AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

The attack angered Qatar, an energy-rich Gulf nation hosting thousands of American troops that has served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas throughout the 23-month-old war and even before. It condemned what it referred to as a “flagrant violation of all international laws and norms" as smoke rose over its capital, Doha. Other key U.S. allies in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, promised their support to Qatar.

Hamas said in a statement its top leaders survived the strike but that five lower-level members were killed, including the son of Khalil al-Hayya — Hamas’ leader for Gaza and its top negotiator — three bodyguards, and the head of al-Hayya’s office. Hamas, which has sometimes only confirmed the assassination of its leaders months later, offered no immediate proof that al-Hayya and other senior figures had survived.

The United States said Israel alerted it before the strike. But American officials sought to distance the U.S. from the attack. The White House said President Donald Trump believes the strike was an “unfortunate incident” that didn’t advance peace in the region. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “made his thoughts and concerns very clear.”

She also told reporters that Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff passed along a warning to the Qataris. But Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari derided the warning, saying in a post on X that it came just as “the explosions from the Israeli strikes were being heard.”

What to know about the Israeli strike aimed at Hamas leaders in Qatar

An Israeli strike that targeted top Hamas leaders Tuesday as they gathered in the Gulf nation of Qatar marked a major escalation against the militant group and could upend negotiations aimed at ending the war in Gaza and returning Israeli hostages.

It could also spark a diplomatic crisis with Qatar, a U.S. ally hosting thousands of American troops that has served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas for several years, even before the latest war.

Hamas said its top leaders survived, while acknowledging the deaths of two lower-ranking members and three bodyguards. The militant group, which has sometimes only confirmed the killing of its leaders months later, offered no immediate proof that senior figures were still alive.

Qatar said a member of its internal security forces was killed and others were wounded.

The strike came as Hamas leaders based in the Qatari capital, Doha, were weighing a new ceasefire proposal from the Trump administration. The White House said Israel had informed the U.S. before the strike and that it had in turn warned the Qataris.

Israeli military urges full evacuation of Gaza City ahead of expanded military operation

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel's military told Gaza City residents on Tuesday to evacuate ahead of its planned offensive to take control of what it portrays as Hamas’ last remaining stronghold and where hundreds of thousands of people remain struggling under conditions of famine.

The warning came hours before Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas’ leaders in Qatar, intensifying its campaign against the militant group and endangering negotiations over ending the war in Gaza.

The alerts directed at Gaza City were the first calling for a full evacuation. Until now, the military has only told specific sections of the northern city to evacuate ahead of operations or strikes.

Associated Press reporters saw lines of cars and trucks leaving Tuesday, more than previous days. Children and adults sat atop mounds of blankets, pillows, chairs, and clothing piled high on trucks and wagons.

In the wake of escalating hostilities and calls to evacuate Gaza City, the number of people leaving nearly doubled the daily average in recent weeks, a coalition of humanitarian groups monitoring the situation said Tuesday.

Missouri Republicans advance Trump-backed plan to redraw US House districts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri's Republican-led House turned aside Democratic objections Tuesday and passed a plan backed by President Donald Trump to redraw the state's congressional districts so that Republicans could win an additional seat in the closely divided chamber.

The rare mid-decade redistricting plan, which now heads to the state Senate, is aimed at bolstering Republicans' national prospects in next year’s U.S. House elections, where Democrats need to gain just three seats to take control. By reshaping a Democratic-held Kansas City district, Republicans could win seven of Missouri's eight congressional seats.

Missouri's effort comes after a similar move by Republican-led Texas and a counter-offensive in Democratic-led California, which still needs voter approval. Other states, including Republican-led Indiana and Florida and Democratic-led Maryland and New York, could follow with their own revisions in what's emerging as a national redistricting battle.

U.S. House districts were redrawn across the country after the 2020 census to account for population changes. The current redistricting push is being done for partisan advantage, a process known as gerrymandering.

“This is cheating,” said state Rep. Yolonda Fountain Henderson, one of many Democrats who denounced the measure. "It’s like when President Trump says, we jump.”

Man faces federal charge in killing of Ukrainian woman on Charlotte train

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday charged a man accused of fatally stabbing a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train last month with a federal crime that could carry the death penalty.

The federal charge comes amid growing questions about why Decarlos Brown Jr. was on the street despite 14 prior criminal arrests before he was accused of pulling out a knife and killing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in an apparently random attack captured on video.

The case has become latest flashpoint in the debate over whether cities such as Charlotte are adequately addressing violent crime, mental illness and transit safety. The Trump administration says the killing shows how local leaders, judges and policies in Democratic-led cities are failing to protect their residents from violent crime.

“Iryna Zarutska was a young woman living the American dream — her horrific murder is a direct result of failed soft-on-crime policies that put criminals before innocent people,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence — he will never again see the light of day as a free man."

Zarutska had been living in a bomb shelter in Ukraine before coming to to the U.S. to escape the war, according to relatives, who described her as determined to build a safer life.

