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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
President Trump on Saturday said he spoke with Jordan’s King Abdullah II about “cleaning out” Gaza and urged Jordan and Egypt “take on” about “a million and a half” refugees from the territory. Annabelle Timsit and Gerry Shih report for the New York Times.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister yesterday said his country’s opposition to the Gaza refugee transfer plan floated by Trump is “firm and unwavering.” Separately, Egypt’s foreign ministry reiterated its position against “the displacement of Palestinians from their land through forced eviction.” Will Weissert reports for AP News; Betsy Klein and Lex Harvey report for CNN.
The White House on Friday instructed the Pentagon to release the former Biden administration’s hold on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, according to Israeli officials. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Israel’s actions in the occupied West Bank are imperiling the Gaza ceasefire, the U.N. Human Rights Office spokesperson said Friday, adding that the Israeli security forces killed at least 12 Palestinians in Jenin since last Tuesday, according to U.N.-verified data. Reuters reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israel and Hamas today reached an agreement to release three Israeli hostages by next Friday and permit thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza from 7 a.m. today local time, Qatari and Israeli officials confirmed. The move followed the fragileceasefire’s biggest test to date, in which Israeli soldiers yesterday prevented Gazans from returning to their homes after Israel claimed Hamas violated the ceasefire agreement by not returning female captive Israeli civilians first. Ian Aikman reports for BBC News; Nidal Al-Mughrabi reports for Reuters; Isabel Kershner, Hiba Yazbek, and Iyad Abuheweila report for the New York Times.
Hamas on Saturday released four female Israeli soldiers, with Israel releasing 200 Palestinian prisoners in exchange. Shira Rubin, Victoria Craw, and Bryan Pietsch report for the Washington Post; Fatima AbdulKarim and Aaron Boxerman report for the New York Times.
Only 339 aid trucks entered Gaza on Friday, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, a significant drop compared to the number of daily deliveries since the ceasefire started last week. Michelle Nichols reports for Reuters.
Israel on Friday gave the U.N. aid agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) six days to stop all operations in East Jerusalem, according to a letter from Israel’s U.N. Ambassador to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres. Farnaz Fassihi reports for the New York Times.
The Israeli army on Saturday raided the home of a Hamas member released as part of an exchange for Israeli hostages, detaining one person and assaulting several others, including a New York Times reporter present at the scene. Patrick Kingsley reports.
Hamas has recruited between 10,000 and 15,000 members since the start of the war in October 2023, with a similar number of fighters killed in that period, according to two congressional sources briefed on U.S. intelligence. Erin Banco reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH CEASEFIRE
The White House yesterday announced that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon will extend until February 18, following Friday’s statement from Netanyahu’s office that the IDF would not complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon in accordance with the agreed ceasefire schedule. The White House statement did not indicate whether both parties had agreed to the extension. Patrick Kingsley, Ronen Bergman, and Natan Odenheimer report for the New York Times; Barak Ravid reports for Axios; Abbie Cheeseman reports for the Washington Post.
Israeli ground forces killed at least 22 people and injured 124 others in southern Lebanon yesterday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said, as local residents defied the Israeli military’s order to not return to their homes. Charbel Mallo, Lucas Lilieholm, Caitlin Danaher, and Jomana Karadsheh report for CNN.
U.S FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday halted spending on most existing foreign aid grants for 90 days with the exclusion of Egypt and Israel, appearing to halt aid to key allies like Ukraine, Taiwan, and Jordan. [Editor’s note: Stay tuned for an analysis later this morning at Just Security by Michael Schiffer, former Assistant Administrator for Asia at USAID (2022-Jan. 20, 2025).] Michael Igoe reports for Devex; Robbie Gramer, Nahal Toosi, and Eric Bazail-Eimil report for POLITICO.
The United States and Colombia yesterday narrowly averted a trade war after Bogotá agreed to accept deportation flights from the United States. Trump over the weekend threatened to impose tariffs and visa restrictions on the country over its initial refusal to accept two deportation flights. Mariana Alfaro, Samantha Schmidt, Karen DeYoung, and Trisha Thadani report for the Washington Post.
Brazilian officials demanded that U.S. agents remove handcuffs from a group of deportees flown into the country on Friday. A Brazilian minister described the practice as showing “blatant disrespect” for the detainees’ rights. Luciana Novaes Magalhaes reports for Reuters.
Last week’s conversation on Greenland between Trump and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Friedriksen went “very badly,” with the President remaining “very firm” on acquiring the territory, senior European officials said. Richard Milne, Gideon Rachman, and James Politi report for the Financial Times.
The United States may place a “very big bounty” on the top leaders of the Taliban, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday. Kanishka Singh reports for Reuters.
SENATE AND CONGRESSIONAL ACTIONS
The Senate on Friday confirmed Pete Hegseth as the next Defense Secretary in a 51-50 vote after Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski (AK), Susan Collins (ME) and Mitch McConnell (KC) voted against confirming Hegseth. Abigail Hauslohner, Liz Goodwin, and Meryl Kornfield report for the Washington Post.
Kristi Noem was confirmed as the new Homeland Security Secretary in a Saturday 59-34 Senate vote. Stephen Groves reports for AP News.
