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BROWNSVILLE, Texas — After Texas fenced off a park along the U.S.-Mexico border and began turning away Border Patrol agents, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott explained why at a campaign stop near Houston. “We are not allowing Border Patrol on that property anymore,” Abbott said Friday, drawing applause from supporters while endorsing a state legislator running for reelection. He relayed frustration over migrants illegally entering the U.S. through the border city of Eagle Pass and federal agents loading them onto buses. “We said, ‘We’ve had it. We’re not going to let this happen anymore,’” Abbott said. Later that night, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said three migrants, including two children, drowned near the park after Texas officials “physically barred” Border Patrol agents from entering. Mexican authorities pulled the bodies, each of them wearing jackets, from the water on the other side of the Rio Grande. The weekend deaths intensified tensions between Texas and the Biden administration.  They also unleashed a new round of criticism from Democrats over Abbott's aggressive actions to curb illegal crossings, accusing the measures of putting migrants at risk. U.S. authorities described the drownings as underscoring the need for Border Patrol agents to have access to the area around Shelby Park, which Texas closed off earlier this week. “U.S. Border Patrol must have access to the border to enforce our laws,” White House spokesman Angelo Fernández Hernández said in a statement. On Sunday evening, the Texas Military Department released a statement disputing the U.S. government's accounts, calling it “wholly inaccurate” that state personnel prevented Border Patrol from saving drowning migrants. “At the time that Border Patrol requested access, the drownings had occurred, Mexican authorities were recovering the bodies, and Border Patrol expressed these facts to the TMD personnel on site,” the department said. The Biden administration stuck to its initial account Sunday, saying in a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that Texas denied Border Patrol agents access before they knew the migrants died. In a direct contradiction of Texas' version of events, Homeland Security said agents at the time knew only that migrants were attempting to cross the river. “Texas has demonstrated that even in the most exigent circumstances, it will not allow Border Patrol agents access to the border to conduct law enforcement and emergency response activities,” wrote Jonathan E. Meyer, Homeland Security's general counsel. Meyer threatened legal action if Texas doesn't restore access by the end of Wednesday. The park lies in a major corridor for migrants entering illegally from Mexico and is at the center of Abbott’s aggressive attempts to stop them, known as Operation Lone Star. Migrants are periodically swept away to their deaths by the current of the Rio Grande. U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a Texas border district, acknowledged Sunday that state officials investigated the distress call and searched for the migrants. “However, the bottom line is that Border Patrol was barred from entering Shelby Park,” Cuellar said in a statement. Texas officials said Border Patrol agents had requested access to find other migrants who were presumed to have been with those who died. Two were apprehended by state military personnel, including one who was transferred to medics with “hypothermic conditions.” The statement did not say whether Border Patrol agents were allowed in the park. Over the summer, thousands of people were crossing illegally into the U.S. through Eagle Pass. The numbers subsided but again rose in December when thousands of migrants overwhelmed federal resources. But a sharp decrease was noted at the start of January after Mexico stepped up immigration enforcement. The 20-hectare park is owned by the city, but it is used by the state Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department to patrol border crossings. Earlier this week, Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas questioned why the state closed the park now, since daily apprehensions in the region have fallen in recent weeks. He said the state gave city officials no warning and offered no timetable on when the park would reopen. On Friday, the Justice Department told the U.S. Supreme Court that Texas had taken control of Shelby Park and was not letting Border Patrol agents enter. Texas acknowledged seizing the city park but told the court the federal government had mischaracterized its actions and that it was trying to resolve any disputes over access. Texas has come under recurring scrutiny over efforts to curb border crossings. Abbott has sent more than 100,000 migrants on buses to Democratic-led cities, even as frigid conditions set in during the winter. He also has strung up razor wire on the border and installed buoy barriers on the Rio Grande. Melissa R. Cigarroa, a city council member in Laredo and member of the No Border Wall Coalition, was among those who attended a vigil Saturday at Shelby Park to mark the deaths of migrants who have died along the Rio Grande. She said attendees passed through a gate with armed National Guard members and that they could see law enforcement officers and vehicles gathered near the river. She said that scene, coupled with the reason for the ceremony, left her thinking about “just how little people’s lives matter in these decisions.” “People are dying, and we know now that deterrents mean nothing,” she said.  

