Thought of the Day
Nothing ruins the truth like stretching it!
October 14th 2025
SpaceX launches the 11th test flight of its mega Starship rocket with another win
By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
SpaceX launched another of its mammoth Starship rockets on a test flight Monday, successfully making it halfway around the world while releasing mock satellites like last time.
Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — thundered into the evening sky from the southern tip of Texas. The booster peeled away and made a controlled entry into the Gulf of Mexico as planned, with the spacecraft skimming space before descending into the Indian Ocean. Nothing was recovered.
“Hey, welcome back to Earth, Starship,” SpaceX’s Dan Huot announced as employees cheered. “What a day.”
It was the 11th test flight for a full-scale Starship, which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk intends to use to send people to Mars. NASA’s need is more immediate. The space agency cannot land astronauts on the moon by decade’s end without the 403-foot (123-meter) Starship, the reusable vehicle meant to get them from lunar orbit down to the surface and back up.
Instead of remaining inside Launch Control as usual, Musk said that for the first time he was going outside to watch — “much more visceral.”
The previous test flight in August — a success after a string of explosive failures — followed a similar path with similar goals. More maneuvering was built in this time, especially for the spacecraft. SpaceX conducted a series of tests during the spacecraft’s entry over the Indian Ocean as practice for future landings back at the launch site.
Like before, Starship carried up eight mock satellites mimicking SpaceX’s Starlinks. The entire flight lasted just over an hour, originating from Starbase near the Mexican border.
NASA’s acting administrator Sean Duffy praised Starship’s progress. “Another major step toward landing Americans on the moon’s south pole,” he said via X.
SpaceX is modifying its Cape Canaveral launch sites to accommodate Starships, in addition to the much smaller Falcon rockets used to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station for NASA.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
North Carolina GOP announce plans to vote on new House map amid nationwide redistricting battle
By GARY ROBERTSON Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican legislative leaders announced plans Monday to vote next week on redrawing the state’s U.S. House district map, with a likely aim to secure another GOP seat within already right-leaning boundaries.
The move comes amid an emerging mid-decade battle nationally between Republicans and Democrats seeking advantage in the way U.S. House districts are drawn in several states for the 2026 session.
North Carolina Republicans already created a map in 2023 that resulted in GOP candidates winning 10 of the state’s 14 U.S. House seats in 2024. That division compared to the 7-7 seat split between Democrats and the GOP under the map used in 2022.
Now only one of the state’s House district’s –- the 1st District currently represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis –- is considered a swing district and could be targeted by the GOP for an 11th seat. Davis won a second term last year by less than 2 percentage points, so shifting slightly portions of the district covering nearly 20 northeastern counties could help a Republican candidate in a strong GOP year.
A news release from the state’s Republican legislators said their planned action “follows President Donald Trump’s call urging legislatures across the country to take action to nullify Democrat redistricting efforts.”
Trump kickstarted the redistricting battle this summer by calling upon Republican-led Texas to reshape its U.S. House districts so that the GOP could win more seats in next year’s elections.
As Texas redrew its districts to give Republicans a shot at winning five more seats, Democrats in California reciprocated by passing their own redistricting plan aimed at helping Democrats win five additional seats. Then lawmakers in Republican-led Missouri approved revised U.S. House districts intended to help Republicans win an additional seat.
The new Texas map faces a legal challenge. The California map still needs voter approval in a Nov. 4 election to take effect. And the Missouri map faces both court challenges and an initiative petition campaign seeking to force a statewide referendum on it.
Bill Belichick says he never sought an early departure from the North Carolina job
By BOB SUTTON Associated Press
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Bill Belichick has denied reports that he’s been seeking an exit strategy from his North Carolina coaching role.
“Some of the reports out last week about my looking for a buyout and trying to leave here and all that is categorically false,” Belichick said Monday during his first public comments since a blowout loss to Clemson. “Glad I’m here. Working toward our goals and the process.”
Next up for the Tar Heels (2-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) is Friday night’s game at California (4-2, 1-1).
During the second of two off weeks in a three-week span, the subject of Belichick’s status and future with the Tar Heels was a hot topic, so much so that last Wednesday the university released brief statements from the coach and athletics director Bubba Cunningham reaffirming commitments between Belichick and the school.
