The Supreme Court said on Monday that it will consider whether people who regularly smoke marijuana can legally own guns, the latest firearm case to come before the court since its 2022 decision expanding gun rights.

President Donald Trumps administration asked the justices to revive a case against a Texas man charged with a felony because he allegedly had a gun in his home and acknowledged being a regular pot user. The Justice Department appealed after a lower court largely struck down a law that bars people who use any illegal drugs from having guns.

The Republican administration favors Second Amendment rights, but government attorneys argued that this ban is a justifiable restriction.

They asked the court to reinstate a case against Ali Danial Hemani. His lawyers got the felony charge tossed out after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the blanket ban is unconstitutional under the Supreme Courts expanded view of gun rights. The appellate judges found it could still be used against people accused of being high and armed at the same time, though.

Hemani's attorneys argue the broadly written law puts millions of people at risk of technical violations since at least 20% of Americans have tried pot, according to government health data. About half of states legalized recreational marijuana, but it's still illegal under federal law.

The Justice Department argues the law is valid when used against regular drug users because they pose a serious public safety risk. The government said the FBI found Hemani's gun and cocaine in a search of his home as they probed travel and communications allegedly linked to Iran. The gun charge was the only one filed, however, and his lawyers said the other allegations were irrelevant and were mentioned only to make him seem more dangerous.

The case marks another flashpoint in the application of the Supreme Court's new test for firearm restrictions. The conservative majority found in 2022 that the Second Amendment generally gives people the right to carry guns in public for self-defense and any firearm restrictions must have a strong grounding in the nations history.

The landmark 2022 ruling led to a cascade of challenges to firearm laws around the country, though the justices have since upheld a different federal law intended to protect victims of domestic violence by barring guns from people under restraining orders.

Amazon said its cloud computing service was recovering from a major outage that disrupted online activity around the world on Monday.

Amazon Web Services provides remote computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press.

On DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, users reported issues with Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, online broker Robinhood, the McDonalds app and many other services. Coinbase and Signal both said on X that they were experiencing issues related to the AWS outage.

The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, when Amazon Web Services reported on its Health Dashboard that it is investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.

Later the company reported that there were significant error rates and that engineers were actively working on the problem.

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Around 6 a.m. Eastern Time, the company said that it was seeing recovery across most of the affected services. We can confirm global services and features that rely on US-EAST-1 have also recovered, it said, adding that it is working on a full resolution.

AWS customers include some of the worlds biggest businesses and organizations.

So much of the world now relies on these three or four big (cloud) compute companies who provide the underlying infrastructure that when theres an issue like this, it can be really impactful across a broad range, a broad spectrum of online services, said Patrick Burgess, a cybersecurity expert at U.K.-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

The fragile ceasefire in Gaza faced its first major test Sunday as an Israeli security official said the transfer of aid into the territory was halted until further notice after a Hamas ceasefire violation, and Israeli forces launched a wave of strikes.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal announcement on the halt in aid, a little over a week since the start of the U.S.-proposed ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war.

Israels military earlier Sunday said its troops came under fire from Hamas militants in southern Gaza, and later said two soldiers were killed there.

Israels military said then it struck dozens of what it called Hamas targets. Health officials said at least 29 Palestinians were killed across Gaza, including children.

RELATED STORY | Israel identifies the remains of one more hostage while 9 Palestinians are killed in Gaza City

A senior Egyptian official involved in the ceasefire negotiations said round-the-clock contacts were underway to deescalate the situation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasnt authorized to speak to reporters.

There was no immediate U.S. comment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the military to take strong action against any ceasefire violations but didn't threaten to return to war.

Israel's military said militants had fired at troops in areas of Rafah city that are Israeli-controlled according to agreed-upon ceasefire lines.

Hamas, which continued to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months and we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas.

Strikes in Gaza

Palestinians quickly feared the return of war.

It will be a nightmare, said Mahmoud Hashim, a father of five from Gaza City, who appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump and other mediators to prevent the ceasefire's collapse.

An Israeli airstrike on a makeshift coffeehouse in Zawaida town in central Gaza killed at least six Palestinians, according to Gazas Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government.

Another strike killed at least two people near the Al-Ahly soccer club in the Nuseirat refugee camp, the ministry said. The strike hit a tent and wounded eight others, said Al-Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.

The hospital said it also received the bodies of four people killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Nuseirat. Six others were killed in a tent in Nuseirat, one killed at a charging point west of Nuseirat and four killed at a house in Bureij camp.

Another strike hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis in the south, killing at least four people, including a woman and two children, according to Nasser Hospital.

A strike in Beit Lahiya in the north killed two men, according to Shifa hospital.

More bodies of hostages identified

Israel identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight.

Netanyahu's office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker from Kibbutz Be'eri.

Both were believed to have been killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the war. Engel's wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.

Hamas in the past week has handed over the remains of 12 hostages.

Hamas' armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said that it found the body of a hostage and would return it on Sunday if circumstances in the field allowed. It warned that any escalation by Israel would hamper search efforts.

RELATED STORY | Palestinians, Israel disagree on whether Gaza's crucial Rafah crossing will reopen Monday

Israel on Saturday pressed Hamas to fulfill its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages, saying the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would stay closed until further notice."

Hamas says the war's devastation and Israeli military control of certain areas of Gaza have slowed the handover. Israel believes Hamas has access to more bodies than it has returned.

Israel has released 150 bodies of Palestinians back to Gaza, including 15 on Sunday, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Israel has neither identified the bodies nor said how they died. The ministry posts photos of bodies on its website to help families attempting to locate loved ones. Some are decomposed and blackened. Some are missing limbs and teeth.

Only 25 bodies have been identified, the Health Ministry said.

Israel and Hamas earlier exchanged 20 living hostages for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Ceasefire's second phase

A Hamas delegation led by chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya arrived in Cairo to follow up the implementation of the ceasefire deal with mediators and other Palestinian groups, Hamas said in a statement.

The next stages are expected to focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Kassem said late Saturday that the second phase of negotiations requires national consensus. He said Hamas has begun discussions to solidify its positions.

The U.S. plan proposes the establishment of an internationally backed authority to run Gaza.

Kassem reiterated that Hamas wont be part of the ruling authority in a postwar Gaza. He called for the prompt establishment of a body of Palestinian technocrats to run day-to-day affairs.

For now, government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the (power) vacuum is very dangerous, he said.

Rafah border crossing

The Rafah crossing was the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side.