WASHINGTON — Democratic and Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress Sunday unveiled a short-term spending bill that would avert a partial government shutdown and keep federal agencies operating into March. The agreement aims to avert short-term chaos and buy more time to craft the complex spending legislation that funds government activity. Government agencies that oversee transportation, housing, and other services are due to run out of funding by midnight on Friday and would have to scale back activity if new funding is not signed into law. The Democratic-led Senate and Republican-controlled House of Representatives have been at odds over spending levels for months. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer agreed on the measure with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. The legislation could run into difficulty in the House, where a faction of conservative Republicans have used disruptive tactics to press for lower spending levels. Republicans control the chamber with a narrow 219-213 majority, leaving Johnson with little room for error. Some Republicans insist that any spending bills must also clamp down on the U.S.-Mexico border. Current funding is due to expire this week for federal programs involving transportation, housing, agriculture, energy, veterans and military construction. Funding for other parts of the government, including defense, will continue through Feb. 2. The new spending bill would extend the deadline to March 1 for the first group and March 8 for the second. Schumer, the top Democrat in Congress, and Johnson, the top Republican, have agreed on a $1.59 trillion total for those bills. That would give lawmakers more time to negotiate and pass the detailed spending legislation they should have passed before the start of the government's fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2023. The legislation covers roughly one-third of U.S. government spending, which amounted to $6.1 trillion in the last fiscal year. The remaining two-thirds includes retirement and health benefits which do not need to be approved annually by Congress, as well as interest payments. Johnson spent much of last week in meetings with hardliners and other segments of his Republican conference, raising speculation that he could seek to revise his agreement with Schumer. But the speaker ultimately stood by the deal. The federal government came close to a partial shutdown last autumn, when hardline Republicans ousted former Speaker Kevin McCarthy for reaching a bipartisan stopgap spending deal with Schumer.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Taiwan has picked their next president in an election that has huge implications in one of the most volatile regions of the world. The U.S. presidential election gets underway.  And the new king and queen of Denmark first met in an Australian bar.

WASHINGTON — The year ahead will be "very tough" for fiscal policy — especially for countries holding elections — the IMF chief told AFP before departing for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "This is going to be a very tough year, because fiscal policy has to rebuild buffers and deal with the debt that was accumulated in many countries," International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in an interview in Washington. "About 80 countries are going to have elections, and we know what happens with pressure on spending during election cycles," she continued. Billions of people in dozens of countries around the world are due to go to the polls this year, from India to the United States, putting pressure on governments to either raise spending or cut taxes to win popular support. The IMF is due to publish updated economic forecasts later this month which will show the global economy is broadly "on track" to meet its previous forecasts, according to Georgieva. The global economy is "poised for a soft landing," she said, adding: "Monetary policy is doing a good job, inflation is going down, but the job is not quite done." "So we are in this trickiest place of not easing too fast or too slow," she said.    In the U.S., the Federal Reserve recently held interest rates at a 22-year high and penciled in as many as three interest rate cuts this year, while the European Central Bank has also stopped hiking interest rates.     These steps have led traders to become more optimistic about the possibility of a loosening of monetary policy in the months ahead, which can act to boost economic growth.     The concern at the IMF, Georgieva said, is that governments around the world spend big this year and undermine the progress made in the fight against high inflation.    "If monetary policy tightens and fiscal policy expands, going against the objective of bringing inflation down, we might be for a longer ride," she added.  

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MEXICO CITY — Nicaragua's government said Sunday it released a prominent Catholic bishop and 18 other clergy members imprisoned in a crackdown by President Daniel Ortega and handed them over to Vatican authorities. Bishop Rolando Álvarez and the other clergy were jailed more than a year ago, in most cases, as part of a crackdown on the opposition and Catholic church by Ortega. He had accused them of supporting massive 2018 civic protests that he claimed were a plot to overthrow him. The government said in a press statement the releases were part of negotiations with the Vatican aimed at "making possible their trip to the Vatican." In the past, imprisoned priests have been quickly flown to Rome. Ortega's government said those released Sunday also included Bishop Isidoro Mora. Ortega sent 222 prisoners to the United States in February in a deal brokered by the U.S. government and later stripped those prisoners of their citizenship. Bishop Álvarez has remained in prison for more than a year after being convicted of conspiracy and receiving a 26-year prison sentence. One of the country's most outspoken clergy members, he had refused to get on the February flight to the U.S. without being able to consult with other bishops. In October, Nicaragua released a dozen Catholic priests jailed on a variety of charges and sent them to Rome following an agreement with the Vatican. Since repressing popular protests in 2018 that called for his resignation, Ortega's government has systematically silenced opposing voices and zeroed in on the church, including confiscating the prestigious Jesuit-run University of Central America in August. Nicaragua's Congress, dominated by Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front, has ordered the closure of more than 3,000 nongovernmental organizations, including Mother Teresa's charity.

