Before conducting extensive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip overnight, Israel had a consultation with the US.
Late on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the Israeli government had informed the US administration of the imminent assault.
The US, Qatar, and Egypt’s ceasefire, which was brokenred by the US, Qatar, and Egypt in January, has been shattered by the bombing that claimed the lives of at least 404 people, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Israelis consulted the Trump administration and the White House regarding their attacks in Gaza tonight, Leavitt claimed.
Hamas, the Houthis, and Iran, as President Trump has stated, will pay a price for their efforts to terrorize both Israel and the United States of America, she said.
Hamas claimed that the Israeli attacks constitute a unilateral end to the ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed he was planning the strikes because no progress had been made in the ceasefire extension talks.
No more stages, please.
Israel informed the US that it was not going to adhere to the ceasefire, according to an article in Haaretz last month.
Israel is not committed to the three-stage plan, according to Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, who spoke with Steve Witkoff’s special representative.
Dermer’s suggestion to Witkoff is to release all the hostages in a single big stage. “Netanyahu’s plan is the following,” Dermer said. According to Haaretz, Hamas will be given prisoners in return.
The Israeli prime minister would use Plan B in the event that that demand was not met, it continued, adding that “there is no second stage” of the ceasefire agreement for Netanyahu.
Witkoff recently remarked that Hamas must immediately release captives who are living, or they will have to pay a price.
On a cart outside the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on March 18, 2025, the bodies of the victims of an Israeli bombing are displayed.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Hamas accused Washington of “direct partnership in the war of extermination against our people” in response to the news that it had been consulted from the US.
The armed Palestinian group called on the “international community to take urgent action to hold the occupation and those who support it accountable for these crimes against humanity” and stated that the “confession exposes the falsity of]the US] claims about the eagerness to calm]things down.
According to Donald Trump, former president Joe Biden allegedly used an autopen to justify some of his pardons.
Because of the fact that they were carried out by Autopen, Trump wrote on March 17 on Truth Social, “The “Pardons” that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, and OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.” He cited Biden’s pardons of members of Congress’s committee looking into the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
Biden’s use of an “autopen,” a mechanical device that attaches a robotic arm to a mechanical pen, to sign the pardons is uncertain. Trump, however, added that Biden “did not sign” the pardons and “did not know anything about them”!
Trump’s post came after his earlier statements, which had earlier criticized Biden’s use of the autopen.
Trump said on March 13 that “everything was signed by autopen – almost everything.” Nobody has ever heard of something like that.
Biden is not the first US president to use an autopen. Barack Obama, John F. Kennedy, and Thomas Jefferson both used mechanized signing devices or autopens.
Legal scholars are all in agreement that an autopen’s use for similar purposes is permitted by the Constitution without requiring a direct human signing. Additionally, legal experts concur that pardons issued after being overturned by the constitution are unconstitutional.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s comments on March 17 were cited by a White House press office spokesman, who responded to a reporter’s question about whether Trump’s attorneys had informed him that he has the legal authority to overturn Biden’s pardons because of the autopen.
Leavitt did not directly respond to the question, but instead stated that the president was making the case that he had no idea about these pardons. Was his legal signature used without his knowledge or knowledge?
A spokesperson cited Trump’s comments to reporters on Air Force One the night before when we inquired about whether he had ever used an autopen. I never use it,” she said. We could use it as an example to send a young person a letter because it’s nice. But it is scandalous for him to sign pardons and all of the agreements he signed with an autopen.
Constitution does not address the process for pardoning documents.
Clause 1 of Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, makes no mention of the word “sign” or “signature” in the pardon section of the Constitution. More than a dozen constitutional law experts told PolitiFact that they believed the use of an autopen was unrestricted by the Constitution.
Bernadette Meyler, a Stanford University expert on British and American constitutional law, claimed that the president has the authority to pardon, but there is no requirement that this pardon be in writing (unlike for bills to be signed). Therefore, it is unclear whether a signature would even be required because pardonation may be made in writing.
In contrast, Section 7 of Article I states that “any bills that pass the House and Senate shall be presented to the President of the United States, If he approves, he shall sign it.”
Law professor at the University of Missouri Frank O. Bowman III pointed to pardons from Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, which occasionally do not match up with one another, or Lincoln’s signature that has been verified elsewhere.
