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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
An Israeli airstrike yesterday hit a hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, causing multiple casualties. Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV reported that the strike killed a member of Hamas’ political bureau being treated at the hospital and his nephew. Under international humanitarian law, hospitals are entitled to special protections during armed conflict. Abeer Salman, Jeremy Diamond, Michael Rios, Dana Karni, Caitlin Danaher, and Mitchell McCluskey report for CNN; Rushdi Abu Alouf and Maia Davies report for BBC News.
More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war in the territory, the Hamas-run health ministry said yesterday. 41 people were killed in the past 24 hours, the ministry said. Nadeen Ebrahim and Ibrahim Dahman report for CNN.
Israeli forces expanded their ground offensive in Gaza yesterday, issuing evacuation orders for parts of south Gaza’s Rafah and Beit Hanoun in the north. The Palestinian Civil Defense yesterday warned of “imminent danger threatening the lives” of more than 50,000 people in Rafah. Isabel Kershner and Hiba Yazbek report for the New York Times.
An Israeli airstrike yesterday killed top Hamas political leader Salah al-Bardaweel and his wife in south Gaza’s city of Khan Younis, according to a Hamas official. Rushdi Abu Alouf and Emir Nader report for BBC News.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Egypt made a new proposal aimed at restoring the Gaza ceasefire deal last week, security sources told Reuters today. While the United States and Hamas agreed to the proposal, Israel has yet to respond, the sources added.
Germany, France, and Britain on Friday issued a joint statement calling for an immediate return to a ceasefire in Gaza and for Israel to restore humanitarian access to the territory. Reuters reports.
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH CEASEFIRE
Israel on Saturday fired rockets into southern Lebanon for the first time in months after rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel, the Israeli military said. The Lebanese army on Saturday said it had dismantled rocket launchers in the country’s south. The Israeli strikes killed at least six people, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Aaron Boxerman reports for the New York Times.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
The “elephant in the room” in Russia-Ukraine peace talks is the status of Crimea and the four Ukrainian regions occupied by Russia, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said. Witkoff claimed that referendums in the illegally occupied territories have shown “the overwhelming majority” of their residents want Russian rule. Reports suggest voting in the referendums had been carried out at gunpoint. Christian Edwards reports for CNN.
U.S. and Russian officials today began talks in Saudi Arabia, with Washington eyeing a Black Sea maritime ceasefire deal to allow the free flow of shipping before a broader agreement can be secured, a source said. Reuters reports.
Ukrainian and U.S. delegations discussed proposals to protect energy facilities and critical infrastructure, Ukraine’s defense minister said following bilateral talks yesterday. Pavel Polityuk and Pesha Magid report for Reuters.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia’s massive overnight drone strikes yesterday killed at least seven people, according to local Ukrainian officials and emergency services. Samya Kullab reports for AP News.
Russia and Ukraine on Friday traded blame over an attack on a gas metering station in Russia’s Kursk region, with Russia accusing Ukraine of “discrediting the US president’s peace initiatives” and Kyiv stating that Moscow intends to mislead the international community and has “repeatedly shelled” the station. Mariya Knight and Maria Kostenko report for CNN.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
President Trump on Friday rescinded the security clearances of former President Biden, former Vice President Harris, Hillary Clinton, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and others. Shawn McCreesh reports for the New York Times.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe has chosen Ralph Goff, a veteran CIA operations officer, to be the agency’s Deputy Director for Operations responsible for running human espionage and covert action programs, sources say. Warren P. Strobel and Ellen Nakashima report for the Washington Post.
The Homeland Security Department on Friday announced it is conducting wide-scale layoffs at its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Immigration Services Ombudsman, and the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, gutting mechanisms overseeing its immigration policies and providing avenues for public complaints. Rebecca Beitsch reports for the Hill.
The White House on Friday ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem to pursue ethics challenges against lawyers they consider to bring meritless cases or make arguments that are not backed up by fact. Shayna Jacobs reports for the Washington Post.
The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in locating immigrants by verifying whether ICE has the right home address for people ordered to leave the United States, according to a draft agreement reviewed by the New York Times. Andrew Duehren and Eileen Sullivan report.
FBI Director Kash Patel has outlined plans to move as many as 1,000 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to the FBI, sources say. The FBI has backed off aspects of the move, which would cut ATF’s forces by more than a third, due to pushback from lawmakers after the story was covered in the media, a U.S. official said. Evan Perez and Hannah Rabinowitz report for CNN.
The Trump administration on Friday formally announced it was ending a program that allowed applicants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to work in the United States for up to two years. More than 500,000 migrants have entered the United States through the initiative since its creation during the Biden administration. Tim Balk and Miriam Jordan report for the New York Times.
