First Thing: Scramble to shore up ceasefire as Israel hits Gaza with deadly strikes

IDF says attack followed Hamas killing of two soldiers, but both sides say they are committed to ceasefire. Plus, No Kings protesters on their hopes for resistance movement against Trump

Good morning.

Israel launched waves of lethal airstrikes yesterday and cut off all aid into Gaza “until further notice” after a reported attack by Hamas, in escalations that marked the most serious threat so far to the increasingly fragile ceasefire.

Two Israeli soldiers, including an officer, were killed in the Hamas attack. Palestinian officials said at least 28 died in the retaliatory airstrikes. Israeli fire also killed three people near the ceasefire line on Monday, medics said.

A senior Egyptian official said “round-the-clock” contacts were under way in an effort to de-escalate the situation as regional powers scrambled to shore up the ceasefire. Hopes rose that a complete collapse could be avoided after Hamas and the Israeli military issued statements that said they were committed to the agreement.

• What else is the US doing to help maintain the ceasefire? Senior US officials, possibly including the vice-president, JD Vance, were expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days for what observers said was a clear effort to hold the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to the deal signed in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, earlier this month.

Trump suggests carving up Ukraine’s Donbas region to end war after meeting Zelenskyy

Donald Trump has suggested the best way to end the war in Ukraine would be to “cut up” the country’s Donbas region in a way that would leave most of it under Russian control, after reportedly pushing his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at a White House meeting to give up swaths of territory.

“Let it be cut the way it is,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One yesterday. “It’s cut up right now,” he said, adding that you could leave the region the way it was today.

“They can negotiate something later on down the line,” he said. But for now, both sides of the conflict should “stop at the battle line – go home, stop fighting, stop killing people.”

• What happened in the meeting with Zelenskyy? Ukraine’s president had flown to Washington hoping to capitalise on Trump’s growing frustration with Vladimir Putin after the summit in Alaska failed to produce a breakthrough in the war. But Zelenskyy left the US empty-handed, failing to secure long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles after weeks of lobbying.

Louvre heist puts pressure on French government over museum security

The French government is under increasing pressure over museum security as police continue to search for thieves who took just seven minutes to steal “priceless” jewels from the Louvre.

“What is certain is that we have failed, since people were able to park a furniture hoist in the middle of Paris, get people up it in several minutes to grab priceless jewels, and give France a terrible image,” the justice minister, Gérald Darmanin, told France Inter radio today.

Police were working to discover what level of organised criminals had been involved in the highly professional raid, he said. A team of 60 investigators is working on the theory that the raid was planned and executed by an organised crime group.

• How did they break in? In a highly professional raid, four balaclava-wearing thieves pulled up outside the Louvre on a road along the Seine in a truck with a basket lift and extendable ladder, which they used to reach the second-floor balcony window.

In other news …

• A live artillery shell exploded prematurely during a marines live-fire demonstration that launched over a southern Californian freeway in celebration of the military branch’s 250th anniversary, raining shrapnel down on a California highway patrol vehicle and a motorcycle that was part of the vice-president JD Vance’s detail, according to a police report.

• A large internet outage has hit dozens of popular websites, online games and apps. Users have been reporting problems accessing sites such as Amazon, Roblox, Fortnite and Snapchat, for example, this morning.

• Two people were killed in Hong Kong after a cargo plane hit a ground vehicle while trying to land. The aircraft veered off the runway and crashed through a fence, according to airport officials. It then collided with the security patrol car, taking the vehicle with it as it ditched into the sea.

Stat of the day: Smart jab can shrink head and neck cancer tumours within six weeks, trial finds

Doctors have hailed “incredibly encouraging” trial results that show a triple-action smart jab can shrink tumours in head and neck cancer patients within six weeks. Head and neck cancer is the world’s sixth most common form of the disease.

Don’t miss this: No Kings protesters on their hopes for resistance movement against Trump – ‘If we lose momentum, we lose the fight’

Saturday’s No Kings protests brought millions on to the streets across all 50 states in the latest demonstration against Donald Trump’s administration amid a government shutdown. But many protesters are already strategizing about what to do next.

… or this: UNAids is to close in 2026 – four years early. Are experts right to be alarmed?

As executive director of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association, Ganna Dovbakh was among the many public health officials and NGO leaders shocked by the UN secretary general’s proposal to “sunset UNAids by the end of 2026”. In the eastern European and central Asian (EECA) countries where Dovbakh works, research indicates that the epidemic is on the rise.

Last Thing: ‘You can learn a lot by losing’ – meet Don Manuel, the 104-year-old chess player

The year Manuel Álvarez Escudero learned to play chess, fascist bombs rained down on Guernica. Nine decades later, Álvarez’s love of the game has only increased. The 104-year-old madrileño – believed to be the oldest active registered chess player in the world – plays weekly matches at a cultural centre.

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