By SAM METZ

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Friday that it will reopen the pedestrian border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt over the weekend, marking an important step forward for U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan.

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COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, said in a statement that starting on Sunday a “limited movement of people only” would be allowed through the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world.

The announcement followed statements from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ali Shaath, newly appointed to head the Palestinian administrative committee governing Gaza’s daily affairs, that it would likely open soon.

How the crossing will operate after nearly two years of closure remains unclear.

While COGAT said the passage will open in both directions on Sunday, Shaath said the first day will be a trial for operations and that travel both ways will start Monday.

COGAT said both Israel and Egypt will vet individuals for exit and entry through the crossing, which will be supervised by European Union border patrol agents. In addition to screenings at the crossing, Palestinians leaving and returning will be screened by Israel in the adjacent corridor, which remains under Israeli military control.

The crossing has been under a near complete closure since Israel seized it in May 2024, saying the step was part of a strategy to halt cross-border arms smuggling by Hamas. It was briefly opened for the evacuation of medical patients during a short-lived ceasefire in early 2025.

Israel had resisted reopening the crossing, but the recovery of the remains of the last hostage in Gaza on Monday cleared the way to move forward. A day later, Netanyahu said the crossing would soon open in a limited and controlled fashion.

Thousands of Palestinians inside Gaza are trying to leave the war-battered territory, while tens of thousands who fled the territory during the heaviest fighting say they want to return home.

An Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with policy told The Associated Press that dozens of Palestinians would initially be allowed through each way, starting with medical evacuees and Palestinians who fled during the war.

Gaza’s health system was decimated in the war, rendering advanced surgical procedures out of reach. Roughly 20,000 sick and wounded Palestinians need treatment outside Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. In the past, those prioritized for evacuation have been mostly children, cancer patients and people suffering from physical trauma.

The reopening is one of the first steps in the second phase of last year’s U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement, which includes challenging issues ranging from demilitarizing Gaza to putting in place an alternative government to oversee rebuilding the mostly destroyed enclave.

Netanyahu said this week that Israel’s focus is on disarming Hamas and destroying its remaining tunnels. Without these steps, he said that there would be no reconstruction in Gaza, a stance that could make Israel’s control over Rafah a key point of leverage.

More deadly strikes in Gaza

Palestinians in Gaza on Friday mourned friends and relatives who died earlier this week in Israeli strikes, which have slowed but not stopped since the return of the remains of the final hostage held in the territory.

Three Palestinians were laid to rest in traditional Islamic funeral rites. Men gathered to pay their final respects, carrying the shrouded bodies through the streets before praying over them.

Israel’s military said four people were killed in airstrikes Friday in central Gaza, saying they were armed and approaching troops near the ceasefire line dividing Israeli-held areas and most of Gaza’s Palestinian population.

The most recent deaths Friday are on top of the 492 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire began in October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. It maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

Associated Press journalist Toqa Ezzidin in Cairo contributed to this report.

Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

By GRAHAM LEE BREWER, SAVANNAH PETERS and STEWART HUNTINGTON

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flooded Minneapolis, Shane Mantz dug his Choctaw Nation citizenship card out of a box on his dresser and slid it into his wallet.

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Some strangers mistake the pest-control company manager for Latino, he said, and he fears getting caught up in ICE raids.

Like Mantz, many Native Americans are carrying tribal documents proving their U.S. citizenship in case they are stopped or questioned by federal immigration agents. This is why dozens of the 575 federally recognized Native nations are making it easier to get tribal IDs. They’re waiving fees, lowering the age of eligibility — ranging from 5 to 18 nationwide — and printing the cards faster.

It’s the first time tribal IDs have been widely used as proof of U.S. citizenship and protection against federal law enforcement, said David Wilkins, an expert on Native politics and governance at the University of Richmond.

“I don’t think there’s anything historically comparable,” Wilkins said. “I find it terribly frustrating and disheartening.”

As Native Americans around the country rush to secure documents proving their right to live in the United States, many see a bitter irony.

“As the first people of this land, there’s no reason why Native Americans should have their citizenship questioned,” said Jaqueline De León, a senior staff attorney with the nonprofit Native American Rights Fund and member of Isleta Pueblo.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to more than four requests for comment over a week.

