The last image Oran Almog saw before losing his sight was dead bodies covered in glass – five of them, members of his own family. A suicide bomber had detonated an explosive belt at a Haifa restaurant, killing Almog’s father, brother, grandparents and cousin.

The terrorist attack killed 21 people and wounded 60, including Almog, who was blinded on October 4, 2003. Now, more than two decades later, the man who dispatched the bomber – Sami Jaradat – has been released from Israeli prison as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal reached between Hamas and Israel in January.

He is among 1,735 Palestinian prisoners released during the ceasefire agreement in exchange for 33 Israeli hostages.

While most prisoners released have not been convicted of any crime and just one-third were convicted of murder or attempted murder, the Israeli government and media typically refer to all prisoners as “terrorists,” which has driven public perceptions around the deal in Israel.

The news of Jaradat’s release left Almog stunned and speechless.

“I never imagined that he would go out from the jail… I was speechless. It was giving really deep pain for me. Not angry, not disappointed, only feeling something was broken in my heart,” he said.

But soon afterwards, Almog began to realize what he called the “price” of this deal, and believed it was one worth paying.

“I understood if Sami Jaradat will stay in the jail forever, my family who was murdered in the terror attack, they will never return alive. But living Israeli hostages still can come back, so this is what was important for me,” he said.

Almog penned an op-ed in Israeli newspaper Haaretz shortly after he learned Jaradat would be released, urging Israelis to “put aside the disagreements over the price, and focus on the main thing” – referring to the release of hostages.

Protesters’ opposition

Jaradat and 109 other Palestinians were freed from detention on January 30 following the release of Israeli hostages Arbel Yehoud, Gadi Moses and Israeli soldier Agam Berger, who were taken captive during the October 7 attacks.

Almog said it reminded him of the moment his cousin Chen Almog-Goldstein, who was also taken hostage by Hamas with her surviving children on October 7, was released during the first short-lived ceasefire and hostage release deal in November 2023.

“I will never forget this evening when they got the first hug from our family… I understood the joy and happiness of Israelis coming back home,” he reflected.

But Almog’s perspective is not one shared by all Israelis.

Many, including a small number of hostage families that belong to the right-wing Tikva Forum and Gvura Forum, have opposed a ceasefire from the get-go.

Days after the deal was announced on January 15, hundreds of protesters belonging to the two forums took to the streets in Jerusalem, chanting, “Don’t make a deal with the devil!” and “Sinwar was also released in a deal!”

They recall how Yahya Sinwar, the late leader of Hamas and architect of the October 7 attacks, was released from Israeli imprisonment along with 1,027 Palestinians in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011.

Yehoshua Shani, the father of an Israeli soldier killed on October 7, invoked that history and called all Palestinians being released “vile murderers.”

“The price of this deal has already been written, we just don’t know who will pay the price,” he said.

Some Israelis oppose the release of Palestinians from Israeli jails and instead insist that defeating Hamas through strong military action should be the top priority for Israel and is the best strategy to bring back the hostages.

Under the first phase of the ceasefire deal agreed between Israel and Hamas, which lasted 42 days and concluded last weekend, leaving the truce hanging by a thread, 33 Israeli hostages were released in exchange for 1,735 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

A ‘bargaining chip’

According to information from the Israel Prison Service and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, the majority of those cleared for release were detained without charge and were not put on trial or given an opportunity to defend themselves.

Of the 1,735 Palestinians, about 15% were convicted of killing Israelis, including civilians and soldiers. Most of them were imprisoned during the first and second intifadas, uprisings by Palestinians against Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank. Another 18% were convicted of attempted murder.

Nearly two-thirds of the total were being held without trial, including 1,000 Palestinians detained in Gaza during the war, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Israel Prison Service.

The remainder were convicted of lesser charges like being affiliated to an “outlawed organization” or “incitement,” a vague charge that has been used to jail Palestinians over social media posts, including those expressing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

“Israelis believe that a Palestinian that’s being held in Israeli detention – by virtue of being held in Israeli detention – must be a terrorist,” she said.

Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank fall under the jurisdiction of Israel’s military court system, where rights groups say the conviction rate is over 99%.

Human rights organizations have denounced the system as a means to maintain Israel’s control over Palestinians.

“There’s no question that many people were arrested, detained, both in Gaza and in the West Bank, for the purpose of having them as a bargaining chip. And some of those people probably didn’t commit any act, maybe some of them did…the problem is that Israelis are not willing to look at both of those types of prisoners,” Scheindlin said.

