CR MAG

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump'sBoard of Peaceisset to meetfor the first time on Thursday in Washington, an early test of whether one of his marquee foreign policy initiatives can gain broad support and advance the shaky ceasefire agreementin the Gaza Strip.

Board of Peace Explainer

Trump'sballooning ambitionsfor the board extend from governing and rebuilding Gaza as a futuristic metropolis to challenging the United Nations Security Council's role in solving conflicts. But they could be tempered by the realities of dealing with Gaza, where there has so far been limited progress in achievingthe narrower aimsof the ceasefire.

Palestinians, including many civilians, are still being killed innear-daily strikesthat Israel says are aimed at militants who threaten or attack its forces. Hamas hasn't disarmed, no international forces have deployed, and a Palestinian committee meant to take over from Hamas is stuck in neighboring Egypt.

"If this meeting does not result in fast, tangible improvements on the ground — and particularly on the humanitarian front — its credibility will quickly crumble," said Max Rodenbeck, Israel-Palestine Project Director at the International Crisis Group, a global think tank.

A new international body

More than two dozen nations have signed on as the board'sfounding members.

The list includes Israel and other regional heavyweights involved in ceasefire negotiations, as well as countries from outside the Middle East whose leaders support Trump or hope to gain his favor. U.S. allies like France, Norway and Swedenhave so far declined.

Israelis are suspicious of the involvement of Qatar and Turkey, which have longstanding relations with Hamas. Palestinians object because their representatives weren't invited to the board, even as it weighs the future of a territory that is home to some 2 million of them.

Trump, the self-appointed chairman of the board, said earlier this week that member countrieshad pledged $5 billiontoward rebuilding Gaza and would commit thousands of personnel to peacekeeping and policing. No financial pledges — or an agenda for this week's meeting — have been made public.

"We want to make it successful. I think it has the chance to be the most consequential board ever assembled of any kind," Trump told reporters on Monday. He reiterated his criticism of the U.N.'s record on resolving international disputes.

Ambitious plans

Trump — along with son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff — has laid out ambitious plans for rebuilding Gaza with international investment.

In Davos last month,Kushner suggestedreconstruction could be complete in a matter of three years, even though U.N. forecasts suggest that clearing rubble and demining alone could take much longer.

Kushner's slides showed a reconstructed Gaza with a coastal tourism strip, industrial zones and data centers. He conceded that rebuilding would begin only in demilitarized areas and that security would be essential to attract investment.

The latest joint estimate by the U.N., European Union and World Bank says reconstruction will cost about $70 billion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there will be no reconstruction until Hamas disarms, leaving Palestinians in limbo among the widespread devastation.

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Halting progress

The ceasefire deal has halted major military operations,freed the last hostagesheld by Hamas and ramped up aid deliveries to Gaza. But a lasting resolution to the two-year war ignited byHamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attackinto Israel remains elusive.

The deal envisions Hamas handing over its weapons and Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza as international forces deploy. Itleft some questions unanswered and set no timelineto secure buy-in and defer confrontation over those issues.

Israel and the U.S. say Hamas' disarmament is key to progress on the other fronts. Arab and Muslim members of the Board of Peace have accused Israel of undermining the ceasefire with its daily strikes and want the U.S. to rein in its close ally. They have called on Hamas to disarm but say Israel's withdrawal is just as important.

Israel defines demilitarization as extending from heavy weapons like rocket-propelled grenades all the way down to rifles. Netanyahu said Sunday that Hamas would have to give up roughly 60,000 automatic rifles.

Despite accepting the agreement, Hamas has made only vague or conditional commitments to disarm as part of a process leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Senior Hamas officials have saidtheir security forcesneed to retain some weapons in order to maintain law and order during the transition.

Some of the ideas under discussion include Hamas "freezing" its arms by placing them in sealed depots under outside supervision or giving up heavy weapons while keeping some handguns for policing, according to two regional officials involved in the negotiations. One official said disarmament is a complicated process that could take months. The officials requested anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

It's far from certain that Israel or the United States would agree to such ideas.

A stabilization force

The ceasefire deal also calls for a temporary International Stabilization Force made up of soldiers from Arab and Muslim-majority countries to vet, train and support to a new Palestinian police force. Its mandate is not spelled out in detail, but would include securing aid deliveries and preventing weapons smuggling.

