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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 — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
In a joint statement, nearly 30 Western nations and the EU yesterday condemned Israel’s “drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians” in Gaza, describing Tel Aviv’s aid delivery model as “dangerous, fuel[ing] instability and depriv[ing] Gazans of human dignity.” The statement, calling for an end of the war and for Israel to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid” to Gaza, has been signed by the foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as the EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management. Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the statement, saying it is “disconnected from reality” and “sends the wrong message to Hamas.” David Gritten reports for BBC News.
Pope Leo XIV yesterday condemned the “indiscriminate use of force” and any “forced mass displacement” of people in Gaza during a conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Vatican said. Reuters reports.
Belgian police yesterday briefly detained and questioned two members of the Israeli army attending a music festival in Belgium after receiving complaints about alleged serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza from two rights groups, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Brussels said in a statement. The Office said that it was not providing any further information at this stage of the investigation. AP News reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli tanks yesterday advanced into Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza previously largely spared by the war, amid heavy air and artillery strikes, according to local journalists. The U.N. said that Israel’s evacuation orders for the area affected tens of thousands of Palestinians and dealt “another devastating blow” to humanitarian efforts. Rushdi Abualouf and David Gritten report for BBC News.
The Israeli military yesterday raided a residence for employees of the U.N. World Health Organization in Deir al-Balah, striking the guesthouse three times before entering the premises and interrogating men at gunpoint, WHO Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. A guesthouse used by the U.N. Office for Project Services was also hit while there were 13 employees inside, the agency said. Reuters reports; Louisa Loveluck and Hazem Balousha report for the Washington Post.
The Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) charity yesterday said that Israel’s displacement order has impacted “one of the main lifelines for water distribution in southern Gaza” and forced 36 of the organization’s Palestinian colleagues to abruptly leave a busy health facility that had been treating an influx of patients from aid distribution sites, in order to evacuate their families. Louisa Loveluck and Hazem Balousha report for the Washington Post.
The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached “astonishing levels of desperation,” a senior U.N. World Food Program official said yesterday, adding that a third of people in the territory are not eating for days in a row, and a quarter of the population lives in famine-like conditions. Louisa Loveluck and Hazem Balousha report for the Washington Post.
An Israeli undercover force yesterday detained a senior Gaza Health Ministry official outside the field hospital of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in southern Gaza, the Hamas-run ministry said. Reuters reports.
SYRIA
The Syrian government yesterday said it was evacuating hundreds of Bedouin tribal families from the southern Sweida province as part of the ceasefire agreement. Separately, the government also said that it had deployed security forces across the province to secure the area and protect civilians. Raja Abdulrahim and Muhammad Haj Kadour report for the New York Times.
A Druze U.S. citizen was among eight family members killed in an execution-style attack during the sectarian violence in the Sweida province, according to the man’s relative and the U.S. State Department. It is unclear which group of militants carried out the killing. Eyad Kourdi, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Jennifer Hansler, Sarah Dewberry, and Jessie Yeung report for CNN.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia and Ukraine are scheduled to hold a new round of peace talks in Istanbul tomorrow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced yesterday. Russia’s RIA news agency, quoting a source, said the talks would take place over two days, on Thursday and Friday. Stuart Lau reports for BBC News.
Russia’s drone attacks on three Ukrainian cities overnight into today killed a child and wounded at least 24 people, according to Ukrainian officials. Moscow’s attacks overnight into yesterday also killed two people, injured over a dozen others, and caused widespread damage, Zelenskyy said yesterday. Frontelligence Insight, a Ukraine-based open-source intelligence organization, this month reported that amid an intensifying drone campaign, Russia fired 10% of all the drones it used since the invasion began in June alone. Illia Novikov reports for AP News; Max Hunder and Olena Harmash report for Reuters; AP News reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday participated in a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, after skipping the June meeting of the roughly 50 nations supporting Kyiv. John Ismay and Eric Schmitt report for the New York Times.
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
Brazil’s Supreme Court yesterday threatened to order the arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro unless his lawyers provide an explanation for why he allegedly breached restrictions on his use of social media within 24 hours. Luciana Novaes Magalhaes and Ricardo Brito report for Reuters.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
President Trump was caught off guard by Israel’s actions in Syria and Gaza last week, calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “rectify” the matter in both instances, the White House press secretary said yesterday. Kevin Liptak reports for CNN.
