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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
The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate toward full-scale war, with Hamas firing rockets at Israel for the first time in months and the Israeli military expanding its ground operations in Gaza, raiding cities of Rafah and Beit Lahiya yesterday. Militants in Palestine had also been put on alert awaiting further instructions, according to a source from a group allied with Hamas. Aaron Boxerman, Adam Rasgon, and Patrick Kingsley report for the New York Times; Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Mahmoud Issa report for Reuters.
Israeli strikes and ground operations killed at least 91 Palestinians in Gaza yesterday, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said. Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Mahmoud Issa report for Reuters.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz today threatened to annex areas of Gaza to Israel if Hamas refuses to release the hostages, saying that he has instructed the IDF to seize additional areas of the territory and issue evacuation orders for Palestinians. Emanuel Fabian reports for the Times of Israel.
The Israeli government today voted to dismiss the Shin Bet intelligence agency Director, Ronen Bar. The move is likely to escalate the domestic political and constitutional crises in Israel. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Each day of renewed violence in Gaza makes the safe return of the remaining hostages more unlikely, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for the Middle East Khaled Khiari told a Security Council briefing yesterday. Reuters reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The United States is seeking to reopen negotiations on the terms of U.S. access to Ukraine’s minerals and energy assets and is working on widening its economic demands, two Ukrainian officials said. President Trump said yesterday that the United States would sign the Ukraine minerals deal “very shortly.” Christopher Miller, Ben Hall, Paola Tamma, and James Politi report for the Financial Times.
Europe’s military powers are drawing up plans for a pitch to the Trump administration to manage transfer of NATO competences to Europe over the next five to 10 years and other means of taking on greater responsibilities for the continent’s defense from the United States, sources say. Henry Foy and Ben Hall report for the Financial Times.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Ukrainian and U.S. officials will meet for peace talks in Saudi Arabia next Monday, as will representatives from the United States and Russia, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin “must stop making unnecessary demands that only prolong the war”, Zelenskyy said ahead of the talks. Vicky Wong reports for BBC News.
Ukraine struck an airfield deep inside Russian territory early yesterday, Ukrainian officials confirmed, as Russia’s continued drone strikes on Ukraine killed at least five people, injured dozens, and damaged civilian infrastructure in the port city of Odesa. Maria Varenikova reports for the New York Times.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Pentagon was scheduled to brief Elon Musk on the U.S. military top-secret operational plans for potential armed conflict with China today, U.S. officials told the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal yesterday. Trump and Pentagon officials denied the report, saying that China “will not even be mentioned or discussed” during Musk’s Pentagon visit, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying the “informal” meeting would focus on “innovation, efficiencies & smarter production.” In a social media post, Musk said that Pentagon sources who “maliciously leak false information … will be found” and prosecuted. Eric Schmitt, Eric Lipton, Julian E. Barnes, Ryan Mac, and Maggie Haberman report; Alexander Ward and Nancy A. Youssef report; Csongor Körömi reports for POLITICO.
Trump yesterday announced he would rescind the punitive executive order against Paul, Weiss after the law firm made several concessions, including a promise to provide free legal representation on behalf of conservative causes. The White House statement announcing the move also referenced a commitment to abandon diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, but the promise was not included in the agreement between the firm and the White House, sources added. Daniel Barnes reports for POLITICO; Michael S. Schmidt reports for the New York Times.
The FBI has reassigned staff from an office focused on combating domestic terrorism and has scrapped a tool used to track such investigations, sources say. Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch report for Reuters.
Trump yesterday signed an executive order intended to boost the production of critical minerals in the United States, invoking emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to expand domestic U.S. mining production. Brett Samuels and Rachel Frazin report for the Hill.
Trump administration officials are proposing to move USAID operations to be run under State Department authority and rename the agency to the U.S. Agency for International Humanitarian Assistance (IHA), according to a memo obtained by POLITICO. Nahal Toosi and Daniel Lippman report.
The Pentagon is cancelling more than $580 million in “wasteful” grants and contracts, Defense Secretary Hegseth announced yesterday. Ellen Mitchel reports for the Hill.
The Trump administration has reassigned John Ullyot, formerly a senior Defense Department spokesperson, following the fallout over Ullyot’s defense of the Pentagon’s removal of an online article about the military background of Jackie Robinson, sources say. Dan Lamothe reports for the Washington Post.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Justice Department yesterday asked to replace Trump as a defendant in a series of civil lawsuits seeking to hold the President accountable for his supporters’ attack on the Capitol, arguing that Trump was acting in his official capacity on Jan. 6, 2021, and hence the federal government should take his place. If successful, the move would shield Trump from any potential financial liability in the lawsuits. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.
