CHICAGO — Melania Trump revealed her support for abortion rights Thursday ahead of the release of her upcoming memoir, exposing a stark contrast with her husband, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, on the crucial election issue.

In a video posted to her X account Thursday morning, the former first lady defended women’s “individual freedoms” to do what they want with their body — a position at odds with much of the Republican Party and her own husband, who has struggled to find a consistent message on abortion while wedged between anti-abortion supporters within his base and the majority of Americans who support abortion rights.

“Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard,” she said in the video. “Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth: individual freedom. What does ‘my body, my choice’ really mean?”

The video appears to confirm excerpts of her self-titled memoir reported by The Guardian on Wednesday.

Melania Trump has rarely publicly expressed her personal political views and has been largely absent from the campaign trail. But in her memoir, set to be released publicly next Tuesday, she argues that the decision to end a pregnancy should be left to a woman and her doctor, “free from any intervention of pressure from the government,” according to the published excerpts.

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?” she wrote, according to The Guardian. “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”

Melania Trump writes that she has “carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”

These views contrast sharply with the GOP’s anti-abortion platform and with Donald Trump, who has repeatedly taken credit for appointing the three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade and boasted about returning the abortion question to the states. Democrats have blamed the former president for the severe deterioration of reproductive rights as abortion bans were implemented in large swaths of the country following the overturning of the landmark case, which had granted a constitutional right to abortion.

Vice President Kamala Harris ‘ campaign noted Trump’s role in ending Roe v. Wade in a statement reacting to Melania Trump’s defense of abortion rights.

“Sadly for the women across America, Mrs. Trump’s husband firmly disagrees with her and is the reason that more than one in three American women live under a Trump Abortion Ban that threatens their health, their freedom, and their lives,” Harris campaign spokesperson Sarafina Chitika said in a statement. “Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear: If he wins in November, he will ban abortion nationwide, punish women, and restrict women’s access to reproductive health care.”

Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would veto a federal abortion ban, the first time he has explicitly said so after previously refusing to answer questions on the subject. Abortion rights advocates are skeptical, however, saying Trump cannot be trusted not to restrict reproductive rights.

Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment Thursday about Melania Trump’s book or video.

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said the memoir is another example of “the Trumps playing voters like a fiddle.”

“As president, (Trump) made it his mission to get Roe v. Wade overturned,” she said in a statement. “Melania stood by him, never once publicly disavowing his actions until weeks before an election where our bodies are again on the ballot and they are losing voters to this issue. Read between the lines.”

Democratic strategist Brittany Crampsie called the memoir’s release a “clear attempt to appeal to more moderate voters and to moderate JD Vance’s very clearly extreme views on the issue.” But she is skeptical that the move would work in favor of Trump, saying his shifting views “have already confused voters and sowed distrust.”

Melania Trump also defends abortions later in pregnancy, asserting that “most abortions conducted during the later stages of pregnancy were the result of severe fetal abnormalities that probably would have led to the death or stillbirth of the child. Perhaps even the death of the mother.”

“These cases were extremely rare and typically occurred after several consultations between the woman and her doctor,” she writes.

These views appear diametrically opposed to her husband, who has often parroted misinformation about abortions later in pregnancy, falsely claiming that Democrats support abortion “after birth,” though infanticide is outlawed in every state.

Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law who focuses on reproductive rights law and history, said it is unclear if the memoir’s release so close to the election was an attempt to help Donald Trump. But she did note that Melania Trump’s split from Trump on the issue is not uncommon historically.

There is “a pretty deep history of first ladies being more supportive of abortion rights than their husbands,” including Betty Ford, a vocal abortion rights supporter and the wife of former President Gerald Ford, Ziegler said.

Donald Trump promoted his wife’s book at a September rally in New York, calling on supporters to “go out and get her book.” It is unclear if the former president has read the book.

“Go out and buy it,” he told the crowd. “It’s great. And if she says bad things about me, I’ll call you all up, and I’ll say, ‘Don’t buy it.’”

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An Israeli air strike killed at least seven people in a Hizbollah-linked medical facility in the heart of Beirut in the early hours of Thursday, according to the militant group, in the deepest assault on the capital since fighting began.

