Israel-Gaza War (2023- )

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      3 Israelis Killed at West Bank-Jordan Border Crossing

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      The Allenby crossing, near the West Bank city of Jericho, has been the scene of violence in the past.A gunman killed three Israelis at a sensitive border crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, according to the Israeli military.The attack comes amid a surge of violence in the occupied territory since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on Israel prompted the war in Gaza, and at a delicate moment for the relationship between Israel and neighboring Jordan.The gunman arrived at the Israeli-controlled part of the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan in a truck on Sunday and opened fire on Israeli security forces, the military said in a statement. The military did not identify the gunman, who was killed at the scene. The three victims were forklift operators who worked at the crossing, according to the Israel Airports Authority.The crossing, near the West Bank city of Jericho, is the main pathway for most Palestinians in the occupied territory to travel abroad, and it has served as an entry point for some aid being delivered to the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel described the gunman as “an abhorrent terrorist” and extended his condolences to the families of the victims.It was not immediately clear how the gunman managed to take a weapon into the Israeli-controlled part of the crossing. The Israel Airports Authority said in a statement that the Allenby Bridge was closed, as were two land crossings between Israel and Jordan.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      China Woos Africa, Casting Itself as Global South’s Defender

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      More than 50 African leaders have gathered in Beijing for a summit aimed at projecting the influence of China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in the developing world.African flags have been flown over Tiananmen Square. Leaders of African nations have been greeted by dancers, honor guards and children waving flags. They have been escorted in extensive motorcades past banners celebrating “A Shared Future for China and Africa” and giant, elaborate flower arrangements.China has pulled out all the stops for a gathering of leaders and top officials from more than 50 African nations this week in Beijing, welcoming them with pomp and pageantry. “After nearly 70 years of hard work, China-Africa relations are at the best period in history,” China’s leader, Xi Jinping, told the gathering on Thursday. Mr. Xi has cast his country as a defender of the developing world, one that can push the West to listen to the voices of poorer countries. He hosted a banquet for the leaders at the start of the event on Wednesday, after three straight days of back-to-back bilateral talks with nearly two dozen leaders of nations ranging from impoverished Chad to the continental economic powerhouse of Nigeria. The three-day forum is meant to demonstrate Beijing’s global clout despite rising tensions with the West. Mr. Xi’s courtship of African countries is part of a great geopolitical competition with the United States that has intensified in recent years over Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s aggressive posture toward Taiwan.China is “trying to take advantage of the space left by the U.S. and Europe, which are increasingly disengaged with Africa,” said Eric Olander, the editor in chief of the China-Global South Project website. “China sees an opportunity to really step up its engagement, and not necessarily just with money.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Netanyahu Stands Firm on Cease-Fire Terms Amid Growing Outrage in Israel

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      In his first news conference since the bodies of six killed hostages were recovered, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to budge on his conditions for any truce in Gaza.Brushing aside pleas from allies and the demands of Israeli protesters for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza in exchange for the release of hostages, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday vowed to maintain Israeli control along the border between Egypt and Gaza, a contentious plan that appeared to dim, if not dash, prospects for a truce.In his first news conference since the bodies of six slain hostages were recovered over the weekend, Mr. Netanyahu told reporters on Monday night that, to ensure its security, Israel needed to assert control over the Gazan side of the border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, calling it the lifeline of Hamas.Hamas has said Israeli control of the corridor is a nonstarter in negotiations for a truce, demanding instead a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.“If we leave, there will be enormous diplomatic pressure upon us from the whole world not to return,” Mr. Netanyahu said of the corridor, as a large crowd protested near his private residence in Jerusalem on Monday night.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters on Monday that to ensure its security, Israel needed to assert control over the Philadelphi Corridor, calling it the lifeline of Hamas. Ohad Zwigenberg/EPA, via ShutterstockMr. Netanyahu made the comments a day after the Israeli military announced that the six hostages had been found dead in a tunnel underneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The discovery devastated Israelis and spurred both the mass protests on Sunday and a widespread work stoppage by the country’s largest labor union.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Thousands Gather in Israel for Funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin

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      At a sprawling cemetery in Jerusalem on Monday, thousands of people thronged the parking lot to memorialize Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a dual Israeli American citizen and one of six hostages whose bodies were found in Gaza on Saturday, as family members and friends delivered emotional eulogies and sang Jewish hymns.The funeral, which was attended by President Isaac Herzog of Israel, was a somber reminder of the perilous situation facing the dozens of hostages still thought to be alive in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip. It reflected the resonance that Mr. Goldberg-Polin’s plight had with a wide spectrum of Israeli society, drawing secular and religious people who had never met him but found inspiration in his story.The gathering also signified the end of a nearly 11-month journey, in which Mr. Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin, crisscrossed the globe to lobby for their son’s freedom, meeting with President Biden, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Pope Francis.Clad in a ripped shirt, a Jewish mourning custom, Ms. Goldberg-Polin said it was a “stunning honor” to be her son’s mother and spoke of the unimaginable distress and torment of worrying about him.Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s mother, Rachel Goldberg, spoke alongside his father, Jon Polin, at his funeral in Jerusalem on Monday.Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York TimesThe funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Jerusalem.Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York TimesThousands of people gathered in Jerusalem for Mr. Goldberg-Polin’s funeral.Avishag Shaar-Yashuv for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Biden Says Netanyahu Is Not Doing Enough to Free Israeli Hostages

