Majority of Americans disapprove of Israel's actions in Gaza, while Netanyahu approval drops to record low, poll finds
Support for Israel’s military action in Gaza has declined substantially among US adults, with only about a third approving, according to a new Gallup poll — a drop from the beginning of the war with Hamas, when about half of Americans approved of Israel’s operation.
The new polling also found that about half of US adults now have an unfavorable view of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the most negative rating he has received since he was first included in Gallup polling in 1997. The poll was conducted from 7-21 July, while reports of starvation in Gaza led to international criticism of Israel’s decision to restrict food aid but before Donald Trump expressed concern over the worsening humanitarian situation.
The findings underscore the Israeli government’s dramatic loss of support within America. But not everyone is shifting — instead, the war has become more politically polarizing. The rising disapproval is driven by Democrats and independents, who are much less likely to approve of Israel’s actions than they were in November 2023, weeks after Hamas’ 7 October attacks.
Republicans, on the other hand, remain largely supportive of both Israel’s military actions and Netanyahu (though cracks are indeed emerging in the American right’s typically iron-clad support for the state of Israel).
The new poll finds that about 6 in 10 US adults disapprove of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza, up from 45% in November 2023.
Support for the war has been dwindling in Gallup’s polling for some time. In March 2024, about half of US adults disapproved of Israel’s military action in Gaza, which fell slightly as the year wore on.
In a new low, only 8% of Democrats and one-quarter of independents say they now approve of Israel’s military campaign.
Young adults are also much more likely to disapprove of Israel’s actions. Only about 1 in 10 adults under age 35 say they approve of Israel’s military choices in Gaza, compared with about half of those who are 55 or older.
Views of Netanyahu have also grown less favorable over the past few years, with more viewing him negatively than positively in measurements taken since the war in Gaza began.
About half of US adults, 52%, now have an unfavorable view of Netanyahu in the new poll, which overlapped with his recent visit to the US. Just 29% view him positively.
Republicans have a much more positive view of Netanyahu than Democrats and independents do. About two-thirds of Republicans view him favorably, which is in line with last year. About 1 in 10 Democrats and 2 in 10 independents feel the same way.
“This is the first time we’ve seen a majority of Americans, with an unfavorable view of him,” said Gallup senior editor Megan Brenan. “All of these questions in this poll show us basically the same story, and it’s not a good one for the Israeli government right now.”
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As Senate Democrats plan to continue to keep up the pressure on the Trump administration over Jeffrey Epstein this week, minority leader Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor earlier to call on the FBI to undertake a counterintelligence threat assessment of Donald Trump’s Epstein connections.
Calling for a risk assessment to examine whether foreign countries might have tried to access the Epstein files and possibly exploit the information as leverage over Trump, Schumer said:
Americans are right to be angry over the lack of transparency. But this isn’t just about getting to the truth. This is also every bit about our national security.
Whatever may be in the Epstein files is clearly troubling enough that Donald Trump doesn’t want to touch this issue with a ten-foot pole.
So it’s natural to ask: what happens if America’s adversaries use cyber-attacks or other means to access investigative materials into Jeffrey Epstein that are embarrassing – or worse – for President Trump and the people around him?
What happens if Epstein materials end up in the hands of the Chinese government, or Russia, or North Korea?
Unless the Epstein files are released, and made fully transparent to the public, could our adversaries use that information to blackmail someone like the president? Or other senior leaders in government? What kind of risk could that pose to our national security?
He went on:
National security is not – and should never be – a partisan issue. We need to do everything we can to make sure we’re protecting the US and American families every single day. This report is imperative to do just that.
And there is one more thing Donald Trump could do to quell people’s anger, confusion, frustration and fears over the national security ramifications: stop running away from this issue. Tell the truth. And if there is clearly no national security risk, release the Epstein files, President Trump.
Justice department asked California to give details of non-citizens on voter rolls
The Department of Justice has asked several large California counties to provide detailed personal information of non-citizens who got on to the state voter rolls, the Guardian has learned, in an unusual request that comes as the Trump administration has asked about a dozen states to provide wide swaths of information about voters and election practices.
The justice department’s voting section sent identical letters to local election officials in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego on 9 July. The request asks the officials to provide the total number of non-citizens who had their voter registrations cancelled since 2020 as well as a copy of their voter registration records, voting history, date of birth, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of a social security number. The department sent a similar request to Orange county last month and then sued the county after officials redacted some information.
“It’s deeply troubling,” said David Becker, the executive director for the Center for Election Innovation & Research. “It reflects a pretty shocking misunderstanding of federal law regarding list maintenance.”
The request for information on non-citizens comes as the Trump administration has arrested and moved to deport thousands of immigrants. Submitting a voter registration form while ineligible to vote is a crime so non-citizens that do so could be prosecuted and potentially deported. This kind of voter fraud, however, is extremely rare.
All three counties said they were reviewing the justice department’s request. The justice department did not return a request for comment.
