Israel-Gaza War (2023- )

Subterms

    More stories

    • 163 Shares159 Views

      in Elections

      Sarah Milgrim, Victim of D.C. Shooting, Is Mourned by Kansas City Jewish Community

      by

      At the funeral for Sarah Milgrim, who was killed outside a Jewish museum in Washington last week, the Israeli embassy aide was mourned as someone who wanted to help everyone.At college, at temple and at the embassy where she worked, Sarah Milgrim was known for bringing people together.“Sarah was a link, a powerful, radiant link,” Rabbi Stephanie Kramer told a synagogue overflowing with mourners on Tuesday in Overland Park, Kan., just days after Ms. Milgrim was one of two Israeli Embassy workers killed outside a Jewish museum in Washington.Standing near the casket draped with an Israeli flag, as hundreds watched online, the rabbi added that Ms. Milgrim had the ability to make her family and friends feel “more deeply connected to Israel, to Jewish life, and to each other.”Speakers at the funeral on Tuesday, held at Congregation Beth Torah, also recalled moments from her childhood. She loved horseback riding and caring for animals, once using oven mitts to save a baby bunny.A rabbi who had known her since she was a young girl growing up in nearby Prairie Village recalled her as a steadfast member of the Jewish community through high school and then at the University of Kansas. And her supervisor at the Israeli embassy praised her for serving as a liaison to progressive groups “with a natural brilliance and boldness.”A gunman killed Ms. Milgrim, 26, and her boyfriend, Yaron Lischinsky, 30, last week as they left an event focused on improving the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Middle East. The suspect claimed that he “did it for Gaza,” according to an F.B.I. affidavit filed in federal court.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

    • 100 Shares119 Views

      in Elections

      Conflicting Claims Over Israel-Hamas Cease-Fire Talks Sow Confusion

      by

      Israel, Hamas and the Trump administration have issued different messages about where efforts to reach a truce stand.Israel, the United States and Hamas have sent conflicting messages in recent days about progress in cease-fire talks that would free hostages still held in Gaza, amid mounting pressure from President Trump to end the war.As they press a renewed offensive, Israeli forces have continued to launch strikes across the enclave. More than 70 people were killed on Monday, according to the Gaza health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.The deadly strikes came amid a series of contradictory comments about negotiations.On Monday, the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television channel said that the group had accepted a cease-fire proposal from Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy.Mr. Witkoff, however, quickly rejected that claim. “What I have seen from Hamas is disappointing and completely unacceptable,” he told the Axios news site.Later that evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said he was hoping to announce progress in the talks “if not today, then tomorrow.” But he later suggested that he had been speaking figuratively, and blamed Hamas for the impasse.On Tuesday, Basem Naim, a Hamas official, doubled down on the group’s claim. “Yes, the movement has accepted Mr. Witkoff’s proposal,” he wrote on social media, adding that Hamas was awaiting Israel’s response.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

    • 100 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Trump’s Comments on Gaza Reflect Israel’s Growing Isolation

      by

      For months, Israel’s strongest allies had been reluctant to join a wave of global censure against the war. Now, even the Trump administration appears to be growing impatient.Through more than 18 months of war in Gaza, Israel has faced intense criticism from foreign leaders and aid groups but has rarely experienced sustained public censure, let alone concrete repercussions, from its close allies.Until now.In recent weeks, partners such as the United States, Britain and France have become more willing to place Israel under overt pressure, culminating in President Trump’s call on Sunday for the war to wind down.“Israel, we’ve been talking to them, and we want to see if we can stop that whole situation as quickly as possible,” Mr. Trump told reporters in New Jersey shortly before boarding Air Force One.Those comments contrast with the public position Mr. Trump held entering office in January, when he blamed Hamas rather than Israel for the war’s continuation. He was also careful to present a united front with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.Mr. Trump’s latest intervention came hours before the German government, normally a steadfast supporter of Israel, expressed unusually strong criticism of Israel’s expanded attacks in Gaza. “What the Israeli Army is doing in the Gaza Strip right now — I honestly don’t understand what the goal is in causing such suffering to the civilian population,” said Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, during an interview broadcast on television on Monday.The German shift came days after a similarly worded intervention from the right-wing Italian government, another ally of Israel that has previously avoided such strong condemnation of Israel. “Netanyahu must halt the raids on Gaza,” said Antonio Tajani, the Italian foreign minister, in an interview posted on his ministry website. “We need an immediate cease-fire and the release of hostages by Hamas, which must leave Gaza.”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

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      A Quiet Funeral in Israel for Victim of Washington Shooting

      by

      Yaron Lischinsky, 30, was buried on Sunday in the small town where his family lived.Weeks before, Yaron Lischinsky had made plans to travel to Israel on Sunday with his partner, Sarah Milgrim. He wanted to introduce her to his family for the first time and, relatives said, propose to her.Instead, Mr. Lischinsky, 30, was laid to rest on Sunday at sunset, in a small cemetery a short walk from his family home in the village of Beit Zayit, nestled in the wooded hills west of Jerusalem.Mr. Lischinsky and Ms. Milgrim, 26, were gunned down on Wednesday night outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington as they left a reception for young professionals and diplomats hosted by the American Jewish Committee.The gunman, identified by the police as Elias Rodriguez, 31, of Chicago, cried out “Free, free Palestine!” as he was being apprehended — a call heard in protests around the world against Israel and its war in Gaza, which was ignited by the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.Mr. Rodriguez has been charged with the murder of foreign officials, first-degree murder and other crimes. The U.S. authorities said they would also be investigating the attack as a hate crime and a crime of terrorism.For their part, Mr. Lischinsky, a research assistant in the political department at the Israeli Embassy, and Ms. Milgrim, who organized and worked with delegations, were both known as peace-seeking bridge-builders, according to their colleagues.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