Countries being asked to contribute to the force insist that any deployment be framed as a peacekeeping mission. They have refused to take part in the disarmament of Hamas, a job that could put them in harm's way. Another concern is the presence ofarmed groups allied with Israel.

Indonesia has begun training a contingent ofup to 8,000 soldiersfor the force, though its foreign minister said last week that they would not take part in disarmament.

Postwar governance

Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamasis to hand over powerto a transitional committee of politically independent Palestinian administrators. The U.S. has named a 15-member committee and tapped former U.N. envoy Nickolay Mladenov to oversee them as the board's envoy to Gaza.

The committee, led by former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath, has not yet been granted Israeli permission to enter Gaza from Egypt. Israel hasn't commented on the matter.

Mladenov said last week that the committee will not be able to work unless Hamas hands over power and ceasefire violations stop.

"We're only embarrassing the committee and ultimately making it ineffective," he said at the Munich Security Conference. "All of this needs to move very fast."

__ Magdy reported from Cairo. Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Fla. contributed reporting.

An ecological crisis of "historic proportion" is underwayin the Potomac Riverafter a massive sewer pipe collapse north of Washington, D.C., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday.

The millions of gallons of diseased waste polluting the major waterway that winds through the nation's capital is one of the largest sewage spills in U.S. history, according to theUniversity of Maryland.

E.coli bacteria levels in the Potomac were hundreds of times higher than the level the EPA considers safe when the water was tested this week at the site of the spill, officials from utility company DC Water said Tuesday.

Some 243.5 million gallons of raw sewage have poured into the Potomac since the Jan. 19 mishap, DC Water said.

But the waters near the capital city's Georgetown neighborhood fell within the EPA's safety limits when tested on Monday and weren't a risk for gastrointestinal illness and skin infections — largely because the river has been frozen over for weeks.

DC Water has told area residents to avoid the untreated sewage. They urge anyone who comes into contact with the wastewater to leave the area immediately, wash exposed skin thoroughly with soap and clean water, and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.

Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Squad in Maryland is warning their first responders to treat any emergency calls in or near the Potomac River spill site as "Hazmat calls," NBC Washington reports. Responders should wear personal protective equipment during those calls due to the dangerous levels of E. coli and other contaminants in the water.

As for the politics around the water crisis, those continued to be toxic.

"The Potomac Interceptor overflow is a sewage crisis of historic proportion," the EPA said in their first statement on the disaster. "Never should any American family, community, or waterway ever have to experience this level of extensive environmental damage."

The EPA, it said, has "the experience and track record to fulfill President Trump's strong desire to get this mess cleaned up as fast as humanly possible."

But, the EPA says, neither officials in Maryland, where the sewage pipe burst, nor in Washington, D.C., have sought the EPA's help.

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The EPA's claim came on the same day that Trumpposted on Truth Socialthat the spill is "not at all" handled by the federal government and that if the governors of Maryland and Virginia, and the D.C. mayor — all three of whom are Democrats — want federal assistance, they will have to ask "politely" for help.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore rejected the president's claims and said it was indeed the federal government's responsibility.

"I know this is breaking news to everyone, but the President is not telling the truth," Moore said.

Moore said it's been the job of the federal government to maintain that pipe "for the past century" and that thus far, Maryland's Department of the Environment has been fixing the pipe and cleaning-up the mess while the EPA has done nothing.

"Now that it is essentially 99% contained," Moore said, "the President of the United States is finally realizing that this was his job, and he hasn't been doing it for the past month."

The 54-mile Potomac Interceptor carries about 60 million gallons of wastewater every day from as far away as Dulles Airport in Sterling, Virginia, to the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in Southwest D.C. for treatment.

By Jan. 24, crews from DC Water were able to complete a bypass to reroute wastewater around the collapsed section of pipe and back into the sewer system.

The remaining emergency repairs to the pipe will be complete by mid-March, according to DC Water.

The long-term fixes to ensure that this pipe remains functional in the years to come will take 9 to 10 months, they said.

"The next critical step is to install a steel bulkhead gate later this week to isolate the damaged pipe section,"DC Water said in a statement. "Once the gate is in place, crews will work to pump out any remaining wastewater at the collapse site and start excavation to remove the rock dam that has been blocking inspection and repair."

