pentagon tour of duty

David B Gleason

Can I Tour the Pentagon?

The pentagon memorial is open to all visitors, and public tours inside the pentagon are available to us citizens with advance reservation..

Yes, but public tours inside the Pentagon are available to US citizens only with advance reservations. The Pentagon Memorial is open to all visitors.

How to tour the Pentagon

The Pentagon, located just outside Washington, DC in Arlington, Va., is the headquarters for the United States Department of Defense. It is open for official tours through the  Pentagon Tours program .

Pentagon tours must be reserved at least 14 days in advance and no more than 90 days in advance. Tours are conducted Tuesdays and Thursdays (excluding federal holidays) at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Tours fill up quickly and it is highly recommended that you book well in advance of your visit. You can make a tour request online . International visitors must request a tour through their home country’s embassy.

Individuals who have a Pentagon badge and escort privileges are permitted to give a self-guided tours to friends or family. If you are assigned to the Pentagon or if you are visiting a Pentagon staff member, contact the Pentagon Force Protection Agency at (703) 697-1001 to determine escort status.

Nighttime at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Virginia

Touring the Pentagon

Tours are 60 minutes and cover about 1.5 miles inside the Pentagon, which is one of the largest office buildings in the world. Tours include the history of the four branches of the military and the opportunity to see the indoor memorial near the Sept. 11 crash site and the Sept. 11 Memorial chapel, as well as the Hall of Heroes (featuring the names of all the Medal of Honor recipients) and a number of other military displays.

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Parking, security and accessibility

There is no public parking at The Pentagon. The Pentagon can be reached via its own dedicated Metro stop on the Blue and Yellow lines or you may choose to park at Pentagon City Mall and make the five-minute walk to the Pentagon via pedestrian tunnel. Once you’ve arrived, check in at the Pentagon Tours window near the Metro entrance.

Visitors must check-in at least 60 minutes prior to their scheduled tour to allow time for security. You will be asked to present your tour confirmation email and photo ID. All visitors will go through security scanners. All purses are subject to search. Large bags, including backpacks, shopping bags and camera bags are NOT permitted on the tour. Cell phone, cameras, recording devices and other electronic devices cannot be used on the tour and no photography is permitted inside the building.

Ramps are available for visitors with disabilities. Tour visitors in wheelchairs must bring someone who can assist them on the tour.  A signer will be added to tours to assist hearing impaired visitors provided that two weeks' notice is given. Special tours for visually impaired visitors can also be arranged with two weeks' notice.

There are so many great tours and sightseeing opportunities in Washington, DC. Discover  your next tour adventure .

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Guard, Reserve soldiers can now browse active duty jobs on their phones

Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers looking to secure their next stint on active duty orders are now able to do so from their own couches — and on their own mobile devices — thanks to Carrera , a new app developed by the Army Software Factory in Austin, Texas.

The app was developed to satisfy an order from Congress in the fiscal 2022 defense bill that  required the Army to make mobilization opportunities for reserve component troops available for browsing on personal devices. Previously, the opportunities were only accessible through the NIPR network-only Tour of Duty portal.

At any given moment, the Army is trying to fill hundreds, if not thousands, of temporary active duty tours with reservists.

But in late 2017, the portal for searching those vacancies moved onto the government network, meaning that Guard and Reserve troops without take-home government computers could only browse and apply for those vacancies from an armory. That put a burden on some who live hours away from where they serve.

The new app goes beyond the order, though, and delivers an unprecedented level of access: soldiers will now be able to browse listings from their mobile devices or other devices without Common Access Card readers after they initially set up a username and password through the service’s identity management portal .

Work on the application began in August, Army Software Factory officials told FedScoop last month. They developed it in coordination with the Army’s operations directorates and senior Army Reserve leaders, said Robyn Mack, an Army Futures Command spokesperson.

The development team also asked soldiers and units seeking reservists what they wanted to see from the new portal — and mobile accessibility was near the top of their list.

Mack added that Carrera will also allow the service to harness “data insights that the Army can use to inform job planning and outreach.”

Davis Winkie covers the Army for Military Times. He studied history at Vanderbilt and UNC-Chapel Hill, and served five years in the Army Guard. His investigations earned the Society of Professional Journalists' 2023 Sunshine Award and consecutive Military Reporters and Editors honors, among others. Davis was also a 2022 Livingston Awards finalist.

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After 2-Year Hiatus, Pentagon Reopens for Tours

The seat of national defense is also home to a spectacular display of military history, by eun yang, news4 anchor • published may 19, 2022 • updated on may 19, 2022 at 10:29 am.

The Pentagon has opened again for tours, more than two years after it last offered them. The tour guides are dedicated to informing the public about the many contributions of the country's servicemen and women.

Army Specialist Tyson Weichbrodt imparts the gravity and emotion of Sept. 11, 2001:

"It was at 9:37 in the morning, Sept. 11. Flight 77, a 757 under the control of terrorists, was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon. It killed all 59 people on board and 125 people working here at the building. Their names, in alphabetical order, are listed here...."

The America's Heroes Memorial is located where the plane crashed into the Pentagon, an essential stop on these tours, which recently reopened to the public to tours.