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Trump claims Wall Street Journal and Murdoch want to settle defamation lawsuit
Donald Trump said that the Wall Street Journal and its billionaire owner Rupert Murdoch want to settle the president’s defamation lawsuit against the newspaper.
On 18 July, Trump promptly sued the WSJ and its owners, including Murdoch, over a story alleging that Trump’s name was on a “lewd” birthday message for the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a reference to shared secrets.
“I’ve been treated badly by the Wall Street Journal. I would have assumed that Rupert Murdoch controls it, but, you know, maybe does, maybe doesn’t,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
“They are talking to us about doing something but we’ll see what happens. Maybe they would like us to drop that, so we’ll see ... yeah, they’re having, they want to settle it,” he said, adding, “when I get treated unfairly, I do things about it.”
Trump’s lawsuit called the alleged letter “fake” and said the Journal published its article to harm his reputation.
In a court filing yesterday, Trump asked a US court to order a swift deposition for Murdoch.
The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
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Donald Trump also told reporters on Air Force One that he thinks he will have a meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping before the end of the year, but did not elaborate.
Trump says Russia will face sanctions in 10 days if it does not move to end Ukraine war
Donald Trump said he would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia “ten days from today” if Moscow did not make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine.
Trump, who first announced yesterday that he was cutting his initial 50-day deadline for action from Moscow, said he had not heard a response from Russia.
He told reporters aboard Air Force One that he was not worried about the potential impact of Russian sanctions on the oil market or prices, saying the US would boost domestic oil production to offset any impact.
Earlier today, my colleague Jakub Krupa reported that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that Russia “has taken note” of president Trump’s comments.
He then said that a “special military operation” – their term for their illegal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine – continues, but Russia “remains committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests” – despite deadly attacks overnight.
Peskov also confirmed that there was a “slowdown” in Russian efforts to revive diplomatic relations with the US. Trump yesterday voiced his frustration with Vladimir Putin, saying:
I thought we’d be able to negotiate something. Maybe that’ll still happen, but it’s very late down the process. I’m disappointed … I’m not so interested in talking any more.
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Ghislaine Maxwell offers to testify before Congress - but only with major conditions, including immunity
Ghislaine Maxwell has offered to testify before Congress but has asked lawmakers to give her immunity, along with other major conditions, according to a list of demands sent to the House oversight committee by her attorneys, seen by CNN.
James Comer, who chairs the House oversight committee, subpoenaed Maxwell to testify next month. In a new letter sent to Comer today, Maxwell’s attorneys said they initially decided to invoke her fifth amendment rights, but then offered to cooperate with Congress “if a fair and safe path forward can be established”.
The letter comes after Maxwell, Epstein’s accomplice who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other crimes, asked the US supreme court overturn her conviction.
And her attorneys claim “any testimony she provides now could compromise her constitutional rights, prejudice her legal claims, and potentially taint a future jury pool”.
The letter goes on: “Compounding these concerns are public comments from members of Congress that appear to have prejudged Ms. Maxwell’s credibility without even listening to what she has to say or evaluating the extensive documentation that corroborates it.”
An oversight committee spokesperson rejected the idea of giving Maxwell immunity, telling CNN:
The oversight committee will respond to Ms. Maxwell’s attorney soon, but it will not consider granting congressional immunity for her testimony.
Per CNN’s report, Maxwell’s conditions as laid out by her attorneys include:
A grant of formal immunity.
The interview can’t happen at the correctional facility where she’s serving her sentence.
“To prepare adequately for any congressional deposition – and to ensure accuracy and fairness – we would require the Committee’s questions in advance … Surprise questioning would be both inappropriate and unproductive.”
The interview would be scheduled “only after the resolution of her supreme court petition and her forthcoming habeas petition”.
If the demands cannot be met, her attorneys said: “Maxwell will have no choice but to invoke her fifth amendment rights” (the right to remain silent).
The letter ends with an appeal for clemency from Donald Trump for which, her attorneys say, Maxwell would be “willing and eager” to testify.
Of course, in the alternative, if Ms. Maxwell were to receive clemency, she would be willing – and eager – to testify openly and honestly, in public, before Congress in Washington, D.C. She welcomes the opportunity to share the truth and to dispel the many misconceptions and misstatements that have plagued this case from the beginning.
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Trump says UK did not discuss plan to recognize Palestine and says it 'rewards' Hamas
Donald Trump has said he and UK prime minister Keir Starmer did not discuss Britain’s plan to formally recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel holds to a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution.
“We never did discuss it,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One. He and Starmer held talks in Scotland yesterday where the US president was asked about the UK’s commitment to recognizing a Palestinian state. He responded:
I’m not going to take a position, I don’t mind him [the prime minister] taking a position. I’m looking for getting people fed right now.
Reuters reports Trump also said: “You’re rewarding Hamas if you do that. I don’t think they should be rewarded.”
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‘The war needs to end’: is the US right turning on Israel?