It's also safe to drink the water in the nation's capital.

"There is no impact to the drinking water supply," DC Water Spokesperson Sherri Lewis told NBC Washington. "The sewer system, the water system are completely separate."

Dozens of abortion clinics closed in the US after the Supreme Court Dobbs decision revoked the federal right to an abortion in June 2022 — mostly in states that enacted bans. But the churn has continued, leaving even states with some of the most protective abortion policies to do more with less.

There were 753 brick-and-mortar abortion clinics in the US at the end of 2025, according toa new reportby the Guttmacher Institute — ​54 fewer than in ​2020, including a net loss of 12 abortion clinics since March 2024.

"Running a clinic in an environment like we have today is oftentimes not sustainable," said ​Brittany Fonteno, president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation. Both financial and community support play critical roles, she said.

In New York, abortion is legal and protected; voters enshrined the right to abortion in the state's constitution in 2024. But the state has eight fewer abortion clinics than it did at the start of 2024, Guttmacher data shows, one of the most significant decreases in that timeframe nationwide.

Among the clinics that closed last year was a Planned Parenthood in New York City, the nonprofit's only location in Manhattan.

The closure was "a big blow," said Chelsea Williams-Diggs, executive director of the New York Abortion Access Fund.

"All clinic closures are a travesty," she said. "But the Planned Parenthood on Bleecker Street was a powerhouse of a clinic that was able to do so much for folks."

Planned Parenthood typically accepts a wider set of insurance coverage than smaller independent clinics can, and locations in New York could often enroll eligible patients in Medicaid on the same day as their appointment. The clinic in Manhattan was also one of a small and shrinking number that provide abortions after the first trimester, which can be particularly expensive.

"That has direct impacts on abortion access and on abortion funds," Williams-Diggs said. "If more folks don't have health insurance, if more folks are strained economically, that means more folks will be calling NYAAF to help them pay for an essential health care service."

In a statement about the closure, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York said that "the gap between inflation and stagnant reimbursement rates has forced us to make difficult but necessary decisions."

Additionalmoves by the Trump administrationhave further strained clinics, including a block on Medicaid reimbursement to large abortion providers. Planned Parenthood closed more than 50 health centers last year, some of which provided abortion care.

Clinics are left with "unsustainable financial realities," said Angela Vasquez-Giroux, vice president of communications for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

"When a health center is forced to close, all patients lose access to their trusted provider, and entire communities are left unable to get high-quality reproductive health care, including abortion in many places," she said. "These are not easy decisions to make."

It's important to track changes to the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics in the US, said ​Rachel Jones, a principal research scientist with Guttmacher and lead author of the new report. But the overall change in the number of clinics is only one measure of abortion access that can mask a lot of nuance, she said.

"If it's a place that doesn't advertise that they provide abortion care, then it's not really accessible to a lot of people. If it's a place that only takes private health insurance or you have to be a pre-existing client, that's not necessarily going to make abortion care accessible to people," Jones said. "If you want a procedural abortion and they only offer medication abortion then you might still have to travel outside of your community or even to another state to access care."

Since the Dobbs decision, the number of people who travel out-of-state for abortion care each year has doubled — and about a quarter of those who travel go to Illinois.

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The state has become a critical access point for abortion care, welcoming tens of thousands of patients from other states each year — but there are fewer clinics to serve this surge in patients. Illinois had 31 brick-and-mortar abortion clinics at the end of 2025, two fewer than in March 2024, according to the new Guttmacher report.

However, experts say that a strong network of support from the community and policymakers make Illinois particularly resilient. So while number of clinics in the state dropped overall, there were some important additions.

Hope Clinic opened a second location in Illinois last summer, offering abortions up to 34 weeks and other reproductive health care services in the uptown neighborhood of Chicago.

Clinic co-owner Julie Burkhart said that the team started talking about where another clinic might be needed in the country soon after the Dobbs decision, but it took nearly three full years to open their doors in Chicago. About half of that time was spent on construction after purchasing a building.

"We took a look around the country to see where abortion care, specifically later in pregnancy, would be needed and essential for people in this country, and it seemed that Chicago, was the best point for us to locate a new clinic," Burkhart said. "But these projects definitely don't happen overnight."

