First Thing: Political leader of Hamas killed by Israeli airstrike in Iran, group says

Assassination fuels fears of widening regional war. Plus, Simone Biles leads USA to gold

Good morning.

Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was killed by an airstrike in Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the group said, just hours after Israel claimed it had killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

Hamas blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s death, which one official described as a “grave escalation”. It said he was targeted at “his residence in Tehran, after participating in the inauguration ceremony of the new Iranian president”.

The dual assassinations are heavy blows to Hamas and Hezbollah, but also raise the stakes for Iran, which backs both groups. They will fuel growing fears that the war in Gaza could escalate into a broader regional conflict.

• What has Israel said? The Israeli military declined to comment on Haniyeh’s death. Israel vowed to kill all Hamas leaders after the 7 October attacks and its intelligence services have a history of covert attacks inside Iran, mostly targeting scientists from the Iranian nuclear programme.

• How has Hamas reacted? Haniyeh’s killing was “a grave escalation that will not achieve its goals”, a Hamas official told Reuters. US officials have for months been leading a global diplomatic effort to prevent the war in Gaza escalating into a broader and even more dangerous regional conflict.

JD Vance writes glowing foreword to Project 2025 leader’s upcoming book

JD Vance endorses the ideas of Kevin Roberts, leader of Project 2025, as a “fundamentally Christian view of culture and economics” and a “surprising – even jarring” path forward for conservatives, the Republican vice-presidential nominee writes in the foreword of Roberts’ upcoming book.

The foreword was obtained and published in full by the New Republic on Tuesday. Roberts’ book is out in September. Its title was watered down recently to remove references to “burning down” Washington.

The Trump campaign has tried to distance the former president from Project 2025, a conservative roadmap for a second Trump term that includes policy ideas unpopular with the voters Trump needs to win. On Tuesday it was announced that Paul Dans, the leader of Project 2025, is stepping down from his role amid a power struggle over potential government staffing if Trump wins in November.

But Vance’s ties to Roberts, like the foreword, make it harder for Trump to make the case he doesn’t know what the project is.

• Here are the aspects Vance praised: On two subjects in particular, Vance praises the way Roberts lays out the stakes and his goals: reining in large tech companies and focusing on a Christian view of the family.

• How are things going with the Kamala Harris campaign? A Zoom call meant to rally “white dudes” in support of Kamala Harris’s run for the White House raised more than $4m from about 190,000 participants, including several Hollywood stars, in the latest success for her nascent bid for president.

Kyiv hit by heavy attack from Russian drones

Russia launched waves of drones on Kyiv in what the capital’s military administration said was one of the largest attacks of its kind targeting Ukraine.

Kyiv and most of central and eastern Ukraine were under air raid alert from Tuesday night. Air defence systems around Kyiv opened fire, said Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration. “According to the operational report at this moment, there are no casualties or damage in Kyiv.”

The Ukrainian military said on Wednesday morning that more than 30 Russian drones were destroyed.

• What’s the situation on the frontlines? Russia’s defence ministry said on Tuesday its forces had captured the settlement of Pivdenne in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian military bloggers said areas around Toretsk were gripped by heavy fighting with Russian soldiers trying to infiltrate in small groups.

In other news …

• Far-right rioters attacked police and a mosque in Southport, UK after a stabbing attack killed three children, as misinformation spread online falsely suggesting the attacker was Muslim. The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, condemned “thuggery” and said rioters would “feel the full force of the law”.

• Kari Lake, the far-right firebrand and favorite of Donald Trump, won Arizona’s Republican Senate primary.

• As protests over Venezuela’s disputed presidential election spread across the country, opposition supporters have focused their fury on president Nicolás Maduro’s political mentor, Hugo Chávez.

Stat of the day: At least 973 Native American children died in government boarding schools, inquiry finds

At least 973 Native American children died in the US government’s abusive boarding school system, an official investigation found. “The federal government took deliberate and strategic action through boarding school policies to isolate children from their families, deny them their identities, and steal from them the languages, cultures and connections that are foundational to Native people,” said the interior secretary, Deb Haaland.

Don’t miss this: Simone Biles leads USA to women’s gymnastics team gold at Paris Olympics

Simone Biles has won her fifth Olympic gold medal after anchoring the United States to a commanding win in the women’s gymnastics team final on Tuesday in Paris. Performing to a soundtrack opening with Taylor Swift’s Ready for It?, Biles scored 14.666, and the crowd erupted in applause. “I think we all had something to prove from Tokyo,” Biles said. “And tonight we did just that.”

Climate check: Violent floods in Vermont destroy homes as two dozen rescued by boat

Vermont was hit with violent floods on Tuesday, caving in roads, crushing vehicles and pushing homes off their foundations after thunderstorms and torrential rain. The floods, nearly three weeks after flooding from Hurricane Beryl, led to dramatic boat rescues.

Last Thing: Intruder alert! Curious foxes break into the Melbourne metro tunnel

Two four-legged intruders visited the Melbourne metro tunnel this month. They were detected by the intruder detection system, and a “quick toot” from one of the test trains ensured that the foxes made it out safely from the tunnel.

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