Israel conducted an airstrike in a designated humanitarian area in southern Gaza on Saturday which the Israel Defense Forces said targeted the commander of Hamas' military wing and the official Palestinian news agency said killed 71 people and injured nearly 300.
The big picture: The target was Hamas' top military commander, Mohammed Deif, whom Israeli officials say was one of the primary masterminds of the Oct. 7 attacks. The IDF is trying to confirm whether he was killed, a senior officer said in a briefing with reporters.
A retired theatre and Africana studies professor who spent nearly a decade trying to get her first science fiction book published has released her latest Afrofuturist novel, which she says is a realistic cautionary tale.
The big picture: A new generation of Afrofuturist writers, musicians and filmmakers in recent years has produced work questioning how Black people will be viewed in the future as states have passed restrictions on how schools can teach about Black people in the past.
The families of U.S. hostages held in Gaza asked to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his upcoming trip to Washington, along with the members of Congress who represent their districts, according a letter obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: Netanyahu, who is expected to arrive in Washington on July 22, has met some of the families of the U.S. hostages in other settings but never met them as a group.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday departed early from a NATO summit in Washington, D.C., where he played his perennial role of internal irritant, for a much friendlier meeting at Mar-a-Lago with former President Trump.
Why it matters: Thursday's Orbán split-screen highlights one dramatic change coming if Trump replaces Biden: a very different set of leaders will have VIP status with the White House.
