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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
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated plans for an offensive in Rafah at a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee yesterday, saying, “we must destroy the remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah. If not, Hamas will regroup, rearm and reconquer Gaza and then we’re back to square one. And that’s an intolerable threat that we cannot accept. We will finish the job in Rafah while enabling the civilian population to get out of harm’s way. We’ve taken measures to minimize civilian casualties that no other army has taken in history.” Netanyahu added, “Some people would make you believe that the people of Israel are disunited … The truth of the matter is that the people of Israel overwhelmingly support the policies set forth by myself and my government.”
A 12-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by a border police officer in Shuafat refugee camp in occupied east Jerusalem, according to hospital officials and an Israeli police spokesperson. In a video obtained by CNN, the boy – Rami Al Halhouli – can be seen holding a lit firework above his head before the sound of a single gunshot. The Israeli police spokesperson said police forces responded to a “violent disturbance” at the camp and a border police officer fired “towards a suspect who endangered the forces while firing aerial fireworks in their direction.” Abeer Salman, Kareem Khadder, Jeremy Diamond and Mitchell McCluskey report for CNN.
A convoy of six World Food Program (WFP) trucks were allowed to directly enter northern Gaza from Israel yesterday, the first time Israel had allowed aid trucks to use the route since the start of the war. It follows the Israeli military refusing entry to a WFP convoy last week trying to bring 200 tons of aid from central Gaza to the north, according to the U.N. agency. The Israeli military said the new route was part of a pilot program and comes amid growing pressure for Israel to allow more aid into the enclave. Lars Dolder and Adam Rasgon report for the New York Times.
The Israeli government said this week that children and older adults would be the only Palestinians allowed to enter Israel from the West Bank to pray at Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem during Ramadan. The constraints were imposed by Israel’s agency overseeing policy for the Palestinian territories, known as COGAT, and dictated that only men older than 55, women older than 50, and children under 10 could pray on Fridays — the holiest day of the week. Ghassan Alian, an Israeli general who oversees COGAT, said that Palestinians coming from the West Bank would need a valid permit and confirmation of return, adding the arrangement would depend on the authorities’ assessment of the security situation. Adam Sella reports for the New York Times.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
The White House denied yesterday that President Biden had set any “red lines” for Israel in its military campaign in Gaza but warned again that Israel should not attack Rafah. “The president didn’t make any declarations or pronouncements or announcements,” said Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, referring to an interview Biden gave over the weekend in which he was asked whether he had a “red line” Israel should not cross. “We’re not going to engage in hypotheticals about what comes down the line, and the reports that purport to describe the president’s thinking are uninformed speculation,” Sullivan said. Peter Baker and Alan Yuhas report for the New York Times.
The tension between Biden and Netanyahu significantly escalated yesterday after a senior Israeli official accused the Biden administration of undermining Netanyahu’s government. “Those who elect the Prime Minister of Israel are the citizens of Israel and no one else. Israel is not a vassal state of the U.S. but an independent and democratic country whose citizens are the ones who elect the government,” the senior Israeli official said, referencing the U.S. intelligence community report released Monday which cited a deepening “distrust of Netanyahu’s ability to rule” since the war erupted. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
Biden was “devastated” to learn of the death of 19-year-old U.S.-Israeli soldier Itay Chen, he said in a statement today. Chen was thought to have been held hostage in Gaza for six months, but his family announced today that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told them he died on Oct. 7 while defending civilians on the Gaza border during the Hamas attacks. Doha Madani reports for NBC News.
The United States carried out another airdrop of aid into Gaza with the assistance of the Royal Jordanian Air Force yesterday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said. The Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh added that five airdrops were completed yesterday, including one with aid from Egypt and another from Belgium.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — REGIONAL RESPONSE
Prospects for a potential ceasefire and prisoner-hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas remained dim yesterday, with an official from Qatar — which has played a key mediating role in the talks — saying the two sides were “not near a deal.” “We are not near a deal, meaning that we are not seeing both sides converging on language that can resolve the current disagreements,” Majed al-Ansari said, without elaborating. Yesterday, a senior Hamas official, Mahmoud Mardawi, said his group was holding firm to its demands. “Hamas’s main demands have been known from the beginning and there is no change to them: a complete and total ceasefire, a withdrawal of the occupation army, the return of displaced people to their homes and the provision of aid to our people,” Mardawi said. Anushka Patil and Adam Rasgon report for the New York Times.
Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson al-Ansari said today that he hopes a truce agreement will be reached between Israel and Hamas before the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on April 9.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
A group of Danish organizations have filed a lawsuit against the government over arms exports to Israel, following suits in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. The Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq filed the new suit along with the Danish branches of Amnesty International, Oxfam and Action Aid, demanding that the Danish government stop sales of F-35 fighter jets to Israel due to the risk that the parts will be “used to commit serious crimes against civilians in Gaza, violating international arms trade rules and risking complicity in violations of international humanitarian law — including war crimes — and a plausible genocide in Gaza.” Doha Madani reports for NBC News.
The German embassy said yesterday it helped a charity, SOS Children’s Villages International, evacuate nearly 70 children from Rafah to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The charity said it worked “through diplomatic channels with all relevant authorities” to arrange to move the children, who were orphaned before the current war, to its orphanage in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. There was no immediate comment from Israel about the operation, which the U.N. said took place with the approval of Israeli authorities. The German Embassy thanked Israel for “an important humanitarian gesture.” Cassandra Vinograd reports for the New York Times.
