza, as well as the serious damage to the structures, we are displaying some of the photographs we received."

Read the full article by Fox News' Timothy H.J. Nerozzi

Fox News' Trey Yingst shared details on the Israeli Defense Forces' ground operation in Gaza as the Iron Dome intercepted rockets over Tel Aviv on Thursday.

Yingst says Hamas continues to reject Israeli offers of a 7-day cease fire in exchange for dozens of hostages being held in Gaza. The Israeli military continues to ramp up its artillery and airstrike barrages on northern Gaza in particular as Hamas refuses to acquiesce.

Israeli airstrikes intensify in Gaza as Hamas faces pressure to accept cease-fire agreement

The Israeli military ramped up its airstrikes and artillery barrages in northern Gaza on Thursday, putting more pressure on Hamas to accept a hostage exchange and cease-fire agreement.

Hamas had previously rejected Israel's offer on Wednesday, saying they would not consider any hostage negotiations until a cease-fire was already underway. There remain roughly 130 hostages in Gaza, though it is unclear how many of those remain alive.

President Biden's administration says as many as eight of the the hostages are American citizens or greencard holders.

Sens. Cruz, Coons Introduce Bipartisan Resolution Condemning Attacks by Iranian Military Proxies on

Senators Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Chris Coons, D-Del., will introduce a resolution Thursday morning condemning attacks by Iranian military proxies on U.S. military service members in Iraq and Syria. 

"The Iranian regime is attacking Americans, our allies and our interests across the Middle East. They are not only launching attacks and massacres against our Israeli and Arab allies, but their Houthi proxies are now trying to shut down freedom of navigation that is vital to the American and global economies," Cruz said in a statement. 

"It is clear that they are not deterred, and it is long past time for the Biden administration to take all necessary steps to deter and counter these activities. Enough is enough."

Coons said Iranian support for the attacks "rightfully earned a swift and forceful response from the Biden administration," and he called on the Biden administration to "increase pressure on Iran to cease its support for violent militia groups, and support efforts to deter Iranian-backed militia attacks on U.S. troops and the international community."

The  Senate resolution received bipartisan support from cosponsors Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; Katie Britt, R-Ala; John Barrasso, R-Wyo;  Jacky Rosen, D-Nev.; Tim Scott, R-S.C.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn.; Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.; Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska.

Read the full article by Fox News' Jamie Joseph

Israel-Hamas war: IDF reportedly near the end of its ground offensive in northern Gaza, moving south

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said on Wednesday that the Israeli military was nearing the end of its ground offensive in the northern part of Gaza Strip, the Times of Israel reported.

Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari reportedly said the IDF is focusing on new areas, as Hamas terrorists have moved across the Gaza Strip.

“[Hamas was] able to spread across Gaza," he explained. "From the heart of Gaza City, senior Hamas officials were able to reach Shifa Hospital, leave there in an ambulance to travel south, and return to Shifa Hospital, enter the [tunnel] network, and go north to Rantisi Hospital."

IDF Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman reportedly said earlier on Wednesday that the IDF is in "another significant phase of the offensive, in new areas."

"This offensive will continue and keep moving forward. It will continue with pressure against the enemy above ground and underground," he added.

Fox News' Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report

US forces in Iraq, Syria attacked 102 times since Oct. 17: USCENTCOM

American forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked 102 times since Oct. 17, Fox News confirmed late Wednesday night.

U.S. Central Command said the latest attack took place on Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. (Iraq time) when a 122mm rocket was fired at al Assad Air Base in Iraq.

The attack did not result in any damage or injuries to service members.

"Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve located the point of origin and passed the location to the Iraqi Security Forces who moved to the site to investigate," USCENTCOM said in a statement.

During the investigation, Iraqi Security Forces seized a flatbed truck "modified to launch up to 5 x 122mm rockets," according to USCENTCOM.

Fox News' Liz Friden and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.