Weekly Review

In central Gaza, Israeli forces killed at least 40 Palestinians at a U.N. school using U.S.-made munitions, and reportedly later hid inside an aid truck and posed as displaced Palestinians to enter the Nuseirat refugee camp, where more than 270 Palestinians were killed in an operation that rescued four Israeli hostages.^{1 2 3 4} Hundreds of Palestinians were rushed into al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, overwhelming the last major medical facility in central Gaza.⁵ “It was, as usual, mayhem. But it was compounded mayhem from the last four days: total chaos inside,” a Doctors Without Borders nurse said, describing “kids completely gray or white from the shock, burnt, screaming for their parents.”⁶ In northern Israel, tensions increased with Lebanon’s Hezbollah after a series of attacks that set off forest fires and injured 11 Israelis; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened the group with an “extremely powerful” response.^{7 8}  After being damaged and sinking, the U.S.-made pier off the coast of Gaza resumed aid delivery.^{9 10} The U.N. announced it will add Israel, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to a list of states and armed groups who harm children; Spain asked the United Nations court for permission to join South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel; dozens of diplomats walked out of a U.N. meeting during an Israeli delegate’s speech; Benny Gantz resigned from Israel’s war cabinet over Netanyahu’s handling of the war; and Alex Smith, a USAID contractor, resigned after his presentation on maternal and child mortality in Gaza was canceled, saying, “I would like them to stop gaslighting and speak truthfully about what is happening.”^{11 12 13 14 15} Hundreds of fake social media accounts were found to have been used by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs to target U.S. civilians and lawmakers, especially black Democratic politicians, with pro-Israel propaganda largely generated by ChatGPT.¹⁶

In central Sudan, at least 150 people were killed and 200 were injured in an attack by paramilitary forces.¹⁷ Hours after Mexico elected its first woman president, the female mayor of Cotija was shot dead while walking home from the gym.¹⁸ The European far-right gained more power in the E.U. Parliament after elections, and President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the French National Assembly, calling for snap elections in France.^{19 20} Joe Biden issued an executive order to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border for nearly all asylum seekers.²¹ “This action takes the same approach as the Trump administration’s asylum ban. We will be challenging this order in court,” the ACLU said.²² Steve Bannon was ordered to report to prison to start serving a four-month sentence for defying a congressional subpoena but vowed to appeal the decision, adding, “There’s not a prison built or a jail built that will ever shut me up.”²³ The Austrian-Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach was arrested on sexual assault charges, a rock climber was sentenced to life in prison for assaulting several women in Yosemite National Park, and Louisiana lawmakers approved surgical castration for child sex offenders.^{24 25 26} Republican senators blocked a bill that would protect women’s access to birth control, and the Republican National Convention banned water bottles, umbrellas, tennis balls, non-plastic containers, light bulbs, and locks, but not assault rifles, inside its security perimeter in Milwaukee.^{27 28} A shooting at a party on a rooftop of an apartment building in Madison, Wisconsin, left at least 12 injured.²⁹ Family members testified at Hunter Biden’s trial for purchasing a firearm while high on crack.³⁰ 

In protest of the Olympic Games, French activists announced a “defecation flashmob” in the Seine for June 23, when President Macron is scheduled to take a dip.³¹ A German nudist organization canceled its anniversary celebration due to a lack of interest but promised to “fight to keep onboard every single naked person.”³² After allocating 500 million yen (US$3.2 million) toward marriage promotion in the past two years, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced a government dating app that will use AI to help citizens find a match, and a sexually transmitted fungus was found to be turning cicadas into “horny zombies” by making their genitals fall off while increasing their sex drive.^{33 34 35} “I don’t think there’s a plan B,” an MTA board member said in response to New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to delay congestion pricing, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced 82 new and renovated public bathrooms as part of his “Ur in Luck” initiative.^{36 37} In Nebraska, a woman who was declared dead and then found to be alive has “now really died.”³⁸ —Clarissa Fragoso Pinheiro