According to Bowman, “the secretary of state, or one of his functionaries, frequently prepared and signed pardon warrants in the name of the president” in the 1800s.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel wrote a memo to the president’s counsel in 2005 about the legality of using an autopen to sign bills while George W. Bush was president. The department said in its conclusion:
In order for a bill to become law, the President must not physically appoint his signature to it. Instead, the President may authorize a subordinate to appoint the President’s signature to a bill in accordance with Article I, Section 7 by directing them to do so, for instance, by autopen.
Additionally, according to the Justice Department memo, there are legitimate justifications for using an autopen, such as when a president is away from Washington, DC, or to prevent a government shutdown.
According to Michigan State University law professor Brian Kalt, “The DOJ opinion does give Biden cover here.”
A pardoned man should be given a “token” to show he was pardoned, according to a memo from the 1929 Office of the Solicitor General within the Justice Department, but it also needs to be signed by the president. That shall be sufficient if it bears the President’s signature in a facsimile signature and is certified by an official in charge of the records as having issued the records under his or his direction.
Nothing in the Constitution limits the President’s ability to clemency orders to those that have been made in writing, according to a 2024 ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit.
Trump is unable to overturn Biden’s pardons.
Nothing in the Constitution or the law, according to legal experts, allows pardons to be revoked.
According to Kalt, “pardons are final and irrevocable.”
A federal court ruled in an 1869 decision that the law undoubtedly states that there is no power to revoke a pardon as much as there is for any other completed act.
Trump himself runs the risk of making the case that pardons can be reversed.
A future president could undo anything Trump did, according to law professor Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina, and I assume he would not approve of that.
The defendants who were detained by Trump on January 6, 2021, were pardoned.
According to Dan Kobil, a professor at Capital Law School, “Presidents historically have not personally signed grants of pardons for every person they have granted clemency to,” especially when they were given in large numbers, such as mass amnesties .
claims started with the Heritage Foundation
Trump’s autopen claims came after the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project posted posts earlier in March.
The Oversight Project wrote on X on March 6 that “WHOEVER CONTROLLED THE AUTOPEN CONTROLLED THE PRESIDENCY.”
The Oversight Project claimed that it had found “all used the same autopen signature” when it gathered documents that included Biden’s presidential signature, excluding his announcement that he would withdraw from the 2024 election.
The Oversight Project dubbed the “autopen scandal” by posting about autopens a dozen times in a single week. On January 19, Biden’s last full day in office, one post had signatures for several pardons. He pardoned members of the congressional committee that were conducting the investigation into the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021.
Official documents published in the Federal Register use a copy of the president’s signature provided by the White House, according to the National Archives’ fact-checking website Snopes .
The Office of the Federal Register receives a sample of the president’s signature at the start of each administration, which uses it to create the graphic image for all of its published documents, according to Snopes from the National Archives.
The National Archives was contacted by PolitiFact, but they did not respond right away.
Our decision
Because “they were done by Autopen,” Trump claimed Biden’s pardons of lawmakers on the committee looking into the January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack “are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT.”
Biden’s involvement in the pardons was not known. A half-dozen legal experts disagreed, noting that the president’s hand-signing of pardons is not required by the Constitution.
A president’s hand signature is not required, according to memos from the Office of the Solicitor General in 1929 and the Office of Legal Counsel in 2005, and subordinates frequently sign pardons on their behalf.
A pardon is not revoked under the constitution, and a judicial decision from 1869 determined that it is final when it is issued. No legal precedent has ever held that pardons are invalid if they were signed by a machine rather than the president.
Trump provided no proof of a legal process for declaring Biden’s pardons invalid, and the speaker bears the burden of proof.
We believe the statement to be false in light of current legal precedent.
A Hong Kong company’s agreement to sell ports to a US financial institution is being investigated by China.
Several agencies were instructed by Beijing to look into the transaction on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg News. President Donald Trump, who has accused China of attempting to control the strategic waterway, had earlier welcomed the agreement.
Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison announced earlier this month that it had agreed to sell the majority of its $ 22.8% global ports business, including assets close to the Panama Canal, to a group led by US-based investment firm BlackRock.
China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office published comments a week after the announcement, calling the sale a betrayal of its own interests.
