In the Gaza Strip, at least eight Palestinians were killed Monday as Israeli forces blew up a tunnel connecting the besieged Palestinian territory to a kibbutz in southern Israel. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said most of the dead were members of the al-Quds Brigades militant group. The attack drew a threat of retaliation by the Islamic Jihad Movement and was condemned by Hamas, which called it a “new war” against the people of Gaza. The tunnel attack came just days before Hamas is due to relinquish power to the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority as part of an agreement aimed at ending a decade-old split between Hamas and its political rival Fatah. Meanwhile, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner has returned from a secret trip to the Middle East. Kushner met privately in Saudi Arabia with members of the royal family in what the White House says was a trip aimed at brokering a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.