“It’s a learning curve,” Belichick said Monday. “We’re all in it together, but we’re making a lot of progress.”
On Monday, there was double the media turnout compared to Belichick’s normal game-week availability. University chancellor Lee Roberts also attended along with high-ranking officials in the athletics department.
With only one game during a span of nearly a month, it has allowed off-field drama to command plenty of attention. Yet Belichick was spotted attending a high school game Friday night, perhaps an indication of normal in-season functions in terms of recruiting.
Belichick said the program has approximately 40 high school players committed for the next recruiting class.
Results on game days haven’t given Tar Heels fans much reason to be encouraged.
“Obviously we’re all a little frustrated with the results, but the only thing we can do is continue to work and improve,” Belichick said. “We’ve made a lot of progress. Right now, unfortunately, the scoreboard doesn’t reflect that, but I’m confident that it will.”
The former Super Bowl-winning coach disputed suggestions that there’s division within the team and a lack of progress.
“We’ve made a lot of improvements,” Belichick said. “I think that’s exciting for all of us to see, certainly for the individual players to see it, in the units that they work with. So I don’t know what kind of perspective some of those people have that are saying that.”
Offensive lineman Christo Kelly, who talked about the team coming together and buying into the process, said the Tar Heels shouldn’t be bothered by reports regarding Belichick.
“Some of that outside noise stuff doesn’t affect what we do day-in and day-out,” Kelly said.
Belichick referred to the Tar Heels as a developmental program, calling them similar to other teams he has overseen.
“I’ve been involved in a lot of programs where things started and where things ended up are honestly where they should go,” he said.
Belichick is in the first year of a deal that guarantees $10 million in base and supplemental pay for each of the next two seasons. Team general manager Michael Lombardi, a former NFL executive who’s largely a partner with Belichick in this college endeavor, is making $1.5 million for each of the next two seasons.
Belichick defended Lombardi, who has been the subject of criticism stemming from some local media reports.
“I think Michael has done a great job of keeping the people close to the Carolina program up to date in what we’re doing, what our process is,” Belichick said. “We’re all working together. We’re all learning together.”
North Carolina has been blown out in three games against power conference opponents, including a 38-10 belting from Clemson in the most-recent game that resulted in a largely empty stadium in the second half. The Tar Heels surrendered 28 first-quarter points in that game.
Running back Caleb Hood announced last week that he was ending his playing career. Belichick said he had a conversation with Hood similar to ones he has had with many athletes through the years.
“For him, it was time, so I respect that,” Belichick said.
There was a light moment Monday when Belichick was asked about a phone call he made to ESPN commentator Kirk Herbstreit during the weekend. He said he was answering a text sent by Herbstreit, though the timing wasn’t ideal.
“I didn’t realize he was on the air,” the coach said.
Also last week, the school announced that cornerbacks coach Armond Hawkins has been placed on suspension for violating rules connected to improper benefits. He’s on leave while the school “further investigates other potential actions detrimental” to the team and school.
This comes following months-long tabloid-level interest involving Belichick’s 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, who has been on the sidelines prior to games.
North Carolina effort wipes out $6.5B in medical debt for 2.5M people
By GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — More than 2.5 million North Carolina residents are getting over $6.5 billion in medical debt eliminated through a state government effort that offered hospitals extra Medicaid funds from Washington if they gave patients the financial relief and implemented policies to discourage future liabilities.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, the state health department secretary and other officials announced Monday results so far from what then-Gov. Roy Cooper unveiled 15 months ago as a first-of-its-kind initiative.
While helping almost one-quarter of North Carolina residents, Stein said the effort has exceeded expectations in giving individuals and families a second chance to succeed financially after medical crises. Officials previously estimated it could help about 2 million people get rid of $4 billion in debt. The debt that had been held by hospitals, and are usually difficult to recover, will be pulled from credit reports, the governor said.
“This is life-changing news for so many families,” Stein said, adding that recipients on average will have $2,600 erased. “No one chooses to have a heart attack or get diagnosed with a chronic condition — you just have to deal with it. Today’s announcement will free people from the financial stress so that they can focus on getting healthy.” Another news conference speaker described patients who avoided services or threatened to halt treatments to prevent debt from accumulating on themselves or their family.