Still, despite equating the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners to the release of terrorists, Israeli polling suggests a majority of Israelis overwhelmingly support the ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Like most Israelis, Almog has come to prioritize the lives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza over the ‘price’ of freeing Palestinian prisoners convicted of killing Israelis.

But he will not forget that price, nor what it has delivered.

“To understand the price, that my pain brings the Israeli hostages home… is really important to me,” Almog said. “I don’t know, maybe someday I will meet Agam, Gadi and Arbel and feel the full meaning, the full importance of this deal and this price to me.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his Oval Office meeting last week with US President Donald Trump “did not go the way it was supposed to,” describing the fiery meeting as “regrettable” and noting that Ukraine is ready to negotiate about an end to the conflict.

“I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace,” Zelensky said on X, addressing his remarkable sit-down with Trump directly. Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated Zelensky during the meeting, angrily accusing him of “gambling with World War Three” and telling him: “Your country is in big trouble.”

“Our meeting in Washington, at the White House on Friday, did not go the way it was supposed to be,” Zelensky wrote in Tuesday’s X post. “It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive.”

“None of us wants an endless war,” he added. “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”

Western leaders will hope the statement goes some way towards smoothing Kyiv’s relations with the White House, but the disastrous Oval Office meeting underlined how strained that relationship has become.

Zelensky also said in his Tuesday statement that Ukraine is ready to sign a minerals deal, which was meant to be signed on Friday until the argument led to Zelensky being told to leave the White House.

“Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, Ukraine is ready to sign it in any time and in any convenient format. We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and solid security guarantees, and I truly hope it will work effectively,” he said.

And he made a rare direct intervention on how a possible ceasefire might work. “We are ready to work fast to end the war, and the first stages could be the release of prisoners and truce in the sky — ban on missiles, long-ranged drones, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure — and truce in the sea immediately, if Russia will do the same,” Zelensky said. “Then we want to move very fast through all next stages and to work with the US to agree a strong final deal.”

That framework is similar to the plan proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron after Sunday’s summit of Western leaders, which took place in London amid anxiety on the continent about Ukraine’s future.

“We do really value how much America has done to help Ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed when President Trump provided Ukraine with Javelins. We are grateful for this,” Zelensky added.

It remains to be seen how Trump will respond to the Ukrainian leader’s proposals or his reflections on the White House visit. But the lengthy statement suggests an effort by Kyiv to force its voice into discussions on the conflict’s future, after the Trump administration opened talks with Russia last month and refused to invite Ukraine.

Trump on Monday ordered a pause on shipments of US military aid to Ukraine, which could have a dire effect on the country’s war-fighting abilities. The halt in aid, which came after Trump held a series of meetings with top national security officials, will remain in place until Trump determines Zelensky has made a commitment to seeking peace talks, one official said – essentially forcing Ukraine to a negotiating table by threatening further losses on the battlefield.

US President Donald Trump has gone all in with his effort to strongarm Kyiv into peace negotiations with Russia, suspending US military aid to Ukraine with immediate effect.

The move has sent shockwaves through the Western world and left Ukraine and its allies scrambling.

Zelensky indicated on Tuesday that he was willing to go that way, saying Ukraine was “ready to come to the negotiating table” and that “my team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”

Here’s what we know.

What does this mean for Ukraine?

Trump’s order will have a direct impact on Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression.

“Is it critical? Yes,” he said, pointing to Ukraine’s persistent weapons and ammunition shortages. Kyiv has been outgunned and outmanned by its much bigger neighbor since the opening salvos of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and the situation has become worse whenever Western deliveries have dwindled.

“Having in mind the shortage of ammunition and weapons, even 1% is critical. Thirty percent is definitely critical. Is it tragic? What we are hearing from different sources, Ukraine will be able to sustain this level or about the same level of violence density for about six months,” Melnyk said.

“It will have significant consequences, but the Russians are not likely to break through immediately or in the coming months,” said Kateryna Stepanenko, the Russia deputy team lead and analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based conflict monitor.

“The Ukrainians will be able to hold a defense, as we had seen them do in the past during the previous problems with aid,” she added, pointing to last year when deliveries from the US slowed down as Congress stalled on the next aid package.

“As a result, some of the effects could be felt almost immediately on the front lines. The Ukrainians will have to ration their use of certain munitions and that could spell trouble for their efforts to hold on to places like Pokrovsk,” he said.