WASHINGTON — U.S. strategic interests in Central Asia boil down to stability and sovereignty, according to Washington's top diplomat in Kazakhstan, an oil-rich republic sharing long borders with Russia and China.  With an eye on the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine, a fellow former Soviet republic, the countries in the region have adopted a hedging strategy, maintaining deep links to Moscow while also bolstering relations with the West. U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Daniel Rosenblum told the Caspian Policy Center gathering on Jan. 4, that the main goal of U.S. policy for Central Asia is to ensure that Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan “stand on their own, be fully sovereign and independent countries that can make their own choices about who to associate with, who to trade with, who to have relations with — without undue external pressure.”  Rosenblum pointed to the so-called C5+1 group, including the United States and the five republics, underlining its “value in acting as a group, integrating with one another, cooperating — that makes each of them stronger individually.”  A second focus for Washington is border security and counterterrorism, a third is boosting trade and investment, and a fourth is promoting human rights and the rule of law, he said. Economic and political aspects Kazakhstan is America’s top business partner in Central Asia, with $3 billion in bilateral trade in 2022 and an estimated 15% increase last year, plus $5 billion direct investment in 2023. Despite holding regular talks on human rights, Rosenblum said Washington and Astana “do not see eye-to-eye” on the lack of meaningful political competition and the continuous arrests of critical voices. The New York-based Human Rights Watch sites enduring concerns. "Two years after large-scale anti-government protests rocked Kazakhstan in January 2022, few officials have been held accountable for their part in [the] disproportionate use of force against protesters, arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, and torture and ill-treatment of detainees," HRW stated in its annual report issued this week. “When I arrived in November 2022, there were seven names on the list [of political prisoners], which had been going down steadily. And now there are 23, which is not a good trend,” Rosenblum said. Akbota Karibayeva, a Ph.D. candidate at the George Washington University, agreed with Rosenblum, stressing that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s transformation package branded as the "New Kazakhstan" has not yet had major effects. “In the 'New Kazakhstan,’ we continue to see a familiar cycle of detaining activists for expressing their opinions and repeatedly denying registration to opposition movements. The space for dissenting voices has barely expanded, if at all,” Karibayeva told VOA.  Asserting that Astana is complying with sanctions against Russia, Rosenblum pointed to the U.S., EU and U.K. comprised list of 45 categories of goods. “Those 45, our experts say, are less than 2% of Kazakhstan's exports to Russia. Even if they weren't controlling it at all, it would not constitute more than 2%,” he said. Rosenblum defended Kazakhstan, which has a 7,644-kilometer border with Russia. “Since the sanctions were first imposed back in 2022, Kazakhstan's record, I’d argue, is a good one, both in terms of their ability to prevent sanctions evasion and also making sure that they're complying with all the sanctions when it comes to their domestic companies, relationships with Russian companies, Russian banks, and so on,” he said. Kazakhstan last month removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist groups.  “They gave us advance notice that they were doing this, which is in the spirit of the partnership of no surprises,” Rosenblum said. “Kazakhstan has made clear that it will not recognize the Taliban government, and that remains its position until there's an international consensus and certain benchmarks are made. And this doesn't change that. They've also made clear that they prioritize developing some level of economic relations with Afghanistan, even with the Taliban regime in charge there.” Kazakhstan vs. Uzbekistan Before his current assignment, Rosenblum served as ambassador to Uzbekistan, whose leadership has also promised reforms.  “When I arrived in Tashkent [in 2019], it was already a couple of years into the reform process. … Things were slowing down,” he said. In Rosenblum's view, Uzbekistan's initial steps toward change were dramatic, despite the backslidings many observe now, specifically the systemic challenges, testing President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s commitment and his regime’s willingness to transition from an ingrained authoritarian government to a democratic one.  Kazakhstan, he said, has cycled through reform phases producing limited advances, "as opposed to what was really like a sea change, kind of a watershed in Uzbekistan, where suddenly the closed system was opened up.”  