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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news
DAMASCUS CONSULATE STRIKE
The United States assessed that Israel carried out Monday’s airstrike in Damascus on what Iran has said was a consulate building. “That’s our assessment, and it’s also our assessment that there were a handful of IRGC top leaders there,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh said yesterday, referencing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Singh added that she could not confirm what type of building was struck, saying, “Again this was not a US strike so I don’t have a lot of details on what type of building that was. But no, we don’t support attacks on diplomatic facilities.” CNN reports.
The Biden administration reiterated yesterday that it had no involvement in Israel’s strike in Damascus. “I can’t predict what the Supreme Leader and what the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp] IRGC will decide to do or not,” national security spokesperson John Kirby said. “Let me make it clear – we had nothing to do with what [sic] the strike in Damascus. We weren’t involved in any way whatsoever.” CNN reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
The Israeli strike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven workers for World Central Kitchen (WCK) has sparked international outrage and prompted a rare apology from the Israeli government. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected almost unequivocally international criticism over how Israel has waged its war in Gaza, said yesterday that Israel “deeply regrets the tragic incident.” The Israeli military acknowledged it was responsible for the strike in a video posted to social media today, calling the incident “a grave mistake.” The military’s chief of staff said an independent body would investigate the killings. Aaron Boxerman, Adam Rasgon, and Matthew Mpoke Bigg report for the New York Times.
The Israeli police clashed with anti-government protesters outside Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem yesterday, marking the third day of demonstrations calling for early elections and his resignation. Thousands of protesters have been demonstrating since Sunday when a planned four-day protest began outside Israel’s parliament. According to the Israeli police force, the protest and an authorized march started peacefully last night but turned into a “riot.” It said in a statement that hundreds of rioters had tried to break through barriers near Netanyahu’s house, but were blocked by the police. Cassandra Vinograd reports for the New York Times.
The Palestinian Authority sent the U.N. Secretary-General a letter renewing its request for U.N. membership, according to the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the U.N. “Today, the State of Palestine, and upon instructions of the Palestinian leadership, sent a letter [to] the Secretary General requesting renewed consideration to Membership application,” the post on X read. CNN reports.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
President Biden said he was “outraged and heartbroken” over Israel’s killing of WCK workers in Gaza and that Israel had not done enough to protect aid workers. Biden called for Israel’s investigation to be conducted swiftly, saying it “must bring accountability” and that its findings be made public. In some of the strongest language since the start of the war, he said facilitating aid distribution in Gaza has been “so difficult” because Israel had “not done enough to protect aid workers trying to deliver desperately needed help to civilians,” adding that “Israel has also not done enough to protect civilians.” Ido Vock and Tiffanie Turnbull report for BBC News.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power said the killing of WCK workers by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, as well as “the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians and 200 humanitarian workers in this conflict, are devastating and deeply alarming.” “We acknowledge Israel’s commitment to conduct a comprehensive investigation into how yesterday’s strike occurred, and as President Biden said, that investigation must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public,” Power said. CNN reports.
The United States conducted another airdrop of food into Northern Gaza yesterday, U.S. Central Command said. “U.S. C-130s dropped over 50,680 U.S. meal equivalents into Northern Gaza, an area of great need, allowing for civilian access to the critical aid,” CENTCOM said.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — REGIONAL RESPONSE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is pausing its involvement in the maritime aid corridor to Gaza until Israel assures aid workers will be protected, sources close to the UAE government told Axios. The announcement follows Israel’s killing of seven WCK workers in an airstrike on Monday, which the UAE foreign ministry condemned. “The UAE holds Israel fully responsible for this dangerous development, and calls for an urgent, independent and transparent investigation, and punishment of those who have committed this heinous crime in contravention of international humanitarian law,” the ministry said.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
The majority of diplomats condemned Israel in an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council yesterday, saying it had violated international law and breached the U.N. charter when it struck an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria. The United States, France, and Britain did not condemn Israel, but they joined other countries in reiterating that diplomatic structures should be considered off limits during war and that the airstrikes in Damascus had risked causing further instability in the Middle East. Farnaz Fassihi reports for the New York Times.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “demanded a thorough and transparent independent investigation” into the killing of WCK workers in Gaza during a call with Netanyahu, according to a government statement. “The Prime Minister said far too many aid workers and ordinary civilians have lost their lives in Gaza and the situation is increasingly intolerable,” the statement said. “The UK expects to see immediate action by Israel to end restrictions on humanitarian aid, deconflict with the UN and aid agencies, protect civilians and repair vital infrastructure like hospitals and water networks.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had a “reasonably long” phone call with Netanyahu today. Albanese said Netanyahu expressed his condolences for the death of an Australian citizen killed in the Israeli strike on the WCK aid convoy, and told Albanese he is “committed to full transparency” over Israel’s investigation into the incident. CNN reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEVELOPMENTS
The United States and other Western countries are considering transferring to NATO a U.S.-led multinational group that coordinates the shipment of weapons to Ukraine. It is one of several new proposals that would help maintain arms transfers to Kyiv even under a second Trump presidency. During the NATO foreign ministerial meeting in Brussels today and tomorrow, officials are expected to discuss a range of options to assist Kyiv, including the phased transfer of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group under NATO’s control, according to three E.U. officials and a U.S. official. POLITICO reports.