A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Palestinians to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

On Sunday, the Palestinian Authoritys Interior Ministry in Ramallah announced procedures for Palestinians wishing to leave or enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. For those who want to leave, Palestinian Embassy staff from Cairo will be at the crossing to issue temporary travel documents for entry into Egypt. Palestinians who wish to enter Gaza will need to apply at the embassy.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which doesnt distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack that sparked the war.

Large crowds of protesters marched and rallied in cities across the U.S. Saturday for No Kings demonstrations decrying what participants see as the government's swift drift into authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

People carrying signs with slogans such as Nothing is more patriotic than protesting or Resist Fascism" packed into New York Citys Times Square and rallied by the thousands in parks in Boston, Atlanta and Chicago. Demonstrators marched through Washington and downtown Los Angeles and picketed outside capitols in several Republican-led states, a courthouse in Billings, Montana, and at hundreds of smaller public spaces.

Trump's Republican Party disparaged the demonstrations as Hate America rallies, but in many places the events looked more like a street party. There were marching bands, huge banners with the U.S. Constitutions We The People preamble that people could sign, and demonstrators wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance in Portland, Oregon.

It was the third mass mobilization since Trump's return to the White House and came against the backdrop of a government shutdown that not only has closed federal programs and services but is testing the core balance of power, as an aggressive executive confronts Congress and the courts in ways that protest organizers warn are a slide toward authoritarianism.

In Washington, Iraq War Marine veteran Shawn Howard said he had never participated in a protest before but was motivated to show up because of what he sees as the Trump administrations disregard for the law. He said immigration detentions without due process and deployments of troops in U.S. cities are un-American and alarming signs of eroding democracy.

I fought for freedom and against this kind of extremism abroad, said Howard, who added that he also worked at the CIA for 20 years on counter-extremism operations. And now I see a moment in America where we have extremists everywhere who are, in my opinion, pushing us to some kind of civil conflict.

Trump, meanwhile, was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

They say theyre referring to me as a king. Im not a king, the president said in a Fox News interview that aired early Friday, before he departed for a $1 million-per-plate MAGA Inc. fundraiser at his club.

A Trump campaign social media account mocked the protests by posting a computer-generated video of the president clothed like a monarch, wearing a crown and waving from a balcony.

Nationwide demonstrations

In San Francisco hundreds of people spelled out No King! and other phrases with their bodies on Ocean Beach. Hayley Wingard, who was dressed as the Statue of Liberty, said she too had never been to a protest before. Only recently she began to view Trump as a dictator.

I was actually OK with everything until I found that the military invasion in Los Angeles and Chicago and Portland Portland bothered me the most, because I'm from Portland, and I don't want the military in my cities. That's scary, Wingard said.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Portland for a peaceful demonstration downtown. Later in the day, tensions grew as a few hundred protesters and counterprotesters showed up at a U.S. Immigration and Customs enforcement building, with federal agents at times firing tear gas to disperse the crowd and city police threatening to make arrests if demonstrators blocked streets.

The building has been the site of mostly small nightly protests since June the reason the Trump administration has cited for trying to deploy National Guard troops in Portland, which a federal judge has at least temporarily blocked.

About 3,500 people gathered in Salt Lake City outside the Utah State Capitol to share messages of hope and healing after a protester was fatally shot during the citys first No Kings march in June.

And more than 1,500 people gathered in Birmingham, Alabama, evoking and the citys history of protests and the critical role it played in the Civil Rights Movement two generations ago.

It just feels like were living in an America that I dont recognize, said Jessica Yother, a mother of four. She and other protesters said they felt camaraderie by gathering in a state where Trump won nearly 65% of the vote last November.

It was so encouraging, Yother said. I walked in and thought, Here are my people.

Organizers hope to build opposition movement

Big rallies like this give confidence to people who have been sitting on the sidelines but are ready to speak up, Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said in an interview with The Associated Press.

While protests earlier this year against Elon Musk's cuts and Trumps military parade drew crowds, organizers say this one is uniting the opposition. Top Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders are joining what organizers view as an antidote to Trump's actions, from the administration's clampdown on free speech to its military-style immigration raids.

More than 2,600 rallies were planned Saturday, organizers said. The national march against Trump and Musk this spring had 1,300 registered locations, while the first No Kings day in June registered 2,100.

Were here because we love America, Sanders said, addressing the crowd from a stage in Washington. He said the American experiment is in danger under Trump but insisted, We the people will rule.

Republican critics denounce the demonstrations

Republicans sought to portray protesters as far outside the mainstream and a prime reason for the government shutdown, now in its 18th day.

From the White House to Capitol Hill, GOP leaders called them communists and Marxists. They said Democratic leaders including Schumer are beholden to the far-left flank and willing to keep the government shut to appease those liberal forces.

I encourage you to watch we call it the Hate America rally that will happen Saturday, said House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

Lets see who shows up for that," Johnson said, listing groups including antifa types, people who hate capitalism and Marxists in full display.

Many demonstrators, in response, said they were meeting such hyperbole with humor, noting that Trump often leans heavily on theatrics such as claiming that cities he sends troops to are war zones.

So much of what weve seen from this administration has been so unserious and silly that we have to respond with the same energy, said Glen Kalbaugh, a Washington protester who wore a wizard hat and held a sign with a frog on it.

New York police reported no arrests during the protests.

Democrats try to regain their footing amid shutdown

Democrats have refused to vote on legislation that would reopen the government as they demand funding for health care. Republicans say they are willing to discuss the issue later, only after the government reopens.

The situation is a potential turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats and their allies were divided and despondent. Schumer in particular was berated by his party for allowing an earlier government funding bill to sail through the Senate without using it to challenge Trump.

What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine, said Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, a key organizing group. The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.

In a brazen, seven-minute strike, thieves used a basket lift to reach the Louvre on Sunday morning and, as tourists were already inside, forced a window, smashed display cases and fled with jewels of inestimable value, France's interior minister said.

The worlds most visited museum closed for the day as police sealed gates and ushered visitors out during the investigation.

A robbery took place this morning at the opening of the Louvre Museum, Culture Minister Rachida Dati wrote on X. The museum cited exceptional reasons for the closure. No injuries were reported.

Around 9:30 a.m. several intruders forced open a window, stole jewels from vitrines and escaped on two-wheelers, according to the Interior Ministry. It said forensic work is underway and a precise inventory of the stolen objects is being compiled, adding that the items have inestimable historical value. Dati and Nuez were on site with museum leadership.