An important logistics hub, Pokrovsk has been the prime target of Russia’s offensive in eastern Ukraine since the summer. Despite expectations that the city could fall within weeks, Kyiv’s forces have managed to hold Russian troops at bay – in part thanks to the steady deliveries of US military aid.

Why is Trump doing this?

Trump is trying to force Ukraine into negotiating a peace deal with Russia without committing to providing security guarantees for Ukraine.

Zelensky has tried to make the case that a deal without guarantees would be potentially disastrous for Ukraine, arguing that Putin has violated ceasefire agreements in the past.

The Ukrainian leader has received near-universal backing from Kyiv’s Western allies on this point. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told the UK Parliament on Monday that security guarantees must be part of any peace agreement.

“We know (Putin) is not a man to keep his word. We must be vigilant on all fronts in relation to Putin,” Starmer said.

Melnyk said that Ukraine had spent the past few weeks trying to understand which of Trump’s statements should be treated as policy announcements and which were just part of a strategy of trying to please the Russians and lure them into negotiations.

“With every practical step, there is more clarity that this is exactly what President Trump and his people are going to do (as policy). And currently, it’s not going to benefit anyone except our enemies and rivals like Russia and China,” he said.

He said the announcement on Monday sparked shock and sadness across Ukraine.

“Most Ukrainians simply glorify the United States of America and are being very sincere when saying ’God Bless America,’” he said. “This is a kind of real cold shower and probably one of the biggest shocks of the war.”

While Trump has not come out with a specific peace plan, he has suggested Ukraine will have to make sacrifices in terms of its territory, often repeating key Kremlin falsehoods and even suggesting that Ukraine “may be Russian someday.”

To many, this sounds like a capitulation.

John Lough, the head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre, said that Zelensky cannot accept such a proposal.

“I don’t really understand what (Zelensky) is supposed to telling the Americans. ‘I am going to give our territory, I am going to agree to whatever terms that you discuss to the Russians?’” he said.

“I mean, this is absolutely absurd. They can’t do that, and they won’t do that,” he added.

Could Ukraine’s other allies help fill the hole?

The US is Ukraine’s biggest single provider of military aid, but not its only one.

According to the Kiel Institute, which monitors aid to Ukraine, the military aid that has been coming from Europe is comparable to that from the US and in the short term, the Europeans could step in and help Kyiv bridge the gap.

This has happened before – Europe’s aid became much more crucial during the first half of last year when US aid deliveries dwindled.

At the same time, Ukraine has become more self-reliant since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

“Ukrainians have significantly ramped up their production of drones, of their artillery, of their own personnel carriers. They’ve been doing that since 2023 since facing the possibility of not having aid,” Stepanenko said.

The European Union on Tuesday unveiled a plan to allow member states to borrow €150 billion ($158 billion) to boost their defense spending and “massively step up” their military support for Kyiv. The EU used a similar approach to raise funds to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some of Ukraine’s European allies are pushing for Russia’s frozen assets to be seized and used to fund defense aid. For now, only proceeds from these assets are being used to prop up Ukraine’s defense.

But the hard truth is that even if Europe had the necessary funds, it will take years for the underfunded European defense sector to measure up to that of the US.

There are also some weapon systems that only the US can provide, including the Patriot defense systems which are capable of bringing down cruise missiles, hypersonic missiles, short-range ballistic missiles and aircraft.

“The US holds licensing to the systems themselves and the missiles for them, which makes it challenging for European countries to recreate them,” Stepanenko said. The Patriots play a crucial role in Ukraine’s air defenses, protecting millions of civilians living across the country.

While other Western systems can be effective against cruise missiles and drones, the Patriots offer unparalleled protection against advanced hypersonic and ballistic missiles. Russia has been using these missiles on a regular basis; it has increased their domestic production and begun procuring more from North Korea.

What options does Ukraine have now?

Stepanenko said that Ukraine’s best option is to focus on strengthening its coalition with Europe.

“Ukraine had already laid pretty good groundwork for that by forming several initiatives, for example, several European states formed ammunition initiatives, they formed drone initiatives, air defense initiatives, and I think this is the time to expand those,” she said.

“There’s also a significant discussion about the need to seize Russian frozen assets in Europe to help sponsor any procurement of weapons, not just from the US, but also globally,” she added, pointing to countries like South Korea, which has in the past sold the US ammunition that was later given to Ukraine.

Trump has made no secret that he views the current blow-up through an extremely personal lens, blaming it entirely on Zelensky.

Kurt Volker, a former US ambassador to NATO and former US special representative for Ukraine, said that if he were to advise Zelensky, he’d urge him to sign the deal on natural resources as soon as possible.