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'We want to impress on the public how seriously we've taken and remind them of the sobriety of that day," Specialist Weichbrodt said, "particularly for the younger generation, who was not born or perhaps very little. It's particularly impactful for them to understand what happened."

For Specialist Weichbrodt, sharing this defining moment in American history has personal meaning.

"It frames so much for me, that event, how I think of myself as an American, and it certainly contributed to my decision to join the military," he said.

Only the best in the building are selected to be tour guides. They have to go through an extensive process for which not even their military training could prepare them.

"So it was a 15-day process, 33 pages of scripts that we had to memorize verbatim, so every day we were learning about page and a half, I would say, front to back, of scripts," said Navy Seaman Ariana Diaz. "At the end of the process, you get three days to test out."

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That final test involves giving your colleagues a tour. It is a distinct honor, one that Seaman Diaz considers a highlight of her time at the Pentagon.

Her favorite section before is dedicated to women in service.

"It wasn't until 1901 with the Army nurses' corps, and 1908 with the Navy nurses' corps, when women were officially allowed to serve, and that was just as nurses," Seaman Diaz said. "Today, we're allowed to serve in every position, that being on submarines, on battleships, things of that nature. Thanks to these women, they were kind of being pioneers for me, specifically women in service."

Now, Seaman Diaz is a role model herself.

"I'm the first woman in my family who served in the military. So being able to work here has definitely shown me what I can do for further generations," she said. "My nieces, I want them to be just as great, if not greater. Maybe one day, they'll be able to be the president or the secretary of defense."

That's just a fraction of what you'll see and learn on the entire guided tour.

Tours are offered Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. You must register online in advance.

For security reasons, you may not bring any electronics on the tour or take videos or photos. You also won't be able to store your electronics on-site, so remember to leave them behind. Prohibited devices include cell phones, smartwatches, tablets, laptops, gaming devices, cameras, storage devices/flash drives, scanners, headphones, virtual reality devices, transmitters and GPS devices.

Take the Metro, because parking is a challenge. And wear comfortable shoes, because you'll be walking about 1.5 miles during the tour.

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TOUR OF DUTY: EXERCISING CONTROL OVER YOUR MILITARY CAREER

Just some dogs and ponies lining up for a show. Yes, I’m wearing a helmet. I don’t want to talk about it.

September 22, 2019

Something that’s been very interesting to me over the last two years is figuring out how to maintain the most options and flexibility as I move forward. I discuss this idea in “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” and in this article, I’m going to share a resource with you that can help.

At this point, I have no idea whether or not I’d want to come back into the Army later in life, within one of the many Reserve Component opportunities available. I also know that I have zero interest in being a “weekend warrior” at this point. The unpredictability and minimalism of unemployment, international travel, volunteering, and van life aren’t exactly conducive to having to show up once a month for weekend drill in the National Guard or Army Reserves.

This is where the IRR comes into play. If you’re not familiar with the IRR, check out my other article: The Individual Ready Reserves.

So I’m going to tell you about something called Tour of Duty. It’s a website that lists individual job vacancies for soldiers in any of the Reserve Component entities: IRR, IMA, USAR, ARNG. Essentially, you can serve on active duty orders, on your own terms, whenever you want. These periods of service are also referred to as “active duty for operational support” orders,  or ADOS tours, which I’ve just written a new article about here. From what I understand, the only current limitation is that you can only serve three consecutive assignments before you’re required to have a “break in service” for one calendar year. I haven’t seen this in writing, but this is what my Reserve Component recruiter told me during my separation counseling.

To access Tour of Duty, you have to use this site: https://mobcop.aoc.army.pentagon.mil/ . I verified the site worked when I was on active duty and was able to access it with a CAC on a personal computer. A year after I wrote the original article, I couldn’t access the site because I didn’t have a CAC. It also appeared the link no longer worked. I read somewhere that the site had been further restricted to computers operating on a government network. Who knows. But the fact that this site is strictly CAC-enabled, and probably only accessible on a government computer when it’s literally intended for Reserve Component soldiers who may not have access to these resources is… clearly nonsensical, but pretty on-brand for the military.

Fast forward, and the Army Times published an article in December of 2021 stating that Congress passed a piece of legislation requiring the Army to make this site accessible to soldiers on their personal devices. The new site, called Carrera, was released in 2022. It provides the same information as Tour of Duty, but the difference is Carrera can be accessed from a non-government computer. This is super helpful for Reserve Component soldiers so they don’t have to head to a base or armory just to check job listings. As I understand, Carrera is only for looking for jobs, and you still need to log onto Tour of Duty to actually apply, so that’s why I’ve kept the information below.

The photo above is the Mobilization Common Operating Picture (MOBCOP) website. This site is how you access Tour of Duty. You’ll need your CAC to log in. After you log in, select the light green box that says “Tour of Duty.” This will take you to the TOD homepage. Since you’re going to be searching for a job, some of the menu options across the top will be disabled, as they only apply to those who are posting job vacancies. Click on “Find Job/Volunteer,” circled in red below.

As you can see, there are 2,580 available jobs listed. I’ve blacked out some of the information that’s irrelevant to understanding how the site works. You can filter results using any of the column headers. The most applicable are rank and MOS. In this example, I filtered the listings by rank, for CPT, and by MOS, for 01A, which means branch immaterial.