Chinese intelligence officers at one point interrogated the Chinese-American U.S. Commerce Department official whom Beijing prevented from leaving China about his prior service in the U.S. military, according to a State Department cable seen by the New York Times. The cable, dated for May, states that Beijing began tracking the employee this spring and prevented him from leaving China in mid-April. Edward Wong reports.
U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
A federal judge yesterday sentenced Brett Hankison, a former Kentucky police officer, to three years in prison for using excessive force during the 2020 raid that led to Breonna Taylor’s death. The judge did not follow a DOJ recommendation that he be given no prison time, finding that no prison time “is not appropriate.” Dylan Lovan reports for AP News.
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan has subpoenaed Thomas Windom, a former senior assistant special counsel who worked under then-special counsel Jack Smith on the Trump prosecutions, to testify before the committee. Hailey Fuchs reports for POLITICO.
A SkyWest Airlines pilot last week told his passengers that he made an “aggressive maneuver” to avoid a midair collision with a B-52 bomber over North Dakota, according to a recording shared by a passenger. The Minot Air Force Base yesterday said that a B-52 was conducting a flyover of a state fair, and the tower “did not advise of the inbound commercial aircraft.” Mike Ives reports for the New York Times.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
The 250 Venezuelan men deported by the United States had experienced “systemic torture” and human rights abuses in a maximum security prison in El Salvador, Venezuelan Attorney-General Tarek William Saab said yesterday as he announced an investigation into the migrants’ claims of sexual abuse, daily beatings, and rotten prison food. Tabby Wilson reports for BBC News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Pentagon yesterday announced it will begin withdrawing 700 active-duty Marines who were mobilized to respond to protests in Los Angeles last month. A Defense Department spokesperson said the troops’ “rapid response, unwavering discipline, and unmistakable presence were instrumental in restoring order.” Another 2,000 California Army National Guard soldiers remain assigned to the mission. Haley Britzky reports for CNN.
The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch, Ken Pagurek, resigned yesterday. According to sources, Pagurek told his colleagues that FEMA’s delay in responding to catastrophic flooding in central Texas caused by the Homeland Security Department’s bureaucratic hurdles was the tipping point that led to his departure. Gabe Cohen reports for CNN.
Hundreds of current and former NASA employees yesterday urged NASA leaders not to carry out deep cuts to the agency sought by the Trump administration. “We are compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety, scientific advancement and efficient use of public resources,” the employees wrote in their letter to Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. Kenneth Chang reports for the New York Times.
Trump yesterday appointed Mike Rigas as Acting Administrator of the General Services Administration, in a move that effectively layers over the GSA’s current leadership chosen by DOGE’s former operational lead, Steve Davis. Sophia Cai reports for POLITICO.
The Office of Personnel Management will lose about 30% of its staff by the end of the year, OPM Director Scott Kupor told reporters last week. The loss of staff will be carried out by offering workers options to leave on their own, rather than mass firings, Kupor added. Meryl Kornfield reports for the Washington Post.
The White House has removed the Wall Street Journal from the pool of reporters covering Trump’s weekend trip to Scotland due to the WSJ’s “fake and defamatory conduct,” the White House press secretary told POLITICO. Eli Stokols and Irie Senter report.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge yesterday extended an order blocking the Trump administration from enforcing a funding ban against Planned Parenthood members. The ban applies to those organizations that cannot provide abortions because of state abortion bans, or that received less than $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in 2023. Piper Hudspeth Blackburn reports for CNN.
A coalition of 21 Democratic Attorneys General yesterday filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s new restrictions on the provision of social services for undocumented immigrants. Annie Me reports for AP News.
A federal judge yesterday described the Trump administration’s legal arguments for cutting nearly $3 billion in federal aid to Harvard as “a bit mind-boggling,” questioning how the administration could make the cuts when “there’s no documentation, no procedure” justifying the claim that Harvard failed to combat antisemitism. In a later social media post, Trump attacked the judge, calling her a “TOTAL DISASTER.” Aidan Ryan and Sadaf Tokhi report for the Boston Globe; Jacob Wendler 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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