Hamas strikes

ISRAEL: Israel’s military is investigating why Route 34 north of Gaza and near an Israeli kibbutz was left open after 68-year-old Moshe Feder was killed driving along the road, one of four Israeli civilians killed in a barrage of missiles launched from Gaza over the weekend. Hamas launched 690 rockets into Israel, including the sophisticated and expensive Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missile that killed Feder. Israeli Defense Forces responded with about 300 airstrikes of their own, killing 22 Gazans. The Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted only about a third of the Hamas barrage. Tel Aviv University’s Amos Yadlin has a helpful list of pluses and minuses on Israeli policy with the weekend confrontation. Philos Project’s Robert Nicholson has a clip of the weird war Israelis live under.

SYRIA: Fighting has escalated inside Idlib, with Russian airstrikes hitting two hospitals and forcing the evacuation of thousands of civilians. A months-long Russia-Turkey truce over Idlib had created a buffer zone designed to avoid civilian casualties in a stand-off with al-Qaeda-linked groups.

FRANCE: Little notice has been given to a string of attacks at other Notre Dames, including a fire on Easter Sunday at a Notre Dame confessional near Marseilles. Despite extensive documentation of multiple incidents, attackers rarely are identified or arrested by authorities.

ALGERIA: The influential brother of former Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and two generals have been jailed, as protests continue despite the downfall of Bouteflika last month.

AFGHANISTAN: The government’s call for a Ramadan truce has been rejected by the Taliban, which is negotiating directly with the United States over ending the 18-year war. Despite the ongoing talks, the Taliban launched last month a spring offensive, with 13 killed in an attack on a police post in northern Afghanistan Monday.

CHINA: President Donald Trump is threatening a new tariff hike on Chinese goods and China is threatening to walk away from trade talks.

RUSSIA: Give Vladimir Putin credit for punching above his weight. The Russian president has exploited U.S. indecisiveness and retreat, troublemaking despite his own country’s weak economy and diminished standing.

BRITAIN: Prince Harry announced that his wife Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, gave birth to a son this morning, and both are healthy and well.

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