Since 2022, following the January civil unrest that left at least 227 dead, Kazakhstan changed its constitution, held presidential and parliamentary elections that Tokayev coined as “democratic” despite the lack of opposition. He has vowed to leave office in 2029, at the end of his seven-year presidential term.  Tokayev pledged to decentralize power and strengthen local governance, moves that Rosenblum said are still unfolding. “The jury is still out. We have to give some time to see,” he said. China, Russia, Iran  One issue Washington and Astana disagree on is China’s treatment of Uyghurs, atrocities that the U.S. considers a genocide and crimes against humanity. Yet Rosenblum sees some daylight there. “There are some Uyghurs and ethnic Kazakhs who are able to cross the border. They don't necessarily receive refugee status, but they've essentially taken refuge in Kazakhstan, which has lived up to its international obligations of nonrefoulement,” he said, referring to the principle that asylum-seekers should not be returned to countries where they face serious threat to life or freedom.  “They do not send people back to China,” he said.  Kazakhstan’s trade with China recently surpassed $30 billion, which is 10 times more than its trade with the United States, which Rosenblum said he does not find surprising “since they are close neighbors.” “Kazakhs are sort of bullish on economic relations with China. They are not as exposed or as vulnerable, arguably, as other Central Asian countries because they haven't taken on nearly as much Chinese debt,” he said. Kazakhstan will continue to diversify its political and economic partnerships, Rosenblum predicted, despite China’s growing influence and the country’s continuing dependence on Russia for energy. Russian nationalists’ frequent calls to annex Kazakhstan are viewed alarmingly in Astana, Rosenblum said, but he added, “I don't feel like there's a sense of any imminent danger or threat to the northern border of Kazakhstan.” As part of the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union, Kazakhstan recently signed a free trade deal with Iran. Rosenblum said Astana consults with Washington on this issue as well.  “The Kazakh government by now has learned what’s sanctionable and what isn't,” he said. Kazakhstan, a regional leader? While Rosenblum praised Kazakhstan as a “consistent pusher” for regional unity and connectivity, Karibayeva argued that to become a real catalyst for change in Central Asia, her country must lead by example. “Symbolic gestures and high-level engagements among Central Asian countries and with the United States are important signals of commitment. But it is now essential to progress beyond discussions and focus on implementation at every level of cooperation,” she told VOA.  

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Thousands of protesters gathered in Washington for a “March for Gaza” rally as the Israel-Hamas war reached 100 days. The march was part of a global day of protests demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. Saqib Ul Islam has more.

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Quito, Ecuador — Ecuador's security forces Sunday took back control of several prisons that had fallen into the hands of gang members, after securing the release of more than 200 officials held hostage inside the jails.  The country's simmering security crisis erupted last week as the government and powerful narco gangs declared all-out war on each other, after the prison escape of a dangerous drug lord.  Inmates rioted in jails where gangs wield outsize control, taking prison guards and administrative workers hostage, while on the streets a wave of violence has left 19 people dead.  Unverified images on social media of looting, brutal murders and other attacks have struck terror into the population.  On Sunday the army shared videos of prison walls being blown up, and declared "total control" of a prison in the city of Cuenca where 61 employees had been held hostage, according to the mayor.  They also shared images of hundreds of cowed inmates, shirtless and barefoot, lying on the ground at several prisons.  "We have resumed control of six centers" and are busy taking control of a final prison in Cotopaxi, which has seen brutal massacres in recent years, General Pablo Velasco told Caracol TV.  Authorities announced the release of 201 prison guards and administrative officials from prisons across seven provinces.  President Daniel Noboa celebrated the releases in a post on X, the former Twitter.  "Congratulations to the patriotic, professional and courageous work of the armed forces, national police and the SNAI... for achieving the release of the prison guards and administrative staff held in the detention centers of Azuay, Canar, Esmeraldas, Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, El Oro and Loja," he wrote.  Images broadcast by the police showed the guards, many in tears, exhausted and supported by their colleagues shortly after their release.  "We are free... Thank God we all got out safely," a prison employee said in a video posted on social media, waving the Ecuadorian flag and standing in front of one prison in southern Cotopaxi province.  Once a bastion of peace situated between major cocaine producers, Ecuador has been plunged into crisis after years of expansion by the transnational cartels that use its ports to ship the drug to the United States and Europe.  The latest crisis was triggered by the escape from Guayaquil prison of one of the country's most powerful narcotics gang bosses, Jose Adolfo Macias, known by the alias "Fito," who headed the country's main gang "Los Choneros."  The government declared a state of emergency and curfew, infuriating gangsters who declared "war" against civilians and security forces.  Noboa in turn said the country was "in a state of war" against 22 gangs.  He deployed to the streets over 22,000 security forces, who have frisked and stripped-down young men in search of the tattoos identifying them as a member of one of the gangs.  Authorities have reported more than 1,300 arrests, eight "terrorists" killed, and 27 escaped prisoners recaptured in the operation.  Two police officers have also been killed.  Noboa has vowed not to bow before the violence, giving orders to "neutralize" the criminal groups responsible.  "I believe we are going to win, and I will not stop fighting until we do," he told the BBC on Friday.  Narco gangs often use prisons as criminal offices, from where they manage drug trafficking, order assassinations, administer the proceeds of crime and fight to the death with rivals for power.  It is in the prisons that much of the gang wars are fought, with brutal clashes between inmates leaving more than 460 dead, many beheaded or burned alive, since February 2021.  Ecuador's murder rate quadrupled between 2018 and 2022, as the criminal gangs found a foothold in the country.  Last year was the worst yet, with 7,800 murders and a record 220 tons of drugs seized.  Noboa has announced he plans to build two "super maximum" security prisons with a capacity for more than 3,000 people, with proposals for future "prison ships" also on the table.

Jerusalem — Israeli cabinet ministers Sunday began what is expected to be a marathon session on approving an amended 2024 budget to account for a sharp rise in spending to finance the country's war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. Typically, the discussions last into the night and a vote may not occur until daybreak on Monday. Israel last year approved a two-year budget for 2023 and 2024, but the war against Hamas in Gaza has shaken government finances, requiring budget changes and additional spending. Billions of shekels in extra finance is needed to fund the military, compensate reservists and the tens of thousands who live near the border and have been displaced, as well as those directly affected by the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas gunmen. However, the budget has turned political and controversial, particularly over payments Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed under a 2002 coalition accord with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and the heads of other religious parties. That accord was for 8 billion shekels ($2.15 billion) to be set aside for ultra-Orthodox and far-right-wing pro-settler parties in 2024. According to a budget draft, only 2.5 billion shekels ($669 million) of that will be cut, despite the war funding needs. At the outset of the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu did not refer to the coalition funds, saying only that all ministries must share in the burden. "What is required now is, first of all, to cover the expenses of the war and to allow us to conduct the war in the coming year and complete it, including eliminating Hamas, returning our hostages and restoring security and the sense of security in both the north and the south so that the residents can return there," he told ministers. Slower rate cuts In a letter to Netanyahu last week, Amir Yaron, who just started a second five-year term as central bank chief, urged the government not to spend excessively and offset any spending increases needed for the war with reductions elsewhere, along with tax hikes. The government intends to make some cuts to ministries' budgets, while raising some taxes, such as the value added tax, by 1 percentage point to 18% in 2025 on bank profits and on cigarettes and tobacco. Israel recorded a budget deficit of 4.2% of gross domestic product in 2023 due to a spike in fourth-quarter war spending and a drop in tax income. The deficit target in the 2024 budget was raised to 6.6% of GDP from a prior 2.25% and the war will lower 2024 economic growth by 1.1 percentage points to around 1.6%, the finance ministry estimates. The fiscal impact of the war is estimated at 150 billion shekels ($40.1 billion) in 2023-24 assuming intense fighting ends in the first quarter. In December, the Israeli parliament approved a special war budget for 2023 of nearly 30 billion shekels ($8 billion). 

