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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news:
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the War Cabinet that was tasked with steering the Gaza war, Israeli officials said today. The move was widely expected following the resignation of Benny Gantz, an opposition lawmaker who had joined the cabinet early in the war. Netanyahu is now expected to hold smaller consultations with some of his government members on sensitive issues. Tia Goldenberg reports for the Washington Post.
Israel’s military said yesterday it would halt daytime military operations near a border crossing in southern Gaza every day “until further notice” to allow more aid to enter the enclave. The military later clarified that the pause would be limited and that there would be “no cessation of fighting” in southern Gaza overall, saying, “the fighting in Rafah is continuing.” Vivek Shankar and Isabel Kershner report for the New York Times; Josef Federman, Wafaa Shurafa and Lee Keath report for AP News.
The Israeli government said it is looking to “strengthen” Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank after several countries recognized a Palestinian state. In a statement yesterday, Netanyahu’s office said proposals for strengthening settlements in what Israel refers to as Judea and Samaria would be voted on at the next Security Cabinet meeting. Oren Liebermann reports for CNN.
Eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast in southern Gaza on Saturday, the Israeli military said, one of the deadliest single incidents since the war began. According to the IDF, the soldiers were operating in western Rafah when an explosion hit their armored vehicle. Hamas’s armed wing claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement Saturday. Hugo Bachega and Ali Abbas Ahmadi report for BBC News; Adela Suliman, Mohamad El Chamaa, Bryan Pietsch and Lior Soroka report for the Washington Post.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
The State Department on Friday imposed sanctions on a right-wing Israeli group involved in disrupting Gaza aid deliveries. The group, Tzav 9, has said its actions were intended to ensure the aid did not end up in Hamas’s hands. Ian Talley and Anat Peled report for the Wall Street Journal.
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
Former South African president Jacob Zuma said yesterday his political party, MK, will join the opposition alliance in parliament. He said it would coordinate resistance to the governing coalition led by the African National Congress. MK said it maintained that last month’s elections were rigged and wanted the results annulled. Nomsa Maseko and Barbara Plett Usher report for BBC News.
An Indian man accused of plotting to assassinate a Sikh separatist on U.S. territory is expected to appear in a New York court today on murder charges. Nikhil Gupta was extradited to the United States over the weekend after he was arrested last year in the Czech Republic. Prosecutors allege Gupta was directed to hire a hitman by an Indian government official. Meryl Sebastian reports for BBC News.
Russian special forces quashed a brief mutiny at a provincial detention center yesterday, according to Russian state media. Six detainees who had broken out of their cells took two guards hostage and managed to seize control of the facility, the reports said. State media published a short statement from the country’s prison service the same day saying that security agents had stormed the facility and “liquidated” the mutinied detainees. Anatoly Kurmanaev reports for the New York Times; Darya Tarasova and Alex Stambaugh report for CNN.
China is pursuing a “significant” expansion of its nuclear capabilities and may have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as the United States or Russia by 2030, according to a report released yesterday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Bryan Pietsch reports for the Washington Post.
The trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will be held in secret, according to Russia state media. The first hearing in a regional court is set for June 26. Georgi Kantchev and Ann M. Simmons report for the Wall Street Journal.
A Swedish diplomat who had been held in an Iranian prison for more than two years was released as part of a prisoner exchange deal with Tehran, the Swedish government announced Saturday. As part of the deal, Sweden will release Hamdi Nouri, a former Iranian official convicted of crimes against humanity for his role in Iran’s 1988 prison massacres. Claudia Chiappa and Gabriel Gavin report for POLITICO; Benoit Faucon and Laurence Norman report for the Wall Street Journal.
Some 250,000 people protested in France on Saturday to denounce the rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right political party, National Rally. A newly formed left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front, called on demonstrators to stop National Rally from taking power in France’s upcoming snap legislative election on June 30. Rick Noack and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff report for the Washington Post; Catherine Porter and Liz Alderman report for the New York Times.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE DEVELOPMENTS
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday laid out his terms for a ceasefire in Ukraine, saying Kyiv would first need to withdraw troops from territories Russia claims to have annexed. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has long said Ukraine will not negotiate with Moscow until Russian forces leave all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, called the proposal a Hitler-like “ultimatum.” Henri Astier reports for BBC News.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday announced a new $1.5 billion aid package for Ukraine. The package will “repair energy infrastructure damaged in the war, expand power generation, encourage private sector investment, and protect energy infrastructure,” according to a White House statement.
China’s support for Russia is “enabling” its war in Ukraine, G7 leaders warned Friday. The leaders called on China to “cease the transfer of dual-use materials, including weapons components and equipment, that are inputs for Russia’s defense sector.” Nectar Gan reports for CNN.
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH TENSIONS
President Biden’s envoy Amos Hochstein is expected to arrive in Israel today in a bid to prevent the recent Israel-Hezbollah escalation from turning into an all out war, according to two Israeli officials. Barak Ravid reports for Axios.
DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENTS
The Supreme Court on Friday nixed a ban on bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic rifles to be fired like fully automatic machine guns. The Trump administration banned the devices after they were used in the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting. In a 6-3 decision that split the Justices along ideological lines, the court said the definition federal regulators sought to adopt went beyond the words Congress wrote into law nearly 90 years ago. Josh Gerstein reports for POLITICO; Brandon Drenon and Lisa Lambert report for BBC News.
The Pentagon ran a covert anti-vax campaign to undermine China at the height of the Covid pandemic, according to a Reuters report. The campaign, which was run through the military’s psychological operations center in Florida, began in Southeast Asia in the spring of 2020 and expanded across Central Asia and the Middle East before it was terminated in mid-2021. The operation was unrelated to public health concerns, and instead intended to discredit China amid concerns that its offers of Covid assistance were tilting support in the region in its favor. Chris Bing and Joel Schectman report for Reuters.