Hospitals that agreed to participate have already alerted many patients to tell them their debt is essentially canceled, state health officials said Monday. And Undue Medical Debt, a national group working on the effort and taking over some hospital liabilities, plans to send 255,000 notices this week to other recipients.
The effort germinated from what’s called the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program, which state legislators approved in 2023 at the same time as expanded Medicaid coverage to working adults who couldn’t otherwise qualify for conventional Medicaid. Hospitals pay assessments to draw down billions of dollars in federal money.
The state Department of Health and Human Services last year proposed that ertain hospitals could receive higher program reimbursement levels to treat Medicaid enrollees if they agreed to medical debt initiatives. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services signed off on the plan details, and by August 2024 each of the roughly 100 acute-care, rural or university-connected hospitals that qualified decided to participate.
Under rules previously announced, the hospitals had to eliminate medical debt going back to early 2014 for patients who are Medicaid enrollees. They also would later have to eliminate other debt for non-enrollees based on income levels. And the hospitals were directed to discourage debt by doing things like automatically enrolling people in charity care programs or curbing certain debt collection practices. The $6.5 billion figure includes debt relieved directly through the initiative and through hospital policy changes to implement it, Stein’s office said.
Other state and local governments have tapped into federal American Rescue Plan funds to help purchase and cancel residents’ debt. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced in July that $429 million in medical debt had been erased for more than 352,000 state residents.
“North Carolina’s approach is completely unique,” said Jose Penabad, the Undue Medical Debt vice chair. Several states are following North Carolina’s use of Medicaid incentives closely, he added.
North Carolina debt eradication exceeded initial estimates in part because patients outside the population being targeted also had their debt eliminated, Stein said. Hospitals, for example, sometimes have eliminated debt for patients incurred at associated physician practices, said Jonathan Kappler, a state deputy health secretary. More debt will be eliminated in the future, he added.
State health secretary Dr. Dev Sangvai, told reporters the law approved by Congress in July that made cuts and policy changes to Medicaid won’t immediately affect the debt elimination initiative.
Some hospitals were initially hesitant about the debt relief efforts because of strings placed upon higher reimbursements, Cooper said last year. The North Carolina Healthcare Association, which lobbies for nonprofit and for-profit hospitals, said Monday in a statement that it’s concerned “recent and proposed government policies could add financial pressures” that prevent hospitals from expanding programs to help low-income patients.
Trump urges leaders to put ‘old feuds’ aside as he calls for a new era of harmony in the Middle East
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and CHRIS MEGERIAN Associated Press
SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — President Donald Trump called for a new era of harmony in the Middle East on Monday during a global summit on Gaza’s future, trying to advance broader peace in the region after visiting Israel to celebrate a U.S.-brokered ceasefire with Hamas.
“We have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to put the old feuds and bitter hatreds behind us,” Trump said, and he urged leaders “to declare that our future will not be ruled by the fights of generations past.”
The whirlwind trip, which included the summit in Egypt and a speech at the Knesset in Jerusalem earlier in the day, comes at a fragile moment of hope for ending two years of war between Israel and Hamas.
“Everybody said it’s not possible to do. And it’s going to happen. And it is happening before your very eyes,” Trump said alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
Nearly three dozen countries, including some from Europe and the Middle East, are represented at the summit. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was invited but declined, with his office saying it was too close to a Jewish holiday.
Trump, el-Sissi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani signed a document that Trump said would lay the groundwork for Gaza’s future. However, a copy was not made public.
Despite unanswered questions about next steps in the Palestinian enclave, which has been devastated during the conflict, Trump is determined to seize an opportunity to chase an elusive regional harmony.
He expressed a similar sense of finality about the Israel-Hamas war in his speech at the Knesset, which welcomed him as a hero.
“You’ve won,” he told Israeli lawmakers. “Now it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
Trump promised to help rebuild Gaza, and he urged Palestinians to “turn forever from the path of terror and violence.”
“After tremendous pain and death and hardship,” he said, “now is the time to concentrate on building their people up instead of trying to tear Israel down.”
