Amid downed power lines, hissing gas pipes and immense devastation, rescuers searched "board by board" Tuesday for survivors and victims of a massive tornado that pulverized a vast swath of the Oklahoma City suburbs.
It was a daunting task. The Monday afternoon storm carved a trail through the area as much as two miles wide and 22 miles long, officials said.
Hardest hit was Moore, Oklahoma -- a suburban town of 40,000 and the site of eerily similar twisters in 1999 and again four years later.
The state medical examiner's office said 24 people were confirmed dead, including nine children. Earlier reports of at least 51 deaths were erroneous, said Amy Elliot, chief administrative officer for the Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
At least 100 people have been pulled alive from the rubble by rescuers.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive for another visit to the region this week, as part of significant efforts to renew the peace process. Kerry will land in Israel this Tuesday and spend two days there. During his visit, he will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem.
Israel is continuing an intense dialogue on the peace process with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday during the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting.
The common goal, she said, is re-starting direct talks between the Israelis and Palestinians: "We want the Palestinian Authority to know that peace talks are the only game in town."
The top Palestinian negotiator with Israel on Monday threw his weight behind US Secretary of State John Kerry's bid to revive stalled peace talks. Kerry is due to visit Jerusalem and Ramallah on Thursday and Friday. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told a UN committee in New York on Monday that a settlement freeze and the release of Palestinian prisoners were not conditions for returning to negotiations, but rather obligations that Israel must fulfill.
The Palestinians have done all the legal work necessary to join 63 UN agencies, conventions and treaties but haven’t applied yet mainly to give the latest U.S. peace effort a chance to succeed, the chief Palestinian negotiator said Monday.
While Minister Livni said at the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the government's goal is to restart negotiations, other coalition members insisted a two-state solution was never an official government position. The committee discussion lasted more than two hours.
The ongoing labor dispute between Foreign Ministry employees and the Finance Ministry has ground the issuance of diplomatic passports to a halt. As a result, cabinet ministers have been denied the necessary documentation for official travel abroad.
In the case of Tzipi Livni, this means she might not be able to attend upcoming peace talks with her Palestinian counterparts.
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