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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
An Israeli airstrike on a Gaza City coffee shop popular with students, journalists, and remote workers killed at least 41 Palestinians and wounded 75 yesterday, according to the director of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Many of the injured are in critical condition, the director added. Israeli strikes also killed a further 30 people in Gaza yesterday, according to local medics. The IDF said the coffee shop strike is “under review” and that it has “struck several Hamas terrorists in the northern Gaza Strip.” Ephrat Livni reports for the New York Times; Kareem Khadder and Lauren Kent report for CNN; Samy Magdy and Melanie Lidman report for AP News.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Trump at the White House next Monday, according to U.S. administration officials. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer is also in Washington this week for talks with senior administration officials on Gaza, Iran, and other matters, according to an Israeli official. Aamer Madhani reports for AP News; Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell report for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — AID SUPPLY CRISIS
More than 130 charities and other NGOs operating in Gaza today issued a joint statement calling for the controversial U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) to be shut down and for aid supply to revert to existing U.N.-led coordination mechanisms. “Palestinians in Gaza face an impossible choice: starve or risk being shot while trying desperately to reach food to feed their families,” the statement reads, adding that Israel’s restrictions are “deliberately and systematically” dismantling the humanitarian system in Gaza in favour of a “deadly, military-controlled alternative that neither protects civilians nor meets basic needs.” Helen Sullivan reports for BBC News.
The IDF yesterday for the first time acknowledged that Israeli troops have killed and injured Palestinian civilians near GHF aid distribution sites in Gaza, while contesting the death tolls provided by the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry and denying allegations of deliberately firing at civilians. The Israeli military also said that it would reorganize the way it operates around GHF sites after “lessons learned.” Emanuel Fabian reports for the Times of Israel; Ione Wells reports for BBC News; Anat Peled reports for the Wall Street Journal.
ISRAEL-IRAN CEASEFIRE
Satellite images show ongoing activity at Iran’s Fordow nuclear enrichment plant, including an excavator with the crane appearing to be operating at the entrance to the shaft, according to Maxar Technologies, which collected the imagery this weekend. Tim Lister and Annoa Abekah-Mensah report for CNN.
The G7 member states’ foreign ministers yesterday said they support the Israel-Iran ceasefire and urged for the resumption of negotiations that would result in a “comprehensive, verifiable and durable agreement that addresses Iran’s nuclear program.” Kanishka Singh and Ismail Shakil report for Reuters.
Israeli strikes on Iran killed approximately 935 people in Iran during Israel’s 12-day air war with Tehran, an Iranian judiciary spokesperson said yesterday, citing the latest forensic data. Reuters reports.
U.S. defense companies operating in Israel are at an increased risk of cyberattacks from Iran, according to an advisory jointly published by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI, National Security Agency, and the Pentagon Cyber Crime Center yesterday. Sean Lyngaas reports for CNN.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
A Russia-appointed local official yesterday said that Moscow troops now control all of the occupied Luhansk region of Ukraine. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the claim. If confirmed, Luhansk would become the first Ukrainian region fully occupied by Russia after more than three years of war. Illia Novikov and Geir Moulson report for AP News.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has held the first public commemorations for North Korean troops fighting with the Russian army in Ukraine, according to a program broadcast yesterday by Pyongyang’s state-run television. Experts say the ceremony is likely aimed at preparing the population for further such deployments. Dasl Yoon reports for the Wall Street Journal.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Trump yesterday signed an executive order lifting most of the U.S. economic sanctions on Syria in a move that scraps decades of U.S. policy toward Damascus. Michael Crowley reports for the New York Times.
Trump yesterday also signed a memorandum reversing the Biden administration’s late-term efforts to ease some U.S. restrictions on Cuba, and threatened to unilaterally impose a new tariff on Japan if it does not agree to accept more U.S. imports. Megan Messerly, Ari Hawkins, and Daniel Desrochers report for POLITICO.
The impact of the Trump administration’s foreign aid cuts and freezes has proven particularly deadly in Sudan, triggering acute malnutrition and disease outbreaks, according to the Washington Post’s interviews with civilians, clinicians, and aid officials based in and around the Sudanese capital Khartoum. According to a new study published in the Lancet medical journal, Trump’s humanitarian aid cuts could cause more than 14 million additional deaths worldwide by 2030. Katharine Houreld and Hafiz Haroun report; Stuart Lau reports for BBC News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
A Thai court today suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from her duties over a complaint accusing her of violating ethics standards in a leaked conversation about border tensions with Cambodian leader Hun Sen. Kelly Ng and Thanyarat Doksone report for BBC News.