Video from the scene showed confused tourists being ushered out of the glass pyramid and surrounding courtyards as officers shut the iron gates and closed nearby streets along the Seine.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuez called it a major robbery, saying the intruders entered from the outside using a basket lift. He said on France Inter radio that the heist took seven minutes and the thieves used a disc cutter to slice through the panes. He said it was manifestly a team that had done scouting.

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The heist occurred in the Galerie dApollon, a vaulted hall in the Denon wing that displays part of the French Crown Jewels beneath a ceiling painted by King Louis XIVs court artist, according to the ministry.

French daily Le Parisien reported the thieves entered via the Seine-facing facade, where construction is underway, and used a freight elevator to reach the gallery. After breaking windows, they reportedly took nine pieces from the jewelry collection of Napoleon and the Empress. One stolen jewel was later found outside the museum, the paper reported, adding that the item was believed to be Empress Eugnies crown and that it had been broken.

Security and staffing at the Louvre in the spotlight

Security around marquee works remains tight. The Mona Lisa is protected by bulletproof glass and a custom high-tech display system as part of broader anti-theft measures across the museum.

Staffing and protection have been flashpoints at the Louvre. The museum delayed opening during a June staff walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing. Unions have warned that mass tourism strains security and visitor management.

It wasnt immediately clear whether staffing levels played any role in Sundays theft.

In January, President Emmanuel Macron announced a decadelong Louvre New Renaissance plan roughly 700 million to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece its own dedicated gallery by 2031 but workers say relief has been slow to reach the floor.

Other European museums have been robbed

The theft, less than half an hour after doors opened, echoes other recent European museum raids.

In 2019, thieves smashed vitrines in Dresdens Green Vault and carried off diamond-studded royal jewels worth hundreds of millions of euros. In 2017, burglars at Berlins Bode Museum stole a 100-kilogram (220-pound) solid-gold coin. In 2010, a lone intruder slipped into Pariss Museum of Modern Art and escaped with five paintings, including a Picasso.

The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous came in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat. It was recovered two years later in Florence an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vincis portrait the worlds best-known artwork.

Home to more than 33,000 works spanning antiquities, sculpture and painting from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to European masters the Louvres star attractions include the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The museum can draw up to 30,000 visitors a day.

Israel's military said it struck multiple targets on Sunday in Gaza, using aircraft and artillery, after it said Hamas militants shot at Israeli soldiers who were inside the area still under Israeli control, the first major test of the ceasefire reached over a week ago.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with Israels security heads and directed the military to take strong action against any ceasefire violations, but did not threaten to return to war.

Hamas said that it was not connected to any clashes in Rafah in Southern Gaza.

The strikes came as Israel identified the remains of two hostages released by Hamas overnight, and the Palestinian group said talks to launch the second phase of ceasefire negotiations have begun.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the bodies belonged to Ronen Engel, a father of three from Kibbutz Nir Oz, and Sonthaya Oakkharasri, a Thai agricultural worker killed at Kibbutz Be'eri.

Both were believed to have been killed during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and their bodies were taken to Gaza. Engel's wife, Karina, and two of his three children were kidnapped and released in a ceasefire in November 2023.

RELATED STORY | Israel identifies the remains of one more hostage while 9 Palestinians are killed in Gaza City

Meanwhile, Israel threatened to keep the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed until further notice. The statement by Netanyahus office said reopening Rafah would depend on how Hamas fulfills its ceasefire role of returning the remains of all 28 deceased hostages.

In the past week, Hamas has handed over the remains of 13 bodies, 12 of which have been identified as hostages. Israel said one of the bodies released did not belong to a hostage.

Israel has released 150 bodies of Palestinians back to Gaza, including 15 on Sunday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government. Israel has neither identified the bodies nor said how they died. The ministry has posted photos of dozens of bodies on its website to help families and relatives attempting to locate their loved ones, but the bodies were decomposed, blackened and some were missing limbs and teeth. Only 25 bodies have been identified, the Health Ministry said.

After Israel and Hamas exchanged 20 living hostages for more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, the handover of the remains of deceased hostages and prisoners remains a major issue in the first stage of the ceasefire proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump. A major scale-up of aid, including the opening of the Rafah border crossing, for humanitarian aid and people entering or leaving Gaza, is the other central issue.

The next stages of the ceasefire will focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.

Second phase

The Israeli military said on Sunday that militants shot at troops in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, in the Israeli-controlled areas, according to the agreed-upon ceasefire lines. No injuries were reported. A senior Hamas official denied that Hamas was involved. Hamas and Israel have each accused each other of violating the fragile ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Hamas says that talks with mediators to start the second phase of the ceasefire have begun.

Hazem Kassem, a Hamas spokesman, said in a statement late Saturday that the second phase of negotiations requires national consensus. He also said Hamas has begun discussions to "solidify its positions," without providing further details.

According to Trump's plan, the negotiations will include disarming Hamas and the establishment of an internationally backed authority to run the embattled Gaza Strip.

Kassem reiterated that the group wont be part of the ruling authority in a postwar Gaza. Hamas-run government bodies in the Gaza Strip are running day-to-day affairs to avoid a power void, he said.

Government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous, and this will continue until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions, he said.

Kassem called for a Community Support Committee, a body of Palestinian technocrats, to run the day-to-day affairs, to be established promptly.

Rafah border crossing

Israel didn't open the Rafah border crossing on Sunday, in an attempt to pressure Hamas to return more hostages' bodies. Hamas says it needs special equipment to locate the bodies of additional hostages, but Israel believes Hamas has access to more bodies than it has returned.

The Rafah crossing was the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Palestinians to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

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On Sunday, the Palestinian Authoritys Interior Ministry in Ramallah announced procedures for Palestinians wishing to leave or enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. For those who want to leave Gaza, Palestinian Embassy staff from Cairo will be at the crossing to issue temporary travel documents that allow entry into Egypt. Palestinians who wish to enter the Gaza Strip will need to apply at the embassy in Cairo for relevant entry documents.

The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government in the territory. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate of wartime deaths by U.N. agencies and many independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack that sparked the war.

Hamas rejects US claim

The group rejected on Sunday a claim by the U.S. State Department that said it had credible reports of an imminent planned attack by Hamas against residents of Gaza.

This planned attack against Palestinian civilians would constitute a direct and grave violation of the ceasefire agreement and undermine the significant progress achieved through mediation efforts, the U.S. State Department said in a statement Saturday.

Hamas called the claim false allegations, and accused Israel of supporting armed groups operating in Israeli-controlled areas. Hamas urged the U.S. administration to pressure Israel to stop supporting the gangs and providing them a safe haven.