Republican Sens. Tom Cotton (AR) and Lindsey Graham (SC) yesterday urged Trump to rethink his decision to strip security details from former advisers who have been targeted by Iran, citing the risk of a chilling effect on the work of his current aides. Maggie Haberman reports for the New York Times.
Senate Republicans are not inclined toward using the recess appointments procedure to confirm Trump’s nominees, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) said after pitching the option in a closed-door Friday GOP meeting. Jordain Carney reports for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Trump on Friday fired at least 12 Inspectors General, independent watchdog officials created by Congress to root out abuse and illegality within federal agencies. The firings breached a law requiring presidents to give Congress 30 days’ advance notice before removing any inspector general, along with reasons for the firing. Maggie Haberman, Charlie Savage, and Annie Karni report for the New York Times.
The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to pause action in pending cases dealing with student loans and the environment. Justin Jouvenal, Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, and Maxine Joselow report for the Washington Post.
Half a dozen senior career Justice Department officials have been reassigned to a new DOJ unit aimed at stopping sanctuary cities from resisting Trump’s immigration plans, officials said. Ken Dilanian and Ryan J. Reilly report for NBC News.
The State Department Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, which funds the removal of unexploded ordnance worldwide, asked all organizations it funds to cease their operations “effective immediately,” according to its surprise Saturday statement. John Ismay reports for the New York Times.
The Trump administration on Friday abruptly halted its funding for services for refugees in the United States, according to a memo seen by CNN. Refugee advocates say the move risks resulting in refugees going homeless. Priscilla Alvarez reports for CNN.
The DOJ announced it has begun a multi-agency immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stating it had made 956 arrests in a statement issued late yesterday. Separately, sources say ICE has been issued with deportation quotas following Trump’s disappointment with the results of the deportation campaign. Devlin Barrett, Julie Bosman, and Hamed Aleaziz report for the New York Times; Nick Miroff and Maria Sacchetti report for the Washington Post.
The Department of Homeland Security on Friday invoked a never-used-before authority to permit the federal government to deputize any state or local law enforcement officer to have the same powers as an ICE or Border Patrol agent.
The Trump administration on Friday night directed the heads of federal agencies to “take action to terminate” staffers of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) and “environmental justice” offices. Emily Peck reports for Axios.
The Pentagon is preparing options to deploy thousands of additional troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, potentially including infantry soldiers equipped with 20-ton Stryker combat vehicles, U.S. officials said. Dan Lamothe reports for the Washington Post.
The new Interim U.S. Attorney in D.C., Ed Martin, seemed to suggest on Friday that federal prosecutors are “President’s lawyers” in an X post. POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney reports.
TRUMP PARDONS AND COMMUTATIONS
A federal judge on Friday barred the founder of the Oath Keepers far-right militia, Stewart Rhodes, from entering Capitol Hill or Washington, D.C. without prior court approval. Spencer S. Hsu reports for the Washington Post.
A database detailing all Jan. 6 Capitol attack cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has been removed from the DOJ’s website. Donie O’Sullivan and Katelyn Polantz report for CNN.
Sen. Linsday Graham (R-SC) yesterday criticized Trump’s decision to pardon violent Capitol rioters, saying the move sends “the wrong signal to the public at large.” Maya C. Miller reports for the New York Times.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel militia today announced it captured the Congolese capital city of Goma, a major victory for the group and one of the most significant escalations in the conflict in years. The U.N. Security Council yesterday demanded that M23 stop its Goma offensive and that “external forces” in the region immediately withdraw. Michelle Nichols reports for Reuters; Caleb Kabanda and Ruth Maclean report for the New York Times.
South Korea’s impeached and arrested president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was indicted yesterday on charges of leading an insurrection over his short-lived December martial law declaration, prosecutors said. Choe Sang-Hun reports for the New York Times.
An airstrike at one of the last functioning hospitals in the besieged capital of Sudan’s North Darfur killed at least 70 people late Friday, according to local officials and the World Health Organization, which did not name the party responsible. Nimi Princewill reports for CNN.
Elon Musk addressed a rally for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on Saturday, telling the attendees there is “too much focus on past guilt” in Germany. Angie Orellana Hernandez reports for the Washington Post.
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko won an eight consecutive term in office in yesterday’s election, which has been dismissed as a sham by the EU’s foreign policy chief. Andrew Higgins reports for the New York Times.
HOUTHI DEVELOPMENTS
Yemen’s Houthis on Friday detained seven U.N. personnel, prompting the suspension of all U.N. staff movement in Houthi-held areas, according to Secretary-General Guterres, who called for the detainees’ immediate release. Reuters reports.
The Houthis on Saturday released 153 prisoners with support from the International Committee of the Red Cross, the agency said in a statement. Their identities were not disclosed. Reuters reports.
SYRIA
The United States has been sharing secret intelligence on threats from the Islamic State with Syria’s Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government, itself still designated as a terrorist group by Washington, according to U.S. officials. Warren P. Strobel, Ellen Nakashima, and Missy Ryan report for the Washington Post.
Syria’s HTS administration cancelled a contract with a Russian firm to manage and operate the country’s Tartous port, according to Syrian businessmen and media reports. The contract is separate from the agreement governing the Russian naval presence in the port. Reuters reports.
Preparations are underway for the first-ever return of al-Hol camp detainees to areas inside Syria, the Syrian Democratic Forces-backed camp’s director said. Orhan Qereman reports for Reuters.