Native identity in a new age of fear

Since the mid- to late 1800s, the U.S. government has kept detailed genealogical records to estimate Native Americans’ fraction of “Indian blood” and determine their eligibility for health care, housing, education and other services owed under federal legal responsibilities. Those records were also used to aid federal assimilation efforts and chip away at tribal sovereignty, communal lands and identity.

Beginning in the late 1960s, many tribal nations began issuing their own forms of identification. In the last two decades, tribal photo ID cards have become commonplace and can be used to vote in tribal elections, to prove U.S. work eligibility and for domestic air travel.

About 70% of Native Americans today live in urban areas, including tens of thousands in the Twin Cities, one of the largest urban Native populations in the country.

There, in early January, a top ICE official announced the “largest immigration operation ever.”

Masked, heavily armed agents traveling in convoys of unmarked SUVs became commonplace in some neighborhoods. By this week, more than 3,400 people had been arrested, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At least 2,000 ICE officers and 1,000 Border Patrol officers were on the ground.

Representatives from at least 10 tribes traveled hundreds of miles to Minneapolis — the birthplace of the American Indian Movement — to accept ID applications from members there. Among them were the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe of Wisconsin, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa of North Dakota.

Turtle Mountain citizen Faron Houle renewed his tribal ID card and got his young adult son’s and his daughter’s first ones.

“You just get nervous,” Houle said. “I think (ICE agents are) more or less racial profiling people, including me.”

Events in downtown coffee shops, hotel ballrooms, and at the Minneapolis American Indian Center helped urban tribal citizens connect and share resources, said Christine Yellow Bird, who directs the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s satellite office in Fargo, North Dakota.

Yellow Bird made four trips to Minneapolis in recent weeks, putting nearly 2,000 miles on her 2017 Chevy Tahoe to help citizens in the Twin Cities who can’t make the long journey to their reservation.

Yellow Bird said she always keeps her tribal ID with her.

“I’m proud of who I am,” she said. “I never thought I would have to carry it for my own safety.”

Some Native Americans say ICE is harassing them

Last year, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said that several tribal citizens reported being stopped and detained by ICE officers in Arizona and New Mexico. He and other tribal leaders have advised citizens to carry tribal IDs with them at all times.

Last November, Elaine Miles, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon and an actress known for her roles in “Northern Exposure” and “The Last of Us,” said she was stopped by ICE officers in Washington state who told her that her tribal ID looked fake.

The Oglala Sioux Tribe this week banned ICE from its reservation in southwestern South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, one of the largest in the country.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota said a member was detained in Minnesota last weekend. And Peter Yazzie, who is Navajo, said he was arrested and held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Phoenix for several hours last week.

Yazzie, a construction worker from nearby Chinle, Arizona, said he was sitting in his car at a gas station preparing for a day of work when he saw ICE officers arrest some Latino men. The officers soon turned their attention to Yazzie, pushed him to the ground, and searched his vehicle, he said.

He said he told them where to find his driver’s license, birth certificate, and a federal Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood. Yazzie said the car he was in is registered to his mother. Officers said the names didn’t match, he said, and he was arrested, taken to a nearby detention center and held for about four hours.

“It’s an ugly feeling. It makes you feel less human. To know that people see your features and think so little of you,” he said.

DHS did not respond to questions about the arrest.

Mantz, the Choctaw Nation citizen, said he runs pest-control operations in Minneapolis neighborhoods where ICE agents are active and he won’t leave home without his tribal identification documents.

Securing them for his children is now a priority.

“It gives me some peace of mind. But at the same time, why do we have to carry these documents?” Mantz said. “Who are you to ask us to prove who we are?”

Brewer reported from Oklahoma City and Peters from Edgewood, New Mexico.

Thousands of products, including Cheerios, Pringles, Heinz Ketchup and Nutella, have been recalled in multiple states over possible contamination from rat and bird waste.

The recall originated from an unsanitary Gold Star Distribution facility, where “rodent excreta, rodent urine and bird droppings” were found, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

“These conditions create a significant risk that products held at the facility may have been contaminated with filth and harmful microorganisms,” reads a recall notice issued by the agency

The affected products also include over-the-counter medication like Advil, Tylenol and Excedrin; beverages such as Gatorade and Arizona Iced Tea; and food items from instant ramen to sauces and seasonings, in addition to several cosmetics, skin care items and pet food products. The full recall list can be found on the FDA’s website.