So you can see that the results above are filtered by “CPT” and “01A.” There are 121 positions for 01A CPTs. From what I’ve found on the site, tours can be as little as 14 days, or as much as 400+ days. Anything above 365 days constitutes a PCS move, and you can bring your family. For these tours, you’re put on active duty orders, and you’ll receive active duty pay, TRICARE, and any other active duty benefits. There’s a lot more to the process, but this is generally how it works. Locations are both CONUS and OCONUS and are in some unique places. I found jobs in Utah, California, and all over Europe.

If you look at the column farthest on the right, it lists the “Soldier Category.” Different jobs are open to different entities. Some are only open to ARNG (Army National Guard) soldiers. Some are only open to IRR soldiers. And some are open to all.

From my perspective, if you’re in the National Guard or Reserves, this is a great tool to use if you’re maybe between civilian jobs and are looking to travel and want to go on Active Duty for a bit. It’s also a great way to work towards retirement benefits. For my specific situation, I decided to stay in the IRR following my Resignation from Active Duty (REFRAD), with the understanding I’d have Tour of Duty as an option.

Something my Reserve recruiter told me is that while a job may be open to applicants from all Reserve Component entities, a Guard or Reserve soldier may be more likely to be selected for a job vs IRR because their readiness metrics (MEDPROS, annual/350-1 training, etc) will likely be more up-to-date. If you’re in the IRR, chances are you aren’t going to drill on the weekends for MRT or cyber awareness training.

While that may be true, it will still be MUCH easier for me to transfer from the IRR back into the IMA, Guard, or Reserves vs how difficult it would be if I completely resigned my commission. So this is why I only resigned from Active Duty and opted to remain in the IRR. While I have no interest in the military now, I want to maximize my options. For enlisted personnel, you can have a break in service. I don’t know too much about how that all works, but you have some more wiggle room than officers do.

If you’re reading any of the information above and notice something is incorrect or outdated, please let me know . I do my best to update articles when policies change, but I miss things. Also, if you’ve gone through this process before and have input, feel free to hit me up. I’m just a random with some experience as Active Duty officer but no Reserve experience. I’ve compiled most of this information from odd corners of the internet, YouTube, the HRC website, and my Reserve Component recruiter… But, I haven’t been able to find a one-stop-shop source on IRR or IMA information.

*UPDATE* It’s been four years since I wrote this article and I’m leaving this update to give you the link to my new article on ADOS tours, which is a product of a lot of time, effort, and help from about a dozen ADOS contributors who were willing to share their experience. Hope this helps.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this and my hope is this information can empower you to take ownership of your life!

Got feedback?

Let me know!

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WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

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Mobcop • tour of duty.

Provides a portal to post, find and volunteer for Active Duty tours. Tour of Duty (TOD) is a system for advertising AD opportunities where RC Soldiers can look for available tours that match their skills and desire to serve. Soldiers can volunteer for consideration for the tours and the hiring commands can screen and recommend interested candidates as part of the TOD process. Soldiers recommended to fill the tours sign automatically generated request packets in DAMPS-A.

Soldiers that would like to volunteer for mobilizations should contact their unit and ask to be added to the G1 MOB Volunteer list.

HRC Contact Number:   1-888-ARMYHRC   ( 1-800-276-9472 )

MOBCOP -   https://mobcop.aoc.army.pentagon.mil/

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Ukraine pulls US-provided Abrams tanks from the front lines over Russian drone threats

FILE - Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth looks over the latest version of the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank as she tours the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, Feb. 16, 2023, in Lima, Ohio. Two U.S. officials say Ukraine has sidelined U.S.-provided Abrams M1A1 battle tanks for now in its fight against Russia. This is in part because Russian drone warfare has made it too difficult for them to operate without detection or coming under attack. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine has sidelined U.S.-provided Abrams M1A1 battle tanks for now in its fight against Russia, in part because Russian drone warfare has made it too difficult for them to operate without detection or coming under attack, two U.S. military officials told The Associated Press.

The U.S. agreed to send 31 Abrams to Ukraine in January 2023 after an aggressive monthslong campaign by Kyiv arguing that the tanks, which cost about $10 million apiece, were vital to its ability to breach Russian lines.

But the battlefield has changed substantially since then, notably by the ubiquitous use of Russian surveillance drones and hunter-killer drones . Those weapons have made it more difficult for Ukraine to protect the tanks when they are quickly detected and hunted by Russian drones or rounds.

Five of the 31 tanks have already been lost to Russian attacks.

The proliferation of drones on the Ukrainian battlefield means “there isn’t open ground that you can just drive across without fear of detection,” a senior defense official told reporters Thursday.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide an update on U.S. weapons support for Ukraine before Friday’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.

For now, the tanks have been moved from the front lines, and the U.S. will work with the Ukrainians to reset tactics, said Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Chairman Adm. Christopher Grady and a third defense official who confirmed the move on the condition of anonymity.

“When you think about the way the fight has evolved, massed armor in an environment where unmanned aerial systems are ubiquitous can be at risk,” Grady told the AP in an interview this week, adding that tanks are still important.

