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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israel will not allow humanitarian aid into Gaza until Hamas accepts Israel’s terms for continuing the ceasefire, Israeli officials said yesterday. Hamas previously rejected Israel’s plan to extend phase one of the ceasefire with further exchanges of hostages for Palestinian detainees, insisting on continuing negotiations on the withdrawal of the remaining Israeli forces from Gaza and a permanent end to the conflict in accordance with the intended second phase of the deal. Mike Schwartz, Ibrahim Dahman, Tim Lister, and Edward Szekeres report for CNN; Samy Magdy reports for AP News;
A number of Arab countries, the U.N., and humanitarian organizations have criticised Israel’s decision to withhold aid from Gaza, with mediators Egypt and Qatar accusing Israel of violating humanitarian law by using starvation as a weapon. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for humanitarian aid to flow back into Gaza immediately, a sentiment echoed by Doctors Without Borders, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and Oxfam. Jaroslav Lukiv reports for BBC News; Sammy Westfall reports for the Washington Post.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked “emergency authorities” in a Saturday statement announcing the delivery of $4 billion in U.S. military assistance to Israel, the Trump administration’s second such delivery bypassing the process of congressional approval for arms exports. Edward Wong reports for the New York Times.
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not authorize the State Department to act on a recommendation to stop funding to several Israeli military units over the reported abuse of Palestinian detainees. The recommendation was issued in the final months of the Biden administration under the Leahy law, former officials said. Missy Ryan reports for the Washington Post.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES
European leaders yesterday agreed to draw up a Ukraine peace plan to present to the United States and create a “coalition of the willing” to enforce it, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced following the conclusion of a London summit attended by several EU leaders and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The plan involves a one-month ceasefire that would apply to air and sea attacks but not to ground combat, French President Emmanuel Macron told the Le Figaro newspaper. Elizabeth Piper, Kate Holton and Andrew Macaskill report for Reuters; Reuters reports.
The United Kingdom has struck a $2 billion missile deal with Ukraine and will provide Kyiv with a $3 billion loan backed by frozen Russian assets, Starmer and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced over the weekend. Jennifer McKiernan reports for BBC News; Ashleigh Fields reports for the Hill.
Ukraine is “still ready” to sign a minerals deal with the United States and “just wants the Ukrainian position to be heard,” Zelenskyy said yesterday, adding that the combative nature of his last meeting with President Trump “only really benefited” Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that it is “impossible to have an economic deal without a peace deal” and Zelenskyy “has thrown off the sequencing” of the negotiations. Tom McArthur reports for BBC News; Kaia Hubbard reports for CBS News.
Trump’s senior aides and allies lashed out at Zelenskyy over the weekend, with Secretary of State Rubio saying the Ukrainian leader should “apologize,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) stating that Zelenskyy should “come back to the table in gratitude” or resign and White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz describing Zelenskyy’s behaviour as “incredibly disrespectful.” Michael Williams reports for CNN; Jonathan J. Cooper reports for AP News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday praised Trump’s “common sense” on Ukraine negotiations and blamed Europe for being the crucible of “all the tragedies of the world” for the past 500 years. Guy Faulconbridge reports for Reuters.
Russian attacks on Ukraine have killed at least five civilians and injured 25 others over the weekend, according to regional Ukrainian authorities. BBC News reports.
SYRIA
Damascus is seeking to trade a sovereign debt relief agreement, return of assets, and an injection of reconstruction funds in exchange for allowing Russia to keep its Hmeimim and Tartous bases in Syria, according to Syrian, Russian, and diplomatic sources. Samia Nakhoul and Timour Azhari report for Reuters.
Israel is lobbying the United States to keep Syria decentralised and weak, including by letting Russia keep its bases in Syria to counter Turkey’s growing influence in the region, sources say. The extent to which the Trump administration is partial to Israel’s proposals is not clear, the sources added. Maya Gebeily and Humeyra Pamuk report for Reuters.
Israel’s Netanyahu on Saturday said that he had instructed the Israeli military to “deliver a strong message” that if Syria’s new government “harms the Druse – it will be harmed by [Israel],” following a Friday night clash between Damascus security forces and the Druse community. Syrian Druse and government leaders rejected Netanyahu’s comments. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, one person was killed and nine others wounded in the clash. Raja Abdulrahim reports for the New York Times.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week ordered the U.S. Cyber Command to stop offensive cyber and information operations against Russia for as long as negotiations on Russia’s war in Ukraine continue, U.S. officials say. The order does not apply to the National Security Agency and its signals work against Russia, the sources added. Martin Matishak reports for the Record; Ellen Nakashima and Joseph Menn report for the Washington Post.
A senior U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) career official, Nicholas Enrich, yesterday said he was placed on leave, shortly after he disseminated a memo stating that the failure of “political leadership” to implement life-saving humanitarian assistance waivers will cause “massive” threats to national security. The memo contradicted Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s earlier claims that foreign aid freeze waivers have been implemented in regard to lifesaving assistance. John Hudson reports for the Washington Post.
Washington’s foreign policy reconfigurations now “largely align” with Moscow’s vision, Russia’s state television reported Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov as saying yesterday. Francesca Ebel reports for the Washington Post.