Telehealth abortion — with medication abortion provided to patients through the mail — has become increasingly common since it first became an option in late 2021.

In the first half of 2025, more than a quarter of all abortions within the US health care system were provided via telehealth, up from less than 10% in the first half of 2023, according todata from #WeCount, a project sponsored by the Society of Family Planning.

But the vast majority of abortions still happen in person, sometimes because of individual preference and sometimes because it's necessary.

And experts say that later abortions that require in-person care are becoming more common amid post-Dobbs restrictions.

"When there are abortion bans and people can't get access to the care they need earlier in pregnancy, that doesn't necessarily stop their need for that care," Fonteno said. "So one of the outcomes of abortion bans is seeing people be pushed further into their pregnancy by the time they get the care that they need, so we are seeing more providers focus on sort of this specialty form of abortion care."

Hope Clinics in Illinois have seen patients from 28 different states, Burkhart said.

"I think that that really illustrates how critical our clinics are," she said.

There is also concern among abortion advocates that the federal government may put new limits on access to medication abortion, which could further strain clinic resources.

The Trump administration isconducting its own reviewabout the safety and efficacy of one of the drugs used in medication abortion to investigate how it can be safely dispensed, despite clinical studies and decades of use that have established the drug's safety and effectiveness.

But providers are already thinking through possible contingency plans, Fonteno said.

"One of the things that is so incredible about abortion providers is that there's a lot of resilience and a lot of energy to continue to innovate and think about different ways to provide care," Fonteno said. "Brick-and-mortar clinics will always have a place in communities across the country."

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A U.S. Immigration judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot deportMohsen Mahdawi, a key organizer of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, his attorneys said Tuesday.

In the ruling, judge Nina Froes said the administration failed to certify a memo that it had hoped to use as evidence in its case to remove Mahdawi from the U.S. The document was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The judge said that the administration "sought to establish removability by way of a photocopy of a document," adding that the filing is relevant to the case, but "it is not admissible as it lacked proper authentication."

In the memo, Rubio alleged that Mahdawi's "presence and activities in the United States would have serious adverse foreign policy consequences and would compromise a compelling U.S. foreign policy interest."

The Trump administration has used similar reasoning to try to deport other foreign students, who were active in the pro-Palestinian protests at college campuses or who were critical of Israel.

As a result of the error, Mahdawi's removal proceedings were terminated last week, the immigration judge said.

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"I am grateful to the court for honoring the rule of law and holding the line against the government's attempts to trample on due process," said Mahdawi. "This decision is an important step towards upholding what fear tried to destroy: the right to speak for peace and justice."

The immigration court ruling was filed by Mahdawi's attorneys in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City, where he is challenging his arrest and detention, which remains ongoing.

Mahdawi, a U.S. permanent resident born and raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank, was detained last year during his naturalization interview in Vermont as part of the administration's crackdown on pro-Palestine protests on college campuses.

Still, the federal government could appeal the immigration judge's decision, however, it remains unclear whether they intend to do so.

In a statement to NBC News, a DHS spokesperson said, "It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America."

The spokesperson added, "No activist judge, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that."

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump'sBoard of Peaceisset to meetfor the first time on Thursday in Washington, an early test of whether one of his marquee foreign policy initiatives can gain broad support and advance the shaky ceasefire agreementin the Gaza Strip.

Board of Peace Explainer

Trump'sballooning ambitionsfor the board extend from governing and rebuilding Gaza as a futuristic metropolis to challenging the United Nations Security Council's role in solving conflicts. But they could be tempered by the realities of dealing with Gaza, where there has so far been limited progress in achievingthe narrower aimsof the ceasefire.

Palestinians, including many civilians, are still being killed innear-daily strikesthat Israel says are aimed at militants who threaten or attack its forces. Hamas hasn't disarmed, no international forces have deployed, and a Palestinian committee meant to take over from Hamas is stuck in neighboring Egypt.

"If this meeting does not result in fast, tangible improvements on the ground — and particularly on the humanitarian front — its credibility will quickly crumble," said Max Rodenbeck, Israel-Palestine Project Director at the International Crisis Group, a global think tank.

A new international body

More than two dozen nations have signed on as the board'sfounding members.

