More than 69,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war so far, Gaza health officials said Saturday, as both sides completed the latest exchange of bodies under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire.
The latest jump in deaths occurred as more bodies are recovered in the devastated Gaza Strip since the ceasefire began on Oct. 10, and as other bodies are identified. The toll also includes Palestinians killed by strikes that Israel says target remaining militants.
Israel on Saturday returned the remains of another 15 Palestinians to Gaza, according to hospital officials there, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel. He was identified as Lior Rudaeff, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ’s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that Rudaeff was born in Argentina.
The exchanges are the central part of the ceasefire’s initial phase, which requires that Hamas return all hostage remains as quickly as possible. Families and supporters rallied again Saturday night in Tel Aviv for the return of all.
The truce is aimed at winding down the deadliest and most destructive war ever between Israel and the Palestinian militant group. It began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
Gaza death toll tops 69,000 as Israel and militants again exchange remains
Ghislaine Maxwell eyeing commutation, whistleblower tells House Democrats
Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate and co-conspirator who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, is reportedly preparing a “commutation application” for the Trump administration to review, according to new allegations from a whistleblower shared with House Democrats.
Democrats on the House judiciary committee announced on Monday that they had received information from a whistleblower that indicates that the British former socialite, 63, is working on filing a commutation application. They also said Maxwell had been receiving special treatment at federal prison camp Bryan in Texas – the minimum-security facility she was transferred to earlier this year.
Congressman Jamie Raskin, the ranking member and top Democrat on the House judiciary committee, stated in a news release that the prison’s warden was also “helping” Maxwell “copy, print, and send documents” to support her bid for clemency.
The exact content of this “commutation application” was unclear, Raskin added.
Raskin states that according to the whistleblower, Maxwell has been receiving “customized” meals that are “personally delivered” to her cell, and that the warden has “personally arranged” private meetings for Maxwell and her visitors. The visits allegedly include providing a “special cordoned-off area” for visitors to arrive, as well as “an assortment of snacks and refreshments for her guests”.
A simple blood test can detect 50 types of cancer: We explain
Cancer continues to be one of the world's top causes of death, due in part to delayed discovery of the disease. But according to a recently released study, a simple blood test may be able to identify a variety of cancers in their early stages.
In addition to earlier detection, the study from GRAIL, a biotechnology company, showed that its multi-cancer early detection (MCED) testing method found cancers in organs that don't have routine screening tests. The test, known as Galleri, picked up cancer signals in 216 people, and 133 of them were found to actually have cancer. The study also found that the test correctly predicted the cancer's origin 92% of the time.
Shifting cancer screening options
Because of the lack of screening for many of the most serious cancers, they tend to be found after it is too late. But when tumors are found early on, they are more treatable and possibly curable.
There are currently established screening methods for various cancers, including mammograms, pap tests, colonoscopies, and tests for the prostate and lungs.
The FDA has not yet approved the Galleri MCED testing method; more research is currently ongoing.
World News in Brief: Settler attacks in the West Bank
The UN humanitarian relief chief, Tom Fletcher, has sounded the alarm over rising violence in the occupied West Bank, where attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their property continue to escalate.
“Many of these attacks are linked to Palestinians’ attempts to harvest their olive crops,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Palestinians have been killed and injured. Their homes and property damaged. Their livestock attacked.”
Mr. Fletcher said that more trees have been damaged, and more communities affected this year than in the previous six years combined.
“The failure to prevent or punish such attacks is inconsistent with international law,” he warned. “Palestinians must be protected. Impunity cannot prevail. Perpetrators must be held accountable.”
His remarks follow warnings from the UN Spokesperson’s Office last week that violence by Israeli settlers has surged across the West Bank, often under the watch of Israeli security forces.
Worsening listeria outbreak tied to pasta products kills 6, hospitalizes 25
A deadly listeria outbreak connected to prepared pasta meals sold at grocery chains nationwide is worsening, federal health officials say.
As of late October, the outbreak has killed six people and sickened 27, all but two of whom were hospitalized, according to last week's update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One of those affected was a pregnant mother, resulting in a fetal loss.
Cases have been reported in 18 states: California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
"Since the last CDC case count update on September 25, 2025, a total of 7 new illnesses from 3 states have been reported, with 2 additional deaths reported," the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.
That list has grown in recent months. The outbreak started in June, when listeria concerns prompted recalls of several brands of ready-to-eat chicken fettuccine Alfredo mealsmade by FreshRealm Inc. and sold under the Home Chef brand at Kroger and the Marketside brand at Walmart.
Federal judges order Trump admin to continue SNAP benefits.
Regular funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits was due to run out on Saturday, Nov. 1. “The well has run dry,” the Agriculture Department said.
But rulings by judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, issued within minutes of each other on Oct. 31, ordered the department to use $5.25 billion in contingency funds to continue SNAP.
Israel plans to approve nearly 2,000 new illegal settlement units in occupied West Bank
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that the Higher Planning Council will approve the construction of 1,973 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank during its next session.
He did not specify when the council will meet, Israeli Channel 12 reported.
The announcement came a day after Israel approved the building of 1,300 settler homes in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of occupied East Jerusalem.
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that the Higher Planning Council will approve the construction of 1,973 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank during its next session.
Smotrich said Israeli authorities have approved nearly 30,000 new settlement units in the occupied West Bank this year, describing it as an "unprecedented achievement" for his government.
The Palestinian group Hamas denounced the Israeli move as a "dangerous escalation in the policy of Judaisation and settlement expansion targeting Palestinian land deep inside the West Bank."
"These settlement plans constitute a blatant violation of international law and United Nations resolutions that criminalise settlement construction," it said in a statement.
Texas judges can now refuse to perform same-sex marriages
The Texas Supreme Court added the one-sentence comment to the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct on Oct. 24, potentially creating hurdles for LGBTQ+ people seeking to marry, especially in rural areas.
Further, the comment could play a role in a federal lawsuit vying to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage in 2015, according to a report by Dallas NPR station KERA.
The high court’s alteration to the rules appears to come out of a legal dispute that arose when the State Commission on Judicial Conduct sanctioned a Waco judge who refused to marry LGBTQ+ couples while continuing to officiate ceremonies for straight ones, KERA reports.
A county judge in North Texas subsequently sued to challenge the sanction, setting up the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to ask the Texas Supreme Court whether it could create an exemption in the Code of Judicial Conduct.
Jason Mazzone, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign law professor who’s analyzed the North Texas case, told KERA the high court’s action may resolve the individual judge’s claim. However, he said LGBTQ+ couples turned away by judges still could sue to challenge their action.
Democrats Fume After GOP Shuts Them Out Of Briefing On Trump's Military Strikes
Senate Democrats are furious that the Trump administration held a briefing for lawmakers on Wednesday about U.S. military strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and only invited Republican senators to attend.
“What the administration did in the last 24 hours is corrosive not only to our democracy but downright dangerous for our national security,” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters on Thursday, warning that the move set a “troubling precedent” that had trampled on the longheld bipartisan tradition of bipartisan briefings of Congress on U.S. military activities abroad.
“They know they screwed up,” Warner added of Trump’s White House. “And where in the hell were my Republican senators, whom we have worked on everything [with] in a bipartisan fashion? Why didn’t they say, ‘Isn’t this a little bit weird they don’t have any Democrats in the room?’”
The U.S. military killed 14 people in missile strikes against alleged drug cartel boats in the Eastern Pacific earlier this week, part of nearly a dozen attacks on vessels off the coast of Venezuela in recent months. Critics have called the use of force unconstitutional since it lacks congressional authorization. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pressed for more information about the strikes, including their legal justification.
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