Morning Briefing: July 8, 2025

ISTANBUL

Here’s a rundown of all the news you need to start your Tuesday, including Israeli forces killing dozens of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking about displacement of Palestinians in meeting with US President Donald Trump, and US saying that it will hold talks with Iran.

TOP STORIES

• Israeli army kills 58 Palestinians in Gaza Strip

At least 58 people were killed and several others injured in a series of Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Monday, according to medical sources.

Six people were killed, including a toddler, and 15 injured in a strike on a clinic-turned-shelter in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, a medical source told Anadolu.

In the southern part of Gaza City, the Israeli army struck an apartment in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, killing one Palestinian and injuring several others, medical sources and witnesses said.

Israeli forces also opened fire on crowds gathered near aid distribution centers west of Rafah in southern Gaza, killing five Palestinians and wounding more than 40, according to medical sources.

• Netanyahu backs displacement of Palestinians in meeting with Trump

US President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday. Asked whether his Palestinian relocation plan is still on the table, Trump said the US has "great cooperation" from surrounding countries. "So something good will happen."

Netanyahu said he thinks Trump had a "brilliant" vision.

"It's called free choice. If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave,” he said, adding that Gaza “shouldn't be a prison. It should be an open place and give people a free choice."

Trump said "I don't know" when asked if a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine is possible and referred to Netanyahu.

Netanyahu replied: "I think we can work out a peace between us and the entire Middle East with President Trump's leadership, and by working together, I think we can establish a very, very broad peace that will include all our neighbors."

• Trump says US has 'scheduled Iran talks'

US President Donald Trump said Monday that Washington will hold talks with Tehran.

"We have scheduled Iran talks, and they want to talk," Trump told reporters along Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.

Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said the meeting will take place in the "next week or so."

Asked about another strike on Iran, Trump said: "I hope we're not going to have to do that. I can't imagine wanting to do that."

NEWS IN BRIEF

• The US will send more weapons to Ukraine, President Donald Trump said Monday.
• The US State Department revoked the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation of the al-Nusrah Front group, also known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), according to an unpublished Federal Register notice on Monday.
• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hit back Monday after US President Donald Trump threatened an additional 10% tariff on countries that orient themselves along the “anti-American polices” of the BRICS economic bloc, saying “it cannot be that might should now be right.”
• US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said on Monday that he is “satisfied” with Lebanon’s response to his roadmap for the disarmament of the Hezbollah group.
• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• Russia claimed on Monday that it captured its first settlement in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region following months of offensive.
• Yemen’s Houthi group claimed missile and drone attacks on several sites inside Israel on Monday, in response to Israeli airstrikes on the coastal city of Al-Hudaydah.
• The European Commission on Monday said it has no evidence that Hamas is stealing humanitarian aid in Gaza, and described the humanitarian situation in the enclave as "catastrophic."
• Iran still possesses sufficient military capability to strike Israel daily for two years, an adviser to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Monday.
• The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ending temporary protected status (TPS) for thousands of migrants from Honduras and Nicaragua, saying conditions have improved in both countries, according to notices published Monday in the Federal Register.
• A group of people staged a demonstration Monday to express their support for two pro-Palestine movement leaders who have been charged by police with public order offences related to a January march.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

• Trump signs executive order to extend tariff deadline to Aug. 1

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday that extends the date on which reciprocal tariffs will take effect to Aug. 1.

The previous deadline had been July 9.

With respect to China, the separate tariff suspension effectuated by Executive Order 14298 of May 12 remains in effect and is unaltered by this order, it said.

• US to impose 25% tariffs on Japan, South Korea: Trump

US President Donald Trump on Monday announced that Washington will impose a 25% tariff on goods from Japan and South Korea starting on Aug. 1.

Trump posted letters to Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on social media, saying, “Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal," likely referring to reciprocal tariffs.

He urged both countries to produce their goods in the US as a way to bypass tariffs.