Jerusalem — One hundred days after Hamas gunmen broke out of Gaza to launch the deadliest attack in Israel's history, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, Gaza lies in ruins and the Middle East is sliding toward a wider, more unpredictable conflict. For both Israelis and Palestinians, the war has been a trauma that looks likely to last for years, deepening the hostility and mistrust that have stood in the way of peace for more than 75 years. "No one will win," said Rebecca Brindza, a spokesperson for families of the 240 Israelis and foreigners seized as hostages during the attack on communities around the Gaza Strip that opened the war on Oct. 7. The assault in the early morning hours caught Israel's vaunted military and security services completely off guard, opening days of fear and uncertainty for the country as the details of the slaughter by the rampaging gunmen emerged. The attack killed more than 1,200 people, the biggest single day loss of life since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, and the shock was compounded by the multiple accounts of rape and sexual violence that emerged in the following weeks. The Israeli response was immediate and unrelenting, beginning with a systematic aerial bombardment and followed by a ground invasion that have together laid waste to Gaza and forced almost 2 million people to flee their homes. Almost 24,000 Palestinians have been killed and 60,000 wounded in the invasion, according to Gaza health authorities, the largest loss of Palestinian life suffered in the decades of wars and conflict with Israel since 1948. Three months on, Israeli troops are still battling Hamas Islamist militants in the ruins of Gaza and hunting architects of the October attack, such as Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza and Mohammed Deif, the movement's military leader. Most of the enclave's hospitals have been destroyed, hunger is a growing threat and a dire humanitarian crisis threatens to end up killing even more Palestinians than the Israeli military. In a statement marking the 100 days, the Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs accused Israel of creating "a circle of death" in Gaza. Israeli officials say they do all they can to avoid civilian casualties and they accuse Hamas of hiding its network of tunnels and military infrastructure among Gaza's civilian population, deliberately putting them at risk. Yet that offers little comfort to the tens of thousands who have lost relatives to the bombardment. "I come here every day, longing for them," said Khaled Abu Aweidah, who lost 22 members of his family to an airstrike and who still searches the mountains of rubble that was his family home in vain for any sign of three children buried there. Shocked World opinion has been shocked, and the bitterness of the conflict has spilled out into angry demonstrations on the streets of European cities and American college campuses, casting its shadow over the U.S. presidential election. Across the Arab world, there has been outrage at the killing and destruction and at widely seen images of Palestinian prisoners stripped to their underwear. Even Washington, Israel's closest ally, has urged restraint and South Africa has brought a case before the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide, a charge it rejects as a gross and hypocritical distortion of the truth. Efforts to agree to a cease-fire have so far failed and the future of Gaza, which has been under blockade for more than 15 years, remains up in the air, while violence in the volatile cities of the occupied West Bank has spiraled to levels that in other times would cause deep alarm. The United States and other powers have called for a revival of a process to create an independent Palestinian state after the war, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government has so far failed to respond. Israel's main enemy Iran, which backs Hamas, has taunted Israel but has so far refrained from direct action and Hezbollah, its proxy in Lebanon, has taken care to avoid an all-out confrontation. However, the Houthis in Yemen, another Iran-backed movement, have caused increasing turmoil by attacking shipping in the Red Sea, bringing nearer the threat of a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers and further destabilize the global order. For their part, Israelis see Hamas as an existential threat to their country and surveys show they support the campaign to destroy the group, even though most blame Netanyahu for the security failures that allowed the Oct. 7 attack to take place. Posters showing the hostages are plastered on walls and bus stops across Israel and Sunday saw large demonstrations, demanding the return of more than 130 still held in Gaza after a truce in November, during which around half were swapped for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. "Israel's society is gripped by trauma and we cannot heal without them all coming back," said Moran Stella Yanai, a former hostage returned in the swap who was kidnapped during the Nova music festival, where hundreds of partygoers were killed on the morning of Oct. 7. As the war goes on, it imposes an increasing strain on the economy and the army has begun releasing some of the tens of thousands of reservists called up to fight Hamas and guard the northern border to enable them to return to their jobs. But Netanyahu, whose political future will depend on the outcome of the war, has shown no sign that he was listening to the growing calls for an end to the fighting. "We are continuing the war until the end - until total victory," he said Saturday at a news conference to mark the 100 days of the war. 

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