Washington DC, Jan 30: US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order launching a nationwide effort to address drug addiction, announcing a government-wide programme to strengthen recovery, treatment, and prevention measures across the country.

Speaking from the Oval Office alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump said the initiative would bring together efforts across federal, state and local governments as well as the private sector.

“The Great American Recovery Initiative will bring together federal, state, local and private sector resources to support addiction recovery, treatment and prevention, and it will help mobilize the full resources and authority of the federal government to help stop this tremendous plague,” the president said.

According to a White House fact sheet, the order establishes a “White House Great American Recovery Initiative,” which will advise federal agencies on directing grants to support addiction recovery and increasing awareness around drug dependence, while guiding departments on integrating programmes focused on prevention, early intervention, treatment, recovery support and re-entry.

The initiative will be co-chaired by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kathryn Burgum, the spouse of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. A White House official said Kathryn Burgum, who has spoken publicly about her own recovery journey, was expected to attend Trump’s announcement of the programme.

The move comes amid continued concern over overdose deaths in the US. CNN reported that fatalities surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven largely by fentanyl, although Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show deaths have declined since 2022 and recently returned to pre-pandemic levels. Despite the drop, more than 70,000 people in the US died from overdoses in the past year.

CNN also cited survey data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration showing that in 2024, around 17 per cent of Americans aged 12 and older — more than 48 million people — were living with a substance use disorder, a proportion that has remained relatively steady in recent years.

Federal funding for addiction recovery is overseen by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and earlier this month, the Trump administration reversed plans to cut approximately USD 2 billion from mental health and addiction treatment programmes administered by the agency.

Government figures cited by the White House showed that in 2024, more than 74 per cent of adults who believed they had problems with drugs or alcohol considered themselves to be in recovery or recovered. The data also indicated that among 40.7 million adults with a substance use disorder who did not receive treatment, 95.6 per cent did not recognise they needed help.

The administration said the initiative forms part of broader efforts to coordinate resources nationwide and strengthen public health responses, alongside a wider White House campaign targeting alleged drug trafficking networks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

Deir al-Balah, Jan 29: Israel turned over the bodies of 15 Palestinians on Thursday, just days after recovering the remains of the last Israeli hostage, a Gaza Health Ministry official said.

This marks the last hostage-detainee exchange between Israel and Hamas carried out as part of the first phase of the US-brokered ceasefire reached in October.

The Red Cross said it helped facilitate the return of the bodies. They were taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, said Zaher al-Wahidi, a spokesperson at the health ministry.

The return of all remaining hostages, living or dead, had been a key part of the first phase in the ceasefire that paused the war.

Israel agreed to return 15 Palestinian bodies for each hostage recovered, according to the ceasefire terms. It’s unclear if the bodies released Thursday were of Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli custody or bodies taken from Gaza by Israeli troops during the war.

Israel has released roughly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners under the ceasefire deal, many who were seized by Israeli troops during the two-year war and held without charge. It also has released the bodies of 360 Palestinians back to Gaza, where officials have struggled to identify them.

The Gaza health ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, has posted photos of the deceased for families to identify. Of the bodies handed back by Israel, about 100 have been identified by families, al-Wahidi said.

On Monday, Israel announced that it found and identified the remains of the last Israeli hostage, police officer Ran Gvili, following an extensive search at a cemetery in northern Gaza.

The October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that launched the war killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Gvili, a 24-year-old police officer known affectionately as “Rani,” was killed while fighting Hamas militants.

The return of his body closed a painful chapter for the country and cleared the way for the next and more challenging phase of the ceasefire, which calls for deploying an international security force, disarming Hamas, pulling back Israeli soldiers and rebuilding Gaza.

Deaths from strikes in Gaza nears 500 since the ceasefire began

While US envoy Steve Witkoff announced the launch of the second phase of the ceasefire deal earlier this month, Israeli fire and strikes continue to kill Palestinians across Gaza almost daily.

Israeli fire killed two Palestinians on Thursday in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis area, according to Nasser hospital, where the bodies were taken. Health officials said that the two men were killed in areas that are not Israeli-controlled.

Another Israeli strike in central Gaza killed one Palestinian and wounded others, according to Al-Aqsa martyrs hospital, where the casualties were taken.

The Gaza Health Ministry said some 492 Palestinians have been killed since the ceasefire. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

The Israeli military has said that some of those killed in recent months were along the ceasefire line that splits Israeli-held areas and most of Gaza’s Palestinian population, and that it has targeted those posing a threat to its troops.

Border crossing between Gaza and Egypt could open soon

For Palestinians separated from their families by the war and the tens of thousands of people outside Gaza seeking to return home, the opening of the Rafah crossing along the border with Egypt can’t come soon enough.

The crossing is expected to open soon, Israeli officials have said, but how many people will be allowed to enter and leave Gaza remains unclear.

Preparations are underway to allow the departure of a limited number of medical evacuees who were wounded in the war and need to travel abroad for medical care.

But Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the crossing will not be open to goods for now. The crossing, Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world, has been largely closed since May 2024.