News Wrap: Supreme Court will hear transgender athlete cases in its next term

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• William Brangham:

  The day's other headlines start at the Supreme Court.

  The justices will hear two cases next term on whether states may exclude transgender athletes from women's and girls' sports. The cases, one in Idaho and one in West Virginia, involve lower court rulings that sided in favor of transgender athletes at both the K-12 and college levels. This comes just two weeks after the High Court upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

  And just this week, the University of Pennsylvania resolved a federal civil rights case by agreeing to limit transgender participation in sports.

  Kilmar Abrego Garcia says he endured severe beatings and other forms of torture while being held at a notorious prison in El Salvador. It's his first account of his time there after the Trump administration mistakenly deported him back in March. In a new court filing, Abrego Garcia described being stripped naked, head shaved, beaten, and forced to kneel for nine hours straight overnight.

  He says he lost more than 30 pounds in two weeks. Abrego Garcia is currently being held at a Tennessee jail as he awaits trial on human smuggling charges.

  Health officials in Gaza say Israeli gunfire and airstrikes killed nearly 100 Palestinians across the Strip overnight and into today; 45 of those deaths were Gazans attempting to get food from aid distribution sites. Israel maintains that it targets only Hamas militants or fires warning shots to keep crowds at bay. Strikes across the Strip also hit displaced Palestinians who were sheltering and sleeping intense.

  In Southern Gaza, at least 13 members of a single family were killed. Another strike left 15 dead at a school in Northern Gaza City.

• Nidal Hjaylah, Displaced Gaza Resident (through interpreter):

  We woke up to the sounds of explosions. We found fire spreading all over the roof. It was a huge fire. When we started to put it out, we found charred bodies of children and women.

• William Brangham:

  These dozens of deaths come as Israel and Hamas may be inching closer to a possible cease-fire. Hamas is seeking guarantees that any proposal would eventually lead to the war's end. But, today, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, reiterated that Hamas has no future in Gaza.

  In Europe, a record-breaking heat wave is moving east, bringing some much-needed relief to Spain and France, but sizzling other parts of the continent, like the Balkans. In North Macedonia, residents leaped into rivers in order to stay cool amid triple-digit temperatures.

  But, elsewhere, the heat, along with a severe drought, has allowed wildfires to rage in Greece, Germany and Turkey. The blazes have killed at least one person and forced thousands to evacuate.

  There is good economic news heading into the July 4 weekend. U.S. employers kept hiring at a steady clip in the month of June while unemployment fell. The stronger-than-expected 147,000 added jobs beat expectations and were in line with the 144,000 new jobs back in May. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1 percent in June. It was 4.2 percent the month before.

  All of this points to a stable labor market. And experts say that likely means Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell won't be in a hurry to lower interest rates when the Fed meets later this month.

  Stocks rose today on the job numbers news. The Dow Jones industrial average added nearly 350 points, while the Nasdaq gained more than a percentage point. Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit new record highs.

  The Chicago suburb where Pope Leo XIV grew up has approved plans to buy his childhood home. The board of trustees in the village of Dolton, Illinois, voted unanimously to purchase the small two-story house. The city will preserve it and turn it into a historical site. Many visitors have already flocked to the home since the new pope's election in May, some of them treating it as a pilgrimage.

  And acclaimed actor Michael Madsen has died. He was found unresponsive in his Malibu home. His manager said the apparent cause of death was cardiac arrest. Among his best-known roles was his menacing performance as Mr. Blonde in the crime thriller "Reservoir Dogs." Madsen often teamed up with director and friend Quentin Tarantino, lending his chilling character portrayals to other films like "Kill Bill" and "The Hateful Eight."

  He had an acting career that spanned over four decades. Michael Madsen was 67 years old.