International News Briefs for Wednesday, October 1, 2025
HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Wednesday, October 1, 2025.
Israel Kills 51 Palestinians in 24 Hours as Gaza-Bound Global Sumud Flotilla Sails into “High-Risk Zone”
Oct 01, 2025
Israel continues to bombard Gaza, killing 51 Palestinians in 24 hours. Two missiles struck al-Falah School in Gaza City, which had been converted into a shelter for hundreds of displaced people. Turkish broadcaster TRT confirmed that a Palestinian freelance photographer, Yahya Barzaq, was killed by Israel in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza yesterday. Palestinians gathered at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah mourning their loved ones killed in Israeli strikes. Here’s Atef Abu Jarad, a displaced Palestinian man from Beit Lahia.
Atef Abu Jarad: “We came here after the violence and total destruction in Beit Lahia. We have been informed by the Israeli army to head to safe places in these areas, specifically in Deir al-Balah. But unfortunately, the Israeli war machine refuses to do anything but bombard very innocent lives that have nothing to do, near or far, with any type of weapon or resistance. Unfortunately, I speak with complete clarity that there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip.”
Meanwhile, the Global Sumud Flotilla says its fleet has sailed into the “high-risk zone” and is about 118 nautical miles from Gaza. Spain and Italy have sent ships to sail with the flotilla to ensure its passage, but Italy said it would stop tracking the flotilla as of yesterday. David Adler of Progressive International, one of the activists who is on the flotilla, posted on X his “final letter,” writing, “Last night, several Israeli naval ships menaced our convoy. They attacked our vessels, intimidated our crew, and disabled our communications. We recognize these tactics from previous flotilla missions. We know that they are the precursor to what we have long feared: illegal Israeli abduction in international waters.”
Trump Gives Hamas “Three or Four Days” to Respond to Gaza Ceasefire Deal
Oct 01, 2025
Speaking to reporters yesterday, President Trump said he’s giving Hamas “three or four days” to respond to his ceasefire deal to end Israel’s war on Gaza, and warned that the group will “pay in hell” if it rejects his proposal. Meanwhile, Axios is reporting that Egypt and Turkey are urging Hamas to accept the ceasefire deal. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad reportedly met with Hamas leaders in Doha on Tuesday, along with Turkish intelligence director Ibrahim Kalin.
Parents of Israeli Soldiers March Alongside Hostage Families Calling for an End to Gaza War
Oct 01, 2025
In Israel, parents of soldiers marched alongside the relatives of hostages on Tuesday in Tel Aviv, calling for an end to the war on Gaza. The protesters marched with a banner urging U.S President Donald Trump to “Make It Happen.” Here’s Eilat Feller Maimon, the mother of an Israeli soldier.
bq. Eilat Feller Maimon: “We stand here with the mothers of the hostages, because the mothers of Israel are as one. We stand with them until everybody are at home — the soldiers, the civilians, everybody. We want to end this war. We want our children back home.”
Federal Judge Rules Trump Admin Unlawfully Targeted Noncitizens for Pro-Palestinian Activism
Oct 01, 2025
A federal judge in Boston has ruled that the Trump administration unlawfully targeted noncitizens for their pro-Palestinian activism by threatening to deport them, calling the case “perhaps the most important ever to fall within the jurisdiction of this district court.” Judge William Young, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan, wrote in his 161-page opinion that the case “squarely presents the issue whether noncitizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The court answers this constitutional question unequivocally, ‘Yes, they do.’” Judge Young also blasted ICE in his ruling, saying, ”ICE goes masked for a single reason: to terrorize Americans into quiescence. In all our history, we have never tolerated an armed, masked secret police.” The Knight First Amendment Institute represented the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association in the case and argued that the government’s targeting of Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, Badar Khan Suri and Yunseo Chung suppressed speech on college campuses. Separately, a panel of judges heard arguments yesterday from lawyers representing Öztürk and Mahdawi. We’ll hear more from Mahmoud Khalil later in the broadcast.
Trump and Hegseth Address 800 Military Generals and Admirals in Unprecedented Meeting
Oct 01, 2025
In an unprecedented and highly unusual gathering, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed 800 top military generals and admirals flown in from around the world for the meeting in Quantico, Virginia. Hegseth blasted “woke” policies and diversity initiatives.
bq. War Secretary Pete Hegseth: “For too long we’ve promoted too many uniformed leaders for the wrong reasons, based on their race, based on gender quotas, based on historic so-called firsts. … Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world. It’s a bad look.”
Meanwhile, President Trump defended his policy of deploying troops to U.S. cities and suggested to the officers gathered that they should view the domestic deployments as a training exercise.
bq. President Donald Trump: “We’re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms. At least when they’re wearing a uniform, you can take them out. These people don’t have uniforms. But we are under invasion from within, and we’re stopping it very quickly.”