The deal was meant to be signed when Trump met Zelensky at the White House on Friday – during the meeting that spiraled out of control and ended prematurely when the Ukrainian leader was ordered to leave.

“This will align the US and Ukraine going forward and serve the interests of both countries,” Volker said.

Zelensky said on Tuesday that he was ready to sign the minerals deal “any time and in any convenient format.”

Writing on X, the Ukrainian president said it was “regrettable that his meeting with Trump “did not go the way it was supposed to be.”

He said Ukraine was “ready to come to the negotiating table,” adding that “my team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts.”

But a leading Russia analyst and historian, Mark Geleotti, said that Zelensky and Ukraine might need to go “beyond the point of kind words” to repair the relationship.

Could the aid be restarted?

The past few weeks have shown that the Trump administration is prepared to go on a rollercoaster ride to achieve what it wants – and that nobody can quite predict what will happen next.

Lough said that there still seem to be gaps in the administration policy on Ukraine – most notably in the way different officials view Putin. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last month, after meeting with Russian officials, that it remained to be seen whether Russia was serious about wanting peace.

“How do you reconcile that with what Trump is saying? He is implying he’s got Putin on side, that Putin is ready to go, and (they are) going to get a peace deal quickly,” Lough said.

“President Trump is mercurial, to say the least, but I think from a Ukrainian perspective, you know, they can’t bank on the fact that he’s going to suddenly show mercy and switch on the aid again and perhaps put President (Vladimir) Putin under pressure. We don’t see any signs of that yet,” he added.

Trump has made several U-turns on Ukraine over the past few weeks, calling Zelensky a dictator one day only to deny having made that statement a few days later.

While White House officials have said Zelensky should come back once he is ready to talk about peace, it remains to be seen whether Zelensky’s willingness to sign the natural resources deal could turn the aid tap back on.

Geleotti is sceptical. “I think that the fundamental point is that, as far as Trump is concerned, Ukraine is a bought-and-paid-for vassal state and has to understand its place. So it’s not just a bit of flattery today. Its reassurance is that Ukraine now understands that it has to do whatever America tells it to do,” he said.

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency has said it “failed in its mission” to prevent Hamas’ October 7 attack by ignoring repeated warning signs.

Shin Bet’s chief, Ronen Bar, said in a statement that if Shin Bet had “acted differently in the years leading up to the attack and on the night of the attack (…) the massacre would have been prevented.”

“As the head of the organization, I will carry this heavy burden on my shoulders for the rest of my life,” he said.

In a summary of an internal investigation published Tuesday evening, Shin Bet, officially the Israel Security Agency, said that a wide range of factors were responsible for Hamas’ ability to stage the catastrophic attack.

Among them, Shin Bet said, were Qatar’s years-long payments to Hamas. Those payments were blessed by Israel, whose government believed it was beneficial to drive a political wedge between Gaza and the West Bank.

Despite being made aware of Hamas’ plan for a broad offensive, known as “The Walls of Jericho,” in two different iterations in 2018 and 2022, the security agency failed to prevent the biggest terrorist attack in the country’s history.

The security agency received a sequence of signs that Hamas was preparing for an emergency, but decided the militant group were “not interested in escalation” and the plans were never perceived as an active threat, Shin Bet said.

The report summary says that the agency had huge gaps in “the recruitment and operation of human agents” in Gaza and that it was unclear where the Shin Bet and Israeli military responsibilities for detecting an attack from Gaza lay.

Hamas and its allies killed more than 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.

The investigation summary was published five days after an investigation by the Israeli military that highlighted gaps in intelligence gathering, flawed assumptions about Hamas, and “systemic” failures in the Israel Defense Force’s preparedness and response.

But Shin Bet says that it alone does not entirely carry the burden for the October 7 attack.

Shin Bet also blamed policies enacted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as contributing factors, setting off a political firestorm.

Among the factors that contributed to Hamas’ decision to launch the attack, the report summary said, were Israeli politicians’ visits to the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem, “the treatment of prisoners, and the perception that Israeli society has been weakened due to the damage to social cohesion.”

The source close to Netanyahu also accused the Shin Bet chief of failing to wake up the prime minister on the night of the attack, despite it being “the most basic and obvious decision imaginable.”

Netanyahu’s team has ramped up its criticism of the agency and Bar in recent weeks, especially after it was revealed that Shin Bet is investigating several people in Netanyahu’s office for inappropriately lobbying on behalf of Qatar’s government – something his office denies.

