Renewed Israeli Strikes Kill Hundreds in Gaza
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What initiated the renewed Israeli strikes in Gaza?
Israel relaunches attacks in Gaza overnight, killing hundreds of people. Plus, the Kremlin pours cold water on hopes for a Ukrainian ceasefire ahead of today's call between Presidents Trump and Putin.
With Russia not showing any indication that it's ready to change, then this phone call will probably end with some diplomatic niceties and promises for more talks.
And two astronauts stuck in space for nine months are finally coming home. It's Tuesday, March 18th. I'm Kate Bullivant for The Wall Street Journal, filling in for Luke Vargas. And here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today. Israel has launched a series of attacks against Hamas targets across the Gaza Strip overnight and into the morning. The strikes have killed at least 300 people, according to the Gaza health authorities, and follow a breakdown in talks to release the remaining hostages. The journal's Anat Paled says the strikes are the most extensive since the ceasefire took effect in January.
These strikes come at a critical moment for a fragile ceasefire that was reached in January between Israel and Hamas. Negotiators have been trying through mediation rounds in Doha and in Cairo to reach a continuation of the ceasefire, to continue releasing Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and preserve the calm in the Gaza Strip. That hasn't happened so far, and issue deadline by Israel passed, which is what led it to resume the strikes. We know from Israeli officials that there is a plan to up the military pressure up until the level of a full-scale invasion if Hamas does not cooperate.
According to an Israeli official, President Trump gave Israel the green light to restart attacks on Hamas after the group failed to give up any of the 59 hostages that remain in Gaza. In a statement shared on Telegram, Hamas blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for endangering the lives of remaining hostages by overturning the ceasefire. We're exclusively reporting that Trump administration officials are roiled in debate over how to implement the President's pledge to equalise US tariffs with those charged by other nations. Trump's team have recently been weighing whether to simplify the complex task by sorting nations into one of three tariff tiers – low, medium and high rates.
The proposal was later ruled out, however, according to an administration official close to the talks, adding that Trump's team is still trying to sort out how to implement an individualised rate for each nation. The debate comes as aides are scrambling to meet the president's deadline of April 2nd to debut a reciprocal tariff plan, along with additional 25% duties on a handful of industries such as autos, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. President Donald Trump is due to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin today in the hopes he can secure a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. Russia is widely expected to push for territorial and other concessions that would be unpalatable for Ukraine and its European allies. James Marson is our Ukraine bureau chief. James, what do we know about the Russian demands?
Well, Vladimir Putin has been careful not to outright reject the idea of a ceasefire, but instead he set out a series of demands that are in fact little changed since the beginning of the war. Moscow wants Ukraine to be neutral, not a member of NATO, with a weakened army that isn't supplied by the West. It wants no European peacekeepers on Ukrainian soil, which has been one idea of how to make this ceasefire work. And then Russian officials have also been calling for a deal that addresses what Moscow calls the root causes of the conflict. Part of this is that it wants to retain certain provinces in the east and south of Ukraine, which it's claimed as its own territory. And it wants to be able to exert political influence over the rest of the country.
So these demands that you've just outlined, how acceptable are they to Ukraine and Ukraine's allies?
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