CBS News
At least 27 killed in central Gaza airstrike as U.S. envoy visits the region
An Israeli airstrike targeting a house in a central Gaza refugee camp killed at least 27 people, mostly women and children, according to a hospital in the area, the Associated Press reported. The Civil Defense suggested the death toll was higher.
The bombing on Sunday happened as fighting raged across northern Gaza and Israel’s leaders aired divisions over who should govern the Palestinian territory after the war, now in its eighth month. It also came as a United States envoy visited the region and met with various leaders through the middle of the week.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan was scheduled to meet with top Israeli leaders on Sunday to discuss an ambitious U.S. plan for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and help the Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza in exchange for a path to eventual statehood.
On Monday, Roger Carstens, the U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, is set to travel to Doha, Qatar, to participate in a panel at the Global Security Forum called “The Impacts of Hostage-Taking by State and Non-State Actors,” according to the State Department. Officials said Carstens’ visit would last through Wednesday, and, while there, he would also “meet with Qatari and other attending government representatives and civil society groups to discuss wrongful detention and hostage issues.”
Ismael Abu Dayyah / AP
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has faced criticism from his own War Cabinet, with his main political rival, Benny Gantz, threatening to leave the government if a plan is not formulated by June 8 that includes an international administration for postwar Gaza.
Netanyahu, who is opposed to Palestinian statehood, has rejected those proposals, saying Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with local Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
Gantz’ withdrawal would not bring down Netanyahu’s coalition government, but it would leave him more reliant on far-right allies who support the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza, full military occupation and the rebuilding of Jewish settlements there.
Even as the discussions of postwar planning take on new weight, the war is still raging with no end in sight. In recent weeks, Hamas has regrouped in parts of northern Gaza that were heavily bombed in the early days of the war and where Israeli ground troops had already operated.
The airstrike in Nuseirat, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, killed at least 27 people, including 10 women and seven children, according to records at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah, which received the bodies. The hospital had said in an initial statement to AFP that it “received 20 fatalities and several wounded after an Israeli air strike targeted a house belonging to the Hasan family in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.” The Civil Defense in Gaza later said 31 bodies were recovered after a bombing in the Nuseirat camp at dawn.
A separate strike on a street in Nuseirat killed another five people, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service. In Deir al-Balah, a strike killed Zahed al-Houli, a senior officer in the Hamas-run police, and another man, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway.
The Civil Defense says the strikes hit several homes near Kamal Adwan Hospital in the town of Beit Lahiya, killing at least 10 people. Footage released by the rescuers showed them trying to pull the body of a woman out of the rubble as explosions echo in the background and smoke rises.
In the urban Jabliya refugee camp nearby, residents reported a heavy wave of artillery and airstrikes.
“The situation is very difficult,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old in Jabaliya. He said the whole eastern side has become a battle zone where the Israeli fighter jets “strike anything that moves.”
Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the Civil Defense, said rescuers had recovered at least 150 bodies, more than half of them women and children, since Israel launched the operation in Jabaliya last week. He said around 300 homes have been “completely destroyed.”
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which Palestinian militants stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting some 250.
The war has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced within the territory, often multiple times.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames the high death toll and destruction on Hamas, which positions fighters, tunnels and rocket launchers in dense, residential areas.
Netanyahu’s critics, including thousands of protesters who took to the streets again on Saturday, accused him of prolonging the war and rejecting a cease-fire deal that would release hostages so he can avoid a reckoning over the security failures that led to the attack.
Polls show that Gantz, a political centrist, would likely succeed Netanyahu if early elections are held. That would expose Netanyahu to prosecution on longstanding corruption allegations.
Netanyahu denies any political motives and says the offensive must continue until Hamas is dismantled and the estimated 100 hostages held in Gaza, and the remains of more than 30 others, are returned. He has said it’s pointless to discuss postwar arrangements while Hamas is still fighting because the militants have threatened anyone who cooperates with Israel.
Netanyahu also faces pressure from Israel’s closest ally, the United States, which has provided crucial military aid and diplomatic cover for the offensive while expressing growing frustration with Israel’s conduct of the war.