“Now, there is a way to do it,” he said. “We’ll work with our Ukrainian partners, and other partners on the ground, to help them think through how they might use that, in that kind of changed environment now, where everything is seen immediately.”

News of the sidelined tanks comes as the U.S. marks the two-year anniversary of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a coalition of about 50 countries that meets monthly to assess Ukraine’s battlefield needs and identify where to find needed ammunition, weapons or maintenance to keep Ukraine’s troops equipped.

Recent aid packages, including the $1 billion military assistance package signed by President Joe Biden on Wednesday, also reflect a wider reset for Ukrainian forces in the evolving fight .

The U.S. is expected to announce Friday that it also will provide about $6 billion in long-term military aid to Ukraine, U.S. officials said, adding that it will include much sought after munitions for Patriot air defense systems. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.

The $1 billion package emphasized counter-drone capabilities, including .50-caliber rounds specifically modified to counter drone systems; additional air defenses and ammunition; and a host of alternative, and cheaper, vehicles, including Humvees, Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles.

The U.S. also confirmed for the first time that it is providing long-range ballistic missiles known as ATACMs, which allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian-occupied areas without having to advance and be further exposed to either drone detection or fortified Russian defenses.

While drones are a significant threat, the Ukrainians also have not adopted tactics that could have made the tanks more effective, one of the U.S. defense officials said.

After announcing it would provide Ukraine the Abrams tanks in January 2023, the U.S. began training Ukrainians at Grafenwoehr Army base in Germany that spring on how to maintain and operate them. They also taught the Ukrainians how to use them in combined arms warfare — where the tanks operate as part of a system of advancing armored forces, coordinating movements with overhead offensive fires, infantry troops and air assets.

As the spring progressed and Ukraine’s highly anticipated counteroffensive stalled, shifting from tank training in Germany to getting Abrams on the battlefield was seen as an imperative to breach fortified Russian lines. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on his Telegram channel in September that the Abrams had arrived in Ukraine.

Since then, however, Ukraine has only employed them in a limited fashion and has not made combined arms warfare part of its operations, the defense official said.

During its recent withdrawal from Avdiivka , a city in eastern Ukraine that was the focus of intense fighting for months, several tanks were lost to Russian attacks, the official said.

A long delay by Congress in passing new funding for Ukraine meant its forces had to ration ammunition , and in some cases they were only able to shoot back once for every five or more times they were targeted by Russian forces.

In Avdiivka, Ukrainian forces were badly outgunned and fighting back against Russian glide bombs and hunter-killer drones with whatever ammunition they had left.

Retired captain of first U.S. nuclear submarine celebrates turning 100 in Spokane

Frank Fogarty knew nothing about nuclear physics on ships when he got pulled from his Korean War submarine duty to interview for a fledgling U.S. Navy program.

Fogarty, who just turned 100 years old in Spokane, has never forgotten meeting Hyman Rickover, known as the father of the world’s first atomic-powered submarines that began with the USS Nautilus in 1954. Its advantages meant speed and prolonged submersions.

He initially joined an officers’ team to develop he Nautilus’ sister craft, the USS Seawolf, which launched in 1955. But by 1957, Fogarty had joined the Nautilus crew – first as an engineering officer, and then during 1963-67 as the Nautilus’ fifth commanding officer.

“I was in this position of being qualified for command, so Rickover picked from the younger submarine officers who were qualified, and he interviewed them all,” Fogarty said.

“He was the first to apply nuclear practically to something besides bombs. In my case, they flew me back from Korea to Washington for an interview with him, and it was an all-day deal. You interviewed with his staff; they all came up with their opinion of each interviewee.

“The last thing was you interviewed with the KOG – (what) Rickover was called for ‘Kindly old gentleman.’ He was not kindly; he was old,” Fogarty said.

Rickover was famous for his stress interviews, seeing if an officer entering the program could maintain composure and still think clearly if rattled. The program’s leader also drilled officers about any actions “that weren’t so great,” Fogarty said. “So it wasn’t the most pleasant thing.”

Fogarty thought that ended it.

“About three months later, we came back in from patrol and tied up to the pier in Japan with other submarines, and the captain of the submarine that was tied up where we came alongside of said, ‘I hear you have a Rickover guy on your boat.’ “

He soon joined a Navy team working with General Electric to develop the Seawolf in Schenectady, New York. Simultaneously, he and other officers trained in reactor technology and nuclear physics at Union College.

“We were sent there to be with the construction, to see it and then train in nuclear power, which we didn’t know what that was,” he said. “We also had a crew of 20 enlisted people.

Fogarty was one of four officers in upstate New York at the Seawolf plant.

“ One of the common names of another fellow is Jimmy Carter; he was the senior naval officer of the four of us. He was a class ahead of me at the Naval Academy.”

The future president was set to become Seawolf’s top engineering officer. But in July 1953 when his father died, Carter resigned from the Navy to take care of the family’s business. Fogarty recalls Carter’s mother also didn’t want to deal with his brother, who was “a little hard to handle.”

Another officer was assigned to replace Carter. The Fogartys traded Christmas cards with the Carters for a few years, but lost connection before he got into politics. Meanwhile, Westinghouse already had built the Nautilus prototype plant outside of Idaho Falls, Fogarty said, and the Nautilus was a year ahead of the Seawolf.