According to Bloomberg, senior Chinese leaders’ orders to investigate the deal, which has not yet been sealed, are being followed for security risks and antitrust violations, according to unnamed sources.
Reporters should inquire about the report, according to a spokesperson for Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The spokesperson said, “I would like to point out that China has been firmly opposed to infringing on or undermining other countries’ legitimate rights and interests with economic coercion and bullying.”
John Lee, the leader of Hong Kong, made earlier comments that were reflected in those words.
Lee urged foreign governments to give businesses a fair and just environment, according to Lee to reporters. We “oppose” coercion or other abusive behavior in international economic and trade relations.
Hutchison did not respond right away to Beijing’s reports of scrutiny. The business previously stated that the deal is “purely commercial in nature and wholly unrelated to recent political news reports regarding the Panama Ports.”
According to a statement, the company agreed to 145-day exclusive contract negotiations with the BlackRock consortium.
Given that Hutchison is selling a business that is based outside of China and Hong Kong, and that is itself based in the Cayman Islands, it was not immediately clear what levers, if any, China might pull to halt the deal.
After conducting a string of deadly attacks on the Gaza enclave that resulted in the deaths of at least 326 Palestinians, the Israeli army has threatened residents of several areas there to “evacuate immediately.”
The army issued the forced evacuation orders on Tuesday, focusing on Beit Hanoon, Khirbet Khuza’a, Abasan al-Kabira, and Abasan al-Jadida.
The Israeli army has launched a massive offensive against terrorist organizations, according to the IDF. These designated combat areas are regarded as “dangerous” combat zones. Avichay Adraee, the army’s spokesman in Arabic, cited on X.
Adraee advised residents of the targeted areas to seek shelter in Khan Younis or western Gaza City.
Following the Tuesday enclave attack by Israel, the orders were issued.
Hamas claimed in the wake of the attack that the Netanyahu government had chosen to “overturn” a tense two-month ceasefire that the two parties reached on January 19.
Just weeks after Palestinians were permitted to return to their homes under the ceasefire agreement, the attacks and the evacuation orders put an end to a period of proximate calm during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Hani Mahmoud, a journalist from Gaza City, claimed that Israel’s attacks had targeted residential buildings, schools, and other public spaces that had been effectively turned into “death traps” into.
“Let’s not forget that many Palestinians are still residing in evacuation centers because their homes have been destroyed or have been occupying territories by the Israeli military,” he said.
On March 18, 2025, a house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, was targeted by Israelis.
The UN’s coordinator for humanitarian needs in the occupied Palestinian territories pleaded for the immediate reinstatement of the Gaza ceasefire.
The agreed ceasefire, which had been in place since January, has been broken by Israel’s recent air attacks across the Gaza Strip.
More than 320 people were killed in Tuesday’s early morning air raids, many of whom were children and women.
A brief period of relative tranquility during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was shattered by the surprise bombardment, which also raised the possibility of a full resumption of fighting in the more than 48, 000 Palestinians who have been killed and whose homes have been destroyed throughout Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed he had ordered the attacks because talks to extend the ceasefire and release the remaining Hamas captives in October 2023 lacked progress.
Hamas expressed concern that Israel had violated the ceasefire, which would put the fate of the captives in jeopardy.
Gaza, Deir el-Balah: It wasn’t a nightmare; it was real. Without any prior notice, the war had already begun.
When we woke up in terror to the audible sound of air strikes, the clock read 2:10. Everything in the room was shaken by a violent scream.
My daughter, Banias, awoke screaming in apprehension, “Baba! Mama ! What is going on?
She was crying out in terror right next to me, but I couldn’t even comfort her. My entire mind was a mess.
Has this been a bombing? What’s going on? Who is threatening us?
I was thinking, “Are these Yemeni missiles attacking Israel?” Do we get hit by this strike?
The unmistakable sounds of genocide
Oh my God, I love you. We all knew that Israeli air strikes on Gaza would intensify, and the sound was unmistakable.
In an effort to calm Banias down, my husband held her.
I searched through local journalist organizations on my phone. What’s happening, everyone was asking.
A home in Deir el-Balah was targeted just before the news broke, and another home in Nuseirat was struck.
In al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, and Rafah, artillery shelling was reported, as well as several tents for displaced families.
In Jabalia, in northern Gaza, a total of a residential building was struck, and the al-Karama neighborhood was also struck. Central Gaza was suffocated by a “belt of fire.”
