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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
Israel’s air force yesterday continued to strike Gaza while Hamas fighters sustained attacks against Israeli soldiers, a further indication that this week’s U.N. ceasefire resolution has failed to persuade either side to halt the fighting. Over the two days since the resolution passed on Monday, Hamas’s military wing has said it is continuing to carry out attacks against Israeli soldiers. Meanwhile, the Israeli military yesterday said that warplanes had hit dozens of targets over the previous day, including tunnels, military compounds, and militants. Yesterday, three Palestinian human rights groups said there had been an intensification of Israeli bombardments of Rafah over the previous 72 hours, killing dozens. Adam Rasgon reports for the New York Times.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to send two top Israeli officials to Washington as early as next week for talks about a possible military offensive in Rafah, four U.S. and Israeli officials told Axios. It is a sharp reversal by Netanyahu, who on Monday canceled the same delegation in protest over the United States not vetoing the U.N. ceasefire resolution. Netanyahu yesterday met with Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) in Jerusalem, and in a statement after the meeting, gave a new reason for canceling the Washington trip: “My decision not to send the delegation to Washington in the wake of that resolution was a message to Hamas: Don’t bet on this pressure, it’s not going to work. I hope they got the message,” he said.
Netanyahu told a group of U.S. Congress members that “victory” in Gaza and “getting” Hamas leadership in the territory are just “a few weeks away.” Speaking yesterday to the bipartisan Congressional group, Netanyahu said, “We’ve killed many senior leaders [of Hamas], including number four in Hamas, number three in Hamas. We’ll get number two and number one. That’s victory. Victory is within reach. It’s a few weeks away.” He added that Israel’s “very existence is on the line” and his country “had no choice” but to move into Rafah. Netanyahu had earlier told the delegation that displaced Palestinians in Gaza could “just move” out of Rafah “with their tents.” “There’s all of the Gaza Strip north of Rafah … People move down, they can move up,” he said. Benjamin Brown and Eugenia Yosef report for CNN.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
Ireland will intervene in the case against Israel under the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Ireland’s Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Micheál Martin, yesterday announced that he had directed officials to begin work on a Declaration of Intervention under Article 63 of the ICJ statute. “The situation could not be more stark; half the population of Gaza face imminent famine and 100% of the population face acute food insecurity. Ireland will be intervening … What we are seeing in Gaza now, represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale. It has to stop,” Martin said. Ireland will not be asserting if genocide is being committed, but asserting its interpretation of the Genocide Convention. Aoife Moore reports for BBC News.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel yesterday in a barrage that it said was retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike in southern Lebanon. The Israeli military yesterday said it had carried out an overnight strike targeting a “significant terrorist operative” and others who were with him near al-Habbariyeh in southern Lebanon. Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike hit an emergency medical center, killing seven paramedics. Hezbollah fired rockets in northern Israel in response, killing at least one person, according to Israel’s nonprofit emergency medical service. Later yesterday, the Israeli military said its fighter jets struck Hezbollah compounds in two areas of southern Lebanon. It was not clear whether there were any casualties. Cassandra Vinograd and Hwaida Saad report for the New York Times.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Russia has intensified its online efforts to hamper military funding for Ukraine in the United States and Europe, largely by using harder-to-trace technologies to push arguments for isolationism ahead of the U.S. elections, according to disinformation experts and intelligence assessments. Russian operatives are laying the groundwork for potential increased efforts to support candidates who oppose aid to Ukraine or who call for U.S. withdrawal from NATO and other alliances, U.S. officials and independent researchers say. Intelligence agencies have also recently warned that Russia has become more adept at concealing its influence operations, and the Treasury Department issued sanctions last week against two Russian companies it said supported the Kremlin’s campaign. Julian E. Barnes and David E. Sanger report for the New York Times.
Russia has no plans to attack any NATO country but if the West supplies F-16 fighters to Ukraine then Russian forces will shoot them down, Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday. “We have no aggressive intentions towards these states,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript released today. “The idea that we will attack some other country – Poland, the Baltic States, and the Czechs are also being scared – is complete nonsense … If they supply F-16s, and they are talking about this and are apparently training pilots, this will not change the situation on the battlefield … And we will destroy the aircraft,” Putin said. Reuters reports.