He removed Bar and the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, from the negotiating team engaging in indirect talks with Hamas.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid slammed Netanyahu for what he said was shirking responsibility for the devastating attack. “The prime minister continues to try to shift the blame onto others, this time it’s ‘they didn’t wake me up,’” Lapid said on X Tuesday.

“This country has been awake for 515 days, we still have hostages in Gaza. It’s time for you to wake up, apologize, take responsibility. This happened on your watch,” he added.

Israel’s former defense minister Benny Gantz also criticized Netanyahu for “throwing mud at the Shin Bet” instead of apologizing. “There is no leadership, no responsibility and there is no limit to cynicism,” Gantz said on X.

Arab leaders on Tuesday endorsed Egypt’s postwar plan for the Gaza Strip that would allow its roughly 2 million Palestinians to remain, in a counterproposal to US President Donald Trump’s plan to depopulate the territory and redevelop it as a beach destination.

It was unclear if Israel or the United States would accept the Egyptian plan whose endorsement by Arab leaders, announced by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, amounted to a widespread rejection of Trump’s proposal. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment.

Tuesday’s summit in Cairo included the emir of Qatar, the vice president of the United Arab Emirates and the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia — countries whose support is crucial for any postwar plan. UN Secretary-General António Guterres also attended.

Addressing the summit, el-Sissi said that the plan “preserves the right of Palestinian people in rebuilding their nation and guarantees their existence on their land.”

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the summit’s final communique calls on the UN Security Council to deploy an international peacekeeping force in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

“Peace is the Arabs’ strategic option,” he told a news conference, adding that the communique rejected the transfer of Palestinians and endorsed Egypt’s reconstruction plan.

“The Egyptian plan creates a path for a new security and political context in Gaza,” he said.

Israel has embraced what it says is an alternative US proposal for the ceasefire itself and the release of hostages taken in Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war. Israel has blocked the entry of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies to Gaza to try to get Hamas to accept the new proposal and has warned of additional consequences, raising fears of a return to fighting.

The suspension of aid drew widespread criticism, with human rights groups saying that it violated Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under international law.

The new plan would require Hamas to release half its remaining hostages — the militant group’s main bargaining chip — in exchange for a ceasefire extension and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Israel made no mention of releasing more Palestinian prisoners — a key component of the first phase.

Egypt’s postwar plan

Egypt’s $53 billion plan foresees rebuilding Gaza by 2030 without removing its population. The first phase calls for starting the removal of unexploded ordnance and clearing more than 50 million tons of rubble left by Israel’s bombardment and military offensives.

The final communique said Egypt will host an international conference in cooperation with the United Nations for Gaza’s reconstruction, and a World Bank-overseen trust fund will be established to receive pledges to implement the early recovery and reconstruction plan.

According to a 112-page draft of the plan obtained by The Associated Press, hundreds of thousands of temporary housing units would be set up for Gaza’s population while reconstruction takes place. The rubble would be recycled, with some of it used as infill to expand land on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast.

In the following years, the plan envisages completely reshaping the strip, building “sustainable, green and walkable” housing and urban areas, with renewable energy. It renovates agricultural lands and creates industrial zones and large park areas.

It also calls for the opening of an airport, a fishing port and a commercial port. The Oslo peace accords in the 1990s called for the opening of an airport and a commercial port in Gaza, but the projects withered as the peace process collapsed.

Under the plan, Hamas would cede power to an interim administration of political independents until a reformed Palestinian Authority can assume control. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Western-backed authority and an opponent of Hamas, was attending the summit.

Israel has ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and, along with the United States, has demanded Hamas’ disarmament. Hamas, which doesn’t accept Israel’s existence, has said it’s willing to cede power in Gaza to other Palestinians, but won’t give up its arms until there is a Palestinian state.

Speaking at the summit, el-Sissi said there is a need for a parallel path for peace to achieve a “comprehensive, just and lasting settlement” to the Palestinian cause.

“There will be no true peace without the establishment of the Palestinian state,” the Egyptian leader said. “It’s time to adopt the launching of a serious and effective political path that leads to a permanent and lasting solution to the Palestinian cause according to the resolutions of international legitimacy.”

Israel has vowed to maintain open-ended security control over both territories, which it captured in the 1967 Mideast war and which Palestinians want for their future state. Israel’s government and most of its political class are opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Trump shocked the region last month when he suggested Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians be resettled in other countries. He said the United States would take ownership of the territory and redevelop it into a Middle Eastern “Riviera.”