On this subject, longstanding ties between US conservatives and Israel are facing strain, with growing calls for the war to end and internal rifts reshaping the right. My colleague J Oliver Conroy asks today, is the US right turning on Israel?
As the Israel-Gaza war nears its two-year mark, and as images of starving people and utter devastation flood social media, cracks seem to be emerging in the American right’s typically iron-clad support for Israel.
The US continues to support Israel diplomatically and militarily, and last Thursday pulled out of peace negotiations that it accused Hamas of sabotaging. And in the US Congress, only two Republicans voted for a recent amendment that would have pulled funding for missile defense systems for Israel.
Yet the war’s duration and human cost, as well as recent Israeli strikes on Christian targets, have spurred modest signs of discontent on the US right. Some conservative commentators have walked back their support for Israel’s war; the US’s famously Zionist ambassador to Israel rebuked the actions of Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, and an unresolved rift over foreign intervention continues to plague the Maga world.
You can read the complete analysis here:
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Further to my last post regarding representative Marjorie Taylor Greene becoming the first Republican member of Congress to call Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide, Steve Bannon, Trump’s influential former adviser, has told Politico:
It seems that for the under-30-year-old Maga base, Israel has almost no support, and Netanyahu’s attempt to save himself politically by dragging America in deeper to another Middle East war has turned off a large swath of older Maga diehards.
Now President Trump’s public repudiation of one of the central tenants of Bibi’s Gaza strategy - ‘starving’ Palestinians - will only hasten a collapse of support.
Politico also notes vice-president JD Vance’s remarks in Ohio yesterday, speaking of the “heartbreaking” images from Gaza. He said:
Israel’s gotta do more to let that aid in and we’ve also gotta wage war on Hamas so that those folks stop preventing food from coming into this territory.
“The days of the old GOP party line on Israel [unconditional support] could be numbered,” Politico writes.
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Here’s Donald Trump boarding Air Force One a short time ago to return to Washington, in Lossiemouth, Scotland.
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Marjorie Taylor Greene becomes first GOP lawmaker to call Israel's assault on Gaza a genocide
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is the first Republican member of Congress to call Israel’s assault on Gaza a genocide.
In a lengthy post on X yesterday, she wrote:
It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza.
It marks a significant break for Greene, a Trump loyalist and prominent Maga figure, with the rest of her party, who have been consistently vocal in their unconditional support for Israel.
Greene has been increasingly critical of Israel. Earlier this month, she said in another statement: “Israel bombed the Catholic Church in Gaza, and that entire population is being wiped out as they continue their aggressive war in Gaza.”
In yesterday’s post, the Georgia Republican rebuked her colleague Randy Fine, of Florida, who is under fire for calling the suffering of Palestinian people as part of a campaign of “Muslim terror propaganda”. “Release the hostages,” he wrote in a social media post last week. “Until then, starve away.”
Greene said of Fine on X:
I can only imagine how Florida’s 6th district feels now that their Representative, that they were told to vote for, openly calls for starving innocent people and children … a Jewish U.S. Representative calling for the continued starvation of innocent people and children is disgraceful. His awful statement will actually cause more antisemitism.
Related: Israel committing genocide in Gaza, say Israel-based human rights groups
Fine’s comments came before Donald Trump acknowledged for the first time yesterday that there is “real starvation” in Gaza. In a rare break with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who has denied that Israel is causing starvation in the region), Trump told Israel to allow “every ounce of food” into Gaza.
Today my colleagues report that Gaza has passed two grim landmarks on a single day, as UN-backed hunger experts warned a “worst-case scenario of famine” was unfolding in the strip and called for “immediate action” shortly before health officials announced the death toll from Israeli attacks had passed 60,000.
With more than 145,000 others injured, nearly one in 10 Palestinians who lived in Gaza two years ago has become a casualty of the war.
“The worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said in an alert that called for an urgent ceasefire to alleviate “widespread starvation”.
Survivors face a famine caused by Israel blocking food aid and “relentless conflict”, the report said.
“Immediate action must be taken to end the hostilities and allow for unimpeded, large-scale, life-saving humanitarian response. This is the only path to stopping further deaths and catastrophic human suffering.”
You can follow our coverage of the crisis here:
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The shooter, Shane Tamura, who was identified by police as the gunman in yesterday’s shooting, worked at Caesars’ Horseshoe Center Strip Las Vegas as a surveillance department employee, according to the hotel and casino company.
“Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and all those affected by this tragic event,” Caesars said in a statement shared with NBC News. “We are cooperating with law enforcement and will not be commenting further.”
NBC reports that records show a person with the name Shane Devon Tamura had a work card issued by the Nevada Private Investigators Licensing Board from 2019 to 2024. But that work card did not authorize him to carry a firearm.
It is unclear what employment Tamura had held since then.
Third victim identified as Julia Hyman in media reports
The third of four victims in last night’s shooting has been identified as Julia Hyman, according to the New York Post.
