Rubio Says Gaza War Is Still Live. The Hostage File Will Prove It.
Marco Rubio is putting a flare in the sky. The shooting has not stopped, and neither has the dealmaking. In back-to-back hits on NBC’s Meet the Press and Fox News, he argued the war in Gaza remains active, the talks are fragile, and the next few days will show whether this is a path to de-escalation or another false summit.
His bottom line is simple. First priority is the hostages. Hamas has basically signaled acceptance of the United States plan in broad strokes, a framework that pairs steps on captives with reciprocal moves. That sounds clean on television. It is not. The mechanics are ugly. Who moves first? Who verifies. Who guarantees? Which lists are real? Rubio’s point lands. We will know quickly if Hamas is serious once the technical teams start grinding through names, routes, and timelines.
He also throws cold water on any claim that Gaza governance can be rebuilt overnight. You cannot rip out Hamas, stand up a new authority, and expect security forces, services, and border controls to appear by midweek. That takes time, patience, and the kind of planning that survives first contact with spoilers. It is like refueling a helicopter midair with crosswinds kicking; the right crew can thread the line, but one slip sends the whole bird spinning.
Meanwhile, the daily reality is still combat. Israeli strikes continue inside Gaza. Palestinian and Israeli civilians continue to pay the price. Humanitarian agencies, including the United Nations, keep pushing casualty and displacement figures that tell their own story. Any progress at the table has to live alongside that fact pattern.
Rubio’s message to Washington is as much a warning as an update. The United States will watch for signs that Hamas is using talks as a tactic rather than a decision. If promises on hostages slip, if delivery gets gamed, the mask comes off. If the exchanges start to move on schedule, then you have something you can build on.
Hope is a tool, not a plan. Right now, the plan is to test the framework, move the hostages, and keep pressure on the battlefield and at the table. If those cogs catch, the wheels can turn toward a real ceasefire and a sustainable way to govern Gaza without Hamas. If they grind, we are still in the fight.
Gunfire in the Crowd: Two Dead, 12 Hurt in Downtown Montgomery
Two people are dead and a dozen more are wounded after rival groups opened up on each other in the heart of Montgomery on Saturday night. It happened around 11:30 p.m., near Bibb and Commerce, a block that draws tourists and locals for bars, restaurants, and riverfront nightlife. The Alabama State Capitol sits less than a mile away. None of that forced restraint. Bullets flew through a crowd with reckless abandon.
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Montgomery Police Chief James Graboys laid it out plainly. Two groups met, tempers flared, and both sides chose to shoot in the middle of a packed street. An adult man and woman were killed. Two juveniles were hit. One of those young victims is in critical condition. Three adults are also fighting for their lives. Nine others have less severe wounds. On any map, that reads as a mass casualty event. On the ground, it looks like blood on the pavement and medics working under flashing red lights.
The timing could not have been worse. The city was stacked with people for Alabama State University’s homecoming game, the Alabama National Fair at Garrett Coliseum, and a nearby college football rivalry matchup. Think of a tinderbox. Then add rival crews who do not care who stands between them. Strike a spark.
Officers moved fast once the calls rolled in. They found chaos and started triage while securing the scene. Detectives are now pulling video, knocking on doors, and lining up statements. State and federal partners are in the mix. Someone out there knows who squeezed triggers. Police say even small details might break this open. A car color. A nickname. A direction of flight. It all matters.
There are no arrests yet. No clear motives either. What we do know is intent.
You do not spray rounds into a crowd by accident. That is contempt for life. It puts families in hospital corridors and crime scene tape across a city’s front porch.
We talk a lot about public safety in theory. Saturday night showed the reality in about ten seconds. A busy entertainment district can turn into a casualty collection point before the music stops. If you were there and saw anything, do the hard thing and call it in. The victims deserve names and faces on warrants. The city deserves a night out that ends with last call, not a call to next of kin.
MASS SHOOTING last night in Montgomery Alabama. Rival gangs shoot at each other downtown.
14 Shot. 2 Dead. CRAZINESS.
The shooting occurred shortly after a football game between Tuskegee University and Morehouse College. pic.twitter.com/RiuqzCIsek
— JLR© (@JLRINVESTIGATES) October 5, 2025
Shots, Sirens, and a Boxed-In Convoy: Border Clash Erupts in Chicago’s Brighton Park
Chicago’s Southwest Side turned into a brawl with badges on Saturday night when a protest convoy hemmed in federal vehicles near 39th and Kedzie, and a Border Patrol agent opened fire, striking a woman later identified by prosecutors as Marimar Martinez. She drove herself to a hospital, was treated, and is now in federal custody. Another driver, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, was also arrested. Both face charges of forcibly assaulting, impeding, and interfering with federal officers, according to the U.S. Attorney in Chicago.
Federal filings and local reporting say the confrontation started when multiple cars rammed and boxed in a Border Patrol vehicle carrying three agents during immigration operations tied to recent DHS surges in the city. Prosecutors released images of the damage and allege the ramming triggered the gunfire that followed.
DHS officials say Martinez was armed with a semi-automatic weapon and had been flagged a week earlier in a CBP intelligence note for allegedly doxxing agents online. The department’s version is blunt: boxed-in agents, a threat at close range, five shots in self-defense. Those details are already fueling the legal fight to come.
The backdrop is a city running hot. Federal immigration operations—branded “Operation Midway Blitz”—have escalated through September and into October, with public detentions downtown and protests rippling across neighborhoods. Saturday’s clash stretched into hours of tense standoffs and more arrests as lines of agents pushed crowds back from the scene.
Washington weighed in fast. President Trump authorized the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago after days of warnings, a move Illinois Governor JB Pritzker blasted as “un-American.” The political trench line is clear: the White House is selling order through force; Springfield and City Hall call it gasoline on a grease fire.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has been a frequent presence around Chicago’s enforcement surge, signaled DHS is here for the long haul and has discussed expanding the federal footprint in the suburbs. Expect more agents, more operations, and more scenes like Saturday unless something breaks the cycle.
Here is the brass-tacks read. Border operations moved from alleyway arrests to rolling contact with a hostile convoy. Metal met metal, then metal met flesh. The courtroom will sort out what was lawful. The street already delivered the cost. If you have video or clear IDs from 39th and Kedzie, now is the moment to hand them over—to defense if it helps, to investigators if it convicts—because the truth lives on tape as much as in testimony.
NEW: Chicago Police Officers were DIRECTED by their Chief of Patrol not to assist CBP officers who were being confronted by a large group of anti-ICE protesters after their vehicle was rammed and boxed in, according to Fox News’ @BillMelugin_ .
A female driver who allegedly… pic.twitter.com/yQKX3p5yLs
— RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) October 5, 2025