“They had two land-based plants that mimicked a submarine, built in a submarine hull on land,” he said. “Both of them, one in New York and one in Idaho.

A big advantage for submarines is staying submerged. They are most vulnerable when surfacing, Fogarty said. “Diesel submarines had to surface to recharge batteries, but with these, you could stay down forever.”

That gave the U.S. an advantage that held, he added. Fogarty spent time with the Seawolf as part of the crew taking it out for trial runs. They eventually found a problem with the different reactor design being “sodium-cooled,” versus water-cooled like the Nautilus, he said.

“Technically, the sodium potassium turned out to be corrosive material. When heated up, it ended up eating the pipes. We got an alarm that the pipes were leaking, which was down in a compartment with thick shielding above it. The medical doctor who was a nuclear-trained physician, he and I went down to see what was wrong; that’s where I got my highest dose of radiation.”

By then, Rickover had decided to make-over the Seawolf with the Nautilus design, so it had to go back to port for a retrofit. Fogarty and another nuclear-trained officer from the Seawolf got transferred then to the Nautilus, which had been fully operational for over a year.

He was on the Nautilus in 1957 when it made its first unsuccessful attempt to cross the North Pole from the Atlantic side, seeking to pass the Arctic sea basin between Greenland and the Norwegian island Spitsbergen, but the sub’s periscope was damaged in an ice collision, and the gyrocompass became erratic, forcing the boat to turn back.

“We learned a few lessons about icebergs, how deep they go down, and when you bump into an iceberg, it’s not very mobile,” Fogarty added. “It’s stronger than you are, so it bent over the periscope.

“We had to wade our way out of there and back into the ocean without any idea where we were other than dead reckoning. We didn’t have any of our navigation stuff. We could tell how deep the water was, but not how high.”

After repairs, “they sent us through the (Panama) canal over the Pacific side,” but before the second North Pole attempt, Fogarty got assigned to the USS Skipjack, a smaller class of nuclear-powered submarines with a single big propeller and a more streamlined design.

“That hull incidentally was based on the prototype that was here in Idaho at the Navy test lab at Farragut,” he said.

He remained with the Skipjack for a while and earned promotions.

On the Nautilus, he was the fifth commanding officer for a crew with typically 11 officers and 105 enlisted members. Fogarty said memorable events occurred under his watch, but he doesn’t think he can share a lot. The Cold War against Russia was in full force.

“The most significant is probably still classified,” he said, smiling. “I’ve never been told I could release it, other than it involved being in water heavily foreign and against their submarines.

“We were still way ahead of the rest of our enemies. We were kept in patrol, and the Russians tried to stay in track of us, but we were able to know where they were and stay tracking distance with them wherever they went.

“But most of the time, we spent operating with the fleet, with surface ships, to teach the U.S. Navy what they were up against with the nuclear submarines, in simulated attacks.”

He also recalls the two nuclear submarines lost to accidents at sea, and he knew crew members killed on both the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion. The Thresher sank in April 1963 during deep-diving tests east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and an investigation found a ‘most likely’ cause was a piping system failure that allowed flooding of the engine room.

The source of the May 1968 tragedy on the Scorpion is uncertain, he said.

Early in his career, Fogarty served on two diesel-powered subs: Tiru and Queenfish. He also did a tour much later on the USS John Marshall. His final duty was in the Pentagon as operations officer in the Submarine Warfare Division. He earned a master’s degree in administration from George Washington University before retiring from the Navy in 1970.

After his Navy retirement, Fogarty returned west to the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls that stretched more than 22 years and took him to brief stints in Butte, Montana, and for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Raised in Great Falls, Montana, he married high school girlfriend Dorothy Reilly after graduation from the Naval Academy in 1948. They were together 67 years until her death in 2015. They have 10 children, 21 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Fogarty moved to Spokane in 2015 to be near family.

Fogarty has never been idle. In his retirement, he ran a 40-acre ranch in Idaho Falls and created pheasant habitat, raised cows and built a model train museum in a barn, inviting school groups. He later donated his train collection to the Cheyenne Depot Museum. He also liked to hike and do outdoors activities while being active in the Catholic community.

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Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Evidence of torture, executions in mass grave

Palestinian Civil Defence says it would cooperate with an independent investigation into three separate mass graves containing 392 bodies.

This live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage of the war in Gaza here.

• The Palestinian Civil Defence says it will cooperate with an independent investigation into three separate mass graves containing 392 bodies.
• Demands for “answers” from Israeli leaders reverberate as the grisly effort to dig up corpses buried in Khan Younis continues.
• A Hamas official says the group is “serious” about releasing captives, but only with a ceasefire.
• A senior Israeli official says the military is “moving ahead” with its planned ground invasion of Rafah, ignoring a growing chorus of international warnings to call it off.
• At least 34,305 Palestinians have been killed and 77,293 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens still held captive in Gaza.

That’s a wrap from us

Thank you for joining us for updates on everything related to Israel’s war on Gaza.

For more news, analysis and opinion on the conflict, click  here .