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      President Biden issued a one-word rebuke on Monday of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s commitment to reaching a cease-fire and hostage release deal, in the latest iteration of the White House’s monthslong effort to cajole and censure the Israeli leader.As he exited Marine One on the White House lawn, Mr. Biden was asked a series of questions by waiting reporters about whether Mr. Netanyahu was doing enough to achieve a deal to get the hostages back. The president responded simply: “No.”He then turned away from the reporters and headed for a meeting in the Situation Room. He told reporters he would have more to say after the meeting, which was expected to include his top national security advisers and Vice President Kamala Harris. Later, he and Ms. Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, were scheduled to appear at a campaign event together in Pennsylvania.Mr. Biden and Mr. Netanyahu have clashed often in the past 10 months or so, but with particular intensity since the spring. White House officials thought they were near a hostage deal in mid-July, one of several moments in which they believed — and Mr. Biden publicly declared — that the negotiations mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt would result in a temporary cease-fire, with hopes of a longer-lasting one.But Mr. Biden’s hopes have been continually dashed. The latest disagreement with Mr. Netanyahu has arisen over his insistence that Israel maintain a military presence in Gaza along the Egyptian border after a cease-fire agreement comes into effect, a demand that Hamas and Egypt both oppose.Other obstacles to a deal have come from Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, who has been engaged in the negotiations remotely as he hides out, presumably underground in Gaza. More

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      Histadrut, the Labor Union Behind Israel’s Strike, Has Long History of Influence

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      The labor union that called for the strike in Israel on Monday, Histadrut, has played a key role in recent Israeli politics. Most notably, it led strikes last year that challenged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, forcing him to back off a contentious judicial plan. Histadrut, or the General Organization of Workers in Israel, was also pivotal to the founding of the State of Israel. It was set up in 1920, at a time when trade unions were a critical vector of political and economic influence in many countries.Its purpose in its early decades was both to serve the needs of workers at a time of Jewish immigration to what was then British-administered Palestine, and to lay the groundwork for the foundation of Israel as a state. It helped to establish the industrial, financial and economic institutions from which the nation emerged in 1948. The union’s leader in the early years, David Ben-Gurion, became Israel’s first prime minister.The organization, the largest of its kind in Israel, now represents about 800,000 workers from 27 separate unions, according to its website. Its chairman, Arnon Bar-David, has held the post since 2019.Mr. Bar-David, a longtime member of the union who also served as a major in the military reserves, in early 2023 joined other union chiefs, business leaders and military reservists to oppose a plan put in place by Mr. Netanyahu’s far-right government to limit the Supreme Court’s ability to strike down decisions by elected officials.Histadrut organized a major strike that — along with disquiet in the military and mass protests that destabilized the economy — contributed to one of the biggest domestic upheavals in Israel in decades. The unrest prompted Mr. Netanyahu to suspend the judicial plan.The deadly attack led by Hamas on Israel months later, and the ensuing Israeli military offensive in Gaza, moved the judicial issue to the background. But Histadrut again showed its influence by calling for the general strike on Monday, which, along with large street demonstrations the night before calling for a deal to free hostages from Gaza, amounted to the broadest expression of anti-government dissent since the war began. More

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      Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Israeli-American Hostage Found Dead, Mourned Across U.S.

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      Hersh Goldberg-Polin loved soccer and music. He was curious, respectful and passionate about geography and travel, according to his mother. He was born in the Bay Area and moved to Israel when he was 8.Some 15 years later, he became one of the most internationally recognized hostages among the 240 who were taken by Hamas on Oct. 7. For months, his parents made pleas to bring their son and the other hostages home.But he was among the six hostages whose bodies were found in a tunnel in Gaza over the weekend. In a statement, President Biden said they were killed by Hamas.“With broken hearts, the Goldberg-Polin family is devastated to announce the death of their beloved son and brother, Hersh,” his family said in a statement. Family members declined to be interviewed for this article, asking for privacy.On Sunday, tributes to Mr. Goldberg-Polin, who was 23 and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, poured in from many pockets of America. People who knew him expressed immense grief and recalled moments they shared. To many across the country, he had become a symbol of hope.Hersh Goldberg-Polin.The Hostages Families Forum, via Associated PressWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Discovery of 6 Dead Hostages in Gaza Spurs Protest and Division in Israel

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      The Israeli military said Sunday that Hamas had killed the hostages before they were discovered by Israeli troops on Saturday.The Israeli military said on Sunday that six bodies found in a tunnel under the Gaza Strip belonged to hostages who had been killed by Hamas, setting off a wave of grief and anger in Israel and further cleaving the deep divisions among the public, and the country’s leaders, over the future course of the war.Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military’s chief spokesman, said the bodies had been recovered a day earlier in the labyrinths under the southern city of Rafah, about one kilometer from where a seventh hostage, Farhan al-Qadi, was found alive last week.“They were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” Admiral Hagari said. The Israeli Ministry of Health said in a statement on Sunday that the hostages were killed by “a number of short-range shots” and that they had died about “48-72 hours before their examination.”After the recovery of six hostages that the Israeli military said had been killed by Hamas, demonstrators filled the streets of Tel Aviv demanding that the government do more to bring the remaining hostages home.Sergey Ponomarev for The New York TimesIn an initial statement, Hamas did not directly address the accusations but said responsibility for the deaths lay with Israel, which it blamed for the lack of an agreement to stop the fighting in Gaza. Hamas later asserted in a separate statement that the hostages were killed by the Israeli military’s bullets, without providing evidence.The recovery of the hostages’ bodies put into stark relief the competing priorities of Israel’s leaders: those intent on dismantling Hamas through the pursuit and killing of its fighters and officials, and those who want to reach a truce that would bring home the dozens of captives still believed to be still alive in the enclave.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More