President Joe Biden’s administration recently held up a shipment of 3,500 bombs of up to 2,000 pounds each and said the U.S. would not provide offensive weapons for a full-scale invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, citing fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
But last week, after Israel launched what it says is a limited operation in Rafah, the administration told legislators it would move forward with the sale of $1 billion worth of arms, tank ammunition, tactical vehicles and mortar rounds, according to congressional aides.
Sullivan is expected in Israel after meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday. The administration has been working on an ambitious plan in which Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel and join other Arab states in helping to administer and rebuild Gaza, in exchange for a U.S. defense pact and help in building a civilian nuclear program.
But U.S. and Saudi officials say that deal requires Israel to agree to a credible path to eventual Palestinian statehood, something Netanyahu has repeatedly ruled out.
In Gantz’ ultimatum, he expressed support for normalizing ties with Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. But he also said “we will not allow any outside power, friendly or hostile, to impose a Palestinian state on us.”
CBS News
A week before Texas mom Alyssa Burkett’s murder, the killer received a text: “I hope you handle it”
After Alyssa Burkett was murdered, detectives quickly learned that the prime suspect was the father of her child, Andrew Beard. But as the investigation unfolded, they would find out that Beard wasn’t the only one involved in the murder plot.
Take a look inside the investigation.
Oct. 2, 2020 | 9 a.m.
Carrollton Police Department
Shortly after 24-year-old Alyssa Burkett pulled into her parking space at work in Carrollton, Texas, a man with a gun shot her in the head through her car window and fled.
Carrollton Police Department
Burkett survived the gun blast, got out of her car and tried to get help. Her bloody hand left a print on the office window.
The assailant saw Burkett running and chased after her. He stabbed and slashed Alyssa 44 times and left the scene in his black SUV.
Lizatte Bowers/Alyssa Burkett, Facebook
When Burkett’s mother, Teresa Collard, arrived at the scene, she immediately gave detectives a name: Andrew Beard. Beard was the father of Burkett’s 1-year-old child, Willow.
Oct. 2, 2020 | 12 p.m.
Carrollton Police Department
Hours after the murder, police officers stopped Beard in his white Ford F-150 pickup truck. His fiancée, Holly Elkins, and baby Willow were with him. Beard was told he could leave the scene, but he couldn’t return home. Officers also seized his pickup truck.
Oct. 2, 2020 | 9 p.m.
Carrollton Police Department
Later that night, police searched Beard’s home and found a GPS tracker battery and charging stations that matched a tracking device detectives discovered under Burkett’s car earlier that day.
Carrollton Police Department
Investigators also uncovered what they believed to be an unregistered gun silencer.
Oct. 3, 2020 | 12 p.m.
Carrollton Police Department
The next day, detectives searched Beard’s white F-150 pickup truck and found a backpack. Inside, they uncovered two bottles of dark brown makeup, and a pair of men’s hiking boots that had been cut into pieces and were soaking in bleach.
Oct. 3, 2020
Carrollton Police Department
Later that night, police located that black Ford SUV the assailant drove to the scene. It was found abandoned less than a mile from Beard’s house.
Carrolton Police Department
When detectives searched the SUV, they found a fake beard smeared with dark brown makeup.
Oct. 5, 2020
Carrolton Police Department
When Beard learned there was a warrant for his arrest, he turned himself in to the Carrollton Police Department. He was charged with murder.
Oct. 6, 2020
Beard’s fiancée, Holly Elkins, voluntarily went to speak with detectives at the Carrollton Police Department.
Carrolton Police Department
During the interview, Elkins told investigators that Beard was at home with her on the morning of the murder. She also described herself as a “stage 5 clinger girlfriend,” and said she would have known if Beard left the house that morning.
Oct. 6, 2020 | 1:30 p.m.
Carrollton Police Department
After her interview, investigators said Elkins made the following internet searches:
“Can I not be brought to court if I have a psychiatrist note?”
“vulnerable patients going to court”
“contact psychiatrist in Dallas”
“Can I not be subpoenaed to jail if I have a mental issue?”
Oct. 29, 2020
Beard spent two weeks behind bars before he was released on bond. Carrollton Police Det. Jeremy Chevallier said he was worried about baby Willow’s safety, so he reached out to the federal government to take the case under federal firearm laws.
Because detectives found an unregistered silencer during the search of Beard’s home, the federal government agreed to take the case.
Carrollton Police Department
Eight days after he bonded out, Beard was rearrested and ultimately charged with cyberstalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death.