    • 100 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Israeli Airstrike Kills Doctor’s Children, Gaza Officials Say

      by

      Two more children were missing, while her husband and one other child were injured in the strike on Friday, the officials said. Israel said it was checking if it had harmed “uninvolved civilians.”It began on Friday afternoon with a massive boom that residents say reverberated throughout the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.Alaa al-Najjar, a pediatric physician, was at work at the city’s Nasser Hospital when she heard her neighborhood south of the city had been hit in an Israeli airstrike. By the time she arrived, emergency workers were pulling out the corpses of her children, said Ali al-Najjar, her brother-in-law, who had also rushed to the scene.“We had pulled out three charred bodies and were pulling out the fourth,” said Mr. al-Najjar. “She recognized them immediately.”At least seven out of the Najjar family’s 10 children were killed, according to Gaza health officials and the family. Two remain missing, presumed dead under the rubble of their home, according to Ali al-Najjar and Mohammad al-Najjar, the nephew of Dr. Najjar’s husband.The building next door had been storing car tires, said Ali al-Najjar, and they went up in flames in the blast. The fire quickly spread to the Najjars’ home, he said.They were the latest casualties in a renewed round of fighting between Israel and Hamas after more than a year and a half of full-blown war. The Israeli military has escalated its airstrikes across the enclave in recent weeks and threatened a massive ground assault.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

    • 150 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      The Israeli Connections to a New Gaza Aid Plan Promoted as Independent

      by

      Foreign contractors are set to carry out a contentious new food aid system in Gaza, displacing experienced aid agencies like the United Nations. It was conceived and largely developed by Israelis as a way to undermine Hamas.Throughout the war in Gaza, U.N. agencies and experienced aid groups have overseen the distribution of food aid in the territory. Now, Israel is set to transfer that responsibility to a handful of newly formed private organizations with obscure histories and unknown financial backers.Supporters of the project describe it as an independent and neutral initiative run mainly by American contractors. The main group providing security is run by Philip F. Reilly, a former senior C.I.A. officer, and a fund-raising group is headed by Jake Wood, a former U.S. Marine, who said in an interview that the system would be phased in soon.Announcing the arrangement in early May, Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, said it was “wholly inaccurate” to call it “an Israeli plan.”But the project is an Israeli brainchild, first proposed by Israeli officials in the earliest weeks of the war, according to Israeli officials, people involved in the initiative and others familiar with its conception, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak more freely of the initiative.The New York Times found that the broad contours of the plan were first discussed in late 2023, at private meetings of like-minded officials, military officers and business people with close ties to the Israeli government.The group called itself the Mikveh Yisrael Forum, after a college where members convened in December 2023. Its leading figures gradually settled on the idea of hiring private contractors to distribute food in Gaza, circumventing the United Nations. Throughout 2024, they then fostered support among Israel’s political leaders and some military commanders, and began to develop it with foreign contractors, principally Mr. Reilly.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

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Gunman Fired Repeatedly at Young Couple Outside Jewish Museum, F.B.I. Says

      by

      The authorities said the shooter was motivated by opposition to the war in Gaza when he killed two young Israeli Embassy employees in Washington.The gathering at the Capital Jewish Museum was quintessential Washington — a nighttime reception hosted by a national advocacy group, bringing together young professionals and foreign diplomats in a neighborhood not far from the Capitol.On the street outside, a man who looked like just another young Washingtonian in a blue jacket and a backpack was pacing back and forth.As two young aides at the Israeli Embassy who were dating left the reception, he turned to face their backs and pulled a 9-millimeter handgun from his waistband, according to an F.B.I. affidavit that cited surveillance video. Then he shot them again and again, reloading his pistol, shooting even after they fell and as the young woman was trying to crawl away.The gunman then went inside the museum, where guests thought he was a bystander who had fled the shooting, and someone offered him a glass of water. Moments later, when the police apprehended him, he let out a cry that has become familiar on college campuses and at protests around the world: “Free, free Palestine!”The killings punctuated a moment of rising tension in the United States and around the world, as college campuses, European capitals and American politics have been transformed by anger over the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s devastating bombing campaign in Gaza.Across the world, offenses against Jewish people and property have increased sharply since the Hamas attacks and have remained at historically high levels as Israel has waged a military offensive and aid blockade that the Gaza Health Ministry says has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and left the population on the brink of starvation.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

    • 163 Shares169 Views

      in Elections

      What to Know About Suspect in D.C. Shooting That Killed Israeli Embassy Aides

      by

      The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, was charged with gunning down two Israeli Embassy workers outside a Jewish museum in Washington. Here is what we know about him.Elias Rodriguez, a Chicago resident, was charged on Thursday with first-degree murder and other crimes in the killings of two Israeli Embassy aides outside a Jewish museum in Washington.By some accounts, Mr. Rodriguez, 31, led a life typical of a college-educated young professional in Chicago, residing in an apartment in a middle-class North Side neighborhood, with friends and family nearby.But he was also increasingly active in left-wing politics, posting on social media and joining demonstrations in Chicago in opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza, large corporations and racism.When Mr. Rodriguez was taken into custody after the shooting on Wednesday night, he told police officers, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to an F.B.I. affidavit filed in federal court.Here’s what else we know about him.A school and work life that raised no concernsBorn and raised in Chicago, Mr. Rodriguez graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago, a school west of downtown that attracts many local residents.Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez, a university spokeswoman, said that Mr. Rodriguez attended from the fall of 2016 through the spring of 2018 and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree.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