Hyman was killed on the 33rd floor of the office tower, where she worked for Rudin Management as an associate, reports the Post. She graduated from Cornell in 2020.
The three other victims were all shot in the lobby of the building. They have been identified as NYPD officer Didarul Islam, Blackstone executive Wesley LePatner, and the third is believed to be a security guard for the building who has not yet been named.
The shooter’s intended target was the NFL offices in the building, according to NYC mayor Eric Adams. He took the wrong elevator and ended up on the 33rd floor offices of Rudin Management, where he opened fire again before shooting himself.
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The UJA Federation of New York, a Jewish philanthropic organization, released a statement memorializing Wesley LePatner, who was a member of the group’s board of directors.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of Wesley LePatner, a beloved member of UJA’s community and a member of our board of directors, who was killed in yesterday’s mass shooting in Midtown.
Wesley was extraordinary in every way — personally, professionally, and philanthropically. An exceptional leader in the financial world, she brought thoughtfulness, vision, and compassion to everything she did. In 2023, we honored her with the Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award at our Wall Street Dinner, recognizing her commitment to our community and her remarkable achievements, all the more notable as a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field.
In the wake of October 7, Wesley led a solidarity mission with UJA to Israel, demonstrating her enduring commitment in Israel’s moment of heartache. She lived with courage and conviction, instilling in her two children a deep love for Judaism and the Jewish people.
We mourn the loss of a life taken far too soon and extend our heartfelt condolences to her husband, Evan; her children; and her entire family.
May Wesley’s memory be for a blessing — and a lasting source of strength and inspiration.”
Several bunches of flowers are now attached to the railing of a ramp leading to the Park Avenue building’s front door, along with a yellow balloon with the words “LOVE ONE ANOTHER!!” written on it.
A spokesman for audit and advisory firm KPMG said in a statement their office at 345 Park Avenue will be closed on Tuesday, reports Reuters.
No KPMG employees were injured in the shooting, according to a post by chair and CEO Tim Walsh and US managing principal Atif Zaim on the company’s LinkedIn page.
“Our hearts are with the victims of this horrific act and their families, as well as all of our neighbors in 345 Park. This was a terrible, tragic, and frightening event. We are incredibly grateful for the bravery of building security and law enforcement. At this time, we are not aware of any significant physical injuries to our KPMG colleagues,” the statement on LinkedIn said.
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New York governor calls for national assault weapons ban after Manhattan office shooting
New York governor Kathy Hochul is calling for Congress to pass a national assault weapons ban following yesterday’s shooting in Manhattan which killed four people.
In a statement this morning, Hochul noted the suspect used an AR-15-style assault rifle, a commonly used weapon in mass shootings in the US.
New York has some of the strongest gun laws in the nation. We banned assault weapons. We strengthened our Red Flag Law. We closed dangerous loopholes. But our laws only go so far when an AR-15 can be obtained in a state with weak gun laws and brought into New York to commit mass murder.
The time to act is now. The American people are tired of thoughts and prayers. They deserve action.
Congress must summon the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and finally pass a national assault weapons ban before more innocent lives are stolen.
The shooter was a Las Vegas resident. He had appeared to have driven over three days to reach New York City.
Hochul also condemned the shooting as a “horrific act of violence” and paid tribute to NYPD officer Didarul Islam.
“My heart is with his loved ones, his NYPD family and every victim of this tragedy,” Hochul said.
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Here is my colleague Ed Pilkington’s report:
An NFL employee was also injured in the shooting and was in stable condition at a hospital, according to a memo sent by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to league staff.
Goodell wrote there would be “increased security presence” at the league’s offices “in the days and weeks to come”, ESPN reported.
He also said employees based in New York should work remotely Tuesday or could take the day off.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a serious brain disease with no known treatment that can be caused by repeated bangs to the head from contact sports. It has been linked to aggression and dementia, and the NFL has paid an estimated $1bn to settle concussion-related lawsuits with thousands of retired players after the deaths of several high-profile players, Reuters reports.
Tamura was never an NFL player, but online records show he played in high school. The note found in his wallet said his football career was cut short by his brain injury, Bloomberg News reported.
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The suspect, Shane Tamura, appeared to have driven to New York City from Las Vegas over three days and to have acted alone, New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters last night.
He entered the skyscraper’s lobby, turned to his right and immediately shot the NYPD officer, Didarul Islam, who was assigned to the building’s security detail.
Tisch said Tamura used an M4 Carbine, a semi-automatic rifle popular with civilian US gun enthusiasts modeled on a fully automatic rifle used in the military.
He then shot a woman and two men in the lobby but inexplicably allowed another woman to pass him unharmed before he took the elevator to the 33rd-floor offices of Rudin Management.
There he fatally shot his final victim before taking his own life, Tisch said.
A widely circulated photo showed the permit issued to Tamura by the Las Vegas metropolitan police department allowing him to legally carry a concealed firearm.