Trump even made a gesture to Iran, where he bombed three nuclear sites during the country’s brief war with Israel earlier this year, by saying “the hand of friendship and cooperation is always open.”
Trump is on a whirlwind trip to Middle East
Trump arrived in Egypt hours late because speeches at the Knesset continued longer than expected.
“They might not be there by the time I get there, but we’ll give it a shot,” Trump joked after needling Israeli leaders for talking so much.
Twenty hostages were released Monday as part of an agreement intended to end the war that began on Oct. 7, 2023, with an attack by Hamas-led militants. Trump talked with some of their families at the Knesset.
“Your name will be remembered to generations,” a woman told him.
Israeli lawmakers chanted Trump’s name and gave him standing ovation after standing ovation. Some people in the audience wore red hats that resembled his “Make America Great Again” caps, although these versions said “Trump, The Peace President.”
Netanyahu hailed Trump as “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” and he promised to work with him going forward.
“Mr. President, you are committed to this peace. I am committed to this peace,” he said. “And together, Mr. President, we will achieve this peace.”
Trump, in an unexpected detour during his speech, called on the Israeli president to pardon Netanyahu, whom he described as “one of the greatest” wartime leaders. Netanyahu faces corruption charges, although several hearings have been postponed during the conflict with Hamas.
The Republican president also used the opportunity to settle political scores and thank his supporters, criticizing Democratic predecessors and praising a top donor, Miriam Adelson, in the audience.
Trump pushes to reshape the region
The moment remains fragile, with Israel and Hamas still in the early stages of implementing the first phase of Trump’s plan.
The first phase of the ceasefire agreement calls for the release of the final hostages held by Hamas; the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel; a surge of humanitarian aid to Gaza; and a partial pullback by Israeli forces from Gaza’s main cities.
Trump has said there’s a window to reshape the region and reset long-fraught relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
“The war is over, OK?” Trump told reporters traveling with him aboard Air Force One.
“I think people are tired of it,” he said, emphasizing that he believed the ceasefire would hold because of that.
He said the chance of peace was enabled by his Republican administration’s support of Israel’s decimation of Iranian proxies, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The White House said momentum is also building because Arab and Muslim states are demonstrating a renewed focus on resolving the broader, decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict and, in some cases, deepening relations with the United States.
In February, Trump had predicted that Gaza could be redeveloped into what he called “the Riviera of the Middle East.” But on Sunday aboard Air Force One, he was more circumspect.
“I don’t know about the Riviera for a while,” Trump said. “It’s blasted. This is like a demolition site.” But he said he hoped to one day visit the territory. “I’d like to put my feet on it, at least,” he said.
The sides have not agreed on Gaza’s postwar governance, the territory’s reconstruction and Israel’s demand that Hamas disarm. Negotiations over those issues could break down, and Israel has hinted it may resume military operations if its demands are not met.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble, and the territory’s roughly 2 million residents continue to struggle in desperate conditions. Under the deal, Israel agreed to reopen five border crossings, which will help ease the flow of food and other supplies into Gaza, parts of which are experiencing famine.
Roughly 200 U.S. troops will help support and monitor the ceasefire deal as part of a team that includes partner nations, nongovernmental organizations and private-sector players.
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Megerian reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Will Weissert and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.
Education Department layoffs hit offices that oversee special education and civil rights enforcement
By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — A new round of layoffs at the Education Department is depleting an agency that was hit hard in the Trump administration’s previous mass firings, threatening new disruption to the nation’s students and schools in areas from special education to civil rights enforcement and after-school programs.
The Trump administration started laying off 466 Education Department staffers on Friday amid mass firings across the government meant to pressure Democratic lawmakers over the federal shutdown. The layoffs would cut the agency’s workforce by nearly a fifth and leave it reduced by more than half its size when President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20.
The cuts play into Trump’s broader plan to shut down the Education Department and parcel its operations to other agencies. Over the summer, the department started handing off its adult education and workforce programs to the Department of Labor, and it previously said it was negotiating an agreement to pass its $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department.
Department officials have not released details on the layoffs and did not immediately respond to a request for comment. AFGE Local 252, a union that represents more than 2,700 department workers, said information from employees indicates cuts will decimate several offices within the agency.