Hamas-led fighters clashed with at least two armed groups in eastern Gaza City that the group alleges are involved in looting aid and collaborating with Israel. They executed a handful of suspects in public, in widely condemned street killings.

The Interior Ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, says its forces were working to restore law and order across areas Israels military withdrew from following the ceasefire.

The two survivors of an American military strike on a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean will be sent to Ecuador and Colombia, their home countries, President Donald Trump said Saturday.

The military rescued the pair after striking a submersible vessel Thursday, in what was at least the sixth such attack since early September.

It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route, Trump said in a social media post. U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics.

The Republican president said two people onboard were killed one more than was previously reported and the two who survived are being sent to their home countries for detention and prosecution.

The repatriation avoids questions for the Trump administration about what the legal status of the two would have been in the U.S. justice system.

With Trumps confirmation on his Truth Social platform of the death toll, that means U.S. military action against vessels in the region have killed at least 29 people.

The president has justified the strikes by asserting that the United States is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels. He is relying on the same legal authority used by the George W. Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks and is treating the suspected traffickers as if they were enemy soldiers in a traditional war.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt will reopen Monday for people returning to Gaza, the Palestinian embassy in Egypt said Saturday, but the territory's sole gateway to the outside world will remain closed to people trying to leave.

But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement within minutes, saying that the Rafah crossing wouldn't reopen "until further notice," adding that it would depend on how Hamas fulfills its role in returning all the bodies of the dead hostages.

Israel's foreign ministry on Thursday had said that the crossing would likely reopen Sunday another step in the fragile ceasefire.

The Rafah crossing is the only one not controlled by Israel before the war. It has been closed since May 2024, when Israel took control of the Gaza side. A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Gazans to seek medical treatment, travel or visit family in Egypt, home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

It's unclear who will operate the crossing's heavily damaged Gaza side once the war ends.

Meanwhile, Gaza's ruins were being scoured for the dead, over a week into the ceasefire. Newly recovered bodies brought the Palestinian toll above 68,000, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Thousands of people are still missing, according to the Red Cross.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, doesn't distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. But the ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack on southern Israel that sparked the war on Oct. 7, 2023.

Hostages' remains

Israel on Saturday said that the remains of a 10th hostage that Hamas handed over the day before were identified as Eliyahu Margalit.

The handover of 28 hostages' remains is among key points along with aid deliveries into Gaza and the devastated territory's future in the ceasefire process meant to end two years of war.

The 76-year-old Margalit was abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz during the Oct. 7 attack. His remains were found after bulldozers plowed up pits in the southern city of Khan Younis.

U.S. President Donald Trump has warned that he would greenlight a resumption of the war by Israel, if Hamas doesn't return the remains of all dead hostages.

Hamas has said it is committed to the ceasefire deal, but that the retrieval of remains is hampered by the devastation and the presence of unexploded ordnance. The group has told mediators that some remains are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.

In a statement, the hostage forum that supports the families of those abducted said it will continue holding weekly rallies until all are returned.

As part of the ceasefire agreement, Israel on Saturday returned the bodies of a further 15 Palestinians to Gaza. Gaza's Health Ministry said the International Committee of the Red Cross handed them over to Nasser Hospital, bringing the total Israel has returned to 135.

Hamas accuses Israel of violations

Hamas again accused Israel of continuing attacks and violating the ceasefire, asserting that 38 Palestinians had been killed since it began. There was no immediate response from Israel, which still maintains control of about half of Gaza.

On Friday, Gaza's Civil Defense, first responders operating under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said nine people were killed, including women and children, when their vehicle was hit by Israeli fire in Gaza City. The Civil Defense said the car crossed into an Israeli-controlled area in eastern Gaza.

The Civil Defense said Israel could have warned the people in a manner that wasn't lethal. The group recovered the bodies Saturday with coordination from the United Nations, it said.

Israel's army said it saw a "suspicious vehicle" crossing the so-called yellow line and approaching troops. It said it fired warning shots, but the vehicle continued to approach in a manner that posed an "imminent threat." The army said it acted in accordance with the ceasefire.

Aid demands

Hamas has urged mediators to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza for its 2 million people, expedite the full opening of the Rafah border crossing and start reconstruction of the battered territory.

There are continued closures of crossings and Israeli restrictions on aid groups.

U.N. data on Friday showed 339 trucks have been offloaded for distribution in Gaza since the ceasefire began. Under the agreement, about 600 aid trucks per day should be allowed to enter.

COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid in Gaza, reported 950 trucks including commercial trucks and bilateral deliveries crossing on Thursday and 716 on Wednesday, the U.N. said.

Throughout the war, Israel restricted aid to Gaza, sometimes halting it altogether.

International food security experts declared famine in Gaza City, and the U.N. says it has verified more than 400 people who died of malnutrition-related causes, including over 100 children.

Israel has long said it let in enough food and accused Hamas of stealing much of it. The U.N. and other aid agencies deny the claim.

Shohei Ohtani propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers back to the World Series with a two-way performance for the ages.

Ohtani hit three mammoth homers and struck out 10 while pitching shutout ball into the seventh inning, and the Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers out of the National League Championship Series with a 5-1 victory in Game 4 on Friday night.

"That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "There's been a lot of postseason games. And there's a reason why he's the greatest player on the planet."

The Dodgers will have a chance to become baseball's first repeat World Series champions in a quarter-century after this mind-blowing night for the three-time MVP, who emphatically ended a quiet postseason by his lofty standards. Ohtani was selected the NLCS MVP essentially on the strength of this one unforgettable game.

"This time around it was my turn to be able to perform," he said through his interpreter.

After striking out three in the top of the first inning, Ohtani hit the first leadoff homer by a pitcher in major league history off Brewers starter Jose Quintana.

Ohtani followed with a 469-foot drive in the fourth, clearing a pavilion roof in right-center.

He added a third solo shot in the seventh, becoming the 12th big league player to hit three homers in a postseason game. His three homers traveled a combined 1,342 feet.

Ohtani also thoroughly dominated the Brewers in his second career postseason start on the mound, allowing just two hits during his first double-digit strikeout game in a Dodgers uniform. He didn't give up a hit until the fourth, and he fanned two Brewers in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

"Sometimes you've got to check yourself and touch him to make sure he's not just made of steel," said teammate Freddie Freeman, last season's World Series MVP. "Absolutely incredible. Biggest stage, and he goes out and does something like that. It'll probably be remembered as the Shohei Ohtani game."