An additional weapon – a loaded revolver – was later recovered from the black BMW vehicle Tamura had left double-parked outside the office tower, along with a backpack and prescription medications, Tisch said.
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To recap, the gunman who opened fire in a Manhattan office building left a note that appeared to blame the National Football League for a brain injury, New York mayor Eric Adams has said on the airwaves this morning.
The suspect, Shane Tamura, 27, brought the carnage to an end not long after it began on Monday evening by fatally shooting himself in the chest on the 33rd floor of the Park Avenue skyscraper. The building houses NFL headquarters.
Adams said the preliminary investigation shows the gunman took the wrong elevator bank and, instead of getting to NFL headquarters, ended up at Rudin Management, which owns the building at 345 Park Avenue.
“That is where he carried out additional shootings and took the lives of additional employees,” Adams told CBS this morning.
A security staffer remained hospitalized in critical condition, Adams said. The gunman shot a woman in the lobby, then a security guard who was hiding behind the counter, he said.
Four people, including the security guard – an off-duty New York City police officer – and a Blackstone real estate executive, were killed.
In what Adams called an “uncanny episode”, the gunman allowed a woman to walk past him without shooting before taking the elevator up to Rudin and discharging multiple rounds there.
The NYPD officer has been identified as Didarul Islam, an immigrant from Bangladesh and a father of two whose wife is pregnant. He was working off-hours as a security guard at the time. Adams described him as a “true blue hero”.
Blackstone released a statement identifying the executive as Wesley LePatner. “Words cannot express the devastation we feel,” the statement read.
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Here’s a little more on the note left by the shooter, in which he claimed he had been suffering from CTE – the degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions and other repeated head trauma common in contact sports like football – and said his brain should be studied after he died, two people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.
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Trump condemns 'senseless act of violence'
Donald Trump has condemned the “senseless act of violence” in which four people were killed in the Manhattan office shooting.
“I have been briefed on the tragic shooting that took place in Manhattan, a place that I know and love,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I trust our Law Enforcement Agencies to get to the bottom of why this crazed lunatic committed such a senseless act of violence.”
“My heart is with the families of the four people who were killed, including the NYPD Officer, who made the ultimate sacrifice,” he added.
The president will return to the US from Scotland tonight.
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The New York Times reports that the mayor, Eric Adams, also said on Good Day New York that the shooter had intended to go to the NFL offices on the lower floors of 345 Park Avenue but “appeared to have gone to the wrong floor”.
“There are two different elevator banks,” Adams said. “Some banks don’t go to every floor. He appeared to have gone to the wrong bank, and he ended up on the floor of Rudin Management.”
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Officials believe suspect may have targeted NFL in Manhattan office shooting, mayor Eric Adams says
The gunman who opened fire in a Manhattan office building left a note that appeared to blame the National Football League for his brain injury, New York mayor Eric Adams said.
Two officials familiar with the matter previously told NBC News that in the note found at the shooting scene, the suspect wondered about CTE – a brain condition caused by head trauma – as a possible cause of his mental illness.
“He did have a note on him. The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE, a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports. He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury,” Adams said in an interview with CBS’s “This Morning”.
The skyscraper where the shooting occurred Monday evening houses the NFL headquarters.
In an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”, Adams was asked about a possible link, noting that while the suspect, Shane Tamura, didn’t play college football, he did play at his California high school.
“He talked about CTE. He was not an NFL player. We have reason to believe that he was focused on the NFL agency that was located in the building, and we’re going to continue to investigate with our federal partners to ensure that we can find a reason and identify any other weapons,” Adams responded.
Investment giant Blackstone Inc said that a senior executive was among the people killed when a gunman, carrying an assault rifle, walked into the lobby of a midtown Manhattan office building and opened fire on Monday.
“We are heartbroken to share that our colleague, Wesley LePatner, was among those who lost their lives in the tragic incident at 345 Park Avenue. Words cannot express the devastation we feel,” the company said in a statement.
LePatner was a senior managing director at the firm and global head of core+ real estate and the chief executive officer of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), the firm added.
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Here are some pictures from the ribbon-cutting ceremony during the opening of Donald Trump’s new golf course, the Trump International Golf Links, in Balmedie earlier. This is the final day of his five-day visit to Scotland.
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Twenty-one Senate Democrats are demanding Donald Trump immediately cut funding to a controversial Gaza aid organization they say has resulted in the killings of more than 700 civilians seeking food and violated decades of humanitarian law.
The letter, led by senators Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Peter Welch of Vermont, comes as international criticism mounts over the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s operations, arguing that its model “shatters well-established norms that have governed distribution of humanitarian aid since the ratification of the Geneva conventions in 1949” by blurring the lines between aid delivery and military security operations.
“According to reports and eyewitness accounts, civilians have been fired at by tanks, drones, and helicopters, as well as soldiers on the ground, as they attempt to get food and humanitarian supplies,” the senators wrote.