A look at what happened today

We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a quick recap from today:

• The Palestinian Civil Defence said it will cooperate with an independent investigation into three separate mass graves  containing 392 bodies.
• Pro-Palestine student protests continued across the US, with Georgia State Patrol officers using stun guns and arresting protesters on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta.
• Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, reiterated that the group will not accept a truce deal without a permanent ceasefire.
• A senior Israeli official said the military is “moving ahead” with its planned ground invasion of Rafah.
• Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi denounced “forced migration” after Israel said it plans to attack Rafah city.
• The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) says its aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip was delayed after Israel initiated an “administrative roadblock”.
• The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least eight people were killed in an Israeli air raid in central Gaza’s Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood.
• Israeli forces killed a Belgian aid worker and his seven-year-old son in an attack in Rafah, prompting Belgium to summon its Israeli envoy.
• Israeli far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has called for cutting ties with the Palestinian Authority.

Chef Jose Andres mourns WCK workers killed in Gaza

Celebrity Chef Jose Andres says the seven aid workers killed by Israeli forces in Gaza were “the best of humanity” during a memorial service at the Washington National Cathedral that was attended by hundreds.

The attack on an aid convoy for Andres’s charity, World Central Kitchen (WCK), earlier this month prompted worldwide condemnation.

At the service, Andres praised each of the workers – Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, John Chapman, Jacob Flickinger, Lalzawmi Frankcom, James Henderson, James Kirby, and Damian Sobol – during an emotional eulogy, his voice cracking repeatedly.

“The seven souls we mourn today were there so that hungry people could eat,” he said, referring to residents of Gaza. “They risked everything to feed people they did not know.

“They were the best of humanity. Their examples should inspire us to do better, to be better,” he said.

Andres said WCK continues to demand an investigation into the actions of the Israeli forces against its workers and that the official explanation was not good enough.

“There is no excuse for these killings. None,” he said.

Photos: Student pro-Palestine protests continue across the US

The protesters at George Washington University are not planning to leave anytime soon

Reporting from Washington DC, US

The students here at George Washington University have the same template as the students at Columbia.

They’re looking for the university to divest, to declare what interests they have in companies linked to Israel, and also, they’re looking to make sure that anyone who is involved in these protests will get an amnesty afterwards.

However, in the last hour or so, we’ve also seen a number of barriers placed on the edge of the square. They were very quickly removed, but they’re not far away.

The number of police in nearby streets has increased. We are told the Secret Service was here as well, but they have cycled away and are no longer on site.

A number of accesses to the square have been blocked, and in the building over my shoulder, the police have set up essentially a temporary command structure where they are talking about what they can do.

Now, seven o’clock local time … was given essentially as a deadline for the encampment to go away. It’s not clear then what the university administrators will do.

What is clear is that the Metropolitan Police Department has been called in to help because the numbers are just too big for George Washington’s own police to deal with.

The mayor has said that it has to be done peacefully if the protesters are to be moved.

The people here are not planning to leave anytime soon. They will stay until the university meets its demands.

US campus protests for Palestine spread to the University of Pennsylvania

Social media video verified by Al Jazeera shows students at UPenn setting up a “Gaza encampment” the likes of which have been seen at Columbia University and on other campuses.

Many student protests have been met with violent crackdowns by local police departments.

UPenn seized for Palestine pic.twitter.com/yXldxvVd4D — hate5six (@hate5six) April 25, 2024

Houthis claim to have targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden

The spokesperson for the Iran-aligned group, Yahya Saree, says it targeted an Israeli ship, the MSC Darwin, in the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November in what they say is a  campaign of solidarity with Palestinians and against Israel’s continuing war on Gaza .

Britain said on Thursday the Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond had shot down a missile fired by the Houthis from Yemen targeting a merchant vessel.

“The UK continues to be at the forefront of the international response to the Iranian-backed Houthis’ dangerous attacks on commercial vessels, which have claimed the lives of international mariners,” British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement

Saree said the group had also fired a number of “ballistic and winged missiles” at several targets around Eilat in southern Israel.

WATCH: Students call on French government to help Palestine

Watch our report on students at Sorbonne University, who are protesting on campus in support of Palestinians.

France threatens new sanctions against Israeli settlers

President Emmanuel Macron’s office says France is considering extending sanctions on Israeli settlers behind violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank after the prime minister spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

The two leaders “firmly condemned recent Israeli announcements about settlements” in the occupied West Bank, “which are contrary to international law”, Macron’s office said in a statement.

On February 28, “extremist Israeli settlers” were banned from entering French territory. Last week, the EU imposed sanctions on four Israeli settlers and two settler organisations for violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

Since the start of the year, Israeli authorities have declared nearly 1,100 hectares (2,720 acres) of the West Bank to be “state land” – twice as much as in the previous record year in 1999, according to the settlement watchdog Peace Now.

To learn more about the Israeli settlers and why they live on Palestinian lands, you can read our in-depth explainer here . Or you can read about how Israeli settlers have been expanding illegal outposts during Israel’s war on Gaza here .

Palestinian PM thanks Germany for plans to reinstate UNRWA funding

Muhammad Mustafa says he “appreciates” Germany’s announcement this week that it plans to resume funding for UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency.