Starvation is being used as a weapon of war in Gaza and the lack of aid entering the enclave is a “manmade” disaster, the EU’s foreign policy chief said. The “humanitarian crisis … is manmade and when we look for alternative ways of providing support by sea, by air, we have to remind that we have to do it because the natural way of providing support through roads is being closed, artificially closed,” Josep Borell said. James Gregory reports for BBC News.
MILITARY CONFLICT WITH THE HOUTHIS
The Houthis fired a close-range ballistic missile from Yemen toward the USS Laboon in the Red Sea yesterday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said. The missile did not hit the vessel and there were no injuries or damage reported. U.S. forces and a coalition ship also destroyed two unmanned aerial systems launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, CENTCOM added.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
Israeli National Security Minister Ben Gvir called for Israel to go to war against Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah in a video posted to his X account today. Gvir appeared to taunt Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after the IDF said 100 rockets were launched from Lebanon into Israel today. Gvir said, “What are you waiting for? … War, now.” Doha Madani reports for NBC News.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
A top aide to the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was beaten and sprayed with tear gas as he was pulling up to his home in Lithuania’s capital yesterday, according to Navalny’s press secretary. Leonid Volkov, who served as one of Navalny’s top organizers, survived the attack which comes amid broader worries about the safety of those continuing Navalny’s work. Hours before the attack, Volkov was asked in an interview about the main risks for Navalny’s organization, and he replied saying, “The key risk is that we will all be killed.” The identity of those behind the assault was unknown as of last night, and it was not immediately clear whether there was one attacker, or more. Paul Sonne reports for the New York Times.
Kenya has paused police deployment to Haiti until a new government is formed after the Haitian prime minister announced his intention to resign. Kenyan officials say the deal still stands but is on pause, with a spokesperson for Kenya’s foreign ministry saying, “We will require a sitting government to also collaborate with. Because you don’t just deploy police to go on the Port-au-Prince streets without a sitting administration.” David C. Adams, Abdi Latif Dahir, and Frances Robles report for the New York Times.
Hungary summoned its U.S. ambassador for an “urgent” meeting yesterday following Biden’s remarks about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wanting to run a “dictatorship.” Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó said that Budapest “is not obliged to tolerate lies, even from the president of the United States … This way of thinking by the president and the Democratic administration is a heavy burden on our bilateral relationship.” Elena Giordano reports for POLITICO.
China said the Philippines ignored proposals that Beijing put forward to “manage” the dispute in the South China Sea. On Monday, an unnamed senior Chinese official said the deal was “met with inaction by the Marcos administration,” while President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his country did not reject the deal, but that it stood on a “questionable” premise. The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs added yesterday that while some of China’s proposals were “workable,” others were “contrary to our national interests.” Joel Guinto reports for BBC News.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEVELOPMENTS
The Biden administration announced yesterday a new $300 million military assistance package for Ukraine, made possible by cost savings from Defense Department contracts. Sullivan said at a press briefing, “This ammunition will keep Ukraine’s guns firing for a period, but only a short period. It is nowhere near enough to meet Ukraine’s battlefield needs, and it will not prevent Ukraine from running out of ammunition in the weeks to come.” He added there is still a “critical need” for Congress to pass the national security supplemental package. Ivana Saric reports for Axios.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is ready to use nuclear weapons if there is a threat to the Russian state but “there has never been such a need.” Putin also warned that if U.S. troops were deployed to Ukraine, Russia would treat them as interventionists. “Apart from Biden, there are enough other experts in the sphere of Russian-American relations and strategic restraint. So I don’t think that everything is going to go head-on here, but we are ready for it,” Putin said. “Weapons exist in order to use them. We have our own principles,” he added. Josh Pennington and Helen Regan report for CNN.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Slovakia’s capital Bratislava yesterday to show support for Ukraine and protest against the Slovak government. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government has raised alarm among critics since taking power last October with its criticism of Europe’s military aid to Ukraine and its push to renew Russian ties. Reuters reports.
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Biden and his predecessor former President Trump have both passed the delegate thresholds to clinch their parties’ nominations for the election in November, meaning U.S. voters face a rematch of the 2020 presidential election. Kayla Epstein reports for BBC News.
Special Counsel Robert Hur testified yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, answering questions about his report on Biden’s handling of classified documents. “I resolved to do the work as I did all my work for the department: fairly, thoroughly and professionally,” he said in his opening statement. Hur told the Committee that “partisan politics played no part whatsoever” in his work, and made a point of rejecting a suggestion by Rep Pramila Jaypal (D-WA) that he exonerated Biden. “I did not exonerate him; that word does not appear in the report,” Hur said. He also repeatedly refused to endorse Republican assertions that Biden would have been charged with a crime had he been able to remember his actions, and denied claims that Biden’s mishandling of documents was comparable to Trump. Glenn Thrush and Luke Broadwater report for the New York Times.
A former Customs and Border Protection officer who worked at a Texas port of entry pleaded guilty this week to allowing undocumented people into the United States and taking a $6,000 bribe for what he believed was a shipment of cocaine into the country, officials said. Phil Helsel reports for NBC News.
TRUMP-LEGAL MATTERS
A federal judge yesterday approved Trump’s $91.63 million bond in the E. Jean Carroll case. Trump now has five days to file a copy of the approved bond with the court clerk for the Southern District of New York, after which enforcement of the jury’s $83 million judgment against him will be put on hold “pending the final disposition of the appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.” Lisa Rubin, Adam Reiss, and Megan Lebowitz report for NBC News.