After the Brewers' first two batters reached in the seventh, Ohtani left the mound to a stadium-shaking ovation and after Alex Vesia escaped the jam, Ohtani celebrated by hitting his third homer in the bottom half.

The powerhouse Dodgers are the first team to win back-to-back pennants since Philadelphia in 2009. Los Angeles is back in the World Series for the fifth time in nine seasons, and it will attempt to become baseball's first repeat champs since the New York Yankees won three straight World Series from 1998 to 2000.

"That was special," Freeman said. "We've just been playing really good baseball for a while now, and the inevitable kind of happened today Shohei. Oh my God. I'm still speechless."

Following a 9-1 rampage through the NL playoffs, the Dodgers are headed to the World Series for the 23rd time in franchise history, including 14 pennants since moving from Brooklyn to Los Angeles. Only the Yankees, last year's opponent, have made more appearances in the Fall Classic (41).

Los Angeles will have a week off before the World Series begins next Friday, either in Toronto or at Dodger Stadium against Seattle. The Mariners beat the Blue Jays 6-2 earlier Friday to take a 3-2 lead in the ALCS, which continues Sunday at Rogers Centre.

The Dodgers had never swept an NLCS in 16 previous appearances, but they became only the fifth team to sweep this series while thoroughly dominating a Milwaukee club that led the major leagues with 97 wins during the season. Los Angeles is the first team to sweep a best-of-seven postseason series since 2022, and the first to sweep an NLCS since Washington in 2019.

"Before this season started, they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball," Roberts shouted to the crowd during the on-field celebration. "Let's get four more wins and really ruin baseball!"

The NL Central champion Brewers were eliminated by the Dodgers for the third time during their current stretch of seven playoff appearances in eight years. Even after setting a franchise record for wins this season, Milwaukee is still waiting for its first World Series appearance since 1982.

"We were part of tonight an iconic, maybe the best individual performance ever in a postseason game," Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. "I don't think anybody can argue with that. A guy punches out 10 and hits three homers."

The Brewers had never been swept in a playoff series longer than a best-of-three, but their bats fell silent in the NLCS against the Dodgers' brilliant starting rotation. Los Angeles' four starters combined to pitch 28 2/3 innings with two earned runs allowed and 35 strikeouts.

"I really think that to beat us four games in a row, you've got to do a lot of things right," outfielder Blake Perkins said. "Some things had to go their way that didn't go our way. We hit a lot of balls at people. But either way, Ohtani did great today. Is he the greatest player ever? I don't know. But he sure seemed like it tonight."

The Dodgers added two more runs in the first after Ohtani's tone-setting homer, with Mookie Betts and Will Smith both singling and scoring.

Jackson Chourio doubled leading off the fourth for Milwaukee's first hit, but Ohtani stranded him.

Struggling Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen allowed two more baserunners in the eighth, and Caleb Durbin scored when Brice Turang beat out his potential double-play grounder before Anthony Banda ended the inning.

Roki Sasaki pitched the ninth in the latest successful relief outing for the Dodgers' unlikely rookie closer.

Israel says the remains of another hostage that Hamas handed over the day before have been identified as Eliyahu Margalit, as the Palestinian militant group looks for more bodies under the rubble in the Gaza Strip and urges more aid to be allowed into the embattled enclave.

Israel's Prime Minister's Office said Saturday Margalit's body was identified after testing by the National Center for Forensic Medicine and his family has been notified. The 76-year-old was abducted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, from the horse stables where he worked in Kibbutz Nir Oz.

Margalit is the 10th returned hostage body since the ceasefire went into effect over a week ago. Hamas handed over an 11th body this week, but it wasn't that of a hostage. The effort to find the remains followed a warning from U.S. President Donald Trump that he would green-light Israel to resume the war if Hamas doesn't live up to its end of the deal and return all hostages' bodies, totaling 28.

In a statement Saturday, the hostage forum, which supports the families of those abducted, said Margalit's return brings a measure of solace to his family, but that they won't rest until the remaining 18 hostages come home. The forum says it will continue holding weekly rallies until all remains are returned.

The handover of hostages' remains, called for under the ceasefire agreement, has been among the key sticking points along with aid deliveries, the opening of border crossings into Gaza and hopes for reconstruction in a process backed by much of the international community to help end two years of devastating war in Gaza.

Hamas has said it is committed to the terms of the ceasefire deal, including the handover of bodies. However, the retrieval of bodies is hampered by the scope of the devastation and the presence of dangerous, unexploded ordnance. The group has also told mediators that some bodies are in areas controlled by Israeli troops.

Margalit's body was found after two bulldozers plowed up pits in the earth in the city of Khan Younis.

Nine Palestinians killed by Israeli fire

Meanwhile, Hamas is accusing Israel of continuing its attacks and violating the ceasefire.

On Friday the Civil Defense, a first responders' agency operating under the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, said nine people were killed, including women and children, when their vehicle was hit by Israeli fire in Gaza City. The Civil Defense said the car crossed into an Israeli controlled area in eastern Gaza.

As part of the first phase of the ceasefire, Israel still maintains control of about half of Gaza.

The Civil Defense said that Israel could have warned the people in a manner that wasn't lethal. The group recovered the bodies on Saturday with coordination from the U.N., it said.

Israel's army said it saw a "suspicious vehicle" crossing the yellow line and approaching the army's troops. It said it fired warning shots but the vehicle continued to approach in a manner that posed an "imminent threat." It said it acted in accordance with the ceasefire.

Demands for aid

Hamas is also urging mediators to increase the flow of aid into Gaza, expedite the opening of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and start reconstruction of the battered territory.

The flow of aid remains constrained because of continued closures of crossings and restrictions on aid groups.

United Nations data on Friday showed 339 trucks have been offloaded for distribution in Gaza since the ceasefire began a week ago. Under the agreement, some 600 humanitarian aid trucks would be allowed to enter each day.

COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid in Gaza, reported 950 trucks including commercial trucks and bilateral deliveries crossing on Thursday and 716 on Wednesday, the U.N. said

Gaza's more than 2 million people are hoping the ceasefire will bring relief from the humanitarian disaster caused by Israel's offensive. Throughout the war, Israel restricted aid entry to Gaza sometimes halting it altogether.

Famine was declared in Gaza City, and the U.N. says it has verified more than 400 people who died of malnutrition-related causes, including more than 100 children.

Israel says it let in enough food, accusing Hamas of stealing much of it. The U.N. and other aid agencies deny the claim.

Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government in the territory. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate of wartime deaths by U.N. agencies and many independent experts. Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Thousands more people are missing, according to the Red Cross.

The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago area, escalating President Donald Trump's conflict with Democratic governors over using the military on U.S. soil.

The emergency appeal to the high court came after a judge prevented, for at least two weeks, the deployment of Guard members from Illinois and Texas to assist immigration enforcement. A federal appeals court refused to put the judges order on hold.

The conservative-dominated court has handed Trump repeated victories in emergency appeals since he took office in January, after lower courts have ruled against him and often over the objection of the three liberal justices. The court has allowed Trump to ban transgender people from the military, claw back billions of dollars of congressionally approved federal spending, move aggressively against immigrants and fire the presidentially appointed leaders of independent federal agencies,

In the dispute over the Guard, U.S. District Judge April Perry said she found no substantial evidence that a danger of rebellion is brewing in Illinois during Trumps immigration crackdown.

But Solicitor General D. John Sauer, Trump's top Supreme Court lawyer, urged the justices to step in immediately. Perry's order, Sauer wrote, impinges on the Presidents authority and needlessly endangers federal personnel and property.

A federal judge in Oregon also has temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there.

Guard troops from several states also are patrolling the nations capital and Memphis, Tennessee.

In a California case, a judge in September said the deployment was illegal. By that point, just 300 of the thousands of troops sent there remained and the judge did not order them to leave.

The Catholic Church and Church of England, divided for centuries over issues that now include the ordination of female priests, will take a historic step on the path to unity next week when Britain's King Charles III and Pope Leo XIV pray together in the Sistine Chapel, officials said Friday.

The Oct. 23 ecumenical prayer service, drawing on the shared concern for care of God's creation, marks the first time since the Reformation that the heads of the two Christian churches pray together.

Buckingham Palace and Vatican officials on Friday announced details of the two-day trip that Charles and Queen Camilla will undertake on Oct. 22-23, a visit that was scheduled for April but was postponed after Pope Francis' final illness, shortly before his death.

Charles, who is titular head of the Church of England, strongly wanted to visit the Vatican during the 2025 Holy Year, a once-every-quarter-century celebration of Christianity. In doing so, he is following in the footsteps of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, who visited during the 2000 Jubilee, said Monsignor Flavio Pace, secretary of the Vatican's office for promoting Christian unity.

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During the visit, Charles will be given a formal new title and recognition at a pontifical basilica that has strong, traditional ties to the Church of England, St. Paul's Outside the Walls. The title "Royal Confrater," is a sign of spiritual fellowship and will be given to Charles along with a special chair decorated with his coat of arms that will remain in the basilica for Charles and his heirs to use, officials said.

Anglicans split from the Catholic Church in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment. While popes for decades have forged warm relations with the Church of England and the broader Anglican Communion on a path toward greater unity, the two churches remain divided over issues such as the ordination of female priests, which the Catholic Church prohibits.

Significantly, the Archbishop of Canterbury-designate, Sarah Mullally, will not join the king and queen since she hasn't been formally installed as the Church of England's spiritual leader. She is the first woman to hold the position, which is considered the first among equals in the broader Anglican Communion, which has more than 85 million members spread across 165 countries.

In her place, the archbishop of York will preside with Leo in the Sistine Chapel service, which will feature hymns sung by members of the royal choirs alongside the Sistine Chapel choir, Pace said.

Pace dodged a question about whether the Sistine Chapel service would have gone ahead as planned had Mullally been installed in time and joined the king and queen on the visit. He noted past joint statements of the Catholic and Anglican churches acknowledging their differences over women's ordination but insisting that such obstacles shouldn't prevent theological dialogue from continuing.

Charles and Camilla's trip was originally scheduled for April as part of a joint Vatican-Italy state visit. After Francis got sick, the king and queen went ahead with the planned four-day leg in Italy, and briefly greeted Francis at the Vatican just a few weeks before he died.

Prince Andrew said Friday he is giving up his royal title of the Duke of York and other honors after his friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein returned to the headlines.

The younger brother of King Charles III said he and the royal family had decided the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the royal family," Prince Andrew said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace.

It comes as excerpts have been published of an upcoming posthumous memoir from Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and had sex with Andrew when she was 17.

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Andrew, 65, stepped down from public life in 2019, but denied wrongdoing.

In a statement Friday he said that with His Majestys agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me."

As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.

Giuffre died by suicide in April. In the memoir she details alleged encounters with Prince Andrew, who she sued in 2021, claiming that they had sex when she was 17. Andrew denied her claims and the two settled the lawsuit in 2022.

It figures that a billionaire would win big in Las Vegas.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker reported a gambling windfall of $1.4 million on his federal tax return this week.

The two-term Democrat, often mentioned as a 2028 presidential candidate, told reporters in Chicago on Thursday that he drew charmed hands in blackjack during a vacation with first lady MK Pritzker and friends in Sin City.

I was incredibly lucky, he said. You have to be to end up ahead, frankly, going to a casino anywhere.

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Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel chain, has a net worth of $3.9 billion, tied for No. 382 on the Forbes 400 list of the nation's richest people. A campaign spokesperson said via email that Pritzker planned to donate the money to charity but did not respond when asked why he hadn't already done so.

Pritzker, who intends to seek a third term in 2026, was under consideration as a vice presidential running mate to Kamala Harris last year. He has deflected questions about any ambition beyond the Illinois governor's mansion. But he has used his personal wealth to fund other Democrats and related efforts, including a campaign to protect access to abortion.

His profile has gotten an additional bump this fall as he condemns President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement in the Chicago area and the president's attempt to deploy National Guard troops there.

The Pritzkers reported income of $10.66 million in 2024, mostly from dividends and capital gains. They paid $1.6 million in taxes on taxable income of $5.87 million.

Pritzker is an avid card player whose charitable Chicago Poker Challenge has raised millions of dollars for the Holocaust Museum and Education Center. The Vegas windfall was a net number" given wins and losses on one trip, he said. He declined to say what his winning hand was.

Anybody whos played cards in a casino, you often play for too long and lose whatever it is you won, Pritzker said. I was fortunate enough to have to leave before that happened.

The U.S. has seized survivors after a military strike Thursday on a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, the first since President Donald Trump began launching deadly attacks in the region last month, a defense official and another person familiar with the matter said Friday.

It is believed to be at least the sixth strike in the waters off Venezuela since early September, and the first to result in survivors who were picked up by the U.S. military. It was not immediately clear what would be done with the survivors, who the people said were being held on a U.S. Navy vessel.

