A.M. Edition for Mar. 18. Israel has launched a series of attacks against Hamas targets across Gaza, after a breakdown in talks to release the remaining hostages. Plus, WSJ Ukraine bureau chief James Marson explains how talks between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin today are unlikely to end in a cease-fire agreement. And, after being stuck in space, two astronauts are heading home nine months later than originally planned. Kate Bullivant hosts. Sign up for the WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: 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.
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Chapter 2: What are the diplomatic implications of the Trump-Putin call?
So what does all of this tell us about the likely outcome of today's call?
Well, you can't make a deal to end the fighting without both parties agreeing to it. Ukraine has already agreed to a ceasefire as proposed by the US. So far, we haven't heard that from President Putin that he's ready to do it. Russia is pushing forward slowly on the battlefield. It's grinding down the Ukrainian army.
It is destroying the Ukrainian electricity grid, which is a key Russian tactic to degrade the ability of Ukraine as a country to resist. So President Putin feels like he's winning. And so for him to agree to a ceasefire, to a peace deal, he would be expecting his conditions to be met. So he is quite prepared to play the long game and to not agree to a ceasefire until he gets what he wants.
So one possible outcome is that President Trump comes away with a clear understanding of those conditions, and then tries to take those to the Ukrainians. But Zelensky has said that Ukraine won't accept territorial losses, limits on its army, political influence, because these are in fact the very things that Ukraine has been fighting for three years.
So this single phone call certainly will not bring peace, because peace will only come when the Russians stop fighting.
James, thanks so much for breaking this down for us.
My pleasure.
Coming up, two stranded astronauts return to Earth following a nine-month stint in space. That story and more after the break. In market news today, Google parent Alphabet is once again trying to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz, this time for around $30 billion.
The deal would be Google's largest ever, and according to people familiar with the matter, could come together soon, barring any last-minute snags. Alphabet had been close to a roughly $23 billion deal for Whiz last summer, but the talks fizzled in part over concerns from Whiz and investors about the time it would take for a deal to clear regulatory hurdles.
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