Russia has seen a significant increase in the number of people signing contracts to join the armed forces since last month’s concert hall attack near Moscow, Russia’s defense ministry said today. It said more than 100,000 people have signed contracts with the military since the start of the year, 16,000 of which are from the past 10 days alone. Reuters reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday signed into law a bill lowering the combat call-up age from 27 to 25. The move is expected to allow Kyiv to conscript more people to replenish its reserves, after volunteer numbers dropped. Fiona Nimoni reports for BBC News.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Taiwan has been struck by its most powerful earthquake in 25 years, which measured 7.4 in magnitude. Officials have confirmed at least nine people have died and over 800 are injured. China and Japan have offered assistance to Taiwan, and President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan’s military will be deployed in rescue operations. BBC News reports.
The United States told Russia that Crocus City Hall was a potential target more than two weeks before terrorists staged a deadly attack there, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The high level of specificity in the warning underscores Washington’s confidence that the self-styled Islamic State militant group was preparing an attack, in direct conflict with Moscow’s claims that U.S. warnings were too broad to help preempt the attack. Shane Harris reports for the Washington Post.
President Biden spoke with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in a call yesterday aimed to keep relations stable while addressing combative issues. Biden raised topics including fighting narcotics production, the Middle East conflict, North Korea’s nuclear program, and China’s support of Russia in the Ukraine war, according to a White House summary of the call. A senior administration official said Biden intended the call to be a “check-in” rather than a conversation with concrete outcomes. National security spokesperson John Kirby said yesterday that both leaders had a “candid and constructive” conversation, which he said also covered unfair trade policies, wrongfully detained U.S. citizens, and TikTok. Edward Wong and Erica L. Green report for the New York Times.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will make her second trip to China this week for high-level talks aimed at further stabilizing the U.S.-China relationship. Yellen will partake in four days of meetings in Guangzhou and Beijing with representatives from U.S. companies, Chinese students and professors, and China’s top economic officials. The trip comes as the Biden administration tries to adopt a tougher stance toward China while keeping regular lines of communication open and avoiding an economic war. The New York Times reports.
Countries sympathetic to Russia are demanding the E.U. drop any plans for a wholescale confiscation of Russian state assets. China, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia are privately pushing the E.U. to continue resisting pressure from the United States and Britain to seize more than €200 billion of Russian state assets it immobilized after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, four officials told POLITICO.
More than 53,000 people have fled Haiti’s capital in less than three weeks, according to a U.N. report released yesterday. Over 60% are headed to Haiti’s rural southern region, which “do[es] not have sufficient infrastructure” or “sufficient resources to cope with the large number of people,” a U.N. spokesperson said. ABC News reports.
At least 10 civilians were killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday in an attack officials believe was carried out by Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, reports say. The rebels set a health center on fire, looted stores, and burned down houses in the village of Mangodomu yesterday, according to the mayor of Mangina in North Kivu. BBC News reports.
Senegal has inaugurated Bassirou Diomaye Faye, 44, as president, making him Africa’s youngest elected leader. Shortly after his inauguration, Faye named Ousmane Sonko, the opposition leader who helped him secure the presidency, as Prime Minister. AP News reports.