The list includes Israel and other regional heavyweights involved in ceasefire negotiations, as well as countries from outside the Middle East whose leaders support Trump or hope to gain his favor. U.S. allies like France, Norway and Swedenhave so far declined.

Israelis are suspicious of the involvement of Qatar and Turkey, which have longstanding relations with Hamas. Palestinians object because their representatives weren't invited to the board, even as it weighs the future of a territory that is home to some 2 million of them.

Trump, the self-appointed chairman of the board, said earlier this week that member countrieshad pledged $5 billiontoward rebuilding Gaza and would commit thousands of personnel to peacekeeping and policing. No financial pledges — or an agenda for this week's meeting — have been made public.

"We want to make it successful. I think it has the chance to be the most consequential board ever assembled of any kind," Trump told reporters on Monday. He reiterated his criticism of the U.N.'s record on resolving international disputes.

Ambitious plans

Trump — along with son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff — has laid out ambitious plans for rebuilding Gaza with international investment.

In Davos last month,Kushner suggestedreconstruction could be complete in a matter of three years, even though U.N. forecasts suggest that clearing rubble and demining alone could take much longer.

Kushner's slides showed a reconstructed Gaza with a coastal tourism strip, industrial zones and data centers. He conceded that rebuilding would begin only in demilitarized areas and that security would be essential to attract investment.

The latest joint estimate by the U.N., European Union and World Bank says reconstruction will cost about $70 billion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said there will be no reconstruction until Hamas disarms, leaving Palestinians in limbo among the widespread devastation.

Advertisement

Halting progress

The ceasefire deal has halted major military operations,freed the last hostagesheld by Hamas and ramped up aid deliveries to Gaza. But a lasting resolution to the two-year war ignited byHamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attackinto Israel remains elusive.

The deal envisions Hamas handing over its weapons and Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza as international forces deploy. Itleft some questions unanswered and set no timelineto secure buy-in and defer confrontation over those issues.

Israel and the U.S. say Hamas' disarmament is key to progress on the other fronts. Arab and Muslim members of the Board of Peace have accused Israel of undermining the ceasefire with its daily strikes and want the U.S. to rein in its close ally. They have called on Hamas to disarm but say Israel's withdrawal is just as important.

Israel defines demilitarization as extending from heavy weapons like rocket-propelled grenades all the way down to rifles. Netanyahu said Sunday that Hamas would have to give up roughly 60,000 automatic rifles.

Despite accepting the agreement, Hamas has made only vague or conditional commitments to disarm as part of a process leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state. Senior Hamas officials have saidtheir security forcesneed to retain some weapons in order to maintain law and order during the transition.

Some of the ideas under discussion include Hamas "freezing" its arms by placing them in sealed depots under outside supervision or giving up heavy weapons while keeping some handguns for policing, according to two regional officials involved in the negotiations. One official said disarmament is a complicated process that could take months. The officials requested anonymity to discuss the negotiations.

It's far from certain that Israel or the United States would agree to such ideas.

A stabilization force

The ceasefire deal also calls for a temporary International Stabilization Force made up of soldiers from Arab and Muslim-majority countries to vet, train and support to a new Palestinian police force. Its mandate is not spelled out in detail, but would include securing aid deliveries and preventing weapons smuggling.

Countries being asked to contribute to the force insist that any deployment be framed as a peacekeeping mission. They have refused to take part in the disarmament of Hamas, a job that could put them in harm's way. Another concern is the presence ofarmed groups allied with Israel.

Indonesia has begun training a contingent ofup to 8,000 soldiersfor the force, though its foreign minister said last week that they would not take part in disarmament.

Postwar governance

Under the ceasefire agreement, Hamasis to hand over powerto a transitional committee of politically independent Palestinian administrators. The U.S. has named a 15-member committee and tapped former U.N. envoy Nickolay Mladenov to oversee them as the board's envoy to Gaza.

The committee, led by former Palestinian Authority deputy minister Ali Shaath, has not yet been granted Israeli permission to enter Gaza from Egypt. Israel hasn't commented on the matter.

Mladenov said last week that the committee will not be able to work unless Hamas hands over power and ceasefire violations stop.

"We're only embarrassing the committee and ultimately making it ineffective," he said at the Munich Security Conference. "All of this needs to move very fast."

__ Magdy reported from Cairo. Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Fla. contributed reporting.