All workers except a small number of top officials are being fired at the office that implements the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a federal law that ensures millions of students with disabilities get support from their schools, the union said. Unknown numbers are being fired at the Office for Civil Rights, which investigates complaints of discrimination at the nation’s schools and universities.
The layoffs would eliminate or heavily deplete teams that oversee the flow of grant funding to schools across the nation, the union said. It hits the office that oversees Title I funding for the country’s low-income schools along with the team that manages 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the primary federal funding source for after-school and summer learning programs.
It will also hit an office that oversees TRIO, a set of programs that help low-income students pursue college, and another that oversees federal funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
In a statement, union president Rachel Gittleman said the new reductions, on top of previous layoffs, will “double down on the harm to K-12 students, students with disabilities, first generation college students, low-income students, teachers and local education boards.”
The Education Department had about 4,100 employees when Trump took office. After the new layoffs, it would be down to fewer than 2,000. Earlier layoffs in March had roughly halved the department, but some employees were hired back after officials decided they had cut too deep.
The new layoffs drew condemnation from a range of education organizations.
Although states design their own competitions to distribute federal funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers, the small team of federal officials provided guidance and support “that is absolutely essential,” said Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance.
“Firing that team is shocking, devastating, utterly without any basis, and it threatens to cause lasting harm,” Grant said in a statement.
The government’s latest layoffs are being challenged in court by the American Federation of Government Employees and other national labor unions. Their suit, filed in San Francisco, said the government’s budgeting and personnel offices overstepped their authority by ordering agencies to carry out layoffs in response to the shutdown.
In a court filing, the Trump administration said the executive branch has wide discretion to reduce the federal workforce. It said the unions could not prove they were harmed by the layoffs because employees would not actually be separated for another 30 to 60 days after receiving notice.
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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Living Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners are freed as part of Gaza ceasefire
By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAMY MAGDY and MELANIE LIDMAN Associated Press
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — All 20 living hostages held by Hamas and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel walked free Monday as part of a ceasefire pausing two years of war that decimated the Gaza Strip and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.
Hamas said Monday it will hand over the bodies of four of 28 deceased captives, though it was not immediately clear when the rest would be released. Israel said it freed more than 1,900 Palestinian prisoners as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Speaking to parliament, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared he was “committed to this peace,” raising hopes that the ruinous war, which triggered other conflicts in the Middle East, might come to an end. But fundamental questions remain over when and how, whether Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza.
Cheering crowds greeted buses of released prisoners in the West Bank and Gaza, while families and friends of the hostages gathered in a square in Tel Aviv, Israel and cried out with joy and relief as news arrived that the captives were free.
U.S. President Donald Trump flew to the region and addressed the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. He later went to Egypt for a summit to discuss the U.S.-proposed deal and postwar plans with other leaders.
Speaking ahead of Trump’s address in the Knesset, Netanyahu pledged he was “committed to this peace” and noted that on the Jewish calendar “today … marks the end of two years of war.”
Despite ceasefire, a long road ahead for Gaza
While major questions remain about the future of Hamas and Gaza, the exchange of hostages and prisoners raised hopes for ending the deadliest war between Israel and the militant group. The ceasefire deal calls for a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza, parts of which are experiencing famine.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage.
In Israel’s retaliatory offensive, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants but says around half the dead were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
The toll is expected to grow as bodies are pulled from rubble previously made inaccessible by fighting.
The war has destroyed large swaths of Gaza and displaced about 90% of its some 2 million residents. It has also triggered other conflicts in the region, sparked worldwide protests and led to allegations of genocide that Israel denies.
Hostages and prisoners released
Tens of thousands of Israelis watched the hostage transfers at public screenings across the country. In Tel Aviv, families and friends of the hostages broke into wild cheers as television channels announced that the first group was in the hands of the Red Cross.
The freed hostages, all men, were later reunited with their families, and footage released by Israeli authorities showed tearful reunions.
When Bar Kupershtein was reunited with his family, his father, Tal, who has spent years in a wheelchair after a catastrophic car accident and stroke, fulfilled a promise he had made to himself and stood up for a few minutes to embrace his freed son.
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank rejoiced as buses carrying dozens of released prisoners from Ofer Prison arrived in Beitunia, near Ramallah.
