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| Displaced Palestinian families sought shelter at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City earlier this month. Bashar Taleb/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
Weapons found in hospital, Israel says
After storming the Al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza overnight, Israeli soldiers were conducting searches and interrogations inside, and officers said they had found rifles, ammunition, body armor and other military equipment in a radiology building. Their assertions could not be independently verified, and Hamas said they were “fabricated.” Here’s the latest.
Palestinian officials, the heads of U.N. agencies and some Mideast regional leaders condemned the raid, warning that it risked the lives of Gaza’s most vulnerable, including the gravely ill and wounded. Israel maintains that Hamas built a military command center at the hospital, using its patients and staff as human shields.
Inside Al-Shifa: A witness who said he was on the fourth floor of a surgical building described an atmosphere of confusion, tension and fear. In what resembled a police raid, Israeli soldiers questioned people and conducted searches, with explosions and gunfire still rattling windows and nerves.
Background: The Israeli military invaded Gaza last month after roughly 1,200 people were killed in Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7. Since then, Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 11,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gazan health officials — one of the largest tolls in any air campaign this century.
In other news from the war:
| Antisemitic and Islamophobic hate speech has surged across the internet since the conflict between Israel and Hamas broke out.A top F.B.I. official said that the bureau had opened a slew of investigations into Hamas, seeking to thwart potential attacks and stymie financial support for the Palestinian faction that runs Gaza. |
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| Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had made the plan a flagship policy. Pool photo by London Neal |
British court rules against Rwanda plan
Britain’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a policy to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is unlawful, dealing a blow to the Conservative government, which has long described the plan as central to its pledge to stop illegal migration across the English Channel.
The ruling is the latest setback for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a time of intense political turmoil in his party, which has held power for 13 years and is lagging in the polls. Rights groups and opposition politicians widely criticized the policy from the start, with many pointing to Rwanda’s troubled record on human rights.
After the ruling, the government said that it was still committed to sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, although how that plan might work — and whether it could happen before the expected general election next year — was unclear. No asylum seekers have yet been sent to Rwanda because of a series of legal challenges.
Details: Justice Robert Reed, one of five judges who heard the case, said the plan would breach both British and international law. He emphasized that the court supported an earlier Court of Appeal decision finding that Rwanda was not safe for refugees, saying bluntly, “We agree with their conclusion.”
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| President Biden and President Xi Jinping pictured at the end of their meetings at the Filoli Estate in Woodside, Calif. Doug Mills/The New York Times |
When Biden met Xi
In their first conversation in a year, President Xi Jinping of China told President Biden that it was “unrealistic” for either of the two superpowers to expect to “remodel the other.” He added that “Planet Earth is big enough” for both nations, and that their countries were very different but should be “fully capable of rising above differences.”
Speaking south of San Francisco ahead of the APEC summit, the pair offered the usual assurances that they accomplish much when working together. However, the leaders alluded to the fears that confrontations over Taiwan, technology, the South China Sea or China’s aid to Russia could spill into conflict if left to fester.
Biden: “I value our conversation because I think it’s paramount that you and I understand each other clearly,” the U.S. president said, “leader to leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunication.” He announced modest agreements to resume military communications and combat the spread of fentanyl that has killed many thousands of Americans.
Progress: On the eve of the two leaders’ meeting, the U.S. and China agreed to jointly tackle global warming by ramping up wind, solar and other renewable energy with the goal of displacing fossil fuels.Continue reading the main story
THE LATEST NEWS Around the World
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| Gleb Garanich/Reuters |
| An unusually long lull in Russian bombing has left people in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, feeling well rested and more productive, at least for now.The two men jostling to be Argentina’s next president are using A.I. images to promote themselves and to attack each other.A British woman who was killed in Belgium 31 years ago was identified this week by her flower tattoo.The evacuation of a tower block in Bristol, England, has drawn fresh attention to the construction of Britain’s public housing high-rises and to possible safety issues. |
| Wealthy nations are struggling to afford care for their rapidly aging populations. Here’s how five countries pay for it. |
Other Big Stories
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| Doug Mills/The New York Times |
| Donald Trump’s lawyers called for a mistrial in the New York fraud case against him, arguing that the judge was politically biased.Hard-line House Republicans blocked a spending bill, protesting Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to pass — with Democratic votes — a separate bill to avert a shutdown. |
| French judges have issued an international arrest warrant for President Bashar al-Assad of Syria for the deadly use of chemical weapons. |
| In recent years U.S. officials have arrested at the southern border hundreds of people on the terrorist watchlist, a small fraction of the total number of migrants apprehended. |
What Else Is Happening
| Revelations that a German journalist received hefty payments from a Russian oligarch has stirred worries that Russia is using an old playbook to promote its interests.A small London theater production about Gwyneth Paltrow’s much-covered trial will ask the audience to be jury members.The Inverted Jenny has transcended the world of philately and gained a measure of fame — and an eye-watering price tag. |
A Morning Read
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| Afif Amireh for The New York Times |
Palestinian and Israeli teenagers who swam in the Greater Jerusalem swim club made a point of not focusing on their differences. That changed with the war.
| SPORTS NEWS |
How U.S. women’s soccer lured Emma Hayes: Inside the nearly $2 million deal that landed the Americans their new head coach.
Inside man: FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, cheered a plan to take the World Cup to Saudi Arabia. He has said little about his years of work to make that happen.
Breaking records: Manchester City announced that it had spent more than any other team in British soccer history on player salaries last season.
Mystery in the aspens: How did a running dynasty take root in Flagstaff, Ariz.?
| ARTS AND IDEAS |
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| Renaud de Stephanis |
Whales rock
Orcas have been disrupting the journeys of boats along the coastlines of the Iberian Peninsula by slamming into their rudders, causing enough damage to even sink a handful of vessels. As researchers watch, mystified by the behavior, boat crews are trying anything they can think of to steer clear of the creatures.
There are plans to test out an acoustic device that could deter orcas from approaching without causing harm to them. In the meantime, the crew of one boat tried blasting heavy metal music. The orcas disabled the vessel anyway.
(For fans of extended guitar solos, here’s the “Metal for Orcas” playlist.)Continue reading the main story
| RECOMMENDATIONS |
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| Con Poulos for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. |
Cook: Serve spicy, slow-roasted salmon with cucumber and feta.
