Hook News Brief | 02.07.25
Israel-Hamas ceasefire soon? Trump says Israel has agreed, urges Hamas to do so
US President Donald Trump has declared that Israel has agreed to the "necessary conditions" to finalise a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and strongly urged Hamas to do the same.
It is unclear what conditions specifically Israel has agreed to but in another instance of Truth Social diplomacy, Trump said that he and other related parties will use this time to work together “to end the war" that has claimed almost 60,000 lives. Adding that representatives for Qatar and Egypt will deliver "this final proposal" to Hamas.
Importantly, Trump warned Hamas to “take this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE”.
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill clears US Senate hurdle with tie-breaker vote from Vance
Staying with Trump, US Senate Republicans passed his massive tax-and-spending bill on Tuesday by the narrowest of margins.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed with Vice-President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote after more than 24 hours of debate advancing a package that would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt.
The legislation now heads to the House of Representatives for possible final approval. Trump wants to sign it into law by the July 4 Independence Day holiday, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement that he aimed to meet that deadline.
Trump administration threatens to strip Mamdani of his US citizenship
Moving on, the Trump administration has raised the possibility of stripping Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral candidate for New York City, of his US citizenship.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, appeared to pave the way after Andy Ogles, a rightwing Republican representative for Tennessee, called for his citizenship to be revoked on the grounds that he may have concealed his support for “terrorism” during the naturalisation process.
Mamdani, born in Uganda to ethnic Indian parents, became a US citizen in 2018.
Trump was asked on Tuesday about Mamdani’s pledge to “stop masked” ICE agents “from deporting our neighbors”. According to Axios, Trump responded with “we’ll have to arrest him”.
Mamdani in a post on X decried the move saying Trump wants to have him arrested, stripped of his citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported, not because he has “broken any law” but because he refuses “to let Ice terrorize our city”.
Download the app or log on to Hook.online for more news updates.