Democratic Senator Jack Reed, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the meeting “an expensive, dangerous dereliction of leadership” by President Trump. We’ll have more on this story later in the broadcast.
U.S. Gov’t Shuts Down After Senate Funding Bill Fails
Oct 01, 2025
The U.S. government shut down as of today after Democrats in Congress refused to support a Republican funding bill that didn’t include concessions on healthcare. It’s the first shutdown in seven years; the last time, the government shut down for 35 days during President Trump’s first term. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blamed Republicans, saying in a joint statement, “After months of making life harder and more expensive, Donald Trump and Republicans have now shut down the federal government because they do not want to protect the healthcare of the American people.” President Trump has threatened mass firings of federal workers in the event of a shutdown. Here’s Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees.
bq. Randy Erwin: “You know, we’re going to be over 300,000 federal employees will have been lost after today, since the start of this Trump administration. And we don’t know what our functionality of government looks like with that level of staff, because the size of the federal workforce has been almost entirely flat for the last 60 years.”
ICE Agents Assault Group of Reporters Documenting Arrests at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan
Oct 01, 2025
Image Credit: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
In New York, a journalist was hospitalized after masked federal agents assaulted a group of reporters documenting ICE arrests outside immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Video footage of Tuesday’s attack shows NewYork journalist Dean Moses attempting to enter an elevator where masked agents had followed two women, when he was shoved out, with an agent shouting, “Get out of the f**king elevator.” Olga Fedorova, who freelances for the Associated Press, was pushed, knocking her down, as well as Vural Elibol of the Turkish news agency Anadolu, who seriously injured his head after he hit the floor. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin defended the agents’ actions, claiming the reporters had “obstructed operations.”
Probe Launched After Local Journalist Was Shot by a Pepper Ball by Immigration Agents
Oct 01, 2025
Image Credit: CBS News Chicago
The Trump administration is escalating its attacks on journalists documenting mass immigration raids nationwide. In Chicago, an investigation was launched after a local journalist was assaulted by federal immigration agents while covering protests outside an ICE jail in Broadview Sunday. A masked agent shot a pepper ball at CBS Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei. She described the attack on social media, saying, “An ICE agent took a direct shot at my car today. Absolutely unprovoked. My window was open and chemicals went all over my face. Been puking for two hours.”
Federal Authorities Rappel into Chicago Apartment Complex and Arrest Alleged Undocumented Immigrants
Oct 01, 2025
Image Credit: @SweatEm/X
As immigration raids continue across the country, federal authorities swarmed Chicago Tuesday morning for a major operation in which neighbors were awoken by the sound of Black Hawk helicopters swarming the sky. Some 300 federal agents descended onto an apartment complex, where they arrested at least 30 people who were allegedly undocumented.
Mexican Immigrant Dies a Week After Shooting at Dallas ICE Facility
Oct 01, 2025
Image Credit: Stephany Gauffeny
A Mexican immigrant has died after he was wounded in the sniper attack on an ICE facility in Dallas, Texas, last week. Miguel Ángel García-Hernández is the second person to die. Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, a 37-year-old immigrant from El Salvador, was also killed.
Pentagon Preserves Medals of Honors Awarded to Soldiers in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre
Oct 01, 2025
Native American leaders are condemning a move by the Pentagon to preserve 20 Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers involved in the 1890 Battle of Wounded Knee massacre. On December 29, 1890, the U.S. Army killed as many as 300 Oglala Lakota people at Wounded Knee, including many women and children. In a statement, National Congress of American Indians executive director Larry Wright Jr. said, “Celebrating war crimes is not patriotic. This decision undermines truth-telling, reconciliation, and the healing that Indian Country and the United States still need.”
Powerful Earthquake Kills at Least 69 People in the Philippines
Oct 01, 2025
Image Credit: Municipality of Daanbantayan
In the Philippines, at least 69 people have been confirmed dead after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake jolted the province of Cebu Tuesday night. More than 150 others have been reported injured. The quake was followed by a series of aftershocks and comes just days after
a super typhoon battered small islands in the central Philippines, forcing some 400,000 people to evacuate.
Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change Among Winners of 2025 Right Livelihood Award
Oct 01, 2025
Image Credit: Right Livelihood
This year’s Right Livelihood Awards have been announced in Stockholm today. A student-led group from the Pacific Islands and human rights lawyer from Guam, Julian Aguon, were jointly recognized for taking their fight against climate change to the International Court of Justice, which found earlier this year that polluting countries, primarily from the Global North, are legally obligated to address global warming. Other winners include the Sudanese group Emergency Response Rooms, the group Justice for Myanmar and the Taiwanese activist Audrey Tang.