The Trump administration authorized a $30m grant to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in late June, with $7m already disbursed according to documents seen by the Guardian. The organization, which is backed by both Israeli and US interests, has been given preferential access to operate in Gaza through coordination with the Israeli military and private US security contractors.
However, the rollout of the new scheme has been marked by death and destruction from the outset. Jake Wood, the founding executive director and former US marine, resigned on 25 May, saying: “It is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon.”
Boston Consulting Group, the US firm handling some of the foundation’s logistics, also withdrew shortly after.
The US Department of Justice is facing a federal lawsuit for refusing to release a legal memorandum that reportedly cleared the way for Donald Trump’s acceptance of a $400m luxury aircraft from Qatar’s government.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation, represented by the watchdog group American Oversight, filed the Freedom of Information Act (Foia) lawsuit in Washington DC’s federal district court after the justice department failed to produce the document despite granting expedited processing more than two months ago.
The president’s “deal to take a $400m luxury jet from a foreign government deserves full public scrutiny – not a stiff-arm from the Department of Justice”, American Oversight’s executive director, Chioma Chukwu, said in a press release. “This is precisely the kind of corrupt arrangement that public records laws are designed to expose.”
The case revisits Trump’s decision to accept the extravagant foreign gift: a luxury Boeing 747-8 jetliner dubbed a “palace in the sky”. Before the president’s frustrated base would start to call for the release of all Jeffrey Epstein files, followed by renewed scrutiny of the convicted sex offender’s friendship with Trump, what came to be known as “Qatar-gate” was one of the first symbols of the new administration that even stalwart Trump allies shook their heads at when the deal first emerged in May.
At the time, the US senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, warned the aircraft “poses significant espionage and surveillance problems”. The senator Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican, said she would “be checking for bugs”. Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, also a Republican, called accepting foreign gifts “never a good practice” that “threatens intelligence and national security”.
The Democratic US House member Ritchie Torres called it a “flying grift” that violated the constitution’s emoluments clause prohibiting federal officials from accepting valuable foreign presents without congressional approval.
The justice department filed a misconduct complaint on Monday against US district court chief judge James Boasberg, a prominent Washington, DC, judge who has drawn president Donald Trump’s ire, US attorney general Pam Bondi said on X.
Boasberg said in April that the Trump administration appeared to have acted “in bad faith” when it hurriedly assembled three deportation flights on 15 March at the same time that he was conducting emergency court proceedings to assess the legality of the effort.
“Today at my direction, @TheJusticeDept filed a misconduct complaint against U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg for making improper public comments about President Trump and his Administration,” Bondi said, without specifying which comments was she referring to.
Donald Trump has said he is “working together” with Israel “to try and get things straightened out” in Gaza amid warnings of severe mass starvation in the enclave.
After opening his new golf course in Menie, Aberdeenshire, a reporter from the crowd asked the US president “what will you say next to Benjamin Netanyahu”, the prime minister of Israel.
“We’re working together to try and get things straightened out,” Trump said.
Earlier during his speech at the course, the US leader said he would fly back to the Washington to “put out fires all over the world”.
US government investigates Duke University in latest federal funding threat
Donald Trump’s administration has initiated a probe into Duke University and the Duke Law Journal over allegations of race-related discrimination, making it the latest American university to face the threat of cuts to federal funding.
The government said on Monday it will probe whether the Duke Law Journal’s selection of its editors gives preferences to candidates from minority communities.
“This investigation is based on recent reporting alleging that Duke University discriminates on the bases of race, color, and/or national origin by using these factors to select law journal members,” the Education Department said in a statement.
US education secretary Linda McMahon and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr sent a letter to the university’s leadership alleging what the government called “the use of race preferences in Duke’s hiring, admissions, and scholarship decisions.”
The letter urged the university to review its policies and create a panel “with delegated authority from Duke’s Board of Trustees to enable Duke and the federal government to move quickly toward a mutual resolution of Duke’s alleged civil rights violations.” Duke had no immediate comment, Reuters reported.
Rights advocates have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Trump administration’s attempted crackdown against universities.
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Donald Trump’s strategy of imposing sweeping tariffs on America’s main trading partners will face a major test in the US courts on Thursday, four days after the president hailed the “powerful deal” reached with the EU and just hours before a new round of punishing import duties is set to come into effect.
Trump has underpinned his tariff policy with an emergency power that is now being challenged as unlawful in the federal courts. On Thursday the US court of appeals for the federal circuit will hear oral arguments in the case, VOS Selections v Trump.
A group of small business owners are suing the US president on grounds that he lacks legal authority from Congress to impose severe tariffs that could damage their bottom line. The Trump administration has invoked a 1977 law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), claiming that various national emergencies – including US trade deficits with trading partners and the scourge of fentanyl trafficking – demand urgent action.
But the plaintiffs have countered that the IEEPA does not give the president the power to impose tariffs, and has never been used in such a way in its almost half a century on the statute books.