Netanyahu embraced the proposal, which was roundly rejected by Palestinians, Arab countries and human rights experts, who said it would likely violate international law.

Riccardo Fabiani, North Africa director at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, said Egypt was “trying to present a credible alternative focused on reconstruction and an indirect consultation mechanism for Hamas that could reassure Israel and the US.”

Jordan offers to treat children from Gaza

Trump has suggested Egypt and Jordan, two close American allies, could take in large numbers of Palestinian refugees from Gaza. Both countries have adamantly rejected any such plan.

Meeting with Trump at the White House last month, King Abdullah II of Jordan offered to take in around 2,000 for medical treatment. The first group of around 30 children, accompanied by up to two family members, left Gaza for Jordan on Tuesday, according to Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

Jordan said the children are amputees and will return to Gaza when their treatment is complete. The kingdom has also set up field hospitals in Gaza and delivered aid by air and land.

The war began with Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people hostage. Hamas-led militants are still holding 59 hostages, 35 of whom are believed to be dead.

Most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements. Israel has rescued eight living hostages and recovered the remains of dozens more.

Israel’s 15-month offensive killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It doesn’t say how many were fighters, but the ministry says women and children made up more than half the dead. Israel says it killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The offensive destroyed large areas of Gaza, including much of its health system and other infrastructure. At its height, the war displaced about 90% of the population, mostly within the territory, where hundreds of thousands packed into squalid tent camps and schools repurposed as shelters.

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico could severely impact the economies of both countries, potentially slowing down production of certain goods, raising prices on products and sparking fears of a recession, analysts warn.

The US on Tuesday imposed 25% tariffs on imports from both of its neighbors, as well as a 10% tax on Canadian energy.

Though both countries have also warned they will impose reciprocal tariffs that will affect the US economy, Canada and Mexico stand to lose far more because they depend so heavily on America for trade. The US is considered their largest export market.

Last year, Mexico exported roughly $505 billion to the US, roughly 30% of its GDP, while Canada exported over $412 billion, about 20% of its GDP. Meanwhile, US exports to Canada were valued at $349 billion last year – but this represents just over 1% of US GDP. Similarly, it exported roughly $334 billion in goods to Mexico, also only around 1% of its GDP.

Impact on Canada

Canada’s car manufacturing and energy sectors will be among the most affected, said Drew Fagan, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

According to the US Census Bureau, about $185 billion worth of goods in those sectors are imported into the United States from Canada.

Producers could then decide to pass those costs on to consumers, which could lead to inflation, he warned.

“If it’s a 25% tariff, that’s far bigger than profit. So, at a certain point, very quickly, unless you can pass those costs along to consumers, ultimately, it’s not profitable to continue to produce,” he said, warning that a pause in production could also lead to a loss of jobs.

Canada is also considered the single largest supplier of energy to the US. In 2023, it provided approximately 60% of crude oil imports to the US, 85% of electricity imports and 99% of natural gas imports, according to the Canadian government. The value of all three is roughly $100 billion, according to the US Census Bureau, with crude oil accounting for the vast majority of that sum.

If tariffs were to disrupt the energy supply chain, Canada would feel the impact more than the US given that its primary customer is the United States, while the US has more options to choose from.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that the trade war would hurt Canadian workers, saying, “This is going to be tough.” Speaking at a press conference Tuesday, he pledged government support for businesses to try to soften the impact.

Impact on Mexico

Like Canada, Mexico’s car manufacturing industry is deeply intertwined with the United States and heavily dependent on American consumers.

The US imported $87 billion worth of motor vehicles and $64 billion worth of vehicle parts from Mexico last year, excluding December, according to the Department of Commerce.

Tariffs would make these products more expensive for US consumers – so much so that Americans could stop buying from Mexico, and that could subsequently affect the Mexican economy, said Jason Marczak, Vice President and Senior Director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday morning that her country would try to seek investments from other nations. “If this issue of tariffs is consolidated, an important evaluation of the geographic diversification of the Mexican economy must be made,” she said.

Marczak said Mexico’s economy is so dependent on the US that it’s hard to find alternative trading partners.

Although Mexico recently reached an agreement with the European Union to diversify its commercial relationships, Marczak said Mexico and the US are still bound by their free trade agreements, making it difficult for Mexico to avoid negative impacts from US tariffs.

How Mexico and Canada could respond

Trudeau said Tuesday that Canada will retaliate with levies of its own. It plans to impose 25% tariffs on C$155 billion worth of US goods over the next month, with C$30 billion coming into effect immediately.

