The Headlines - Deadly New Strikes in Gaza, and Abortion Arrests in Texas

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Plus, drones on Mount Everest. On Today’s Episode: Israel Carries Out Deadly Strikes in Gaza and Warns of More Attacks, by Yan Zhuang, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, Patrick Kingsley and Aaron BoxermanJustice Department Stonewalls Federal Judge Over Deportation Flights, by Alan Feuer and Zolan Kanno-YoungsTrump and Putin to Hold Call About Ukraine: What to Know, by Constant Méheut and Ivan NechepurenkoTrump Pulls Secret Service Protection From Hunter and Ashley Biden, by Shawn McCreeshTrump Promises, Again, to Release ‘All’ Kennedy Assassination Files, by Tyler Pager and Adam NagourneyTexas Arrests Midwife and Associate on Charges of Providing Abortions, by J. David GoodmanDrones Will Do Some Schlepping for Sherpas on Mount Everest, by Bhadra Sharma and Mujib MashalTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Tuesday, March 18th. Here's what we're covering. It feels like we have returned to some of the bloodiest moments of the war. Our colleague in Gaza, Bilal Shabir, woke to the terrifying sound of explosions near his home in central Gaza. The walls, he said, began to shake and very quickly he realized that war had returned. Patrick Kingsley, the Times Jerusalem bureau chief, says Israel has launched a deadly large-scale

attack in the Gaza Strip. The strikes began overnight and are the first major assault on the territory since a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas went into effect about two months ago. Recently, talks about how to extend that ceasefire have stalled. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 300 people have been killed in today's strikes. And the Israeli military has warned residents of Gaza that it plans to intensify its attacks. What we don't think has happened yet

is any sign of a ground operation. No troop movements on the ground. That could change very quickly. Israel had planned for weeks for renewed ground operations, renewed invasion of places that they had left during earlier phases of the war. But we don't see that just yet. And that has caused analysts to wonder whether this is still a short-term effort to force Hamas to compromise during ongoing negotiations, or whether it is in fact the opening salvos of a much more intense,

much longer and new phase of full-scale war in which Israel, once and for all, will attempt to force Hamas from power. It's not clear where on the spectrum between those two things we are yet. Live coverage of the strikes and the fallout is at NYTimes.com. The showdown between the Trump administration and the courts escalated yesterday over recent deportations. A federal judge pressed a lawyer for the government about the timing of deportation flights that carried hundreds of Venezuelan migrants out of the country to El Salvador this weekend.

The judge wanted to understand exactly when the flights took off, to know whether that happened after he'd ordered them to stop and even to turn them around mid-air if necessary. The Justice Department lawyer repeatedly stonewalled the judge and refused to answer his questions, citing national security. A Times review of flight data, though, does provide a timeline. The data shows that two of the planes were mid-flight and one had not taken off yet when the judge's order was posted, apparently putting the administration in violation of the ruling. The tense back and forth between the judge and the government lawyer was the latest and

potentially most serious flashpoint yet between the White House and the judicial branch, as many of the president's actions face legal challenges. If the executive branch does not comply with judicial rulings, it could push the country towards a constitutional crisis. You're going against the judges now. What's next? Another flight. Another flight every day. In an interview on Fox News yesterday, President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, promised the deportations will continue. I'm proud to be a part of this administration. We're not stopping. I don't care what the judges think. I don't care what the left thinks. We're coming.

Here are three more updates on the Trump administration. President Trump is set to speak today with Russian President Vladimir Putin about how to end the war in Ukraine. When asked what they would discuss, Trump said it would include, quote, dividing up certain assets, which echoes earlier comments from U.S. officials that Ukraine will have to give up some of its land

as part of any peace deal. Last night, President Trump said he was pulling secret service protection for Joe Biden's adult children, Hunter and Ashley Biden. Since taking office, Trump has revoked secret service protection from a number of people he perceives as adversaries, including

members of his first administration, like Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, who have both faced ongoing death threats from Iran. And... You've got a lot of reading. I don't believe we're going to redact anything. I said, just don't redact. You can't redact. President Trump says his administration will release 80,000 pages of documents today

related to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But he didn't say what's in them. The assassination has long fueled conspiracy theories, including some that Trump himself has shared. In Texas, authorities have arrested and charged two people with violating the state's near-total abortion ban, a midwife and her colleague. These appear to be the first criminal arrests of alleged abortion providers in the U.S. since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade three years ago.

In a statement, the attorney general of Texas said that the midwife operated a network of clinics in the Houston area. She was also charged with practicing medicine without a license. According to a friend of the midwife, she had been on her way to one of her clinics when she was pulled over by police at gunpoint and taken into custody. Until now, states with abortion bans have largely only threatened prosecution, rather than carry out actual arrests. And finally, the main climbing season on Mount Everest starts next month, and expedition companies there will be trying out some new tech.

They're going to be testing drones to carry some of the load. Right now, Nepali Sherpas carry the heavy equipment for many of the climbers who try to make their way up the world's tallest mountain. The Sherpas also carry ladders to put over crevices and stash oxygen bottles at high camps. They can make the climb at least 40 times a season, with all of that in tow. Now the drones will be used to ferry some of it instead,

and to cut down on transport time. Goods that would normally take about 7 hours to carry on foot can be airlifted in about 15 minutes. By lightening the Sherpa's load, drone operators hope that the chance of fatal accidents will go down. There have been multiple deadly tragedies involving Sherpas, including an avalanche in 2023 that killed three of the guides.

The plan is to also use the drones to pick up some of the waste that climbers leave behind. Some years, volunteers have collected more than 20,000 pounds of trash on the mountain. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, how President Trump is targeting a single law firm as part of a revenge campaign against his political enemies. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.