The International Criminal Court yesterday announced it has been targeted by a “sophisticated” cyberattack and is taking steps to limit any effects of the incident. The Court did not elaborate on the impact or possible motive behind the attack. Molly Quell reports for AP News.
Dozens of hard-right Jewish extremists clashed with Israeli troops near a military base in the occupied West Bank overnight into yesterday, the Israeli military said. The incident took place against a backdrop of rising tensions between settlers and the military over the Israeli troops’ response to clashes between the settlers and Palestinians. Aaron Boxerman and Fatima AbdulKarim report for the New York Times.
A surge of cartel violence in Mexico’s Sinaloa state has killed 20 people in less than a day, local authorities said yesterday. Megan Janetsky reports for AP News.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush yesterday expressed rare open criticism of the Trump administration in a farewell call with the U.S. Agency for International Development employees, with Bush telling the staffers they have “showed the great strength of America through [their] work” and crediting them with saving 25 million lives. Obama called Trump’s move to dismantle the agency “a colossal mistake.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered USAID to be absorbed into the State Department as of today. Ellen Knickmeyer reports for AP News.
The Justice Department yesterday announced criminal charges and seizures of hundreds of financial accounts, fraudulent websites, and laptops linked to a North Korean scheme to fund Pyongyang’s weapons program through the salaries of remote workers unwittingly employed by U.S. tech companies. Eric Tucker reports for AP News; Maggie Miller reports for POLITICO.
An Iran-linked cyberattack group is threatening to sell more emails stolen from Trump’s top aides, Reuters reports. The group, which the DOJ says is controlled by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, has previously leaked a batch of emails prior to the 2024 U.S. election. Raphael Satter reports.
The Senate has held a marathon voting session on Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill overnight into today after a weekend of negotiations and delays. Morgan Rimmer, Tami Luhby, and Sarah Ferris report for CNN.
Billionaire Elon Musk yesterday said that he would form a new political party and back primary challengers against GOP Congress members if Republicans on Capitol Hill pass Trump’s domestic policy megabill. Trump responded on social media threatening to drop government support for Musk’s companies. Theodore Schleifer reports for the New York Times.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The Trump administration asked a specialist group of prosecutors to unwind charges against MS-13’s highest-ranking leaders after the administration struck a deal with Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele and build a criminal case against Kilmar Ábrego García, a New York Times investigation has found. Alan Feuer reports; Alan Feuer, Maria Abi-Habib, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Annie Correal, William K. Rashbaum, and Devlin Barrett report.
A federal judge yesterday delayed Kilmar Ábrego García’s release from custody on his lawyers’ request following the Trump administration’s “contradictory statements” on whether Ábrego García could be deported if released while awaiting his trial on human smuggling charges. Travis Loller and Ben Finley report for AP News.
The Justice Department leadership is directing DOJ attorneys to prioritize revocation of citizenship in cases involving naturalized citizens who commit certain crimes, a memo published last month shows. Jaclyn Diaz and Juliana Kim report for NPR.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Trump administration yesterday informed Harvard University that it considers the school to be in “violent violation” of federal anti-discrimination law due to alleged failures to address the harassment of Jewish students on campus. In their notice to Harvard, officials from four federal agencies threatened “the loss of all federal financial resources” if the school does not make “adequate changes immediately.” The university said it “strongly disagrees with the government’s findings.” Michael C. Bender and Alan Blinder report for the New York Times.
The federal government will withhold billions in federal education grants from states and local schools that were expected to be available today due to an ongoing review of the funding, according to notices the Education Department sent to federal grantees yesterday. Juan Perez Jr. reports for POLITICO.
The Homeland Security Department, in partnership with DOGE, has created a searchable national citizenship data system, designed to be used by state and local election officials to ensure only citizens are voting. The system is the first centralized national citizen database of its kind, and some legal experts express concerns about its creation without a transparent and public process. Jude Joffe-Block and Miles Parks report for NPR.
More than 170 Environmental Protection Agency employees yesterday put their names on a declaration of dissent from the Trump administration’s policy goals, stating that they “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.” Melina Walling reports for AP News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Trump administration yesterday filed an appeal challenging a district court decision finding an executive order sanctioning the Perkins Coie law firm unlawful, in the first indication that the administration plans to contest lower court decisions striking down measures targeting lawyers. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.
The Trump administration has filed a suit arguing Los Angeles’s “refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities” under its sanctuary city policies has led to “lawlessness, rioting, looting, and vandalism,” the DOJ announced yesterday. Juliann Ventura reports for POLITICO.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
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