Sheinbaum said her country would also respond with retaliatory tariffs and other non-tariff measures, which she is set to announce on Sunday. She did not provide details.

However, those retaliatory measures will have further negative consequences on all three economies, Marczak pointed out.

Moving forward, both countries will have to consider whether they can stomach these impacts or adjust to meet the demands of Trump.

Trudeau said Tuesday his country would work with Mexico to find new ways to deal with the tariffs.

Two suicide bombings breached a wall at a military base in northwestern Pakistan before other attackers stormed the compound and were repelled in violence that killed at least 12 people and wounded 30 others, according to officials and a local hospital.

A group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in Bannu, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and said that dozens of members of Pakistani security forces were killed. The military didn’t immediately confirm any casualties, but Bannu District Hospital said that at least a dozen people were dead.

The two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the wall of the sprawling military area, a security official said on condition of anonymity, because he wasn’t authorized to speak with reporters.

“After a breach in the wall, five to six more attackers attempted to enter the cantonment, but were eliminated,” the security official said.

The attack happened after sunset, when people would have been breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Jaish Al-Fursan claimed responsibility for the attack, the third militant assault in Pakistan since Ramadan started Sunday. In a statement, the group said the source of the blasts were explosive-laden vehicles.

Plumes of gray smoke rose into the air and gunshots continued after the two explosions, police officer Zahid Khan said. Four of those killed were children, hospital officials said. The victims lived close to the scene of the blasts.

A spokesman for Bannu District Hospital, Muhammad Noman, said that the evening blasts badly damaged homes and other buildings.

“The roofs and walls collapsed and that’s why we are receiving casualties,” he said.

Hospital director Dr. Ahmed Faraz Khan said: “So far we have received 42 victims, 12 dead and 30 injured. A few of them are critical, but most are stable. All doctors, particularly surgeons and paramedical staff, have been called for duty as a medical emergency has been imposed.”

The blasts caused the roof of a nearby mosque to collapse while a number of worshippers were inside, rescue workers and provincial government spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif said.

Rescue workers trying to free people from underneath the rubble said that they had retrieved the body of the mosque’s imam.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and expressed his grief over the loss of life. The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gandapur, ordered an inquiry.

Militants have targeted Bannu several times. Last November, a suicide car bomb killed 12 troops and wounded several others at a security post.

In July, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle and other militants opened fire near the outer wall of the military facility.

A German tattoo artist who tried to enter the United States from Mexico through the San Diego border has been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention for over a month, according to a friend who witnessed her being detained.

Jessica Brösche, a Berlin-based tattoo artist, had been vacationing in Mexico when she decided to travel to the US from Tijuana with an American friend, Nikita Lofving. But at the San Ysidro port of entry immigration authorities took Brösche into custody.

The call was on January 25. Brösche has been in detention ever since, half a month past when she originally hoped to leave the US on February 15, Lofving says.

In a statement to KGTV, an ICE spokesperson wrote that Brösche is in detention due “to the violation of the terms and conditions of her admission.”

“I mean, she was coming to work, but not really for money,” Lofving said. “We have an agreement between artists. She’s one of my best friends. We’ve been working on this tattoo project on my body for the last five or six years, and in exchange, I make clothes for her.”

In a phone interview with KGTV last month, Brösche said that she had been kept in “horrible” solitary confinement for eight days when she entered US custody.

“I just want to get home, you know? I’m really desperate,” Brösche told KGTV from Otay Mesa. “I don’t really understand why it’s taking so long to get back to Germany.”

Lofving said that Brösche’s friends and family are hoping that she’ll be out of detention and on a flight back to Germany on March 11, and that her mother bought her a plane ticket home. They aren’t sure whether ICE will let her out by then, however.

“We sent (Brösche) back the information for the tickets, and she told her ICE agent,” Lofving continued, saying the ICE agent had said, “No, you have to get the ticket approved before you buy it.”

‘Extremely concerning’

“Our responsibility is to care for each person respectfully and humanely while they receive the legal due process that they are entitled to,” said spokesperson Ryan Gustin.

By entering on the waiver program, a tourist waives their right to any kind of litigation, Joseph explained.

But normally, a tourist denied entry to the US would be allowed to withdraw their application for admission. “Instead of being subjected to deportation proceedings, they’re allowed to kind of get back on the airplane and turn around and go home, and that does not appear to have happened in this case,” Joseph continued.

In any case, Joseph said that Brösche’s extended stay in Otay Mesa is “extremely concerning.”