Putin’s foreign intelligence chief visited North Korea this week to bolster bilateral cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang and discuss broader regional security, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said today. “They discussed topical issues of the development of the international situation, ensuring regional security, and deepening Russian-North Korean cooperation in the face of attempts to increase pressure from external forces,” Russian state news agency TASS quoted the SVR as saying. Reuters reports.
The Philippines will implement countermeasures proportionate and reasonable against “illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks” by China’s coast guard and maritime militia in the South China Sea, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said today. “We seek no conflict with any nation, more so nations that purport and claim to be our friends but we will not be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience,” Marcos said on Facebook. He did not specify what the countermeasures would entail. Neil Jerome Morales reports for Reuters.
Ukraine’s foreign minister arrived in New Delhi today for a two-day visit to strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation with India, which considers Russia a longstanding ally. Dmytro Kuleba will meet with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar tomorrow as well as the deputy national security advisor, according to India’s Foreign Ministry. AP News reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEVELOPMENTS
Security measures in Kyiv will be tightened after a spate of Russian ballistic missile attacks and threats of escalation, a city official said today. Reuters reports.
Ukraine’s military said its forces shot down 26 out of 28 attack drones launched by Russia overnight. The Iranian-made drones were destroyed over parts of eastern, southern, and southeastern Ukraine, the air force added. Reuters reports.
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
Efforts by Hunter Biden’s attorneys to dismiss tax charges against the President’s son were met with skepticism by the judge overseeing the case yesterday, per multiple reports. During yesterday’s hearing, U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi heard arguments in a series of motions filed by Hunter’s team to dismiss part or all of the charges. The Washington Post reports that the Trump-appointed judge gave no indication on how he would rule, but said in a response to the motion, “One of the big hurdles that this motion has is that it’s not filed with any evidence.” Ivana Saric reports for Axios.
Legislation is due to be announced today by Rep Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) that would prohibit people charged with certain crimes from receiving classified information, a move implicitly targeting the embattled Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). If approved by Congress, the new Guarding the United States Against Reckless Disclosures Act would apply to any federal official or candidate charged with “compromising U.S. national security, acting as a foreign agent, obstructing an official proceeding or unlawfully retaining classified national defense information,” according to a copy first shared with NBC News. The legislation could also apply to Trump, who will soon begin to receive intelligence briefings, as is customary for presidential nominees to ensure a smooth transition of power.
A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation pledged continued support for Taiwan today, days after Congress approved $300 million in military aid for the self-governed island. Congress had also approved $400 million on Saturday to counter the Chinese government’s influence in the region, as part of its Defense Appropriations Act. “We will continue to assure our colleagues that the strategic relationship is key for the future security of the region,” said Jack Bergman (R-MI), who chairs the House Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee. Simina Mistreanu reports for AP News.
The bodies of two people have been recovered from the waters where the Baltimore bridge collapsed. The search continues for the remaining four construction workers, all presumed dead, who were on the bridge when the ship struck it. Madeline Halpert reports for BBC News.
TRUMP-LEGAL MATTERS
A California judge yesterday recommended the disbarment of John Eastman, calling to revoke the law license of one of former President Trump’s top allies in his failed effort to subvert the 2020 election. Judge Yvette Roland ruled that Eastman violated ethics rules and even potentially criminal law when he advanced Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results. “Eastman conspired with President Trump to obstruct a lawful function of the government of the United States; specifically, by conspiring to disrupt the electoral count on January 6, 2021,” Roland ruled. In all, Roland found Eastman culpable for 10 of 11 charges that state bar investigators brought against him. Kyle Cheney reports for POLITICO.
Former President Trump lashed out yesterday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order ahead of his April 15 hush money criminal trial, making a false claim about the judge’s daughter and urging him to step aside from the case. Trump claimed that Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter had recently posted a photo on social media depicting her “obvious goal” of seeing him jailed. A statement from the New York’s state court system said Trump’s claim was false and that the social media account Trump was referencing no longer belongs to Merchan’s daughter. Michael R. Sisak reports for AP News.