The case has the potential to derail Trump’s most significant tariff deals and negotiations, which he has made a centrepiece of his second presidency. Given how much is riding on it, the suit is likely eventually to be settled by the US supreme court under its current 6-3 supermajority of hard-right justices.
In the short term, the challenge under the IEEPA looms as a black cloud over Trump’s desire to claim victory on the tariff front, as his controversial strategy of slapping hefty import duties on major trading partners continues to roil global trade and markets. On Sunday, Trump struck a deal at his golf club in Scotland with the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, that will see 15% import tariffs on most EU goods entering the US.
Then on Friday, a day after the appeals court hears oral arguments, Trump’s latest round of potentially destabilizing import duties is set to kick in. The targeted countries include some of the biggest suppliers of US imports, including Canada and Mexico.
Donald Trump’s timeline for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine has sped up, the president said while visiting Nato ally Great Britain on Monday.
“I’m going to make a new deadline of about 10, 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump said in response to a question while sitting with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer.
“There’s no reason in waiting. There’s no reason in waiting. It’s 50 days. I want to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made.”
Russian and Ukrainian diplomats met in Istanbul last week, agreeing on little more than a prisoner exchange. Ukraine proposed a summit by the end of August between the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, but Russia’s reply was that such a meeting would only be appropriate if it were to sign an agreement.
The meeting was the third negotiation in Istanbul. Putin has not attended any of the talks, despite Trump’s exhortations.
The Trump administration must continue reimbursing Planned Parenthood clinics for Medicaid-funded services, a federal judge ruled on Monday, in an escalating legal war between the reproductive health giant and the White House over Republican efforts to “defund” Planned Parenthood.
Days after Donald Trump signed his sweeping tax bill, Planned Parenthood sued over a provision in the bill that ended Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, such as Planned Parenthood.
The new court order, from US district judge Indira Talwani in Boston, will protect Medicaid funding for all Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide while litigation in the case continues.
The order also replaces and expands a previous edict handed down by Talwani, which initially granted a preliminary injunction specifically blocking the government from cutting Medicaid payments only to Planned Parenthood affiliates that did not provide abortions or did not receive at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.
“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” Talwani wrote in her Monday order.
“In particular, restricting members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs.”
More than 80 million people rely on Medicaid, the US government’s insurance program for low-income people.
It is already illegal to use Medicaid to pay for most abortions, but Planned Parenthood clinics – which treat a disproportionate number of people who use Medicaid – rely on the program to reimburse it for services such as birth control, STI tests and cancer screenings.
Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he was not seeking a summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping, but added that he may visit China at Xi’s invitation, which Trump said had been extended.
“I may go to China, but it would only be at the invitation of President Xi, which has been extended. Otherwise, no interest!,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Aides to Trump and Xi have discussed a potential meeting between the leaders during a trip by the US president to Asia later this year, sources previously told Reuters.
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North Korea said on Tuesday the United States must accept that reality has changed since the countries’ summit meetings in the past, and no future dialogue would end its nuclear program, state media KCNA reported.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un who is believed to speak for her brother, said she conceded that the personal relationship between Kim and US president Donald Trump “is not bad.”
But if Washington intended to use a personal relationship as a way to end the North’s nuclear weapons program, the effort would only be the subject of “mockery,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by KCNA.
“If the US fails to accept the changed reality and persists in the failed past, the DPRK-US meeting will remain as a ‘hope’ of the US side,” she said, referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korea’s capabilities as a nuclear weapons state and the geopolitical environment have radically changed since Kim and Trump held talks three times during the US president’s first term, she said.
“Any attempt to deny the position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state ... will be thoroughly rejected,” she said.
US-China trade talks resume for second day in Stockholm
Top US and Chinese economic officials arrived on Tuesday at the venue where they are conducting their latest bilateral round of trade negotiations, this time held in Stockholm, after previous rounds in London and Geneva.
Japan’s top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, said on Tuesday the trade agreement with the US guaranteed Japan would always get the lowest tariff rate on chips and pharmaceuticals out of all the pacts negotiated by Washington.
“If a third country agrees with the United States on lower rates on chips and pharmaceuticals, the same rates would be applied to Japan,” he told a news conference.
Donald Trump has arrived at the opening ceremony for his new golf course in Aberdeenshire, arriving to the tune of bagpipes at the event at his course in Menie.
He thanked his son Eric, who he said had “worked so hard” on creating the New Course at the resort.
The president also thanked John Swinney, who was among the assembled audience.
Eric Trump had earlier said he and the Trump International team had created an “amazing masterpiece” at the New Course.
US House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries expressed his concern over the “horrific shooting”, and said he was “praying hard” for the NYPD officer.
“May God watch over our city during this challenging moment,” Jeffries wrote in a post.
A large police presence converged on the area around the tower, according to Reuters journalists near the scene.
“I just saw a lot of commotion and cops and people screaming,” said Russ McGee, a 31-year-old sports bettor who was working out in a gym adjacent to the skyscraper, told Reuters in an interview near the scene.