“We’re just thanking God that it’s happened, he’s been released. Thank God,” said Farah Abu Shanab, whose uncle was freed.
Later, giant crowds were gathered to greet buses carrying other prisoners arriving at Nasser Hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis.
The prisoners include 250 people serving life sentences for convictions in attacks on Israelis, in addition to 1,700 seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge. They will be returned to the West Bank or Gaza or sent into exile.
More than 150 prisoners were sent to Egypt by Israel and arrived at Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt early Monday afternoon, according to an Egyptian official, who had direct knowledge of the deal’s implementation. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.
A painful chapter
The Hostages Family Forum, a grassroots organization representing many of the hostage families, said it was “shocked and dismayed” that so few of the deceased hostages were imminently coming back.
An international task force will work to locate deceased hostages who are not returned within 72 hours, said Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for the hostages and the missing.
The hostages’ return caps a painful chapter for Israel. Since they were captured, newscasts have marked their days in captivity and Israelis have worn yellow pins and ribbons in solidarity. Tens of thousands have joined their families in weekly demonstrations calling for their release.
Demonstrators accused Netanyahu of dragging his feet for political purposes, even as he accused Hamas of intransigence. Last week, under heavy international pressure and increasing isolation for Israel, the bitter enemies agreed to the ceasefire.
Trump in Israel and Egypt
In his Knesset speech, Trump told Israeli lawmakers their country must work toward peace after the war against Hamas and conflicts with Hezbollah and Iran.
“Israel, with our help, has won all that they can by force of arms,” Trump said. “Now it is time to translate these victories against terrorists on the battlefield into the ultimate prize of peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East.”
His speech was briefly interrupted when two Knesset members staged a protest and were subsequently removed from the chamber. One held up a small sign reading, “Recognize Palestine.”
Despite the optimism expressed by Trump, many thorny questions remain. Among the most difficult is Israel’s insistence that a weakened Hamas disarm. Hamas refuses to do that and wants to ensure Israel pulls its troops completely out of Gaza.
So far, the Israeli military has withdrawn from much of Gaza City, the southern city of Khan Younis and other areas. Troops remain in most of the southern city of Rafah, towns of Gaza’s far north, and the wide strip along the length of Gaza’s border with Israel.
The future governance of Gaza also remains unclear. Under the U.S. plan, an international body will govern the territory, overseeing Palestinian technocrats running day-to-day affairs. Hamas has said Gaza’s government should be worked out among Palestinians.
In Egypt, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Trump were heading a summit with leaders from more than 20 countries on the future of Gaza and the broader Middle East.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh resort town to attend the meeting.
The plan envisions an eventual role for Abbas’ Palestinian Authority — something Netanyahu has long opposed. But it requires the authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, to undergo a sweeping reform program that could take years.
The plan calls for an Arab-led international security force in Gaza, along with Palestinian police trained by Egypt and Jordan. It said Israeli forces would leave areas as those forces deploy. About 200 U.S. troops are now in Israel to monitor the ceasefire.
The plan also mentions the possibility of a future Palestinian state, another nonstarter for Netanyahu.
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This story has been updated to correct that cheering crowds greeted prisoners in Beitunia, not Ramallah.
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Magdy reported from Cairo and Lidman from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Truro, Massachusetts; Bassem Mroue in Beirut; Jalal Bwaitel and Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank; Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel and Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece contributed to this report.
Simple Spiced Chai
This simple spiced chai is the perfect warm drink for a cool fall day.
Ingredients
- 1 black tea bag (or 1 tsp. loose black tea)
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup milk (any kind)
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- A pinch of ground ginger
- A pinch of cloves or nutmeg
- 1 tsp. honey, sugar or maple syrup (optional)
Instructions
1. Boil the water
Boil the water with cinnamon, ginger, and spices in a small pot.
2. Steep the tea
Add the tea and let it steep for 3-5 minutes.
3. Sweeten it up
Stir in the milk and sweetener, then heat gently until warm (don’t boil).
4. Enjoy
Pour into a mug and enjoy on a cozy morning or as a warm way to wind down.
October 13th 2025
Thought of the Day
A book is like a garden carried in the pocket, it will help you grow intellectually.