Happy Tuesday! Orthodox Christians observed Easter over the weekend, and two churches in Vrontados, Greece, win the prize for Least Chill celebration: For more than a century, they’ve marked Jesus’ resurrection by launching homemade fireworks at each other during the service, with the goal of hitting the opposing church’s bell tower. 

Maybe there’s a lesson in there somewhere? Let us know if you find it. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories 

• Israel on Monday began evacuating some 100,000 civilians from parts of Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, in what could be the beginning of the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) ground invasion of the city. Early this morning, the IDF reportedly seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, which links Egypt with Gaza, as part of what Israeli officials are describing as a “very limited” operation aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Hamas. Further reports say the IDF launched targeted airstrikes against Hamas in the eastern region of the city. As the operation seemed imminent, Hamas announced yesterday they had approved a ceasefire agreement proposed by Egypt and Qatar that included terms to which Israel had previously objected. The Israeli War Cabinet met Monday night and decided the Rafah operation would go forward, but Israel would send a delegation to continue ceasefire talks today.
• Russian authorities detained a U.S. soldier last Thursday on charges of alleged theft, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Monday. The soldier, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, was stationed in South Korea and traveled on personal business to Russia, where he was accused of stealing from a woman in the east coast city of Vladivostok, Russia, according to U.S. officials. Black’s mother said he was in Russia to visit his girlfriend. 
• Jeffrey McConney—a former corporate controller at the Trump Organization—testified as a witness in former President Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial Monday. McConney told the court that nine of the 11 checks paid to lawyer Michael Cohen for the alleged hush-money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels came from Trump’s personal account. Meanwhile, the judge overseeing the trial held Trump in contempt of court for the second time after the former president again broke a gag order and publicly attacked the jury. Judge Juan Merchan told Trump on Monday that if he continued to violate the order he could be put in jail. “As much as I do not want to impose a jail sanction,” Merchan said, “I want you to understand that I will, if necessary and appropriate.”
• The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Monday announced an investigation into whether Boeing’s production of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft was given proper inspection. According to the FAA, Boeing voluntarily told the agency last month that inspections for the aircraft—specifically of the bondings between the plane’s main body and its wings—may not have been fully completed. “The FAA is investigating whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records,” the agency said in a statement.

Hostage Deal Deflection

As people around the world burned yellow candles for Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, more than 130 people, most of them Israeli Jews, remained unaccounted for in captivity in Gaza.

Hamas terrorists abducted them—and more than 100 others—on October 7. That attack, which also saw Hamas kill some 1,200 people, marked the deadliest day for Jews since the Nazi genocide eight decades ago.