They confirmed the strike on the condition of anonymity because it has not yet been publicly acknowledged by Trump's administration.

RELATED STORY | US kills 6 in another strike on alleged drug boat, Trump says

This strike on Thursday brings the death toll from the Trump administration's military action against vessels in the region to at least 28.

Trump justified the strikes by asserting that the United States is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks. That includes the ability to capture and detain combatants and to use lethal force to take out their leadership.

The president's use of overwhelming military force to combat the cartels, along with his authorization of covert action inside Venezuela, possibly to oust President Nicols Maduro, stretches the bounds of international law, legal scholars say.

The survivors of this strike now face an unclear future and legal landscape, including questions about whether they are now considered to be prisoners of war or defendants in a criminal case. The White House did not comment on the strike.

Reuters was first to report news of the strike late Thursday.

The strikes in the Caribbean have caused unease among both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, with some Republicans saying they have not received sufficient information on how the strikes are being conducted. A classified briefing for senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month did not include representatives from intelligence agencies or the military command structure for South and Central America.

However, most Senate Republicans stood behind the administration last week when a vote on a War Powers Resolution was brought up, which would have required the administration to gain approval from Congress before conducting more strikes.

Their willingness to back the administration will be tested again.

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, along with Sens. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, and Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, are bringing another resolution that would prevent Trump from outright attacking Venezuela without congressional authorization.

Under Gazas ceasefire deal, Israel freed dozens of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other medical personnel seized during raids on hospitals. But more than 100 remain in Israeli prisons, including Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, a hospital director who became the face of the struggle to keep treating patients under Israeli siege and bombardment.

Despite widespread calls for his release, Abu Safiya was not among the hundreds of Palestinian detainees and prisoners freed Monday in exchange for 20 hostages held by Hamas. Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, has been imprisoned without charge by Israel for nearly 10 months.

Health Workers Watch, which documents detentions from Gaza, said 55 medical workers including 31 doctors and nurses were on lists of detainees from Gaza being freed Monday, though it could not immediately be confirmed all were released. The group said at least 115 medical workers remain in custody, as well as the remains of four who died while in Israeli prisons, where rights groups and witnesses have reported frequent abuse.

Cheering staff from al-Awda Hospital carried on their shoulders their released director, Ahmed Muhanna, who was held by Israel for about 22 months since being seized in a raid on the facility in northern Gaza in late 2023.

Al-Awda Hospital will be restored, its staff will rebuild it with their own hands. ... I am proud of what we have done and will do, Muhanna told well-wishers, his face visibly gaunter than before his detention, according to video posted on social media.

Al-Awda Hospital, damaged during multiple offensives in the largely leveled Jabaliya refugee camp, has been shut down since May, when it was forced to evacuate during Israel's latest offensive.

Israels two-year campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7, 2023, attack decimated Gazas health system, forcing most of its hospitals to shut down and heavily damaging many, even as staff struggled to treat waves of wounded from bombardment amid supply shortages. During the war, Israeli forces raided a number of hospitals and struck others, detaining hundreds of staff.

Israel says it targeted hospitals because Hamas was using them for military purposes, a claim Palestinian health officials deny.

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Abu Safiya

It was not known if Abu Safiya, 52, might still be released. Israeli officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. His family said on social media there were no confirmed details about the date of his release, adding that freed detainees described him as in good health and strong spirits.

The Israeli military said Abu Safiya was being investigated on suspicion of cooperating with or working for Hamas. Staff and international aid groups that worked with him deny the claims. In November 2023, Israeli forces seized Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of Gaza Citys Shifa Hospital, declaring him a Hamas officer but then released him seven months later.

Abu Safiya, a pediatrician, led Kamal Adwan Hospital through an 85-day siege of the facility during an Israeli offensive in the surrounding districts of Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. The videos he put out made him a rallying figure for medical staff across Gaza who, like him, kept working under siege, even while injured or when family members were killed.

When troops raided the hospital on Dec. 27, images showed Abu Safiya in his white lab coat walking out of the building through streets of rubble toward an Israeli armored vehicle to discuss evacuation of patients. Abu Safiya and dozens of others, including patients and staff, were taken prisoner.

Abu Safiya stayed in the hospital until the last moment. He didnt leave because all health care services there would collapse if he left. Dr. Hossam is a truly great man, said Dr. Saeed Salah, medical director of the Patients Friends Hospital in Gaza City, who has known Abu Safiya for 29 years.

Surviving siege

Throughout the siege, Abu Safiya repeatedly refused military calls to shut down the hospital. He posted frequent videos on social media showing staff struggling to treat waves of wounded Palestinians. He pleaded for international help as the hospitals supplies ran out and reported on Israeli strikes on the building that caused injuries and deaths among patients and staff, and damaged wards.

In October 2024, a drone strike killed one of his sons, Ibrahim, at the hospital entrance.

I refused to leave the hospital and sacrifice my patients, so the army punished me by killing my son, he said in a video afterward, breaking down in tears.

RELATED STORY | A look at the living hostages released by Hamas under ceasefire deal

The next month, shrapnel from a drone blast wounded Abu Safiya as he sat in his office.

Even with his wound, he was circulating among the patients. He was sleeping, eating, drinking among the patients, said Dr. Rana Soboh, a nutrition technical adviser for the U.S. medical aid group MedGlobal.

Abu Safiya became the hospitals director in late 2023 after his predecessor, Dr. Ahmed Kahlout, was seized in an Israeli raid. Kahlout is also still being held by Israel, which accused him of being a member of Hamas, though he is not known to have been charged.

Abu Safiya worked to rebuild the heavily damaged hospital, reviving its intensive care unit and pediatric ward. Soboh worked with him to set up a malnutrition unit that has treated hundreds of children.

He is an amazing doctor, she said. He built things out of nothing.

The raid

On Dec. 27, troops surrounded the compound. Abu Safiyas son Elias, who was in the hospital, said his father went out to talk to the officers, then returned and asked the staff to gather everyone patients, staff and family members in the courtyard. Some were evacuated to other hospitals, others were detained.

Zaher Sahloul, president of MedGlobal, said troops wrecked the hospitals radiology department and operating rooms, and destroyed ventilators.

The Israeli military said it launched the raid after warning staff multiple times about Hamas fighters it claimed were operating from the hospital.

Days after Abu Safiya was detained, his 74-year-old mother died, Elias said.

She hadnt stopped crying since they detained him, he said.

