Axios PM

May 05, 2025
Happy Cinco de Mayo! Today's newsletter, edited by Sam Baker, is 476 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Carlos Cunha for copy editing.
1 big thing: Israel threatens to flatten Gaza


Israel's Security Cabinet approved a plan last night to reoccupy and eventually flatten all of Gaza if a new hostage-and-ceasefire deal isn't reached soon, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.
- The plan calls for demolishing any buildings left standing and displacing virtually the entire population of 2 million people to a single "humanitarian area."
🗓️ The latest: The Security Cabinet is using President Trump's visit to the Middle East next week as a deadline for a new deal.
- Many Israeli officials see this operation as a nuclear option and would much prefer a deal in the next two weeks.
- Trump isn't playing an active role in efforts to reach a ceasefire, and has effectively given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a green light to do as he sees fit, Israeli officials say.
💡 The big picture: The return to full-fledged war would come after Israel already cut off all supplies of food, water and medicine to civilians in Gaza after the ceasefire broke down two months ago.
- Netanyahu has rejected any proposal that ends the war entirely, pressing Hamas instead to sign a shorter-term agreement.
Israeli officials hope the threat of a large-scale invasion will press Hamas to accept a deal on Israel's terms.
2. 📰 N.Y. Times wins 4 Pulitzers

New York Times photographer Doug Mills won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography today for his unforgettable images of the assassination attempt against President Trump — one of four Pulitzers for the Gray Lady.
- The others were for Explanatory Reporting, Local Reporting (with The Baltimore Banner) and International Reporting.
🏆 The Wall Street Journal took home the prize for National Reporting, for "chronicling political and personal shifts of the richest person in the world, Elon Musk, including his turn to conservative politics, his use of legal and illegal drugs and his private conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin."
3. Catch me up

- 🏈 D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser joined President Trump in the Oval Office today as he announced that the 2027 NFL Draft will be held on the National Mall. Go deeper.
- 🦾 OpenAI scuttled its plan to spin out an independent for-profit company, CEO Sam Altman told employees today. Instead, its existing nonprofit board will keep control. Go deeper.
- 🌎 The Trump administration is offering $1,000 stipends and travel assistance to undocumented immigrants who "self-deport." Go deeper.
4. 📸 1,000 words

The British royal family hosted World War II veterans today at Buckingham Palace to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day — May 8, 1945, when the war ended in Europe.
- The anniversary is Thursday.

King Charles III joins World War II veterans at a tea party at Buckingham Palace today.
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