Monday morning news: October 20, 2025

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Hamas fires on Israeli troops, Gaza aid suspended » A bloody weekend in Gaza put the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire to the test. But, despite the violence, the truce remains intact.

Hamas militants ambushed Israeli troops in southern Gaza early Sunday, killing two soldiers. In response, Israel launched air attacks targeting Hamas, killing dozens of Palestinians. Israel also temporarily suspended aid to Gaza.

Prior to the strikes, in an interview last week, President Trump said he expects Hamas to disarm, and implied the terror group will face action if it does not.

TRUMP: We’re going to find out. So it’s not a hard timeline, but it’s… it’s a line in my own mind. And at a certain point, if they don’t do what they’re supposed to do, uh, then we’ll have to do it for them.

Following the retaliatory strikes, Israel’s military says it resumed enforcing the ceasefire. It also says aid deliveries to Gaza are resuming Monday.

Vance will lead trip to Israel re: implementing Phase 2 of ceasefire » Meantime, Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to lead a U.S. delegation to Israel this week to discuss implementing Phase 2 of the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire.

White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will accompany Vance.

Phase 2 involves establishing new governance in Gaza and disarming Hamas.

But sticking points for moving on to a new phase remain. For instance, the Israeli government is frustrated Hamas has not yet kept its promise to return the bodies of all deceased hostages.

U.S. considers sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine » The U.S. is considering a major step to boost Ukraine in its efforts to fend off Russia’s now three-and-a-half-year-old invasion.

The White House is weighing the possibility of sending Ukraine long-range, deep strike-capacity Tomahawk missiles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the mere threat of Kyiv getting the missiles may pressure Russian leader Vladimir Putin to finally get serious about negotiating an end to the war.

ZELENSKYY: Now, everybody knows now about Tomahawks. And Putin calls to President Trump. I think one of the reasons is because he’s afraid that [the] president will give us Tomahawks.

Zelenskyy on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday.

In a meeting with Zelenskyy Friday, President Trump refused to commit to providing the Tomahawks. He explained his hesitation to Fox NewsChannel’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.

TRUMP: We can’t give all of our weapons to Ukraine. We just can’t do that… You know, if we’re going to be short, I don’t want to do that. I can’t jeopardize the United States.

Trump is aggressively working to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. His next scheduled step is to meet with Putin in Hungary in the coming weeks.

Government shutdown shows no signs of ending » The U.S. government shutdown is now almost three weeks old, and it’s showing no signs of ending.

Democrats are demanding healthcare subsidies be extended in any deal to reopen the government. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries tells ABC’s This Week, Republicans won’t negotiate.

JEFFRIES: We have repeatedly made clear… that we want to sit down [and] find a bipartisan path forward to enacting a spending agreement that actually makes life better for the American people.

On the same broadcast, House Speaker Mike Johnson said the Democrats’ demands to restore funds cut earlier this year are a non-starter.

JOHNSON: They want to reinstate free healthcare paid for by taxpayers to illegal aliens… They want to give money back to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting… and they want to engage in all sorts of spending on foreign projects around the globe.

Republicans say they’re willing to negotiate with Democrats on soon-to-expire healthcare subsidies, but say lawmakers need to pass a spending bill to reopen the government first.

Former Rep. Santos now free after Trump commutation » The disgraced former Congressman George Santos is now a free man.

The New York Republican was just a few months into serving a more-than-seven-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to fraud and identity theft. But Friday, President Trump commuted his sentence, saying it was too harsh.

Santos tells Fox News:

SANTOS: I’ve made some poor choices in my life. But nothing would warrant [an] insane, arbitrary sentence. But on top of that, a sentence that no one else would have gotten, a treatment that no one else would have gotten.

Santos admitted to deceiving campaign donors and stealing the identities of 11 people, including members of his own family. He says he has a lot to prove to a lot of people, and insists he won’t disappoint President Trump.

Louvre jewels theft » Thieves managed to break into the world’s most-visited museum over the weekend and got away with priceless Napoleonic-era jewels, including tiaras, necklaces, and broaches.

The theft at the Louvre in Paris took only a few minutes to pull off and happened in broad daylight Sunday while the museum was open. Investigators say the thieves rode a basket lift up the Louvre’s facade, forced their way through a window, and smashed display cases.

Christopher Marinello of Art Recovery International says the thieves care about converting the stolen items into cash, not the pieces’ importance to cultural heritage, which means:

MARINELLO: There’s a race going on right now with the… French local police to recover these items before they get broken up, because they will melt down the precious metals, they will recut the stones, with no regard for the pieces’ integrity.

The thieves did fail to get away with one piece they were after. After the crime, French authorities found a crown belonging to Napoleon the Third’s wife and containing more than 1300 diamonds outside the museum. It had been broken.

I’m Mark Mellinger.

Straight ahead: Using race as a factor in drawing lines for voting districts, in today’s Legal Docket. Plus, looking back at the COVID lockdowns, and one scientist who pushed back… in today’s World History Book.

This is The World and Everything in It.

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