July 15, 2022
In June 2022, Beard pleaded guilty to cyberstalking and using a dangerous weapon resulting in death.
FBI
One month later, he spoke to the FBI as part of a plea deal. And he had a lot to say about Elkins’ involvement in Burkett’s murder.
“…It was…’this is how you’re gonna do this,’ it was, ‘… you’re gonna wear this dark makeup …’ That was her plan…that’s how it’s gonna be done,” Beard told the FBI.
May 24, 2023
Beard was sentenced to 43 years in federal prison.
June 21, 2023
After speaking with Beard, the FBI spent about a year building a case against Elkins.
Investigators found internet searches and a Walgreens receipt that connected her to the crime.
Carrollton Police Department
They also dug into text messages between Elkins and Beard. In a text sent to Beard one week before Burkett’s murder, Elkins wrote, “I hope you handle it I’m not coming home to b**s***”
Elkins was indicted on three charges: conspiracy to stalk, stalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury and death and brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.
July 6, 2023
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office
Elkins was arrested at the Miami airport by federal agents after returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic.
April 9 – 16, 2024
Lizette Bowers
Elkins’ trial began at the federal courthouse in downtown Dallas. After six days, the case went to the jury.
April 17, 2024
Stephen Green
The jury deliberated for about an hour-and-a-half before they found Elkins guilty on all counts. On Aug. 15, 2024, Elkins was sentenced to two life terms.
CBS News
A week before Texas mom Alyssa Burkett’s murder, the killer received a text: “I hope you handle it”
After Alyssa Burkett was murdered, detectives quickly learned that the prime suspect was the father of her child, Andrew Beard. But as the investigation unfolded, they would find out that Beard wasn’t the only one involved in the murder plot.
Take a look inside the investigation.
Oct. 2, 2020 | 9 a.m.
Carrollton Police Department
Shortly after 24-year-old Alyssa Burkett pulled into her parking space at work in Carrollton, Texas, a man with a gun shot her in the head through her car window and fled.
Carrollton Police Department
Burkett survived the gun blast, got out of her car and tried to get help. Her bloody hand left a print on the office window.
The assailant saw Burkett running and chased after her. He stabbed and slashed Alyssa 44 times and left the scene in his black SUV.
Lizatte Bowers/Alyssa Burkett, Facebook
When Burkett’s mother, Teresa Collard, arrived at the scene, she immediately gave detectives a name: Andrew Beard. Beard was the father of Burkett’s 1-year-old child, Willow.
Oct. 2, 2020 | 12 p.m.
Carrollton Police Department
Hours after the murder, police officers stopped Beard in his white Ford F-150 pickup truck. His fiancée, Holly Elkins, and baby Willow were with him. Beard was told he could leave the scene, but he couldn’t return home. Officers also seized his pickup truck.
Oct. 2, 2020 | 9 p.m.
Carrollton Police Department
Later that night, police searched Beard’s home and found a GPS tracker battery and charging stations that matched a tracking device detectives discovered under Burkett’s car earlier that day.
Carrollton Police Department
Investigators also uncovered what they believed to be an unregistered gun silencer.
Oct. 3, 2020 | 12 p.m.
Carrollton Police Department
The next day, detectives searched Beard’s white F-150 pickup truck and found a backpack. Inside, they uncovered two bottles of dark brown makeup, and a pair of men’s hiking boots that had been cut into pieces and were soaking in bleach.
Oct. 3, 2020
Carrollton Police Department
Later that night, police located that black Ford SUV the assailant drove to the scene. It was found abandoned less than a mile from Beard’s house.
Carrolton Police Department
When detectives searched the SUV, they found a fake beard smeared with dark brown makeup.
Oct. 5, 2020
Carrolton Police Department
When Beard learned there was a warrant for his arrest, he turned himself in to the Carrollton Police Department. He was charged with murder.
Oct. 6, 2020
Beard’s fiancée, Holly Elkins, voluntarily went to speak with detectives at the Carrollton Police Department.
Carrolton Police Department
During the interview, Elkins told investigators that Beard was at home with her on the morning of the murder. She also described herself as a “stage 5 clinger girlfriend,” and said she would have known if Beard left the house that morning.
Oct. 6, 2020 | 1:30 p.m.