Anyone exposed to the potentially contaminated products could contract salmonella or leptospirosis, a bacterial disease caused by contact with animal waste. However, no illnesses related to the recall have been reported so far.

According to the FDA, Gold Star distributed the products to stores in three states: Indiana, North Dakota and Minnesota.

Gold Star is asking anyone in those states who purchased any of the products on the list to destroy them immediately. Refunds would be given upon request.

Anthony Edwards didn’t want to jinx it, but he smiled and noted he’s “liking the way” the Timberwolves’ defense looks at the moment.

Minnesota has won three straight following its dismantling of the Thunder on Thursday, with defense leading the charge in all three victories.

That side of the ball has been Minnesota’s Hallmark for the last couple seasons – both of which resulted in Western Conference Finals runs – but the defensive performances this season have been up and down.

Edwards knows the antidote to the inconsistency.

“I think it just starts with me on the defensive end,” he said. “If I’m guarding at a high level, I think everybody’s gonna do it. So I just gotta, you know, make my mind up and choose to do it.”

While this season may mark Edwards’ worst on the defensive end since his rookie campaign, Thursday was another reminder of how high his ceiling is on that end of the floor.

The superstar said there 100% are nights where he decides to take over the game defensively, adding that’s something he wants to do more frequently, while noting “it’s always tough.” Because it does require high levels of energy, which aren’t easy to muster when you’re also your team’s primary offensive producer. But perhaps that end is where energy can be saved.

All eight rotation players scored seven-plus points Thursday. The Wolves have enough collective firepower to fuel the ship without Edwards having to go full inferno mode.

“I think I just gotta lean on my teammates a little bit more on offense and like just trust in them a little bit more,” he said. “And then just give more on the defensive end.”

Edwards tallied two steals and a block Thursday, while Thunder players he was guarding went 1 for 7 from the field.

“As long as he’s doing that,” Jaden McDaniels said, “we’re going to be good defensively.”

Which is Minnesota’s true motor. The Wolves parlayed 15 Thunder turnovers into 30 points the other way. Stops spark transition. Transition lends itself to equal opportunity offense, organically creating scoring chances for the likes of McDaniels, Naz Reid and Donte DiVincenzo.

“It just makes the flow easier. It don’t matter who’s going in transition,” McDaniels said. “We’ll just make the right play. I might have it in transition and I might pass back to Naz and it might be a pass-pass for 3 or just take it yourself. Just being confident and just making the right play.”

Suddenly, everyone around Edwards is catching a rhythm and competing with confidence. When that’s the case, the Wolves are a tough pack with which to run. Even down three rotational pieces Thursday, Oklahoma City is still the NBA’s best defensive team. Yet Minnesota shot 51% from the floor and 47% from distance.

“I think we played a very connected game,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “I thought we found the right guy open offensively a lot. I thought we started the game with a lot of really good structure, execute our sets and concepts well. And then when we went to iso for the most part, I thought we were good and finding a kick out and just finding Rudy and those types of things.”

Everybody ate. No heavy lifting was required from any individual, which freed up reserves to expend on the other end and, in turn, elevated Minnesota to the peak of its powers.

Thunder players outside of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had trouble merely dribbling the ball, let alone serving as any type of legitimate scoring threat on a night.

“That’s our defense at its best form,” Finch said. “Really good physicality on the ball, set the tone there. Did a good job at one point with our coverages and execution of those things. It’s certainly like what we’re capable of. And we got to bring that out more, not just wait for the best team in the league to come to town, so that’s a challenge.”

One, specifically, for the team’s best player to take on. For the Timberwolves to be a true championship contender, Edwards does indeed have to dominate every night – it’s just not on the end of the floor everyone suspects.

“We got to be ready to play like we playing the Thunder every night … I think I take a lot of the teams that we play that’s like, not that good, for granted. So it starts with me, for sure,” Edwards said. “I just got to (defend like) that on a night in, night out basis. Like I always say, it’s tough, because I know it’s a lot. But I got to be willing to do it every night.”

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