The Trump administration has relaxed the rules on military raids and airstrikes, authorizing operations outside of conventional battlefields and broadening the range of people who can be targeted, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed on Friday. The Pentagon has also relaxed the rules on who can approve the strikes, a defense official said. James LaPorta reports for CBS News; Dan Lamothe reports for the Washington Post.
Hegseth in January told Mexican officials the U.S. military is prepared to take “unilateral action” if Mexico does not address the collusion between the country’s government and drug cartels, unnerving the negotiators, sources say. José de Córdoba, Santiago Pérez, and Vera Bergengruen report for the Wall Street Journal.
A Russian state media reporter was briefly present in the Oval Office for Zelenskyy’s meeting with Trump, in what the White House said was an unplanned incident that concluded with the reporter being escorted out. The White House did not address how the unapproved reporter was able to gain access to an Oval Office meeting from which Reuters and the Associated Press were excluded. Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing reports for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
Interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin demoted several senior top federal prosecutors in the fraud, public corruption and civil rights section of the D.C. Justice Department office to entry-level positions, according to sources. Some of those demoted prosecuted the far-right Oath Keepers and former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro, the sources added. Sarah N. Lynch and Andrew Goudsward report for Reuters.
Trump on Friday transported boxes of documents the FBI had seized at his Mar-a-Lago property in August 2022 back to Florida. The documents, which allegedly included classified files, formed the subject of an investigation into Trump’s mishandling of presidential documents. Kit Maher and Donald Judd report for CNN.
The Trump administration forced U.S. Army’s Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland to retire last Friday, officials say. Crosland was the head of the Defense Health Agency and one of the most senior Black female officers in the Army. Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart report for Reuters.
Federal employees across multiple agencies again received mass emails asking them to detail what they did over the past week from the Trump administration on Friday, in what the messages said would be a weekly requirement. Defense and Homeland Security Department employees received emails instructing them to reply to provide similar lists in internal emails to the DOD and DHS leaders, according to emails seen by CNN. Tami Luhby, Rene Marsh, and Nick Valencia report.
State Department and National Aviation and Space Agency leaders instructed their employees to ignore the second “what did you do last week” email, messages reviewed by the Washington Post show. Evan Halper, Dan Lamothe, and Hannah Natanson report.
Trump yesterday signed an executive order making English the official language of the United States, rescinding a policy that required government agencies and federally-funded organizations to provide language assistance to non-English speakers. Maia Davies reports for BBC News.
DOGE has claimed it canceled procurement agreements that had been completed years earlier, experts on federal contracting say, with a New York Times investigation finding several inaccuracies on DOGE’s website. David A. Fahrenthold, Margot Sanger-Katz, and Jeremy Singer-Vine report.
The Pentagon is sending approximately 3,000 more active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, U.S. officials said Saturday. Lolita C. Baldor reports for AP News.
Homeland Security Department officials are pushing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to turn over the addresses of roughly 700,000 undocumented immigrants the DHS is seeking to deport, with the IRS resisting over taxpayer privacy law concerns, sources say. Andrew Duehren reports for the New York Times.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Virginia Military Institute board on Friday voted to not renew the contract of Retired Army Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins, the school’s first Black superintendent who was hired four years ago amid allegations of widespread racism at the state-supported military college. Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff reports for the Washington Post.
Russia and China have recently directed their intelligence services to boost efforts aimed at recruiting U.S. federal employees working in national security who have been fired or feel they could be soon, according to officials familiar with U.S. intelligence and a document reviewed by CNN.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia on Saturday declared a ceasefire with Turkey following the jailed PKK leader’s call for the militia to lay down its arms last week. Eyad Kourdi, Lucas Lilieholm, and Chris Lau report for CNN.
A group of migrants detained at a camp near a jungle in Panama on Saturday filed a suit against the Panamanian government before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, arguing Panama has violated domestic and international laws in its detention of deportees and the United States violated Iranian migrants’ right to asylum from religious persecution. A lawyer involved in the proceedings said he plans to file a separate complaint against the U.S. Homeland Security Department this week. Farnaz Fassihi and Julie Turkewitz report for the New York Times.
One person was killed and four others injured in a stabbing attack in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, police said, adding that they are treating the incident as a militant attack. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. AP News reports.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government wants to negotiate with Rwanda and not the M23 rebels, DRC Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka has told the BBC. Anne Soy reports.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
Trump cannot fire Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, without cause, a federal judge ruled on Saturday while issuing an order barring the Trump administration from treating Dellinger “in any way as if he has been removed.” The administration has appealed the decision. Zach Montague reports for the New York Times.
A federal judge on Friday issued a long-term order blocking the Trump administration from pulling funding from institutions providing gender-affirming care for transgender youth pending a final decision in the case. Gene Johnson reports for AP News.
The Democratic Party on Friday filed a lawsuit against Trump arguing that his attempt to assert control over independent executive-branch agencies, including the Federal Election Commission, is incompatible with federal election law. Nick Corasaniti reports for the New York Times.
A group of human rights and immigrant advocacy organizations on Saturday filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy of sending and detaining migrants in Guantánamo Bay, arguing the government lacks the legal authority to carry out the transfers. Charlie Savage and Carol Rosenberg report for the New York Times.
It seems “factually inaccurate” for the Trump administration to insist Elon Musk has no formal position in DOGE, a federal judge opined on Friday during a hearing in a challenge brought by a group of USAID workers over the agency’s dismantling. Aishvarya Kavi and Zach Montague report for the New York Times.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