Millions of residents along Australia’s eastern coast are preparing for the impact of the most southerly cyclone to threaten the region in more than five decades.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred, with strength the equivalent of a category 1 Atlantic hurricane, is expected to cross the coast just south of the Queensland capital of Brisbane, home to 2.5 million people, in the early hours of Friday, potentially at high tide, complicating the days ahead for emergency services.

“This is a rare event – to have a tropical cyclone in an area that is not classified as part of the tropics, here in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales (NSW),” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Brisbane on Wednesday.

The last cyclone to cross near Brisbane of a similar strength was Cyclone Zoe back in 1974, which caused major flooding in the city and NSW’s Northern Rivers region.

Brisbane’s population has more than doubled since then, but experts say the worst of Cyclone Alfred could be felt south of the storm’s eye, along popular tourist beaches from the Gold Coast to northern NSW.

“We haven’t seen anything quite like this for a good 50 years,” said Darrell Strauss, coastal management researcher at Griffith University.

“There are areas where storm surge is the biggest problem, and then there’s areas where high waves and coastal erosion and inundation from the sea directly due to the waves are a big problem. So, we’ve got a combination of all of that from Brisbane to the Northern Rivers (of NSW),” Strauss said.

As of Wednesday, Cyclone Alfred was just over 400 kilometers (250 miles) off the coast, moving west with destructive winds of up to 120 kilometers per hour (75 miles per hour), according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

Creeks and rivers in northern NSW were expected to flood, threatening an unwelcome return to scenes of 2022 when heavy rain saw several rivers burst their banks.

Three years on, some flooded homes are still uninhabitable and delays in rebuilding forced residents to live in temporary housing and tents for far longer than many hoped.

“The Northern Rivers has gone through hell over the last few years. We’re particularly concerned about some of those communities,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said Tuesday.

In Brisbane, residents were busy sandbagging their homes and stripping supermarket shelves of food and bottled water as authorities issued warnings about potential flooding.

Modeling showed 20,000 properties across Brisbane could be impacted by storm surge or flash flooding, according to the Lord Mayor’s office.

Beaches in northern NSW and along the Queensland coast were closed, as authorities warned of hazardous surf with waves of more than 5 meters (16 feet). Storm surges could go even higher, up to 10 meters (32 feet), according to the NSW State Emergency Services.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli urged residents near vulnerable coastal areas to follow evacuation orders.

“If it was the case that this system, which has strengthened, was to cross on high tide in the middle of the night, and you’re in that storm surge, the last place you want to be is in your home. So, now’s the time,” he said.

Major sporting events were canceled, and schools will close in the affected areas Thursday and Friday.

Strong winds were also a concern in areas where residents are accustomed to heavy rain, but not necessarily cyclone-strength gales. They were urged to tie down anything that could take flight.

Americans applied for British citizenship in record numbers last year, with a historically high volume of applications submitted in the last quarter of 2024 – a period coinciding with US President Donald Trump’s re-election.

More than 6,100 US citizens applied for UK citizenship last year, the most since records began in 2004, when fewer than 3,000 Americans submitted an application, according to data from the UK’s Home Office.

Last year’s numbers also saw a marked uptick from 2023, a year with fewer than 5,000 applications by US citizens.

Applications by Americans soared in the last three months of 2024, when more than 1,700 people applied – the most in any quarter in the past two decades.

The surge is reminiscent of an upswing recorded in the first six months of 2020, when more than 5,800 Americans gave up their citizenship, nearly tripling the number from all of 2019.

That uptick came in the wake of Trump’s first presidency and changes in tax policy, analysts argued then, and were mostly Americans who had already been living in Britain for some time.

Trump himself could apply for British citizenship, through his late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, who was born and raised in Scotland before leaving as a 17-year-old for the United States to work as a domestic servant in 1930.

European escape

As more Americans scramble for UK passports, some British citizens have recently sought their own backups.

In the years following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016, the number of Britons applying for Irish passports – giving them the right to freely work, live and travel across Europe – almost doubled.

And with Trump’s re-election in November last year leaving Americans around the world worried about what the next four years may bring, some communities have sniffed an opportunity.

An Italian village launched a website aimed at would-be American expats, offering up more cheap homes in the hope that those upset by the election’s outcome will rush to snap up one of its empty properties – and revive its fortunes after decades of depopulation.

“Are you worned (sic) out by global politics? Looking to embrace a more balanced lifestyle while securing new opportunities?” the website asks. “It’s time to start building your European escape in the stunning paradise of Sardinia.”