The strike hit close to Lebanon’s parliament building in a densely populated neighbourhood far from the capital’s southern suburbs, which Israel has pummelled over the past two weeks.

The Islamic Health Authority, which is linked to the Iran-backed Hizbollah, said that seven of its staff, including two paramedics and several rescue workers, were killed in the latest strike.

The Israeli military said it had launched a “precise strike” but did not disclose its target. Several air strikes were also reported in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israel has stepped up its offensive against Hizbollah in recent days, as the region braces for its retaliation to an Iranian missile barrage on Tuesday that intensified fears of an all-out war in the Middle East.

Iran said its missile attack on Israel was in response to the assassination of Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah last week and the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

The US has said Israel has the right to respond, although US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that any retaliation should be “in proportion” and that he was opposed to attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Israel has also launched a land offensive into southern Lebanon. On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said eight soldiers were killed and several injured in clashes with Hizbollah militants inside Lebanon.

In recent weeks, the IDF has launched regular, devastating strikes on the densely populated southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh, where Hizbollah has a major presence.

It had previously only targeted one site within the city limits during the current conflict, killing three Palestinian militant group leaders in the early hours of Monday in an apparent drone strike that destroyed one floor of an apartment building.

Israel’s bombing campaign against what it says are Hizbollah targets across Lebanon has killed more than 1,000 people in the country in the past two weeks, according to Lebanese authorities. They said 46 people had been killed and 85 wounded over the past 24 hours.

In the early hours of Thursday, a large blast was heard in Beirut, with footage from the scene showing smoke rising over the night-time skyline. Footage from Lebanese news outlets showed the blast had also damaged a cemetery.

“Another sleepless night in Beirut. Counting the blasts shaking the city. No warning sirens. Not knowing what’s next. Only that uncertainty lies ahead. Anxiety and fear are omnipresent,” said Jeanine Hennis, the UN special co-ordinator in Lebanon, on X.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said 17 Israeli bombing raids had taken place in neighbourhoods in southern Beirut.

Beyond its militant activities, Hizbollah has a political party and a sprawling network of social services that runs parallel to state institutions. These include schools, social welfare organisations and healthcare facilities such as the one struck on Thursday.

Separately on Thursday, Israel’s military said that it had killed the head of the Hamas government in Gaza, Rawhi Mushtaha, in a strike three months ago.

Additional reporting by Ahmed Al Omran in Jeddah

A new joint federal-state report on the origin of last year’s wildfire that killed at least 102 people in Maui determined that power lines downed by high winds ignited a brush fire that ended up destroying the town of Lahaina.

The investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Maui’s fire department confirms a timeline that Maui residents and news organizations have previously reported.

The ATF report classifies the fire as “accidental.”

The joint investigation doesn’t hold any individual or organization responsible for the fire that caused an estimated $5 billion in damage and left thousands homeless.

A pending $4 billion settlement would resolve hundreds of lawsuits filed by fire victims against the county, Hawaii Electric Company and others.

How Lahaina wildfire survivors are marking one year from the tragedy

At a news conference, Maui Assistant Fire Chief Jeffrey Giesea said, “we want to make abundantly clear to the community that our firefighters went above and beyond their due diligence to be as confident as they could be that the fire was completely extinguished before they left the scene.”

The report released Wednesday says that ifre crews responded to a brush fire after 6 a.m. on August 7. About three hours later, the fire was declared 100% contained and the crews left the area.

But less than an hour later, embers from that morning fire rekindled and ignited brush in a nearby gully. The fire soon hopped over a highway and began spreading through the town of Lahaina.

Jonathan Blais, special agent in charge of the ATF Seattle Field Division, said: “I do believe they did everything possible,” to extinguish the fire.

Maui Fire Chief Brad Ventura said his agency continues to educate the community about clearing brush and high grasses and taking other measures to harden their homes against wildfires.

“When it comes to wildfire, especially wind-driven, weather-driven fires, the Fire Department is not going to be able to stop the fire. It’s really about what we can do to make our homes safer.”