Germany had paused funding for the organisation, which provides services to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and countries like Lebanon and Jordan, earlier this year, after the Israeli government accused it of complicity in the October 7 attacks.

An independent review of the allegations by former French FM Catherine Colonna found that Israel had not provided significant evidence to back up its claims.

WATCH: How Gaza’s children are preparing for Israel’s invasion of Rafah

As an Israeli ground assault on Gaza’s last “safe zone” looms, two children in Rafah brace for it.

“We’re afraid people will resort to killing each other for food,” 11-year-old Husam says as he recounts his daily battle to secure basic necessities like food, water and sanitation in Rafah during Israel’s war on Gaza.

Husam is one of more than 600,000 children who have sought refuge in the city, the designated “safe zone” in southern Gaza. But since March, the Israeli government has threatened to extend a military invasion there, too, casting a shadow of fear that has been building for months. “A person’s psyche wears out with fear. It’s a slow death,” Husam says as he reflects on what lies ahead.

Watch Al Jazeera’s episode of Close Up :

Israel places ‘roadblock’ to delay ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla’: Aid coalition

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), a movement composed of campaigns and initiatives working to end the Israeli blockade of Gaza, says its aid ship bound for the enclave has been delayed from leaving Turkey.

The coalition said in a statement, “All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the trip to Gaza.”

“However, today we received word of an administrative roadblock initiated by Israel in an attempt to prevent our departure”.

“Israel is pressuring the Republic of Guinea Bissau to withdraw its flag from our lead ship – Akdeniz [“Mediterranean]. This triggered a request for an additional inspection, this one by the flag state, that delays our April 26 planned departure”.

The coalition said this was another “example of Israel obstructing the delivery of life-saving aid to the people in Gaza who face a deliberately created famine”, adding that it was not the first time Israel had used “these kinds of tactics to stop our ships from sailing”.

Aid workers from 40 countries are due to deliver 5,000 tonnes of aid to Gaza using the Akdeniz.

US State Department Arabic spokesperson resigns in opposition to Gaza policy

The Arabic language spokesperson of the US State Department has resigned, citing her opposition to Washington’s policy related to Israel’s war on Gaza.

Hala Rharrit was also the Dubai Regional Media Hub’s deputy director and joined the State Department almost two decades ago as a political and human rights officer, the department’s website showed.

She wrote on LinkedIn, “I resigned April 2024 after 18 years of distinguished service in opposition to the United States’ Gaza policy”.

Nearly a month earlier, Annelle Sheline of the State Department’s human rights bureau announced her resignation, and State Department official Josh Paul resigned in October.

A senior official in the US Education Department, Tariq Habash, who is Palestinian-American, had stepped down in January

Israeli military says it is providing CENTCOM with security, logistics for maritime aid initiative

The Israeli military says it has approved collaborative efforts for the Joint Logisitics Over-the-Shore (JLOTS) initiative led by the United States Central Command (CENTCOM).

It said it would provide security and logistics support for the JLOTS initiative, which includes a temporary floating pier to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

As we reported earlier, a United Nations team visiting the pier had to seek shelter in a bunker “for some time” yesterday after the area came under fire.

Gaza Civil Defence issues heat warning to displaced Palestinians

As temperatures soar in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Civil Defence has warned that conditions are ripe for “the expansion of the spread of epidemics and diseases among [displaced Palestinians], especially among children and pregnant women”.

“Drink plenty of water, try to ventilate the place, keep children away from the sun’s rays, especially at peak heat times, and be sure to wipe their bodies with cold water constantly”, spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said in a statement on Telegram, speaking to the thousands of displaced Palestinians currently sheltering in tents.

Photos: Palestinians at Al-Aqsa Hospital mourn their relatives killed by an Israeli bombardment

US says Gaza aid pier construction has begun

Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters that construction of the pier, announced in March by US President Joe Biden, has started.

The pier will receive ships carrying desperately needed aid for the people of Gaza, thousands of whom are facing imminent famine .

“I can confirm that US military vessels, to include the USNS Benavidez, have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary pier and causeway at sea,” Ryder told reporters.

The UN has warned Gaza faces famine and has complained of “overwhelming obstacles” to getting aid into and distributing it around the enclave.

Ryder said the Pentagon was tracking some type of mortar attack in Gaza that caused minimal damage in the staging area for the pier. The UN stated earlier today that one of its teams, inspecting the staging area, had to take cover for several hours when bombs struck nearby.

Ryder added that US forces had not started moving anything to that area yet and there were no US forces on the ground.

UN says mandate required to take custody of Gaza mass grave evidence

Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the United Nations secretary-general, told Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey during a press briefing that while the organisation is collecting information on mass graves discovered at Nasser Hospital , a mandate is required from a UN legislative body in order to take custody of any evidence.

“We’ve called for an international investigation. How that will take place? It’s unclear at this time. There are certain parts of this organisation that have the authority to do that,” Dujarric said.

“In the meantime, it’s important that all forensic evidence be well preserved,” he added.

It is not antisemitic, pro-Hamas to point out number of Palestinians killed, wounded in Gaza: Sanders

US Senator Bernie Sanders has told Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, in a post on X, that it was “not antisemitic or pro-Hamas” to point out that “in a little over six months”, his “extremist government” has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000.