Carrollton Police Department
After her interview, investigators said Elkins made the following internet searches:
“Can I not be brought to court if I have a psychiatrist note?”
“vulnerable patients going to court”
“contact psychiatrist in Dallas”
“Can I not be subpoenaed to jail if I have a mental issue?”
Oct. 29, 2020
Beard spent two weeks behind bars before he was released on bond. Carrollton Police Det. Jeremy Chevallier said he was worried about baby Willow’s safety, so he reached out to the federal government to take the case under federal firearm laws.
Because detectives found an unregistered silencer during the search of Beard’s home, the federal government agreed to take the case.
Carrollton Police Department
Eight days after he bonded out, Beard was rearrested and ultimately charged with cyberstalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in death.
July 15, 2022
In June 2022, Beard pleaded guilty to cyberstalking and using a dangerous weapon resulting in death.
FBI
One month later, he spoke to the FBI as part of a plea deal. And he had a lot to say about Elkins’ involvement in Burkett’s murder.
“…It was…’this is how you’re gonna do this,’ it was, ‘… you’re gonna wear this dark makeup …’ That was her plan…that’s how it’s gonna be done,” Beard told the FBI.
May 24, 2023
Beard was sentenced to 43 years in federal prison.
June 21, 2023
After speaking with Beard, the FBI spent about a year building a case against Elkins.
Investigators found internet searches and a Walgreens receipt that connected her to the crime.
Carrollton Police Department
They also dug into text messages between Elkins and Beard. In a text sent to Beard one week before Burkett’s murder, Elkins wrote, “I hope you handle it I’m not coming home to b**s***”
Elkins was indicted on three charges: conspiracy to stalk, stalking using a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury and death and brandishing a firearm in relation to a crime of violence.
July 6, 2023
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office
Elkins was arrested at the Miami airport by federal agents after returning from a trip to the Dominican Republic.
April 9 – 16, 2024
Lizette Bowers
Elkins’ trial began at the federal courthouse in downtown Dallas. After six days, the case went to the jury.
April 17, 2024
Stephen Green
The jury deliberated for about an hour-and-a-half before they found Elkins guilty on all counts. On Aug. 15, 2024, Elkins was sentenced to two life terms.
President-elect Trump on Friday named Karoline Leavitt, his campaign press secretary, to serve as his White House press secretary.
Leavitt, 27, currently a spokesperson for Trump’s transition, would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. Previously that distinction went to Ronald Ziegler, who was 29 when he took the position in 1969 in Richard Nixon’s administration.
“Karoline Leavitt did a phenomenal job as the National Press Secretary on my Historic Campaign, and I am pleased to announce she will serve as White House Press Secretary,” Trump said in a statement. “Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator. I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we Make America Great Again.”
Leavitt replied in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “Thank you, President Trump, for believing in me. I am humbled and honored. Let’s MAGA,” the acronym for “Make America Great Again.”
The White House press secretary typically serves as the public face of the administration and historically has held daily briefings for the press corps.
MEGA
Trump disrupted those norms in his first term, preferring to serve as his own chief spokesperson. While he was president from 2017 to 2021, Trump had four press secretaries but frequently preferred to engage directly with the public, from his rallies, social media posts and his own briefings.
At a news conference this past August, Trump was asked if he’d have regular press briefings in his new administration. He told reporters, “I will give you total access and you’ll have a lot of press briefings and you’ll have, uh, from me.”
When it came to a press secretary, he said: “Probably they’ll do something. If it’s not daily, it’s going to be a lot. You’ll have more than you want.”
Leavitt, a New Hampshire native, is seen as a staunch and camera-ready advocate for Trump who is quick on her feet and delivers aggressive defenses of the Republican in television interviews.
She worked as a spokesperson for MAGA Inc., a super PAC supporting Trump, before joining his 2024 campaign. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire, winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to incumbent Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas.
During Trump’s first term in office, Leavitt worked in the White House press office. She then became communications director for New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, whom Trump has tapped to serve as his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Trump’s first press secretaries, Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, were known for quarreling with reporters. Another, Stephanie Grisham, never held a briefing. Her successor, Kayleigh McEnany, often lectured the news media during her appearances in the White House press briefing room.
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In their final meeting, Xi tells Biden that China is ready to work with a new US administration