PEACE BE UPON YOU: Gaza refugees began the March north yesterday under the umbrella of a ceasefire to return to what is left of their civilization. As much as 80 or 90 percent of the housing in Gaza has been reduced to rubble and 67,000 people are dead. Bodies are still being found in the wreckage.

  Not just by bombing, Israel levelled Gaza with engineered explosions that took down high rise buildings that were homes to thousands of people.

  Still, Gazans are thrilled to be out from under Israeli bombardment. “I’ve never seen happier people than many of these places, not just Israel, many of these places, they’re all dancing in the streets,” President Trump said at a White House yesterday. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Twenty remaining hostages held by Hamas militants are expected to be released as soon as Monday.

CHINA SYNDROME: While Gaza, Israel, and the world were celebrating a cease fire reached with his peace plan, President Trump chose yesterday to steal attention from his own success with a renewed trade war. Stocks took a nose dive after Trump threatened a 100 percent tariff on goods from Chima in response to China’s announcement of controls over the export of rare earth metals.

  In a Truth Social post Trump called China’s move “an extraordinarily aggressive position on Trade in sending an extremely hostile letter to the World.” He said in another post that, “essentially, it would ‘clog’ the Markets, and make life difficult for virtually every Country in the World.”

  Rare earths, which are abundant in China, are vital to new technologies, the magnets and batteries that will power the future. They are particularly vital to the defense industries. Tech stocks were particularly hard hit, with AI chip maker Nvidia down almost 5 percent. 

YOU’RE FIRED: The Trump administration yesterday began firing federal employees in some kind of retaliation for the government shutdown forced by Senate Democrats.

  Federal health and homeland security workers have received layoff notices. In a court filing late Friday, government lawyers said that an estimated 4,200 employees across at least seven agencies began receiving reduction in force, RIF notices 

   It’s a novel move firing people because Congress is in political deadlock. With the administration already hacking away at employment, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine said, “In some ways, it’s kind of not a credible threat, because you’ll do it anyway, whatever happens.”

  With no action in Congress the shutdown will continue into next week. The Democrats are sticking to their guns over demands that healthcare subsidies be extended before insurance doubles or triples for millions of Americans. Sen. Mark Warner, also of Virginia, said, “Republicans are intentionally holding federal workers hostage to force through their agenda driving up health care costs for millions.”

THE ICE AGE: In a rare admission from within the Trump administration, the Labor Department warned in a document filed with the Federal Register that “the near total cessation of the inflow of illegal aliens” is threatening “the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers.”

  “Unless the Department acts immediately to provide a source of stable and lawful labor, this threat will grow,” the document says and that, “The Department concludes that qualified and eligible U.S. workers will not make themselves available in sufficient numbers.”

  The Trump administration has deported about 150,000 people already this year, many of them agricultural workers. Ut is well established that natural born Americans will not pick berries.

THE EYE WEB: Instantly becoming the Elon Musk of television news, the new editor in chief at CBS sent out a memo ordering all employees to tell her what they do.

  “By the end of the day Tuesday, I’d like a memo from each person across our news organization,” wrote Bari Weiss. “I want to understand how you spend your working hours and, ideally, what you’ve made (or are making) that you’re most proud of.”

  Weiss has instantly proved that she knows nothing about television news … or being the manager of journalists.

HOOP DREAMS: The Las Vegas Aces swept the Phoenix Mercury in four games to win the team’s third WNBA championship in four years. The Aces’ A’ja Wilson topped the league with 322 points for the season. “You have your Mount Rushmore, she’s alone on Everest,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “There’s no one around.”

THE SPIN RACK: National Guard troops have begun patrolling in Memphis. The Trump administration has described Memphis as “suffering from tremendous levels of violent crime that have overwhelmed its local government’s ability to respond effectively.” — Rain, floods, and landslides have killed as many as 27 people in Mexico, mostly north and east of Mexico City. —Actor  David Del Rio of the CBS legal drama “Matlock” was escorted off the set and written out of the series after being accused of sexually assaulting co-star Leah Lewis.

BELOW THE FOLD: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed this week that there may be a link between baby boys being circumcised and autism — because the infants are given the painkiller Tylenol following the procedure.

“There’s two studies which show children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, it’s highly likely, because they were given Tylenol,” Kennedy told President Trump during a cabinet meeting.

  Kennedy didn’t specify the research he was referring to. We don’t know whether Bobby Jr was circumcised and given Tylenol, but it sounds possible.

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