In an attached statement, Sanders said his comments were in response to the Israeli prime minister’s remarks yesterday that criticism of the Israeli government’s policies was antisemitic.

“Mr. Netanyahu. Antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people. But, please do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal policies of your extremist and racist government,” Sanders wrote in his closing remarks.

No, Mr. Netanyahu. It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in a little over six months your extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 – 70% of whom are women and children. You will not distract us from this immoral war. pic.twitter.com/oDaiyU4ipD — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 25, 2024

It’s time to declare Israel a rogue state

Another day, another tragedy in Gaza. At the time of writing, rescuers were pulling bodies out of the rubble after an Israeli air strike on a residential building in southern Gaza’s city of Rafah.

Meanwhile, a few miles away in Khan Younis, the grisly effort of digging up bodies buried in mass graves on the grounds of the Nasser Hospital continues.

The Palestinian death toll is now more than 34,300, and 1.1 million people in Gaza are experiencing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.

The world is also on edge, as many fear a wider regional war after Iran sent a retaliatory barrage of drones and missiles into Israel following Israel’s strike on the Iranian consular building in Damascus.

Since then, Iran’s air defences brought down three suspected Israeli drones over the central city of Isfahan. Ignoring calls for caution from around the world – including from its closest partner and protector, the United States – Israel remains determined to conduct a costly ground operation in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are sheltering.

Commentators and political figures have declared that Israel is a “liability” and that its leaders have “lost” their way.

Read more here .

Pro-Palestine student demonstrators in Washington, DC say they are ‘facing repression’ from their universities

Students from several universities in the Washington Metropolitan Area have joined forces to demand their schools cut ties to Israel and for an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Yasmine, a student leading the protests that have grown into an encampment, says they are calling for their universities to “divest from any companies that sell weapons or technology” to Israel.

They are also calling on their universities to drop all charges against students “who spoke up or students who are pro-Palestine”, Yasmine told Al Jazeera.

“Many of us are … facing repression and charges and hearings from our universities for simply protesting,” she said.

Many of the protesters, she added, wear masks because of the “heavy targeting and the heavy doxing … against us”.

Students do expect the police to intervene later today in a bid to break up the gathering, according to Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, DC.

‘Clean water remains scarce in Rafah’: UNRWA

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees ( UNRWA ) says there is a lack of sufficient clean water and waste disposal in Rafah.

In a post on X, it said that hot temperatures in conjunction with these shortages have “sparked new fears of disease outbreaks”.

"Clean water remains scarce in #Rafah & long queues are everyday reality" Blistering temperatures in #Gaza added to daily misery faced by people & sparked new fears of disease outbreaks amid lack of sufficient clean water & waste disposal @UN_News_Centre https://t.co/SanPb1RBGw — UNRWA (@UNRWA) April 25, 2024

Israeli gov’t seeks another extension on ultra-Orthodox conscription dispute

The Israeli government has sought another deferral on a looming Supreme Court-enforced deadline for it to come up with a new military conscription plan that would address mainstream anger at exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jews .

The court, hearing appeals that described the decades-old waiver as discriminatory, had given March 31 as the original deadline. That was extended to April 30 at the request of the government, which argued it was busy waging its war on Gaza.

In a new request, the Justice Ministry asked for a deferral to May 20, citing a lag in appointing a government lawyer and “significant national-security events” of recent days that had halted government work on a conscription blueprint.

The ultra-Orthodox conscription waiver has become especially charged as Israel’s armed forces, made up mostly of teenage conscripts and older civilians mobilised for reserve duty, are overstretched.

The ultra-Orthodox make up 13 percent of Israel’s 10 million population, a figure expected to reach 19 percent by 2035 due to the community’s high birth rates.

Egypt in renewed mediation push for Gaza truce: Report

Egypt has asked for a follow-up meeting with Israel in renewed efforts to mediate a deal for a ceasefire and the release of captives in the Gaza Strip, two Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency.

Egyptian, Israeli and US officials held in-person and remote meetings on Wednesday that sought concessions to break a deadlock in months-long negotiations for a truce in Israel’s war on Gaza .

Egypt believed Israel had shown more willingness to allow displaced Palestinians from Gaza to return towards the north of the enclave in a way that limited security checks and procedures for those not suspected of militant activity, they added.

The ability of civilians to return to northern Gaza unimpeded and the pull-back or repositioning of Israeli forces have been sticking points in previous rounds of ceasefire negotiations in which Egypt and Qatar have acted as mediators.

A meeting between Egyptian and Israeli officials was expected to take place on Friday in Cairo, the sources said, with further meetings with Hamas contingent on the result.

Pier site in Gaza comes under fire during UN visit

A UN spokesperson says a UN team in the Gaza Strip visiting the site for a pier and the staging area for maritime aid operations had to seek shelter in a bunker “for some time” yesterday after the area came under fire.

Two rounds landed about 100 meters (300 feet) away, but there were no injuries and the team was eventually able to continue the tour, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

The pier has been criticised by the UN and aid agencies as a complicated workaround for delivering aid via existing land routes, as calls on Israel to allow sufficient aid into the Gaza Strip through its land borders continue.