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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
Qatar has brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas that will allow medicines to be delivered to Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for the delivery of humanitarian aid and medicines to Palestinian civilians. The aid will leave Doha today and head to Gaza through Egypt, although no timeline for the delivery was provided. Tara John and Eyad Kourdi report for CNN.
Israeli forces are moving toward the largest hospital in Khan Younis, prompting many patients and sheltering Gazans to flee, according to medical staff working at the hospital and local journalists. Multiple videos show dozens of people carrying mattresses and babies as they leave the Al Nasser hospital. Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman, Alex Marquardt and Hamdi Alkhshali report for CNN.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) say they killed a senior Palestinian militant in an airstrike early this morning in the occupied West Bank. Ahmed Abdullah Abu Shalal was killed along with four others in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces prevented medics from attending the site, saying “gunfire was directed at our teams.” Mushtaq Yusufzai and Jennifer Jett report for NBC News.
The Palestinian death toll has exceeded 24,285, of which 75% are children, women, and elderly people, the Hamas-run health ministry said yesterday. It added that a further 158 people were killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza over the past 24 hours.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — REGIONAL RESPONSE
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said yesterday it could recognize Israel if a comprehensive agreement was reached that included statehood for Palestinians. Maha El Dahan reports for Reuters.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The Palestinians’ top envoy to the United Kingdom, Husam Zomlot, accused the British government of “double standards and hypocrisy” in its policies toward them, including opposing South Africa’s application at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide. Raffi Berg reports for BBC News.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
The U.S. Senate rejected a resolution yesterday that would have frozen security aid to Israel unless the State Department produces a formal report within 30 days on whether Israel has committed human rights violations in its military campaign in Gaza. Seventy-two senators voted to set the resolution aside, while 11 supported it. The vote was forced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). Patricia Zengerle reports for Reuters.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
The Biden administration is expected to soon redesignate the Houthis as specially designated global terrorists, according to two people familiar with the decision and a U.S. official. The Houthis were delisted as both specially designated global terrorists and as a foreign terrorist organization in February 2021 as Washington attempted to facilitate food imports and aid into Yemen. Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee, and Zeke Miller report for AP News.
Iran hit the Jaish al-Adl jihadist group in the Balochistan region of Pakistan with a missile and drone strike yesterday, Iranian state media has reported. Islamabad condemned the attack and said it killed two children and injured three. Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs said, “This violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty is completely unacceptable and can have serious consequences.” Saaed Shah and Benoit Faucon report for the Wall Street Journal.
Iraq recalled its ambassador from Tehran and summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Baghdad yesterday in protest over an Iranian strike on northern Iraq that killed several civilians on Monday, the Iraqi foreign ministry said. The Iranian attack was “a blatant violation” of Iraq’s sovereignty and “strongly contradicts the principles of good neighborliness and international law, and threatens the security of the region,” the ministry said. Salar Salim and Omar Albam report for AP News.
The United States has condemned Iran over the attacks in Kurdistan and Syria, calling them as “reckless and imprecise.” Iran’s Revolution Guards said they struck what they claimed were Israeli “spy headquarters.” George Wright and David Gritten reports for BBC News.
MILITARY CONFLICT WITH HOUTHIS
The United States carried out a military strike against Houthi ballistic missiles in Yemen yesterday, the U.S. military said, as the Houthis fired missiles at passing ships for the third day in a row. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said, “We’re not looking for a war; we’re not looking to expand this. We will continue to defend against them and counter them as appropriate.” Eric Schmitt and Saeed Al-Batati report for the New York Times.
The Houthis “directly hit” a Greek-owned bulk vessel sailing from Vietnam to Israel yesterday, inflicting minor damage to the vessel, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said. The incident came as the U.S. military announced it had seized Iranian-supplied weapons sent to the Houthis last week. Kathryn Armstrong reports for BBC News.
A team of Navy SEALS that lost two sailors while searching a small boat off the Somali coast later found Iranian missiles bound for the Houthis, the U.S. Central Command said yesterday. CENTCOM added that the arms discovered by the SEALs were the same types of weaponry used by the Houthis in their Red Sea attacks. A search and rescue mission continues for the two SEALs who disappeared last Thursday. Courtney Kube and Alexander Smith report for NBC News.
British oil major Shell has suspended all shipments through the Red Sea due to the Houthis’ ongoing attacks, according to people familiar with the decision. Benoit Faucon and Jenny Strasburg report for the Wall Street Journal.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Kuwait formed a government today headed by Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah, the state news agency reported. The government is the country’s first cabinet after the death of its previous ruler. Reuters reports.
A top NATO military official called on the public and private sectors in the West today to prepare for an era in which fighting a war could happen at any time, saying, “We need a warfighting transformation of NATO.” Reuters reports.
South Korea has sanctioned two individuals, three entities, and 11 ships linked to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes, its foreign ministry said today. The move follows South Korea’s military saying its navy carried out three days of joint drills from Monday with Japanese and U.S. troops to improve their responses to the North’s threats. Hyonshee Shin reports for Reuters.
China’s threat to use force to bring Taiwan under its control is aimed at foreign States and a small number of separatists, the Chinese government said today. “Our not promising to renounce the use of force is absolutely not targeted at Taiwan compatriots. We are targeting interference from external forces and the tiny number of Taiwan independence separatists and their separatist activities,” a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said. Reuters reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEVELOPMENTS
Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Ukraine’s statehood could suffer an “irreparable blow” if the war continued, saying Russia would never be forced to abandon the gains it has made. Putin’s comments came a day after Switzerland agreed to host a global peace summit at the request of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which Putin dismissed as “so-called peace formulas” with “prohibitive demands.” Reuters reports.
Two Russian missiles struck a residential area in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv yesterday, injuring 17 people and damaging homes, according to local officials. Reuters reports.
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
President Biden invited the top four congressional leaders to the White House this afternoon to discuss national security funding, including aid for Ukraine and Israel as well as border security, according to multiple sources. The meeting comes at a critical moment as Congress must pass a short-term funding bill to prevent a government shutdown before money runs out on Friday night. Julie Tsirkin, Monica Alba, Frank Thorp V and Rebecca Kaplan report for NBC News.
House Republicans have paused efforts to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress after his lawyers offered to have Biden sit for the closed-door deposition he had been resisting. The Rules Committee was scheduled to vote yesterday on the resolution, but the panel’s chair said the committee will not reconvene as they negotiate with Biden’s legal team. Andrew Solender reports for Axios.
The FBI and Capitol Police are investigating remarks reportedly made by Roger J. Stone, an informal adviser to former President Trump, in which he expressed death wishes for two Democratic lawmakers in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, according to a government official familiar with the matter. The investigation was opened following an audio recording being released on Mediaite where someone sounding like Stone can be heard discussing Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who are among Trump’s most vocal congressional critics. “It’s time we do it, let’s go find Swalwell…It’s either Swalwell or Nadler has to die before the election. They need to get the message,” the audio is heard saying. Stone denies the comments and called the recording a “deep fake.”Alan Feuer and Luke Broadwater report for the New York Times.
TRUMP-LEGAL MATTERS
Federal prosecutors are requesting a judge to sentence a former IRS contractor to five years in prison, the statutory maximum, for leaking the tax records of former President Trump and other wealthy Americans to the press. Charles Littlejohn pleaded guilty in October to one count of disclosing tax return information without authorization, and admitted to leaking tax records of “over a thousand” other wealthy people. Daniel Barnes and Zoë Richards report for NBC News.