Imprisonment

Abu Safiya is currently being held at Israels Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli rights group Physicians for Human RightsIsrael, which visited him in September, said he had not been brought before a judge or interrogated and had no information about why he was detained.

Abu Safiya said he and other detainees received insufficient food and medical care, the group said, adding that he had lost about 25 kilograms (55 pounds) since his detention. It said he reported that guards regularly beat prisoners during searches of their cells.

The Israelis "knew that he was a symbol for Gaza, said Islam Mohammed, a freelance journalist who was detained with Abu Safiya in the raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital. For a period, he was held at Sde Teiman Prison at the same time as Abu Safiya, though in a different cell, and said he and other detainees were often beaten, and guards shouted insults at them.

The treatment was inhuman from the time of detention, until release, said Mohammed, who was released to Gaza on Monday. To call it a beating does not describe it, he said.

Israeli officials say they follow legal standards for treatment of prisoners and that any violations by prison personnel are investigated.

Doctors Without Borders said Wednesday that ongoing violence in the capital of Haiti has forced it to permanently close its Port-au-Prince emergency care center, which had been a key lifeline in a city now 90% controlled by gangs.

More than 60% of the capital's health facilities, including Haitis general hospital, are now shuttered or non-functioning because of the surge in gang violence.

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The Doctors Without Borders emergency center in the neighborhood of Turgeau had temporarily closed in March 2025 after armed men opened fire on four of the organization's vehicles that were evacuating staff from the center. Some employees received minor injuries.

The building has already been hit several times by stray bullets due to its location close to the combat zones, which would make resuming activities too dangerous for both patients and staff, said Jean-Marc Biquet, MSF head of mission in Haiti.

Before the attack in March, staff at the emergency center had treated more than 300 patients between Feb. 24 and March 2. In February alone, the center reported more than 2,500 medical consultations.

The emergency center had originally opened in the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of Martissant in 2006, but was forced to move to Turgeau in 2021 for security reasons. From 2021 to March 2025, the Turgeau emergency center treated more than 100,000 patients.

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From January to June, more than 3,100 people were reported killed across Haiti and an additional 1,100 reported injured, according to the United Nations.

Gang violence also has displaced a record 1.4 million people, a 36% increase since the end of 2024, the U.N. International Organization for Migration announced Wednesday. Almost two-thirds of the new displacements were reported outside Port-au-Prince, especially in Haitis central region.

Meanwhile, makeshift shelters have increased from 142 in December to 238 so far this year, IOM said.

The Trump administration has revoked the visas of six foreigners deemed by U.S. officials to have made derisive comments or made light of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last month.

The State Department said Tuesday it had determined they should lose their visas after reviewing their online social media posts and clips about Kirk, who was killed while speaking at a Utah college campus on Sept. 10.

The announcement came as President Donald Trump was posthumously awarding him America's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. At Kirks funeral in September, Trump called him a great American hero and martyr for freedom.

The administration and its supporters have targeted people for their comments about Kirk, leading to firings or other discipline of journalists, teachers and others, and raising free speech concerns.

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The six foreigners who had their visas revoked were from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay and South Africa. They were not identified.

Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will defend our borders, our culture, and our citizens by enforcing our immigration laws," the State Department said. "Aliens who take advantage of Americas hospitality while celebrating the assassination of our citizens will be removed.

Vice President JD Vance and other top U.S. officials have encouraged people to call out offensive language about Kirk that they see online. In an unusual tweet last month, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau asked social media users to copy him on any relevant posts, saying he was personally disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action.

In addition to Tuesday's action, the administration has ramped up efforts to identify and potentially expel thousands of foreigners in the United States, notably students, who it says have either fomented or participated in unrest or publicly supported protests against Israels military operations in Gaza. The administration has also denied visas to applicants whose social media histories have been critical of its policies.

Among the higher-profile cases, the administration has expelled South Africas ambassador to the United States for comments critical of Trump, revoked a visa for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to attend the U.N. General Assembly and yanked the visas for British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan. It said it is reviewing the status of the more than 55 million current U.S. visa holders for potential violations of its standards.

Those actions have been criticized by civil rights groups as violations of constitutional protections for freedom of speech, which apply to anyone in the United States and not just to American citizens.

The Israeli military says one of four bodies handed over by Hamas on Tuesday is not that of any of the hostages who were held in Gaza, adding to strain on the fragile ceasefire to end the two-year war.

Separately, forensic experts in Gaza on Wednesday started identifying 45 bodies of Palestinians that Israel handed over to the Red Cross the previous day without identification. It wasnt immediately clear whether the bodies were those of people who died in Israeli prisons or bodies taken from Gaza by Israeli troops.

Meanwhile, the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza has resumed after a two-day break. The Egyptian Red Crescent said 400 trucks carrying food, fuel, and medical supplies were bound for the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, while Israel and Hamas argue over the slow return of the bodies of deceased hostages.

RELATED STORY | A look at the living hostages released by Hamas under ceasefire deal

Bodies of more Palestinians returned to Gaza

Israel has transferred the bodies of more Palestinians to Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal, according to officials at Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis.

An Associated Press journalist at the facility saw three trucks carrying the bodies arriving at the hospital.

Bodies recovered from under rubble are brought to Gaza hospitals

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Wednesday the bodies of 19 people have been brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours.

They include 16 bodies that were recovered from under the rubble, the ministry said in its daily report. Hospitals also received 35 wounded.

That has brought the death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to 67,938 since Oct. 7, 2023, the ministry said. Another 169,638 have been wounded, it said.

RELATED STORY | Israelis embrace loved ones as Hamas releases hostages from captivity in Gaza

The ministry said it didnt add the 45 bodies that Israel transferred to Gaza on Tuesday to its tally.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half of the casualties were women and children.

EU says it's ready to deploy humanitarian mission

The European Union said on Wednesday it is on standby to deploy a long-standing humanitarian mission, known as EUBAM, at the Rafah border crossing in Gaza if conditions on the ground improve.

EUBAM remains on standby to deploy to the Rafah crossing point in support of the Gaza peace plan as soon as conditions allow, said Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the European Commission. He did not elaborate on those conditions. We remain on standby and we stand ready to deploy at short notice.

The European Border Assistance Mission in Rafah on the Gaza-Egypt border began in 2005.

The EU, which has provided key support for the Palestinian Authority, pledged to help flood Gaza with humanitarian aid. It said it could extend a police support program already operating in the West Bank to Gaza to buttress a stabilization force called for in current peace plan from U.S. President Donald Trump. Outrage over the war has riven the 27-nation bloc and pushed relations between Israel and the EU to a historic low.