Then came the desperate appeals, such as “A family is trapped under the rubble.”
A residential block has been leveled, according to the statement.
“We require ambulances.”
People pleaded for assistance and urged the formation of civil defense teams.
The bombing continued, persistently and violently.
images of death and fear
Every functioning medical facility in the Strip was filled with photos and videos of shattered bodies, martyrs, and the wounded. We quickly recalled the scenes that we had forgotten.
Israel made a formal announcement a few moments later that it would resume its occupation of Gaza.
It sounded like a head blow.
At Khan Younis’ Nasser Hospital on March 18, 2025, a mourner weeps beside the bodies of Palestinians who were killed by Israel.
What does “this mean” exactly? My sister cried after spending a few days with me. “No, God, no! We oppose a new war. Fear and the bombing are not what we want.
We all watched the news with wide-eyed shock in our eyes. “Oh, God, that’s enough,” the expression goes.
I continued to scroll as I grabbed my phone as I saw images of infants being killed in airstrikes, burning tents, and entire residential blocks being destroyed.
Oh God, the same images, the same suffering, and nightmares.
Without embellishment, pretence, or disguise, the war was picking up where it had already started. Just killing, bombing, extermination, and a never-ending stream of blood.
What about the north, my family members inquired. Will the road be reopened between the north and south?
We were entrapped.
You can’t plan for a tomorrow in Gaza.
I just last night invited my father and my two 20-year-old twin sisters to a Ramadan iftar at our location in al-Zawayda, close to Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. I persuaded the members of the family to stay the night and make plans to travel north the following morning.
Before Eid and summer, we had planned some Ramadan travels and errands to run to get clothes for the kids. Every trip to the north was, as always, an opportunity to learn new tales.
All of those “plans” had no purpose at the time. Life suddenly turned its head in the air. The conflict was returning.
In this location, planning has become illegal. Even something as simple as shopping or spending time with family is an unforgivable luxury to plan for your day, no matter how monotonous it may seem.
You are guilty here of expecting normalcy; you are also impure to live there year after year after year, every second, every minute, every hour, every day.
My sister, who works in media for a humanitarian organization, suddenly realized: “Oh God! I didn’t bring my laptop or other items! What’s next, then?”
I felt guilty. This was my fault because I had to persuade them to stay.
What if the roads are closed? What will the war’s upcoming stages entail? Will the north be the starting point for the conflict? Or will they occupy the region’s center?
Only Deir el-Balah is still standing. What kind of trap is this, God?
As I perused my thoughts, my mind began to sway: Would we ever need to wear our press-protection gear once more? Return to the hospital workforce?
On March 18, 2025, a boy walks through the rubble of his home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which Israel bombed and destroyed. [Eyad Baba/AFP]
However, we had already destroyed our tent’s storage there. Journalists had left in an effort to start fresh, dispersing between north and south.
What about the school of Banias, then? I had just registered her for a week of school, so it was probably over. We had returned from war.
My heart pleaded. We initially experienced some relief from the ceasefire, but nothing more. We were clung to by fear, hésitation, and confusion.
We never thought to plan, and the missiles kept reminding us of our error whenever we did.
The closet
For the first time in two days, my husband and I went shopping, and we ended up with just a few kitchen essentials, including a rug, a table, chairs, plates, and spoons.
All we have now are four mattresses, four blankets, four plates, four spoons, and a small pot of water.
We refused to receive anything else throughout the war. We jokedly called the dressing room because our clothes were stacked on a sheet spread out on the floor in a designated room and divided into separate sections for each of us.
My husband and I would constantly say, “We need a closet, because it was always a mess. “Organizing the clothes on the floor was a daily struggle.
Although we were unsure about moving north or staying in the south, we were finally able to think about buying one because it was a grand luxury. We always make the decision to travel in a hurry and leave.
But I finally told my husband, “Let’s buy a closet,” and we finally packed away our winter clothing yesterday morning.
I had my response now. The closet was no longer an option as a result of this additional bombing, which was the chaos of my thoughts, my failed plans, and the chaos of a life I could no longer control, despite my best efforts.
We are aware that we can no longer dream, plan, wish, or look forward to anything despite the destruction and ruin that surround us, as if it weren’t already enough.