The Defense Department is planning to use polygraphs while investigating “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information,” according to a memo published on the Pentagon’s website. Shania Shelton reports for CNN.
Trump on Friday said he “didn’t sign” the proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The proclamation appears in the Federal Register with Trump’s signature at the bottom. Trump also said the authority could “perhaps” be used to send those convicted of damaging or destroying Tesla vehicles to prisons in El Salvador. Jeff Zeleny and Kit Maher report for CNN; Chris Cameron reports for the New York Times.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The United States has lifted bounties on three senior Taliban figures, including Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 attack that killed six people, according to officials in Kabul and the State Department’s Rewards for Justice website. AP News reports.
The Pentagon is dispatching a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East amid rising tensions prompted by Israel’s resumption of attacks on Gaza, a U.S. official said. Lolita C. Baldor reports for AP News.
Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute B. Egede yesterday condemned the Trump administration’s intention to send what he described as a “highly aggressive” delegation to the island, expressing particular displeasure with the planned presence of National Security Adviser Mike Walz. Maya Tekeli, Jeffrey Gettleman, and Maggie Haberman report for the New York Times.
Venezuela yesterday accepted a flight carrying 199 people deported from the United States, after reaching an agreement with the Trump administration to resume accepting deportation flights. Annie Correal and Shawn McCreesh report for the New York Times.
The State Department on Friday sanctioned former Argentinian President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner over her conviction in a $1 billion fraud scheme. Marc Caputo reports for Axios.
OTHER U.S. DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The White House is soliciting corporate sponsors for this year’s Easter Egg Roll event, promising branding opportunities and private tours of the residence according to a document obtained by CNN. The move prompted criticism from ethics experts. Betsy Klein reports.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is positioning itself to earn billions of dollars in new federal contracts and other support, according to current and former federal officials. Eric Lipton reports for the New York Times.
Columbia University has agreed to a raft of anti-protest and restructuring measures to stave off the Trump administration’s threats to withhold $400 million in federal grants, according to a memo the school said it shared with federal officials. Douglas Belkin reports for the Wall Street Journal.
The Trump administration on Friday notified a Cornell University student and pro-Palestinian activist from Gambia that ICE is seeking his surrender, court documents show. Stephanie Saul reports for the New York Times.
Paul, Weiss reached an agreement with the Trump administration as it was unlikely to survive a protracted legal fight, the firm’s managing partner, Brad Karp, said yesterday. Michael S. Schmidt and Matthew Goldstein report for the New York Times.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
A Turkish court yesterday jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political opponent, pending trial on corruption charges. The ruling further inflamed tensions amid the country’s biggest demonstrations in more than a decade, with tens of thousands protesting for the fifth day in a row. The Journalists Union of Turkey today said Turkish authorities have detained nine journalists covering the protests. 343 protesters were detained on Saturday. Ece Toksabay, Ezgi Erkoyun, and Tuvan Gumrukcu report for Reuters; Emily Wither and Maia Davies report for BBC News.
The Israeli cabinet yesterday passed a no-confidence motion against the Israeli Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara. Baharav-Miara said the no-confidence motion was not part of the process required for her removal and Netanyahu’s government sought to put itself “above the law.” Separately, the Israeli Supreme Court on Friday froze Netanyahu’s attempt to fire the head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, pending a hearing on the dismissal. Aaron Boxerman reports for the New York Times; Emily Atkinson and Graeme Baker report for BBC News.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court today reinstated Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as acting President, overturning the National Assembly’s attempt to impeach him. The Court did not indicate when it would hand down its decision on the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol. Michelle Ye Hee Lee and Kelly Kasulis Cho report for the Washington Post.
The Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group killed at least 45 people after entering a city in the western region of Darfur last week, a Sudanese pro-democracy group said on Saturday. AP News reports.
Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to separate 13 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank from the adjoining neighbourhoods, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said yesterday. Steven Scheer reports for Reuters.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
A federal judge on Friday issued an order for ICE to not deport a prominent local immigrant rights activist, Jeanette Vizguerr, until her challenge to detention is determined. Esteban L. Hernandez reports for Axios.
The White House had stretched the meaning of the Alien Enemies Act by applying it to a group of Venezuelan migrants, a federal judge suggested during a Friday hearing, adding that the government was not being “terribly cooperative” in supplying information that would shed light on whether the court’s orders were breached. Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times.
Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek said his threat to bar Social Security Administration employees from accessing SSA’s computer systems was “out of line,” after a federal judge on Friday clarified that Dudek’s assertions an earlier court order had this effect were “inaccurate.” Lisa Rein and Maegan Vazquez report for the Washington Post.
The Voice of America (VOA) workers, reporters, unions, and Reporters Without Borders on Friday filed a challenge to the Trump administration’s efforts to terminate the news agency. Filip Timotija reports for the Hill.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