Elon Musk’s political action committee is offering Wisconsin voters $100 to sign a petition expressing their opposition to “activist judges,” ahead of an April 1 election that will determine the composition of the ideologically divided bench in the swing state. Alex Isenstadt reports for Axios.
The White House is scrambling to mitigate the effects of a data breach after inadvertently making public the Social Security numbers of more than 400 former congressional staffers and others when publishing files related to President John Kennedy’s assassination, a White House official said. William Wan, Aaron Schaffer, Clara Ence Morse, and Cat Zakrzewski report for the Washington Post.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
U.S. intelligence assessments contradict Trump’s claim that the Tren de Aragua gang is committing crimes in the United States at the direction of Venezuela’s government, according to officials familiar with the briefings. Trump used the assertion as the basis for invoking the Alien Enemies Act to summarily transfer a group of Venezuelans to a high-security prison in El Salvador. Charlie Savage and Julian E. Barnes report for the New York Times.
The Taliban yesterday released a U.S. citizen abducted more than two years ago while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist, the State Department said yesterday. Eric Tucker reports for AP News.
A French scientist was prevented from entering the United States this month over the opinions he expressed about Trump’s academic research policies in private message exchanges, the French government said yesterday. A Homeland Security Department spokesperson described the allegation that the removal was based on the researcher’s political beliefs as “blatantly false” and claimed that the man had “confidential information” on his phone. Aurelien Breeden reports for the New York Times; Saskya Vandoorne reports for CNN.
A senior Israeli delegation is scheduled to visit the White House for high-level consultations on Iran’s nuclear program next week, according to U.S. and Israeli officials. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
The Treasury yesterday sanctioned a Chinese refining company and its chief executive and other entities linked to purchases of Iranian crude oil in a bid to step up the U.S. “maximum pressure” on Iran. Anthony Harrup reports for the Wall Street Journal.
The State Department has approved what would be the first sale of advanced precision kill weapon systems (APKWS) to Saudi Arabia for $100 million, the Pentagon announced yesterday. Mike Stone reports for Reuters.
67,000 white South Africans have expressed interest in seeking refugee status in the United States under a program announced by the Trump administration last month, the U.S. embassy in Pretoria said yesterday. Gerald Imray reports for AP News.
Migrants from Afghanistan, Russia, Iran, and China deported by the United States say they are hopping from embassy to embassy in Panama in an attempt to seek asylum in any country that will accept them, amid worries they will be forgotten with no clear pathway offered by authorities. Matias Delacroix and Megan Janetsky report for AP News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
The Sudanese military today said it retook the Republican Palace in Khartoum, the last major bastion of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary in Sudan’s capital, in a major symbolic victory for Sudan’s government. Samy Magdy and Jon Gambrell report for AP News.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney is poised to call a snap federal election for April 28 this weekend, according to Canadian media reports. Reuters reports.
Police in Turkey yesterday used tear gas and rubber bullets against demonstrators, with protests against the arrest of the Mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu continuing into their third day. Emily Wither and Toby Luckhurst report for BBC News.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Trump administration’s explanations of why its deportations of immigrants to El Salvador did not amount to a breach of a court order are “woefully insufficient,” with officials “evad[ing] their obligations” to provide the details of their actions, a federal judge ruled yesterday in a sternly written order instructing the administration to provide a series of detailed responses to the judge’s questions in the coming days. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.
A federal judge yesterday barred DOGE employees from accessing sensitive Social Security Administration data and ordered its staffers to delete any personally identifiable information they obtained, ruling that DOGE “essentially engaged in a fishing expedition … based on little more than suspicion” of fraud at the SSA. “It has launched a search for the proverbial needle in the haystack, without any concrete knowledge that the needle is actually in the haystack,” she added. Maegan Vazquez reports for the Washington Post.
The Trump administration is blocked from removing an Indian-born Georgetown University scholar from the United States after a judge issued an order restraining the man’s deportation pending a court review of the lawfulness of his detention. Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report for POLITICO.
A federal judge yesterday ruled that Columbia University is not to give information about student disciplinary actions over to the House Education and Workforce Committee until a hearing on the merits of a challenge against the move filed by detained activist Mahmoud Khalil. Lexi Lonas Cochran reports for the Hill.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