The office building at 345 Park Avenue occupies an entire city block and houses the corporate offices for the National Football League and the headquarters of investment firm Blackstone. It also holds offices for JP Morgan Chase.
According to an ESPN reporter, Jeff Darlington, an NFL security alert was sent to employees: “Do not exit the building. Secure your location and hide until law enforcement clears your floor. Please switch phones to silent.”
This shooting is the 254th mass shooting in the US this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun-related violence, who defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people, excluding the shooter, are killed or injured by firearms.
Donald Trump has met with the Scottish first minister John Swinney at his Aberdeenshire golf club.
The president is opening a second course at his Menie Estate property on Tuesday and it is understood the first minister met with Trump shortly before the ceremony.
The leaders spoke for around 15 minutes, before posing together for pictures in front of a US flag and the saltire of Scotland ahead of the opening of a second course at the president’s golf club in Aberdeenshire.
Swinney has previously said he would push the president on an exemption to tariffs for Scotch whisky and raise the situation in Gaza, which also came up in the meeting between Trump and prime minister Keir Starmer on Monday.
Meanwhile, Trump was spotted on the driving range of his golf club during a delay in the opening ceremony for a new course.
Trump could be seen hitting shots from the driving range just yards where the first tee of the new course, where he is expected to be the first to tee off.
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Trump caps his Scottish visit by opening a new golf course
President Donald Trump is opening a new golf course bearing his name in Scotland on Tuesday, capping a five-day foreign trip designed around promoting his family’s luxury properties and playing golf.
Trump and his sons, Eric and Donald Jr, are cutting the ceremonial ribbon and playing the first-ever round at the new Trump course in the village of Balmedie, on the northern coast of Scotland, AP reported.
The overseas jaunt let Trump escape Washington’s sweaty summer humidity and the still-raging scandal over the case of Jeffrey Epstein.
It was mostly built around golf – and walking the new course before it officially begins offering rounds to the public on 13 August, adding to a lengthy list of ways Trump has used the White House to promote his brand.
Billing itself the “Greatest 36 Holes in Golf,” the Trump International Golf Links, Scotland, was designed by Eric Trump. The course is hosting a PGA Seniors Championship event later this week, after Trump leaves.
Signs promoting the event had already been erected all over the course before he arrived on Tuesday, and, on the highway leading in, temporary metal signs guided drivers on to the correct road.
Golfers hitting the course at dawn as part of that event had to put their clubs through metal detectors erected as part of the security sweeps ahead of Trump’s arrival.
Several dozen people, some dressed for golf, including wearing golf shoes, had filled the sand trap near the tee box to watch the ribbon-cutting ceremony shortly before it was scheduled to start.
Another group of people were watching from the other side in tall grass growing on sand dunes flanking the first hole.
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Gunman kills four people in shooting at Manhattan skyscraper
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news over the next few hours.
We start with the news that a gunman killed four people at a Manhattan skyscraper that houses the headquarters of the NFL and the offices of several major financial firms before turning the gun on himself, New York officials have said.
An NYPD officer identified as Didarul Islam, an immigrant from Bangladesh and a father of two whose wife is pregnant, was among those killed. He was working off-hours as a security guard at the time, New York mayor Eric Adams told reporters, describing him as a “true blue hero”.
Authorities offered few details about the three other victims killed by the suspect – two men and a woman. A third male was gravely wounded by the gunfire and was “fighting for his life” in a nearby hospital, the mayor said.
Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, confirmed that “the lone shooter has been neutralized”. New York police also said the shooter acted alone and was dead.
Tisch said the gunman, identified as Shane Tamura, a 27-year-old Las Vegas resident with a history of mental illness, had driven cross-country to New York in recent days.
The shooting spree in the evening rush hour began in the lobby of the Park Avenue tower in Midtown Manhattan. Tisch said that surveillance videos showed the gunman exiting a double-parked Black BMW between 51st and 52nd street on Park Avenue.
Read our full report here:
In other developments this morning:
Ghislaine Maxwell asked the supreme court to overturn her conviction for taking part in and facilitating Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes, arguing that a non-prosecution agreement with the late sex offender struck by federal prosecutors in Florida in 2008 should have barred any of his co-conspirators from prosecution as well.
Donald Trump said that he did indeed bar Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago club for “inappropriate” behavior. But the president explained that what was inappropriate was not, as his aides have suggested, doing something lewd or illegal, but hiring away staff from the club.
An Israeli settler who was sanctioned by Joe Biden as a violent extremist, but removed from the sanctions list by Trump, was arrested in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Monday after the fatal shooting of a Palestinian activist. The Palestinian man who was killed was denied entry to the United States last month when he arrived in San Francisco for a series of planned talks sponsored by faith groups, including a progressive Jewish synagogue.
The US justice department filed a misconduct complaint against a federal judge who has clashed with the administration over deportations to a notorious prison in El Salvador over private comments first reported by a far-right publication.
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