Plans in the works for Korean workers detained in raid to go home while fear lingers for residents

POOLER, Ga. (AP) — After more than 300 South Korean workers were taken into custody during a raid on an electric battery plant in Georgia, the country's foreign minister traveled to the U.S. this week in hopes of bringing them home.

Law enforcement agents detained some 475 workers during the raid Thursday at the battery factory under construction on the campus of Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant west of Savannah.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Seoul and Washington were discussing details for the workers' return. Late Tuesday, the State Department announced that Secretary Marco Rubio will meet with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun at the White House on Wednesday morning.

Here are some things to know about the raid and its aftermath.

Korean Air says a Boeing 747-8i will fly from South Korea to Atlanta as early as Wednesday to bring the workers home. Asked about the flight and about the foreign minister's visit to the U.S., the Korean embassy said it is staying in close contact with U.S. authorities and that its priority is “the safety of our citizens.”

Princeton doctoral student kidnapped in Iraq has been freed. 'We both started sobbing,' sister says

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Princeton University graduate student who was kidnapped in Iraq in 2023 while doing research there has been freed and turned over to U.S. authorities, her family and officials said Tuesday.

Elizabeth Tsurkov, who holds Israeli and Russian citizenship, spent more than 900 days in custody after disappearing in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, as she was pursuing a doctorate focused on sectarianism in the region.

She was turned over to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad after having been “tortured for many months,” President Donald Trump said in a social media post in which he identified her captors as from Kataib Hezbollah , part of a coalition of Iranian-backed militias that are officially part of Iraq’s armed forces but in practice often act on their own. The U.S. government listed the group, which has not claimed the kidnapping, as a terrorist organization in 2009.

Tsurkov's sister, Emma, a U.S. citizen who has campaigned for her release, said she was in Washington for meetings this week when she heard the news from Adam Boehler, the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

The sisters were able to connect by phone and expect to be reunited in the next 24 hours, though the details were still being worked out, Emma Tsurkov said.

Supreme Court to quickly consider if President Donald Trump has power to impose sweeping tariffs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court granted an unusually quick hearing on President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on Tuesday, putting a policy at the center of his economic agenda squarely before the nation's highest court.

The justices will hear the case in November, a lightning-fast timetable by the Supreme Court's typical standards, and rule at some point after that. The tariffs will stay in place in the meantime.

The court agreed to take up an appeal from the Trump administration after lower courts found most of his tariffs illegal.

The small businesses and states that challenged them also agreed to the accelerated timetable. They say Trump's import taxes on goods from almost every country in the world have nearly driven their businesses to bankruptcy. “Congress, not the President alone, has the power to impose tariffs,” attorney Jeffrey Schwab with the Liberty Justice Center said.

Two lower courts have agreed that Trump didn't have the power to impose all the tariffs under an emergency powers law, though a divided appeals court left them in place.

RFK Jr.'s latest 'Make America Healthy Again' report calls for more scrutiny of vaccines and autism

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration directed the nation's public health and environmental agencies to prioritize investigations into vaccine injuries, prescription drug use and autism's causes in its latest “Make America Healthy Again” report released Tuesday.

The 20-page report, overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., echoes many of the talking points Kennedy and those in his wide-ranging and politically diverse “MAHA” movement have united around. The document promises to put an end to childhood diseases and to make children healthier, but does not lay out regulatory changes to ensure an overhaul of Americans' health.

Among the report's recommendations is a call for more rigorous government investigations into vaccine injuries, a move that could stir more uproar as lawmakers raise alarm over how the health secretary's anti-vaccine policies have thrown the nation's public health agency into weeks of tumult.

Kennedy promised to “recast the entire program” for investigating vaccine injuries as he joined administration officials to unveil the MAHA report. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigates injuries that are reported by individuals or providers.

“They will be welcomed and we will learn everything we can about them so we can improve the safety of these products,” Kennedy said of people who report vaccine injuries. He added that doctors are not currently compensated for filing complaints for vaccine injuries.

Apple has unveiled its iPhone 17 lineup, including the first iPhone Air. Here's what's new

NEW YORK (AP) — Apple's iPhone 17 lineup is here. The tech giant on Tuesday unveiled four new models that mark the latest editions to its marquee product.

That includes the introduction of the iPhone Air, which Apple says is its thinnest smartphone yet. And, as seen in years past, its newest phones boast better cameras, longer lasting batteries and a handful of other upgrades across the board. The latest devices come with a new a A19 chip, which will particularly help power Apple’s artificial intelligence features.

Tuesday's lineup mark the first phones Apple has released since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and unleased a barrage of tariffs impacting goods that businesses sell and consumers buy every day. Some analysts speculated that California-based Apple may raise iPhone prices leading up to Tuesday's announcement. But for the most part, Apple is sticking with the same price tags it's slapped on its newest iPhones over recent years, just weeks after Google also held steady on prices for its new Pixel smartphones.

Here's what to know about the iPhone 17, which officially hits stores Sept. 19 — and other gadget updates.

Apple's going price for the iPhone 17 begins at about $800 — compared to $1,100 and $1,200 for its iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max models. The iPhone Air will start at $1,000.