Welcome to a new week. Let’s get you caught up. 

Heading into the weekend, Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy clashed at an Oval Office meeting. Howard LaFranchi looks at an underlying big-power pivot. Then, pledges of defense funding for Ukraine and offers of ceasefire help came from Europe. In the U.S., a controversial former New York governor announced a New York City mayoral run. As always, find our latest at CSMonitor.com. 

We lead off today with a report by Dina Kraft from a kibbutz in Israel near the border with Gaza. It was her second visit. Her first was for a 2018 story on people there who were peace activists working to build ties with people in Gaza. This time was different. 

“Driving up to the gates of Kibbutz Be’eri was jarring,” Dina says. “Now I was returning to interview those who had returned to rebuild” after the Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack by Hamas that ravaged it, killing, among others, Tami Suchman, “one of the most vocal voices for peace” there, Dina says.

“Despite the hope and focus on rebuilding, emotions are frayed in Israel,” Dina says, as hostages, and hostages’ bodies, are returned. “The ceasefire deal that would see the return of the rest of the hostages may be on the verge of collapse,” she says, “and Israelis are bracing themselves for a possible return to war.”