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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday signaled that he was moving ahead with U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of Gaza, calling it “the only viable plan to enable a different future” for the region.

Netanyahu discussed the plan with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who kicked off a Middle East visit by endorsing Israel’s war aims in Gaza, saying Hamas “must be eradicated.” That created further doubt around the shaky ceasefire as talks on its second phase are yet to begin.

Rubio, in his upcoming stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, is likely to face more pushback from Arab leaders over Trump’s proposal, which includes redeveloping Gaza under U.S. ownership. Netanyahu has said all emigration from Gaza should be “voluntary,” but rights groups and other critics say that the plan amounts to coercion given the territory’s vast destruction.

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• Zelensky had said hours before that Ukraine was not invited to participate in any peace talks, a notion which Witkoff pushed back against to Fox News' Maria Bartiromo.
• "Ukraine is part of the talks," Witkoff said, adding, "I don't think this is about excluding anybody."

Zoom out: European allies had also expressed concern Ukraine wouldn't get an equal say in peace talks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shocked NATO allies by declaring key bargaining chips off the table.

• Hegesth's comments sparked concerns over what concessions the White House might be preemptively offering the Kremlin. President Trump himself contended that NATO membership isn't "practical" for Ukraine and that it's "unlikely" the nation gets "all of its land back."
• In his "Meet the Press" interview, Zelensky warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin "will wage war against NATO" and is only waiting for the military alliance to weaken, perhaps if the U.S. "will think to take its military from Europe."
• Vice President JD Vance warned that Europe had to be ready to defend itself in a speech at the Munich Security Conference last week.

The Trump administration is slashing about 1,300 employees, or 10% of the workforce, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to two agency employees who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak for the agency. Staff were notified Friday of the cuts.

And as many as 1,500 employees at the National Institutes of Health were also laid off Friday, according to an employee at the agency who was not authorized to speak publicly,.

"Lots of tears here," according to another who asked not to be named out of fears of losing their job.

The layoffs at both agencies targeted probationary employees — a broad category that includes recent hires and long-time staffers who were recently moved to a new position. At the NIH, there may be some exceptions for certain personnel, such as those involved in clinical care, the employee said.

"This is absolutely tragic," said one current CDC employee. "If we lose these people we lose important capacity and in a very real sense we lose our CDC future."

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The Trump administration’s effort to slash the size of the federal workforce reached the Food and Drug Administration this weekend, as recently hired employees who review the safety of food ingredients, medical devices and other products were fired.

Probationary employees across the FDA received notices on Saturday evening that their jobs were being eliminated, according to three FDA staffers who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The total number of positions eliminated was not clear on Sunday, but the firings appeared to focus on employees in the agency’s centers for food, medical devices and tobacco products – which includes oversight of electronic cigarettes. It was not clear whether FDA employees who review drugs were exempted.

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Much of the US faced another round of biting winter weather on Sunday, with torrential rains causing intense flooding in Kentucky and resulting in multiple deaths.

The Kentucky governor, Andy Beshear, on Sunday said at least eight people were dead amid the inundation, with the number possibly increasing.

Beshear said most of the deaths, including a mother and seven-year-old child, were caused by cars getting stuck in high water.

The mother and child were swept away on Saturday night in Kentucky’s Bonnieville community, Hart county coroner Tony Roberts said. In south-eastern Kentucky, a 73-year-old man was found dead in floodwaters in Clay county, county emergency management deputy director, Revelle Berry, said. There were a total of four deaths in Hart county, Beshear said.

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The Washington Post this week backed out of a “Fire Elon Musk” advertising order that was to run as a wrap on some of its Tuesday editions, according to the advocacy group Common Cause.

The group said it signed a $115,000 agreement with The Post to run the ad that would have covered the front and back page of the Tuesday paper as well as a full-page ad with the same theme inside the paper. It said it planned to purchase the ad in collaboration with the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund.

The ad’s design features a large picture of Musk with his head tilted back, laughing, along with a cutout image of the White House and large white text: “Who’s running this country: Donald Trump or Elon Musk?”

Amid the Trump administration's crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion, Julianne Moore is speaking out on the recent censorship of one of her books.

In a lengthy Instagram post Sunday, the Oscar-winning actress and children's book author reacted to the news that her book "Freckleface Strawberry" was reportedly removed from schools within the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).

"It is a great shock for me to learn that my first book, Freckleface Strawberry, has been banned by the Trump Administration from schools run by the Department of Defense," wrote Moore, whose father is a Vietnam War veteran.

In a Feb. 10 memo, the Department of Defense announced that several books and learning materials had been removed from class curriculums and flagged for review, according to The Washington Post and The Guardian. Such titles include Moore's book, as well as "Becoming Nicole," a biography of transgender actress Nicole Maines.

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A second federal judge on Friday paused President Donald Trump's executive order halting federal support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth under 19.

U.S. District Court Judge Lauren King granted a temporary restraining order after the Democratic attorneys general of Washington state, Oregon and Minnesota sued the Trump administration last week. Three doctors joined as plaintiffs in the suit, which was filed in the Western District of Washington.

The decision came one day after a federal judge in Baltimore temporarily blocked the executive order in response to a separate lawsuit filed on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children. Judge Brendan Hurson's temporary restraining order will last 14 days but could be extended, and essentially puts Trump's directive on hold while the case proceeds. Hurston and King were both appointed by former President Joe Biden.

Trump signed an executive order last month halting federal funding for institutions that provide the care and directing federally run insurance programs, including Medicaid and TRICARE for military families, to exclude coverage for it. The order also calls on the Department of Justice to pursue litigation and legislation to oppose it.

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